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Paulinho moves to Tottenham Hotspur
Wimbledon 2013: Time, TV schedule, live streaming for Saturday's matches
Tour de France 2013: Sagan's Dominance Comes Full Circle
Jeff Burton, rival drivers busy on and off the track each weekend
Tour de France 2013, Stage 8: Route, TV schedule and more
Bobby Allison is a Jeff Burton fan
Padres activate Everth Cabrera from DL
NBA free agency: DeMarre Carroll agrees to 2-year deal with Hawks

Posted: 06 Jul 2013 02:54 AM PDT

Paulinho's transfer to Tottenham Hotspur has been an open secret for days, but the club has finally made it official, announcing the acquisition of the Brazil international through their Twitter account:

We are delighted to announce that we have reached agreement for the transfer of Paulinho from Corinthians! pic.twitter.com/2v82ZLNHoc
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) July 6, 2013

Paulinho, 24, is rumoured to have cost Spurs some £17 million plus wages, but considering the magnitude of the upgrade over Scott Parker that the team is receiving it's a price well worth paying.

More Spurs: Cartilage Free Captain

The former Corinthians man adds to a muscular midfield that could easily feature him playing alongside Moussa Dembele and compatriot Sandro, giving Spurs plenty of power. Admittedly, there's not a lot of subtlety there, but Paulinho's versatile enough to do more or less whatever Andre Villas-Boas asks, and it's easy to see him slotting into the side fairly effortlessly.

If Spurs can now secure a striker, they're looking like a genuine threat to unseat Arsenal and sneak back into the Champions League places. Next season should be fairly interesting.

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Wimbledon 2013: Time, TV schedule, live streaming for Saturday's matches

Posted: 06 Jul 2013 02:00 AM PDT

It's been a wild ride, but this year's Wimbledon is nearing its end. The tournament has been defined by its various upsets, and the best way to illustrate that fact is the women's final, which pits No. 23 Sabine Lisicki against No. 15 Marion Bartoli.

Lisicki owns the more impressive run, to be sure. She recently took down No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska, 6-4, 2-6, 9-7, in the semifinals, and eliminated the No. 1 seed, Serena Williams, back in the Round of 16, 6-2, 1-6, 6-4. This year marks her first appearance in a Grand Slam quarterfinal, semifinal, and on Saturday, a final.

Bartoli put together a strong tournament herself, though her path to the final wasn't as difficult as Lisicki's. What Bartoli has in her favor: the fact that she hasn't dropped a set this tournament, and the fact that she's made it to the quarterfinals and semifinals of other Grand Slam events. She's also played in the Wimbledon final previously, back in 2007 where she lost to Venus Williams.

Coincidentally, that was the last year in which the Wimbledon final featured two seeds outside of the top 10 on the women's side. Predictions for this match are all over the board, but many see Lisicki continuing her impressive run that has seen three former Grand Slam winners beaten.

If you're watching on television, tune into ESPN at 9 a.m. ET. Their coverage will run through 3 p.m., at which point an encore of the women's final will air on ABC. If you're watching online, Wimbledon's official live video can be found here and there's always ESPN3.

There's a full schedule of matches here, with the notable women's and men's doubles final following the Lisicki-Bartoli matchup.

Centre Court Order of Play

Women's Singles Final: No. 15 Marion Bartoli vs. No. 23 Sabine Lisicki
Men's Doubles Final: No. 1 Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan vs. No. 12 Ivan Dodig & Marcelo Melo
Women's Doubles Final: No. 8 Su-Wei Hsieh & Shuai Peng vs. No. 12 Ashleigh Barty & Casey Dellacqua

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Tour de France 2013: Sagan's Dominance Comes Full Circle

Posted: 06 Jul 2013 02:00 AM PDT

The points classification at the Tour de France suffers from more than its share of tinkering. The idea of a points system was conceived for the 1905 Tour (to combat "irregularities" from 1904), when the overall winner was decided by using each stage's ranking and awarding that number of points to the rider. Louis Trousselier of France won ten of the 11 stages, accumulating only 35 points, to win the Tour de France ahead of Hippolyte Aucouturier (61 points) and the rest. By 1913 the points system was junked in favor of the overall-time system that was used in the first two Tours and remains in use today, but for the Tour's 50th anniversary a points system was brought back for a secondary classification, and the concept of most consistent rider was born.

Before 2011, the Tour employed four classifications (for flat, bumpy, high mountain and time trial stages) and from 1989 added intermediate sprints to the classification (they had their own separate jersey beforehand). Starting two years ago the Tour increased the winning totals from 35 to 45 for flat stages, greatly emphasizing the quality of flat-stage sprinting over consistency across the various types of terrain, and created a single intermediate sprint worth up to 20 points, as opposed to several sprints worth up to six points. British fastman Mark Cavendish immediately cashed in against a modest field of sprinters ... and the points classification became the sprinter's classification for the first and perhaps last time, at least for a while.

