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MILAN (AP)—Italy striker Antonio cheap ugg boots Cassano has officially joined Serie A leader AC Milan now that the January transfer window has opened. While Cassano has already been training with Milan for several days in Dubai, the club announced on its website Monday that it has acquired his full rights. Cassano left Sampdoria, where he hadn’t played since October, when he allegedly insulted club president Riccardo Garrone with a profanity-laced verbal tirade. While Milan already has Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Robinho and Alexandre Pato in attack, the club needed another forward after Filippo Inzaghi was ruled out for the season following knee surgery. The move means Cassano could play against Cagliari when nike air max shoes Serie A resumes Thursday.

ST. LOUIS (AP)—No way Ty Conklin(notes) Cheap ghd thought he’d be starting in goal against the Stanley Cup-champion Blackhawks. Not with Jaroslav Halak(notes) coming off a shutout and Conklin getting torched for seven goals in Chicago last month. The St. Louis Blues’ backup goalie made coach Davis Payne’s decision seem like the logical choice after he stopped 25 shots in a 3-1 victory on Tuesday night. “There’s nothing more an athlete wants than another kick at it,” Payne said. “That’s exactly what Ty got against these guys.” Vladimir Sobotka(notes), Brad Boyes(notes) and Brad Winchester(notes) scored for the Blues, who dominated much of the way to win their fourth in a row and end the Blackhawks’ four-game winning streak. The Blues pelted Marty Turco(notes) with 43 shots, making things a bit easier on their backup goalie. The Blues tied Chicago for seventh in the Western Conference, each with 43 points. “Ty made the saves when he needed to and I thought everything was timely,” Boyes said. “We didn’t take any time off all three periods.” Just as Chicago was getting healthier, with Patrick Kane(notes) and Marian Hossa(notes) returning the last two games, the Blackhawks lost another key player. Jonathan Toews(notes), Chicago’s second-leading scorer with 33 points, was injured on a check in the first period and didn’t return. Teammate Tomas Kopecky(notes) was struck in the face by an errant puck despite wearing a visor but didn’t leave the bench. Coach Joel Quenneville said Toews had an upper Puma Sandals Women Shoes body injury and expected to know more on Wednesday. Quenneville wasn’t pleased with the rest of the roster. “Maybe you get Kane and Hossa back, you think it’s going to be easy again,” Quenneville said. “What made us effective is we played hard and simple and played for each other. “We’ve got to get rid of the cutesy stuff.” When Conklin got the nod from Payne on Monday, Conklin didn’t believe it. “I asked him, ‘You said I’m playing?”’ Conklin said. “And he said, ‘Yeah,’ and I had to ask him again because I was a little surprised. (Payne) said, ‘You sound surprised,’ and I was. “It was nice to get a second chance at them.” Boyes deflected a shot from the point by Erik Johnson(notes) for the go-ahead goal at 3:08 of the third. Turco reached back to snare the puck in mid-air on Winchester’s shot off a rebound with 5:50 to go, and replays confirmed it crossed the goal line to put the Blues up 3-1. Quenneville blistered players after calling timeout following Sobotka’s unassisted goal that tied it at 1 at 4:39 of the second. The Blues had a 25-8 shots advantage after Sobotka grabbed a loose puck along the side boards and scored with a high drive. The Blackhawks were outshot 18-7 in the first period but got the lone goal on Jake Dowell’s(notes) fifth of the season and first in 14 games. Viktor Stalberg(notes) set up Air Yeeyz Shoes the goal, stealing the puck from Alex Steen(notes) near the blue line.

