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Thursday, February 28, 2008

Ranking the unrestricted free agents


Patriots cornerback Asante Samuel figures to be the biggest prize in the free-agent market.

Starting Friday, teams can make trades and add free agents as 31 teams try to catch up to the Super Bowl champion Giants, while they try to keep their well-earned place a top of the world.


However, it won’t be easy to make an impact. A class that is widely considered thin got even less deep when several standout players were franchised tagged last week. Still, there is some talent to be had.


Here is a look at the top 10 unrestricted free agents available


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Will Ferrell Beats Bill Walton in H.O.R.S.E.

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Will Ferrell showed off the basketball skills he learned as Jackie Moon on the set of Semi-Pro when he faced basketball legend Bill Walton in a game of H.O.R.S.E.

Ferrell hit 3 shots in a row to jump out to a quick H.O.R. lead. Then he sunk an impossible, behind the glass, Larry Bird inspired shot to go up H.O.R.S.

ESPN never actually shows the outcome of the match but we can assume that with an H.O.R.S. lead a cruising Farrell quickly put the nail in Walton’s coffin.

Check out the video after the jump!

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Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Yao done for season with stress fracture in left foot

HOUSTON -- All-Star center Yao Ming is out for the season with a stress fracture in his left foot, a stunning blow to the surging Houston Rockets.

General manager Daryl Morey made the announcement Tuesday, hours before the Rockets put their 12-game winning streak on the line against the Washington Wizards.

Yao was having a terrific season, averaging 22 points and 10.8 rebounds per game.

"It is not an injury we feel he can play with," Rockets team doctor Tom Clanton said. "I've made the recommendation that it be treated surgically and we are working with him to get other opinions just to be certain that that is indeed what should be done."



If Yao chooses surgery, Clanton said, it would involve placing screws across the bone to hold it together. The second option would be to treat it with a cast and crutches. Both options involve a healing time of about four months.

Clanton would not say when Yao could play again, but said he doesn't expect the center to miss the Beijing Olympics in August.

That possibility is weighing heavily on him though.

"If I cannot play in the Olympics for my country this time, it will be the biggest loss in my career to right now," he said.

He doesn't even want to think about how his absence in the game would affect his fans in China.

"I don't want to try, actually and I don't want to know either," he said.

"This is unbelievable," Rockets owner Les Alexander told KRIV-TV in Houston. "This is the most heart-breaking. This is the worst I've felt."

Coach Rick Adelman and Morey told the team before Tuesday's shootaround. Yao said it was a difficult day for him from the moment he walked into the building.

"When coach tells everybody I am out for the season, everybody is like quiet," he said. "That kind of quietness makes me feel kind of scared, it was quiet like nobody was there and you just feel alone."

Morey said he doesn't believe the injury compromises Houston's playoff hopes. The Rockets were 36-20 entering Tuesday's game.

"We've been playing exceptional ball and Yao's been a huge part of that," Morey said. "We feel very confident about our playoff push. We've managed to step up and play well without Yao in the past and coaches and players feel confident that we're going to continue to play well and make the playoffs this year." Morey acknowledged that it was difficult news to receive when the team has been playing so well.

"It's a pretty big swing from a high to a low, with how we were playing," Morey said. "We feel like our supporting cast is superior to when we played without Yao in the past. We remain ready for the challenge ahead."

Clanton said there was no specific event that led to the injury, but rather an "accumulation of stresses on the bone. Yao first experienced soreness and pain in his ankle before the All-Star Game and tests were done Monday when the situation didn't improve.

This is Yao's fourth major injury in the last two years. He missed 32 games last season with a fracture in his right leg and 21 games in late 2006 with a toe infection that required surgery. He missed four games in April 2006 after breaking his foot.

Houston went 20-12 when Yao was injured last season.

The Rockets, who remain in seventh place in the tough Western Conference despite their winning streak, will now have to rely heavily on 41-year-old Dikembe Mutombo. The 17-year veteran has been averaging just eight minutes per game.

"I really feel bad for Yao," Adelman said. "It's just such a shocker. Yesterday morning he was OK and then four hours later, he wasn't. It's tough on everybody, but we've got to move on."

Yao said he took Tracy McGrady aside after speaking to the team and told him the success of the team is up to him now.

"We're in a good situation right now," he said he told McGrady. "Right now is your time."

On Tuesday, the Rockets signed Bobby Jones to a 10-day contract and released Adam Haluska.

While it took more than two weeks to discover Yao's injury, Clanton said it sometimes takes months to diagnose.

"This is something that can be treated," he said. "We are catching this at a very early stage."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Mayweather goes from WBC to WWE


Floyd Mayweather Jr. and partner Karina Smirnoff made it to the fourth week of "Dancing with the Stars" in October 2007 before being eliminated.

Undefeated boxer turns to wrestling for $20M payday


LOS ANGELES -- Floyd Mayweather Jr. will earn a record $20 million for his first professional wrestling match next month.

The undefeated WBC welterweight champion will take on Paul "Big Show" Wight as part of WWE's "WrestleMania XXIV" at Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla., on March 30.

The one-fight deal, which is believed to be the largest single purse for a pro wrestling match, was finalized in January by Mayweather's advisor, Leonard Ellerbee.

"I had approached the (WWE) about a year ago but it didn't fit into our schedule," said Ellerbee after a news conference at Staples Center. "We sat down with them again about a month ago and they made an incredible offer and me and my business partner Al Heyman sat down with them and we cut the deal. It's an eight-figure deal worth $20 million just for this one fight."

Mayweather is 39-0 in the ring, but the wrestling match will have a slightly more skewed tale of the tape than the 5-foot-8, 150-pound boxer is used to. Wight comes into match standing 7 feet tall and weighing 430 pounds.

"I weigh three times as much as he does. It's not fair, but I'm a businessman and I see an opportunity for business," said Wight, punctuating his statement by flinging the wooden podium to the floor.

Mayweather hopped onto a chair and exchanged glares with Wight while WWE regulars Randy Orton, John Cena, Triple H and Edge looked on

"We've wanted to do something with Mayweather for quite sometime," said WWE Executive Vice President Shane McMahon. "I brought my dad [Vince McMahon] into it because he grew up and did a lot of promotions with [Muhammad] Ali and I told him this guy is Ali-plus. He's tailor-made for our business."

Mayweather plans to train with WWE Latino star Ray Mysterio, who wears a mask on his face. "WWE is the biggest it gets," Mayweather said. "This is going to be an event like none other."

While other boxers such as Ali, Mike Tyson and Joe Louis have stepped into the pro wrestling ring, all of them did it at the end of their careers. Mayweather is making the transition in his prime, as a possible re-match with Oscar De La Hoya awaits in September.

"I'm not just any ordinary fighter," said Mayweather, who earned about $20 million for his 2007 fight against De La Hoya, which was the richest boxing match ever, generating revenue of $120 million.

"I dance with the stars, I play in NBA celebrity games; you just never know what Floyd Mayweather will do next. Next year I could be playing for an NFL team or an NBA team. You just don't know."

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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When You're Too Slow To Avoid The Zamboni

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No, don't worry: A Pittsburgh Penguin did not get crushed on the ice. It's just what happens when a Zamboni's transmission fails, as reported by reader War Penguin, who was on the scene in Pittsburgh in its game against the San Jose Sharks. More action photos after the jump.

