EZ Sports Online Weblog

Jessica Alba In Lawsuit With Playboy

The “Sin City” star threatens to sue Playboy for putting her on the cover.
Sexy actress Jessica Alba is reportedly enraged by Playboy magazine and threatens with lawsuit, because the editors published her picture on the cover without her permission.
According to Jessica's attorney Brian Wolf, the magazine reportedly asked Alba to pose for its March cover but the actress refused. So Playboy editors decided to use as cover a promotional photo from Alba`s film,"Into the Blue", Wolf told The Smoking Gun.

]]> In a letter addressed to Playboy magazine Wolf says: "The conduct of Playboy and its agents in publishing a photo of Ms. Alba without consent has caused immeasurable harm to Ms. Alba's reputation and career."

The appearance on the cover implies Alba appears in a "nude or semi-nude pictorial," thing that the actress completely denied. Wolf added that legal measures will be taken, no matter what costs.

Borg forced to sell off trophies

Tennis legend Bjorn Borg is selling the five Wimbledon trophies he won between 1976 and 1980.
Borg, who retired at 26, is reported to have established a £40m fortune during his career but has since been through two divorces and a bankruptcy.

"It's not easy to part with the trophies but I need some long-term financial security for those close to me," said the 49-year-old.

"The time's right for them to pass to a collector or suitable institution."

In addition to the five miniature replica trophies, Borg is also selling two rackets, including the one he used in his classic victory over John McEnroe in the 1980 final.

]]> Auctioneers Bonhams said the unique nature of the collection made its financial value difficult to estimate, but added that the sale is expected to make more than £200,000.

"Even though the symbols of my victories are being sold, what I will always retain is the knowledge that for such a long time I was the supreme world tennis champion," added Borg.

He won 11 grand slam singles titles in a glittering career, but his early retirement saw him launch a turbulent business career.

The Swede's Bjorn Borg Design Group company went under, forcing him to sell his home in order to pay off debts.

Borg attempted a tennis comeback in the early 1990s, but now coaches young players in Stockholm as well as having a chain of shops selling Bjorn Borg-branded clothes and shoes.

LeBron shares the love, Cavs upset the Bulls

CHICAGO -- LeBron James had the ball. Ronald Murray had the open look.

So James passed to his teammate, and Murray responded by making a 3-pointer from the right side with 3.9 seconds remaining to lift the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 92-91 upset victory over the Chicago Bulls on Thursday night as 4 1/2-point underdogs.

The Cavaliers then held their breath as Andres Nocioni missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer. With that, Cleveland snapped a five-game losing streak, straight up and ATS, after blowing a 25-point lead.

The Cavs continued their under streak however, missing the 193 total by 10 points. Cleveland has played under in six straight games dating back to February 21.

Murray, acquired from Seattle at the trade deadline, scored 11 of his 13 points in the fourth quarter.

]]> The winning shot came after Kirk Hinrich went 1-of-2 from the free throw line to give the Bulls a 91-89 lead with 11 seconds left. With James driving toward the basket, Nocioni helped and left Murray - a 20-percent 3-point shooter - open.

``My man came off me to slide over on LeBron,`` Murray said. ``He left me wide open. The look I had felt good, and the shot felt good.``

And James had no qualms about passing out to Murray for that shot.

``It was the right thing to do,`` he said.

Coach Mike Brown agreed.

``Everyone thinks that LeBron has to take that last shot, but he`s a guy who will pass it back to the open guy,`` Brown said. ``He did the right thing. He drove extremely hard to the rim, and they collapsed on him.``

After a timeout, Nocioni was supposed to hand the ball to Ben Gordon, but Eric Snow prevented that. Nocioni had to force a 3 at the buzzer.

``They covered me pretty well, and Nocioni had to take the shot,`` Gordon said.

It was a sour ending for the Bulls.

Down 10, Chicago scored 11 straight points midway through the fourth quarter, tying it at 81 on Hinrich`s 3-pointer and taking a one-point lead on Gordon`s free throw with 3:01 left.

James, who averaged 34.5 points in the first two games against the Bulls, scored 33 - none in the final 7:40. He had 19 at halftime, matching his total the previous night in a loss to Sacramento.

With forward Drew Gooden out with flu-like symptoms, second-year pro Anderson Varejao got the first start of his career and responded with 13 points and six rebounds. But he missed two free throws with 18 seconds left and the Cavaliers down 88-87.

Snow added 14 points and eight assists.

Hinrich had 25 points and nine rebounds for Chicago, two nights after he had 30 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists in a 111-100 victory over Minnesota.

Luol Deng finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Gordon scored 16.

``We have to lock in better on defense,`` Deng said.

Down 75-60, the Bulls started the fourth quarter with an 11-2 run to make it 77-71.

With the score 81-71, Nocioni`s basket started the 11-point run that gave the Bulls their first lead of the game. Murray stopped it with two foul shots, and the lead went back and forth.

Gordon`s floater gave the Bulls an 88-87 lead with 39 seconds left and Deng hit two free throws to make it a three-point game with 16 remaining. After Murray scored on a drive, the Cavaliers fouled Hinrich with 11 seconds left.

