Boxengasse » story.The year was 1999 and Menzies was an a

CINCINNATI -- The Chicago Cubs best regular season in 106 years came to an end Sunday as their final game, a 7-4 victory over the Reds, highlighted a remarkable year.Down 4-3 with two outs and no one on base in the ninth inning, Chicago rallied for four runs to take the lead.It was the Cubs 103rd win of the year. They were the only team in Major League Baseball to reach the 100-win plateau this season.The boxes have been checked in the regular season, manager Joe Maddon said before Sundays game. We won the division, we stayed relatively healthy, weve played well. ... All this stuff we talked about in camp regarding embracing the target and dealing with the pressure, weve done all those things.In the process the Cubs will have multiple candidates for multiple awards. Starting pitcher?Kyle Hendricks may have hurt his Cy Young cause a little Sunday as he gave up six hits and four runs over five innings, raising his ERA to 2.13. Its still good enough to win the ERA title by a wide margin. Left-hander?Jon Lester finished second in ERA at 2.44, making them the first teammates to finish 1-2 in the stat since the 2005 Houston Astros?Roger Clemens and?Andy Pettitte.With Cy Young candidate Max Scherzer?of the Washington Nationals seeing his ERA rise to 2.96 on Sunday, one of the two Cubs could take home the top pitching honor.I dont know which one deserves the Cy Young Award, catcher Miguel Montero said recently. Maybe they can split the award.At the plate, its a similar situation between sluggers Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant. They combined for 71 home runs and 211 RBIs while each hitting .292. Bryants 7.6 WAR led all National League players while Rizzo ranked fifth at 5.8 going into Sundays finale.Bryant is considered the front-runner for MVP after being named minor league player of the year and rookie of the year over the past two seasons.There were other major team accomplishments, including the pitching staff leading the league in ERA, while the Cubs top four hitters all produced on-base averages above .380. But as Lester noted Saturday, the past 162 games will have much less meaning if the Cubs dont go far in the postseason. Their last championship came in 1908.This season isnt anything unless we do what we showed up at spring training to do -- win a World Series, Lester said.The Cubs will have four days off to prepare for their second consecutive postseason appearance. Last year, they were the fun underdog and upset two teams that finished ahead of them in the standings. This year, they enter the playoffs as the team to beat, a near wire-to-wire winner in the division, sporting the best record in baseball for much of the season.Its go time, Lester said. Now we have to live up to the expectations and hype. Authentic Wholesale Nike Shoes . - Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco is not a fan of his teams use of the wildcat formation, saying "it makes you look like a high school offence. Cheap Nike Shoes From China .Y. - Detroit goaltender Jonas Gustavsson has earned NHL first star of the week honours after winning in his first three appearances of the season. http://www.wholesalenikeshoeschina.com/ .J. -- Josh Cribbs was in the Pro Bowl in February and out of a job six months later. Cheap Nike Air Max Shoes China . Listen to the game live on TSN Radio 1050 at 7pm et. The Raptors traded Rudy Gay, Quincy Acy and Aaron Gray to the Sacramento Kings on Monday, in exchange for Greivis Vasquez, John Salmons, Patrick Patterson and Chuck Hayes. 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LAS VEGAS -- Marvin Menzies leaned in to the group and, intimating there was more of the story that could be told, asked with a laugh: You want the off-the-record-version or the real version?One reporter was working on a story, so on the record it was.UNLVs first-year coach spent the next few minutes inside a Las Vegas hotel conference room describing the ruse he used to help convince San Diego State coach Steve Fisher to hire him as an assistant.Menzies voice rose and fell with each plot twist, eyes gleaming, mischievous smirk growing to goatee-stretching belly laugh.The story reached a perfect crescendo, spilling a roar of laughter from the room into the hallway.The Menzies Effect at work.Marvin is instantly disarming as soon as you meet him. You feel like you have known him forever, Fisher said. Hes what you want someone to be.Menzies has a huge task in front of him, trying to turn around a UNLV program thats still trying to regain the magic from the Jerry Tarkanian years.Las Vegas teems with excitement when the Runnin Rebels are running and gunning, yet they havent given fans much reason to turn their attention toward the campus just east of The Strip.Previous coach Dave Rice was a sharp basketball mind, a UNLV alum and had the ability to bring in some of the nations top recruiting classes.But Rice did not win enough and may not have been flashy enough for a program had plenty of both under Tark the Shark.Though not the first choice to run the Runnin Rebels -- Chris Beard was initially hired, but bolted days later -- Menzies may be the perfect person to run the show.Like second-year UNLV football coach Tony Sanchez, Menzies knows the town, its people and the expectations of the job after working under Lon Kruger for a season.Menzies knows basketball after working under Fisher and Rick Pitino, coaches who have both won national championships. He is a proven winner, leading New Mexico State to the NCAA Tournament five times in nine seasons.The 55-year-old has plenty of recruiting chops, annually convincing some of the nations best players to play in Las Cruces.And Menzies has a bit of showman in him, comfortable and confident enough to be the center of attention no matter where he is.Marvin would be a perfect fit anywhere, Fisher said. Hes happy in his own skin wherever hes been.Menzies success comes, in part, from making people feel comfortable in theirs.A natural talker, hes like the life-of-the-party host who has guestts in tears from a funny story, yet still makes sure everyone has what they need.dddddddddddd.Menzies has an innate ability to make people, even strangers, feel comfortable around him. He nurtures those relationships by staying in touch with the people hes met along the way, from former players, coaches, administrators to boosters.A lot of the success stories you have come from the relationships you have, Menzies said. Ive done well and done right by the guys that Ive had and can keep going back to that well.Creativity flows through every one of Menzies wells.From his early days as a coach, he has never been afraid to go against the grain or take a risk if he believes something will work.To get the job at San Diego State, Menzies hatched an elaborate plan -- more on that later -- and had a cartoonist draw a picture of Fisher, his assistant coach Brian Dutcher and Menzies together on the sideline of a game against UCLA. Above their heads were thought bubbles.Everybody is a true artist at heart; were all born with a certain level of creativity, a certain level of artistry, he said. If you trust your instincts and use your intuition and when you need to stay true to form, you can find some favorable results.Now, about that Fisher story.The year was 1999 and Menzies was an assistant coach at Santa Monica College. Fisher was in town to visit a recruit and Menzies knew there was no way the coach who won a national championship at Michigan would notice a junior college assistant.So Menzies hatched a plan.He knew a local restaurant that was filled with waiters waiting to be actors and went in ahead of time, giving them his credit card and telling them to act like he was the most well-known person in town.Menzies convinced Fisher to stop in for a bite while waiting for traffic to die down and the waiters put in Academy Award-winning performances, treating Menzies like Norm from Cheers. When Menzies whipped out his wallet -- with no credit card in it -- the waiters told him, Coach, your money is no good here.Menzies looked like the king of Santa Monica and Fisher walked away impressed.We laughed about it after the fact, Fisher said. He wanted to make sure I had a good impression of him, but he didnt have to do that.The Menzies Effect was already working.---More AP basketball at www.collegebasketball.ap.org ' ' '