My star

RICHMOND, Va. (AP)—Virginia fired Al Groh after nine seasons as football coach at his alma mater Sunday, ending a tenure marked by his inability to beat rival Virginia Tech.
Groh’s dismissal came less than 24 hours after the Cavaliers (3-9, 2-6 Atlantic Coast Conference) lost 42-13 at home to the No. 11 Hokies, finishing their worst season since they were 2-9 in 1982. It also was their eighth loss to the Hokies in Groh’s nine tries.
“There is not a coach in the college game who has worked harder than Al Groh in trying to build a football program,” athletic director Craig Littlepage said in a statement. “Football is his life and he dedicated himself to the university and to our football team. We are grateful for his service and for his commitment to his players and his coaching staff.”
Groh, 65, issued a statement through the school Sunday night in which he said he felt “very fortunate” to have been given the opportunity to coach at Virginia.
“I am an ordinary guy who has been lucky to have been around some extraordinary players and coaches who put me in a position to enjoy many fulfilling games and seasons,” he said.
“I have coached Hall of Fame players, worked alongside Hall of Fame coaches, and coached in two Super Bowls, but my time as the Head Coach of the Virginia Cavaliers has been my most memorable coaching experience,” he said.
Groh had two years remaining on his contract and will receive a buyout of approximately $4.33 million, Littlepage said. The search for a replacement will begin immediately.
Groh was hired on Dec. 30, 2000, when he resigned after one season as the head coach of the New York Jets to take over at the school where he lettered in football and lacrosse, graduating in 1967. He replaced George Welsh, who had retired after 19 seasons.
Welsh, then the ACC career leader in victories, had just two losing seasons in his 19 years, but the Cavaliers finished 6-6 in his final season, prompting the change.
Groh went 59-53 with the Cavaliers and guided them to five bowl games, including four straight beginning with his second season. The team averaged eight wins over those four years, but managed just one more winning season in his last four, going 9-4 in 2007.
“My coaching philosophy and method of building teams has trust and teamwork as bedrocks. We were poised to solidify our position as a top team. Instead, as that trust and collaboration deteriorated, I could see this day coming,” he said in the statement. “We arrived with a set of principles that we have tried to remain faithful to and we leave with those principles intact.”
Groh, the ACC coach of the year in 2002 and ’07, was 36-36 in conference games.
Virginia lost its final six games this year and its last six against the Hokies, who joined the conference in 2004 and have been the league’s dominant team ever since.
Virginia’s decline was especially felt at home games, where the average attendance for 61,500-seat Scott Stadium had dropped by 13,600 in two seasons heading into Saturday afternoon’s game. That drew a season-high 58,555 fans, but nearly half of them were Hokies supporters and many chanted “Keep Al Groh!” as the final minutes ticked off the clock.
In his postgame news conference, Groh did not directly answer a question about his future, but instead read a poem, “The Guy in the Glass,” about how the most important person an individual has to please is himself. He closed with a testimonial about himself.
“When I visited the guy in the glass, I saw that he’s a guy of commitment, of integrity, of dependability and accountability,” Groh said. “He’s loyal, his spirit is indomitable and he’s caring and loving. I’m sure I will always call the guy in the glass a friend.”
Groh also read the poem to his team before meeting with the media, and besides their disappointing finish, the players were emotional about falling short in Groh’s final game.
“It’s sad to see him go like this,” defensive end Nate Collins, one of six captains on this year’s team, said afterward. “I know me and the seniors talked this week, and we were just doing everything we could to get this win for him and for the coaches, because none of the coaches know what their futures are going to be like after this game. It’s just tough.
“I hope the best for Coach Groh. I love Coach Groh like he’s a father, and he’s been a father figure to everyone here, and I don’t think anyone can really say otherwise.”
Groh began his postgame press conference with these words: “We made a pretty good go of it for a little while.”
He was talking about the game, but he might as well have been talking about his time at Virginia.
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FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (AP)—Basketball star Shaquille O’Neal(notes) paid for the funeral of a 5-year-old North Carolina girl after being moved by national news coverage of the case of Shaniya Davis, who police say was kidnapped and killed.