``We can`t come out and have all these lapses,`` Gordon said. ``If they get two, at worst we`re going into overtime. It was just a mental lapse on our part.``

Bulls forward Malik Allen was back in the starting lineup after being taken to a hospital with a sprained neck during the Minnesota game and scored four points in 17 minutes. And Chris Duhon played 17 minutes after leaving that game with a bruised jaw.

Allen said doctors told him he would probably miss a game, but he felt fine after he warmed up during the morning shootaround.

His range of motion is ``a ton better`` than it was on Wednesday.

Allen injured his neck when he rotated to defend the Timberwolves` Rashad McCants on a drive to the basket early in the second quarter. As he fell backward, his head hit teammate Darius Songaila`s leg. Allen was immobilized and carted off on a stretcher.

A few minutes later, Duhon took a shot to the face when he tried to take a charge against Minnesota`s Justin Reed and was done for the night. Duhon was already sore after taking an elbow to the jaw from Gordon in practice on Monday.

Notes: The Bulls have looked into a protective facemask for Duhon, but he didn`t wear one on Thursday. ... The Bulls` 17 points in the first quarter were a season-low. ... Cleveland`s next game is at home Sunday against Chicago. The Bulls visit New York on Friday.

Seo, Park lift South Korea over Taiwan

TOKYO -- Jae-Weong Seo pitched two-hit ball and Chan Ho Park worked three effective innings for a save to lead South Korea past Taiwan 2-0 on Friday in the opener of the inaugural World Baseball Classic.
The 16-nation tournament started at 11:30 a.m. local time and was played before a sparse crowd of 5,193 at Tokyo Dome. Japan was scheduled to play its first game later Friday against China.

Seo started and struck out three in 3 2-3 innings. The Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander threw 61 pitches - under tournament rules, starting pitchers are limited to 65 pitches in the first round.

"I felt good starting," Seo said. "I didn't worry about the pitch count. I knew we have a lot of good pitchers on our team and as long as I did my job we would be fine."

]]> Park, who pitches for the San Diego Padres, gave up two hits in the ninth but got pinch-hitter Chih-Yao Chan to ground out to end the game.

"Our goal was to get the win," Park said. "This was an important win for us. I didn't expect to go three innings but was glad to help the team."

Sung Heon Hong and Jong Beom Lee each drove in a run for South Korea.

Hong doubled down the third base line, scoring Seung Yeop Lee from second. Lee walked to lead off the fourth and advanced to second on a groundout to first by Dong Joo Kim.

South Korea made it 2-0 in the next inning when Lee doubled off the wall in left scoring Jin Man Park.

Taiwan had a chance to cut the lead in the bottom of the sixth when it had runners at first and third with two outs, but New York Mets reliever Dae-Sung Koo struck out pinch-hitter Lung-Yi Huang to end the inning.

Taiwan starter En-Yu Lin was taken out after 65 pitches. He struck out four and gave up a run on three hits over 3 2-3 innings.

All Group A games are being played in Japan. The top two teams will advance to the second round in Anaheim, Calif., where they will face the top two teams from Group B, which includes the United States, Canada, Mexico and South Africa.

Kim, who bats cleanup for South Korea, slid into first on an infield single in the top of the sixth and had to leave the game after appearing to jam his left shoulder.

Raptors spoil GM Colangelo's first game with 113-111 overtime loss to Hawks

The Toronto Raptors showed a willingness to play hard but lost 113-111 in overtime to the Atlanta Hawks, the first game for Bryan Colangelo's as the team's new president and general manager.

Hired just the day before, Colangelo received an ovation Wednesday when he was shown on the video board standing near the player's entrance where he watched the game. Joe Johnson and Al Harrington each scored 26 points for the Hawks, who also out-rebounded the Raptors 49-36 in front of 15,137 fans at Air Canada Centre.

]]> Atlanta posted its third overtime win in its last four games after blowing a six-point advantage in the final 34 seconds of overtime.

"We got to try and win some of these games in regulation. This overtime thing is getting old," said Johnson, whose club is 4-1 in overtime and 19-37 overall.

Harrington fouled out in overtime, but Johnson made a key jumper with 1:04 left.

Harrington will take any victory - no matter how long it takes.

"We've won our last three that way. We'll take 26 more like that as long we win," Harrington said. "We never get discourage. We just play through our mistakes and that's the biggest difference."

Chris Bosh had 27 points and Charlie Villanueva added 25 for the Raptors, who have lost five straight.

"I know they were hungry and that it would be a great game - they wanted it more than us," said Villanueva about the Raptors failed attempt to sweep the four-game series with the Hawks

Colangelo, last year's NBA Executive of the Year with the Phoenix Suns, said on Tuesday that everyone is starting from a clean slate and changes, if any, within the coaching or player ranks will not be immediate.

"I like playing for coach," said Mo Peterson in support of Raptors coach Sam Mitchell. "And I'm pretty sure if you go around this locker room they'll tell you they like playing for him."

Notes: Bosh all but confirmed he's one of 22 players invited to the U.S. national team's training camp this summer. "I expect to be there," Bosh said. ... Toronto centre Antonio Davis missed the game with a strained back. He was fouled on a drive and fell hard in Monday's game at Miami . . . Toronto is 1-6 in overtime games this season . . . Four Raptors scored 20-plus for second time in three games. That feat had never been accomplished before Saturday's game in Minnesota.

