OAKLAND (LALATE) – Bruce Gradkowski will start for the Raiders Sunday, claim reports. Jason Campbell will be benched and Bruce Gradkowski will start Sunday against the Dolphins, even though Al Davis reportedly prefers Campbell. Campbell has delivered the Raiders three wins in their last four showdowns.

News has yet to determine any potential clashes between Davis and Raiders coach Tom Cable. But reports claim Cable has long wanted Gradkowski to start, while Davis has fought to stay with Campbell.

On Saturday, Adam Schefter reported “Raiders plan to start Bruce Gradkowski at quarterback Sunday vs. the Dolphins, according to source close to situation.” The same news was reported by Vittorio Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle and Bill Williamson of EPSN.

But the Raiders are not confirming the news.

When asked about Campbell earlier this week, Cable told Tafur that Campbell would start Sunday; “there is no issue there”. Practices were closed this week, and the Raiders used the convenience of Thanksgiving to keep both players from press meetings Wednesday and Thursday.

Campbell has been the Raiders starter since his offseason acquisition form the Redskins. He’s ranked 29th in the NFL with 75.8 quarterback rating; Gradkowski has a 67.0 rating.

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CORAL GABLES (LALATE) – Randy Shannon has been fired as the Miami Hurricanes Head coach. Shannon’s firing is expected to be followed with numerous staff cuts Sunday. “Fire Randy Shannon” read a banner flown over Sun Life Stadium Saturday. The plane read “four years, zero ACC titles, and lots of excuses, fire Shannon.”

For decades the school had made news off and on the field.  Shannon’s players did neither of that.

Shannon ends a four year run after he replaced Larry Coker. Yes, Shannon had the third-best APR among coaches, second only to Air Force and Navy. Only one arrest happened during his tenure off the field. But on the field, he never got the school a bowl game win or pass second in the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Coastal Division.

Shannon started the season with bowl expectations. Saturday the Hurricanes finished the regular season a disappointing 7-5 record.

And while news is noting the school’s loss to South Florida 23-20 in overtime, the other top statistic of that game was game attendance; only 27,000 fans  wanted watch the game in a 73,000- seat stadium.

Miami’s athletics director, Kirby Hocutt, in a news statement Saturday said “We have made a decision to seek new leadership for our football program. Our expectations are to compete for championships and return to the top of the college football world. We will immediately begin a national search.”

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LONDON (LALATE) –The difference in Sunday’s Tottenham Hotspur vs Liverpool live Premiere showdown could be Fernando Torres. As Liverpool struggles to stay ranked in the top 10, the key to Sunday’s match could be Fernando Torres, the Spanish striker whose numbers have been unmatched in recent play. Torres has four goals in the team’s last six games. He will face off against Rafael van der Vaart, who has six goals this season for Tottenham.

Top players on assists have been Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard and Rafael van der Vaart for Tottenham.

But ranked 9th overall, with a 5-4-5 record, a win Sunday is critical for Liverpool to stay in the top 10 rankings. Tottenham is ranked sixth with a 6-4-4 record.

While Tottenham has delivered an impressive two wins in its last five games away, Liverpool has a problem with away games this season. In its last five matches on the road, Liverpool has lost four of them. Today, Liverpool fans will be in full force with a rich history of wins against Tottenham; in previous battles, Liverpool has won 73 times, Tottenham 43 times, with 39 draws.

Click HERE for more.

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LONDON (LALATE) – Newcastle United vs Chelsea battle live  Sunday as 12^th ranked Newcastle takes on 3^rd rank Chelsea.  (Update: Current Score 0-0). Chelsea enters into today’s battle 9-1-4 with Newcastle at 5-3-7. Top team scorers this season have been Andrew Carroll for Newcastle with eight goals and Florent Malouda for Chelsea with seven.

In the last five matches, Chelsea has delivered two wins and three losses; Newcastle’s last five matches have delivered two wins, two losses and one draw.  But the big difference has been matches at home. Chelsea has won four of its last five matches at home.

Also adding to Newcastle’s troubles for Sunday will be the absence of two top players. Fabricio Coloccini and Mike Williamson won’t take to the field today, starting their three-match suspensions. Top assists are expected for Newcastle from Joey Barton and Didier Drogba from Chelsea.

One team Chelsea will have its eyes on Sunday is Arsenal. At 9-2-4, Arsenal is only one match ahead of Chelsea for the number two ranking.

Of the 130 times the two teams have met, Newcastle have won 44 of the matches, Chelsea winning 52 times. Click HERE for more.

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LAS VEGAS (LALATE ) – Results are in for the Berto vs Hernandez undercard fights tonight. In advance of tonight’s main events – Juan Manuel Marquez vs Michael Katsidis and Andre Berto vs Freddy Hernandez  – fans got to watch Estrada vs Campbell. Estrada defeated Campbell in a split decision, 77-74, 75-76, and 77-74.

Also tonight, Lara vs. Connors ended in a early win for Lara by TKO. Lara’s win came 1:38 in round 1. Then in Thurman vs. Medina, Thurman pulled off a TKO in the fourth round. The fight was stopped 2:34 minute in the round. In Samir vs Cunningham, Samir nabbed the win 1:56 into the second round. Earlier, Finney vs. Howard ended with Finney winning 1:26 mark into the second.

If Berto wins tonight, what is his next focus? He tells news “[A]fter that, we’ll do whatever we have to make the fights I want happen. Those are fights the people want. So I have to go up or do a catchweight, I think we can all agree to make these fights happen.”

He adds “And I’m looking forward to coming out of there with a win, hopefully, in impressive fashion. And then, everything that comes after that, you know, we will have to see.”

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