Offtopic/fun » shortest outing in his last six starts. ... H

LAS VEGAS -- Nevada lawmakers are going out of their way this week to give a casino owner worth $32 billion a stadium funded on the back of taxpayers.Soon we will find out if longstanding hypocrisy of the NFL has a price tag, too.The guess here is that it does, because theres nothing like a $750 million gift to pry NFL owners off their moral high ground. Sure, some may still view Las Vegas as a decadent place teeming with undesirables, but the idea of the city being the new home of the Raiders isnt nearly as far-fetched as it may have been just a year or so ago.Give Sheldon Adelson credit for that. The casino moguls scheme to fleece the public for a new stadium has so far worked to perfection. Nevada lawmakers have been falling all over themselves in a special session to pass a new tax for the project, even while schools are overcrowded and the state is facing a $400 million budget shortfall.With that piece of business all but wrapped up -- a vote by the Nevada Assembly is expected by the end of the week -- the biggest remaining hurdle is for NFL owners to approve the move of the team from Oakland. Such a vote would have seemed laughable just a few years ago because of the leagues longstanding opposition to sports betting, but the times are changing.Commissioner Roger Goodells protestations aside, NFL owners are realizing they have little to fear from sports betting. Many already are invested in some form of gambling and dont see it as a threat or even a moral roadblock.Plus, theres nothing like a glittering new stadium to make NFL owners a little giddy.Thats exactly what Adelson wants to build near his casinos just off the Las Vegas Strip. Its his legacy project, a gift to the community, his envoys claim, even if others will be picking up a good piece of the tab and he will reap the profits.Just how much that piece is isnt exactly clear. Neither are many of the details of the stadium plan, carved out with the approval of Raiders owner Mark Davis.What is clear is that Adelson and his minions demanded $750 million from new tourism taxes to pay for part of a stadium -- that could cost $1.3 billion, $1.4 billion or $1.9 billion, depending on what figure is thrown out -- or they would walk. Davis and the Raiders will put in $500 million -- mostly through seat licenses and an NFL loan -- and Adelson will cover the rest.What is also clear is that the Raiders moving to Las Vegas would be a game changer in many ways. Not only would it give Sin City the prestige of an NFL team, but it would further soften attitudes toward sports betting that were once absolute.This is a league, after all, that for years refused to allow Las Vegas to air commercials during the Super Bowl lest the thought there are casinos somewhere might somehow contaminate the sport.There are some issues with an NFL team in Las Vegas, mostly because it is a small television market and a city that already has NFL teams on both sides in Los Angeles and Phoenix. The city has never shown it can support a professional sports team, though it will get an NHL team next year.But while the stadium will increase hotel room taxes for 30 years, the expansion NHL team and arena were both privately funded. Billionaire owner Bill Foley is also putting up the money to build a practice facility for the team, while the Raiders will get $100 million in the stadium deal to build one of their own.Count Foley among those who know a bad deal when they see one.Im not going to be politically correct here, Foley said at a fan fest a few days ago. But I believe if youre going to spend $750 million of the publics money, it should be on policemen, firefighters and teachers.None of that made much of a difference to members of the state Senate who on Tuesday rubber-stamped Adelsons tax plan. They figured out quickly which way the wind blows and it blows in favor of Adelson, a big political contributor who also owns the newspaper in Las Vegas.So now the focus turns to the NFL, and securing 24 votes among 32 owners for the move. Though Goodell is opposed to the Raiders leaving Oakland, two owners believe it would be good for the league -- and the Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots carry some weight.Jerry Jones and Robert Kraft have told me the NFL is ready to do it, casino owner Steve Wynn told legislators.What Adelson ends up with other than a stadium for his legacy hasnt been fully explained. Dont be surprised, though, if he gets a piece of the Raiders, or eventually ends up owning the team.Hes a casino operator who became incredibly rich by being incredibly good at finding ways to separate people from their money.And hes found a perfect companion in a league that operates on the same basic principle.---Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg(at)ap.org or http://twitter.com/timdahlbergKevin Faulk Womens Jersey . Datsyuk will miss Tuesdays game against New Jersey and could be sidelined longer, while Cleary will likely miss at least the next three games. Its been an injury-plagued season for Datsyuk, who has suited up for just 39 games. Tedy Bruschi Youth Jersey .C. United of Major League Soccer. United chose the defender in the second round of the 2013 MLS re-entry draft. https://www.patriotssportsgoods.com/Womens-Rob-Gronkowski-Inverted-Jersey/ . -- Teemu Selanne scored the first goal of his 22nd NHL season, and the Anaheim Ducks extended the best start in franchise history with their fifth straight victory, 3-2 over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night. Sony Michel Womens Jersey . The news was first reported on Gonzalezs Twitter account and confirmed by the Rockies. Gonzalez has a six-week window before position players have their first workout at spring training in Arizona. Julian Edelman Womens Jersey . Los Angeles star goalie survived those perilous gymnastics with no problem, and he eventually backstopped the Kings to a skid-snapping win. Quick stopped 27 shots in his return from a 24-game injury absence, Jeff Carter scored the tiebreaking goal with 7:55 to play, and the Kings snapped their five-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night.ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Minnesota Twins had another good outing against All-Star pitcher Cole Hamels. But they didnt get a second victory in a week against the Texas left-hander.After the Twins twice overcame two-run deficits, reliever Ryan Pressly gave up consecutive extra-base hits to the first two batters he faced in the sixth. Bobby Wilson then hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly as the Rangers won 6-5 on Friday night, ending their three-game skid against the ALs worst team.Winnable game, manager Paul Molitor said. We kind of beat ourselves the second half of the game.Minnesota had five hits and five runs in 4 1/3 innings against Hamels, who matched a career high with six walks. After Miguel Sano hit a three-run homer in the fifth for a 5-4 lead, Hamels faced only three more batters -- walking the last two before leaving after his 109th pitch.We made Hamels work, Molitor said. I dont think hell say he was as sharp as hes been the last couple starts, but you get a guy up that high in pitch count through five, you did a nice job.Tony Barnette (6-3) worked 2 2/3 scoreless innings in relief of Hamels, who went only four innings Sunday in a loss at Minnesota. Sam Dyson worked a perfect ninth for his 18th save.Rougned Odor and Elvis Andrus had RBI triples for the Rangers, who won for only the third time in 10 games but still have the ALs best record at 54-34.Texas finally went ahead to stay in the sixth. Nomar Mazara leadoff double against reliever Ryan Pressly (2-5) before Andrus tripled and scored the go-ahead run on Wilsons sacrifice fly.Minnesota got even at 2-all in the second when All-Star third baseman Eduardo Nunez had an RBI infield single.Shin-Soo Choo and Desmond had consecutive two-out RBI singles in the fourth to make it 4-2.Team effort, Andrus said.dddddddddddd Really glad we got this win.BANGED-UP BUXTONTwins center fielder Byron Buxton left the game with a bruised right knee after crashing into the outfield wall in the first inning when going after Odors triple. Buxton, who initially walked back to his position before sitting on the ground, was taken off the field on a motorized cart. He will get an MRI on Saturday.The knee just kind of gave out on me out there. Things happen, Buxton said. I never experienced something like that, so it just kind of made me panic a little bit more.Buxton said hes was pretty confident that it was just a bone bruise.He banged that knee the other day, he banged it again, Molitor said. Hes doing a lot better postgame than he was after the collision with the wall, so theres some optimism there.SHORT HOPSTwins starter Kyle Gibson struck out six but allowed four runs in five innings, his shortest outing in his last six starts. ... Hamels had six walks for the third time in his career. The last had been in April 2013. ... The Rangers extended their club record to seven straight games when their starter didnt pitch at least five innings.TRAINERS ROOMTwins: SS Eduardo Escobar hasnt started since last Saturday because of a sore left hamstring. Molitor wants to get him in a game this weekend before the All-Star break.UP NEXTTwins: RHP Ricky Nolasco (3-7) makes his team-leading 18th start.Rangers: Kyle Lohse, a 37-year-old right-hander who signed a minor league deal with the Rangers on May 14, will be called up from Triple-A Round Rock to start. He pitched for the Twins from 2001-06, the last time he was in the American League. ' ' '