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April 21, 2006
10 Spot: Embarrassing sports injuries
Some women bare their breasts to celebrate their team's win. Others do it to promote a Web site.
Posted by admin at 03:03 PM | Comments (0)
April 20, 2006
Michael Jackson Begins Work On New Album
Michael Jackson is set to record his first new long player since 2001 in his new home of Bahrain.
Jacko who’s lived in the Middle East since he was acquitted of child abuse last year, will release the album through Bahrain label Two Seas.
The follow up to ‘Invincible’ is set to hit the shelves some time in 2007.
Commenting on the new material, Jackson said he is “incredibly excited” and he is “enjoying being back in the studio making music," reports the BBC.
Apparently Guy Holmes from British label Gut Records will produce the album and look after the business side of things.
Jacko’s Hurricane Katrina charity song is to be released through the Two Seas Label.
Posted by admin at 03:00 PM | Comments (0)
Pedro's wildest dreams come true
Right-hander's 200th win starts celebration at Shea
NEW YORK -- Pedro Martinez stood on the mound at Shea Stadium, his workload abruptly complete after 20 outs and just under two hours of pitching.
What began as a beautiful day in the ace right-hander's eyes had the potential to turn into an extremely pleasant evening -- a milestone of baseball history, with the difference of Martinez's 200th career victory now teetering on a one-run margin.
But there was nothing more Martinez could do to make it so. His evening had been put to an abrupt end by Pete Orr, the uncooperative Atlanta batter who smoked a line drive past Martinez's blue Rawlings glove and into center field.
If this night was going to become Martinez's, he'd need a little help. So Martinez waited on the bump at Shea, joining 36,867 companions as they watched reliever Duaner Sanchez make the long trot in from the right-field bullpen.
It was an unfamiliar scene, to be sure -- Martinez has never been lifted in the middle of an inning since trading his Boston Red Sox colors for a Mets uniform.
So imagine Sanchez's surprise when Martinez pounded a fist into his chest, saying, "Let's go. It's your time," and trotted off the field, pointing to the sky and raising his hands to both baselines, bathing in warm waves of emotion and applause.
"One of the best moments of my career," Sanchez said. "Pedro Martinez waited for me on a mound. What else do you need? If anyone needs anything else, they've got issues."
With that preface, Sanchez set down four straight Braves before Billy Wagner sealed the game in the ninth inning. The relief performances lifted Martinez to victory No. 200 and one peg closer to Cooperstown.
"This is probably one of the biggest things that happened in my career," Martinez said. "How far away I've come from the first day, and all the doubts, and second-guessing my body type, and all that. It's just something I really should go and reflect about for the rest of my life, I think."
The 103rd pitcher in baseball history to record 200 victories, Martinez's journey to the milestone has been a delightful ride, beginning with the first one back on May 5, 1993, when the unknown skinny young man fired two innings of scoreless relief against the Mets in Los Angeles.
It has also been a dominant one, placing him in some select historical company. Only three pitchers in Major League history had less than 84 losses at the time of their 200th victory: Lefty Grove (83), Whitey Ford (79) and 1800s pitcher Bob Caruthers (74).
Now, better make that four.
"Pedro's special," Mets manager Willie Randolph said. "He's a great all-time pitcher, a Hall of Famer. It's amazing. He just keeps rolling and rolling."
Monday, a cool, bright day in New York that Martinez said made him feel "light" and "positive," morphed into a celebration of the ace and his eccentric, entertaining ways.
The Mets announced that more than 13,000 tickets had been sold on the day of the game, no doubt an acknowledgement of Martinez, and some fans even dressed the part.
About a dozen die-hards in the upper deck arrived outfitted in sombreros and false mustaches, waving a banner proclaiming them as "Pedro's Compadres." The rest simply dressed the ballpark with chants of, "Pedro! Pedro! Pedro!"
With that buildup, Martinez said he felt obligated to give the masses what they had ventured to Flushing for. It was not his finest performance, but he was fine enough, delivering 6 2/3 innings of three-run, six-hit ball against a tortuous division rival.
"Today, people came out and I don't think they wanted it any other day," Martinez said. "They wanted it today. It looked like that, it felt like that. Even though I seemed to have everything going the wrong way, for some reason, I felt confident. I felt fresh. I felt like we were going to win it all the way."
