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5561. alistairconnor - 5/26/2007 9:03:08 PM Well jeez Wonk, my Americas Cup semi-final predictions in Message # 5545 were about as wrong as they could possibly be.
The only thing I got right : Team NZ did indeed beat the Spaniards. But 5-2, not 5-0 as I confidently predicted. The Spanish have come a long way, and in the 6th race, which they won, they looked every bit as good as any other team on the water.
The 7th and last race had a lot more wind : 16 to 17 knots. Desafaio are obviously the home team, but those were Auckland conditions, and experience won the day. I'll bet TNZ are praying for that sort of weather against the Italians, and against the Swiss.
I got the other semi-final even more completely wrong... I said Oracle would start winning when they stopped making mistakes... they made no more obvious mistakes, and won no more races. Wonk, I think you're being a bit harsh in Message # 5555 talking about Chris Dickson's starting line screw-ups... he was up against the young Australian James Spithill, who is the voodoo helmsman. Best in the world. Luna Rossa also have Torben Grael, the Brazilian voodoo tactician. He goes off chasing puffs of wind, gets half a mile separation, and gains a boatlength... Instinct and genius.
So the Italians are definitely the form team. The Louis Vuitton Cup final is going to be very tight.
Luna Rossa and Team New Zealand have had four match-ups in the past two years, the score is 2-2. Each time, the race was won by the boat which entered the starting box on starboard tack. This is rather like the advantage of playing white in chess.
Did I mention, it's going to be close?
Given my record of predictions, it'll probably be 5-0.
5562. alistairconnor - 5/26/2007 9:15:51 PM Oh boy. I haven't been following the Landis circus...
I am glad that Bjarne Riis has come clean about cheating (EPO) to win the Tour de France in 2006. That was so obvious to everyone who followed sport at the time.
As for Floyd : It doesn't matter how sloppy your lab procedures are, you can't invent synthetic testosterone if it isn't there. Bye bye. 5563. wonkers2 - 5/27/2007 1:08:39 AM Dickson was very gracious in his statement upon being replaced for the last race and his statement upon leaving the Oracle syndicate. 5564. wabbit - 5/27/2007 6:40:37 PM  The Duke lacrosse team has taken its season of redemption to the brink of a championship. The top-seeded Blue Devils blew a seven-goal lead, then got the winner from Zack Greer with 3 seconds left to beat previously unbeaten Cornell 12-11 Saturday and advance to the NCAA Division I title game. Duke will seek its first championship Monday against Johns Hopkins, which defeated Delaware 8-3 in the lowest-scoring Final Four game in NCAA history. The women's champion will be decided at 7pm May 27, when Virginia will play Northwestern.
The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved the Men’s Basketball Rules Committee’s proposal to move the three-point line to 20 feet, 9 inches effective with the 2008-09 season. The men’s three-point line shall be a contrasting color to the current three-point line. The women’s distance will remain at 19 feet, 9 inches.
Percy Sonn, the president of the International Cricket Council who was instrumental in fighting racial segregation in the sport, died Sunday of complications following colon surgery. He was 57. Sonn became president of world cricket's governing body in 2006 and had been in critical condition in a Cape Town hospital since May 21. Sonn, a lawyer, helped guide South Africa back into the international fold after years of isolation because of apartheid.
In a break from Floyd Landis news, a former massage therapist for cyclist Jan Ullrich claimed he gave the 1997 Tour de France winner and former Team Telekom rider an EPO shot. Jef d'Hont, who worked from 1992-96 as a massage therapist for Team Telekom, now known as T-Mobile. He said he never gave Ullrich a blood-boosting EPO shot in Germany - only once at an undisclosed race in France.
5565. wabbit - 5/27/2007 6:41:20 PM  Tenacious from the start, Utah's Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer gave the home fans exactly what they expected in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals. Once their teammates got into the act, the Jazz gave the crowd what it really wanted, a 109-83 victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night that drastically changes the outlook of the series. Williams had 31 points and eight assists, and Boozer had 27 points and 12 rebounds, but it was the emergence of their supporting cast in the second half that helped the Jazz enjoy the kind of route the Spurs had the first two games -- and then some. The 26-point margin of defeat was San Antonio's worst of the season.
Detroit is up two games to none in their series. Shooting or passing, LeBron James is having a hard time beating the Detroit Pistons. James missed a shot with 7.9 seconds left, allowing Detroit to escape again with a 79-76 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday night and a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals. On the previous possession, Rasheed Wallace made a fadeaway jumper on the baseline over James to put Detroit ahead. James, who passed up a shot in the final seconds of the series opener, dribbled into the lane and missed a spinning shot in the lane with Richard Hamilton draped on him.