As you can see, it got to center ice and started spitting out giant gobs of transmission fluid. It was able to back up under its own power (making a giant red streak all the way), but they had to delay the game for 15 minutes, and make do with one Zamboni for the rest of the game. They didn't do any of the usual promos during the intermissions, presumably because it took twice as long to clean the ice with only one Zamboni.

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More Americans Are Giving Up Golf

HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. — The men gathered in a new golf clubhouse here a couple of weeks ago circled the problem from every angle, like caddies lining up a shot out of the rough.

“We have to change our mentality,” said Richard Rocchio, a public relations consultant.

“The problem is time,” offered Walter Hurney, a real estate developer. “There just isn’t enough time. Men won’t spend a whole day away from their family anymore.”

William A. Gatz, owner of the Long Island National Golf Club in Riverhead, said the problem was fundamental economics: too much supply, not enough demand.

The problem was not a game of golf. It was the game of golf itself.

Over the past decade, the leisure activity most closely associated with corporate success in America has been in a kind of recession.

The total number of people who play has declined or remained flat each year since 2000, dropping to about 26 million from 30 million, according to the National Golf Foundation and the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association.

More troubling to golf boosters, the number of people who play 25 times a year or more fell to 4.6 million in 2005 from 6.9 million in 2000, a loss of about a third.

The industry now counts its core players as those who golf eight or more times a year. That number, too, has fallen, but more slowly: to 15 million in 2006 from 17.7 million in 2000, according to the National Golf Foundation.

The five men who met here at the Wind Watch Golf Club a couple of weeks ago, golf aficionados all, wondered out loud about the reasons. Was it the economy? Changing family dynamics? A glut of golf courses? A surfeit of etiquette rules — like not letting people use their cellphones for the four hours it typically takes to play a round of 18 holes?

Or was it just the four hours?

Here on Long Island, where there are more than 100 private courses, golf course owners have tried various strategies: coupons and trial memberships, aggressive marketing for corporate and charity tournaments, and even some forays into the wedding business.

Over coffee with a representative of the National Golf Course Owners Association, the owners of four golf courses discussed forming an owners’ cooperative to market golf on Long Island and, perhaps, to purchase staples like golf carts and fertilizer more cheaply.

They strategized about marketing to women, who make up about 25 percent of golfers nationally; recruiting young players with a high school tournament; attracting families with special rates; realigning courses to 6-hole rounds, instead of 9 or 18; and seeking tax breaks, on the premise that golf courses, even private ones, provide publicly beneficial open space.

“When the ship is sinking, it’s time to get creative,” said Mr. Hurney, a principal owner of the Great Rock Golf Club in Wading River, which last summer erected a 4,000-square-foot tent for social events, including weddings, christenings and communions.

The disappearance of golfers over the past several years is part of a broader decline in outdoor activities — including tennis, swimming, hiking, biking and downhill skiing — according to a number of academic and recreation industry studies.

A 2006 study by the United States Tennis Association, which has battled the trend somewhat successfully with a forceful campaign to recruit young players, found that punishing hurricane seasons factored into the decline of play in the South, while the soaring popularity of electronic games and newer sports like skateboarding was diminishing the number of new tennis players everywhere.

Rodney B. Warnick, a professor of recreation studies and tourism at the University of Massachusetts, said that the aging population of the United States was probably a part of the problem, too, and that “there is a younger generation that is just not as active.”

But golf, a sport of long-term investors — both those who buy the expensive equipment and those who build the princely estates on which it is played — has always seemed to exist in a world above the fray of shifting demographics. Not anymore.

Jim Kass, the research director of the National Golf Foundation, an industry group, said the gradual but prolonged slump in golf has defied the adage, “Once a golfer, always a golfer.” About three million golfers quit playing each year, and slightly fewer than that have been picking it up. A two-year campaign by the foundation to bring new players into the game, he said, “hasn’t shown much in the way of results.”

“The man in the street will tell you that golf is booming because he sees Tiger Woods on TV,” Mr. Kass said. “But we track the reality. The reality is, while we haven’t exactly tanked, the numbers have been disappointing for some time.”

Surveys sponsored by the foundation have asked players what keeps them away. “The answer is usually economic,” Mr. Kass said. “No time. Two jobs. Real wages not going up. Pensions going away. Corporate cutbacks in country club memberships — all that doom and gloom stuff.”

In many parts of the country, high expectations for a golf bonanza paralleling baby boomer retirements led to what is now considered a vast overbuilding of golf courses.

Between 1990 and 2003, developers built more than 3,000 new golf courses in the United States, bringing the total to about 16,000. Several hundred have closed in the last few years, most of them in Arizona, Florida, Michigan and South Carolina, according to the foundation.

(Scores more courses are listed for sale on the Web site of the National Golf Course Owners Association, which lists, for example, a North Carolina property described as “two 18-hole championship courses, great mountain locations, profitable, $1.5 million revenues, Bermuda fairways, bent grass, nice clubhouses, one at $5.5 million, other at $2.5 million — possible some owner financing.”)

At the meeting here, there was a consensus that changing family dynamics have had a profound effect on the sport.

“Years ago, men thought nothing of spending the whole day playing golf — maybe Saturday and Sunday both,” said Mr. Rocchio, the public relations consultant, who is also the New York regional director of the National Golf Course Owners Association. “Today, he is driving his kids to their soccer games. Maybe he’s playing a round early in the morning. But he has to get back home in time for lunch.”

Mr. Hurney, the real estate developer, chimed in, “Which is why if we don’t repackage our facilities to a more family orientation, we’re dead.”

To help keep the Great Rock Golf Club afloat, owners erected their large climate-controlled tent near the 18th green last summer. It sat next to the restaurant, Blackwell’s, already operating there. By most accounts, it has been a boon to the club — though perhaps not a hole in one.

Residents of the surrounding neighborhood have complained about party noise, and last year more than 40 signed a petition asking the town of Riverhead to intervene. Town officials are reviewing whether the tent meets local zoning regulations, but have not issued any noise summonses. Mr. Hurney told them he had purchased a decibel meter and would try to hire quieter entertainment.

One neighbor, Dominique Mendez, whose home is about 600 feet from the 18th hole, said, “We bought our house here because we wanted to live in a quiet place, and we thought a golf course would be nice to see from the window. Instead, people have to turn up their air conditioners or wear earplugs at night because of the music thumping.”

During weddings, she said: “you can hear the D.J., ‘We’re gonna do the garter!’ It’s a little much.”

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Top 10: Super Bowl Champions

WhatIfSports.com used its free NFL SimMatchup technology (you could do this too!) to simulate the 42 Super Bowl champions against one another -- 100 times each. This means that each team played 4,100 games and 86,100 games were played in total. At the end, we looked at all of the games and ranked teams by winning percentage to find the top 10. This is the most accurate and thorough approach to answering “the question.”

The conclusion may not be “the 2007 New England Patriots,” but the question is still relevant -- and WhatIfSports.com has a definitive answer.

The debate in question is precisely why the site exists and it’s one of the major reasons why sports talk radio exists. It is why we all talk sports with our fathers and grandfathers, just like we do or will with our children and grandchildren. That’s because the conversation concerns historical context. On the heels of one of the most exciting and dramatic Super Bowls ever, and with so much recent discussion about NFL history, the specific question is; “Which team was the greatest Super Bowl champion of all time?” Or, more appropriately, “what if” the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins and other elite teams played all of the other Super Bowl champions? The answer: The Dolphins would win just more than 60% of the time, while the 1985 Chicago Bears and 1999 St. Louis Rams would each win well over 70% of their games.