And once Todd Pratt swung and missed at a Wagner pitch in the ninth inning, all that was left was for catcher Paul Lo Duca to pick up the baseball, delivering it safely to first base.
The celebration was on, with suddenly-bilingual scoreboards flashing, "¡Felicitaciones! Pedro por tu Victoria 200!"
"It's amazing to have played a hand for one of the best pitchers in the world," said shortstop Jose Reyes. "It's like a dream come true. It's awesome."
As Tina Turner's "Simply the Best" blared from the sound system, Martinez traded customary post-victory handshakes for hugs, a bottle of Champagne waiting in his locker and a blue "Martinez 200" banner hanging behind a podium.
And as Martinez grinned awkwardly, holding up three baseballs for photographers -- one marked with a 2, the other adorned with zeroes -- one couldn't help but imagine it as an ideal ending to what Martinez had earlier described as a perfect day.
"It was an honor to be a part of it," Lo Duca said. "I'm glad he got it out of the way. Now, it's on to 300."
Posted by admin at 02:51 PM | Comments (0)
April 19, 2006
Cruise and Holmes 'joyously welcome' baby Suri
Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, the Hollywood couple whose courtship and Scientology has won them almost as much publicity as their acting, have had a baby girl.
A spokesman said: "Both mother and daughter are doing well," adding that the couple "joyously welcomed" baby Suri, who weighed 7lbs 7oz and measured 20ins.
A statement said the name Suri had its origins in Hebrew, meaning "princess" or in Persian, meaning "red rose".
Suri is the first baby for Holmes, 27, and the first biological child for Cruise, 43. Cruise has a daughter and son from his marriage to Nicole Kidman.
The spokesman refused to disclose any details surrounding the birth, which was planned under the tenets of the Church of Scientology as a silent procedure.
But Cruise last week insisted that Holmes was free to take painkillers and "make as much noise" as necessary during the birth.
In another strange revelation, he said he was planning to eat his baby's placenta. He told GQ Magazine: "I thought that would be good. Very nutritious. I'm gonna eat the cord and the placenta right there."
News that Holmes had given birth caps a whirlwind Hollywood romance that ranks as one of the most high-profile celebrity courtships in recent memory.
Cruise and Holmes, a star of TV's Dawson's Creek, were first photographed together in Rome in April 2005.
A month after their Rome holiday, Cruise appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show to profess his love for Holmes during an hour-long interview.
Bootleg footage of the twice-divorced Cruise, jumping on Winfrey's guest sofa, dropping to one knee and pumping his fist in the air before ushering Holmes on stage to declare: "I love this woman!" was sold on eBay for £11.50.
Posted by admin at 02:54 PM | Comments (0)
Two Duke lacrosse players arrested
Two lacrosse players from New York's suburbs were arrested on Tuesday in the Duke University gang-rape case, bringing home an explosive scandal of sex, race and college athletics.
The suspects hail from prestigious Catholic prep schools and well-to-do bedroom communities where million-dollar homes sit on manicured cul-de-sacs.
A black woman who attends a nearby college charged that she was hired to perform a $400 strip show - and ended up being raped by three athletes in a bathroom for 30 minutes.
After a month-long probe, charges were lodged on Tuesday against Reade Seligmann, 20, of Essex Fells, N.J., and Collin Finnerty, 19, of Garden City, Long Island, N.Y.
Neatly dressed, the students were taken in handcuffs to a booking on first-degree rape and kidnapping charges but freed after posting $400,000 bail each.
Prosecutors said they expected to charge a third unnamed lacrosse player but couldn't nail down a positive identification.
Defense lawyers predicted their clients would be cleared.
"This is probably the worst miscarriage of justice I've seen in 34 years of practice," said Julian Mack, an attorney for Seligmann.
Finnerty's lawyer, Bill Cotter, cautioned that the grand jury's indictment was not a finding of guilt.
"They hear one side of the story. They almost always indict. The next jury will hear the entire story, which includes our evidence," he said.
They plan to argue the defendants weren't even at the March 13 party when the accuser claims she was violated by three white athletes.
Sources said one defendant was captured on video at a cash machine and the other has receipts from a restaurant during the relevant time period, several news outlets reported.
Evidence in the case has been murky from the start.
On the one hand, authorities have the word of the 27-year-old woman, a single mother who joined the Navy for opportunity and turned to stripping to support two kids after her marriage foundered.
