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6408. wabbit - 8/1/2009 12:44:30 AM So much for the swimsuit problem: No need to worry about a boycott from Michael Phelps anymore.
Swimming's governing body FINA set a firm date on Friday of Jan. 1 for banning record-breaking bodysuits, a move that comes partly in response to a threat from Phelps' coach to pull his swimmer from competition until the suits are outlawed.
Earlier this week, FINA announced a ban but said it might not come into effect until April or May -- three or four months later than expected.
"Now, without a doubt, the rules are applying Jan. 1, 2010," FINA executive director Cornel Marculescu said. "The manufacturers are ready and can begin (suit) submissions Nov. 1 or before."
The comments from Phelps' coach, Bob Bowman, came immediately after the swimmer was upset by unheralded Paul Biedermann of Germany in the 200-meter freestyle Tuesday. Biedermann wore a 100 percent polyurethane Arena suit, while Phelps stuck with last year's LZR Racer from Speedo, which is less than half polyurethane.
"It's going to be cool come Jan. 1 to be able to have all of us pretty much wearing the same suit," Phelps said Friday after swimming the leadoff leg as the Americans broke the world record in the 800 freestyle relay. "All of this is going to be finished and then we're going to be able to talk about swimming again, notsuits." At least until Speedo has the polyurethane suit figured out.6409. wabbit - 8/3/2009 1:18:26 AM Watched the Haskell today. Favorite Rachel Alexandra ran 2/5 seconds off the track record for the distance, in the mud, beating Birdstone and Munnings. I thought Birdstone was poorly handled this time out, too close to the pace, especially with the very fast fractions. It may not have mattered, but he wasn't running his usual kind of race.
I didn't stay tuned to hear Calvin Borel's tearful thanks to his parents and connections. Enough of that already.
Too bad Steve Asmussen seems so determined to avoid running Rachel Alexandra against Zenyata. RA was pulled from one possible confrontation a month or so ago and is already out of the Breeder's Cup.
Zayat Stables’ 23-to-1 longshot Soul Warrior shocked the field as he wore down the Kentucky Derby winner and Big Drama in succession to win the G3 West Virginia Derby, his first stakes win. Ridden by Dale Beckner, the three-year-old Lion Heart colt closed from fourth at the three-eighths pole to win by a neck. Soul Warrior covered 1 1/8 miles on a track rated as fast in 1:51.46.
As expected, Big Drama immediately seized the lead. He opened up a six-length advantage through a quarter-mile in :23.73 and extended his lead to ten lengths after a half-mile in :46.56. Mine That Bird was reserved in his customary place at the back of the field while Soul Warrior saved ground in third. Mike Smith edged Mine That Bird forward on the backstretch and gave him his cue on the far turn as the classic winner started to advance near the three-eighths pole. Entering the stretch, Big Drama tired while Mine That Bird and Soul Warrior started to accelerate. With about furlong to go, Mine That Bird failed to find another gear as Soul Warrior split his tiring rivals en route to his first stakes win.
Big Drama, the 4-to-5 favorite, held on for second. He was 1-1/2 lengths in front of 9-to-10 second betting choice Mine That Bird. The Birdstone gelding entered the race off a third-place finish in the Belmont Stakes (G1) on June 6 and a runner-up finish to Rachel Alexandra in the BlackBerry Preakness Stakes (G1) on May 16.6410. wabbit - 8/3/2009 1:18:55 AM  Tiger Woods won the Buick Open for a third time and claimed his 69th PGA Tour victory. Woods shot a 3-under 69 and coasted to a three-shot victory with a 20-under 268 total at Warwick Hills, which hosted its first Buick Open in 1958 and seemed to stage its final one Sunday. Roland Thatcher (64), Greg Chalmers (68) and John Senden (70) tied for second.
Woods improved to 36-1 when he has the outright lead after 54 holes. He has four wins this season - doubling the total of his nearest competitors - in just 11 starts since returning from knee surgery.