St. Pierre ready for UFC bout

Kick. Left. Hook. Elbow. Elbow. Double up.
Kickboxing coach Victor Vargotski barks out the instructions at Georges St. Pierre as the sleek Montreal welterweight trains for his Ultimate Fighting Championship bout Saturday night at Mandalay Bay. Vargotski is wearing protective Thai pads - think a goalie blocker on each hand - as St. Pierre slams, punches and kicks him on command.

St. Pierre moves like a dancer, a muscular inverted torso screwed onto an impossibly thin waist. A fleur-de-lis is tattooed on the back of his calf.

If he is beauty, Vargotski is a little beast who looks like every jockey's nightmare. The diminutive Muy Thai-boxing coach with the close-cropped hair is a former world champion kickboxer whose flattened nose suggests his offence was better than his defence. He looks mean and means business.
]]> Each blow is like the crack of a whip in the tight quarters of the training room, St. Pierre's body reacting instantly to his coach as they circle each other. Combined with Vargotski's guttural shouts, it makes for a savage sound.

The barrage ends suddenly and the other fighters in the room break the silence with applause.

"That's it Georges," yells one.

St. Pierre is ready.

The 24-year-old Canadian is a mixed martial artist poised for stardom. UFC president Dana White raves about St. Pierre, calling him "the most talented fighter on the planet right now."

A title shot awaits. But first the five-foot-10 fighter must get past Hawaiian B.J. (The Prodigy) Penn, a former UFC champion with an 11-2 record.

The St. Pierre-Penn bout is part of UFC 58 USA vs. Canada (available on pay per view) headlined by middleweight champion Rich Franklin taking on Montreal's David (The Crow) Loiseau, St. Pierre's friend and training partner.

Penn, 27, is making a return to the UFC after leaving over a contract dispute. He is a master of Brazilian jiu-jitsu who needed just four minutes, 39 seconds to beat American star Matt Hughes via a rear naked choke hold for the title at UFC 46 in January 2004.

Hughes, now champion, is the only blemish on St. Pierre's 11-1 record, forcing the Canadian to submit with one second left in the first round at UFC 50 in October 2004.

St. Pierre acknowledges he let fighting the champion get into his head against Hughes.

"I thought the guy was just going to crush me," he said.

Pre-fight interviews just added to the stress. Reporters talked about how tough Hughes was and St. Pierre bought it.

During the fight, St. Pierre was doing well but thought Hughes was only toying with him. One mistake and the champion had him in an armbar. Time to tap out or else seek a doctor to put his arm back together.

"He beat me fair and square," St. Pierre says wistfully. "I have no excuse.

"But after the fight, when I saw the replay, I realized I was doing pretty well. And when I saw the replay, I get pissed off because I realized I could beat that guy. . . . I realized I'm a world-class fighter and I can beat everybody on the planet."

You could say the same of Penn, although the 170-pounder hasn't fought for a while. St. Pierre, for one, isn't taking the ring rust theory seriously.

"I expect a three-round war, Nothing less."

Vegas oddsmakers essentially say the bout is a toss-up.

Knowing Penn is a jiu-jitsu marvel, St. Pierre has been driving six or seven hours to New York every three weeks to train at the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu academy.

"I think I have more tools than him," St. Pierre says of Penn. "Athletically I'm faster and stronger than him, And I have more stamina. ... he's going to crack sooner than later."

St. Pierre has won three straight since losing to Hughes, going through contenders Sean Sherk and Frank Trigg like tissue. The Canadian is now so popular Caesar's Palace has thrown afterparties in his honour.

St. Pierre leaves his fighting in UFC's eight-sided Octagon caged ring. If someone challenges him outside he says, "I'm going to smile and I'm going to tell him, 'Look man, you're the king. Me, I leave.' I don't need to prove myself in the street. I'm a professional, I fight for money. I fight because that's my job."

It wasn't always like that. He says he fought often in school to protect himself.

"Now I act like a gentleman most of the time. I am always smiling. Normally nobody wants a piece of me."

There is less to St. Pierre as Friday's weigh-in approaches. He has to lose 15 pounds in five days to make the 170-pound welterweight limit.

To do it, he rids his diet of all carbs and sodium - "because one gram of carbs and sodium in your body retains three grams of water with it." Without rice, pasta, potatoes or salt, the body gets rid of water faster. The day of the weigh-in, he finishes cutting the weight by sitting in a sauna.

Then it's time to load up on carbs. The 15 pounds are back when he steps in the ring.

St. Pierre is better known in Las Vegas than Montreal. Canadians haven't taken notice of mixed martial arts, St. Pierre says, because they still see it as a sport filled with thuggish brawlers rather than well-rounded pro athletes. Plus nobody covers the sports, which means sponsors aren't interested.

His sponsors are all American and he dislikes winter, but he has no plans to leave Canada. St. Pierre accepts the cold because he loves hockey. The lifelong Oilers fan hits the ice with friends after every bout - usually after a one-week hedonistic vacation in the islands.

Then it is back to training and the next challenge.

His nickname is Rush, because he finishes off his fights fast. Plus it was better than Georges of the Jungle, as suggested by his training partners.

