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The Canucks first home game Post Olympics has a happy ending. From AP-
Home never felt so good for the Canucks.
Mikael Samuelsson scored twice and added an assist, and the Vancouver Canucks returned home to GM Place after playing an NHL-record 14 straight on the road to beat the Ottawa Senators 5-1 on Saturday night.
“We were just excited to get back,” Roberto Luongo said after making 13 saves. “It’s been such a long time that we haven’t played here and guys were just excited to play in front of the home fans.”
Living out of a suitcase grows weary after a while but Vancouver survived it. They are 3rd in the Western Conference points stands and more importantly five points ahead of the next best team in the NHL’s Northwest Division. I don’t see the Canucks missing the playoffs but don’t think they’re good enough to advance to the Stanley Cup finals.
The #6 player in the world gets her first win of 2010. From AP-
Taiwan’s Yani Tseng won the Women’s Australian Open on Sunday, birdieing seven of the last 12 holes for a bogey-free 7-under 66 and a three-stroke victory over 2009 winner Laura Davies.
The sixth-ranked Tseng, the 2008 LPGA Championship winner, had a 9-under 283 total on the Commonwealth Golf Club course. She opened with rounds of 74, 71 and 72 to begin the day four strokes behind third-round leader Karrie Webb.
“It was very exciting, my whole body is still shaking,” Tseng said before the trophy presentation. “My heart is still at over 200 beats a minute. I just felt I needed to get some more birdies coming home, and it worked out.”
She birdied the final two holes and hit 17 of 18 greens in regulation.
Tseng is one of the top 5 or so players in the world. I don’t think she’ll ever be #1,(Yani has two LPGA wins but over a half dozen second place finishes. She has had problems closing tournaments) but you’re going to hear her name alot in the next decade.
Two more weeks till the LPGA makes landfall in the United States. There are rumors of new 2011 tournaments in St. Petersburg Florida, Florence South Carolina, and near Charlotte NC. Ladies professional golf is looking better.
The Constructivist at Mostly Harmless is also blogging on Tseng’s win.
Update- Sal Johnson at Golf Observer is also commenting on Yani’s victory.
Pac Man does it again. From AP-
Fighting on the star, Manny Pacquiao showed once again why he is such a star.
With the biggest fight crowd in the U.S. in 17 years cheering him on at Cowboys Stadium, Pacquiao dominated a strangely passive Joshua Clottey from the opening bell Saturday night to retain his welterweight title and cement his status as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
The fight wasn’t close, and it was never in doubt. It was so one-sided that even those in the cheap seats among the crowd of 50,994 could tell without looking at the giant video screens over the ring that Pacquiao was in total command.
Rafael: Show And Prove
Round after round, Manny Pacquiao, the greatest fighter in the world, proved he’s truly one of the best, Dan Rafael writes. Story
One ringside judge gave Pacquiao every round, while the two others gave him all but one. The Associated Press scored it a shutout for the Filipino sensation.
It wasn’t as flashy as his knockout of Ricky Hatton or as savage as the beating he gave Oscar De La Hoya, but there was no doubt Pacquiao was in command the entire way against a fighter who kept his gloves up high in front of his face and chose to engage him only in spurts. Clottey’s strategy worked to keep him upright, but he was never competitive in the biggest fight of his career.
I thought the De La Hoya fight was closer that last night’s. Will Pacquiao take on Floyd Mayweather next? I think Pacquiao will lose if he does.
The Browns have two new quarterbacks but will the team do better than 5-11 in 2010? From the Cleveland Plain Dealer-
The Browns signed quarterback Jake Delhomme to a two-year deal, his agent Rick Smith confirmed for The Plain Dealer.
The offer was attractive enough for Delhomme, 35, that he canceled his scheduled trip to New Orleans, where he would’ve backed up Drew Brees. Terms were undisclosed.
Delhomme visited the Browns on Thursday, but left town without signing a contract.
Browns President Mike Holmgren told The Plain Dealer on Friday that he didn’t promise Delhomme the starting job but that “he certainly has the potential to be the starter here.”
Delhomme, who’s struggled since a bad playoff game in 2008, went 58-40 for the Panthers, including a Super Bowl berth and two NFC Championship games. He also made the Pro Bowl in 2005.
In light of this signing and the acquisition of Seneca Wallace, I expect Cleveland to now release QB Brady Quinn. Holmgren said earlier this week that Quinn’s future “depends on what else we can do.’ The Browns have two new quarterbacks, I see no more room for Quinn who IMHO is looking like the biggest bust of the 2007 NFL draft. All the experts were screaming then how good he was and that Miami blew it when they didn’t draft him at #10. Three years later Quinn has a lifetime QB rating of 66.8. I don’t think he will ever be a quality starter in the NFL.
Another unbelievable Panther win.
Bryan Allen scored with 2:14 left in overtime to help the Florida Panthers rally from an early two-goal deficit to beat the San Jose Sharks 3-2 on Saturday.
After becoming the first team in NHL history to win three straight games in regulation when trailing after two periods, the Sharks found themselves on the other side of a late comeback.
Shawn Matthias scored the equalizer off a spin move about 5 minutes into the third period and then set up the game-winner in overtime for Florida. Matthias beat Joe Pavelski on a face off and then went to the front of the net to set a screen for Allen, whose shot from the point beat Thomas Greiss.
San Jose came out on fire in this game. They were up 2-0 17:45 into the game and I was expecting an ugly result.
It didn’t happen. San Jose may have been overconfident. First because Florida isn’t that good, then they haven’t won in San Jose, the Sharks most importantly are one of the best teams in the NHL. All this said, the Panthers managed to beat the Sharks during the 2008-09 season.
