But now the Titans have decided on a starting quarterback as well, as head coach Mike Munchak will go with second-year pro Jake Locker, according to The Tennesseean's Jim Wyatt. Locker was the eighth overall pick in the 2011 NFL draft out of the University of Washington and was battling 14-year veteran Matt Hasselbeck for the starting job in training camp.

Hasselbeck started all 16 games last year as the Titans went 9-7, while Locker saw action in five games, notably relieving Hasselbeck in a Week 14 contest against the Saints and almost springing the upset. Down five points, the Titans had the ball at the Saints' five-yard line with five seconds remaining, but Locker could not get a throw off, as he was sacked by Jo-Lonn Dunbar to end the game. All told, in five games, Locker completed 34 of 66 passes for 542 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions.

Now the 24-year-old Locker will have a longer opportunity to prove himself. That begins against a Patriots pass defense that allowed 4,704 yards last season, the second-highest single-season total in league history.

One tradition at Augusta National Golf Club, however, will change when the club opens for a new season in October and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and South Carolina financier Darla Moore become the first female members in the club's 79-year history.

Augusta National had long drawn criticism for its outdated policy on admitting women. The organization did not accept its first black member until 1990.

Club chairman Billy Payne said the admittance of Rice and Moore is "a joyous occasion." Women have been allowed to play the course as guests of members in the past, but Rice and Moore will face no restrictions when they become official members in October.

"These accomplished women share our passion for the game of golf, and both are well-known and respected by our membership," Payne said in a statement. "It will be a proud moment when we present Condoleezza and Darla their green jackets when the club opens this fall. This is a significant and positive time in our club's history and, on behalf of our membership, I wanted to take this opportunity to welcome them and all of our new members into the Augusta National family."

Photos via Facebook/We Support Darla Moore and Condoleezza Rice

The Associated Press released its preseason college football poll Saturday, and the Trojans edged defending national champion Alabam for the top spot, garnering 25 first-place votes to the Crimson Tide's 17.

USC returns Heisman contender Matt Barkley at quarterback and will receive a boost at running back with the addition of transfer Silas Redd from Penn State. Redd rushed for 1,241 yards and seven touchdowns last season for the Nittany Lions, but transferred because of the penalties imposed on Penn State by the NCAA.

USC finished 10-2 (7-2 Pac-12) last season, which would have been good enough to win the Pac-12 South had the Trojans not been banned from the postseason following the Reggie Bush scandal.

Though Alabama lost top defenders Mark Barron, Courtney Upshaw and Dont'a Hightower to the NFL, it's still stocked with talent on that side of the ball, and the Crimson Tide return quarterback A.J. McCarron, who completed 66.8 percent of his passes last year while leading the team to its second national championship in three years.

LSU, who lost last year's BCS title game to Alabama, came in third with 16 first-place votes. LSU topped the preseason USA Today coaches' poll, but star cornerback and return man Tyrann Mathieu was booted from the team on Aug. 10, likely impacting the Tigers' spot in the AP poll.

Oklahoma was fourth while Pac-12 and Rose Bowl champion Oregon enters the season ranked fifth. Georgia, Florida State, Michigan, South Carolina and Arkansas round out an SEC-heavy top 10.

The season is set to begin on Aug. 30, with a slate of 17 games highlighted by No. 9 South Carolina's visit to Vanderbilt. UMass also travels to East Harford, Conn. for its first game as an FBS program against Connecticut.

The first full Saturday of games is Sept. 1, as No. 2 Alabama faces No. 8 Michigan in Arlington in the Cowboys Classic.

Check out the full Top 25 below (first-place votes in parentheses).

1. USC (25)
2. Alabama (17)
3. LSU (16)
4. Oklahoma (1)
5. Oregon
6. Georgia
7. Florida State
8. Michigan (1)
9. South Carolina
10. Arkansas
11. West Virginia
12. Wisconsin
13. Michigan State
14. Clemson
15. Texas
16. Virginia Tech
17. Nebraska
18. Ohio State
19. Oklahoma State
20. Texas Christian
21. Stanford
22. Kansas State
23. Florida
24. Boise State
25. Louisville

Because that is the only reason why Scott would predict that Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez will break into the ranks of the NFL's top 10 passers in 2012. Before last season, Manning famously declared that he considered himself to be in the same class as Tom Brady and backed it up with a Super Bowl win over Brady's Patriots in February. Now, Scott is hoping that his proclamation will ring true for another New York quarterback.