Odds in Doral's favor for another duel

Phil Mickelson has a hard time forgetting the bitter end to his duel at Doral with Tiger Woods.He was just off the 18th green, facing a 30-foot birdie chip to force a playoff at worst, and possibly win the best showdown of the year. The chip came off perfectly, ran true toward the cup and then broke sharply across the hole and spun out of the right side. Woods made his 6-foot par putt to win.
Mickelson might be able to put that out of his mind if he wouldn't turn on the TV in his room at Doral.

"Unfortunately, they have the video running on one of the channels here at the hotel, so I get to see it every night," he said Wednesday. "Isn't that great?"
]]> It was great theater, no doubt.

This generation of golf rarely produces such duels between the top players, with such a fine line between so much talent. The Ford Championship at Doral got one of the moments that are sheer magic, and it produced a buzz that even drowned out the parade of jetliners descending over the Blue Monster.

Woods reached the 12th green with a 3-wood that traveled 293 yards in the air to make eagle. Mickelson fired back with consecutive birdies to catch him. Each made 27 birdies in four days, and Woods got the last one, a 30-footer on the 17th that was the difference in his victory.

Rare as that was, odds are in Doral's favor of that happening again because of sheer numbers.

Nine of the top 10 players from the world ranking are gathered at the Blue Monster, a course that favors power hitters with lush fairways that don't have a lot of roll and rough that is thicker than last year, but still not terribly troublesome for players with a wedge in their hands.

Vijay Singh tied for third last year. Also in the field is Ernie Els, who joins Woods as the defending champion because the Big Easy won the last time he was at Doral in 2002. That was another showdown of sorts, although Els played in the group ahead of Woods. He saw an eight-shot lead dwindle to one before Els pulled away.

Anyone ready for an encore?

"I would love to get in that position again," Mickelson said. "I want to have a chance to win the tournament, obviously. It would be great if I had a chance to go head-to-head with Tiger. It would be great to have a chance to go head-to-head with anybody in the top 10."

Woods gets those opportunities more often than most.

There was that incredible matchup with Els at Kapalua in 2000, as good a show this side of the majors. He has gone up against Singh in the final round at the '03 American Express (which he won) and the '04 Deutsche Bank Championship outside Boston (which he lost). He was tied for the lead with Retief Goosen at the '02 Masters, where the Goose finished three shots behind and asked if he got green trousers for finishing second.

Woods said the view is different from inside the ropes. Mickelson was just another player he was trying to beat, even if the volume was cranked up and the cheers were evenly divided.

"You could care less," he said. "You're just trying to post a low number and try to beat your opponent. You're just in your own little world, and you're trying to handle your business. Afterwards? Yeah, you can reminisce over what happened, but not when you're in it."

Some of his most dramatic duels have come against unheralded players, whether it was Bob May at the PGA Championship in 2000 or Chris DiMarco last year at the Masters or Grant Waite at the 2000 Canadian Open.

Woods was quick to point out that the top five players often are atop the leaderboard at the majors, even if they aren't there at the same time, or in the final group on Sunday.

Recent history bears that out.

The Big Five has won 15 of the last 24 majors dating to 2000. And even in those majors where someone else wins, there have been only four times that one of the Big Five was not at least the runner-up.

"You've seen myself, Mickelson, Goose, Ernie or Vijay, generally one of us five in just about every major championship down the stretch," Woods said. "Whether or not we can separate outselves and go one-on-one, it's a totally different story."

Woods and Mickelson were five shots clear of anyone else last year, which made it a different story, indeed.

And while Woods says he was too wrapped up in winning to care about whom he was beating, the satisfaction clearly goes to a higher level.

What got Mickelson more fired up? Going against Woods at Doral last year, or beating Skip Kendall in a playoff at the Bob Hope Classic?

"I don't know how to answer that," Mickelson said. "What I try to do is hit the shots where I can make birdies. But certainly, it seems as though when I'm playing against Tiger, playing against Ernie or Vijay or Retief, I've got to shoot low scores and make more birdies than against some guys that have won."

Goosen has been in that position.

He beat Mark Brooks in the U.S. Open playoff at Southern Hills. And while they weren't in the final group, Goosen beat Mickelson to win the U.S. Open two years ago Shinnecock Hills.

"It doesn't make much difference who it is," Goosen said.

But then he thought back to Shinnecock Hills, where the New York gallery was so squarely behind Mickelson that "it felt like I was playing with him."

"You always get more pleasure if you beat great players," Goosen said.

NFL labor talks are 'deadlocked'

NEW YORK -- NFL labor talks broke off Tuesday three days before the start of free agency, leaving teams and players in a quandary about negotiating new contracts.

Gene Upshaw, executive director of the NFL Players Association, spent the last three days meeting in New York and Washington with commissioner Paul Tagliabue.

"We're deadlocked. There's nowhere to go," Upshaw said. "There's no reason to continue meeting."

The NFL acknowledged the talks had broken off and said no further discussions were scheduled. The league said it would not extend Friday's deadline for the start of free agency.
]]> Although the contract does not expire until after the 2007 season, this is a critical period in the negotiations to extend the 12-year-old agreement. Talks have been going on for more than a year.

Free agency is scheduled to start Friday. If the deal is not extended, this would be the last year with a salary cap, so agents and team officials want to know how to structure contracts.