NBA scores
5566. wabbit - 5/27/2007 6:41:46 PM  The 2007 French Open in underway, more or less. When rain forced players off the French Open courts after less then two hours of play Sunday, Marat Safin was the only person with a spot in the second round. Safin, a two-time Grand Slam champion, played through light rain at the end of his match to beat Fernando Vicente of Spain 6-1, 6-3, 6-1.
Serena Williams, who was struggling in her opening match against Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria, was somewhat thankful for the conditions at Roland Garros. The Australian Open champion pleaded with the chair umpire to stop play while trailing 5-4 with Pironkova serving for the set for the second time. But play continued and Williams broke to get to 5-5. After Pironkova broke a third time, play was halted with the Bulgarian leading 6-5.
Of the 24 scheduled matches Sunday, only six started. And by 5:30 p.m., 17 matches had been postponed before the first serve. In the other matches, Dinara Safina of Russia led Yuliana Fedak of Ukraine 7-5, 2-4; Tamira Paszek of Austria was one game away from the second round against Aiko Nakamura of Japan 6-4, 5-0; Potito Starace of Italy was ahead of Ivo Minar of the Czech Republic 4-6, 6-1, 5-3; and Janko Tipsarevic led Dusan Vemic 7-6 (3), 2-1 in an all-Serb match.
5567. wabbit - 5/27/2007 6:42:25 PM  Getting dropped in the New York Mets ' order was the perfect pick-me-up for Carlos Delgado. Batting in the No. 5 slot, one spot below his usual cleanup position, Delgado ended a long power drought with two home runs and five RBIs and carried the Mets past the Florida Marlins 7-2 on Saturday night. Delgado hit his first home run in 47 at-bats in the third inning, added a three-run shot in the fifth for his first multi-homer game since Aug. 22 and scored three times to help New York move a season-high 3 1/2 games ahead of Atlanta in the NL East.
Once again, the hits came in a hurry for the Los Angeles Angels. Gary Matthews Jr. lined a two-run triple that gave the Angels yet another fast start and Kelvim Escobar made the early lead stand up, beating the New York Yankees 3-1 Saturday. The AL West leaders took a familiar route, rushing to a 3-0 edge off Chien-Ming Wang before Escobar threw a pitch. They've now outscored opponents by an impressive 52-19 in first innings this season. Los Angeles won for the eighth time in 10 games and did it without manager Mike Scioscia, who was back in California for his son's high school graduation. Bench coach Ron Roenicke ran the team, and will do it again Sunday when the Angels go for the sweep.
The team with the best record in baseball now has surging Manny Ramirez on their side. Ramirez had four hits and keyed a five-run sixth inning with an RBI triple to help the Boston Red Sox beat the Texas Rangers 7-4 Saturday night. Ramirez is 8-for-12 in his past three games and his batting average has improved 84 points in May to .272. Let's hope it doesn't all fade away after the All Star break.
MLB scores
5568. alistairConnor - 5/27/2007 9:58:32 PM Current pattern in France is : fine and hot during the week, cold and wet on the weekends... prospects for the next couple of days at Roland Garros are not good. 5569. wabbit - 5/28/2007 1:09:56 AM 
Dario Franchitti gambled on approaching rain and won an abbreviated Indy 500 Sunday, driving slowly to the checkered flag in a downpour as teammate Marco Andretti's battered car was carried alongside down the final straightaway on a wrecker. The race was interrupted by rain for three hours and then, after a restart, was stopped after 166 of the scheduled 200 laps.
Franchitti, one of five Andretti Green Racing drivers, won it with pit strategy. The Scotsman inherited the lead after staying on track when the two drivers ahead of him, teammate Tony Kanaan and defending champion Sam Hornish Jr., pitted during a caution just 10 laps before. Scott Sharp finished second, pole-winnner Helio Castroneves third, Sam Hornish Jr. fourth and Ryan Briscoe fifth. Danica Patrick ended up eighth, and Davey Hamilton, who survived a horrible crash six years ago, raced for the first time since and finished ninth. Franchitti made a victorious lap of the 2.5-mile oval in the heavy rain as actress wife Ashley Judd, soaking wet in a summer dress, climbed the pit wall and dashed toward the victory celebration.