The problem is that, save for a similar problem with interceptions, Sanchez is not in Manning's class — and he won't be among the league's top 10 quarterbacks this fall.

That's not to say that there haven't been positive signs for Sanchez supporters — his touchdowns thrown, completion percentage and yardage totals have all increased in each of his three seasons in the league — but rather that there are too many good passers for Sanchez to leapfrog if he is to join the upper echelon of NFL quarterbacks.

The last nine Super Bowls have been won by six quarterbacks — Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers. It's hard to see Sanchez being better than any of them in 2012 unless Peyton Manning's neck and arm don't hold up.

Then you compare Sanchez with the next tier of NFL QBs — guys like Matthew Stafford, Tony Romo, Matt Ryan, Philip Rivers and Matt Schaub — and it's pretty apparent that Sanchez probably doesn't belong in that discussion either. Though Sanchez has had success in the playoffs, winning four road playoff games against the likes of Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, it's fair to think that the other members of this group could have accomplished what Sanchez did with the Jets' defense backing them up.

That's eleven guys already, and we haven't even mentioned Cam Newton, Michael Vick, Jay Cutler or rookies Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III. Could Sanchez be better than some of these guys in 2012? Maybe. But it would take quite an improvement for him to play better all of these players and two guys from the groups above.

One thing that indicates Sanchez may indeed improve this season is his rising completion percentage, which has gone from 53.8 percent as a rookie to 56.7 last season. Accuracy is tremendously important in today's NFL, and though Sanchez ranked just 28th in the league in completion percentage last season — again showing that he still has work to do — the fact that he has continued to improve is encouraging.

However, simply improving on that one stat will do little to quiet Sanchez's critics. The biggest thing the 25-year-old needs to work on right now is his consistency. Last season, Sanchez looked great in completing 26 of 44 passes for 335 yards and two touchdowns in a season-opening victory over Dallas. But with the Jets closing in on a playoff spot late in the season, Sanchez faltered badly, throwing seven interceptions over the final three games, all Jets losses.

Sanchez had interceptions in 12 of the Jets' 16 games last season, with multiple interceptions in five of them. Only four players threw more picks last year than Sanchez's 18. Clearly, that is another area in which Sanchez has struggled.

Of course, Sanchez could silence his critics by getting the Jets over the hump and taking them to their first Super Bowl since 1969. It's not an unreasonable thought, as Sanchez has already taken New York to two AFC Championship Games, but it's becoming more and more important to have an elite passer in today's NFL.

Consider that the only quarterbacks to have reached the Super Bowl over the last five years were the six quarterbacks on that first list, plus the retired Kurt Warner, who was a pretty fair player in his own right. It's nearly impossible to get to the Big Game with a subpar quarterback these days (2006 Chicago Bears excepted), so to even reach the Super Bowl, Sanchez will likely have to play at an elite level.

Unfortunately for Jets fans, Sanchez's performance over the last three seasons has not suggested that he will be able to jump even into the league's top 10 quarterbacks, let alone the elite club of quarterbacks who have taken their team to a Super Bowl

The fact of the matter is that, in 47 regular season starts Sanchez has shown to be, at best, a league-average quarterback. Even if he were to improve from last season, there are too many quality passers in the NFL for Sanchez to justifiably rank in the top 10.

Sanchez had better hope that he plays better in 2012, though, if not for the Jets' sake, than for his own. Tim Tebow awaits.

But Seguin had a message for another young lady on Wednesday: Needham’s Aly Raisman, who just returned to Massachusetts after winning two golds and a bronze at the London Olympics as a member of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team.

Seguin, 20, said the 18-year-old Raisman’s performance in London was “incredible” and that he was surprised that she responded to him after he tweeted Raisman his congratulations following the team all-around final on July 31.

According to Raisman’s Olympic profile, the Bruins are her favorite sports team, so she will no doubt be rooting for Seguin and Co. if and when the Bruins return to action this fall. Check out the video below to see Seguin’s message for Raisman.

But while you will get reasons touting each athlete's superiority — Phelps supporters point to his 18 gold medals, while Bolt backers argue, correctly, that track and field has never seen someone like Bolt — in reality it's impossible to compare the two Olympians.

Phelps competes in a sport that offers more opportunities for medals than any other. On a team with strong relays, like the United States, the right swimmer has the opportunity to medal in eight or more events. Indeed, Phelps has twice taken home eight medals in a single Olympics.

