| Summary: | SPORTS 7 theconcordian.org • January 26, 2017 THE CONCORDIAN On-Campus Athletic Events Calendar Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Olson Forum: 6 a.m.- midnight Pool Hours Open swim: 7-11 p.m. Lap swim: 7-10 a.m. & 2:30- 4 p.m. Wrestling: 7 p.m. at St. John’s Women’s Basketball: 5:45 p.m. v. Augsburg Men’s Basketball: 7:45 p.m. v. Augsburg Olson Forum: 6 a.m.- midnight Pool Hours Open swim: 7-11 p.m. Lap swim: 7-10 a.m. & 2:30- 4 p.m. Men’s Basketball: 7 p.m. v. St. John’s (Minn.) Olson Forum: 6 a.m.- midnight Pool Hours Open swim: 7-11 p.m. Lap swim: 7-10 a.m. & 2:30- 4 p.m. Women’s Swim & Dive: 6 p.m. at Hamline Triangular Men’s Ice Hockey: 7 p.m. at Moorhead Sports Center Women’s Ice Hockey: 7 p.m. at Gust. Adolphus Olson Forum: 6 a.m.- midnight Pool Hours Open swim: 7-11 p.m. Lap swim: 7-10 a.m. & 2:30- 4 p.m. Men’s Track & Field: 12 p.m. Cobber Duals Women’s Swim & Dive: 12 p .m. at St. Catherine Women’s Basketball: 1 p.m. at St. Olaf’s More events online. Olson Forum: 6 a.m.- midnight Pool Hours Open swim: 7-11 p.m. Lap swim: 7-10 a.m. & 2:30- 4 p.m. Wrestling: 7 p.m. at Dickinson State Olson Forum: 6 a.m.- midnight Pool Hours Open swim: 2-10 p.m. Lap swim: 7-10 a.m. & 2:30- 4 p.m. Olson Forum: 6 a.m.- midnight Pool Hours Open swim: 7-11 p.m. Lap swim: 7-10 a.m. & 2:30- 4 p.m. They’re Back: Brady and Patriots win AFC, 36-17 vs Steelers FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — The Tom Brady redemption tour is headed to the Super Bowl. After beginning the 2016 season suspended for four games for his role in the "Deflategate" scandal, the New England quarterback relentlessly carried the Patriots to an unprecedented ninth appearance in the title game, and his seventh. Brady threw for a franchise playoff-best 384 yards and three touchdowns in a 36-17 rout of the helpless Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday in New England's sixth consecutive AFC championship game. The Patriots, who have won nine in a row, are early 3-point favorites heading to face Atlanta in two weeks in Houston, seeking their fifth NFL title with Brady at quarterback and Bill Belichick as coach. Belichick's seventh appearance in a Super Bowl will be a record for a head coach. Brady was banned by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell when New England (16-2) went 3-1 to open the schedule. Since his return in Week 5, the only defeat came at home to Seattle, and Brady, 39, had one of the best seasons of a Hall of Fame-caliber career. He punctuated that in dreary weather similar to the 2014 conference title game that precipitated the deflated footballs investigation by flattening Pittsburgh's secondary. "This is my motivation right here, all these fellas in front of me, these guys," Brady said, pointing to his teammates and ignoring mentions of "Deflategate." ''The boys showed up to play today." Brady's main weapon was Chris Hogan. The previously unheralded receiver found open spaces everywhere on the field against a leaky secondary. Hogan caught nine balls for 180 yards and two scores. "It's been a long journey, but I've worked really hard to get to this point," said the product of Monmouth — yes, Monmouth. "I couldn't be happier to get to be a part of this thing, this team — this whole thing." Top wideout Julian Edelman added eight receptions for 118 yards and a touchdown as Brady tied Joe Montana's playoff record with nine three-TD passing performances. Brady also had his 11th 300-yard postseason game, extending his NFL record, completing 32 of 42 throws. "We won a lot of different ways under a lot of different circumstances," Brady said. "Mental toughness is what it is all about and this team has got it. We'll see if we can write the perfect ending." The ending for Pittsburgh (13-6) was anything but perfect. It lost star running back Le'Veon Bell late in the first quarter to a groin injury. That didn't seem to matter much in a record 16th conference title match for the Steelers, who made mistakes in every facet of Sunday's game. The 19-point loss ended their nine-game winning streak The franchise that has won the most Super Bowls, six, and the most postseason games, 36, never seemed likely to challenge in the misty rain. "We've got to be capable of