For example, if there is no extension, the salary cap is expected to be about $95 million this season and annual raises after 2006 in a long-term deal would be limited to 30 percent. If the deal is extended the cap could be $10 million or more higher.

The sides have agreed on a number of issues. The biggest one is changing the formula for the amount of money to go to the players from "designated gross revenues" -- primarily television and ticket sales -- to "total gross revenues," which include almost every bit a money a a team generates.

They differ, however, on the percentage of revenues to be allocated to the players -- the union is asking for 60 percent and the league's current offer is 56.2 percent.

But there are also disputes among groups of owners on that issue, too. Tagliabue has called a league meeting in New York for Thursday.

Teams with lower revenues -- mostly small-market clubs -- say that if the contributions to the players' fund are equally apportioned among 32 franchises, they will have to pay a substantially larger proportion of their nontelevision and ticket money because they have less. Owners of high-revenue teams, like Dallas' Jerry Jones, claim spreading the load equally would force some teams to work harder to generate new sources of money.

Another high-revenue owner, New England's Robert Kraft, says the formula does not take stadium debt into account, as he has on Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said "internal revenue-sharing issues" would not be discussed at the meeting.

March Madness comes early for local teams

The regular-season conference championships won last week by the the Aquinas and Calvin men's teams, and the Aquinas and Hope women's squads, were considered major accomplishments.

This week those achievements won't even make the four favorites in their respective Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association and Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference tournaments.

That includes Hope, which is 24-1 overall, ranked fourth on the latest NCAA Division III coaches poll, and rolled through the MIAA regular season with a 16-0 mark.

]]> "Obviously, everyone around this area wants to point toward a Calvin-Hope showdown in Saturday's championship game, but I think there's five teams that can win our tournament," said Hope coach Brian Morehouse. "And we've stumbled as a favorite the last two years, which cost us a chance to go to the (Division III) tournament, so we have a monkey on our back because of that."

The Calvin women (21-3) are 14th in Division III. The Knights lost just twice in conference competition, as both setbacks came against Hope.

According to both Morehouse and Calvin coach John Ross, it's imperative to win the league tournament crown to get an automatic bid to the Division III tournament, rather than hope for an at-large berth.
No guarantees

"We can't rely on anyone but ourselves to make sure we get back to the national tournament," said Ross, whose Knights upset favored Albion College in last season's league title game, then reached the Elite Eight in the national tournament.

That is especially true with the WHAC tournaments.

Over the years, the WHAC men traditionally have had their league tournament champion and one or two at-large teams head to the NAIA II tourney.

Disappointed Gretzky says team must step up!

TURIN — If it works once, work it again. But will it work again?

Wayne Gretzky went back to the well yesterday, serving himself up to the Canadian media to take the focus off his hockey team like he did when Team Canada was in trouble early at Salt Lake 2002.

Gretzky watched practice from the bench with his son and then, with an assist from assistant coach Ken Hitchcock, went to work trying to talk Team Canada’s way out of its Olympic crisis.
]]> Only four of Canada’s players were sent out to deal with double defeats, back-to-back 2-0 shutouts to Switzerland and Finland.

But unlike when he did it four years ago in Salt Lake City, where Gretzky forced the focus elsewhere to take the pressure off his players, he may have managed to do the opposite this time, effectively adding more pressure, particularly on his young players whom he identified as being the problem.

The Team Canada executive director, who picked the players, told the young ones to pick it up, then aimed his comments at the entire team. He said this should be one of the greatest experiences they’ll ever have, not an excruciating, horrifying, panic-attack-producing nightmare.

“This should be the greatest week of their lives,” Gretzky said. “Just enjoy this. When you’re not enjoying the game and having fun, it’s hard to make a five-foot pass.

“We need to raise the intensity level, raise the energy level and raise the enjoyment level. We need to get our guys re-energized and refocused.’’

Gretzky said Canada has to carry more pressure from home than any other country, and more this year than four years ago when our nation won its first Olympic gold in 50 years.

“I thought in 2002 the Olympics were huge, but this year it even seems to be more enormous,’’ he said.

The pressure is turning his team into 23 Jeremy Wotherspoons. “You can feel it in the locker-room and see it in their eyes. We need to loosen the hockey club and have some fun out there.’’

Gretzky admitted this is not the way you want this to work. The plan is to get better every game. That clearly has not been the case for Canada in this tournament as they head into today’s final round-robin game against the Czech Republic and into the quarter-final sudden-death crossover game, which follows the next day.

“The success of the Canadian teams has always been to start slow and get stronger,’’ Gretzky said.

“We got thrown for a bit of a curve,’’ he said of playing well enough for openers against Italy and Germany before losing one of those run-into-a-hot-goalie games against Switzerland.

“What became alarming was not the outcome of the game against Finland but the whole (aspect) of the game. Our emotional level was not at the level of the Finnish hockey club. They were better than us in the first period. They just dominated us. That’s what becomes alarming. We weren’t ready to play that hockey game at the start of it.’’

Gretzky said “I’m shocked,’’ then downgraded it to “disappointed’’ when his team “didn’t play with more urgency’’ in the game against Finland.

“We just have the sense that our team is too tight. The Finns looked just like they were enjoying the game and playing hard. That’s what we have to do.’’

Hitchcock said it’s a case of “a lot of young new players to the Olympics learning an on-the-job lesson. It’s a whole new level of intensity and tenacity they’ve never experienced before.’’