For Bolt to do the same would require him to add five events to his current schedule. Even if he were to add the long jump, an event he's never done, the 400 meters and the 4×400 meter relay — which would be almost impossible considering the amount of heats involved and the fact that sprinters recover slower than swimmers — he'd still be two events short of Phelps. Since Bolt is unlikely to take up the shot put any time soon, the chances of him ever catching up to Phelps in the medal camp are slim.

Yet, despite his record medal haul, Phelps has never exuded the same air of invincibility as Bolt. He was certainly favored in many of the events in which he won gold medals, but he has had his share of close calls, in particular his 0.01-second victory over Serbia's Milorad Cavic in the 100 meter butterfly in Beijing.

Bolt, on the other hand, has never been involved in a close race in a major final since he burst onto the scene at the 2008 Olympics. He won both the 100 and 200 handily in world-record times in Beijing and followed that up with even more dominant victories at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, again breaking both world records. He won the 200 at worlds last year, and has also been part of the victorious 4×100 meter relay squad at each of the last three global championships, setting two world records along the way.

Bolt faced doubts entering London after losing to countryman Yohan Blake at the Jamaican Olympic trials, but Blake is no joke, as he's the second-fastest man in history at 200 meters, behind only Bolt. Those doubts proved to be unfounded, though, as Bolt handily dispatched all comers in both the 100 and 200 in London.

All of this, combined with his unthinkable world records — unheard of times of 9.58 seconds for the 100 and 19.19 second for the 200 — makes Bolt an almost mythical figure. There has been another Michael Phelps — his name was Mark Spitz — but there has never been another Usain Bolt.

However, this does not necessarily mean that Bolt is the "greater" Olympian. Bolt has won every event available to him in two Olympics, but should Phelps be penalized for adding events to his schedule that he knows he is not guaranteed to win in order to pursue a record medal haul?

Questions like these are why there will never be an answer to the Bolt-Phelps debate. Even if we could agree on what criteria constitutes "the greatest" — and that seems impossible — how can we compare two athletes in two sports with such different structures? Olympic swimming is about swimming as many events as possible, cleaning up in your specialty and hoping everything breaks right in the relays. Track and field athletes only run one, sometimes two individual events, and only the sprinters run in relays.

Someone like Al Oerter never gets mentioned in the conversation with Bolt or Phelps because he only competed in one event, the discus throw. Never mind that Oerter dominated the event for over a decade, winning four straight gold medals in an era before the world championships. Oerter shouldn't be penalized for having one elite skill; greatness is greatness.

So when we're looking at athletes like Bolt and Phelps, let's just agree that both are once-in-a-generation talents that are the best at what they do. It's not that it doesn't matter who's better — we just have no way of determining the answer.

Photos via Facebook/Usain Bolt: 2012 Is Here and Facebook/Michael Phelps Fans

A brawl broke out during a Jets practice session on Thursday after defensive back D’Anton Lynn shoved running back Joe McKnight out of bounds after McKnight caught a pass, according to New York Daily News’ Manish Mehta. McKnight responded by throwing a football at Lynn and charging him and was promptly tackled to the ground by Lynn.

Over 20 players got involved in the scrum, which eventually had to be broken up by head coach Rex Ryan. The Jets probably expected better from Lynn, who is the son of running backs coach Anthony Lynn.

Check out a video clip of the end of the fight below, as well New York Daily News Jets beat writer Manish Mehta’s account of the brawl.

[View the story "Jets' Joe McKnight and D'Anton Lynn Brawl During Practice" on Storify]

Thumbnail screen grab courtesy of Telly/Seth Walder

Sure, the Uptons are among the best brothers in sports today — the Sedins, Gasols and Mannings also come to mind — but where do they rank among athletic brothers all time?

Brothers have a long history in baseball, with the DiMaggios (Joe, Dom and Vince) and Alous (Felipe, Jesus and Matty) among the most famous. There have also been several successful sets of brothers in the NHL, with the Sutters (Brent, Brian, Darryl, Duane, Rich and Ron), Espositos (Phil and Tony) and Richards (Maurice and Henri) setting the standard in that department.

And then there are brothers like Jackie and Mack Robinson, who excelled in different sports — Jackie as an MLB Hall of Famer, Mack as an Olympic silver medal-winning sprinter.