overcoming those things," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. "Injuries and so forth are part of the game. The reality is we didn't make enough plays in any of the three phases. The game kind of unfolded in the way they would like it to as opposed to the way we would like it to. Not only in score, but in style of play and so forth. We didn't get a lot accomplished tonight." Hogan's second touchdown came on a flea-flicker and he easily beat safety Mike Mitchell to the corner of the end zone. At that point, Hogan had seven catches for 117 yards and the first multi-touchdown game of his four-year career. His first score made it 10-0 and came after Brady could have taken a nap before throwing, a common occurrence against a nonexistent pass rush. Hogan was all alone in the back of the end zone for the 16-yard score. Pittsburgh had drawn to 10-6 on DeAngelo Williams' 5-yard run to cap an 84-yard drive. Veteran Williams is a nice security blanket in the backfield, though he's no Bell these days. Still, he contributed on a 70-yard drive toward the end of the second quarter that appeared to be capped by Jesse James' TD reception. But video review showed James down at the 1, and the Steelers couldn't get into the end zone, Chris Boswell connecting for a 23-yard field goal. The Steelers never threatened to get back into it. LeGarrette Blount punctuated the romp with a bruising 18-yard run on which he carried nearly the entire Pittsburgh defense with him. He then scored from the 1. By the end, the crowd was chanting "Where is Roger?" and celebrating yet another Super Bowl trip for the Patriots. Soon after, tight end Martellus Bennett was boogeying with the cheerleaders, pompoms in hand , and owner Robert Kraft was accepting the Lamar Hunt Trophy. "For a number of reasons, all of you in this stadium understand how big this win was," Kraft said. "And we have to go to Houston and win one more." PATRIOT GAMES The Patriots are 6-1 in conference championship games played at home and 9-4 overall. Belichick and Brady have won 24 playoff games together, most in league history by a head coach and starting quarterback. No other coach-QB combo has even participated in that many postseason games together. . Brady's 24 playoff wins are the most by a starting quarterback in league history. BIG LEG Stephen Gostkowski's 31-yard field goal to open the scoring set a franchise record with 27, surpassing Adam Vinatieri's 26. Gostkowski is fourth all-time. He made a 47-yarder in the third quarter, a 26-yarder in the fourth, but he missed an extra point. Boswell, who set an NFL mark with six field goals in the Steelers' 18-16 win at Kansas City last week, missed an extra point wide left and made a 23-yard kick. INJURIES Steelers: Bell's early departure left him with 20 yards on six carries and no receptions. Patriots: DB Nate Ebner left with a head injury. SUNDAY WALKS IN THE PARK The previous time before Sunday that both conference championship games were decided by at least 19 points was the 1978 season. The Falcons beat the Packers 44-21 for the NFC title. UP NEXT After winning the AFC East with the conference's top record, New England defeated the Texans 34-16 and the Steelers to reach Super Bowl 51 in Houston on Feb. 5; New England won the 2002 and 2005 Super Bowls after beating Pittsburgh for the AFC championship. NEW YORK (AP) — Whether it’s to plan for their future once basketball is done, promote healthy living or just to have some fun, WNBA players such as Sue Bird and Maya Moore are getting involved in the food industry. The key is to do it with people they trust. Bird has invested in restaurants in the Northeast for over a decade, getting started when UConn coach Geno Auriemma presented the opportunity for his former players to buy into his place at the Mohegan Sun. “Coach Auriemma’s restaurant is a well-oiled machine,” Bird said. “He has great people working for him and it seemed like a natural fit.” His Mohegan Sun restaurant has photos of UConn players all over the place, with sandwiches and meals named after those former Huskies greats. From there, Bird branched out when a family friend, Dylan Welsh, was looking for co-investors for a few restaurants in the Boston area — Welsh’s Five Horse Taverns. “My