Two-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso won the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday, holding off McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa of Ferrari. The Spaniard finished 4.095 seconds ahead of Hamilton and 1:09.114 in front of Massa after 78 laps on the twisting 2.076-mile street circuit. It was Alonso's 17th overall win and the second this season as McLaren claimed its 150th F1 victory. Alonso and Hamilton share the lead in the standings with 38 points, five ahead of third-place Massa.5570. wabbit - 5/28/2007 2:06:08 PM  Rory Sabbatini had to settle for beating the No. 3 player in the world and a two-time Masters champion. As usual, Tiger Woods wasn't at Colonial. Sabbatini made a 15-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole at the Crowne Plaza Invitational to beat Jim Furyk and Bernhard Langer, then jokingly referred to an earlier verbal spat with the top-ranked player. Asked about the large skull and wings belt buckle he wore Sunday, Sabbatini said it was the same one he had on during the final round at Wachovia. Colonial was the fourth career PGA Tour victory for Sabbatini, the 31-year-old South African who won the Nissan Open last year and earlier this season had consecutive top-three finishes at the Masters, EDS Byron Nelson Championship and Wachovia.
Denis Watson took advantage of Eduardo Romero's late mistakes Sunday to win the Senior PGA Championship. Watson, from Zimbabwe, edged Romero by two strokes to win his first title in 23 years and become the first international Senior PGA winner since Gary Player in 1990. Romero, the Argentine star known as "El Gato," had handled The Ocean Course's famed sand dunes and Atlantic gusts the best of anyone the first three days. He was still ahead by two shots after birdies on the 11th and 12th holes pushed him to 10 under.
Young Kim won her first LPGA title Sunday, rallying with two birdies over the final five holes and capturing the Corning Classic by three shots over Paula Creamer and Mi Hyun Kim. Young Kim shot 4-under 68 and finished at 20-under 268, four shots off the tournament record set four years ago by Juli Inkster. The win came in Kim's fifth year on tour and her 103rd start, and more than doubled her season winnings to $328,442. Creamer, whose driver deserted her - she hit only 6 of 14 fairways - finished with a bogey for a 71 to fall into a tie with Mi Hyun Kim (70). Beth Bader, also bidding for her first victory, made double bogey on the final hole to finish in a tie for fourth with South Korean rookie In-Kyung Kim (69) at 16-under. It was a career-best finish for Bader, who began the day tied for the lead with Creamer and Young Kim. Diana D'Alessio (65), Japan's Ai Miyazato (67), and South Korean Seon Hwa Lee (67) were another shot back. Pat Hurst (65) made an impressive run at the outset, going 6-under on the front nine with eagles at both par-5s, but she started the day nine shots back and finished tied for ninth with Natalie Gulbis (68) at 14-under.
PGA news
5571. wabbit - 5/28/2007 2:06:39 PM  They dueled down to the final strike, Francisco Rodriguez vs. Derek Jeter with the outcome in jeopardy. In this game -- and in this season -- it was K-Rod's turn to win. After throwing a series of amped-up fastballs and wicked sliders, Rodriguez retired Jeter on a fly ball with a runner on third for the last out, lifting the Los Angeles Angels over the New York Yankees 4-3 Sunday for a three-game sweep.
Ryan Howard made his return from the disabled list official with a pair of two-run homers Sunday. Howard, who came off the disabled list Friday, had three hits and Greg Dobbs added a two-run homer of his own as the Philadelphia Phillies crushed the Atlanta Braves 13-6 to complete their first sweep of the season. Howard and Dobbs hit two-run homers in the first before the Phillies put the game away with seven runs in the fifth. Howard added another two-run homer in the eighth. The three hits lifted Howard's batting average to .220 and boosted the Phillies' confidence that the reigning MVP can return to his 2006 form. The sweep of the Braves put the Phillies (26-24) two games over .500 for the first time this season, but the showing by Howard may have been the team's most important development of the weekend.
Barry Bonds preferred to play right through his slump. Bonds broke out of a lengthy home run drought Sunday, hitting his 746th career homer in the sixth inning of a 6-4, 10-inning loss against Colorado to pull within nine of Hank Aaron's career record 755. The seven-time NL MVP went 14 games without a homer or an RBI, the second-longest RBI drought of his 22-year career. Bonds, who turns 43 on July 24, went 43 at-bats and 63 plate appearances without a homer and his last five games without a hit. Since the last homer, Bonds had drawn 20 walks with seven intentional free passes, struck out eight times and was batting .140 (6-for-43).