CLEVELAND – Middle linebacker 2010 jerseys　Ray Lewis(notes) backed up his words as the Baltimore Ravens stonewalled rugged Cleveland Browns running back Peyton Hillis(notes). Unlike earlier this season when he steamrolled the Ravens for a career-high 144 rushing yards, Hillis was the one left bruised and humbled this time. Hillis suffered a rib injury on a stinging hit from free safety Ed Reed(notes) and only managed to rush for 35 yards on 12 carries. Days before kickoff, Lewis had guaranteed that Hillis wouldn’t duplicate his breakthrough performance even going so far as to say even a blind cat finds a meal once in a while in reference to the former Arkansas star's dominant game in Baltimore. “The bottom line is sometimes you got to let people know you’re coming,” said Lewis, a two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year. “It ain’t about sneaking up on nobody. It was about me getting my team ready to play and understanding this is a playoff atmosphere for us.” Eventually, the Browns substituted for an aching Hillis and inserted Mike Bell(notes). The Ravens have a lot of respect for Hillis, voting for him in the AFC Pro Bowl balloting this week. However, they had no intentions of allowing him to run roughshod over them twice in one season. Hillis has rushed for 1,164 yards and 11 touchdowns this season, but averaged only 2.9 yards per carry Sunday. “We backed up what Ray said we were going to do,” outside linebacker Terrell Suggs(notes) said. “Ray had him dialed in. The first one, he snuck up on us. I didn’t even know his name at first, but he made sure we knew it at the end of the game. “We can’t take anything away from Nike Dunk SB Low Shoes him, a 1,000-yard rusher is a 1,000-yard rusher. We did vote him for the Pro Bowl. So, I think he’s one of a back, but we did our job. We knew we were playing for something bigger than just not letting him get 100 yards.” The Ravens had a thorough scouting report on the Browns’ tendencies and were playing him for the cutback. “It’s a couple of keys to their offense and we knew that. They have some tendencies here and there.” There were few lanes for him to run through. Hillis’ longest run was seven yards. The Browns rushed for 102 yards on 26 carries with no touchdowns. “Our run defense was solid,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “We played great gap control. We were flat wall square. We were getting off blocks. I thought our secondary tackled.” They also did a much better job of tackling Hillis this time. The Ravens hadn’t forgotten how he left cleat marks all over their defense in September at M&T Bank Stadium. “It gets kind of personal,” Lewis said. “When it gets personal for a defense, you don’t even want to turn on the film and be the one that’s not running to the ball. We were calling out plays before the snap. Defensively, we did a heck of a job. “I told him, ‘Look, I love the way you play the game.’ As long as I’m here, I’m not going to let somebody run the ball and beat us. That’s why I was letting everyone know it wasn’t going to happen again. It wasn’t about trash talking. It was about just saying what I felt in my heart had to happen.” During the first meeting, Hillis broke long runs of 50 and 28 yards. This time, the Ravens never let him get into the secondary. And the defensive backs operated as extra force players and tackled Hillis by wrapping up his legs, including undersized cornerback Chris Carr(notes). “He’s a big guy and he runs extremely hard, but we did an excellent job on him,” Carr said. “The first game he was coming up on our DBs and he was running. He didn’t Air Force Low Shoes really get to the second level too often. They have a good offensive line and a good running game, but we made them one-dimensional this game.” The Ravens were extra determined to live up to Lewis’ message of drawling a line in the dirt and not allowing Hillis to cross it. Whenever Hillis had any breathing room, the Ravens closed it down quickly with relentless pursuit and gang tackling. “Peyton Hillis is a great running back,” defensive tackle Haloti Ngata(notes) said. “We wanted to make sure we got some hats on him. I think we did a good job of corralling him and tackling him when we got the chance. “I think the difference is we knew what he was about. We saw him on film and we wanted to make sure he didn’t do it again. It means a lot coming from our leader, Ray. A lot of us wanted to make sure he was right. We wanted to back him up.”

AMHERST, Mass. (AP)—Isaac 2010 jerseys　Sosa scored 14 points in his first start of the season and No. 24 Central Florida held off Massachusetts 64-59 on Wednesday night in the Knights’ debut as a nationally ranked team. Keith Clanton added 13 points and Marcus Jordan returned from an ankle injury after halftime and scored all seven of his points in the second half for UCF (11-0), which joined the AP Top 25 this week for the first time in school history. Jordan, son of Michael Jordan, hit five free throws in the final minute to seal it for the Knights, who rushed the Minutemen (7-4) into some poor shots as they tried to rally down the stretch. Anthony Gurley led Massachusetts with 17 points. He was the only UMass player to score in double figures. UCF won despite committing 20 turnovers and getting outrebounded 41-40. The Minutemen, who lost their fourth straight, had two chances in the final minutes after turnovers by UCF, but rushed two 3-pointers that could have tied it instead of trying for an easier shot to get within one with plenty of time left. The second was by Raphiael Putney, who fouled Jordan at the other end and he made both free throws for a 59-54 lead with 38.6 seconds left. By the time Gurley hit a 3-pointer with 16 seconds to play—the Minutemen’s first in the second half—all the Knights had to do was hit free throws to seal it. A.J. Rompza hit two to make it 62-57, then Putnam missed a dunk and the rebound bounced out of bounds near midcourt as Rompza clapped and shouted “Game over!” with 9 Boss Sweater seconds still on the clock. The Minutemen were just 1 for 13 on 3-pointers in the second half and 2 for 22 from beyond the arc in the game. Gurley had just given the Minutemen a 41-40 lead with about 12:50 left to play, then 15 seconds later, Jordan leaped high in the lane and hit a 3-foot floater to put the Knights back up and start a 6-0 run. Gurley made two free throws to end a short drought for Massachusetts, but Sosa answered with a 3-pointer and UCF was back up 48-42. Massachusetts went without a field goal for more than 6 minutes, but was able to keep the cold-shooting Knights from pulling away.