She attends a predominantly black university in her working-class hometown, where the average income is less than the $40,000 in tuition and fees that Duke students shell out a year.
There is a hospital report that says her injuries were "consistent" with rape.
On the other hand, there are defense photos that show her smiling as she left the house, and the report of a cop who found her "passed out drunk" at a grocery store later.
DNA samples were taken from all of the white lacrosse players and none of their genetic material was found on the dancer, lawyers have said.
Instead, it appears Seligmann and Finnerty were arrested after being identified from photographs.
Durham cops and detectives spent 90 minutes searching the players' rooms at Eden Dormitory and emerged carrying bags and boxes filled with evidence.
Signs taped to windows and draped from dorm rooms proclaimed support for the pair.
``I'm 100 percent sure they're both innocent," said Alissa Link, 19, a sophomore. "It seems absolutely crazy. This is scary that this could happen to guys who are really innocent."
Even before Tuesday's developments, the case had profound repercussions.
The Blue Devils' season was canceled and the coach resigned. One player was suspended after he sent a vile e-mail an hour after the alleged rape threatening to skin strippers.
The student, Ryan McFadyen - who attended the same all-boys academy in New Jersey, the Delbarton School, as Seligmann - has not been hit with criminal charges.
Both the accuser and one of her alleged tormentors have criminal records.
She spent three weekends in jail after stealing a car during a drunken escapade in 2002 and leading police on a wild chase.
Finnerty, meanwhile, was arrested last November in Washington after he and two buddies from Chaminade High School on Long Island allegedly pelted a stranger, Jeffrey Bloxgom, with anti-gay slurs and punches.
He agreed to a deal that means a charge of assault will be dropped if he completes 25 hours of community service.
The allegations also have exposed racial and class tensions in Durham.
In a 911 call reportedly made by the other stripper attending the party, the woman claimed the Duke students had yelled a racial slur at her.
And a neighbor, Jason Bissey, said he heard one of the athletes shout at the departing dancers, "Hey, bitch! Thank your grandpa for my nice cotton shirt."
But not everyone has taken sides along racial lines.
The father of Devon Sherwood, the only black player on the team, told the New York Daily News he's happy his son wasn't charged but is worried for the others.
"They had no business being implicated," Chuck Sherwood said from his home in Freeport, L.I. "I want to believe that they are innocent."
Posted by admin at 02:30 PM | Comments (0)
April 18, 2006
Farrell settles sex tape wrangle
Actor Colin Farrell and a former girlfriend have reached a settlement over a sex tape made three years ago.
"We worked out our differences and settled. Both parties are happy," said the lawyer of Farrell's former girlfriend Nicole Narain.
He added that the terms of the agreement were "confidential".
Narain fought to keep the video tape public, but a court injunction to prevent its distribution has been in place since July 2005.
Closed down
Last month a judge dismissed Narain's attempt to dismiss legal action initiated by Farrell to keep the footage private.
Irish-born Farrell, star of Alexander and The New World, said the public distribution of the tape could damage his career.
The former couple and their lawyers met on Easter Sunday to come to an agreement.
In January, a website which was offering the video for sale was closed down, and Farrell's lawyer warned that anyone attempting to distribute the material would face legal action.
Posted by admin at 02:57 PM | Comments (0)
Sens take top spot
New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, of Sweden, makes a save as Rangers' Marek Malik. left, checks Ottawa Senators' Mike Fisher during first period NHL hockey Tuesday night, April 18, 2006 at Madison Square Garden in New York. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)
NEW YORK (AP) - What the Rangers wished for on opening night suddenly wasn't good enough when the regular season ended.
New York is going to the playoffs for the first time in nine years, but the Rangers dropped their fifth straight game Tuesday night - a 5-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators - and blew their last chance to secure their first division title since the Stanley Cup-winning season of 1993-94. Picked to finish last by many, New York set its sights on just making the post-season. The Rangers wrapped that up with seven games left and were in great position to win the Atlantic Division, too.
But their longest skid of the season, five straight losses, pushed them all the way down to the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference.
"It's hard," forward Michael Nylander said. "We had the division on the line for many games now and we didn't come through."
Instead of having home-ice advantage in the first round, the Rangers will instead play the New Jersey Devils, who rallied to capture the Atlantic by winning their final 11 games. That best-of-seven series will begin Saturday in New Jersey and continue Monday in the Meadowlands.