GolfWeek Magazine reported on its Web site that General Motors Co. would end the PGA Tour’s longest partnership, and The Associated Press confirmed it with a person briefed on the decision. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the announcement wouldn’t be made until after the tournament.
6411. judithathome - 8/17/2009 3:47:24 PM I thought Keoni would go into cardiac arrest yesterday when Tiger lost to Y. E. Yang, the Korean.... 6412. wabbit - 8/25/2009 12:11:59 AM 
Eric Bruntlett became the second player in major league history to get the final three outs on one play without any help, preserving Philadelphia's 9-7 win over the Mets and making Pedro Martinez a winner in his return to New York on Sunday. It was just the culmination of a game of crazy occurrences. Making his first start against the Mets since signing with Philadelphia on July 15, Martinez made his first appearance on the field — as a batter. The Citi Field crowd of 39,038 stood and cheered as Martinez walked to the plate in the Phillies' road gray-and-red uniform, a jarring sight for sure after he spent the previous four years with the Mets. Martinez worked the count to 3-0 and Mets manager Jerry Manuel came out to remove Perez, bothered recently by a tender right knee that sidelined him earlier this season. The move got a loud ovation, and Perez (3-4) was soundly booed as he walked off the field having thrown 47 pitches — 20 strikes — and getting just two outs. The Phillies scored six times in the first inning off Oliver Perez on three-run homers by Jayson Werth and Carlos Ruiz. Perez didn't get his first out until he threw his 29th pitch.
CC Sabathia against Josh Beckett loomed as a low-scoring duel between two of baseball's best pitchers. Neither lived up to the hype, especially Beckett. The Boston Red Sox ace gave up a homer to Derek Jeter on the first pitch of the game, served up four more fence-clearing hits and lost to the New York Yankees 8-4 Sunday night. Sabathia became baseball's first 15-game winner despite allowing three earned runs in 6 2-3 innings, matching his total for his three previous starts. Sabathia (15-7) allowed two runs in the second inning, one in the fourth and one in the sixth. But Beckett gave up runs in each of the first five innings, then settled down before Hideki Matsui hit his second homer of the game and 23rd of the season in the eighth. Beckett (14-5) allowed eight runs on nine hits after yielding seven runs in his previous start. The Yankees' 16th win in 20 games increased their AL East lead over the Red Sox to 7 1/2 games.
Billy Wagner wants to be a closer next season, regardless of which team he's on. That's why the New York Mets reliever says Boston must guarantee it will decline his contract option for 2010 before he would approve a potential trade this week to the Red Sox, who already have an All-Star closer in Jonathan Papelbon. "I don't want to end my career as a setup man," Wagner said. "I'd like to have that option."
MLB news
6413. wabbit - 8/25/2009 12:18:52 AM I hate doing this, but I don't archive the Cafe and this is a fun conversation, so apologies in advance, but imho this conversation fits nicely in Sports. I'm taking the initial post by Dubai that got things rolling and posting the pertinent bit here: 25589. Dubai Vol - 8/24/2009 12:21:21 PM
...It's like my experience engineering race cars. You change one variable at a time. If you change two things and go faster, which change did it? ... 6414. iiibbb - 8/24/2009 5:52:25 PM Race cars? Cool.
I autocross. I actually have a knack for driving fast. I wish I'd discovered that when I was younger. 6415. Dubai Vol - 8/24/2009 6:25:39 PM Autocross is the real deal. I started out there, and vividly remember my first time back at it after years of karting. On my last run I didn't get one corner quite right and thought "I can push harder there next lap," before I realised I didn't GET a next lap.
Autocross experience also made me faster in opening laps, as I was used to pushing hard from lap one, while others were getting up to speed. Same goes for rallying, though the application is somewhat different.