Which sets of siblings made the cut? Check out the link below.

Click here to take a look at the Top 10 sets of brothers in professional sports>>

Photo via Facebook/Alejandro Tarango

Several members of the U.S. men's basketball team were at the Olympic Stadium to watch Bolt's performance in person, while millions more watched on television sets and computer screens around the world.

The U.S. women's gymnastics team struck a Bolt pose in London on Saturday, and Bolt even got a shoutout from his training partner — also the 100-meter silver medalist — Yohan Blake after the race.

Check out the tweets below to see what the world's top athletes had to say about Bolt's big day.

[View the story "Usain Bolt's Olympic Record in the 100 Meters Prompts Hail of Tweets from World of Sports" on Storify]

Photo via Twitter/iamwenlock

Glenn Gronkowski, the youngest of the family's five brothers and an incoming freshman on the Kansas State football team, tweeted a couple of pictures Friday of his new haircut — likely the work of some of his Wildcats teammates (Rob Gronkowski's trimmings at least go to charity).

Glenn may one day join his brothers Chris, Dan and Rob in the NFL, but for now he's just a freshman with a bad haircut. Check out the pictures of Glenn's new 'do below.

Photos via Twitter/ggronko

But the team faltered badly down the stretch, losing 11 of its next 12 en route to a 19-43 finish that dropped the Pirates to fourth in the NL Central, 24 games behind first-place Milwaukee.

No playoffs. No winning season. No progress.

You can’t help but compare last year’s Pirates squad to this year’s bunch, who, at 60-44, have a four-game cushion in the NL wild card standings. But whereas last year’s success seemed like more of a fluke than anything, there are concrete reasons for the 2012 version’s success. Andrew McCutchen has played like an MVP, racking up an absurd line of a .373 batting average, .432 on-base percentage and .632 slugging percentage while Pedro Alvarez, the No. 2 pick in the 2008 draft, is finally living up to his potential with 21 home runs.

The pitching has been solid, too, as former castoffs James McDonald and A.J. Burnett — given up on by the Dodgers and Yankees, respectively — have been formidable at the top of the rotation. New addition Wandy Rodriguez figures to provide a boost as well.

There’s no doubt that the Pirates are better positioned to succeed this season, but if they cannot hold on and claim a playoff berth, then 2012 will end the same way 2011 did — as a failure.

Pittsburgh’s offense has raked so far in the second half, but take away McCutchen, Neil Walker and Garrett Jones, and no Pirate regular has an average above .235 or an OBP above .297. There’s no guarantee that any Pirate apart from McCutchen will continue to hit in 2013 or beyond, and with the current composition of the pitching staff, Pittsburgh will need to have an above-average offense to contend in the future. Even if phenom Gerrit Cole lands in the bigs next season, there’s no guarantee that he’ll be effective right away.

That’s why it’s so critical for the Pirates to seize the opportunity at hand. They have one of the game’s best players and play in a beautiful ballpark, and their fans would like nothing better than to be watching playoff baseball come October. But if Pittsburgh blows its four-game lead in the wild card, they will have shown that they still cannot conquer their biggest problem from 2011: the inability to play an entire season (Red Sox fans might know a thing or two about that, too).

The Pirates are not the Nationals, a team with a great young core poised to contend for several years. They’re a team on the knife’s edge — a successful 2012 could pave the way for the future, but another collapse could be a killer for a team that hasn’t seen success of any kind in 20 years.

The good news for Pirates fans is that Pittsburgh is far better prepared to sustain its early momentum in 2012 than it was in 2011. Even better, McCutchen is signed to a team-friendly contract through 2018.

However, when measuring a team’s progress, one of the most important indicators is whether a team has corrected its problems from the year before. Pittsburgh was in good position to make the playoffs in 2011. So, should they miss the playoffs — again — the Pirates cannot consider 2012 anything but a failure.

Editor's note: The temperature gauge is a Bill James-created statistic that measures how hot or cold hitters are. We will spotlight Red Sox and opposing team temperatures on game days.

Six hits in his last four games — including home runs in his last two — make Dustin Pedroia the Red Sox' hottest hitter heading into Saturday's matchup with the Yankees. Pedroia may run into some trouble against Yankees starter CC Sabathia however, as he is hitting just .229 (8-for-35) with 13 strikeouts against the big lefty in his career.

