According to SportingNews.com

“The NFL will not allow in-game Twittering by players, coaches or others on the sidelines during games, league spokesman Greg Aiello told ProFootballTalk.com on Thursday.

Jim Mora was fined $25,000 for taking a cellular phone call during a game in 2005.”

Tags: ban, bench, cell phone, Chad Ochocinco, Football NFL, Media, Sports Fans, twitter|
Posted By: veronica | Jul 9th

Nice one Bernie… This is so obviously a stupid move. Read more from TimesOnline.co.uk:

Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One chief, said yesterday that he preferred totalitarian regimes to democracies and praised Adolf Hitler for his ability to “get things done”.

In an outspoken interview with The Times, the 78-year-old billionaire chastised contemporary politicians for their weakness and extolled the virtues of strong leadership.

Mr Ecclestone said: “In a lot of ways, terrible to say this I suppose, but apart from the fact that Hitler got taken away and persuaded to do things that I have no idea whether he wanted to do or not, he was in the way that he could command a lot of people, able to get things done.

“In the end he got lost, so he wasn’t a very good dictator because either he had all these things and knew what was going on and insisted, or he just went along with it . . . so either way he wasn’t a dictator.” He also rounded on democracy, claiming that “it hasn’t done a lot of good for many countries — including this one [Britain]”.

Read the rest here.

Tags: Athletes Behaving Badly, bernie ecclestone, f 1, f1, hitler, racing, Scandals|
Posted By: jackhammer | Jul 7th

RIP Steve… Here is some information in the developing story around McNair’s death. From CBC.ca:

Nashville police say a woman found shot to death with former NFL star Steve McNair recently purchased a gun, according to a report in The Tennessean newspaper.

Sahel Kazemi and the former Tennessee Titans quarterback were found dead on Saturday in a condominium owned by McNair.

Kazemi, 20, died Saturday of a single gunshot wound to the head alongside McNair, who had two gunshots to the head and two to the chest. The gun was found under Kazemi’s body.

“We believe the pistol recovered from the apartment was purchased by Kazemi,” police spokesman Don Aaron told The Tennessean.

Aaron said testing to determine if gunshot residue was present on Kazemi’s hands has not yet been completed.

U.S. federal law prohibits anyone under 21 from purchasing a handgun.

Tags: air mcnair, Athletes Behaving Badly, Deaths, Football NFL, hand gun, Media, murder, Scandals, steve mcnair, Violence in Sports|
Posted By: jackhammer | Jul 6th

The only reason I can imagine why the Montreal Canadiens unloaded Chris Higgins to the NY Rangers would be his partying ways.  That’s of course an allegation, but let me highlight how bad this deal is for the Habs:

TO HABS
- Scott Gomez (an $8M salary cap hit for an 16-goal scorer!)
- Tom Pyatt (”he will be lucky if he plays in NHL and is a mini Guy Carbonneau”, according to Pierre McGuire)
- Michael Busto (East coast player)

TO RANGERS
- Pavel Valetenko
- Doug Janek
- Chris Higgings
- Ryan McDonagh (former top round pick)

Bear in mind the Habs will lose defenseman Mike Komisarek, especially now that his pal Higgins is gone.

Way to go Bob Gainey.

Tags: Hockey, Trades|
Posted By: froosh | Jun 30th

From ESPN.com:

WIMBLEDON, England — Five-time champion Venus Williams overpowered Agnieszka Radwanska 6-1, 6-2 on Tuesday to reach the Wimbledon semifinals and move a step closer to another possible championship showdown with sister Serena.

Venus, seeking her third straight Wimbledon title, outhit the 14th-ranked Pole from all parts of the court and proved again that she is the dominant female player on grass.

“Do I feel invincible?” Williams said. “I’d like to say yes, but I really do work at it.”

Venus had her left leg taped up again but showed no weakness at all as she ripped 29 winners — compared to six for Radwanska — in a match that lasted just 68 minutes on a sunbaked Court 1.

“I can’t complain,” she said. “I’m in the semifinals of Wimbledon, right where I want to be. I just need to take another step forward.”

Venus will next face top-ranked Dinara Safina, who overcame 15 double-faults and beat German teen Sabine Lisicki 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-1 to reach the Wimbledon semifinals for the first time.

“I was Santa Claus on the court, serving so many double-faults,” said Safina, who served three straight doubles in one game in the third set.

In the bottom half of the draw, No. 4 Elena Dementieva beat Italy’s Francesca Schiavone 6-2, 6-2 to set up a semifinal encounter with two-time champion Serena Williams, a 6-2, 6-3 winner over Victoria Azarenka.

Venus raced to a 5-0 lead against Radwanska and finished off the first set with back-to-back aces. She dropped only two of 18 points on serve in the set.

