Fragen hier her » ostons Dustin Pedroia had hits in 11 straight at-bats,

The Ring Magazine is making Muhammad Ali its 1966 Fighter of the Year, a half-century after refusing to give him the award because of his disapproval of the draft for the Vietnam War and connection with the Nation of Islam.The boxing magazine said it was righting a wrong by retroactively naming the late heavyweight great as the best fighter of 1966.The editors at that time obviously felt strongly that Ali, while succeeding in the ring, didnt meet other criteria they deemed important, said Michael Rosenthal, the magazines editor-in-chief. But we can see the injustice by todays standards even if we take issue with some of things Ali said and did.Ali won all five of his fights in 1966 and did so in impressive fashion. He was at the peak of his career, which was soon to be interrupted for three years while he fought courts over his refusal to be drafted.But the magazine declined to name a fighter of the year for only the second time, saying Ali -- who Ring called by his former name, Cassius Clay -- did not meet the moral criteria for the award.Most emphatically is Cassius Clay, of Louisville, Ky., not to be held up as an example to the youngsters of the United States, wrote Dan Daniel, a co-founder of the magazine, at the time.Ali would later have his conscientious objector status upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court and resumed fighting in 1970. He was named the magazines fighter of the year in 1972, 1974, 1975 and 1978 along with his original award in 1963.Ali died in June at age 74 after years of battling Parkinsons.The story on the retroactive award, as well as the original 1967 story, will be in Rings March 2017 issue. Mitchell Trubisky Womens Jersey . It was just business as usual for the Thunder at home. Durant scored 32 points and the Thunder beat the Bulls 107-95 on Thursday night for their eighth straight win. Dan Hampton Youth Jersey . -- The Sacramento Kings are set to become the first major professional sports franchise to accept Bitcoin virtual currency for ticket and merchandise purchases. https://www.bearssportsgoods.com/Womens-David-Montgomery-Inverted-Jersey/ . Perhaps Carroll was so prepared for a break because he believes there is very little the Seattle Seahawks need heading into the off-season. "I dont see anything that we need to add. We just have to get better," Carroll said. Jim McMahon Youth Jersey . "Trying to breathe," he said with a grin. Bernier stopped 42 of 43 shots on Monday night, including all 22 in a hectic middle frame, his heroic performance propelling the Leafs toward an undue point in their final game before the Christmas break. Ha Ha Clinton-Dix Jersey .C. -- Chris Thorburn thinks one of the reasons the Winnipeg Jets have been successful under new coach Paul Maurice is that theyre playing together as a team. Of the 30 teams in the major leagues, 18 are either in playoff position or within 3 1/2 games of a spot.Thats enough to give a lot of fans hope down the stretch -- but theres a catch.The more contenders there are in a postseason race, the harder it is for any one team to emerge. Take a look at the American Leagues second wild card, for example: Right now, Baltimore leads that race and Detroit is only two games back, but according to the playoff probabilities at Fangraphs.com , the Orioles have only a 43 percent chance to reach the postseason, and the Tigers are at 36 percent.Thats partly because there are so many other teams (the Astros, Mariners, Royals and even the Yankees) still within striking distance. Aside from the clear division leaders like the Cubs, Nationals and Rangers, nobody should feel all that great about their situation right now.Its easy for teams to stay optimistic if they arent that far from a playoff spot, but the games-back column can be a bit of an illusion. The New York Mets are only 2 1/2 games behind St. Louis for the second wild card in the National League -- hardly a daunting deficit with over a month to play. But the Marlins and Pirates are in between, meaning New York also has to worry about outperforming those other teams over these next few weeks.Fangraphs gives the Mets a 19-percent chance to make it. That 2 1/2-game margin is certainly surmountable, but a lot will have to go right for New York to return to the postseason.Here are a few other developments from around baseball:ON A TEARYankees rookie Gary Sanchez is hitting .405 with 11 homers in 222 games this season.dddddddddddd. Sanchez entered Sundays game already leading his teams position players in wins above replacement (WAR) on the year, according to Baseball-Reference.com.Over half (19 of 34) of Sanchezs hits have gone for extra bases this season. After the Yankees were sellers at the non-waiver trade deadline, Sanchez is just what they needed to hold New Yorks attention for at least a little while longer.ON A TEAR, PART IIBostons Dustin Pedroia had hits in 11 straight at-bats, coming within one of the major league record. He grounded into a double play in his final at-bat Saturday night.It takes a lot for a full-time player to move the needle on his batting average at this stage in the season, but Pedroias went up from .306 to .320 over his past three games. Hes hitting .398 in August, albeit with no homers.FANTASY FOCUSWith September call-ups looming, keep an eye on top prospect Yoan Moncada of Boston. If he gets a chance to play with the Red Sox, his speed could be an immediate fantasy asset.LINE OF THE WEEKMatt Moore of San Francisco came within one out of a no-hitter before giving up a single to Corey Seager of the Dodgers in the ninth inning Thursday night. He was pulled immediately after that hit, but his 133-pitch effort was still a highlight this past week.Honorable mention goes to Torontos Josh Donaldson, whose three-homer game Sunday had fans throwing hats onto the field.---Follow Noah Trister at www.Twitter.com/noahtrister ' ' '