"It's always great to play your best hockey before the playoffs," Rangers forward Jaromir Jagr said. "They're hot, but it has to stop somewhere."
The Senators are limping into the playoffs, with their biggest injury being to goalie Dominik Hasek, who hasn't played since going down during the Olympics. Ottawa came into its season finale on a 1-4-2 skid, but still managed to secure the top seed in the East.
Dany Heatley scored his 50th goal in the third period, the Senators' third tally of the period.
Heatley, in his first season with the Senators, reached the 50-goal mark for the first time and extended his Ottawa single-season record. Andrej Meszaros and Mike Fisher also scored third-period goals to break open a tight game.
"We all knew coming into this building it would be a hard-fought game," Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson said. "It was a big boost for us going into the playoffs to win a big game like that."
Ottawa leapfrogged Carolina, which lost 4-0 at home to Buffalo, to grab first place. The Senators will play defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay in the opening round.
"This conference playoffs is going to be very tough," Alfredsson said.
The Rangers, who led the Atlantic for most of this season, were passed by Philadelphia and New Jersey on the final day. The Flyers beat the New York Islanders 4-1 and New Jersey won 4-3 at Montreal to take the division title.
Ottawa got goals from Patrick Eaves and Alfredsson in the second period to take a 2-1 lead. Meszaros scored his 10th goal just 1:12 into the third with the teams skating 4-on-4. Fisher gave the Senators a three-goal advantage with a short-handed goal scored on the Rangers' first power play.
Heatley finished it off with a power-play goal with 6:12 remaining.
Henrik Lundqvist, playing for the first time in eight games because of a hip injury, kept the Rangers in it until the third period. His best stop came in the second period when he was knocked over by his Swedish countryman Alfredsson on a breakaway, but kept the puck out of the net.
"I felt good for two periods and then I got tired in the third," Lundqvist said.
But his 27 saves weren't nearly enough to outduel fellow rookie Ray Emery, who was stellar in stopping 27 shots and winning his 23rd game while filling in for Hasek.
Martin Straka scored New York's only goal, cutting the Rangers' deficit to 2-1 just 16 seconds after Alfredsson scored.
The Rangers were sloppy in the second period and it cost them. After getting away with a number of giveaways, Fedor Tyutin's defensive zone turnover led to Ottawa's first goal.
New York won a faceoff near its net, and Tyutin was blocked at the right point as he tried to clear. He lost the puck to Eaves, who passed to Alfredsson in the slot. Just as quickly, the puck was returned to Eaves for his 20th goal of the season.
Another Rangers turnover forced Blair Betts to take a tripping penalty. Lundqvist made a fine pad stop on Wade Redden's drive from the left point, but he couldn't keep the rebound away from Alfredsson, who scored his 43rd goal.
"We gave the other team a lot of odd-man rushes," Jagr said. "Maybe we are tired and we're making mistakes, but this is not the way you want to go into the playoffs."
He seemed eager to carry the Rangers, as he'd done all season. He made passes, charged the net from the front and the back, and tried on several occasions to jam the puck past Emery. But he finished with just one assist, leaving him second in the NHL's points and goals race.
After leading both categories for much of the campaign, Jagr - who had club records of 55 goals and 123 points - lost to San Jose's pair of Jonathan Cheechoo (56 goals) and Joe Thornton (125 points).
Notes: Ottawa scored first for the 46th time in 82 games and went 40-3-3 in those contests. The Senators were 12-18-6 in games they trailed 1-0. . . . New York defenceman Darius Kasparaitis played after missing 12 of the previous 13 with a groin injury.
Posted by admin at 02:48 PM | Comments (0)
April 15, 2006
76ers over Nets
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Allen Iverson and Chris Webber were probably hurt, definitely late, nowhere to be seen and left with a whole lot of explaining to do to the Philadelphia 76ers.strong>
The fans were upset, team president Billy King was irate and coach Maurice Cheeks looked like a fool. So much for that veteran leadership.
Iverson and Webber did not play because of injuries, did not show up in the locker room until tipoff, did not join their teammates on the bench and missed the 76ers' 91-88 win over the New Jersey Nets on Tuesday night.
"The organization does not condone anything like that," Cheeks said.
