Dein erstes Forum » point lead shortly thereafter before Tim Hardaway

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Danica Patrick traditionally winds down each season with a series of interviews designed to reflect on the past year and look ahead at whats next for one of the most recognizable figures in sports. She deliberately left something out of her 2012 exit interviews, waiting until two days after the season ended to announce she was divorcing her husband after seven years of marriage. So as she relaxed earlier this month at Homestead-Miami Speedway in a motorhome parked near the bus boyfriend and fellow driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr., it was imperative to get the important stuff out of the way first: Was she planning any bombshell announcements in the next week? Pregnant? Engaged? "Pregnant? No. I can promise you not," Patrick laughed. "The other one? I dont know. Im the girl. It could be never, it could be tomorrow." Patrick, who disclosed two months after announcing her divorce that she and Stenhouse were dating, is open to getting married again. "I would, absolutely. I love love," she told The Associated Press in a wide-ranging interview. "But if Im getting married is not a question I know the answer to. Should we go get Ricky and you can ask him yourself?" This is the new Danica Patrick, who for most of her career has been viewed as guarded, even cold. She was light and playful as the sometimes scantily clad "GoDaddy Girl" in all those Super Bowl commercials, but she was strictly business at the race track, where she has struggled to put together results to match the hype. Patrick was, in all regards, an enigma. She spent five seasons driving for Michael Andretti in the IndyCar Series, and the team owner saw a seismic shift in Patrick as her superstar status exploded far beyond the small world of open-wheel racing. She began dabbling in NASCAR in 2010, and left Andretti behind when she made the full-time jump to stock cars in 2012. He has followed her from afar since, and thought he recognized Danica from simpler times when he saw her become the first woman in history to win the pole at the Daytona 500 earlier this year. "Now that her husbands out of there -- he was not a good influence on her, I can tell you that," Andretti said in March, two months after Patricks historic run at Daytona. "Thats when things went south with us when he started getting involved. He was very controlling. Had her think in funny ways. She was getting out of control. Her head was getting so big. You just couldnt talk to her. Im hoping shes coming back down to Earth a little bit." If Patrick needed to become more grounded, her two years in NASCAR have given her that, cowboy boots and all. Stenhouse, a Mississippi native whod never visited New York City before he began dating Patrick, has had a total transformation on the one-time diva in the designer heels. Asked how Stenhouse has changed her, she flips rapidly through her phone showing pictures of the couple at various country music concerts. Her taste in music has changed so much that Patrick will join Trace Adkins as co-host of the American Country Awards on Dec. 10. She watches dirt track racing, goes to Professional Bull Riding events and has taken up golf, improving from an inability to hit the ball to trash-talking with Stenhouse and confidently wagering with him there will come a day she will beat him on the links. "Id say I have a lot more fun doing a lot of different things," Patrick said. "Theres a lot more things that Ive tried for the first time this year and Im open to doing, whether its going skeet shooting or learning how to play golf. The fun weve had having our families here on the weekend, just having everybody stay on the buses and be with us. Its just been a great year." And that goes for the track, too, regardless of what the statistics show. Patrick finished 27th in the final Sprint Cup standings and lost the rookie battle to Stenhouse, who finished 19th. Although she completed 94.2 per cent of the laps, she finished on the lead lap in only 12 of 36 races. It wasnt the season anyone hoped for, particularly after Patrick became the first woman to lead laps in the Daytona 500. She wound up eighth when she failed to anticipate Jimmie Johnsons race-winning move and couldnt stop Dale Earnhardt Jr.s late-race jockeying for position. It was her only top-10 finish of the year. Although she is brutally hard on herself, team co-owner Tony Stewart believes Patrick did just fine this season. A broken right leg in August kept Stewart out of the car the final four months of the season and the three-time champion was able to evaluate Patrick firsthand. "I see room for improvement, but I see a lot of potential," he said, praising her attention to details, preparation, focus and communication with her crew. "I think she realizes to a certain degree she took a big bite doing this as early as she did, and I think everybodys judging of her, grading of her, I think you have to look at how much time shes really had in a stock car. The time shes been in a stock car, shes done a pretty good job. I value it for what it is, not necessarily the result at the end of the day." Patrick had just 10 Sprint Cup starts before this season, and 58 starts in the Nationwide Series, where the cars are heavier but have less horsepower. Stewart has seen that Patrick lacks confidence at the start of each race, and often needs to wait for her GoDaddy team to make the needed adjustments to her No. 10 Chevrolet to get comfortable. "Im not sure if shes so used to IndyCar and how it is, I think she struggles finding and knowing what to do to work around the problem," Stewart said. "As soon as they get it close for her, the pace comes up. But at the beginning, when everybodys cars arent driving well, we have to figure out how to get her more comfortable wrestling the car." Patrick knows exactly where and when she struggles, and blames inexperience. "When you need to get to the very limit of the car, especially when things are challenging, is when it shows up. Like first laps of practice, or qualifying, restarts, start of a green flag run -- all the things when you are testing the limit and having to be confident and know the limits. I dont know them yet, and Im not confident," she said. "When the car is right, its all good, I will gain spots. There