When running these games, the simulation engine factors in actual regular season statistics that are adjusted equally on a historical and relative (to other teams that season and to strength of schedule) basis. This means that if a team or player had a record-breaking rushing season against a schedule that includes very weak rush defenses, the team or player will still perform well, but may not perform as well it did that year. This also means that the computer does not have to try to figure out how a 230-pound offensive lineman can block a 330-pound defensive tackle. Everything is in the numbers and relative to the context of that season.

Record has nothing to do with this analysis, but do not confuse that with a neglect for “heart” or “clutch.” Strengths, weaknesses, consistency, comfort under pressure, and the like are all “intangible” factors that show through in the numbers. And teams with better numbers typically win -- especially when the games are played often.

The 2007 New York Giants rank No. 23. Although the Giants looked like the better team in Super Bowl XLII, it was still an upset. Had the Patriots just won, they would appear among the top few on this list. Now they are not on it. That is how big that game was.

The top 10 Super Bowl champions list starts with a bit of a surprise:

Number 10

1972 Miami Dolphins

Winning percentage: 60.7%

We would even go so far as to say that the undefeated Dolphins were very lucky. The team had a good running game, yet it was relatively one-dimensional on offense and the defense allowed some poor rushing teams to do well on the ground. Miami also played one of the weakest overall schedules of any team on this list and it shows in the ranking. That being said, the Dolphins were clearly the best team that year and have good numbers across the board, yet there’s really nothing outstanding about the team.

The list of the best Super Bowl champions has just begun…

The very lucky part is in the “0” (as Mercury Morris would say). Resimulating the games from 1972, the Dolphins are a 77% favorite on average in their 17 games. That sounds dominant, but, even as a big favorite, the chance of winning those 17 games is 1.2%, and the fact that they did means they were very lucky. For comparison purposes, the Patriots were a 92% favorite on average in their first 17 games this season. The chance of winning all of those games was 24.2% -- still not likely, but not necessarily “lucky.”

Number 9

1994 San Francisco 49ers

Winning percentage: 62.4%

Steve Young’s 1994 season is the epitome of statistical efficiency from the quarterback position. Young completed 70.3% of his passes for more than eight yards per attempt, threw just one interception every 45 passes and averaged 5.1 yards per carry on the ground with seven rushing touchdowns. In the conference championship, the 49ers defeated a Cowboys team that won three of four Super Bowls by 10 points and then routed the San Diego Chargers 49-26. Young, the NFL and Super Bowl MVP, had six touchdowns in the finale. He definitely made his lone championship season as the 49ers starter count.

Number 8

1996 Green Bay Packers

Winning percentage: 62.8%

A team with no glaring weakness, the 1996 Green Bay Packers scored the most points in the league and allowed the least points. Yet, what sets this squad apart from other balanced teams on this list may be the special teams. Desmond Howard averaged an astounding 15.1 yards per punt return, taking three back for touchdowns in the regular season.

Number 7

1992 Dallas Cowboys

Winning percentage: 63.2%

Some may contend that the 1993 (No. 14 on this list) team was better, but the 1992 team was more balanced overall. This Cowboys squad is one of the top 10 Super Bowl champs in passing, avoiding sacks and stopping the momentum of opposing teams (aka “bend a little, but don’t break”). They did not cause many turnovers or get many sacks, but they did not need to because the offense was not allowing those things either -- 52-17 against a team playing in its fourth-straight Super Bowl looks pretty good too.

Number 6

1984 San Francisco 49ers

Winning percentage: 66.5%

One of two Joe Montana-led teams to crack the top 10, this team may have had one of the top three most efficient offenses in NFL history. Joe Montana averaged more than 8 yards per pass attempt, a full two yards more than his opponents, and the running game picked up 4.6 yards per carry, a half-yard better than the league average. The defense was great at keeping opponents from scoring touchdowns in the red zone, but that is generally overcome by the other teams in this analysis.

Number 5

1979 Pittsburgh Steelers

Winning percentage: 66.6%

The best Steelers team of the 1970s came at the end of the decade. If you need to see why this team is ranked so high, look at this list of Pro Bowlers: Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, John Stallworth, Jack Ham, Mel Blount, Jack Lambert, Donnie Shell, Mike Webster, L.C. Greenwood, and Joe Greene.

Who do you think the top 4 Super Bowl champions are?

Number 4

1991 Washington Redskins

Winning percentage: 66.8%

Mark Rypien and his Posse rate as the most prolific passing offense of any Super Bowl champion and this Redskins team also gave up the fewest sacks of any team. The rest of their stats were pretty average, but the two facts mentioned are enough to put this team in the top five.

Number 3

1989 San Francisco 49ers

Winning percentage: 68.2%

The best 49ers team on this list, the 1989 team combined the offensive efficiency of the previous Bill Walsh-coached teams with the defensive mentality of new Head Coach George Seifert. That season, the 49ers recovered 11 more fumbles and intercepted 11 more passes than their opponents.

Number 2

1985 Chicago Bears

Winning percentage: 74.9%

As the winning percentages suggest, there are two elite teams on this list and the 1985 Chicago Bears are clearly one of them. They have the most dominant defense of any Super Bowl champion and, they have Walter Payton. The passing offense is the only minor weakness, lacking true explosion and turning the ball over against ball-hawking teams like the 2000 Baltimore Ravens, 1971 Dallas Cowboys and 2003 New England Patriots. The main difference between No. 1 and No. 2 on this list is that the margin for error of a team that’s strength is in the running game is much narrower than the margin for error of a team that can pass the ball effectively. The Bears may not get behind much, but when they do, they cannot catch up easily.

Number 1

1999 St. Louis Rams

Winning percentage: 77.1%

This ranking may surprise most people, but the “Greatest Show on Turf” was also the greatest single-season team in NFL history. Fans generally think of this as a pass-heavy offense, yet it is the running game and opportunistic defense that set this apart from teams like the 1991 Redskins and 2006 Colts. The Rams actually rank as the third most efficient rushing Super Bowl champion of all time as well as one of the best passing teams ever. Marshall Faulk averaged 5.5 yards per carry to go with an astonishing 12.0 yards per reception out of the backfield. The Rams also forced 14 more interceptions than they threw en route to outscoring opponents by an average of 17.8 points per game, which is the highest average margin of victory on this list. The defense was pretty good too. Without Mike Jones’ last-second stop in the Super Bowl, this team may be in the same category as the 2007 Patriots.

“Lightning in a bottle”; “flash in the pan”; “perfect storm”; pick your cliche and they might have been it in 1999, but there is no doubting that the 1999 St. Louis Rams are the best Super Bowl champions the sport has ever seen.

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Tiger wins Match Play for world sweep

MARANA, Ariz. - Not even the most unpredictable tournament in golf could keep Tiger Woods from an inevitable victory. There seems to be no stopping him.

Stewart Cink barely put up a fight Sunday in the Accenture Match Play Championship, where Woods broke a scoring record for the fourth straight tournament, collected his fifth straight victory worldwide and didn't so much as crack a smile when someone asked him if a perfect season was within reach.