The Cleveland Cavaliers player was touched by the stories he saw and got in touch with the family to see what he could do to help, a spokeswoman for O’Neal said Thursday.
More than 2,000 people attended the girl’s funeral Sunday. Her body was found Nov. 16 beside a rural road.
Her mother, Antionette Davis, who had reported the child missing six days earlier, is charged with human trafficking and child abuse involving prostitution. Mario McNeill is charged with murder, rape and kidnapping in the case.
“I was sitting at home watching it on the news and the story brought a tear to my eye,” O’Neal told The Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper.
Corey Breece, of Rogers and Breece Funeral Home, which handled the service, declined to tell the Fayetteville Observer newspaper how much it cost but added that a child’s funeral “averages around $4,500.”
A man who answered the phone at the funeral home Thursday told the AP that only the owner could comment and that he was away.
Shaniya Davis’ father, Bradley Lockhart, and his family had set up a trust fund in memory of Shaniya to help raise money to pay for the funeral. Lockhart was not available to talk Thursday, said a man who answered the phone at his home.
O’Neal is recovering from a shoulder injury that has sidelined him for six straight games since getting hurt Nov. 12 against Miami.

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TEMPE, Ariz. (AP)—Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner(notes) went through a full practice on Wednesday and said he plans to play Sunday at Tennessee.
Warner said he passed the required mental tests on Tuesday with “no problems neurologically at all” after sustaining a concussion in last Sunday’s 21-13 victory at St. Louis.
“From what they told me I tested better than I did four years ago so I’m just getting smarter with age,” he joked after practice.
He said he plans to be careful as he prepares through the week but as of Wednesday all signs were good that he would make his 42nd consecutive NFL start.
“I was out there, went through all my normal reps so that is definitely the plan moving forward,” Warner said. “We’re sure going to be cautious and make sure day by day nothing transpires, nothing gets worse, but right now that’s my plan.”
The 38-year-old quarterback’s head slammed into the turf on a hit from Rams safety O.J. Atogwe in the second quarter. He stayed in the game to complete the touchdown drive that put Arizona up 21-3, then left for good.
According to Warner’s tally, this is the fifth concussion of his career— three in the NFL, one in the Arena Football League and one non-football related while he was in college. All were mild, he said.
Warner said all the recent attention and studies given to concussions in the NFL was a factor in his leaving last Sunday’s game when he did.
“I think as a player you know that it’s out there and you know that people are discussing it and looking into it more and you make the right decision,” he said. “I can’t tell you five years ago, eight years ago, that I sit out the second half of the game in St. Louis.”
He also said his age makes him more cautious.
“I know as a player that’s getting toward the end of their career, you think beyond football,” Warner said. “You’re thinking from a bigger picture than I know I did 12 years ago and that a lot of players do or did before all this stuff is coming out.”
On Wednesday, Warner tried out one of the new helmets designed to better protect the head from injury but didn’t particularly like it.
“I didn’t really feel comfortable with it today,” he said. “We’re going to keep messing with it and see if I can be comfortable with it.”
Otherwise, it’s back to the old helmet.
“I’ve been playing the game for a lot of years and the last time I had any symptoms like this was 2003, so it’s been a long time and the equipment’s been pretty good to me,” Warner said, “so I don’t want to just panic and go to something else, but at the same time if there’s something better out there, something that I feel comfortable with that can help me, then we’ll try that.”
Warner said he likes a new but yet-to-be-implemented league rule that requires an outside neurologist to be consulted, but said he didn’t do so in this case.
Coach Ken Whisenhunt said Warner shows no sign of mental impairment.
“He was talking about the game, he was talking about the plays he likes. Everything’s been normal as far as preparation goes,” the coach said. “Everything looks good. I think the question is seeing how he progresses during the week.”
Wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald(notes) said he’s not worried that his quarterback would force the issue and risk further injury.
“Kurt’s been playing football probably 25 years and I promise you it’s not his first concussion,” Fitzgerald said. “If you play football long enough you’ve had concussions. You’ve dealt with it. He’s not going to do anything to jeopardize himself. Our medical staff is not going to let him do anything to jeopardize himself. Our head coach is not going to let him do anything to jeopardize himself.