MLB scores
5572. iiibbb - 5/28/2007 3:32:29 PM Floy and the unscientific media. 5573. wonkers2 - 5/28/2007 4:16:44 PM INteresting. It's hard to know what to believe. 5574. wabbit - 5/29/2007 1:59:59 PM  Johns Hopkins senior goalkeeper Jesse Schwartzman turned away Duke midfielder Brad Ross’s shot with 10 seconds remaining with a well-placed kick and preserved the Blue Jays’ 12-11 lead in Monday’s NCAA Division I Final at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. The save earned Schwartzman the game’s Most Outstanding Player award, though senior attackman Jake Byrne and junior midfielder Paul Rabil were excellent for Hopkins as well, with four goals and five assists, respectively, to power a Hopkins offense that scored 10 first half goals in building up six-goal halftime lead. Schwartzman, who was also the Most Outstanding Player of the 2005 championship game and is 10-1 career in the postseason, was able to slow a Duke attack that featured two first-team All-Americas all day, finishing with 15 saves and holding junior Zack Greer and senior Matt Danowski to one combined goal.
Hilary Bowen helped top-seeded Northwestern become the second team in NCAA history to win three consecutive Division I women's lacrosse national championships, scoring five goals in a 15-13 victory over second-seeded Virginia on Sunday night. The Wildcats (21-1), perfect since a 9-8 loss in double-overtime in the season opener at North Carolina, joined Maryland as the only schools to win at least three straight titles. Maryland won seven championships in a row from 1995-01. Katrina Dowd scored three goals, and Meredith Frank and Aly Josephs added two goals each for Northwestern, which improved to 62-2 over the last three seasons. Unlike their easy 12-2 semifinal win over Pennsylvania, the Wildcats had to hold off the surging Cavaliers (19-4). Northwestern built an 11-5 lead in the first half and saw it dwindle from there. Virginia got within 14-13 with 10:21 remaining on Megan O'Malley's third goal of the game. Dowd responded more than 8 minutes later to put the game away for the Wildcats, who won their 12th consecutive NCAA tournament game.
5575. wabbit - 5/29/2007 2:00:19 PM The body of New England Patriots player Marquise Hill was found Monday, a day after he was reported missing following a personal watercraft accident on Lake Pontchartrain. Hill's body was discovered by searchers about a quarter of a mile from where the 24-year-old former LSU star and a female companion were involved in the accident, Capt. Brian Clark of the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Department said.
Hill's agent, Albert Elias, said he had been told Hill and a young woman were riding a personal watercraft Sunday in the lake when both of them went into the water, which had a strong current. Authorities said the woman was able to make it to a pylon and hang on until she was rescued, while Hill was last seen floating away from the scene. Neither Hill nor the woman wore a life preserver, Atkeson said. According to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Hill's death was the second on Lake Pontchartrain over the holiday weekend. A man died Sunday afternoon after diving into the water from a boat to rescue his wife from a stalled personal watercraft, but he never reached her, the Mandeville Sheriff's Office reported. The man also was not wearing a flotation device, investigators told the Times-Picayune. 5576. wabbit - 5/29/2007 2:00:44 PM  The NHL's highest-scoring line got shut out in the opening game of the Stanley Cup finals. Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson managed only two assists between them in Ottawa's 3-2 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Monday night. The loss left the Senators trailing for the first time in the playoffs.
"We've got to get the puck deep more often," Senators coach Bryan Murray said. "We have to create some offense because of that and get their defensemen to give up the line once in a while. Most of the turnovers were by our big line in the middle part of the hockey game."
Ottawa's goals, both on the power play, were scored by Mike Fisher and Wade Redden, who have a combined seven goals in the playoffs. Game 2 is Wednesday night in Anaheim.
NHL scores
5577. wabbit - 5/29/2007 2:01:01 PM  For awhile this felt a lot like a European playoff game in one of those Greek or Spanish arenas where the fans never shut up and every basket is greeted as a tragedy or a miracle. Manu Ginobili learned to play in this kind of setting, and he looked entirely comfortable while bulling his way to the foul line for 15 fourth-quarter points to turn a tight Game 4 into a 91-79 Spurs rout. San Antonio takes a 3-1 lead back home, where Utah hasn't won since 1999. Much the same as the Suns felt in the previous round, the Jazz will have a hard time deciding how to overcome the ruthless display the Spurs put on Monday. Their 41 free-throw attempts were twice as many as the Jazz (20) earned, which led to a lot of complaining from the 19,911 here as well as five Utah technicals, culminating in the late fourth-quarter ejections of coach Jerry Sloan and guard Derek Fisher, who by the way was held without a three-point attempt in 38 minutes.