is a big contrast in those moments." She is judged harshly by fans who look at her numbers, or see her running at the back of the field, and scoff at her presence in the Sprint Cup Series. They argue shes only with Stewart-Haas Racing because sponsor GoDaddy pays her tab, and she hasnt earned the right to race alongside 2014 teammates Stewart, Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch. "She doesnt read the comments at all," Stenhouse said. "Shes pretty hard on herself, she doesnt need to read it from anyone else." Stenhouse, the protective boyfriend and on-track competitor, has learned to tune out the critics and not focus on Patricks race. He said he will sometimes notice another driver racing her harder than necessary, but its not his problem and he does nothing but discuss it after with her. "Ill talk to her, but as far as confront them? No," he said. "Lets create an army," Patrick goaded. "Come on. Tony is on board. Kevin is on board. Kurt is on board. Its an army of awesome." "Huh?" Stenhouse said, wrinkling his forehead. "I mean, Ive got my own things to do out there." "Its fine," she replied. "Ill learn to fight my own fights out there. Ill learn how to take people out." Happier than shes ever been, personally and professionally, Patrick sees a bright 2014 ahead. As SHR expands to four cars and adds Harvick and Busch, she knows expectations will be even higher for her to perform. But with a year of experience, she hopes to meet new goals Stewart sets for her progress. In the meantime, shell travel to Las Vegas next week for the season-ending awards banquet, where shell play a supporting role as Stenhouse collects his Rookie of the Year title. The competitor in her isnt thrilled, and Patrick feigned a halfhearted cheer. "Im just kidding, babe," she smiled at Stenhouse, "Im extremely happy for you. You had to beat me." Cedi Osman Jersey . "I wasnt waving the pom-poms to be involved with it to start with," Carlyle said after a 5-2 win over Carolina on Sunday night. "Its been a trying time. "Specifically we havent played as well as wed like to hang our hat on. J.R. Smith Jersey . Durant had 33 points, 12 rebounds and six assists, hit the tying 3-pointer late in regulation and made the go-ahead foul shots in overtime to lift the Thunder past the Wizards 106-105. John Wall missed a driving layup attempt at the buzzer for Washington, which was seeking its third straight win. http://www.cavaliersbasketballpro.info/r...valiers-jersey/. On Thursday, they signed former Browns linebacker DQwell Jackson. Terms of the deal were not immediately available. Channing Frye Jersey . -- Ricky Romeros comeback bid hit another road bump Tuesday in an ugly 18-4 Jays loss to a Detroit Tigers split squad. LeBron James Jersey . I suppose Sternberg has earned the right to speak out since his Rays, despite one of the lowest payrolls in the Majors at $58 million, are entering the final weekend of the regular season holding down the first Wild Card spot in the American League, one game ahead of Cleveland and two up on Texas.New York, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Carmelo Anthony tallied 31 points to help the New York Knicks continue their improved play of late with a 100-92 victory over a short-handed Oklahoma City Thunder squad. Anthony, who sat out Saturdays game at Charlotte to rest his ailing left knee, added 10 rebounds in the Knicks fourth win in five outings since they lost a franchise-worst 16 in a row from Dec. 14-Jan. 15. Execution. I think thats what it came down to, Anthony said. Defensively, we have been locking in. While Anthony was back on the court, the Thunder played without reigning league MVP Kevin Durant for a second straight contest due to a sprained left toe. Russell Westbrook did all he could to offset Durants absence by pouring in 40 points, which still wasnt enough to prevent Oklahoma City from a potentially costly loss to one of the NBAs bottom-feeding teams. We just gave them too many opportunities, Westbrook said. They got a lot of offensive rebounds. (We) made some mistakes defensively. Langston Galloway chipped in 18 points for New York, while former Thunder forward Lance Thomas put up a season-best 17 against the team that traded him to the Knicks earlier this month. New York trailed 71-70 early in the fourth quarter and were clinging to a one- point lead shortly thereafter before Tim Hardaway Jr. nailed consecutive treys to jump-start an 8-0 run that staked the Knicks to an 82-73 advantage with six minutes left. Westbrook scored the next seven points to single-handedly close the gap, but New York countered with a back-breaking 10-0 sequence that Hardaway, who netted 11 of his 14 points in the final frame, capped with another triple thatt put the Knicks up 92-80 with 2:35 remaining.dddddddddddd. The Thunder put themselves in an early bind with a sloppy first quarter in which they turned it over eight times and were down 17-11 just over seven minutes in. Oklahoma City closed out the period on an 8-3 flurry to pull within one, however, and an 11-2 surge capped by Reggie Jacksons steal and run-out slam near the midway mark of the second gave the visitors a 32-24 lead. Anthony and Galloway then led the Knicks on a 13-4 run, with the latters triple with 3:08 to go in the half putting New York back in front. The Thunder answered on back-to-back buckets from Westbrook and Serge Ibaka, though, and went into the break owning a slim 45-43 edge. The game remained extremely tight throughout the third quarter, which featured six lead changes and neither team ahead by more than four points. A Dion Waiters 3-pointer with 41.2 seconds left sent the Thunder up by two, but Hardaway countered with a trey of his own on the other end to send the Knicks into the fourth holding a 68-67 lead. Game Notes Westbrook also had 40 points in a 115-111 Thunder loss to Portland on Dec. 23 ... The Thunder fell to 9-16 this season when Durant misses a game ... Jason Smith posted an 11-point, 11-rebound double-double for the Knicks, while Lou Amundson finished with 10 boards and four blocks in the win ... Oklahoma City had won the last three meetings between the teams by an average of 22.6 points ... Guard Jose Calderson also returned for New York after missing the Charlotte game with a bruised knee, recording eight assists in 27 minutes. 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