“That first set for me was almost perfect,” Williams said.

Radwanska managed to win the first two games of the second set, but Venus regained command and ran off six straight to finish the match, ending with a clean forehand winner.

“She was serving and hitting the ball so strong,” Radwanska said. “Her tennis is so powerful. Today she was playing so good, it was very hard to do anything. If she will play like this, she will [win] one more time this tournament.”

Serena broke the eighth-seeded Azarenka for a 5-3 lead in the second set and then served out the match at love, converting her first match point with a forehand winner.

The sisters have met in three Wimbledon finals, including last year, and are on course for a fourth title meeting.

“I would love it to be a Williams final, and so would she,” Venus said. “That would be great.”

Venus is trying to become the first woman since Steffi Graf in 1991-93 to win three Wimbledon titles in a row.

Only once in the last nine years has there been a Wimbledon women’s final that didn’t feature at least one of the Williams sisters. The sisters were the only two Grand Slam winners left in the women’s field — Serena has 10 major titles and Venus seven.

“We are definitely the front-runners in tennis as far as being some of the best players out there,” Venus said. “I just think that the style of game that Serena and I play, that particular style we play better than the other women.”

Safina, who has risen to No. 1 in the world despite never having won a Grand Slam title, struggled against the 19-year-old Lisicki. The Russian had to come from behind after double-faulting to lose the first set tiebreak, smashing her racket to the turf and drawing a warning from the chair umpire.

Safina was down 3-2 on serve in the second set but got the one break in the seventh game to force a third set. The 41st-ranked Lisicki received treatment on her right calf after going down 4-1 in the third. In the next game, Safina was up 40-0 before serving three straight double-faults. She still managed to hold and then broke for the match.

“I was tough mentally, that was the key today,” Safina said.

Dementieva, meanwhile, grabbed a 5-0 lead in the first set against the 43rd-ranked Schiavone and converted both of her break points in the second to seal the win in 66 minutes.

Dementieva also reached the Wimbledon semifinals last year. She is still looking for her first major title after being runner-up at both the French Open and U.S. Open in 2004.

Temperatures topped 90 degrees on Tuesday, with no need to close the roof on Centre Court.

Tags: dementieva, england, safina, Tennis, williams sisters, wimbledon|
Posted By: jackhammer | Jun 30th

The Phoenix experiment did not work and Shaq is on the move again. It should be very interesting to see how he meshes with LeBron!  Read more from TSN.ca:

After coming up short in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Cleveland Cavaliers brought in Shaquille O’Neal to complement LeBron James.

Numbers Game examines the Big Aristotle’s arrival in Cleveland.

The Cavaliers Get: C Shaquille O’Neal.

O’Neal, 37, is coming off his best year since 2005-2006, averaging 17.8 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game, while shooting a stellar 60.9% from the field and his 59.5% from the free throw line was the second-best percentage of his career (behind 62.2 in 2002-2003).

At this stage of his career, O’Neal doesn’t need to dominate the ball and, with LeBron running the show in Cleveland, O’Neal shouldn’t have any trouble deferring to the reigning MVP.

Shaq’s not a dominant defender, and can be exploited by centres that can move away from the basket, but he’s still an upgrade on Zydrunas Ilgauskas, the veteran Lithuanian centre who was abused by the Magic’s Dwight Howard in the Conference Finals.

Ilgauskas has a player option for next season and the prospect of being Shaq’s backup would figure to be enough reason for the 34-year-old to seek out a better opportunity elsewhere.

While his mobility isn’t what it once was, O’Neal was much better in Phoenix than he’d been in his later days with the Miami Heat, so there is every reason to think he’ll be a productive player next season, the final year of a contract which pays him $20-million in 2009-2010.

With LeBron and Shaq going into the final years of their contracts, 2009-2010 shapes up as the Cavaliers’ best chance to contend for a title.

The Suns Get: PF Ben Wallace, SF Sasha Pavlovic and a second-round pick.

34-year-old Ben Wallace is a long way from the energetic, dominant defender that he was in his championship days with the Detroit Pistons.  He’s never been an offensive player and last year’s 3.0 points per game was his lowest total since his rookie season.

Even with all that taken into consideration, Wallace is still a capable defender who can block shots and crash the boards, only he does it in more limited minutes.

Due $14-million next season, in the final year of his contract, Wallace’s future is uncertain.  He could get flipped to another team or it’s possible that he’ll take on a role with the Suns next season.

Pavlovic, 25, hasn’t been able to rise above reserve swingman in five years with the Cavaliers, though some of the reason for that may be attributed to injuries — Pavlovic hasn’t played in more than 67 games in a season since playing 79 in his rookie season with Utah in 2003-2004.