The key as they head to the crossover quarter-final, which could send them home early and, considering they’re Canada, in disgrace, is to prevent pure panic at this point.

“I think there’s a sense of desperation, a sense of realization that a lot of our players have never seen these players play like this in North America. When they play for their own country with their flag on their sweater, in the Olympics, we’re learning the lesson that they take it to a whole other level.’’

Hitchcock said there is panic.

“It’s in trying to catch up to the emotional level. We learned those lessons early in 2002. Our wake-up call came against Sweden in the first game. Here we caught our lesson a little bit late.’’

But did they catch it? Will there be a ‘Gretzky Effect’ from this day like there was in Salt Lake? Or is this a home-of-hockey horror story to be continued?

2006 Nextel Cup Schedule

02/12/06 Budweiser Shootout Daytona International Speedway TNT/4 p.m.
02/16/06 Gatorade Duel 1 Daytona International Speedway TNT/2 p.m.
02/16/06 Gatorade Duel 2 Daytona International Speedway TNT/-- MRN/--
02/19/06 Daytona 500 Daytona International Speedway NBC/1:30 p.m.
02/26/06 Auto Club 500 California Speedway FOX/3:30 p.m.
03/12/06 UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 Las Vegas Motor Speedway FOX/4 p.m.
03/19/06 Golden Corral 500 Atlanta Motor Speedway FOX/1 p.m.
]]> 03/26/06 Food City 500 Bristol Motor Speedway FOX/1:30 p.m.
04/02/06 Virginia 500 Martinsville Speedway FOX/1:30 p.m.
04/09/06 Samsung/RadioShack 500 Texas Motor Speedway FOX/1:30 p.m.
04/22/06 Subway Fresh 500 Phoenix International Raceway FOX/8 p.m.
04/30/06 Aaron's 499 Talladega Superspeedway FOX/1:30 p.m.
05/06/06 TBA Richmond International Raceway FX/7 p.m.
05/13/06 Dodge Charger 500 Darlington Raceway FOX/6:30 p.m.
05/20/06 NASCAR Nextel All-Star Challenge Lowe's Motor 7 p.m.
05/28/06 Coca-Cola 600 Lowe's Motor Speedway FOX/5 p.m.
06/04/06 MBNA 400 Dover International Speedway FX/1:30 p.m.
06/11/06 Pocono 500 Pocono Raceway FOX/1:30 p.m.
06/18/06 3M Performance 400 Michigan International Speedway FOX/1 p.m.
06/25/06 Dodge/Save Mart 350 Infineon Raceway FOX/3 p.m.
07/01/06 Pepsi 400 Daytona International Speedway FOX/7:30 p.m.
07/09/06 USG Sheetrock 400 Chicagoland Speedway TNT/3 p.m.
07/16/06 New England 300 New Hampshire International Speedway TNT/1:30 p.m.
07/23/06 Pennsylvania 500 Pocono Raceway TNT/1:30 p.m.
08/06/06 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard Indianapolis Motor Speedway NBC/2 p.m.
08/13/06 TBA Watkins Glen International NBC/1 p.m.
08/20/06 GFS Marketplace 400 Michigan International Speedway TNT/2 p.m.
08/26/06 Sharpie 500 Bristol Motor Speedway TNT/7 p.m.
09/03/06 Sony HD 500 California Speedway NBC/7 p.m.
09/09/06 Chevy Rock & Roll 400 Richmond International Raceway TNT/7 p.m.
09/17/06 Sylvania 300 New Hampshire International Speedway TNT/12:30 p.m.
09/24/06 Dover 400 Dover International Speedway TNT/12:30 p.m.
10/01/06 Banquet 400 presented by ConAgra Foods Kansas Speedway NBC/1:30 p.m.
10/08/06 UAW-Ford 500 Talladega Superspeedway NBC/1:30 p.m.
10/14/06 Bank of America 500 Lowe's Motor Speedway NBC/7 p.m.
10/22/06 Subway 500 Martinsville Speedway NBC/12:30 p.m.
10/29/06 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 Atlanta Motor Speedway NBC/2:30 p.m.
11/05/06 Dickies 500 Texas Motor Speedway NBC/2:30 p.m.
11/12/06 Checker Auto Parts 500 Phoenix International Raceway NBC/3 p.m.
11/19/06 Ford 400 Homestead-Miami Speedway NBC/2 p.m. MRN/--

Daytona 500

1. J. Johnson Chevrolet
2. C. Mears Dodge
3. R. Newman Dodge
4. E. Sadler Ford
5. T. Stewart Chevrolet
To all the haters, 48 winsCheater or champion? Such is the stigma that Jimmie Johnson has to bear after winning his first Daytona 500 just 10 days after his crew chief was kicked out for illegally altering his car.

Johnson won a two-lap shootout Sunday to claim the victory, capping a roller-coaster week that saw NASCAR kick his crew chief out of competition for cheating.

Johnson stayed calm and avoided trouble in a wild race that saw Tony Stewart eliminate three contenders: Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth and himself. Then Johnson worked his way to the front, staying in line and waiting for his chance to pounce.

It came with 14 laps to go when he squeezed past teammate Brian Vickers to grab the lead just as a caution came out. Johnson was at the front of the field on the restart, the lead driver in a single-file pack of cars sprinting toward the end.

