The Athenaeum Forum

BERLIN -- Arjen Robben scored a hat trick as Bayern Munich routed Schalke 5-1 on Saturday to extend its Bundesliga lead to 20 points, a league record after 23 games. David Alaba opened the scoring with a deflected free kick in the third minute, Robben chipped in his first in the 15th, Mario Mandzukics header made it 3-0 in the 24th, and Robben claimed his second in the 28th, with a fine finish inside the far post. "It was embarrassing what we delivered in the first half," Schalke captain Benedikt Hoewedes said. "We had much too much respect." It was utter dominance from Bayern in the first half, with more than three-quarters ball possession, 409 completed passes to Schalkes 65, and a successful pass rate of 91 per cent. "The first half was the worst I have ever seen from us," Schalke coach Jens Keller said. His side improved after the break, and pulled one back through former Schalke player Rafinhas own goal off a corner in the 64th. Robben claimed his third from the penalty spot in the 77th, after Kyriakos Papadopoulos was sent off for conceding the foul on Mandzukic. TV replays showed it was a harsh decision. "It was fun today," Robben said. Schalke was beaten 6-1 at home by Real Madrid in the Champions League midweek, and sporting director Horst Heldt said, "Altogether it was a disastrous week." Bayern stretched its league record unbeaten run to 48 games after its 15th win in a row -- also a league record. Earlier, Borussia Dortmund took advantage of Bayer Leverkusens freefall by beating Nuremberg 3-0 at home to move to second. Leverkusen lost 1-0 at home to Mainz for its fifth consecutive defeat across all competitions, its eighth from 10 games. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting scored with his heel in the 37th minute for Mainz, which was simply cleverer than the home side. "Theres a big concern that well miss all our targets," said Leverkusen sporting director Rudi Voeller, whose side faces an uphill challenge to overturn a 4-0 loss to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League and is already knocked out of the German Cup. Second-half goals from Mats Hummels, Robert Lewandowski and Henrikh Mkhitaryan gave Dortmund a comfortable win after a difficult first half. "We were often running around after them," Nuremberg striker Josip Drmic said. "They showed us how to do it and used their chances." Werder Bremen beat Hamburger SV 1-0 in the leagues 100th northern derby to leave its rival mired in the relegation playoff place. Augsburg drew with Hannover 1-1 and Eintracht Braunschweig drew with Borussia Moenchengladbach by the same score. Nuremberg keeper Raphael Schaefer made a host of saves to ensure a frustrating first half for Dortmund, and Tomas Pekhart hit the post for the visitors. The home side got off the mark in the 51st when Schaefer saved Lewandowskis header from Nuri Sahins free kick, and Hummels followed-up on the line. TV replays showed Lewandowski was marginally offside. The Poland striker hit his league-leading 15th goal in the 64th, when Mkhitaryan played him through to pick his spot. Mkhitaryan rounded off the scoring with seven minutes remaining to round off a successful week for Dortmund, which beat Zenit St. Petersburg 4-2 in the Champions League on Tuesday, after losing 3-0 to Hamburg the weekend before. "It was a tough piece of work," Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp said. "Nuremberg will certainly get enough points (to escape relegation)." The same cannot be said of Hamburg. After beating Dortmund in new coach Mirko Slomkas first game in charge last week, the side slumped to its ninth defeat in 10 games. "Well fight against relegation to the last day," Hamburg defender Marcell Jansen said. The game was delayed for several minutes in the second half due to flares among the home fans. Goalkeeping mistakes were responsible for both goals in Braunschweig. Moenchengladbach scored in the 25th when Braunschweig keeper Daniel Davari turned Raffaels corner into his own net. The home side equalized in the 52nd when Marc-Andre ter Stegen -- who is reportedly joining Barcelona at the end of the season -- allowed Filip Daems back pass slip behind and into the goal. Kevin Durant Jersey . The Italian football federation announced the appointment, three days after new president Carlo Tavecchio was elected. Tavecchio and Conte spoke on the phone early Thursday. Gary Payton Jersey . -- Cordell Cato scored his first goal of the season and the San Jose Earthquakes survived a full half playing a man down to beat FC Dallas 2-1 Saturday night. http://www.authenticthunderauthority.co ... sey-c-6/.C. Lions signed cornerback Dante Marsh to a contract extension on Friay and released receiver Paris Jackson. Shawn Kemp Jersey . -- Barry Bonds is all set to return to the San Francisco Giants. Paul George Jersey . -- Jacksonvilles offensive makeover is just getting starting. SAN JOSE, Calif. -- San Jose Sharks general manager Doug Wilson is wasting no time making changes after perhaps his teams most crushing playoff collapse. Wilson said Thursday that he told pending unrestricted free agent defenceman Dan Boyle that he will not be re-signed, informed unproductive forward Marty Havlat that he will not be back next season and moved top-line wing Brent Burns back to defence after spending more than a year as a forward on captain Joe Thorntons line. These changes all come two weeks after the Sharks became the fourth team in NHL history to lose a best-of-seven series after winning the first three games. Wilson spent the past two weeks meeting with coaches and players to help determine what went wrong in the final four games against Los Angeles and how to get a team that has been one of the best in the regular season the past decade over the playoff hump. "You want to be careful not to change too many things, but you better be really careful that youre not just avoiding what really needs to take place," Wilson said. "Theres two sides to that. I think what we need to do is much more drastic than just putting a Band-aide on it." Wilson said the moves this off-season will build on the moves made at the trade deadline in 2013, when the Sharks dealt away Ryane Clowe, Douglas Murray and Michal Handzus in an effort to become a faster and younger team. Those moves helped San Jose make it all the way to Game 7 of the second round before losing to Los Angeles a year ago and Wilson said the team is about two-thirds of the way to completing the overhaul. The team appeared closer than that after winning the first three games against the Kings but was unable to close the series out. Wilson blamed the collapse on allowing too-many odd-man rushes, a power play that went scoreless on its last 16 chances, a lack of effort in Game 5 and a late-game collapse in Game 6 after a disputed goal was allowed. "Our relationship with our fans has been strained and weve got to go and re-earn that trust," Wilson said. Boyle has been a key part of the Sharks since being acquired in a trade from Tampa Bay in July 2008. His 68 goals annd 201 assists in six seasons make him the career leader in both categories in franchise history and he has been a staple on the power-play unit.dddddddddddd He will be replaced on the blue line by Burns, who spent his first year and a half in San Jose on defence before making the move to forward in March 2013. Burns had a career-high 22 goals this season along with 26 assists as he teamed with Thornton on a physically imposing line that controlled play for much of the season. But Wilson said he is needed now on defence and compared Burns potential impact there to Montreals P.K. Subban, Winnipegs Dustin Byfuglien and Los Angeles Drew Doughty. "When you take a look at that type of dynamic on the back end, guys that move the puck up, shoot the puck on the power play, it creates a tough matchup," Wilson said. "When he was originally moved up to forward, it was because of an injury. He was coming back and he was having trouble with certain parts of his skating." Havlat scored 27 goals in three injury-plagued seasons with San Jose after being acquired from Minnesota in a trade for Dany Heatley. Havlat fell out of favour with the coaching staff and was a healthy scratch in six of seven playoff games. He is owed $6 million in the final year of his contract and will either be bought out or dealt. Wilson would not divulge what other changes he had planned but did say some of those could come in the teams player leadership. Boyle must be replaced as an alternate captain and Wilson said he expected some of the younger core, including forwards Logan Couture and Joe Pavelski and defenceman Marc-Edouard Vlasic, to possibly take a bigger role. "I expect our young players to take this as probably one of the great extreme learning moments to say, You know what? Thats not happening again," Wilson said. NOTES: Assistant coach Larry Robinson will be back but could have an expanded role that includes some front-office duties. ... Wilson said talks have already begun to keep backup G Alex Stalock, who can be an unrestricted free agent. ... Pavelski (shoulder) and F Raffi Torres (knee) had operations after the season. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '