French Open action begins today at 5:00am EST on ESPN2! Serena Williams, Venus Williams, and Roger Federer are just some of the big names kicking things off on Day 1.
For the first time in three years, Venus and Serena Williams will enter Sunday’s French Open as doubles partners.
The sisters were granted a doubles wild card to play at Roland Garros, despite skipping the event the past two years, the AP reported. They were one of 14 doubles teams awarded wild cards.
I will just like to put this out there now, I’m a big Lakers fan so pardon me if this article has any bias based opinions.
Back in August of last year the Dwight Howard to LA trade went down and my beloved Lakers went to the top of the charts and instant favorites to be serious contenders for our next NBA Championship. Our front court had the most dominant center in the league in Dwight Howard, the best passing big man in Pau Gasol; add to that one of the greatest shooters in NBA history in Steve Nash and one of the best to ever play the game in Kobe Bryant. Fast forward to April of this year and we are swept right out of the playoffs, the ones we just barely crept into, by the San Antonio Spurs. Now Laker Nation awaits July 1st when our next “franchise superstar” in Dwight Howard marches his way into free agency. After watching him this season, I say let him go.
How Laker Nation last saw Dwight during game 4 against the Spurs
This years free agency class is highlighted by Dwight Howard (seeing that Chris Paul will most likely stay with the Clippers) and the teams measuring their interest in the big man revolve around Los Angeles, Houston, and Dallas. Only the Lakers though can offer him their franchise max contract of five years with $118 million dollars along with their history of storied big men and the tradition of winning no matter what. Houston can offer four years with $98 million dollars and their young up and coming star in James Harden. Dallas can offer Dwight the same as Houston. From a money point of view the Lakers are the clear-cut winners and from a historical point of view the Lakers also are clear winners; from a pure basketball point of view though Houston are clear winners as they only need a man like Dwight to contend in the West.
Dwight Howard received a lot of punishment from the media for leaving Orlando the way he did, is that bound to repeat?
Statistically Dwight Howard has been declining over, especially over the past season. Between 2008-2011 Dwight took his Magic team to one Final appearance and a 219-102 record; over the past two seasons with the Magic and Lakers he’s finished with a total 75-55 record. Wow. His offensive production has also dipped sharply; in 2011 he averaged 22.9 PPG, 14.1 RPG, and a 59% FG. In 2013 he was averaging 17.1 PPG, 12.4 RPG, while shooting %58 from the field. Dwight has clearly past his peak production and no team should commit such a large amount of their salary cap or build their team around a star who has already started dropping off. Of course..the Lakers are run by Jim Buss so that’s still possible.
Looking past the numbers it isn’t hard to see that Dwight just cannot handle the pressure of playing in L.A. Playing for the Lakers, especially to be the next franchise player, means you must live up to some huge names and live up to the Laker tradition of winning. The Lakers, since 1960, have sent 25 teams to the NBA Finals, won 11 championships, and have had our court graced by the likes of Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, and Shaquille O’Neal. To top that all off the L.A Lakers have had four of the ten best basketball teams ever (’72, ’82, ’87, ’01), have been run by one of the greatest owners in history by Jerry Buss, and have been coached by the future Hall of Famer in Phil Jackson. If all that wasn’t hard enough to live up to as the next franchise player in Los Angeles, Dwight Howard would be filling the void of the greatest Laker of all time in Kobe Bryant. It’s sad to say that faced with any type of pressure a man like Dwight Howard who stands six foot and eleven inches shrinks back to a normal height.
Perhaps the self-proclaimed “Superman” isn’t so “super” anymore
No matter what the media is saying about the pending free agency of Dwight Howard and no matter what team does land the big man, it will be a question if the team wants to roll the dice on Howard or chooses to pass. Houston is the clear basketball choice for Howard as that team is young and ready to make an even bigger splash next season than they did this past season. A James Harden – Dwight Howard combo would be a mighty force to reckon with no matter who they face. As for my beloved Lakers please Jim Buss do not even approach the table and pick up the dice.
Sergio, Sergio, Sergio. The high-spirited Spaniard golfer has been very opinionated over the years and most recently, at the Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida just two weeks ago. During that tournament, Sergio Garcia, who was playing with Tiger Woods, was flustered when he hit an errant shot and then blamed it on Tiger. As Sergio was addressing his shot, Tiger, who had hit a bad shot on the hole, pulled a club out of his bag which produced an eruption from the gallery. Sergio took it as if Tiger purposely did this to disrupt his shot and from that moment on, It’s Been On!