The 76ers will fine Iverson and Webber for not being at the arena 90 minutes before the game against the Nets, leaving King to hold three separate press conferences to explain their absence.
Then again, that was hard to do since neither King nor Cheeks ever talked to their stars to get an answer. Neither player spoke to the media.
"It makes me look like I'm not in control, which I am, but it makes me look like that," Cheeks said. "I feel bad, not only for myself, but for our organization. It will be addressed and it will not happen again."
Cheeks had just finished calling Iverson the ultimate gamer when he was informed by a reporter about 55 minutes before tip that Philadelphia's franchise player was not yet at the game, and neither was Webber.
So Cheeks left for the locker room, saw for himself the jerseys hanging in the locker, and returned to tell reporters the duo were "not going to play tonight."
Cheeks apologized after the game about not being more clear about their playing status. However, he would not say when he knew the pair weren't going to play. King said he knew at Tuesday morning's shootaround that Iverson and Webber would be given the home regular-season finale off.
Cheeks said he'd probably been "lax" this season in enforcing the time players needed to show up and that would be "cleaned up" next season. He also apologized to the fans.
"It's unacceptable that they got here a little late," Cheeks said.
Iverson was to miss the game with an ankle injury, and Webber had a sore back.
"I'd like them to be here, hell yeah," an agitated King said on the court about 45 minutes before tip. "They're not and I'm going to take care of it."
With reporters staked out awaiting the duo's arrival, King walked by the horde minutes before tip and let loose with a profanity-laced rant when pressed again about their absence.
The normally mild-mannered King, who has promised some major changes with his underachieving roster, said this was one major distraction he did not need with the season nearly over. He became irate talking about his disappointment that the duo seemingly didn't care enough about showing up on time.
King said if the Sixers were still in the playoff race, Webber and Iverson would have played.
One fan said he saw Webber drive up to the players parking lot around 6:55 p.m.
"I was very disappointed him and Allen weren't playing tonight on fan appreciation day," Keith Simmons said.
King also apologized to the fans for the two missing fan appreciation night.
"Next year, unless a player is not able to sit on the bench due to injury, if they're not going to sit on the bench they will be fined, and if they do it more than once they will be suspended," he said.
Iverson and Webber weren't the only big names sitting this one out. With the third seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs already secured, the Atlantic Division champion Nets rested Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson.
Andre Iguodala had 27 points for the Sixers, Willie Green had 14 and Steven Hunter 10.
Lamond Murray scored 19 points, Vince Carter had 16 and Jacque Vaughn added 13 assists. Carter set New Jersey's single-season scoring with 1,911 points to pass Bernard King's 1,909 in 1977-78.
"It's a great accomplishment. I just didn't want to put too much emphasis on it tonight," Carter said. "My goal tonight was just to bring energy."
The Sixers pulled ahead late in the fourth, getting one last fantastic Iguodala alley-oop for the home crowd and three-pointers from Green and Kyle Korver to go up 83-75.
Murray sank two free throws that pulled the Nets to 87-84 with two minutes left. Iguodala, though, came out of a timeout and hit a three-pointer. Bostjan Nachbar's layup with 3.1 seconds left made it a one-point game, but again Iguodala delivered, this time with two free throws to seal the win.
"We're just trying to get through healthy and ready to roll so that whoever our first-round opponent is, we're ready," Nets coach Lawrence Frank said.
Iverson is second in the league in scoring (33.0 points per game), and averaging 7.6 assists. Webber's averaging 20.2 points. The Sixers started Green and Hunter in their place.
The Sixers were eliminated from the Eastern Conference playoff race on Sunday. Cheeks said Iverson and Webber would make the trip to Charlotte, but probably not play against the Bobcats.
Cheeks never said Iverson or Webber was not going to play for the 20 minutes he talked to reporters before he was told they had not arrived at the Wachovia Center. He looked dejected when he returned and slumped in his seat, looking much like he did 11 days ago when he remained at the post-game press conference podium, ice bottle on his head, with the lights turned out.
When asked if he was disappointed in the duo, Cheeks said, "I'm done man."
Notes: The Nets signed G Derrick Zimmerman and C John Thomas for the remainder of the season. ... The Villanova Wildcats, who went 3-0 at the Wachovia Center this season, were honoured for making the NCAA tournament regional final. ... The Sixers finished 23-18 at home.
Posted by admin at 02:43 PM | Comments (0)