The top hitter in Friday night's game — a 10-3 Yankee win — was undoubtedly Bombers center fielder Curtis Granderson, who went 3-for-5 with a double and a grand slam. Granderson enters Saturday hitting just .253 on the season, but his power numbers are formidable, with 28 home runs and a .520 slugging percentage. Mark Teixeira is also among the Yankees' hottest hitters, and though he was just 1-for-3 in the series opener, he made productive outs, driving in runs with a groundout in the first inning and a sacrifice fly in the third.

Robinson Cano is also putting together another fine season in pinstripes, with his traditional second-half surge in full effect. Since June 5, Cano is hitting .362 with 14 home runs a 1.072 OPS in 46 games. He went 2-for-5 at the plate on Friday.

Carl Crawford, the coldest Red Sox regular, will not start Saturday's game. The Red Sox have lost six of seven to New York this season and have allowed 59 runs in those games.

Here are the Red Sox and Yankees temperatures for July 28.

Red Sox

Dustin Pedroia 88
Will Middlebrooks 74
Nick Punto 72
Pedro Ciriaco 71
Jacoby Ellsbury 70
Adrian Gonzalez 68
Ryan Sweeney 67
Jarrod Saltalamacchia 64
Kelly Shoppach 63
Cody Ross 61
Daniel Nava 60
Mike Aviles 54
Carl Crawford 51

Yankees

Curtis Granderson 82
Robinson Cano 77
Mark Teixeira 76
Derek Jeter 75
Russell Martin 73
Ichiro Suzuki 71
Jayson Nix 68
Chris Stewart 68
Nick Swisher 65
Raul Ibanez 62
Eric Chavez 61
Andruw Jones 48

Even if the Angels can overcome a four-game deficit and catch the Texas Rangers in the American League West — thereby avoiding a one-game wild card playoff — their fate will likely be determined by how well they are playing in late September and October, not by what they've accomplished during the rest of the season. In baseball — and indeed, in every American pro league — regular-season success is becoming less and less important, with any team capable of getting hot and winning it all once the postseason rolls around.

Just look at the most recent champions in the four major sports. The St. Louis Cardinals clinched the National League wild card on the final day of the season last year and entered the playoffs with the worst record of the eight playoff teams. But they upset the Phillies — who led all of baseball with 102 wins last season — as well as the Brewers and Rangers en route to a surprising World Series title.

Like the Cardinals, the New York Giants had to wait until the season's final day to clinch their spot in the NFL playoffs. They went just 9-7 in the regular season, with two losses to the lowly Redskins. But they were a different team in the playoffs, dominating the Falcons 24-2 in the wild card round before routing the seemingly invincible 15-1 Packers 37-20 on the road in the divisional round. We all know what happened from there.

The Los Angeles Kings may be one of the unlikeliest champs in any pro sport in American history, entering the playoffs as the Western Conference's eighth seed before reeling off a dominating 16-4 postseason run to win their first Stanley Cup.

And even the Miami Heat — who were one of the favorites to win the NBA title before the season began — only finished with the league's fourth-best regular-season record.

The play of the Giants and Kings, in particular, demonstrated how meaningless regular-season records truly are. New York looked like a completely different team in the postseason, and though it played close games in the NFC Championship Game and Super Bowl, it looked downright dominant in its first two playoff games. If you asked someone who only watched the Stanley Cup playoffs who the NHL's best team was, they would say the Kings, without hesitation. Yet that team bore little resemblance to its regular-season self.

But back to baseball, since that's where this discussion started. In the wild card era (since 1995), the team with the top regular-season record has won the World Series just three times. The Phillies finished with the best record in each of the past two seasons but have no World Series appearances to show for it. Yet they did manage a title in 2008, when they finished with just the fifth-best record in the majors.

The point of all this is to show that a seven-game series is no indication of which team is truly better. It's not a huge problem as far as determining a champion is concerned — a seven-game series is fair to both sides, which is the biggest requirement of a championship event — but it's simply too small a sample size to make a judgment on who is the better team.

Adding Greinke was a great move for the Angels and will particularly hurt division rival Texas, which was looking to bolster its rotation following a spate of injuries, including the loss of Colby Lewis for the remainder of the season. It's reminiscent of when the Phillies snuck in and signed Cliff Lee prior to the 2011 season — instead of joining the Rangers, a Cy Young winner ended up with a team that already had a pair of outstanding pitchers. Of course, the Angels also employ Wilson, a former Ranger, which would make a playoff matchup between the teams a sight to see.