"That's my intent," he said. "That's why you play. It you don't believe you can win an event, don't show up."

Relentless as ever, Woods made 14 birdies in 29 holes in the high desert of Dove Mountain to overwhelm Stewart Cink for an 8-and-7 victory, the largest margin in the final match in the 10-year history of his fickle event.

Woods captured his 15th World Golf Championship, holding all three world title for the first time.

And his 63rd career victory moved him past Arnold Palmer and into fourth place alone on the PGA Tour's career list. His next victory will tie him with Ben Hogan.

Golf is not a fair fight at the moment.

"I think maybe we ought to slice him open to see what's inside," Cink said. "Maybe nuts and bolts."

Cink was only the latest victim in a winning streak that dates to Sept. 3, 2007, a date worth remembering.

Woods won the BMW Championship the following week at 262, breaking the tournament scoring record by five shots. He won the Tour Championship by a record eight shots, and the Buick Invitational by the same margin, another tournament record.

This is the third time Woods has won at least four straight PGA Tour events. He also won in Dubai three weeks ago on the European tour by coming back from a four-shot deficit.

"I think this is the best stretch I've ever played," Woods said.

He has won six of his last seven PGA Tour events, 16 of his last 30 over the last two years.

The confidence in his game is so high that Woods started this season by saying the Grand Slam was "easily within reason." For now, he has a Triple Crown of the World Golf Championships, a sweep that included an eight-shot victory in the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone and a two-shot victory in the CA Championship at Doral.

Woods' tour winning streak was at seven last year when Nick O'Hern beat him in the third round of the Match Play. Given the fickle nature of this format, even Woods said it was the toughest tournament to win this side of a major.

Turns out the hard part was just getting to the final match.

Woods rallied from three down with five holes to play in the opening round against J.B. Holmes by winning four straight holes with three birdies and a 35-foot eagle. He twice watched Aaron Baddeley putt from inside 12 feet to win a third-round match, beating the Australian in 20 holes. And he was stretched to 18 holes in the semifinals against defending champion Henrik Stenson.

"I played 117 holes this week," Woods said. "I could have easily played 16 and then been home. That's the fickleness of match play."

But the final was no contest.

He built a 4-up lead after the morning round of 66, and Cink never got any closer.

Cink didn't win a hole until No. 12, and the only hole he won in the afternoon came at the par-5 10th when he rolled in a 36-foot eagle putt. Woods had an eagle putt from 35 feet, and the ball spun around the cup.

"Even the minuscule amount that I upstaged him there — him being 8 up — I still thought he was going to make it," Cink said. "He lipped it out, and I thought, 'Hey, come on. At least give me a moment to shine here.' And he said, 'Sorry, dude.'"

The next stop for Woods is the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

"Anytime you're associated with Arnold and what he's done with the game of golf, it's always a positive thing," Woods said about going 1-up in career victories over the King. "I could never have foreseen my victory total being this high, my game improvement being as much as it has been, my knowledge of the game."

Woods' record in the WGCs is simply ridiculous. This is the 10th year of this series, which was designed to bring together the best players in the world. Identifying the best? That was never a serious question.

Woods is a staggering 15-of-26 in official WGC events, three of those in the Match Play Championship. Darren Clarke (Match Play, Bridgestone) is the only other player with multiple WGC victories.

The world's No. 1 player has built a career on these events alone:

_Woods earned $1.35 million Sunday, giving him over $19.8 million in these elite events. That's roughly 25 percent of Woods' career PGA Tour earnings, and more than Tom Lehman has earned in more than 430 tour starts.

_He was won 15 times in WGC events, as many victories as Fred Couples has in his entire PGA Tour career.

"It says about the same thing that just about any other stat you can pull up of him says," Cink said. "It says he's the best that's ever played."

Stenson won the first four holes and defeated Justin Leonard in the consolation match, 3 and 2. Leonard should earn enough world ranking points to move into the top 40, boosting his chances of getting into the Masters.

Cink earned $800,000 and will look back on a week in which he beat British Open champion Padraig Harrington and U.S. Open champion Angel Cabrera before running out of magic against the reigning PGA champion.

"I'm a little disappointed I didn't throw a little more at Tiger, put some pressure on him," Cink said.

Woods already was 4 up after eight holes in the morning when he mentioned that a rules official had just warned them that they were close to being put on the clock for slow play.

"Who are we holding up?" Woods whispered with a bemused grin, noting they were the only match on the course.

Truth is, he might as well have been playing alone.

Original here

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Marlins want fat men who can dance

MIAMI - The Florida Marlins are looking for some footloose fat men. The National League team is creating an all-male, plus-size cheerleading squad to be dubbed the Manatees. Tryouts were scheduled for Sunday.

The team hopes to recruit seven to 10 tubby men to dance, cheer and jiggle during Friday and Saturday home games this season.

Real manatees, 1,200-pound mammals sometimes referred to as "sea cows," are not considered the most agile of creatures and often get caught in boat propellers.

The Marlins want their Manatees to have the same dimensions, but to be decidedly more agile. Men will be judged on how well they dance a choreographed routine.

The Marlins already have a cheerleading squad, the considerably more svelte Mermaids.

Men selected for the Manatees won't be paid. They'll get tickets to games they perform at, and the honor of dancing in front of crowds that have been smallest in major league baseball for the last two seasons.

The Marlins aren't the only pro sports team capitalizing on Americans' expanding waistlines. The Chicago Bulls basketball team have the Matadors, a big-man dance troupe that's entertained fans at home games since 2003.

And although cheerleaders might be an unfamiliar site in baseball, big men aren't, as fans have long cheered on the likes of Babe Ruth and Kirby Puckett.

Original here

Friday, February 22, 2008

Johnny Knoxville bail during tribute to Evel Knievel


Thursday, February 21, 2008

A-Rod supports Pettitte, dismisses PED claims by Canseco and Rocker

TAMPA, Fla. -- Alex Rodriguez sat in the first-base dugout at Legends Field, surrounded by the usual circle of cameras, microphones and reporters. He knows the scrutiny will only increase as he approaches Barry Bonds' career home-run record, especially in an era when all top athletes must prove they haven't juiced up on performance-enhancing drugs.

In his first session with reporters during spring training, Rodriguez talked about baseball's drug-testing program and made a curious statement.

"Last year, I got tested 9-to-10 times," Rodriguez said. "We have a very, very strict policy, and I think the game is making tremendous strides."

If Rodriguez had been tested that many times, either he was selected for an unusually high number of random checks or he might have been subjected to additional tests -- which would happen, for instance, if a player tests positive for a banned stimulant for the first time.

Later in the day, A-Rod said it was just hyperbole.

"My quote from earlier today was taken literally. I was not tested nine or 10 times last year. I was just using exaggeration to make a point," Rodriguez said in a statement through Yankees spokesman Jason Zillo.

"My intent was simply to shed light on the fact that the current program being implemented is working, and a reason for that is through frequent testing. I apologize for any confusion I may have caused."

Rodriguez stated categorically that he had never taken steroids or human growth hormone. He said he isn't worried about Jose Canseco, who has hinted without going into detail that he will make allegations of some sort against Rodriguez in an upcoming book.

"Right now, the game is in a very not-trusting situation with our public, with our fans," A-Rod said. "Some of the things that I've accomplished and potentially some of the things that people think I can accomplish, my name has come up and will probably come up again in the future."