San Jose instead of playing their ace Goalie Evegeni Nabokov, sent out Thomas Greiss who hadn’t played in over a month.. Florida Panther Billy Lindsay calls Greiss a terrible puck handler. He looked like it tonight. I think San Jose expected an easy win.
They didn’t get it because Florida didn’t give up. Keith Ballard scored in the 2nd period, while David Booth and Bryan McCabe came tantalizingly close to more goals.
In the third period, Shawn Matthias put in his 6th goal of the season. After early difficulties, Vokoun ended up stopping 37 of 39 shots on goal.
The game went to overtime where Matthias and Allen combined on the winning goal. Sadly I still don’t think Florida will make the post season. This win was thrilling but essentially part of a play that has little meaning barring a miracle. Next up for Florida- Washington on Tuesday. The other team besides San Jose that I picked to make it to the Stanley Cup Championship. Florida hasn’t beaten the Capitals once this season.
Rumors say fans were frozen to their seats when the game was over. From AP-
It took five overtimes and nearly six hours, but Quinnipiac managed to edge out Union College 3-2 early Saturday in the longest hockey game in college history.
Greg Holt of the Bobcats scored with 10:22 remaining in the fifth overtime to give Quinnipiac the win in the ECAC best-of-three quarterfinal series.
At 150 minutes and 22 seconds, it was the longest game in college hockey history. The previous record was set in 2006, when Yale beat Union College 3-2 in a game that was 141 minutes and 35 seconds long.
Union scored two goals in the first period, while Quinnipiac scored a goal each in the first and second periods.
As you see Union College lost the previous record holding game also. Will they go for three in a row some where down the line?
The 2010 racing season opens in Bahrain this Sunday. From AP-
India is set to host a Formula One race starting in 2011.
The decision was announced by governing body FIA on Thursday after a World Motor Sports Council meeting in Bahrain.
Can ladies professional golf be long for the Asian sub continent? I expect the LPGA to be playing in India and Dubai within five years.
Just two more days before the brackets come out. From Media General-
Start fast, stumble to the finish. The preceding sentence perfectly summed up both North Carolina’s basketball season and its 62-58 first-round ACC tournament loss to Georgia Tech on Thursday evening.
The Tar Heels led by 10 at halftime. (The Tar Heels started the season 8-2 and were ranked as high as No. 6 in the Associated Press poll.) Carolina couldn’t handle that success, and hit an early-second half swoon, allowing Georgia Tech to score the first seven points after halftime. (Just past the midway point of the season, Carolina lost eight of 10 games, sending the Heels’ season into a spiral.)
See the trend here?
Down the stretch Thursday, just as it has been all season, Carolina was plagued with ball handling issues and poor shooting, and the Yellow Jackets took advantage. They outscored the Heels 38-24 after halftime. In the last 5:13, Carolina missed all eight of its field-goal attempts and turned it over twice, and Georgia Tech pulled away for a win that likely seals an NCAA tournament berth for the Yellow Jackets (20-11).
“It’s extremely disappointing, to say the least,†UNC coach Roy Williams said.
Disappointing don’t do justice to North Carolina’s 2009-10 basketball season. Only a year ago they were National Champions, now they are hoping the NIT throws them a scrap bone tournament invitation. Should a team that finished 16-16 be playing in the post season?
He won a silver at the 1952 games in addition to a gold at the 48 Summer Olympics. RIP.
Henry Wittenberg, an amateur wrestler who went undefeated for more than 300 matches and won a gold medal at the 1948 London Olympics, has died. He was 91.
His family said Wittenberg died Tuesday at his home in Somers, N.Y.
Wittenberg began wrestling at City College, becoming a star under the tutelage of coach Joe Sapora. He graduated in 1940 and went on to dominate national and international freestyle wrestling in his weight class while working as a New York City police officer.
With World War II canceling the Olympics, Wittenberg served in the Navy. He came back to win gold in the London Games at 191.5 pounds. His unbeaten streak ended when he won silver at the 1952 Helsinki Games, losing to Wiking Palm of Sweden in the title match.
Wittenberg won his eighth and final Amateur Athletic Union national title in 1952. He was also a two-time champion at the Maccabiah Games, the international competition for Jewish athletes in Israel.
He retired as policeman in 1954 and went on to coach wrestling at Yeshiva University and City College and guided the U.S. Greco-Roman team at the 1968 Mexico City Games. He was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1977.
He is accused of stealing two laptop computers and a guitar. From ESPN-
Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli, who helped lead the Ducks to the Pac-10 Conference title and a Rose Bowl berth last season, faces a burglary charge in connection with a theft at a campus fraternity house in late January.
The Lane Country district attorney’s office says Masoli and former Oregon receiver Garrett Embry were each charged Wednesday with one count of burglary in the second degree.
Masoli and Embry were scheduled to be arraigned in Lane County Circuit Court on Friday afternoon.
*****
A fraternity member reported that Masoli and Embry stole two computers and a guitar from the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house on Jan. 25.
Police were tight-lipped about the alleged theft, claiming it was under investigation.
Embry has been dismissed from the program for volating rules not related to the burglary.
Since playing in the Rose Bowl, Oregon has been hit by scandal after scandal. Players have been in a brawl, been accused of sexual assault, and more. I’m not going to pass judgment on these people, but will say if Oregon Duck coach Chip Kelly could find his job in jeopardy, Rose Bowl or no Rose Bowl, because of his out of control players. Oregon is a state school and University officials are accountable to the citizens of the state.
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