After both players had completed the round, Sergio, instead of talking with Tiger about the issue, took it to the media and complained vehemently that Tiger did this on purpose. He added that Tiger isn’t a nice person on the tour and others felt the same but wouldn’t say anything about it. Tiger, who seemed blind-sided by the Hoopla, made a comment saying, “Sergio is always whining and complaining about something. What Now”? For two solid weeks, the back and forth has been going on, mostly on the part of Sergio.
On Tuesday night, during a European Awards Banquet, Sergio was asked by a Golf Channel writer if he would invite Tiger over for dinner, basically to squash their feud which prompted the following response: “We’ll have him round every night. We will serve fried chicken.” And with that comment, a firestorm has encircled around the embattled golfer.
Sergio is no stranger to controversy nor controversial statements but This one will be his demise. The Golf Channel, since the feud began two weeks ago, has highlighted some of Sergio’s missteps which included him spitting in a hole after having a terrible score. Kelly Tiglhman, Golf Channel host, made mention to how Garcia had skipped interviews and sniped, “Go and interview your boy Tiger”.
So on Wednesday morning, Garcia, in a press conference said, “I want to also apologize to my Ryder Cup teammates who were there last night for taking the shine away from a wonderful event, and finally and foremost, I want to apologize to Tiger to anyone I could have offended. I felt very sick about it and feel really bad, and just hope to settle things down and move on.” Yep, he felt sick about it because we live in a world of Instant Access to News. And the news spread like a wild fire with Sergio holding the matches that started it.
But this time, his whining, complaining and big mouth has caused ‘Race’ to the forefront of what has been deemed to be a Sport For the Rich and Elite.
Tiger has been exposed to and directly targeted in racially motivated language. After firing his long-time caddy, Stevie Williams, the caddy attended a “Caddies Dinner” in his homeland of Australia and was asked a question about his new golfer’s victory, Adam Scott’s with Tiger in the field. His response: “It was my aim to shove it right up that black a——.” Williams, too, apologized afterwards.
And after Tiger won his 1st major, the Master’s Tournament in 1997, fellow golfer Fuzzy Zoeller shocked the T.V. audience after he referenced fried chicken as a potential meal Woods may choose to serve at the Masters Champions’ dinner. Of course, Zoeller issued an apology for his comments but suffered dramatically in sponsorships and on the tour itself.
Tiger was quick to answer the racially insensitive comment by Sergio on Twitter. He said in three tweets,
“The comment that was made wasn’t silly. It was wrong, hurtful and clearly inappropriate…”
“I’m confident that there is real regret that the remark was made.”
“The Players ended nearly two weeks ago and it’s long past time to move on and talk about golf.”
Sergio has been quick to talk to media showing his disdain for the #1 golfer in the world but now, he has to be even quicker to repair the damage HE caused, not just to Tiger, but to the African Americans who also watch, follow and are participate in one of the greatest individual sports in the world.
Golf is a Global sport which is played by All sorts of people. Black, White, Asian, Latino’s, Men, Women, Boys and Girls participate in this sport. In 2013, the 21st century for Heaven Sake, Race is still an Issue in our lives.
This is the world in which we live. Unfortunately, racial intolerance will Always be a part of our everyday lives. And when we try to get away from it in our sporting outlets, it will creep into our lives there as well. That’s because we will always have “Sergio’s” and “Zoeller’s” to make that possible.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Former NFL wide receiver Chad Johnson has been arrested on charges that he violated probation stemming from an altercation with his now ex-wife, TV reality star Evelyn Lozada.
A Broward County judge ordered Johnson jailed Monday until he posts a $1,000 bond. Another hearing was set for June 3. An arrest warrant was issued earlier this month when Johnson failed to meet his probation officer.
The six-time Pro Bowl player formerly known as Chad Ochocinco is serving a year of probation after Lozada said he head-butted her during an argument last August. She quickly filed for divorce. They had been married only since July 4.