Rodriguez also denied a claim last week by former Texas teammate John Rocker that doctors from management and the players' association told A-Rod, Rafael Palmeiro, Ivan Rodriguez and Rocker following a spring training meeting how to effectively use steroids. Rodriguez and Rocker were with the Rangers in 2002.

"That did not happen," A-Rod said.

Rodriguez signed a record $275 million, 10-year contract to remain with the New York Yankees. Just 32, he is an 11-time All-Star who led the with 54 home runs and 156 RBIs last season and won his third AL MVP award. Heading into this year, he's 17th on the career list with 518 home runs, 244 behind the record Bonds established last year.

He wouldn't talk about why he opted out of his record $252 million, 10-year contract last October only to return a few weeks later.

"It was just a big misunderstanding," Yankees senior vice president Hank Steinbrenner said. "We really didn't know that he wanted to come back and he was very concerned, very alarmed when he found out we didn't know he wanted to come back and he made it clear he did, and everything was great from there."

Wherever A-Rod goes, there are questions. He is 8-for-59 (.136) in the postseason dating to 2004 and hitless in 18 consecutive playoff at-bats with runners in scoring position.

No matter how many home runs he hits, without a World Series ring he can't take a place alongside Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio, can't be mentioned with Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Reggie Jackson.

"I think there's a sense of urgency," new manager Joe Girardi said. "There's no better year than the present, right?"

Playing for the Yankees has largely robbed A-Rod of his privacy. Whether he's sunbathing in Central Park or walking through a Toronto hotel lobby with a blond stripper, paparazzi are usually hiding nearby.

"When you're as good as Alex, you're going to be scrutinized more, and people are always watching," Girardi said. "When you're a great player, people never take their eyes off of you, so everything that you do is under a microscope, and he's doing it at the highest level in New York."

Across town, the Mets have their own icon to show off this year. Two-time Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana is the Queens ace to play opposite A-Rod's Bronx bravura.

"I'm glad for a guy like Santana, gets to play in a city like New York," Rodriguez said. "He's the best pitcher. He deserves to be in the city, and in a forum. I thought it was a fantastic move by the New York Mets."

Rodriguez also praised teammate Andy Pettitte, who was forced to give a deposition and affidavit to Congress in which he admitted using HGH in 2002 and 2004. Pettitte also said Roger Clemens discussed HGH use nearly a decade ago -- Clemens said Pettitte "misremembers."

"Andy is one of the greatest human beings I've ever met," Rodriguez said. "I have two daughters -- well, I have one and one on the way. If I had a daughter, I would want 'em to marry Andy Pettitte. The age difference might be a little awkward, but in today's day and age anything is possible."

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press

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Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Hank Aaron believes baseball can move on


KISSIMMEE, Fla. - He's no longer the home run king, but he's still the Hammer. Hank Aaron hobbled into Atlanta's spring training camp on Tuesday — he needs knee-replacement surgery — with no opinion on whether Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens deserve to be in the Hall of Fame, but saying he's confident baseball is on the way to recovering from the Steroids Era.

"I think baseball is trying to clean up its act," Aaron said, sitting in the Braves' dugout during batting practice. "It's unfortunate for baseball, but baseball has been through some tough times. It went through the White Sox scandal and survived. It went through a lot of things and survived. It's going to survive this, too."

Like many baseball fans, Aaron tuned in when the Mitchell Report was released, and he was in front of the television set again for Roger Clemens' testimony before Congress last week, when the seven-time Cy Young Award winner denied using human growth hormone as alleged by his former trainer.

"I'm glad it happened, and I'm glad it happened before spring training, before the season started," Aaron said. "We can get it over and done with. You'll see. When the season starts, we'll again be drawing fans. People will come out to watch these kids play."

He declined to say whether he found Clemens' testimony believable, taking the same tact he consistently followed when similar charges were leveled against Barry Bonds, the guy who broke the Hammer's long ball record last season.

"Only Roger can answer to that," Aaron said. "I can't answer to that. I can't say what happened."

He did seem to take a poke at Clemens by bringing up Andy Pettitte, the Rocket's good friend and former teammate. Pettitte has admitted using HGH and claimed under oath that Clemens revealed in private conversations nearly a decade ago that he used it, too.

Reporting to the Yankees camp on Monday, Pettitte apologized for his mistakes and admitted his revelations about Clemens put a strain on their relationship. Aaron praised Pettitte for his honesty and sent a signal that other players should follow suit.

"He told the truth and got it over with," Aaron said. "He didn't lie, and that was it."

If Bonds and Clemens are done playing, they'll be eligible for the Hall of Fame in five years. Before the drug allegations came to light, both were shoe-ins. Now, there are no sure things.

Aaron, who was elected to Cooperstown on a nearly unanimous vote in 1982, wouldn't say if Clemens and Bonds deserved the same honor.

"I have no idea. I don't vote," Aaron said. "If they join me, that's fine. If they don't, well, I don't make the decision on that."

He's not sure if the use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs was the sole reason for the dramatic rise in homers during the 1990s. The main problem, Aaron said, was the impression it made on America's youth, reflected in the troubling number of high school athletes now looking for any edge they can get.

"If somebody can tell where it says if you take steroids it will help you hit a baseball, I wish they would tell me," he said. "I don't think it does. I just don't know what it does. The only thing it does is send a bad message to the kids. I don't want your kids or my kids or any other kids out there using steroids."

After the Braves were sold to Liberty Media Group last year, Aaron was supposed to take on a more prominent role beyond his largely ceremonial duties as senior vice president. Indeed, he shed much of his business empire, including a chain of auto dealerships, to spend more time around the team.

Still, Aaron made it clear that he's not a major player in the organization, serving mainly as an adviser to chairman Terry McGuirk.

"I don't want to be classified as doing much of anything," Aaron said with a smile. "I'm just trying to help Terry McGuirk. He's a businessman, and sometimes he asks me questions pertinent to baseball. That's all."

Still, Aaron's presence was enough to cause quite a stir in the Braves' clubhouse. Plenty of players reverently approached the man who hit 755 career homers, just to say hello and shake his hand.

"He's the best," said pitcher John Smoltz, who has played his entire career in Atlanta. "And he's one of ours. That makes it even more special."

Dressed casually in a Cuban-style shirt and khaki pants, Aaron's most pressing priority is taking care of his ailing right knee, which finally succumbed to his long career on the field and active post-retirement lifestyle. He struggles to get around, and his wife is trying to set up a date for knee-replacement surgery.

"It's bone on bone," he said. "I don't know when I'm going to do it, but I am."

Even with the pain in his knee, Aaron relishes being at spring training, especially on a day when he got to watch both Tom Glavine and Tim Hudson take the mound, marveling at them from behind the safety of the batting cage.

"If I had to take batting practice against guys like Hudson and Glavine, I think I would take a rain check. They would have put me in a slump," Aaron quipped. "But baseball is baseball. I enjoy coming out to watch the kids practice. We did basically the same thing, but maybe it was a little bit tougher in my day because we did a little more running."

Any lingering regrets about surrendering his home run record to Bonds? Not in the least.

"I held it long enough," Aaron said. "I had it for 33 years. Hey, why not pass the torch on to someone else? It doesn't bother me."