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP)—With three 2010 jerseys senior starters looking for a fourth national championship to close their careers, the Penn State women’s volleyball team needed a freshman to help get them a step closer. Deja McClendon had 20 kills and senior Blair Brown added 16 to lead the Nittany Lions to a 25-19, 25-18, 23-25, 25-17 victory over Duke on Saturday to advance to the national semifinals. “She was awesome,” said Brown, who was selected the region’s most outstanding player. “I told her at the end of the game that she saved me there. I struggled tonight and when I couldn’t put the ball down she was right there to put the ball down.” Penn State extended its NCAA record with its 94th straight home victory and 22nd straight in the tournament—also a record. “It’s a great feeling,” McClendon said. “Especially being at home and winning that last game at home for the seniors, that’s one of the best feelings I’ve ever felt.” Penn State (30-5) joins Southern California (29-4)—which advanced earlier in the day—in the semifinals Thursday night in Kansas City, Mo. Illinois meets Texas and Washington faces California for the other two spots. The fourth-seeded Nittany Lions are the highest seed remaining in the tournament. Brown also had seven blocks and Arielle Wilson added 12 kills and eight blocks. The pair, and the team’s four other seniors, were the second straight graduating class to finish without a home loss in their careers. Duke, in its first regional final, was led by Sophia Dunworth’s 12 kills while Clair Smalzer had 10. Penn State got a scare when it dropped the third set, but raced to a 14-4 lead to open the fourth and coasted to the win. “We were playing great the first couple games and got a little careless in Gucci Women Boots the third game,” head coach Russ Rose said. “We reasserted some things in the fourth game.”

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP)—The co-owner of NFL jerseys wholesale the New York Giants says he goofed failing to tell the owner of the New York Jets about a decision to allow the Miami Dolphins to use the Giants’ indoor facility prior to a game against the Jets. In hindsight, Giants co-owner John Mara says he should have spoken to Jets owner Woody Johnson before giving the Dolphins permission to use their indoor practice facility on Friday and Saturday. The Dolphins and Jets play on Sunday at the New Meadowlands Stadium, a $1.6 billion facility that is co-owned by the Giants and Jets. “I did not consider it a big deal,” Mara said late Wednesday afternoon. “I have been in business a long time and I would not consider it a big deal if another team was using the Jets’ facility. In retrospect, I wish I would have called Woody and asked him about it first because my relationship with him and the Jets is far more important to me and this organization than my relationship with the Dolphins.” In a statement Wednesday night, Johnson said Mara addressed the issue and he had nothing to add. “Our partnership is as strong as ever,” Johnson said. Jets coach Rex Ryan downplayed the Dolphins use of the facility. “It’s their facility,” Ryan said. “They can do anything they want with it.” The whole brouhaha can be traced to Hall of Fame coach Vince Lombardi, in a way. Dolphins owner Stephen Ross saw Mara at the premiere of the Broadway play “Lombardi” in late October and told him that he was thinking of taking his NFL team to the play before their game against the Jets. That’s when he initially talked about using the Giants’ facility. Ross formally asked the Giants about a month ago for use their indoor facility for a Saturday walkthrough. A week later, the Dolphins asked to use the field both late Friday for a practice and Saturday for a walkthrough. The problem for many New Yorkers is that the Giants and Jets are partners and it seems odd that the Giants would not only be helping a Jets’ opponent, but one from the AFC East. Mara said Johnson telephoned him on Wednesday and they spoke about four topics, their joint Super Bowl bid in 2014, he NFL labor situation, a press conference that Johnson attended on Tuesday and finally the Dolphins’ issue. Mara Nike Kobe Bryant shoes said Johnson seemed fine after their talk, and he downplayed any suggestion that he and Johnson do not get along. “My relationship with Woody, and our relationship with the Jets have never been better,” Mara said. “We have a million decisions that we are going to have to make going forward. This partnership is too important to me to jeopardize by doing something like this.” The Dolphins will not have use of either the Giants’ grass field or the locker room. The Giants are not charging them a fee. Mara was surprised by the controversy that a move he believed to be a “common courtesy” to another team generated. “We (the Giants and Jets) have a long partnership that is going to last for many years, and the last thing in the world I want to do is get them upset about an issue like this,” Mara said. “Again, I did not consider it big deal. Apparently, it is a slow enough news day that it has become a big deal.” AP Sports Writer Dennis Waszak Jr. in Florham Park, N.J., contributed to this report.