dad and I got involved as we totally trusted Dylan,” Bird said. “If we didn’t know him as well as we did having lived across the street from him for so many years, we probably wouldn’t have gotten involved.” The Seattle Storm guard tries to stop by the restaurants when she’s in town, although she admits for now she’s mostly a silent investor. “When I get older and I’m done playing, who knows?” Bird said of getting more involved when she retires. “For right now, it’s a nice check, definitely.” Alana Beard and Marissa Coleman are taking a more hands-on approach than Bird. The pair bought into their first food franchise last year, a Mellow Mushroom pizza restaurant in Virginia. Ever since Coleman was a rookie with the Washington Mystics, the duo spoke about life after basketball. Coleman had a teammate at Maryland whose father owned several Domino’s franchises in the area. So when Beard and Coleman were ready, he brought them in to the Mellow Mushroom franchise. “We are all part-owners and are using this as an apprenticeship to learn every aspect of the company to open our own in the next three years,” Beard said. “He’s been such a valuable resource for us helping us through this process.” Beard spent a lot of time, after helping Los Angeles win the WNBA championship this past fall, learning the ins and outs of the business, even learning how to make the pizzas. Having a mentor has really helped. “I don’t like to make mistakes, but when this opportunity came, I jumped on it because it was the perfect situation,” Beard said. “Mr. Waller has 30 years of business experience and is someone who has gone through it. It takes the risk factor down tremendously and we can learn at our own pace and feel comfortable to open up our own. Beard got a firsthand look at franchising in 2010 when she spent three months as an intern at Jamba Juice’s executive development program. “It’s funny, I always dreamed that I wanted to own a smoothie place and when I was at Duke I thought it would be Smoothie King,” Beard recalled. “That time I spent at Jamba Juice was huge. Maybe down the road I’ll own one of those, too.” Unlike Bird, Beard and Coleman, Angel McCoughtry is going out on her own, opening an ice cream shop in Atlanta this spring. “It started two years ago, I eat ice cream all the time,” McCoughtry said. “It’s harder than I thought originally, but it’s so worth it.” McCoughtry will have more free time on her hands than Beard and Coleman to get the store up and running. She announced earlier this month that she would be taking some time off from the WNBA season to rest her body after playing year-round since graduating from Louisville in 2009. “I’ll be involved as much as I can outside of basketball,” she said. “We’re going to do a truck as well and hit all the festivals and events in Atlanta. I’m going to be hands on.” McCoughtry said she was lactose intolerant growing up and wanted to make sure she had ice cream for people who couldn’t normally enjoy the frozen treat. Moore found her own love of a dessert in Chloe’s Fruit. Like most pro athletes, the Minnesota Lynx star has always been health conscious of what food she eats. That’s why she’s become involved with the soft-serve fruit. “I was originally introduced to Chloe’s Fruit by a friend. I thought it was such a great-tasting product,” Moore said. “On top of it, it’s guilt-free, so that’s what attracted me to it. I think in the time we live in with people starting to really invest in the health category in general, it’s important.” So she became an investor. Moore said for her, it’s so important to believe in the product first before making any kind of financial investment. She also has a stake in Beyond Meat, a company that makes plant-based protein. “I think from early on in my career, I wanted to be someone who promotes health and wellness and nutrition,” Moore said. “These two companies definitely fit all those things.” Coleman and Beard both had advice for other WNBA players who may want to get into the food business. “Make sure you do your homework and start out with people you know,” Coleman said. “And most importantly, get involved with something you like.” WNBA players starting to invest in food industry
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