For those wondering, autocross is a race through a course set up with cones in a parking lot. Each car goes through alone, against the clock, and fastest time wins. You only get three or four attempts, or "runs," so you have to get down to a fast time in a hurry. The course is open for walk-throughs before the event. If you have a remotely suitable car (almost anything but a truck or SUV) you could go racing this weekend somehwere near home, probably.
http://www.scca.com/hub.aspx?hub=3 6416. iiibbb - 8/24/2009 6:52:02 PM I love it. I can't afford track. I race stock because I can't really afford much of anything (or I should say justify).
I'm pretty good at it though... I'm frequently in the top 3 PAX times at any given race, and I almost never fail to be in the top 10.
Funny story.
When I first met my mother in law (federal judge and New Yorker) all she knew about me was 1)North Carolinian 2) Forestry Major 3) Likes guns 4) Likes car racing 5) PhD
So I met her and my father in law for breakfast and she was trying to make conversation. Obviously the only palatable discussion point was the racing. She was asking me all sorts of questions, and I was giving the usual pitch about how it is the lowest form of organized racing, and all the things that makes it fun and interesting
She said "It seems like such a rural (redneck) thing".
I went on to talk about how you can do it every weekend almost anywhere in the US if you'll drive 2 hrs.
She said "Well, how come I don't know anyone who does this" (mind you this is a person who's a Clinton appointee, knows many famous people and world leaders personally).
I looked her in the eye and told her "Maybe you need to meet more people."
My father in law almost had coffee come out his nose.
My mother in law has loved me ever since. I think showing a little humor and backbone was a good thing. 6417. iiibbb - 8/24/2009 6:54:37 PM My dream autox car right now is a stock 99 Miata (I don't think I'll ever own an SP, P, or M). I turned a FTD in a friend's the first time I ever drove it that stood until his and some others last runs. That car fits me like a glove. 6418. Dubai Vol - 8/24/2009 8:11:22 PM Here's my last autoX car:
It won the 2003 Emirates Autocross Championship, B Stock, a class populated with 3-series Bimmers except M3, and FWD hot hatches. It was the oldest car in the entire series, a 1988 GTI 16V. Three of my wins were by 0.1s or less. Proudest moment: the night I got bumped to A Stock and handed my friend Matias his only loss of the season.
It was also the only race he didn't beat my time by 2 seconds. The clerk of the course pulled a nasty trick: on a 5 cone slalom, the spacing to the last cone was shorter than the rest. He learned that trick from me, and I learned it in the '70s. I actually walked the course with Matias and, as always, counted paces between cones and pointed out the trick to him. Maybe it psyched him out a bit. He did a courtesy run afterwards and was the usual 2s faster than me.... Akram, in 3rd was another B Stock bump, and he was fairly good, usually with 1/2s of me. I was just on fire that night. 6419. iiibbb - 8/24/2009 10:05:11 PM We do irregular spacing slaloms in my old region all the time.
My second car was an 83 Rabbit GTI that I drove from 89 to 1996. I miss that car immensely. I wish I'd known about autocross when I had that car.
My autox car was a 96 Saturn Sl2. It moved from ES to GS to HS over the years. Most people don't realize what a good autox car it is; I didn't until I started driving other people's cars. It is very compliant, but with good torque. With the right tire inflation it can be made to oversteer a little. The brakes seem to be it's biggest shortcoming. 6420. Dubai Vol - 8/25/2009 3:37:54 PM Brakes just slow you down! ; )
I've autocrossed some pretty unlikely cars myself, with surprising (to others) success. I rem turning up at a 1993 PCA (Porsche Club of America) meeting in my 1978 Ford Fiesta. One wag exclaimed "you're gonna race a YUGO!?!" Clearly, nobody was expecting much.
After my first run, complete with plenty of sound effects from the 155R12 Pirellis, I heard something I have never heard before or since after a run: applause! That was a real warm fuzzy moment.
And at the end of the day I was faster than the slowest Porsche. Result! 6421. iiibbb - 8/25/2009 3:54:58 PM I'll drive any car.