But despite a now dominant rotation and a lineup that boasts stars Albert Pujols, Mike Trout and Mark Trumbo, it would be foolish to label the Angels as World Series favorites. Really, that title no longer exists — for any team — because who wins the World Series is so often determined by how a team plays for a two-to-three week stretch at the end of the year.

The Angels are well-positioned for a playoff run, and no team will want to face a rotation of Weaver, Wilson and Greinke in a short series. But all the Greinke trade does is preserve the Angels' status as a team capable of contending for the title if they get hot at the right time.

Selig told The Mike Lupica Show on ESPN New York 98.7 FM on Friday that MLB will expand its instant replay policy "to add it on trapped balls in the outfield and, as I call them, bullets down the right- and left-field line."

Right now, umpires can only use replay on home run calls. Selig has taken blame for being slow to incorporate replay in baseball and though his latest comments will earn him a brief reprieve, they will not be enough to silence his critics permanently.

Selig did not set a timetable for when the changes would be made. MLB officials already said no new replay policies would be put in place in 2013, and any change would have to be approved by both the players' and umpires' unions.

LeBron James

The NBA's regular season and Finals MVP joined teammate Kobe Bryant in saying that the 2012 squad would pull it out over the gold medal-winning team from 20 years ago.

"The '92 Dream Team paved the way for all of us," James told ABC News Nightline anchor Cynthia McFadden in an interview before the Olympics. "We understand what they did for our game."

"We are also are big-time competitors as well, so if we got the opportunity to play them in a game, we feel like we would win, too. As a competitor, you never want to say that you will lose, no matter who you are going against."

James' confidence isn't quite on the same level as Bryant's — who claimed the players of Team USA should be stripped of their citizenship if they fail to win gold in London — but his comments still sent a message.

So far, most of the declarations in the 1992 vs. 2012 debate have been pretty predictable, with Dream Teamers like Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan backing the 1992 squad and today's players, like James and Bryant, backing the 2012 version. The only notable exception is Larry Bird, who said the current team would win because the 1992 team "is all old now."

The Olympic basketball tournament is set to begin Sunday, with Team USA squaring off with Russia in its opening game.

The two teams will tip off the 2012-13 NBA season on October 30 in Miami on the same night the Heat raise their second championship banner to the rafters of the American Airlines Arena. Heat players will also be presented with their championship rings prior to the game.

Boston and Miami have met 20 times over the past two seasons, including twice in the playoffs. Although the two teams have split those 20 meetings, with each team winning 10, the Heat have had the advantage when it counts and have won both playoff series. The Celtics and Heat also met on opening night in 2010 in the first game of the LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade era in Miami.

The Celtics will get three days off before playing their home opener on November 2 against the Milwaukee Bucks. Boston's next big game comes on Christmas Day, when they'll travel to Brooklyn to face the new-look Nets in the brand new Barclays Center.

The TD Garden crowd will get its only chance to experience Linsanity on January 11 when Jeremy Lin and the Rockets visit Boston.

Ray Allen will make his return to Boston in a Sunday matinee fixture on January 27. The Celtics have two additional encounters with the Heat, on March 18 and April 12.

The Celtics' final home game is on April 16 against Indiana, with their final regular season game a night later in Toronto. The playoffs are scheduled to begin April 20.

On Tuesday, Jones joined Twitter, and though he only tweeted four times in his first two days, he already has over 50,000 followers. One tweet, in particular though, likely drew confusion from Jones’ followers.

After the Braves defeated the Marlins 7-1 on Wednesday — with Jones getting the day off — the third baseman tweeted the following:

Mike b and jhey go yicketty! The roadrunner went mammo! And the Bravos have a winning road trip. My kind of day off, no action!!!

— Chipper Jones (@RealCJ10) July 25, 2012

Understandably, Jones’ followers were perplexed by the tweet’s meaning, which led Jones to post an explanation on Thursday.

yicketty means homer! mammo means big bomb. roadrunner is francisco. any other questions?

— Chipper Jones (@RealCJ10) July 26, 2012

So, using Jones’ translation tips, the first two sentences of his original tweet should read: “Michael Bourn and Jason Heyward hit home runs! Juan Francisco hit a big bomb!”

Twitter has a 140-character limit, so it’s understandable that Jones might want to save some space using abbreviations. But next time he tweets, he might want to use terms that the rest of his followers can understand.