While he’s not going to be any better than a reserve in Phoenix, Pavlovic does shoot well enough — 41.0% on three-pointers last season — to fit into the Suns’ rotation at either of the wing spots.

The second-round pick, 46th overall, actually has some value.  Since 2001, 12 players taken in the 46-50 range have become NBA rotation players — a success rate of 30% — with the best of the bunch being Cavs PG Mo Williams and Jazz PF Paul Millsap.  No, it’s not likely to yield a star, but a serviceable rotation player is possible.

All indications are that the Suns aren’t done, either; that an Amar’e Stoudemire trade is on the way, so it’s hard to gauge just what the Suns are going to look like until the dust settles and they actually have someone available to play in the paint.

Tags: Basketball NBA, cleveland cavaliers, lebron, shaq, shaquille oneal, Teammates, Trades|
Posted By: jackhammer | Jun 25th

Despite a final round charge from Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods, and a stunning run by David Duval, Lucas Glover did the improbable and won his first Major Championship at Bethpage Black in New York.  Read more from ESPN.com:

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — In a final hour packed with emotion, Lucas Glover played a steady hand to win the U.S. Open.

So many amazing stories belonged to contenders all around him Monday at Bethpage Black, from Phil Mickelson’s stirring bid to win for his beloved wife as she battles breast cancer, to David Duval coming out of nowhere to nearly win for the first time in eight years.

Glover kept his cap tugged low and played the kind of golf that wins a U.S. Open under any conditions.

He made only one birdie in the rain-delayed final round, and it could not have been timed any better. Glover holed a 6-foot putt on the 16th hole to break one last tie for the lead, then held on with pars to close with a 3-over 73 for a two-shot victory.

“It was a test of patience, that’s for sure,” Glover said. “It was just heart today.”

It was sheer heartache for Mickelson.

His wife, Amy, is due to have surgery for breast cancer next week. She left cards and text messages asking him to bring home the silver trophy from a U.S. Open that has taunted Lefty for a decade.

Right when it was in his grasp, Mickelson let it slip away again.

He missed a three-foot par putt on the 15th hole, and another par putt from eight feet on the 17th that ended his dream finish. Mickelson closed with a 70 and wound up in a three-way tie for second with Duval and 54-hole leader Ricky Barnes.

Mickelson left Bethpage Black with the wrong kind of distinction. He set the U.S. Open record with his fifth runner-up finish.

“Certainly I’m disappointed,” Mickelson said, “but now that it’s over, I’ve got more important things going on.

“And,” he added, then paused, “oh, well.”

Even more stunning was the revival of Duval.

The former No. 1 player in golf came to the U.S. Open as a qualifier who had plunged to No. 882 in the world. Showing remarkable resiliency throughout the week, Duval recovered from another big number — a triple bogey from a plugged lie in a bunker — and surged into a share of the lead with three straight birdies.

Tied for the lead with two holes to play, his 5-foot par putt on the 17th cruelly caught the back of the lip and spun 180 degrees out on the other side. He shot 71 for his best finish on the PGA Tour since he won the British Open eight years ago.

Barnes, who set the 36-hole Open scoring record, never had much of a chance. His swing got him into more trouble than he could handle as he went out in 40, 5 over par, and never quite recovered until it was too late.

That left Glover the most unlikely champion.

The 29-year-old from South Carolina, who chews tobacco and listens to Sinatra, had not won since holing out a bunker shot on the final hole at Disney nearly five years ago.

But this was no fluke.

Once he was handed the lead by Barnes’ collapse, Glover was rock-solid on a water-logged course. And when he hit two of his best shots of the final round to the 16th green for his lone birdie, it made for an anticlimactic finish to a U.S. Open that had more delays than drama.

It was the first time the U.S. Open ended on a Monday without a playoff since 1983, courtesy of relentless rain.

Tags: bethpage black, Golf, lucas glover, major, phil, tiger, Upsets, US Open|
Posted By: jackhammer | Jun 22nd

Here are the Top Ten dunks from the Sprite Slam Dunk Showdown.  These dudes are awesome:

Tags: Amateur, Basketball NBA, contest, Events, slam dunk|
Posted By: jackhammer | Jun 18th

Sister-site WatchMojo.com got the chance to interview an NHL legend in Mark Messier. Here is the video:

Tags: Hockey, mark messier, oilers, rangers, stanley cup, Video|
Posted By: jackhammer | Jun 16th

Jose Aldo ends the fight 4 seconds into it:

Tags: blood, Extreme, Injuries, jose aldo, knee kick, Video, Violence in Sports, wec 41, Wrestling|
Posted By: jackhammer | Jun 9th