]]> Lap 203: Checkered Flag/Yellow Flag: Jimmie Johnson as the caution flies for a last-lap crash

Lap 201: Green Flag: Jimmie Johnson leads

Lap 200: Preparing for a green-white-checkered finish

Lap 197: Caution: Jamie McMurray is pushed up by Jeff Burton. McMurray then hits the wall

Lap 195: Kyle Busch black-flagged for aggressive driving

Lap 190: Green flag: Jimmie Johnson leads

Lap 189: Jeff Gordon, Robby Gordon, Jeff Burton to pit road

Lap 187: Caution: Jamie McMurray gets into Kurt Busch, putting Busch into wall. Just before the caution, Jimmie Johnson takes the lead from teammate Brian Vickers

Lap 180: Green flag -- Brian Vickers leads

Lap 178: Pit stops. Jamie McMurray overshoots his pit. Brian Vickers wins the race off of pit road after a no-tire stop. Mike Wallace also took no tires.

Lap 176: Caution: Travis Kvapil hits the wall. Matt Kenseth is the Lucky Dog

Lap 167: Penske is 1-2, as Kurt Busch moves to second

Lap 163: Ryan Newman takes the lead

Lap 159: Green Flag: Dale Earnhardt Jr. leads

Lap 156: Leaders to pit road. Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins the race off of pit road. Michael Waltrip penalized for too fast exiting and Jimmie Johnson goes into the grass to avoid contact with Ryan Newman

Lap 155: Caution: Debris on frontstretch

Lap 144: Brian Vickers takes the lead

Lap 141: Dale Earnhardt Jr. takes the lead back from Mark Martin

Lap 130: Jeff Gordon is 23rd, Tony Stewart is 27th after his penalty

Lap 129: Green Flag: Mark Martin, with a two-tire stop, leads.

Lap 128: Tony Stewart penalized for running over equipment in his pit stall. Stewart will go to the tail end of the longest line.

Lap 125: Field to pit road. Mark Martin comes off first with Dale Earnhardt Jr. second. Bill Elliott stayed out and takes the lead.

Lap 124: Caution: Robby Gordon loses a tire and hits the wall

Lap 122: Jimmie Johnson takes the race lead from teammate Kyle Busch

Lap 117: Matt Kenseth will not be scored for one lap for not answering the black flag

Lap 116: Kyle Busch takes the lead from Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Lap 114: Dale Earnhardt Jr. takes the lead back as Matt Kenseth serves his pass-through penalty

Lap 113: Greg Biffle takes the lead

Lap 112: Green flag. Dale Earnhardt Jr. leads

Lap 111: NASCAR race control black flags the Kenseth team for tapping Tony Stewart

Lap 110: NASCAR sends Tony Stewart to the end of the longest line for aggressive driving

Lap 108: Field to pit road. Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins the race off. Greg Biffle gains 16 spots after a two-tire stop.

Lap 107: Caution: Matt Kenseth hits the wall and says, "The 20 hit me."

Lap 104: Mark Martin shoots into the lead

Lap 100: At halfway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. leads and all 43 cars are still in the race.

Lap 96: Green Flag: Dale Earnhardt Jr. leads.

Lap 93: Field to pit road -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins the race off and takes the lead.

Lap 91: Caution: Debris on the backstretch. Joe Nemechek is the Lucky Dog

Lap 89: Matt Kenseth gets a push from former teammate Kurt Busch and takes the lead.

Lap 87: Dale Earnhardt Jr. takes the lead.

Lap 86: J.J. Yeley treated and released from the infield care center.

Lap 85: Kevin Harvick takes the lead from Matt Kenseth

Lap 85: Green flag. Matt Kenseth leads

Lap 84: Kurt Busch pits and Matt Kenseth assumes the lead

Lap 82: Field to pit road -- Kurt Busch leads after pit stops. Meanwhile, Jeff Gordon ran over a piece of debris from the earlier wreck and was forced to pit a second time for repairs.

Lap 80: Caution: Not really the big one, but more like a medium one -- Carl Edwards, Kyle Petty, J. J. Yeley, Jeff Green and Joe Nemechek are collected on the backstretch.

Lap 73: Jamie McMurray, since restarting 38th, is back up to ninth

Lap 58: With drafting help from a bunch of cars, Matt Kenseth takes the lead

Lap 52: Green Flag: Ryan Newman leads. McMurray to 38th after his car fell off the jack.

Lap 50: Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon both stay on pit road to repair damage

Lap 49: Field to pit road. Ryan Newman wins race off of pit road.

Lap 49: Caution: Jeff Gordon slides into Tony Stewart after Jamie McMurray took the lead. Both Stewart and Gordon have damage

Lap 48: Jamie McMurray takes the lead from Jeff Gordon, who then gets tangled with Tony Stewart

Lap 42: Jeremy Mayfield back to pit road, now five laps down

Lap 40: Tony Stewart continues to lead with Jamie McMurray second

Lap 38: Jeremy Mayfield back to pit road after a tire goes down thanks to a fender rub.

Lap 34: Jeremy Mayfield heads to pit road after contact

Lap 28: Tony Stewart comes back strong and takes the lead. Jamie McMurray is second.