The nature of golf, where a few bad shots can negate four days’ worth of good ones, makes a late-round collapse particularly heartbreaking. And when you’re a player searching for your first career major — as Scott was — missing after coming so close can have an impact on the rest of your career (think Jean van de Velde).

It could have been worse, though. At least he didn’t pull a Roy McAvoy and shoot a 12 on the 18th hole.

Scott’s meltdown at Royal Lytham & St. Anne’s on Sunday was bad, but where does it rank all-time among collapses at major tournaments?

Click here to take a look at the Top 10 major meltdowns in golf history>>

The penalties came as a result of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal and subsequent cover-up by prominent university officials, including former — and now deceased — head football coach Joe Paterno, former university president Graham Spanier, former university vice president Gary Schultz and athletic director Tim Curley, who is on leave.

The full punishment includes a $60 million fine; a four-year postseason ban, which includes bowl games and conference championship games; vacating all 112 Penn State victories between 1998 and 2011; eliminating 10 scholarships for the 2012 season and 20 scholarships per year every year from 2013-2016; and five years of probation.

All current Penn State players will be able to transfer to other schools without penalty.

The loss of 112 victories moves Paterno's career victory total back to 298. When he was fired in November, Paterno led all Division I coaches with 410 victories all-time. That honor now returns to the late Eddie Robinson of Grambling State, with 408 victories.

Usually, it's an ERA around 3.00 and a couple of strong outings in the postseason. And it's that consistency that makes him so valuable to the Phillies — as well as the host of teams who would like to add him to their rotation before the July 31 trading deadline.

But the Phillies aren't thinking trade right now, despite being 11 games back of the second wild card spot in the National League. Instead, they're trying to lock up Hamels long-term and are willing to offer the lefty $130 million over six years to keep him in Philadelphia, according to CBSSports.com's Jon Heyman.

That's the right decision, even though Hamels would fetch a nice package of prospects if the Phillies were to entertain trade offers.

Aside from a hiccup in 2009, when he went 10-11 with a 4.32 ERA, Hamels has been arguably the most consistent pitcher of the past five years outside of teammate Roy Halladay. Disregarding 2009, he has won between 11 and 14 games in every season since 2008 — including this one — with an ERA between 2.79 and 3.09 each year. He also boasts career averages of 8.5 strikeouts per nine innings and a 3.8 strikeout-to-walk ratio, both of which rank him near the top of the majors in that span.

His numbers in the postseason are even better. Again disregarding 2009, Hamels is 6-2 with a 1.72 ERA in nine postseason starts. He collected NLCS and World Series MVP honors in 2008 as the Phillies captured their first title since 1980.

He's also extremely durable, having started at least 32 games in each of the past four seasons, a number he is on pace to match again in 2012. Alhough $130 million is a hefty price to pay, Hamels has proven that he is worth it. Hamels' relative youth means that he would be 34 by the end of the contract — certainly not old for a pitcher.

Furthermore, the amount the Phillies are offering is fairly close to the five-year, $112.5 million extension (with a $21 million sixth-year option) that Matt Cain signed with the Giants in April. Cain is just one year younger than Hamels and the pair's numbers are pretty similar, so it makes sense that Philadelphia would offer a similar per-year figure to what Cain got from the Giants.

Although Hamels has been listed as one of the biggest names who may be dealt at the deadline, it doesn't appear that the Phillies have any interest in that option, and general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. really shouldn't be thinking of trading any of his major pieces just because Philly is out of contention this season. Chase Utley and Ryan Howard have missed a combined 163 games, and Roy Halladay just returned after missing a month and a half with a shoulder injury. With those key contributors absent, it's no surprise that the Phillies have dropped off.

At its core, this is still the same team that has won the last five NL East titles and that led MLB with 102 wins last season. The offense may be declining, but with Halladay, Hamels and Cliff Lee atop the rotation, it doesn't need to be great for the Phillies to contend for a World Series title.

Of course, signing Hamels would be a major hit to the team's payroll — between Halladay, Hamels and Lee, Philly would have more than $66 million tied up among three players — but owner David Montgomery has always been willing to spend, and Philadelphia ranks second in payroll in 2012 at $175 million, behind only the Yankees.

In the end, an extension is probably in the best interests of both parties. Hamels gets paid, and the Phillies are able to continue fielding a team built around three of the game's best pitchers.