“If he’s ready to go, he’ll play. If he’s not, I don’t think they’re going to let him.”

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Here’s something to give thanks for: Getting out of the Bay Area this holiday weekend may turn out to be unseasonably easy.
With fewer people at the airports, gas prices slipping below $3, and many major freeway construction projects in the rearview mirror, travelers can expect a smoother Thanksgiving getaway, even though a lot more of us will be hitting the road than a year ago.
The best advice, whether traveling by car, train or plane: Leave before noon Wednesday, avoid returning late Sunday — one of the toughest travel days of the year — and pack a good attitude.
“We encourage patience and courtesy,” said San Jose airport spokesman David Vossbrink, in a comment echoed by the Highway Patrol, traffic reporters and other travelers. “A little good cheer can do wonders to reduce stress and make the trip better for everyone.”
Fewer people will be at the airports than in 2008, and the hassles may be minimal. But while the passenger count may be down as much as 10 percent at San Jose and Oakland airports, AAA predicts a 9 percent increase in travel by car this year in California.
Drivers will travel an average of 664 miles over the four-day holiday weekend, paying as much as 11 percent less for a motel room than a year ago and 17 cents less for a gallon of gas than around Labor Day.
The most hopeful news is on the highway. Once-horrible bottlenecks have been unclogged by road widening east of Tracy on Interstate 205, near Pacheco Pass at highways 152 and 156, in Castro Valley on I-238, and on I-80 near Fairfield.
“Travelers should find a much more friendly I-205 due to the extra lanes,” said Andrew Chesley, executive director of the San Joaquin Council of Governments. That freeway was widened last summer from two to three lanes in both directions. “We have seen about a 15-minute reduction in travel time.”
In addition, paving on I-80 near Colfax, east of Sacramento, has been halted for the winter, and lanes in that stretch have been widened from 11 to 12 feet.
Also, 19th Avenue in San Francisco will remain open this weekend south of Golden Gate Park, as city crews suspend work for the holiday on the Muni line.
Another reason this year may go smoother: The memory of painful holiday trips of past years has been seared into our consciousness.
“I’m definitely not returning Sunday,” said Joan Marshall, who will be heading home to Redwood City next Tuesday from a weeklong camping trip in Joshua Tree National Park. “Been there, done that. Ugh!”
Ditto Los Gatos attorney Mandy McClellan, whose family is bound for Bodega Bay and will be leaving around 1 p.m. Wednesday instead of 4 p.m., as in previous years.
“On several occasions in the past we encountered horrific traffic when traveling on Wednesday,” she said, still shuddering about being at a standstill on 101 after the San Rafael Bridge for what seemed like hours.
Another tip: Dial 511 before you head out the door. Larry Tom of San Martin did that a couple of years ago, checking the Thanksgiving route to Moraga. The most direct route, via Interstate 680, was 30 minutes longer than the alternative path on I-880 to I-580. So he took the longer route and “had a very smooth trip, avoiding all those turkeys on the road.”
If you’re flying, be sure to heed airport warnings — arrive 90 minutes early and make sure the name on your boarding pass precisely matches the name on your ID. If it doesn’t, you could face a longer wait as you’re asked for more information, but you should still be able to board your plane.
All three Bay Area airports will offer drivers cheaper, long-term parking rates in short-term lots if long-term spaces are filled. San Jose expects parking will be available at all of its lots, while long-term lots in Oakland and San Francisco could fill up Wednesday night.
Thanksgiving is one of the deadliest holidays for California drivers, with 33 killed last year. The Highway Patrol will have every available officer on the roads, giving special attention to Interstate 5 from Los Angeles to the Oregon border, I-15 from Bakersfield to Nevada, I-80 from the Bay Area to the Sierra and I-40.
They’ll focus on drunken drivers and on those who are not buckled up. Last year, one in three of those killed on state roads over Thanksgiving wasn’t strapped in.
“Wear your seat belt,” said CHP Officer Sarah Jackson. “It is your best defense against a DUI driver.”