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5445. wabbit - 4/10/2007 3:54:59 PM  Unheralded Zach Johnson won the Masters' green jacket and had to beat Tiger Woods to get it. Johnson pulled away from Woods and the rest of the pack with three birdies in a crucial four-hole stretch along the back nine of Augusta National, closing with a 69 for a two-shot victory and only the second of his career. The 31-year-old self-described "normal guy" from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is the least accomplished Masters champion since Larry Mize chipped in to beat Greg Norman in a playoff 20 years ago, but this was no fluke. Even as some of the thrills returned in the final round, Johnson kept his calm. And there wasn't anything Woods could do about it. Johnson shot 71-73-76-69 for a total of 289, which tied the record for the highest winning score set by Jack Burke in 1956.
To win the Masters, Johnson beat some of the world's top-ranked golfers. Now he's one of them. Johnson tamed a tough Augusta National and shot a 3-under 69 Sunday for his first major championship and only his second win on the PGA Tour, moving up 41 places to No. 15 in the latest Official World Golf Ranking. He was the first player ranked outside the world top 50 to win the Masters since the world rankings began 21 years ago. Among the players Johnson beat out Sunday was Tiger Woods, who tied for second place and, of course, retained his position at the No. 1-ranked golfer. Woods was followed again by Jim Furyk, Australian Adam Scott, Phil Mickelson, South African Ernie Els, Henrik Stenson of Sweden and Vijay Singh of Fiji in positions 2-7. Retief Goosen of South Africa also tied for second place and moved up one place to No. 8, bumping Australian Geoff Ogilvy from his position last week. Ogilvy dropped to ninth, while Padraig Harrington of Ireland and Luke Donald of England, remained 10th and 11th respectively. Trevor Immelman of South Africa and Paul Casey of England parlayed nice showings at Augusta into one-spot bumps in the rankings to 12th and 13th respectively, knocking Spaniard Sergio Garcia two places to 14th. Johnson was followed by Charles Howell III and Australian Nick O'Hern, who both lost one spot to dip to 16th and 17th. Australian Stuart Appleby and David Toms were up one place apiece to 18th and 19th, while Australian Robert Allenby and David Love III both lost three spots to drop to 20th and 21st this week.
5446. wabbit - 4/10/2007 3:55:16 PM  Beating the odds again, Michigan State won its first NCAA hockey championship in 21 years. Justin Abdelkader snapped a tie with 18.9 seconds to go, seconds after ringing a shot off the post in the Spartans' 3-1 victory over Boston College on Saturday night. Jeff Lerg made 29 saves, and Chris Mueller added an empty-net goal with 1.2 seconds left to clinch it for the Spartans (26-13-3), a lightly regarded No. 3 seed in the Midwest Regional when the tournament began. Tim Kennedy tied it midway through the third period, and set up the go-ahead goal from behind the net when he spun off his man and passed the puck in front. Abdelkader, the MVP of the finals, beat Cory Schneider for his 15th goal and first in nine games.
Bridgewater State set NCAA Division III records for runs, hits, RBIs and victory margin Monday, routing Newbury 57-1 in seven innings. Bridgewater State also broke the NCAA all-divisions record for RBIs and tied the mark for hits, finishing with 54 RBIs and 44 hits. Steve Smith had seven hits, 10 RBIs and scored seven times to help Bridgewater State break the Division III records for runs and margin of victory set in Marietta's 48-0 victory over La Roche in 1999. Smith tied the record for hits in a game. The 54 RBIs broke the all-divisions mark of 53 set by Division II St. Francis of Illinois in a 1996 victory over Robert Morris. The 44 hits tied the record set by St. Francis in that 1996 game. Suffolk set the previous Division III RBI mark of 43 in a 2005 victory over Southern Vermont, and Baldwin-Wallace set the old Division III hits record of 42 in a 2002 win over Lake Erie.