Because back in 2011, Peter Sagan was still considered a bit young, and his Liquigas (now Cannondale) team had ambitions for the Yellow Jersey, something they didn't see Sagan contributing toward. Sagan went to the Vuelta a Espana to do what all young racers do, building up muscle and mental endurance for the three-week format before being thrown into the harder and more intense Tour de France environment, and won three stages for his troubles. By 2012 Cavendish was on notice, and understandably worried. Wearing the Rainbow Jersey of the world champion, Cavendish's Sky team had its eyes on the big prize, not his green jersey defense, and all the world could tell that Sagan was going to be trouble. Sure, he could sprint almost as well as Cavendish -- who to this day is more or less without peer in the last 50 meters of a stage. But Sagan had also dominated the Tour of California like nobody's business, with five stage wins and an even more remarkable second place in the race to Big Bear Lake ... a climber's stage. You see, Sagan can climb and sprint. Which means he can get to the finish line with the leaders almost every day (save for the days in the Alps and Pyrenees), which means he can finish off maybe 4-5 sprints in the three weeks where Cavendish will be minutes behind.

The math didn't add up for Cav (a poor climber) last year, and it went south in a hurry as Cavendish got dropped on several early sprint stages when the road went up. By the end of stage 12, Sagan had reduced the entire Green Jersey field to a puddle of screaming jelly, and won the competition by 141 points. Such dominance demands, and usually receives, a response, and it got one when Cavendish joined the Omega Pharma-Quick Step team for 2013, a Belgian squad with little interest in the yellow jersey and decades of experience winning sprints and tricky stages. They committed to Cavendish for the Tour, and Cav did his part, working on his climbing to keep things respectable enough on those days which favored only Sagan, as well as the days when maybe, just maybe, he could claw his way back into the field in time to unleash his devastating cannonball-style sprint. [Cav is small and gets down low, winning more out of lack of wind resistance than anything else.]

The results? After seven stages, it's Sagan 224, Andre Greipel 130, Cav 119. Game over. Seriously, it's going to get worse before it gets better.

As usual, the culprit is Sagan's climbing ability. On Friday's rolling stage, Sagan made it over the second-category Col de la Croix de Mounis in southern France's Department de la Tarn, which enabled Sagan to sprint for the 20-point intermediate and the 45-point final prizes in relative peace, with neither Greipel nor Cavendish in tow. He did both, and made another interesting statement along the way. The Croix de Mounis and the other smaller climbs in today's stage were not enough to devastate Cavendish and co, as Cannondale generally held a two-minute advantage over the chasing teams. Greipel's squad, Cav's squad and the Argos-Shimano team of Marcel Kittel all took a shot at closing the two-minute gap. But up ahead, Cannondale were thundering home, maintaining the gap for a grueling 110 kilometers, knowing that if they could eliminate Cav and Greipel from the sprint, it might just settle their No. 1 objective, Sagan's green jersey defense, with barely one week of the Tour in the books. A stitch in time it was. Cannondale can't just take the rest of the Tour off, but their awesome display of power today bought them an almost unsquanderable buffer of comfort over their competition for Le Tour's No. 2 prize.

The game within the game was dramatic. Numbers don't tell the story of the ashen looks on the faces of Group 3, the Cav/Greipel peloton, when they collectively gave up and took their foot off the gas. There were less than 30 kilometers remaining in the stage, but Cavendish managed to finish not two minutes in arrears but over 14 minutes back. When the chasing group gave up, it was a low moment beyond what you normally get to witness in professional sports. I haven't seen any quotes from Cavendish or Greipel from the aftermath, and that's probably not a coincidence. Defeat was written on their faces, they presumably don't care to have to voice it as well.

Jeff Burton, rival drivers busy on and off the track each weekend

Posted: 06 Jul 2013 12:23 AM PDT

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- One of the biggest misconceptions about a NASCAR driver is the amount of free time they have during the race weekend. The consensus seems to suggest that drivers arrive at the track, compete and go home all within a three or four-hour time window.

That's simply not the case as drivers also perform duties as ambassadors for NASCAR, their sponsors and spending legitimate quality time with the fans. It's a stacked schedule that if not properly executed could leave a driver exhausted well before the drop of the green flag.

Jeff Burton allowed SB Nation to shadow him from morning to dusk on Friday night at Daytona International Speedway as he prepared for qualifying and the ways in which he navigates the day-to-day responsibilities of beings Sprint Cup Series driver.

The driver began his Friday at 9:30 a.m. but couldn't ease into his schedule as a photo shoot/local media session required him in his new Kwikset firesuit several hours before he was even scheduled to get inside the race car.