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Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Bullet Points: The Worst Nicknames in Sports

In today’s society, there are a million reasons why professional athletes are placed on a pedestal and worshiped by we mere mortals. They make obscene amounts of money, going to work entails “playing games," and they fill more pussy than Meow Mix. One underappreciated aspect of being a pro jock is the nickname factor.

I mean, how cool would it be to walk around the office and have people refer to you as “the Great One," or “Magic”? There are a shitload of awesome nicknames out there and I’m sure there are even more lists that rank them. This, however, is not one of them. Rather, I’d like to take a look at the poor bastards who stepped up to the nickname buffet to find the only thing left was rancid pig snout.

10. Major League Pitcher: John “Way Back” Wasdin

Wasdin was tagged with the unfortunate handle of “Way Back” after showing a habitual penchant for serving up Dr. Longball. The very definition of mediocrity, “Way Back” Wasdin boasts the unspectacular career record of 29 and 29, with a bloated ERA of over 5.

9. NBA Rebound Specialist: Dennis “The Worm” Rodman


At least if he was known as “the Big Worm” or something to that effect, one could allude to his label's phallic nature. As it stands, though, Rodman is essentially named after a mucous-covered decomposer with both male and female genitalia. Surprisingly appropriate for a man who enjoys dressing up in women’s clothing.

8. NHL Super-pest: Kenny “the Rat” Linesman

Personally, I love Kenny “the Rat” Linesman. The problem is, whether it’s the association with rolling over on your friends, or the actual garbage dwelling vermin, the rat is a foul and despised creature. Kenny not only played like a dirty rat, but his pointy snout and sunken eyes made him look the part as well.

7. NHL Goal Scorer: Marcel “Le Petit Castore” Dionne (translated to “Little Beaver”)

Dionne may have scored often with his blade, but this stumpy French pudge-ball was shut out in the nickname department. You’re either a small, buck-toothed member of the rodent family that chews wood for a living, or a euphemism for a tiny vagina. Pick your poison.

6. NBA Legend: Larry “The Hick From French Lick” Bird


5. NHL Netminder: Andre “Red Light” Racicot

As a goaltender, your job description entails just one task. Keep the puck out of the net. Too bad for Racicot that skill happened to be the one he struggled with most. Poor old “Red Light” was unceremoniously run out of Montreal, but not before suffering third-degree burns to the back of his neck from the goal lamp's sharp amber rays.

4. Light Stepping Wrestler: The Poet Laureate, “Leaping” Lanny Poffo

Let’s break this phenomenally awful name down to its core components. A poet that enjoys “leaping” named Lanny Poffo. Three strikes and “Leaping” Lanny is out; of the closet that is. Perhaps he would have been better off sticking to his original name, “Big Gay Lanny."

3. NBA Rookie: Glen “Big Baby” Davis

The only blemish on the 2008 Boston Celtics so far this season, is their rookie’s nickname. A dominating NBA big man should conjure up names like “the Admiral," “Diesel” or "Dr. Dunkenstein." Instead, Davis will have to settle for images of uncontrollable crying fits and giant soiled diapers. I just feel sorry for his mother’s flume-ride like birth canal.

2. Former Boxing Champion: Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker

As a boxer, you generally want a nickname that is going to put the fear of god in your opponents. With that in mind, I must have missed the episode of the Popeye cartoon where his daughter knocks out Brutus with a wicked left cross. There are absolutely no redeeming qualities to this nickname, and whoever invented it should be tied up and whipped repeatedly with a lasso made of used tampons.

1. NHL Scoring Legend: Guy “the Flower” Lafleur

Nothing says speed, power and ferocity like... a flower? I can just see a helmet-less defender snickering under his breath, “Oh no, here comes the Flower flying down the wing." Now, Guy certainly had some skills, but on the basis of his nickname alone, you’d assume that skill was planting two-lips on some greasy Frenchman’s knob.

Call me crazy, but I even believe his pseudonym may be responsible for his son’s recent legal problems. It seems the son of the Flower was assessed a “minor” penalty for sexual assault on an underage girl. I guess that would make his son “the De-Flowerer”?

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NBA Halftime Proposal

So what if it was their second date? She was the one!

Great firewall of China may hinder blogging Olympians

Athletes competing in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, will be allowed to maintain personal blogs for the first time in history—if they can make it through the Great Firewall, that is. The International Olympic Committee made the decision and issued a set of guidelines late last week, saying only that athletes are free to post what they want—with a few caveats. But even as the IOC gives the go-ahead to bloggers, the Chinese government continues to filter and monitor its own Internet traffic, severely limiting bloggers within the country.

As for the types of things the IOC will allow, athletes may only write about their own personal experiences (and not, say, a newsy-type post about an overall competition or information from third parties). They may also post photographs taken outside of official Olympic areas and their own photos taken inside, but that the photos must not contain any sporting action. Bloggers cannot put any form of advertising on their sites or have any affiliation with a specific company, the IOC said, and should keep their posts "dignified and in good taste," according to the guidelines.

"The IOC considers blogging... as a legitimate form of personal expression and not a form of journalism," the IOC said in a statement issued on Friday.

Unfortunately, China's Public Security Bureau doesn't usually take such a liberal view of "personal expression." Blogs from common hosts, such as Blogspot and WordPress, have been blocked off and on within China for some time now, so Olympic athletes looking to post about their experiences may not even be able to access their sites without some sort of contingency plan. That's not the only place they'll have to compromise, either—other taboo topics include the local police, government, as well as the likes of Falun Gong, Nazi Germany, and Tiananmen Square.

In other China-related news, Steven Spielberg decided last week to resign as an "artistic consultant" to the 2008 Olympics. The reason for his decision, Spielberg said, was because China had not done much to help resolve conflict in Sudan, resulting in genocide and other human rights violations. "With this in mind, I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue with business as usual," he said in a statement.

Human Rights Watch praised Spielberg's decision, saying that other corporate sponsors, governments, and other Olympic-related committees should put pressure on Beijing to improve human rights in China. "Olympic corporate sponsors are putting their reputations at risk unless they work to convince the Chinese government to uphold the human rights pledges it made to bring the Games to Beijing," Human Rights Watch media director Minky Worden said in a statement last week. "Human rights are under attack in China, and Olympic sponsors should use their considerable leverage to persuade Beijing to change policy."

But not everyone received the news well—particularly Chinese fans of Spielberg's work. China's Xinhua news agency reported that the public was angry about the decision, with some criticizing Spielberg for living in a sci-fi fantasy world and being unable to "distinguish dream from reality." The IOC appeared to shrug off the controversy as well, with IOC President Jacques Rogge saying that the Olympics are a sporting event, not an opportunity to demonstrate political beliefs. "[Spielberg's] absence will not harm the quality of the Games. The Beijing Games are much stronger than individuals," Rogge said.

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Statheads Speak: Derek Jeter, You Stink!

Despite the three gold gloves, multiple forms of statistical analysis show that "the Captain" is the worst-fielding shortstop in the Majors
Once upon a time, the only fielding statistic listed on the back of baseball cards was fielding percentage, a simple calculation of the number of assists and putouts a player records divided by total chances. But this only tells you how well players handled the balls that they were able to put a glove on, giving pretty much zero insight into how much ground a player covers at his position and, ultimately, his impact on the outcome of the game.