5447. wabbit - 4/10/2007 3:55:30 PM  Tiago, a half brother to 2005 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Giacomo, earned a chance to match a victory previously achieved by his sibling in the first leg of the Triple Crown by rallying to score half-length win in the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby (G1) on Saturday at Santa Anita Park. Racing without blinkers for the first time, Tiago and jockey Mike Smith powered past runner-up King of the Roxy with an explosive stretch run. Jerry and Ann Moss bred and owned Giacomo and Tiago, both of whom were trained by John Shirreffs. Smith guided Giacomo to a fourth-place finish in the 2005 Santa Anita Derby prior to winning the Kentucky Derby. Giacomo, by Holy Bull, and Tiago, by Pleasant Tap, are out of multiple stakes winner Set Them Free, by Stop the Music.
Nobiz Like Shobiz solidified his status as a leading contender for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) with a determined half-length score in the $750,000 Wood Memorial Stakes (G1) on Saturday at Aqueduct. Wearing blinkers for the first time, the Albert the Great colt delivered a much more professional performance in the stretch to rebound from a disappointing third-place finish in the Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) on March 3.
Cowtown Cat made another giant step forward in his now inexorable march towards the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) when he soundly defeated eight challengers in a 2 ¼-length victory in the $500,000 Illinois Derby (G2) on Saturday at Hawthorne Race Course. A race that was billed as a two-horse match race between Cowtown Cat and Cobalt Blue turned into a tour de force for Cowtown Cat, who under jockey Fernando Jara took the lead out of the gate in the 1 1/8-mile race and never relinquished it, drawing away nearing the finish and crossing the line in 1:51.21 on a fast track. Late-running Reporting for Duty closed to outgame third-place finisher Bold Start by three-quarters of a length. Cobalt Blue raced in fourth, not far off the lead early, but never menaced, fading to seventh in the lane while racing wide.
5448. wonkers2 - 4/12/2007 3:56:13 AM wabbit, you got it right on Imus. I've never been a fan and now I know why. Maybe Jexter can take his place. 5449. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 4/12/2007 4:18:50 AM I relish wabb's indignation; she's a righteous and insightful force to admire.
Imus has always played to the locker-room wannabes and the macho assholes. Cheap, mean shots are his stock and trade and he's always needed a comeuppance--so let's hope this will bring it about. 5450. wabbit - 4/14/2007 8:01:03 PM I liked Sally Jenkins take on this (thanks for the heads-up, Anhaga!).
I don't want Don Imus fired. Instead, I want him to buy season tickets to Rutgers women's basketball and sit in the front row wearing a sweat shirt with a big letter R on it at every home game.
It serves no purpose to call for Imus's job; that's mere harsh vengeance and we've had enough undue harshness. If you shut down Imus's show, silence him, the conversation ends there. What's needed in the Rutgers-Imus affair, and on the subjects of racism and sexism in general, is not silence but talk, lots of it, and what's needed in women's basketball is a promoter. I know just the guy for the job... 5451. wabbit - 4/14/2007 8:02:44 PM On a lighter note, eat your heart, Joey Fatone - this is dancing with a star!
5452. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 4/14/2007 8:36:23 PM In January 2005, on the day of Bush’s second inaugaration, Cheney and his wife, Lynne, granted Imus a lengthy, exclusive interview, in which Mrs. Cheney affectionately referred to Imus as “the I-man.”
Asked to explain why Cheney chose Imus’ show for the big inaugaration day interview, long-time Cheney adviser Mary Matalin, who negotiated the appearance for the vice president, told the New York Times:
The vice president, she said, has a wry sense of humor.
He has the same sense of humor that Imus has. He thinks Imus is funny. He gets good guests on. And he asks good questions. It’s not really strategic or complicated. Not everything we do has to work on 50 different levels.”
Vice President Cheney has not yet been asked to comment on the Imus controversy, but given his past relationship with Imus, it might be worth some reporter asking if he still shares Imus’ sense of humor. 5453. wabbit - 4/14/2007 9:15:23 PM Imus did have good guests (which is why he can't claim shock-jock status anymore just because it would be convenient), and unlike a lot of tv/radio people who are only interested in the sound of their own voice and those who are in complete agreement with them, he let people speak. I used to get a kick out of the guy who did the impersonations. However, all the good guests in the world, and the charity work he never let anyone forget he was doing, don't excuse him. I believe he is sincerely embarrassed, and he should be. I hope when he lands on satellite radio, and we all know that day can't be far off, that he shows a bit of the class that he was shown by the women of Rutgers.
