38th in the running order, from where he had to climb

This story has been clarified.?Read below.Amare Stoudemire, who signed a contract?with the?Knicks?to formally retire with them, says he made overtures over the past two offseasons to play for the?Phoenix Suns?but?wasnt getting any positive response.That wouldve been the perfect way to go out, Stoudemire told The Arizona Republic?on Thursday. I didnt want to beg Phoenix. My heart was in two places -- Phoenix and New York. I just went where I was wanted.Stoudemire did not indicate whether he asked the Suns about a similar deal to the one he signed with the Knicks. Stoudemire signed a one-year, non-guaranteed contract with New York on Tuesday before announcing his retirement.That wouldve been a heck of a way to finish, he told the Republic. I wasnt just going to keep knocking on someones door that wasnt going to answer.Stoudemire, 33, averaged 18.9 points and 7.8 rebounds in 846 career games over 14 seasons for Phoenix, New York, Dallas and Miami, the first eight of which were for the Suns.The 6-foot-10 forward/center was a six-time All-Star and an All-NBA first-team selection in 2006-07, forming one-half of a formidable pick-and-roll duo in Phoenix with point guard Steve Nash.Im at peace with it because I gave everything that I had, Stoudemire told the newspaper. It took a while. The game is such a beautiful game. I was truly in love with it, but there were no teams who needed my position.Stoudemire was also named the 2003 NBA Rookie of the Year after entering the league directly from high school.They brought back?Jared [Dudley] and Leandro [Barbosa], my boys, Stoudemire said of the Suns. That wouldve been a heck of a way to finish. I wasnt just going to keep knocking on someones door that wasnt going to answer.I love my fans in Phoenix. Most of my high times and highlights were in Phoenix. I put forth the effort to finish my career in Phoenix, but it wasnt well-received.Information from ESPN staff writer Ian Begley was used in this report.A July 29 story on ESPN.com mischaracterized Amare Stoudemires intent to close out his career with the Suns. Nike Air Max Norge . Bryzgalov stopped 25 shots on Saturday in the Oklahoma City Barons 4-1 victory over the Abbotsford Heat. The Oilers signed Bryzgalov to a one-year $2 million contract last Friday after shedding payroll by dealing defenceman Ladislav Smid to the Flames. Billig Air Max Norge .ca NHL Power Rankings for the second straight week, ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Colorado Avalanche. http://www.norgeairmax.com/ . LOUIS -- Attorneys for the St. Nike Air Max Billig Online . -- Stanfords Kevin Danser knelt on one knee and hardly moved on the sideline as Michigan State celebrated its Rose Bowl victory and his Cardinal teammates made their way to the locker room. Nike Air Max Sko Salg .C. -- Manny Malhotra had two goals and an assist, leading the Carolina Hurricanes to a 6-3 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.SONOMA, Calif. -- The post-race party was a blur after Martin Truex Jr.s first win in 2007. The celebratory cool-down lap, the burnouts, the drive to Victory Lane all happened so fast. So he planned to savour every minute of his next win. He just didnt think it would take six years. Truex snapped a 218-race winless streak Sunday with an easy victory on the road course at Sonoma Raceway. It was only the second win of Truexs career, but it put Michael Waltrip Racing in Victory Lane for the second year in a row after Clint Bowyer won here last season. Overwhelmed with emotion as he crossed the finish line, Truex made the celebration count. "I was a freaking mess. It was terrible," he said. "I had to stop and start doing donuts because I couldnt think about what I was doing. I tried to key the radio once and I couldnt even talk. So I thought, OK, Im going to do some donuts and wave to the fans. But after I stopped the first time and did that, I calmed down a little bit and I just wanted to make sure I took my time coming back, because I remember at Dover it all happens way too fast. You never know when youre going to get that opportunity again." Truex blew out his rear tires, tried to wave to every single fan he saw, and took a slow drive around the picturesque road course on his way to Victory Lane, where the MWR crew was waiting to drink from the winners enormous wine glass. "I told them on the radio, if theyre waiting on me, too bad. Im taking my time," he said. "You cant explain the feeling. When its been that long and you worked so hard and youve been so close ... when you think at times, Man, is this ever going to happen again? You cant explain the feeling. Its pretty surreal." Truex worked his way to the front and used strategy to stay with the leaders. He then pulled away after the final restart and built a healthy lead of more than six seconds over Juan Pablo Montoya, who was running second until he ran out of gas on the final lap. "Im ecstatic. But Im not exactly sure how that happened," said Truex, who admitted he wasnt pleased with his car following Fridays practices. "The car was just phenomenal all day long and once I was near the front and didnt have to run the car 110 per cent, it just would stay with me on the long runs and I was able to drive away from everyone." Montoya, who came into the weekend