Thursday, April 28, 2011
A Review of the MrsVIP & Vlane Traffic Income Opportunity
How I Made A Fortune On Ebay Using Dropshippers... And Then Lost It All
VoIP and broadband technology combine to become the only way wireless voice-VoIP, wireless voice, br
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Wednesday, April 27, 2011
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Tuesday, April 26, 2011
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Monday, April 25, 2011
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Sunday, April 24, 2011
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Tuesday, April 19, 2011
El Hadji Diouf: 'Colonel Gaddafi is my friend'
The Senegalese has even told Algerian magazine Le Buteur that he "always admired" Gaddafi.
In an interview with the magazine, published on Monday, the 30 year-old said: "Gaddafi is a man I've always admired.
"I'm telling the truth. I know him and I know Seif, his son. They are my friends. But frankly I don't really know what is happening in Libya, but it must be very hard for Gaddafi and his family.
"I say that, Inch'Allah (Allah willing) victory will go to whoever is right.
"I can't be far away from what is happening in these countries. I don't know who is right and who is wrong but it's a shame to see so many victims."
Tottenham ask Premier League to move Manchester City v Stoke game
With Tottenham and City competing for a Champions League place, the forthcoming Premier League meeting between the two FA Cup finalists has come under the spotlight.
In a peculiar twist of fate, Stoke had been scheduled to meet Roberto Mancini’s team in the League on May 14, which is now the day for their FA Cup final showdown.
They will now instead meet three days later at the City of Manchester Stadium on the Tuesday night and, if Tony Pulis’s team were to lose the final, they would require their opponents to finish in the top four for their own European dream to become a reality. And as such, Tottenham are concerned that the fixture would give Stoke a dilemma. Essentially, should they play to win, it could hurt their own chances of qualifying for Europe.
Redknapp said: "I think they should look at it. The chairman spoke to me about it. We feel it should be changed - but it's a bit out of my hands."
Football Association, Premier League and Uefa rules stipulate the runners-up are entitled to a Europa League berth only if the Cup winners qualify for the Champions League.
So, if Manchester City were to lose out to Tottenham Hotspur and finish fifth, securing them a second spot in the Europa League, then one of them would be passed down to the team who finish sixth, currently Liverpool.
The other Europa League spot available for next season had already gone to Birmingham City, the Carling Cup winners.
Although there is no suggestion Stoke would send out a side with anything but the intention of winning, potential stakeholders such as Spurs, whose own Champions League hopes would be dented should Manchester City gain three points at the Potters’ expense, and Kenny Dalglish’s team will certainly be paying close attention to the fixture.
The Premier League would not query the integrity of the two teams and it is highly unlikely that the fixture will be rescheduled to take place prior to the Wembley showpiece.
Redknapp currently has more pressing concerns - tomorrow's north London derby against Arsenal at White Hart Lane.
Tottenham did not have a fixture at the weekend, while Arsenal were involved in a 1-1 draw against Liverpool on Sunday.
However, Redknapp rejected claims his team would have an advantage because of the lack of recent action.
He said: "We've played more games than they have lately - we've been playing in the Champions League."
On Sunday's clash at the Emirates Stadium, he added: "Arsenal pulled it out of the fire with a minute to go, then Liverpool showed fantastic spirit to get the equaliser."
TNA stars Kurt Angle and Jarrett injured at LockDown, Angle responds to critics
On Tuesday morning, TNA superstar Kurt Angle commented on his recent match at TNA's LockDown PPV on Sunday night. Angle wrestler Jeff Jarrett in a "2 out of 3 falls" match inside a steel cage. The match was brutal and bloody. Angle said via his Twitter page that both he and Jarrett suffered injuries during the match.
"We kicked Butt. You need to see my match. Match Of The Year. Me @ Jarrett. What a great match. Jeff broke ribs. I dislocated my shoulder." He added, "Plez buy Encore. It was so good. I Love You all. U r my friends. It was as good as Me and Shawn Michaels at W-Mania. It is Awesome!!!!"
Initial reports from the PPV were that a few wrestlers were banged up but nothing serious. Angle's comments are revealing but PWInsider.com speculates they could be a "work" to "sell" the brutalities of the match. Jarrett ended up winning the match due to outside interference from his wife Karen Jarrett, the ex-wife of Kurt Angle.
Angle wrestled Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 21 which took place on April 3, 2005 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles California. The match lasted about 28 minutes long and was highly praised for the efforts of both men. Angle defeated Michaels via submission as HBK tapped out to the Ankle lock.
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Garfield hires Kelvin Goliday to coach football
Kelvin Goliday wants to bring a fresh start to Garfield's football program.