Johnson was released by the Miami Dolphins after the incident. He also played for the Cincinnati Bengals and New England Patriots.
h/t – ESPN
I went to a sports bar to watch the game. And at the end of the game, someone summed it up perfectly with this phrase:
Congratulations Pacers, the refs played a great game for you.
That’s all I have to say about the game.
It’s back to Indiana on Saturday, as the Pacers failed to end the Knicks season at Madison Square Garden. Or maybe it was the Knicks failing to go down in front of the home crowd. Either way, the Knicks began the game with two baskets by Carmelo Anthony and New York kept the lead for the rest of the game.
Final score was Knicks 85, Pacers 75.
Knicks were still out rebounded by 3 in this game (43-40), but they were more desperate for the win and played with a sense of urgency they missed in game 4. The spark for the Knicks tonight came from Copeland, who played 19 minutes but was automatic from the three-point line.
Copeland 13 points, 9 of those points coming from beyond the three-point arch. He pulled down 4 rebounds and had 2 steals.
Anthony led all scoring with 28 points.
Indiana leads the series 3 games to 2. Game six is scheduled for Saturday in Indiana.
Yep. That’s the takeaway from Game 4 of the New York Knicks game vs the Indiana Pacers. The stats don’t lie folks, and rebounding is the reason the Knicks lost the game by 11 points – Pacers 93, Knicks 82.
The Pacers out paced New York in every aspect of the game, but take a look at these stats. Indiana had 54 rebounds, Knicks had 36. Offensive rebounds also favored the Pacers, as they pulled down 16 to the Knicks 11.
Indiana shot 41% on 31/76 shooting. New York shot 36% on 31/87 shooting.
No one for the Knicks really stood out. Carmelo had 24, but he took 23 shots in the process and only made 9. And for the three pointers, Melo took 6 shots making just 2 of them.
J. Smith is still thinking about that flagrant foul and the one game suspension he had earlier in the playoffs. He hasn’t played his same level of basketball since returning from his suspension and tonight’s game wasn’t any better. Smith had 19 points, but he took 22 shots from the field, making just 7 of them. He also attempted 10 three pointers, making just 3 of those.
Indiana was much more well rounded, with five players in double figures. If the Knicks thought this Indiana team was going to just lay down and take their beatings, then they have another thing coming as the teams return to New York for what could be their last game of New York’s playoffs. If Indiana wins on Thursday at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks would watch as the Pacers celebrate moving on to the third round of the Playoffs on their home court.
I haven’t given up on the team, but I’m putting away my Knicks jersey till next season…
The problem, according to Simpson and his new lawyers, is the lawyer that represented the football great in the trial that landed him in jail in the first place. That lawyer they claimed, had personal reasons for sending OJ to orison, was ill equipped to handle the case and failed to gave OJ the proper representation.
“To me, the claims are solid. I don’t know how the court can’t grant relief,” said Patricia Palm, the Simpson appeals lawyer who produced a 94-page petition dissecting Galanter’s promises, payments and performance as Simpson’s lawyer in the trial that ended with a jury finding Simpson and a co-defendant guilty of 12 felonies.
Galanter declined to comment ahead of his is scheduled testimony.
Of the 22 allegations of conflict-of-interest and ineffective counsel that Palm raised, Clark County District Court Judge Linda Marie Bell has agreed to hear 19.
The proceedings, technically neither a trial nor appeal, are expected to take all week before Bell decides whether Simpson deserves a new trial. It’s not clear whether she’ll rule immediately.
Some who’ve watched the Simpson saga say he might have a chance.
With 4:15 remaining in the third quarter, Indiana Pacers took their first lead in game 2 of their second round playoffs against the New York Knicks. Up until that point, the Knicks controlled the game, at one point leading by as much as 13 points. But with pain and grimacing looks on his face, Carmelo Anthony managed to score a few baskets, even a dunk, igniting the rest of his team to follow-suit.With baskets from Smith, Kenyon Martin and Chandler, Knicks ended the quarter on a 10-2 run, to start the fourth quarter leading 72-66.
Pablo Prigioni started the fourth for Carmelo, bringing some much needed energy and defense. He also brought scoring, hitting a three pointer the first time he touched the ball and then a running field goal on the Knicks next possession. The Garden erupted, bringing a decibel level not heard much in the entire game. Prigioni was all over the place, getting rebounds in the paint, bringing up the ball and finding Carmelo on the three point line for a well needed three pointer. The Pacers resorted to being spectators as Melo and the gang went on a 20-0 run, extending the lead to 90 – 66.
