A head injury has once again sidelined hockeys best player. The Pittsburgh Penguins announced that captain Sidney Crosby has been diagnosed with a concussion, and there is no timetable for his return.Coach Mike Sullivan said that Crosby suffered the injury on Friday in practice.He came to the rink on Saturday not feeling well, and we went from there, Sullivan said.Crosby sat out Saturdays preseason game against the Columbus Blue Jackets and missed practice on Monday to undergo concussion testing.The Penguins are scheduled to open the regular season Thursday against the Capitals.The news hits the hockey world hard because of Crosbys history of concussions. He was hit by David Steckel in the 2011 Winter Classic in a collision that set off a long concussion recovery that shortened two seasons for Crosby.He only played 41 games that season and followed it up with 22 games in the 2011-12 season.The injury comes at a time in which Crosby had returned to the top of the game. He led the Penguins to a Stanley Cup in the spring, winning the Conn Smythe along the way. He followed it up by helping Team Canada win the World Cup of Hockey and was named MVP of the tournament.Crosby said during his day with the Stanley Cup in July that this championship was extra special because he wasnt sure if he would be able to continue playing when he was dealing with those concussion issues a few seasons ago.Scarpe Air Max 97 Scontate . Belfort (24-10) needed just 77 seconds to down Henderson in the headlining bout of Saturdays "UFC Fight Night: Belfort vs. Henderson" event at Goiania Arena in Goiania, Brazil. The fight served as a rematch of the pairs 2006 meeting, which Henderson won by decision. Paul George Scarpe Nasa . Two pressure cooker bombs exploded near the finish line of the April 15 race in an area packed with fans cheering the passing runners. Three people were killed and more than 260 injured, including at least 16 who lost limbs. http://www.airmaxshoponlineitalia.it/scontate-max-270-outlet.html .H. -- Matt Kenseth made it 2 for 2 in the Chase, holding off teammate Kyle Busch to win Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Scarpe Kd Outlet . 10 Texas Rangers jersey for one last time. Young formally announced his retirement Friday after returning to Rangers Ballpark, his baseball home for all but the last of his 13 major league seasons. Scarpe Paul George Scontate . Reassurance came from Paul Tesori, his caddie and close friend whose newborn son is in intensive care in a Florida hospital. "Paul sent me a text this morning, just told me he loved me and wanted to go out and fight as hard as I would any other day," Simpson said Sunday after doing just that.When youre hitting over .300, leading the league in homers, and a lock to knock in 100 runs, youre going to be in the heart of the MVP discussion. At 24 years old, Kris Bryant has put up these numbers going into the final month of the regular season, not only making his case for top value in 2016, but also making it known that he could be this productive for the next decade.Yet when you try and check his defensive box, you cant. Bryant is one of the best super-utility players of this era, playing multiple positions, each requiring a different skill set and preparation. It has made him an irreplaceable asset in the Chicago Cubs machine and set the tone for all of baseball to take notice of the power of versatility. Bryant is a utility player who isnt just there to give better players a day off. Hes a fixture in one of the best lineups in Major League Baseball.No matter how you slice Bryants stats, hes clearly playing at a superstar level, but his versatility gives him an edge in the MVP race that cant be discounted -- and might be historic.With baseball defenses shifting all over the field to account for hitting tendencies, you can award bonus points toward Bryants MVP case. He has left field, center field, right field, first base, shortstop and third base in the defensive section of his resume. With shifts, he is playing everywhere between those traditional defensive spots, too. According to Baseball Info Solutions, Bryant has at least break-even Defensive Runs Saved at every position he has played. Overall, with five Defensive Runs Saved, Bryant rates fairly well, 89th among all players regardless of position, according to ESPN Stats & Information. He also rates well in his positioning metrics, with the one exception of when balls are hit to his left and he is playing third base. And these days, positioning is every bit as important as skills.Bryant wont be in the Gold Glove conversation for any particular position (maybe this is the year we add utility to the Gold Glove?). Still, looking at Bryant only through this lens misses his true defensive value.If you look at the past 15 years of utility players -- those who played at least 10 games at three different positions, with at least 300 plate appearances -- Bryants 2016 WAR (7.6) ranks second, trailing only the 2009 season of teammate Ben Zobrist (8.6), according to Baseball Info Solutions and based on FanGraphs WAR totals. And we still have another month left in the season.Lets say youre not a big WAR fan as a case for MVP. Well, consider what Cubs manager Joe Maddon calls the hidden value in versatility. The analytics are now refined enough to track every ball and where theyve been hit off every pitcher. From this data, you can produce a weight representing the frequency at which a ball is hit to a certain position on the field, based on real historical evidence. When it comes to the infield, it makes sense to put your best defender where you can now project the majority of balls will be hit.Javier Baez is the Cubs best defensive infielder, so you want him to play where the mmost action is.dddddddddddd Defensively, because Bryant can move around, you can place Baez where he most benefits the overall defense. If Bryant was only a pure third baseman, you could not upgrade third base defensively without losing Bryants bat. Now you can keep Bryants bat and cover, with your best defender, the spot where most of the balls are projected to travel.Utility defense is nothing new to baseball -- the need to have someone on the roster who can play just about anywhere is a time-honored tradition -- but in the case of Bryant, youre adding a deadly bat. It is rare air to be a force offensively while providing so many defensive options for a manager. According to Elias, only once in the history of the MVP award has a winner played 10 or more games at three different positions. Johnny Bench, 1970 National League MVP, played more than 10 games at catcher, first base and left field.Playing a single position used to be an art form, signifying a ballplayer was uniquely suited to his specialty. But now, no infielder has a true position. Even a shortstop knows being called a shortstop may not provide any clue as to where hell physically be on any given play.The impact of Bryants versatility goes beyond defense. It is felt in pitching and bench depth. It reduces the need to use two players for any one move. Whomever pinch hits could play defense at the position of their strength, and Bryant can then just be moved to accommodate him. This can also help in a double switch.New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi expressed the pitching benefit of having a swing man like Bryant. I need that guy. ... It can allow me to carry an extra pitcher.Bryant is an everyday All-Star starter and a versatile bench player all wrapped up into one. Theres no need for a specialist on the bench for every situation, and having one fewer specialist on the bench gives the Cubs an extra arm -- especially beneficial for the playoffs, and before rosters expand in September.This is all outside the actual physical challenge Bryant is undertaking by playing multiple positions. To be up to speed from so many angles on the field, to learn the slices, hooks, dips and dives of a variety of positions both in the infield and in the outfield, and to do it well, is a skill. You must have game-ready knowledge of cut-offs and relays, double-play pivots, rundowns, scooping balls out of the dirt and playing balls off an ivy-covered brick wall. At times, Bryant is navigating all of this in the same game.It was often said during my career, particularly by legendary baseball sage Syd Thrift, Have bat, will travel. Your career goes only as far as your hitting, but now with Kris Bryant, we find that if you know how to use more than one glove while putting up offensive numbers, you -- and your team -- can go even further, and do so using fewer position players.Whether or not Bryant wins the NL MVP Award, to me, this is the very definition of value. ' ' '