Enter Spatial Aggregate Fielding Evaluation, or SAFE, a new yard stick for fielding developed by professor Shane Jensen and his stat-junkie colleagues at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and presented today at the AAAS Meetings in Boston. In short, Jensen examined every hit from the 2002-2005 baseball seasons and developed a formula that spit out the probability of the average player at each position recording an out on a batted ball. He then compared this to individual players' stats and determined how many runs each player's fielding performance either saved or caused.

First basemen, it turns out are relatively inconsequential when it comes to fielding balls. On average, the best first basemen will only save their team one or two runs over the course of the season; the very worst only cough up five. The distinction is much more apparent at the shortstop position, where Alex Rodriguez was the best everyday shortstop in the league, saving 10.40 runs each season for the Texas Rangers. Derek Jeter, the New York Yankees shortstop who is often hailed for his defensive prowess and has won three Gold Gloves, ranks dead last in the majors, coughing up 13.81 runs per season. Before the 2004 season, the Yankees traded for A-Rod and shifted him to third base in deferrence of Jeter, but based on these numbers, that move could be costing them 23 runs per season. Would the Yankees be better off with A-Rod at SS? Probably, but I'm a Red Sox fan, so I'll keep quiet on this one.

But the lack of a definitive method of measuring fielding excellence has spurred many statisticians to create their own stats. David Pinto, formerly the chief baseball statistician at ESPN, has devised what he calls the Defensive Efficiency Ratio, or DER, which, in simple terms, determines the probability, at each position, that a fieldable ball results in at least one out. (This approach is slightly different from SAFE, which rates fielding efforts based on how many runs a player prevents or allows.) Pinto compared the expected number of outs to actual stats to evaluate each fielder's performance.

This is where some interesting ambiguities between statistical facts and baseball strategy arise. Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki led all shortstops, recording 50 more outs than was expected of him. In particular, Tulowitzki picked up most of his extra outs on the third base side of shortstop. Meanwhile, Garret Atkins, the third baseman for the Rockies, recorded 41 fewer outs than was expected of him. But does that mean that Atkins is a bad fielder? The stats would say yes. But perhaps his coach is telling him to play near the line, putting him out of position of balls that are running through zones that third basemen are expected to cover and being gobbled up by Tulowitzki, who is being told to play a shade deeper to help cover Atkins' ground. Such a strategy would artificially drop Atkins' outs recorded while simultaneously increasing Tulowitzki's, but, looking at the stats alone makes it difficult to say if this is the case. "It's quite possible that Atkins' fielding weakness is accentuated by strategy, and that's what we're seeing here," Pinto says. "But, my guess would be that if he were a better fielder, you would see a much more balanced split between the two players."

Despite this and other shortcomings, fans and statisticians have never known more about defense than they do today. "Fielding, in general, was a fairly intangible tool," Jensen says. "I think we've helped make it more tangible."

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Sunday, February 17, 2008

Hawks Send 4 Players to Kings for Bibby

Sacramento Kings guard Mike Bibby stands on the court as time runs out in the Denver Nuggets' 120-115 victory over the Kings in an NBA basketball game in Denver in this April 4, 2007 file photo. Atlanta Hawks owner Michael Gearon Jr. said Saturday. Feb. 16, 2008 that the Hawks will send four players to the Kings in exchange for Bibby. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta Hawks traded four players and a draft pick on Saturday for Mike Bibby, the point guard they hope will end the league's longest streak without a playoff appearance.

The Hawks sent starting point guard Anthony Johnson, 2007 first-round pick Shelden Williams, backup point guard Tyronn Lue, veteran forward Lorenzen Wright and a 2008 second-round pick to the Kings.

The trade is pending league approval and physicals.

Hawks spokeman Arthur Triche said Bibby is expected to join the team in Los Angeles on Monday, where he will have his physical. The Hawks play at the Lakers on Tuesday night.

Bibby, a 10-year veteran, missed the start of the season with a thumb injury but is averaging 13.5 points and 5.0 assists in 15 games.

"I want to thank Mike for his terrific all-around play," Kings president Geoff Petrie said in a statement. "He's had a great run here as a King and has participated in and contributed to some great moments on the court and I wish him all the best."

One of the Hawks' owners, Michael Gearon Jr., said his team's new backcourt of Bibby and All-Star Joe Johnson "will be as good as any in the East."

"I think Bibby will be one of the top three point guards in the East," Gearon said.

"He's capable of going one-on-one, hitting clutch shots, breaking defenses and leading this team."

The Hawks, in ninth place in the Eastern Conference and percentage points behind the eighth and final playoff spot, are trying to make the postseason for the first time since 1999.

Also on Saturday, the Kings requested waivers on forward Justin Williams and guard Dahntay Jones.

"We're excited about adding another young frontcourt player who was the fifth pick of the 2006 draft in Williams, along with some experienced veterans to the team," Petrie said. "We're looking forward to seeing how they integrate in with the rest of our roster."

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Dwight Howard Superman Dunk

NBA All-Star Saturday Night Wrap-up

as08_logo.jpg

Tonight is All-Star Saturday Weekend, quite possibly the best day for NBA fans in the entire year. We will be covering the Shooting Stars competition, All-Star Skills Challenge, 3 Point Shout-Out, and Slam Dunk competition here on ZapNat. Stay tuned…..

Haier Shooting Stars Competition

The Haier Shooting Stars competition is one of my favorite parts of All Star Saturday. There are groups of three (one NBA legend, one current NBA player, and one WNBA player) who take 6 shots, 5 normal shots (3-pointers and closer), and then one half-court shot. In the first round, the two teams who make the 6 shots the fastest advance, and the team that does it faster in the second round wins.

This year Chicago and San Antonio (after David Robinson took 7 attempts to make the first shot), advanced to the second around. Chicago was made up of Candice DuPree, Chris Duhon, and B.J. Armstrong, while San Antonio was made up of 7-footers David Robinson and Tim Duncan, as well as WNBA player Becky Hammon. In the final round, Tim Duncan was the All-Star, making the three pointer on his first attempt, and then knocking down the half-court shot. San Antonio had a time of 35.8 seconds in the final round. Chicago got off to a good start, but it took them 15 tries to make the half-court shot, taking 53.3 seconds.

Winner: San Antonio

Playstation Skills Challenge

The Playstation Skills Challenge is the event for point guards. Participants must dribble through fake defenders, pass the ball through hoops, and make a jump shot and two lay-ups. This year’s participants were Dwayne Wade, Jason Kidd, Chris Paul, and Deron Williams.

Dwayne Wade won the event the past two years, but had a dismal time in the first round (53.9 seconds). Chis Paul (29.9 seconds) and Deron Williams (31.2 seconds) advanced to the second round, where Williams broke the all-time record, finishing with a time of 25.5 seconds to win the event.

Winner: Deron Williams

Foot Locker Three Point Shootout

The Three Point Shootout is pretty simple, there are five racks with five balls each at spots around the three point arc. At each rack, one of the balls is multi-colored and is known as the “money ball”, worth two points. Every other ball is worth one point. Participants have to shoot all 25 balls within one minute. The participants this year were Richard Hamilton, Daniel Gibson, Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, Peja Stojakovic, and Jason Kapono, last year’s winner. Nash had an awful first round, only getting nine points, while Kapono dominated, making 9 out of his last 10 shots for a final score of 20.

Kapono, Gibson, and Nowitzki have advanced to the second round.