With 4:55 remaining in the game, the Knicks brought on the Bench players. Being up 24 points with under 5 minutes remaining is a pretty good place to be, and Melo the rest of the team heard the cheers from the fans for a job well done.
The final score was Knicks 105, Pacers 79.
Pablo Prigioni was definitely the reason the Knicks won this game. He played a total of 21 minutes, but scored the biggest 10 points of the game. He also had 4 rebounds with 1 assist.
Knicks were led by Carmelo with 32 points, followed by Shumpert with 15. Felton had 14, followed by Prigioni and Martin both with 10.
For Indiana, P. George led the way with 20 points, followed by D. West who contributed 13. Hill was the only other Pacer player in double figure with 12 points. Indiana scored only 13 points in the fourth quarter.
Game 3 would be in Indiana on Saturday.
“These Refs Suck! These Refs Suck!” That was the main chant heard at the Garden on Sunday as the New York Knicks played against the Indiana Pacers. The chant was due to the seemingly unnecessary calls made against the Knicks, calls that put Carmelo Anthony, J. Smith, K. Martin and T. Chandler in foul trouble early in the game.
After three quarters of play, the Pacers led 81-65. Indiana had six players already in double figures compared to just three players for the Knicks. The third quarter also ended with Knicks leading scorer, Carmelo Anthony sitting on the bench, nursing his four fouls.
That is how the Knicks started round two of the NBA Playoffs against the Pacers. They played with no urgency, almost as if their first round win against Boston was their ultimate goal. Yes, the Boston win was just two days ago, but for the first three quarters, it was apparent that the Knicks were still celebrating advancing to round two.
Carmelo started the fourth quarter playing with his four fouls and scored six quick points for the Knicks. But he quickly picked up his fifth foul with 10 minutes remaining in the game. And after a 1 for 10 performance to that point, J. Smith hit a three pointer to get the crowd back into the game.
When ,,,, foul out of the game, the Garden crowd resorted to a chant they’d been saying practically the whole game… “these refs suck!”
The quarter went by quickly. With 4:41 left in the game, Indiana led by 14. Knicks had missed their last eight shots before Smith scored a running field goal. It was the Smith and Carmelo show and the lead was down to 8 with 3 minutes remaining, but that show was short lived as the Pacers held their own and won the game with a score 102-95.
Indiana went to the free throw line 24 times making 19, and out rebounded the Knicks 42 to 30. They out played the Knicks on the offensive board also, grabbing 10 compared to the Knicks 6.
D. West led the Pacers with 20 points, followed by P. George with 19. Four other Pacer players had double digit scoring.
For the Knicks, Carmelo had 27 points, followed by Felton with 18. Three other players had double digit scoring.
Game 2 will be in New York on Tuesday, May 7th.
Call it “fake”, call it whatever you’d like; I use to love to watch wrestling and have known Dwayne Johnson before he hit the silver screen as one of the all time greats, “The Rock”. From the start of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1996 to the Attitude Era in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was a wrestling superstar. Every time he’d enter and make his way to the ring the crowds would be cheering and going crazy. Throughout his Wrestling career he’d gain such nicknames as “The People’s Champion” , rack up 17 championship reigns, and win the 2000 Royal Rumble. Sadly though The Rock would take a prolonged hiatus from wrestling in 2004 to break onto the big screen.
Dwayne Johnson’s first major role
Dwayne Johnson’s first major role came as the Scorpion King in 2002; continuing on from his initial success from there he had a lead role in The Game Plan (2007), a part in Get Smart (2008), the lead in The Tooth Fairy (2010), a part in The Race To Witch Mountain (2009), a role in Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012), Snitch (2013), and G.I Joe: Retaliation (2013). Probably Johnson’s most popular role has been his appearance in the famed Fast and Furious film series, as he appeared in Fast Five and has been confirmed for Fast and Furious 7. Off the silver screen, he has also had plenty of success on television judging by his numerous appearances on shows from Cory in the House to his newest reality/game show on TNT, The Hero. To say he’s been successful in pursing acting is a drastic understatement. Yet, Dwayne returned to where he started…wrestling.