When I first started my friends and I did a lot of filming our races. At one particular race there were a couple of national champs in the field. Something about the course was hard that day and I was toward the back of the first set of runs. I uncorked one and there is an audible gasp from the spectators... and then someone saying "holy shit".
Of course the time didn't hold up, but it was pretty cool for a few minutes. 6422. Dubai Vol - 8/29/2009 2:33:37 PM Giancarlo Fisichella just put the Force India team on pole for the first time ever in qualifying for tomorrow's Belgian Grand Prix. Run at the legenday Spa-Francorchamps circuit, it's worth tuning in at 8 AM Eastern to see the start at least. Especially if it rains. Here's the 1998 start; no one was hurt.
6423. wabbit - 8/31/2009 1:37:54 AM 
Summer Bird isn't the other Bird anymore. The Belmont Stakes winner came charging off the far turn and splashed his way to victory in the $1 million Travers Stakes at rain-soaked Saratoga Race Course on Saturday, winning the same pair of races that his sire won. Now that Summer Bird is the only 3-year-old male with two Grade 1 wins, the son of Birdstone almost certainly moves to the head of his class. Of course, Rachel Alexandra is No. 1 3-year-old filly and leading contender for Horse of the Year. But Summer Bird is the word in the boy's world - ahead of Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird, who missed the Travers as he recovers from throat surgery, and ahead of Hold Me Back and Quality Road, who finished third in the slop as the 3-2 favorite, five lengths behind the winner. Charitable Man was fourth, followed by Warrior's Reward, Kensei and Our Edge. Jockeys who rode in the Travers pledged 10 percent of their earnings to establish a fund for 23-year-old apprentice rider Michael Straight, who suffered spinal injuries, including four broken vertebrae, in a spill during a race at Arlington Park on Aug. 26.
Capt. Candyman Can was declared the winner of the $300,000 King's Bishop Stakes after first-place finisher Vineyard Haven was disqualified by the stewards for interference in the stretch. Vineyard Haven, ridden by Alan Garcia, bumped Capt. Candyman Can several times as they dueled for the lead.
Rachel Alexandra will run next Saturday against older boys in the $750,000 Woodward Stakes.
6424. wabbit - 8/31/2009 1:38:18 AM  Mark Teixeira homered and drove in four runs, Johnny Damon also went deep and the New York Yankees polished off a three-game sweep of the struggling Chicago White Sox with an 8-3 victory Sunday. Alfredo Aceves (9-1) provided stellar relief pitching after Joba Chamberlain's abbreviated outing, and the streaking Yankees won for the 20th time in 26 games. Derek Jeter scored three times for the AL East leaders, who boosted baseball's best record to 82-48. They are 31-11 since the All-Star break, also the top mark in the majors. Teixeira is making a push for AL MVP honors. The switch-hitting slugger, in his first season with the Yankees after signing a $180 million, eight-year contract, has 32 homers and 101 RBIs. He has reached 30 home runs and 100 RBIs for six straight seasons, joining St. Louis star Albert Pujols as the only major leaguers to accomplish the feat.
Paul Byrd, making his first major league start since last September, pitched six shutout innings and the Boston Red Sox completed a three-game sweep with a 7-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday. The win was the sixth in seven games for Boston, which opened the day 2 1/2 games ahead of Texas in the AL's wild-card race. Byrd (1-0), out of baseball after finishing last year with the Red Sox, signed a minor league contract on Aug. 5. He gave up three hits and walked three. Scoring single runs in each of the first four innings, the Red Sox sent Roy Halladay (13-8) to his third consecutive loss for the first time since last April.
Edgar Renteria hit a go-ahead grand slam in the seventh inning and the San Francisco Giants pulled even in the NL wild-card race with Colorado, beating the Rockies 9-5 Sunday for a three-game sweep. The Giants moved into a tie in the NL West with Colorado, six games behind first-place Los Angeles. The Rockies lost their season-high fifth in a row. San Francisco swept the Rockies at home for the first time since April 8-10, 2005. Last week, the Giants lost three of four at Coors Field despite leading every game. Renteria homered with two outs to overcome a 5-2 deficit, connecting two pitches after Rafael Betancourt (0-1) relieved Franklin Morales. Renteria hit his eighth career grand slam and second in two years against Betancourt.