Lap 27: Dale Earnhardt Jr. takes lead as Tony Stewart bobbles in second and falls to third.

Lap 25: Matt Kenseth passes Jeff Gordon for lead. Dale Earnhardt Jr. gets behind Kenseth and moves up to second.

Lap 24: Jeff Gordon takes lead; Sadler to fourth

Lap 23: Dale Jr. gets freight-trained. Now off of lead pack

Lap 21: Green Flag: Elliott Sadler leads

Lap 20: Dale Jarrett, Kirk Shelmerdine penalized for too fast off of pit road

Lap 19: Biffle pits, giving lead to Elliott Sadler

Lap 18: The field hits pit road. Elliott Sadler wins the race off pit road. Greg Biffle, who stayed out, takes the lead

Lap 17: Caution: Martin Truex Jr. brushes wall

Lap 14: Jeff Gordon back to second place as Jeff Burton keeps the lead

Lap 9: Kevin Harvick has gone from 26th to 10th. Meanwhile, Kyle Petty has gone from 10th to 27th.

Lap 3: Jeff Green is back on the racetrack

Lap 2: Jeff Burton gets the first five bonus points of the season.

Lap 1: Jeff Green loses a tire and heads to pit road. No caution.

2:45 p.m. -- Green flag: Jeff Burton leads.

2:42 p.m. -- Kevin Harvick heads to pit road to get a bag taken off of his roof-cam.

2:30 p.m. -- James Caan -- looking a lot like Dennis Hopper -- gives the command to start engines.

2:21 p.m. -- Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas sings the national anthem. Not one person in our office had ever heard of her.

2:20 p.m. -- Jack Roush apparently told Carl Edwards that Edwards was "one of his dumbest and bravest drivers."

2:07 p.m. -- Bon Jovi takes the stage, as Jon Bon Jovi shamlessly wears a Philly Soul t-shirt, plugging his Arena Football team.

1:55 p.m. -- Michael Waltrip again refuses to say the word "Dodge".

1:48 p.m. -- Mike Helton : "The best way to do this is for you to have respect for each other." Words to live by.

1:43 p.m. -- The first TV story about "The Big One" rears its ugly head.

1:37 p.m. -- Jeff Burton: "I think the end of this race could get pretty wild." Ya think?

1:36 p.m. -- Asked about why they didn't practice yesterday, Jeff Gordon tells Marty Snider, "I think today's weather proves why we didn't do it."

1:33 p.m. -- NBC is on the air. Bill Weber is waxing poetic again.

12:26 p.m. -- The weather is cold and cloudy at Daytona as the green flag is about two hours away.

Show Time!

This Valentine’s Day, we wanted to give you the gift that keeps on giving—lingerie. Why? Because we love you, man!

Basic Black
(from left) Red and black satin bra, thong, and garter belt set by Agent Provocateur; boots by Petit Peton.
Red and black lace bra and thong by I.D. Sarrieri; shoes by Petit Peton.

Superbowl ads

SUPER BOWL XL MIRED IN CONTROVERSY

This year's Super Bowl is shaping up to be the most controversial since Janet's mammary made a surprise appearance during the halftime show two years ago. With NFL officials still reeling from the embarrassment of the blown interception call two weeks ago in Indy, a large shadow of doubt has been cast across the offices of Mike Pereira, NFL Director of Officiating.

Charges of favoritism and trying to orchestrate the "ultimate" Super Bowl by having the media darling Colts advance over the lunchbucket Steelers have been called "absurd" by league spokespeople. Other charges of referees having a vested interest in the game by placing wagers with offshore sportsbooks in Costa Rica were dropped due to a lack of evidence. Nonetheless, the whole incident has raised the hackles of league commissioner Paul Tagliabue who has vowed to uphold the integrity of his officials and promised fair and unbiased officiating at this year's main event.
Others are not convinced and say that this has become typical in recent years as the NFL tries to maximize viewership of the game by having 'marquee matchups' such as last year's Eagles vs. Patriots game.

An enraged Doug Krikorian, a columnist for Press Telegram was quoted as saying: "…the NFL officials, indisputably the most incompetent in professional sports, will flash the same awful form in the Super Bowl that they do during the regular season, too often making ridiculous calls that make sense to no one but themselves and their Park Avenue enablers in New York, NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue and NFL Director of Officiating Mike Pereira."

]]> Pereira has acknowledged that Pete Morelli had made a mistake although no disciplinary action has been taken. Krikorian went on to say, "When you have a bunch of guys who have 9-to-5 jobs during the week and suddenly find themselves on weekends working important NFL games in front of 80,000 passionate folk, you're going to wind up with guys like Pete Morelli who freeze up in crisis moments.".

Not everyone is upset with the NFL's bumbling officials. A caller to a sports radio talk-show in New York expressed his opinion on the game this way. "I'm disappointed the Colts lost because I put a ton of money on them with my bookie. When Morelli made that call I could have kissed him, they should run that bum Vanderjagt out of town!"

Offshore sportsbooks like www.nine.com located in Costa Rica have posted the smallest pointspread on the Super Bowl contenders in recent memory, which has left many gamblers scratching their heads. Instead of looking at stats and matchups, many are focused on how the game is going to be called. If you want a sure winner this year you may only have to ask the ref's bookie which side he bet on.