Last year, coaches Anthony Allen and Anthony Kelley were forced to resign late in the season after playing ineligible players during a win against Sammamish. The program, which was originally placed on a two-year playoff ban, recently regained its 2011 postseason eligibility.
Here are links to two stories about what initially happened at Garfield. Click here. Click here.
While he admitted he didn't know more than what he has read about what transpired last season, Goliday stressed the importance of moving forward.
"I'm just hoping it's amicable," Goliday said. "I don't know anything about what happened. I read a couple of things. I just don't have an opinion about it. I'm hoping that doesn't come over into the following year. I didn't have anything to do with it."
Goliday, 36, coached at Cleveland High School in 2008 before moving to San Diego. He spent last season as the defensive coordinator at Kearny High School. He found the job posted online and was intrigued by the chance to return to Seattle.
"From what I understand it (Garfield's athletic department) has a rich tradition and so I'm hoping I can etch my name in stone here in a school that's already rich in tradition," Goliday said. "That would be a great honor."
While he is excited about the opportunity, he said it will take time to build the program.
"Realistically, four or five years," Goliday said. "It takes a while for kids to get into a new system, a new coach. Basically, what we want to do initially is get everything organized, show the kids what we're trying to do and, over the years, we improve on that as well as build the program."
Exclusive: Danny Garcia willing to end bloody fraternal feud with Robert Garcia
Some people close to the situation think that the ongoing blood feud between boxing trainers and brothers Robert and Danny Garcia cannnot be squashed.
They view it as an endless Cain versus Abel squabble, a fractious fraternal fight that will continue unabated for years if not decades.
Making it worse has been Robert's huge success, his making a small fortune in boxing while Danny has had to keep driving a Pepsi delivery truck while training fighters at night.
But Danny, who trained his brother when Robert was just age 13 and was an assistant to Papa Eduardo in the corner when Robert was IBF junior lightweight champion, says otherwise.
"Mainly, it's about my Mom and my Dad," Danny said. "My Mom would like to see things work out between me and Robert. It can happen."
Danny told me so, in a sincere manner on Wednesday afternoon before a Manhattan press conference for Saturday night's Vicious Victor Ortiz-Andre Berto WBC welterweight title bout. Ortiz-Berto takes place at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods in Connecticut.
Danny admitted that he never speaks to Robert, that their families steer clear of each other and that the whole telenovela style drama caused their parents to abandon hometown Oxnard, California, to relocate to Riverside.
Backdrop to the story is the bitter split and resulting rivalry between former Garden City, Kansas amateur hopefuls and both former pupils of Robert, Ortiz and newly crowned lightweight champion Brandon "Bam Bam" Rios.
When Ortiz separated from Robert, Danny went with Victor. The two fighters even now toil for bickering promoters, the outspoken Rios for Bob Arum's Top Rank and Ortiz for Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy outfit.
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Texas A&M 76, Notre Dame 70: Aggies win first national title
INDIANAPOLIS — Danielle Adams scored 22 of her 30 points in a dominating second half and Texas A&M beat Notre Dame 76-70 tonight to win its first national championship.
SEE THE BOX SCORE
Texas A&M (33-5) built an early 13-point lead with its aggressive defense, fell behind by seven in the second half, then rallied by pounding the ball inside to the 6-foot-1 Adams, who bulled her way to 9-for-11 shooting in the final 20 minutes.
Tyra White added 18 points for the Aggies, including a huge three-pointer as the shot-clock buzzer sounded to put A&M up 73-68 with 1:07 left.
That was enough to bring the title to a school that didn’t even admit women until 1963 and to deny a second championship to Notre Dame (31-8), which won 10 years ago in St. Louis.
Skylar Diggins led the Irish in this improbable title game matchup of No. 2 seeds with 23 points. Devereaux Peters had 21 points and 11 rebounds for Notre Dame, which was burned by A&M’s 68% (15-for-22) second-half shooting.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Feds almost strike out trying in Bonds trial
Baseball never went after Barry Bonds, despite a failed steroid test and circumstantial evidence that fans in the outfield bleachers could see every time he went to the plate.
The federal government did, and almost struck out trying.
Bonds strolled out of the federal courthouse in San Francisco on Wednesday and flashed a victory sign to a few fans, which at first glance might seem strange behavior for a man just convicted of a felony.
Yet while he didn't walk free on all four charges against him, the slugger and his multimillion-dollar dream team of attorneys had reason to smile.
Bonds survived the BALCO investigation without being convicted of anything directly related to steroids, quite a feat considering the government did everything but show pictures of his allegedly shrinking private parts to convince jurors Bonds was juiced. He was convicted of obstruction of justice, but even that charge may not stand on further judicial review.