MLB news
6425. wabbit - 8/31/2009 1:38:47 AM 
California came up big late to win the Little League World Series. Bulla Graft's sharp single scored the go-ahead run in the fourth inning and Kiko Garcia pitched three-plus scoreless innings of relief to lead Chula Vista to a 6-3 victory over Taoyuan, Taiwan to take the tournament title.
With the U.S.-partisan crowd on their feet, Garcia closed out the victory by striking out Yu Chieh Kao. The California fans yelled "USA! USA."
The teams shook hands before California celebrated, then invited Taiwan to accompany them on the customary victory lap around Lamade Stadium on a sun-splashed afternoon. They celebrated the United States' fifth straight Little League championship...
6426. wabbit - 9/12/2009 3:35:39 PM I am way behind here!
On October 5, Rachel Alexandra made history at Saratoga Race Course by becoming the first female to win the prestigious Woodward Stakes, holding off Macho Again by a head. The sensational three-year-old ran an electrifying race against the older boys for her ninth consecutive victory and all but clinched Horse of the Year honors. Rachel Alexandra dueled early with 2008 Belmont Stakes winner Da’Tara before taking the lead along the backstretch. She set a blistering early pace on the way to running 1 1/8 miles in 1:48.29. On the turn for home, it looked for a brief moment as though the filly would be caught, but regular rider Calvin Borel wasn’t bashful about using the whip, first left-handed, then right-handed to keep her in the lead. As they crossed the finish line, Borel raised his right hand in a No. 1 salute and pointed to racing’s biggest star. Despite the lure of an extra $1 million by the Breeders' Cup, Rachel Alexandra's co-owner said his sensational 3-year-old filly won't run in the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita Park on Nov. 7. Earlier Friday, in an effort to lure Rachel Alexandra to the Breeders' Cup to run against undefeated Zenyatta, the Breeders' Cup said it would add $1 million to the winner's share of the Classic if both horses ran in America's richest race. Jackson put an end to that possibility quickly, reiterating his dislike of Santa Anita's synthetic surface. 6427. wabbit - 9/12/2009 3:36:00 PM  With one of his classic, inside-out swings, Derek Jeter sent a sharp grounder skimming through the infield. And there it was, the record-setting hit that pushed him past Lou Gehrig. Jeter broke the New York Yankees' hit record held by Gehrig for more than seven decades on Friday night with an opposite-field single against Baltimore. It gave Jeter 2,722 hits, one more than Gehrig, whose Hall of Fame career was cut short by illness in 1939. The captain kept right on going, too, with an RBI single in the fourth that put New York up 4-1. He left the game after a 67-minute rain delay in the top of the seventh when manager Joe Girardi pulled most of his starters with the Yankees trailing 10-4.
Hiroki Kuroda figures if he got hit with both a ball and a bat within a month he might need to quit pitching and walk away from baseball all together. Kuroda dodged the barrel of a broken bat that flew in his direction and retired 19 straight during one stretch, Casey Blake homered and the Los Angeles Dodgers matched their 2008 win total by beating the archrival San Francisco Giants 10-3 on Friday night. Los Angeles (84-58) maintained a two-game division lead over Colorado, which rallied to win at San Diego. The Rockies extended their NL wild-card lead to 5 1/2 games over the Giants. Kuroda (6-6), making just his second start since missing three weeks after sustaining a concussion Aug. 15 when hit in the head by a line drive, quickly ducked out of the way and off the mound when Matt Cain 's bat splintered on his third-inning groundout and sailed onto the dirt past second base. That had to be a scary moment for the right-hander, who gave up two hits to start the second then got 19 straight outs before John Bowker's one-out triple in the eighth.
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