Gibson just got 17 in the second round, which is a good score, but not great. Nowitzki is up next. He only has 7 points after three rows…..and 14 total. Kapono is next, he needs a score of 17+ to win. Kapono is on fire….he just hit 9 out of the last 10 and has 14 points after three rows. Kapono just won the event, with 25 total points, tying the event record.

Sprite Slam Dunk Competition

Finally, its time for this year’s main event, the Sprite Slam Dunk Competition. Its pretty simple, competitors throw down the best dunks they can think of, within the two minutes alloted to them. This year, fans vote for the winners in the final round. The participants are defending champion Gerald Green of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Rudy Gay of the Memphis Grizzlies, Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic, and Jamario Moon of the Toronto Raptors. While this year had a good group, I really wish some of the stars like Lebron James would participate.

To vote, text “1 or 2″ to DUNKS, or visit NBA.com

Moon just threw down a great bounce, 360 one handed dunk for a total of 46. Rudy Gay threw down an average dunk, for a score of 37. Dwight Howard is next and is behind the backboard right now. He is trying a dunk off the back of the back board!! He just did it, thats a 50 for sure!!! Gerald Green is up next and is going to do something called “The Birthday Cake”. He just put a cupcake with a candle on it behind the rim. He just did it!!! He went up for the dunk and blew out the candle. Thats creativity. We have to get video of some of this up soon. He only got a 46 for of that.

Gay is up next and just got a teammate to throw it off the support for the backboard … and dunked it from behind the backboard. They gave him a 48 for that, but thats a bit high….the birthday cake was better. Moon is up and is looking to go from beyond the free throw line, with a bounce pass from Kapono. Oh, he didn’t get it from the free throw line, but he got it from just inside the paint. The judges have him a score of 44. Green is up and has a ladder again on the floor. He had his teammate sit on top of the ladder with the ball … and took the ball from his teammate’s hand to throw down a windmill dunk. He got a 45, abut got his head above the rim. Alright Howard is up now and I can’t wait to see what he does. He just put on a Superman cape, got a pass from behind the backboard, and got so high he dunked it without touching the rim. He threw the ball into the hoop. WOW!!! Thats another 50. Howard (100) and Green (91) advance.

Green just put down a through the legs dunk after an over the backboard pass from a teammate. It was OK, but not great. Howard is next. Oh my Goodness!! Howard just took the ball, bounced it high, took off and in mid-air bounced the ball against the backboard before dunking it. As Kenny Smith said this is one of the Top 5 Dunks of All Time and perhaps the best overall performance ever. Green needs to come up with something fresh or its over. Green just took off his shoes….and threw down the same dunk as last time. What was that?? It is over now. Howard could win with a lay-up. He just put a mini backboard on the real backboard and put the ball in the hoop of the small backboard. Oh, he just grabbed the ball, did a windmill, and slammed it, we are going to get some pictures and videos soon. Vote now for the next 5 minutes.

With 78% of the vote, Dwight Howard wins the 2008 Slam Dunk competition.

Here are a few videos:

NBA Saturday Night Recap

NBA TV Top 10 Plays

Chris Paul Sets World Record for Most Half-Court Shots in 60 Seconds

Sean Williams in Rookie-Sophomore Game

Gerald Green: Birthday Cake

Dwight Howard: Superman

NBA Slam Dunk Final Round

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Kimbo Slice Ready for Tank Abbott

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Swimsuit for the Olympics Is a New Skin for the Big Dip

Ryan Lochte, an Olympic swimmer, said he felt like a superhero. Michael Phelps, who is expected to win multiple gold medals at the Beijing Games, said it was as if he were wearing a spacesuit. And this was after Phelps, promoting a slinky black unitard swimsuit, stood on a podium with his arms and legs splayed like Leonardo da Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man.”

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Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times

Kate Ziegler in the new LZR Racer, which Speedo calls the world’s fastest swimsuit.

It might have been a stretch to equate the latest, and supposedly fastest, swimsuit from Speedo, introduced at a news conference on Tuesday, to a Renaissance drawing that is considered to be the apotheosis of ideal proportions — a merger of science, art and nature. But then again, some people do get really excited about the slightest changes to the get-ups that swimmers wear at the Olympics.

Six months before the Games, in what has practically become a tradition among sportswear companies since full-length bodysuits revolutionized the look and speed of the sport at the 2000 Summer Olympics, Speedo staged its version of an “upfront” to introduce what the company is describing as “the world’s fastest swimsuit.”

It is in essence the same design as the world’s fastest swimsuit that Speedo introduced in 2004, only now it is made from fewer pieces (3 instead of 30). And the seams, rather than being sewn together, were ultrasonically welded. But more on that later. Phelps was still waxing poetically onstage.

“It literally feels like you are a rocket coming off the wall,” he said, describing the feeling of diving into a pool in Speedo’s new LZR Racer, which is pronounced Laser Racer. (The vowels would apparently have taken too much time to spell out.)

“The water completely runs off the suit,” he said.

Along with Phelps and Lochte, five other Olympic swimmers were on the stage in Midtown: Natalie Coughlin, Kate Ziegler, Dara Torres, Katie Hoff and Amanda Beard. They all stood silently in their suits like statues until Beard began to crack up. Four hours earlier, they had appeared even more awkward, seated on the set of NBC’s “Today” show, where the lights cut through their translucent suits like X-rays.

In the audience at the news conference was Harold Koda, the chief curator of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He is planning a show next year of conceptual fashion designs that fit into a theme of superheroes. Koda said he had approached Speedo to borrow the suit worn by Olympic athletes in 2004, but was asked by the company to hold off until he saw its latest design.

“I was hoping to see more red,” he said. “We need more color.”

The new styles were either black on black or gray on gray, but the moody blue lighting in the room made it difficult to tell. As far as superheroes go, these would perhaps be best suited for Captain SeaWorld, the avenger of Flipper.

Speedo is also collaborating with the designer Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons on a more colorful version for the Olympics, presumably in red, white and blue, but those will not be revealed until shortly before the Games. A basic version was also made available for purchase on Tuesday on Speedo’s Web site, where advance orders were being taken for the $550 swimsuits, expected for delivery in May.

“It’s kind of fun to have something new to wear at each Olympics,” said Beard, who, after stepping off the podium, changed into a pair of Tavertini jeans that looked tighter than the swimsuit.

For anyone who is not an employee of NASA, as were some of the people who developed the suit, it may be difficult to comprehend the difference between the suit, made of a paper-thin nylon and Lycra blend, and a great pair of L’Eggs. The most significant advancement claimed by Speedo is that it has 10 percent less “passive drag” than its 2004 model.

Stu Isaac, a senior vice president of Speedo, said that drag refers to the resistance created by water rushing against the suit. In studies, the swimmers were lying passively in a flowing water flume. The new suit will be tested in competition this weekend at the Grand Prix series at the University of Missouri. The suit was streamlined by using fewer pieces and also by bonding its seams with heat created by ultrasonic waves — a process akin to getting a filling at the dentist — thereby eliminating ridges created by overlapping pieces of fabric.

Hoff said that the old suit had so many seams it left marks along her skin. “This is so smooth, it feels more flexible and comfortable,” she said.

Flat may be fast, but it can also seem a little dull, it was suggested to Torres, the fastest female swimmer in the United States.

“You think it looks dull?” she said. “We’re there to swim fast. We’re not there for a fashion show.”

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