NEWS » constant. As the Cubs cruised to a 5-2 victory, the Br

SUZUKA, Japan -- Nico Rosberg extended his lead in the drivers championship to 33 points with an assured victory at the Japanese Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton had to go on a recovery drive to third after a poor start.Rosberg and Hamilton started the race side by side on the front row of the grid, but Hamilton suffered wheelspin as the lights went out, dropping him to eighth place as he exited the first corner. From that point onwards Rosberg faced no real opposition for the win, while Hamilton was tasked with a battle through the field over the remaining 53 laps.A mixture of strategy, quick laps around pit stops and overtaking moved Hamilton up to third at the end of the race, but he could not find a way past Max Verstappen, who withstood pressure from the Mercedes in the final seven laps to take second place for Red Bull. Hamilton had an opportunity at the final chicane on the penultimate lap, but an aggressive defence from Verstappen forced the world champion to take to the exit road to avoid a collision.The result gives Rosberg a significant advantage in the championship and means he can finish second to Hamilton in the remaining four races (even affording one third place finish) and still win the title. The result also secured Mercedes its third consecutive constructors championship.Sebastian Vettel took fourth for Ferrari after losing third to Hamilton in the final round of pit stops, with teammate Kimi Raikkonen recovering from a five-place grid penalty to finish fifth. Malaysias race winner Daniel Ricciardo struggled throughout the race to finish sixth and lost a lot of time at his second pit stop. Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg finished seventh and eighth for Force India, with another victory over rivals Williams, which finished ninth and tenth with both drivers on a one-stop strategy.The story of the raceHamiltons poor start was his fourth of the season, following similarly slow getaways at the Australian, Bahrain and Italian Grands Prix this year. Much like his start in Monza, Hamilton appeared to suffer wheelspin as he released the clutch and it left him powerless to prevent the flood of rival cars passing on his left-hand side. A lap later he apologised to the team over the radio and following the race he admitted he made a mistake.Hamiltons recovery drive kicked into gear on lap seven as he thought better of a move on Nico Hulkenberg at 130R in order to complete a move on the inside of Turn 1 to take seventh place. He made his first pit stop on lap 14, which moved him ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Sergio Perez, who made early stops but got caught in traffic on their outlaps and lost time.On his outlap, Hamilton managed to get a better exit than Ricciardo out of Spoon corner in order to complete a passing move into 130R and gain another place.Next up was Vettel and Hamilton managed to close a 14 second gap to the Ferrari in the run up to his second pit stop. Hamilton pitted before the Ferrari and used his pace in clear air to make sure he was ahead when Vettel emerged from his own stop. Vettel opted to take on soft tyres in an attempt to reclaim the position on track, but despite sitting on the tail of the Mercedes for three laps, he was unable to make a move stick.Over the remainder of the race Hamilton set about closing the gap to Verstappen, and with seven laps remaining he was within DRS range. Verstappen ensured he got a better exit from the final chicane lap after lap to stop Hamilton attempting a move into Turn 1, but the Mercedes driver had something different in mind.In the knowledge he could carry more speed out of Spoon corner, Hamilton attempted to line up the Red Bull on the long back straight and through 130R in order to make a move on the entrance to the chicane. On the penultimate lap he got the first two parts right, but Verstappen was wise to the move and blocked the inside line as Hamilton made his lunge under braking. With the door well and truly closed, Hamilton had to take to the run off and with it his chances of securing a crucial extra three points for second place were gone.But Hamiltons fightback should not overshadow another mature and assured performance from Rosberg, who is increasingly in command in the driverss standings. With the constructors title wrapped up for another year, all eyes will be on the Mercedes drivers over the remaining four rounds as they battle it out for the 2016 title. Chad Pinder Jersey . You can watch the game live on TSN at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. The Flyers had won seven of eight before dropping their last two outings on consecutive days over the weekend. Philadelphia was handed a 6-3 loss by the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday afternoon before dropping a 4-1 decision to the Rangers the following night in New York City. Glenn Hubbard Jersey . The return match will take place next Wednesday. Udinese leads Fiorentina 2-1 in the other semifinal. Napoli staged a second-half comeback from two goals down after Gervinhos opener and a stunning strike from Kevin Strootman. http://www.athleticsrookiestore.com/ . Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the Carolina Hurricanes, announced Wednesday that the team would assign Swedish forward Elias Lindholm to his nations team for the upcoming tournament. Brett Anderson Jersey . Their experience showed Tuesday as the No. 10 Badgers blunted a Saint Louis surge to win 63-57 and advance to face West Virginia in Wednesdays finals of the Cancun Challenge. Joe Morgan Jersey . -- Three close looks at the bucket, three misses. As much as were loyal to Section 416, its great to see the Cubs play away from home. Rich, Old Style and I went to St. Louis in 2015, and this year, we journeyed to Milwaukee.For better and worse, Cubs fans are never lonely on the road.Our trip to Americas Dairyland was, like everything else about the 2016 season, different. Last year in St. Louis, we could have used a modern Moses to part the sea of red shirts and caps. A distinct and gently heckled minority, we watched the Cardinals beat the Cubs not long before Maddons team began its hot streak into October, and we didnt have a lot of fellow Chicagoans to commiserate with.At Miller Park this year, Cubs fans werent just a few stray visitors. We were an invading army. Our downtown hotel lobby teemed with folks in Arrieta, Bryant and Banks jerseys. Whole families in matching Cubs caps huddled in corners, trying to figure out the shuttle to the park. The restaurant was jammed for pregame chicken wings, burgers and beer.Only the preponderance of children and the vast parking lots around Miller Park kept Milwaukee from feeling wholly like Wrigleyville.Cubs fans dont just travel. They live everywhere. Thanks to the Rust Belt Diaspora that has sent so many people from Chicago to cities in the South and West, Cubs players can count on cheering and autograph-seeking fans at any ballpark from Atlanta to Phoenix to San Diego. Baseball fan identity is as much about who your mother or father rooted for as it is about where you were born, so the children of Cubs fans who moved to the Sun Belt are just as genuine as any born and bred on the North Side.Beyond relocated Chicagoans, cable TV superstation WGN helped to create a nationwide Cubs fan population during the 1980s and 90s, much as TBS did for the Atlanta Braves.Transplanted fans clearly seek the Wrigley experience, even when in remote places such as Denver, as the recent controversy over a young fan throwing a Rockies home run ball back onto the field suggests. Security came and escorted the lad and his family away, which showed that Wrigley bleacher traditions dont exactly translate to other ballparks. Luckily, some common sense prevailed, and the family was able to return to their seats.One key difference between the experience at Wrigley, with 2016s high expectations and great record, and other ballparks: You can get great seats out of town without dealing with scalpers. Rich scored tickets in the 10th row behind home plate. Officially obstructed view because of the protective netting, these were among the best seats weve ever had at any level.But things werent perfect, and the worsst part of this particular experience was something peculiar to a Wisconsin road trip: high expectations about sausages.dddddddddddd I have had nothing but good encased meat experiences north of the Illinois border. But the crowd was apparently more than the Miller Park concessions workers were prepared for.Lines were long and slow, and when I finally got my brat, it was cold. And it wasnt cooked all the way through. No amount of mustard and onions could save it.I threw it back like an opponents home run ball -- not onto the field, though, as that wouldve been ejection-worthy -- and headed to our seats.It soon became obvious how many Cubs fans were there. Based on the volume of cheering at Dexter Fowlers leadoff home run in his first at-bat after being on the DL, at least half the place wasnt pulling for the Brew Crew. This sort of split crowd changes the dynamics of a game.Usually, theres a rhythm to crowd reactions. When the home team gets a hit or a strikeout or makes a good defensive play, the vast majority of the crowd cheers. When the visitors do well, its boos or stony silence. The intensity ratchets up in the late innings of a close contest, but the noise ebbs and flows.Not so with the Cubs on the road this year. Every play, whatever its result, gets raucously cheered, either by Cubs fans or by the home teams rooters, and so the noise is pretty much constant. As the Cubs cruised to a 5-2 victory, the Brewers fans got quieter and the rhythm of the crowd noise felt more like Wrigley.The guys seated directly behind us, though, made clear the potential negative of Cubs fans taking over opposing ballparks.There are lots of varieties of Cubs fans, and the guys behind us were of the drink-an-inning/know-it-all variety. Besides loading up on beer and Long Island Iced Tea, one of them loudly questioned every decision made during the game. Whatever pitching or defensive move Maddon made, whatever pitch Miguel Montero called, whatever pitch a Cubs batter took or swung at, this mope would ask, What was that?! What are they thinking?! When the move worked (Justin Grimm got the third out in the seventh, striking out the only batter he faced), well, then he cheered for what was obviously the right move all along.Nine innings of that got a bit tedious. But unlike the experience with season tickets -- you get to know and love, or know and not love, the people sitting around you -- you can put up with almost anything for one game.Except an under-done bratwurst. ' ' '