LeBron James wasn't going to be questioned, criticized or blamed for not doing enough. Not in the biggest game of his life. The Cavaliers needed a victory, and James willed them to one. He scored 32 points with nine rebounds and nine assists in the most important 48 minutes of his blossoming NBA career, helping Cleveland to an 88-82 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night that pulled the Cavaliers within 2-1 in the Eastern Conference finals. James, rising to the occasion with a hometown crowd hanging on his every dribble, scored 12 points in the fourth quarter and rookie Daniel Gibson came up with several key plays down the stretch to help his more celebrated teammate.
NBA scores
5578. wabbit - 5/29/2007 2:01:24 PM  Roger Federer passed his first test at the French Open, beating Michael Russell of the United States 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 Tuesday in a match that started a day earlier. Federer, who is bidding for a fourth straight major title and a career Grand Slam, led 6-4, 4-1 before rain halted play Monday. The top-ranked Swiss star returned to center court with sun breaking through the clouds Tuesday and quickly earned his spot in the second round.
In other Men's matches, No. 13 Mikhail Youzhny advanced when Jan Hernych of the Czech Republic pulled out after only nine points in the first game of the match because of a back injury. Martin Verkerk of the Netherlands, a surprise finalist at Roland Garros in 2003, played in his first Grand Slam in almost three years but lost to Simone Bolelli of Italy 6-1, 6-4, 6-4. No. 19 Guillermo Canas, who beat Federer twice this year, reached the second round by defeating Victor Hanescu of Romania 6-3, 6-1, 6-4. Canas served a 15-month ban for doping that ended in September.
Jelena Jankovic, one of the favorites heading into the French Open because of her win at the Italian Open earlier this month, advanced by beating Stephanie Foretz of France 6-2, 6-2. Also, No. 6 Nicole Vaidisova beat Emmanuelle Gagliardi of Switzerland 6-4, 6-3, 2004 runner-up Elena Dementieva defeated Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-3, 6-2, and No. 28 Mara Santangelo of Italy beat Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-1, 6-4. No. 11 Nadia Petrova of Russia lost to Kveta Peschke of Germany 7-5, 5-7, 6-0. Venus Williams asserted herself enough against French wild-card entry Alize Cornet for a 6-4, 6-3 win that put the Williams siblings in the second round at a Grand Slam for the first time since 2005. Maria Sharapova and Amelie Mauresmo will play no earlier than Wednesday.
French Open
5579. wabbit - 5/29/2007 2:02:01 PM  Kevin Youkilis launched a towering fly ball to the deepest part of Fenway Park. A few feet farther, and it's over the 420-feet marker in straightaway center; a foot or so to the right, and it lands in the Red Sox bullpen. Instead of coasting around the bases, though, Youkilis had to motor at full speed for an inside-the-park home run. At 35-15, the Red Sox lead the AL East by 11½ games over Baltimore and hold a 13½-game lead over the rival New York Yankees. Boston has never had a bigger lead through 50 games. Curt Schilling struck out 10 to rebound from his worst start of the season. Schilling (5-2) had already tipped his cap after seven strong innings when Youkilis sent center fielder Grady Sizemore running into the Fenway triangle. He couldn't get to it before it hit the side of the Red Sox bullpen and kicked toward left field, where right fielder Trot Nixon ran it down. Nixon and his wife received an award from the Jimmy Fund before the game for their charitable work, and Kathryn Nixon threw out the first pitch. Nixon received another warm welcome when he came to the plate in the second and again when he singled to right, where J.D. Drew has replaced him.
The Yankees arrived in Toronto for the start of a season-high 10-game trip, held a one-hour pregame meeting and followed with one of their flattest performances in a season that is spinning out of control. Dustin McGowan won for the first time in more than a year, and Lyle Overbay hit a go-ahead home run. The Yankees fell 13½ games back of AL East-leading Boston, their biggest deficit since August 1995, and have lost four straight and eight of 11. They dropped a season-high seven games under .500 and are tied with Tampa Bay for last in the AL East at 21-28. New York is 7½ games back of Detroit, the AL wild-card leader.
As Barry Bonds nears his record 756th home run, he's stockpiling quite a collection of souvenirs -- bats, balls, helmets and spikes, pieces of baseball history perfectly suited for the Hall of Fame. Whether he'll donate any of them to Cooperstown, however, is in doubt. "I'm not worried about the Hall," the San Francisco slugger said during a recent homer drought. "I take care of me." And he wonders why people don't like him.
MLB scores
5580. wonkers2 - 5/31/2007 11:38:22 AM Master Mariners Regatta
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