And now, I'm done talking about Imus. How about those Red Sox!! 5454. wabbit - 4/15/2007 5:19:17 PM The local prosecutor who charged three Duke lacrosse players with raping a stripper apologized to the athletes Thursday and said the North Carolina attorney general's decision to drop the case was right.
"To the extent that I made judgments that ultimately proved to be incorrect, I apologize to the three students that were wrongly accused," Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong said.
On Wednesday, Attorney General Roy Cooper not only dropped all remaining charges against the players Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and David Evans, but pronounced them innocent and said they were the victims of Nifong's "tragic rush to accuse." Cooper branded Nifong a "rogue" prosecutor who was guilty of "overreaching." [...] Evans' attorney, Joseph Cheshire, accused Nifong of engaging in "revisionist history" with his statement.
"It's not an apology. It's an excuse. It's an attempt at an excuse," Cheshire said. "It's not an acceptance of responsibility. It's a self-serving attempt to excuse bad behavior." 5455. wabbit - 4/15/2007 5:22:02 PM 
Last Thursday, Elsie Mclean, at age 102, became the oldest person to make a hole-in-one on a regulation course.
5456. wabbit - 4/15/2007 5:22:59 PM 
Dominican, ridden by Rafael Bejarano, made a rush down the stretch to nose out even-money favorite Street Sense to capture Saturday's $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland. The victory puts Dominican solidly into the Kentucky Derby picture long with Street Sense. The pace in the Blue Grass was kept very slow by Teuflesberg as he led the seven horse field through the first quarter-mile in 26 seconds. Pressing the slow pace was Zanjero, the 9-5 second choice Great Hunter and Street Sense. Zanjero finished third followed by Teuflesberg, Great Hunter, Time Squared. Love Dubai finished last after a slow start.
The Kentucky Derby has a new contender - maybe even a new favorite. Curlin stormed down the stretch to another runaway victory Saturday, winning the Arkansas Derby by a record 10½ lengths. The chestnut colt has been overlooked on the Kentucky Derby trail because of his inexperience, but trainer Steve Asmussen expects that to change after this performance in Oaklawn Park's final Derby prep. Curlin has only three career starts, but all were impressive wins. He took the Rebel at Oaklawn last month by 5 lengths and cruised to a 12}-length victory in his seven-furlong debut at Gulfstream Park in February. Storm in May took second in the $1 million race, Deadly Dealer finished third, and Delightful Kiss was fourth, followed by Going Ballistic and Flying First Class. Slew by Slew was second at the half-mile mark but ended up eighth. First-time starter Olympic Chief finished last.
 Silver Birch, who had promised so much earlier in his career, finally realised that promise to win the John Smith’s Grand National in a thrilling finish. "We thought he would run a good race, but this is a dream come true," said Gordon Elliott, at 29 the youngest trainer in the race. The trainer, winning the John Smith’s Grand National only a year after getting his full training licence, was confident that once the horse had mastered Barry Geraghty’s horse Slim Pickings that Silver Birch would win. Robbie Power, the winning jockey on Silver Birch, said: "Unbelievable, what a ride I got all the way. He jumped and travelled great. It does not get better than this. I should retire now."
Chicago beat Los Angeles on Saturday in a U.S. Olympic Committee vote to pick a candidate for the 2016 Summer Games. Chicago, which has never held an Olympics, now will try to persuade the International Olympic Committee that it deserves to be the host, joining a group of bidders expected to include Madrid, Prague, Rome, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo. The IOC will award the 2016 Games in October 2009.
5457. wabbit - 4/15/2007 5:23:18 PM  Sidney Crosby doesn't seek attention, he just has a knack of drawing it. Crosby scored his second goal in two playoff games 11:44 into the third period to lift the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 4-3 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, evening their first-round series at one win apiece. Crosby, who scored a late power-play goal in Wednesday's series-opening 6-3 loss, netted Pittsburgh's third goal of the third period at 11:44. The Penguins tied it twice in the final frame before the 19-year-old NHL scoring champion gave them their second and final lead.
Rick DiPietro has the Buffalo Sabres to thank for his most intense workout in three weeks. Nothing could shake off the rust better or be any sweeter than the 32-save effort that produced a 3-2 playoff victory for DiPietro and the New York Islanders on Saturday night. DiPietro was limber enough, bouncing back from a pair of concussions 12 days apart, and the Islanders showed renewed confidence with their star's return in evening the Eastern Conference first-round series at 1. Marc-Andre Bergeron secured the win, scoring the go-ahead goal 8:37 into the third period. But much of the kudos were directed at DiPietro.
The Tampa Bay Lightning expect Vincent Lecavalier to score. Having Johan Holmqvist outplay Martin Brodeur was an unexpected bonus. Lecavalier, the NHL's top goal scorer this season, netted one early in the third period to break a tie, and Holmqvist made 34 saves to lead the Lightning to a 3-2 victory Saturday night, evening the first-round, Eastern Conference series at 1-all. Holmqvist was the big question mark for the Lightning after he gave up five goals on 24 shots in Game 1, including three relatively bad ones.
NHL scores
5458. wabbit - 4/15/2007 5:23:51 PM  Curt Schilling is willing to mix in more pitches these days if it means he's able to throw fewer pitches overall. Relying less on his fastball and more on changing speeds and location, the Red Sox right-hander cruised through eight shutout innings on Saturday and led Boston to an 8-0 victory over the Los Angeles Angels. Angels centerfielder Gary Matthews Jr. flubbed a line drive in the third to allow a pair of unearned runs that gave Boston a 2-0 lead. David Ortiz added a three-run homer to back Schilling, who allowed four hits while striking out four and walking one to pick up his second consecutive win. Schilling gave up five runs in four innings on opening day and a first-inning homer in his next start, but has not allowed a run since then to drop his ERA from 11.25 to 2.84.
B.J. Ryan is one tough closer, even when he doesn't have his best stuff. That just made Marcus Thames' clutch hit Saturday all the more sweeter for the Detroit Tigers. Thames hit a go-ahead, two-run double off Ryan in the ninth inning to help the Tigers rally for a 10-7 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday. Toronto led 7-6 when Ryan issued consecutive walks to Gary Sheffield, Magglio Ordonez and Carlos Guillen with one out in the ninth. Thames, pinch hitting for Sean Casey, then dropped a broken-bat double into left field to give the Tigers the lead.
Miguel Batista couldn't find anyone to blame for his long layoff. Thanks to Seattle's wacky string of weather-related postponements, Batista made just his second start with the Mariners on Saturday. And the 10 days off sure appeared to help. Batista rebounded from his poor debut, pitching into the seventh inning of Seattle's 8-3 win over the Texas Rangers. Batista gave up Sammy Sosa 's 590th career home run, but otherwise handled the Rangers' potent lineup and became the first of Seattle's three new starting pitchers to pick up a victory. Seattle had four games in Cleveland snowed out and one rained out in Boston since Batista's debut.
MLB scores
5459. wabbit - 4/15/2007 5:24:18 PM .jpg)
Sixty years ago today, Jackie Robinson took his place at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers and re-integrated major league baseball. The Dodgers -- all of them -- will be wearing No. 42 on Sunday at Dodger Stadium in honor of one of their own.
5460. wonkers2 - 4/15/2007 6:30:12 PM Quite a guy. I wonder if Imus called him a nappy headed jigaboo or applauded his skill and guts? He was probably a fan of the lily white Red Sox. 5461. wabbit - 4/15/2007 6:42:59 PM Hey, no bitchin' about the Red Sox! Their racist owners are long gone.
Speaking of the Scarlet Hose, Curt Schilling has his own blog, 38 Pitches, and it makes for some interesting reading. It's a treat to get an insider point of view of the game. If you are a baseball fan, give it a look. It isn't just for those of us in Red Sox Nation. 5462. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 4/15/2007 6:46:41 PM He should'a called his blog, The Horses Mouth!
I'll be this will piss off a lot of sports writers. 5463. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 4/15/2007 6:47:05 PM I'll bet . . . 5464. wonkers2 - 4/15/2007 6:48:22 PM I wasn't referring to the current Red Sox. If memory serves they were the last or one of the last teams to field an African American. The the racist baton was passed to Marge Shotz? at Cincinnati.
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