knowing if he didnt win he would at least have a huge points day, dropped all the way to 34th after having to coast to the finish. He took a shortcut to skip the final turn, drifted to the finish line and parked. He then walked back to the garage, annoyed his Chip Ganassi Racing team never told him to save fuel. "Weve got tools to prevent things like that from happening," Montoya said. "I dont know if all the fuel didnt go," Montoya said. "This is what weve been doing all year. We all work together and were all trying to do the best we can. Half the reason were 20-something in points -- were not 20-something in points because were not running fast. Were 20-something in points because we had a lot of mechanical problems and days like this we throw them away." Crew chief Chris Heroy was perplexed about the shortage. "We dont know what happened -- we were on the same strategy as (Truex)," Heroy said through a team spokeswoman. "Were going to go back to the shop and figure it out." Montoya got little sympathy from Kyle Busch, who was spun by Montoya early in the race when Montoya drove too deep into a corner and wheel-hopped over a curb. "Awww. My heart melts for (at)jpmontoya who ran out of gas," Busch tweeted moments after the race. Jeff Gordon finished second a week after he was wrecked six laps into the race at Michigan, but felt like he might have had a chance to win if he had not already committed to pit seconds before a caution came out early in thee race.dddddddddddd "I mean, I really do think we had a shot winning this race. We had a tremendous car," Gordon said. "I knew we were screwed. There was nothing I could do; I was hard on the brakes, fully committed. I couldnt turn away from it, I just knew we had to eat it and go on, and thats what we did." Carl Edwards was third, followed by Kurt Busch, who climbed back from a pair of speeding penalties. "Yeah, we were fast, even on pit road. Twice," Busch laughed. "I messed-up, flat-out. I didnt hit my tachometer right and I was speeding both times. It was one of those where Im like, how does that happen? I just put myself in a position that was poor trying to get too much on pit road." Bowyer wound up fifth in a strong day for the MWR Toyotas. Kasey Kahne was sixth and followed by Marcos Ambrose, who was extremely disappointed he didnt win a race in which he was heavily favoured. "Its OK. We got a top-10 out of it," Ambrose said. "I wanted to win. Of course I wanted to win, but thats the way it goes." Greg Biffle was eighth and followed by Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick in the top 10. The race got off to an inauspicious start before it even began with a pit road accident, a mechanical issue for Jacques Villeneuve of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., and an oil line failure for Bobby Labonte. The accident occurred as the cars were headed onto the track and David Reutimann stopped his car on pit road. Alex Kennedy stopped behind Reutimann, and Paulie Harraka slammed into the back of Kennedy. The damage wasnt significant enough to prevent Harraka from making his Sprint Cup Series debut. But it was a short-lived race for the first driver to advance from NASCARs diversity program into a Cup race -- Harraka spun and crashed his car six laps later. Meanwhile, a parts failure caused Labonte to dump oil all over pit road before the race and he was forced to take his car to the garage for a quick repair. Labonte made it onto the track for the green flag, but his engine failed on the first lap. "It blew up, dude," Labonte said on his radio. "Something in the bottom engine because it had no oil pressure." Villeneuve had an issue shifting his gears and had to stay on pit road for a quick repair before trying to catch up to the field at the start of the race. He made it, but the problem wasnt completely corrected and he was back on pit road after 19 laps for more repairs. Busch had back-to-back speeding penalties in yet another race that slipped away. He led 15 laps, lost the lead to former teammate Brad Keselowski, then was flagged for speeding when he went in for a scheduled pit stop. He had to return to pit road for a stop-and-go penalty and was flagged for speeding again. It dropped Busch to 38th in the running order, from where he had to climb back to steal his strong finish. His brother also had his share of problems. Kyle Busch was spun early in the race by Montoya to lose a ton of track position, then gave up everything he made up when he was caught speeding on pit road. He also spun at least two more times during the race. Danica Patrick, thought to be a contender based on her strong runs in Nationwide Series road races, struggled all weekend to find speed and was done in by a flat rear tire just past the halfway point. The tire issue caused her to spin into a barrier and make multiple pit stops for repairs. "It was a long day, a long weekend," Patrick said. "We just couldnt get the car to the point where I was comfortable with it. We just couldnt get much to go our way this weekend. Having the cut tire and going into the tire barrier was just sort of salt in the wound." Pole-sitter Jamie McMurray never even led a lap under green as he was passed at the start by Ambrose, and his race took a big hit when he later ran off course with a tire problem and lost a lap. ' ' '