Burton and crew chief Luke Lambert spent time with the author at 1:30 before immediately transitioning into a meet-and-greet with sponsor executives at 2:00. That lasted roughly one hour, which led directly into Sprint Cup Series qualifying at 4:10.

Since Burton was scheduled to go out sixth in time trials, the South Boston-native was hastily ushered to his car where he had just a few moments to joke with his crew before hopping into his Gen-6 race car at 4:25 for two laps at over 190 mph.

After a quick debrief, Burton returned to his hauler, where he was approached by several fans to sign autographs, hero cars and tee-shirt. The driver was able to relax for much of the next two hours but couldn't call it a night as he was the special guest on the popular Speed Network television show -- Trackside.

After an engaging 30 minute television session, at last was Burton was able to retire to his motorhome and enjoy his night and prepare for the challenges of the next day and the Coke Zero 400.

The official schedule printout has been included below as a source of reference.

Tour de France 2013, Stage 8: Route, TV schedule and more

Posted: 06 Jul 2013 12:00 AM PDT

Possibly the hardest stage yet will take place at the Tour de France on Saturday. The seventh stage served as a reminder that harsh climbs were coming up and Saturday's eighth stage hammers the point home. There weren't any "mountains" proper on Friday, but Saturday sees the introduction of Port de Pailhères.

As noted at Podium Cafe, Port de Pailhères is the highest pass of the race, and they believe it's the third-hardest climb of the race. It's definitely a rough introduction to the climbs, and the fact that another climb comes immediately after Ax 3 Domaines.

More: Podium Cafe: 2013 Tour de France Mountains Preview

Ax 3 Domaines has an average gradient of 8.2 percent, but the climb itself is just shy of 8 kilometers long. That climb is just about the end of the race, with 9.3 kilometers from start to finish. The route itself runs 195 kilometers overall. We've got a map of the route below:

The stage is set to get started at 5:35 a.m. ET, with an approximate finish at 11 a.m., according to Steephill.tv. NBC will carry television coverage of the stage in the U.S., with its coverage beginning at 8 a.m. If you want to watch online, your best option is NBC's Tour de France Live package, though you'll have to throw down some money.

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Bobby Allison is a Jeff Burton fan

Posted: 05 Jul 2013 11:16 PM PDT

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Jeff Burton serves as one of the last remaining links between the past and future generations.

At 46-years-old, he is one of the few drivers to have competed against Dale Earnhardt, Terry Labonte, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson -- three decades worth of Sprint Cup Series Champions. His tenure combined with his clean reputation and earnest persona has even earned him the nickname, "The Mayor."

Even the legends that never competed against him have nothing but praise after interacting with Burton. That list includes 1983 Series champion Bobby Allison, who applauded Burton in an exclusive interview with SB Nation on Friday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway.

"I like Jeff," Allison said. "I don't think people realize just how much he has contributed to the sport. He's a guy that hasn't won as many races as he should have given his talents - he's lost some races the hard way but he's been a huge credit to the sport."

The nickname "The Mayor" was born from his popularity and the willingness of his peers and NASCAR officials to listen to his suggestions.

Kwikset will be the primary sponsor for the team this weekend at Daytona International Speedway and they have launched a Twitter campaign and sweepstakes that will give fans a chance to win a VIP Experience with Burton and Richard Childress Racing during the Chase for the Championship race at Charlotte in October.

For more information and to enter the sweepstakes, fans can are encouraged to visit www.iHeartTheMayor.com

Padres activate Everth Cabrera from DL

Posted: 05 Jul 2013 09:05 PM PDT

After missing 17 days on the disabled list, shortstop Everth Cabrera has been activated by the San Diego Padres with reliever Burch Smith heading to Triple-A to make room on the team's roster, reports Corey Brock of MLB.com.

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NBA free agency: DeMarre Carroll agrees to 2-year deal with Hawks

Posted: 05 Jul 2013 08:42 PM PDT

The Atlanta Hawks have reached a two-year deal worth $5 million with free agent forward DeMarre Carroll, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

More: Peachtree Hoops

Carroll, who will turn 27 later this month, is a former first-round pick of the Memphis Grizzlies. He struggled to see regular playing time during the first four years of his career, splitting time with the Grizzlies, Rockets and Nuggets. He emerged as a quality role player for the Jazz in 2012-13, averaging a career-high six points per game while appearing in 66 games. He made 12 starts, which was also a career best.

Carroll is not a great shooter and is fairly limited on the offensive end. His true value lies on the defensive end with his hustle and toughness. He emerged as one of the fan-favorites in Utah this past season.

The Hawks have reportedly reached agreements with Kyle Korver and Paul Millsap this week, meaning Carroll will likely return to his customary role as a bench player in Atlanta. With the Eastern Conference looking top-heavy for next season, Carroll could play a big role for a team that will contend for one of the top playoff seeds next spring.