“If ya smell…What The Rock, is cooking!”
The Rock made his long-awaited return to wrestling as the host of WrestleMania XXVII, appearing on the show Raw for the first time in seven years. From that one return The Rock would soon return to the ring and headline WrestleMaina XXVIII and the following one as well. Adding to his much hyped return from his long absence, The Rock won the WWE Championship and would reign for 70 days until he lost it again. This past April 7th, The Rock wrestled what may have been his last match, as he as yet to return to the ring citing an injury he suffered from WrestleMania. While I do love seeing him perform on the silver screen and on my TV, perhaps it is best now that The Rock retires for good from wrestling. There is no need to risk any further injury as he legacy has been engraved in stone.
I’d just like to say now though; Thank you Dwayne Johnson for entertaining me when I went to the movies. Lastly, Thank you The Rock for entertaining me and the wrestling world and for more importantly living up to your nickname, “The Most Eletrifiying Man in All of Entertainment.“
It was not a pretty game for Knick fans, and it definitely was not a pretty game for Boston fans. The Knicks played game 6 in Boston after blowing game 5 in New York, and started the game as if on a mission. The scored quickly, going up 21 points to Boston’s 5 before Boston went on a small run and ended the quarter scoring 10 points total. Knicks had 24 after one.
In the second quarter, Boston was a little better. They watch the Knicks increase their lead to 18 points, but somehow managed to fight back with much of the help coming from Green, Terry and Garnett. Jason Terry, one of the Boston catalyst in game 5 scored a huge three pointer, cutting the 18 point lead by the Knicks. At the end of the second, Boston was within 13 with the score 39 Knicks, 27 Boston.
The third quarter the Knicks returned to the way they played in the early minutes of the first quarter. Carmelo Anthony up to this point had a quiet game, so it was up to his teammates to carry the load. And carry the load they did. A Huge game by Pablo Prigioni and threes by J. Smith, Shumpert and Felton contributed to the Knicks ending the quarter with their largest lead of the game, up by 20 points after the third.
After three quarters, the Knicks led 67, Boston 47.
By the start of the fourth quarter, the feeling in the auditorium was that the Knicks was getting ready to advance to the second round of the playoffs. Their first basket extended the lead to 22 points which caused Boston to pull Paul Pierce from the game. When the lead increased by 24 points with a basket by Smith, Pierce came back into the game and missed his first shot from behind the three point arch.
Another basket by the Knicks and it was a 26 point lead. Then Boston realized that their season was about to come to an end and started playing with reckless abandonment. This kid named Green scored a few points cutting the lead to 19. A few steals and baskets later, Boston was within 11 points and 19,000 fans were screaming “Defense! Defense!”
The scoring kept coming down and once again, the Refs made their presence known. Whistles were blown and the Boston fans applauded in agreement each time a Knick was called for the foul. Boston goes to the line and kept chipping away at the score. Before you knew it, Boston was within 7 with a 20-0 run.
The score with 5:44 remaining in the game was Knicks 75, Boston 69.
Whistles kept blowing and Green went to the line with 4 minutes remaining to score more points for Boston. 75 Knicks, 73 Boston.
Carmelo got fouled on the next position and made two from the line. Knicks 79, Boston 73. Boston then scored off a steal, but on the next position Carmelo made a jumper. Knicks 81, Boston 75 with 2:54 remaining to play. What could be the biggest play of the night came when Carmelo hit an open three pointer with 1:31 remaining, extending the Knicks lead back to 9 points.
Then J. Smith went to the basket for a layup on the next Knick possession and got fouled while making the basket. The lead extended back to double figures and that was all she wrote as Green walked off the court committing his 6th foul. The score with 1:21 remaining in the game was Knicks 87, Boston 78.
The final score in the end was Knicks 88, Celtics 80. And for the first time in 13 years, the New York Knicks advanced to the second round of the playoffs.
Knicks ended up shooting 42% on 33/79 shooting. They had 9 three pointers and 42 rebounds. Boston had 38%, shooting on 24 of 63 shots. They had 6 three pointers and 35 rebounds.
As he exited the game, the 18 year Basketball veteran, Boston’s Kevin Garnett hugged his coaching staff. The next game for New York would be in New York against Indiana.
Heck of a run Boston!