Technically, the government could retry him on the perjury charges the jury deadlocked on. But it's doubtful prosecutors would waste the time and money to try him again, especially after the jury foreman said they should have done their homework better if they wanted to get convictions on those charges.
Oh, and the chances of him ever going to prison? Well, don't start measuring him for that extra-large jumpsuit just yet.
More than seven years in the making, the case against Bonds sputtered to an inconclusive end that likely satisfied no one. Bonds, of course, would have preferred to have been acquitted on all charges, while prosecutors would have been turning cartwheels down the courthouse hallways had they been able to get the jury to convict him on the accusations of lying under oath that were directly related to steroid use.
Instead, he was convicted on an obstruction of justice charge that stemmed from a single statement Bonds made about his childhood as the son of major leaguer Bobby Bonds and his relationship with personal trainer Greg Anderson.
The government "has determined it's unlawful for Barry Bonds to tell the grand jury he's a celebrity child and to talk about his friendship with Greg Anderson," Bonds attorney Allen Ruby said.
Bonds should count himself lucky to have that friendship with Anderson, who went to prison four different times rather than testify against the slugger. Anderson, who also served time for distributing steroids in the BALCO investigation, spent more than a year in jail because of his over-the-top allegiance to Bonds.
Had Anderson testified - and testified honestly - we might have known just how Bonds came to take the "cream" and the "clear" and just what he really knew about them. We might have been able to draw a timeline between the moment he first started using steroids and when the home runs started coming with almost every at bat.
Most of all, we might have been able to finally make some sense out baseball's Steroid Era and why players felt it was necessary to use things that could potentially cause great harm to their bodies simply to hit a baseball over a fence.
But Anderson and Bonds didn't come clean, and that's our loss. We're left with Bonds' almost laughable grand jury testimony about "flaxseed oil" and "arthritic cream" - testimony that will almost surely now never be proved untrue in a court of law.
Baseball commissioner Bud Selig used the occasion to issue a statement saying the trial was a "stark illustration of how far this sport has come" in testing players for steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. Left unsaid in the statement was that baseball didn't test for steroids at all until 2003 - when Bonds was among those who failed a test - and did nothing to stop owners from giving the biggest hitters untold millions even while it was clear that something was terribly amiss in the game.
As much as Selig would like to declare victory over the Steroid Era, testimony of current and former players in the Bonds trial was a reminder how pervasive the use of PEDs was. There could be another even more painful reminder this summer when Roger Clemens is scheduled to go to trial on charges of lying before a congressional panel on the use of PEDs.
Unlike Bonds, Clemens doesn't have a former trainer willing to go to jail for him. Instead, he has one who seems to relish the idea of testifying against the big star.
The BALCO investigation - started almost a decade ago by federal agent Jeff Novitzky digging through garbage outside the San Francisco-area offices of the company - snared a lot of people along the way. Marion Jones, her track coach, and elite spring cyclist Tammy Thomas were among those convicted in a probe that ended up spreading far beyond the Bay Area.
Novitzky and his crew can now claim their biggest conviction with Bonds, but it's a hollow win. While it's admirable that they went after Bonds when baseball refused to, it's hard to justify the years of work and the money spent for the relatively insignificant conviction they finally won.
Asked outside the courthouse if he was going to celebrate, Bonds said there was nothing to celebrate. Technically, he's right, because, for now at least, he's a convicted felon.
But on this day he had good reason to be flashing the victory sign.
----
Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg(at)ap.org
Italian teen Manassero takes early Malaysian lead
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia —
Italian teenager Matteo Manassero shot a 6-under 66 to take the early lead, while newly crowned Masters champion Charl Schwartzel struggled Thursday in the opening round of the Malaysian Open.
Schwartzel had a 1-over 73 on the first morning of the tournament at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club after arriving in Malaysia a day earlier. Fellow South African Louis Oosthuizen shot a three-under 69.
"I didn't sleep very well," Schwartzel said, complaining of jet lag. "I'm struggling to focus. The golf swing is tight. ... I was swinging so good last week and the weeks before that. The body isn't responding right now, but it will come."
Manassero delighted the crowd with his putting as he sank eight birdies, including the last four holes. Manassero turns 18 next week and said it would be a "nice way to celebrate" by winning in Malaysia.
"It will be good to get to a major age!" said Manassero, who became the European Tour's youngest winner when he captured the Castello Masters Costa Azahar last year.
"I played well and holed a few nice 20 footers," he added. "I like the grainy greens. I feel like I can hit every putt solid and it gives me confidence putting."
Among the players yet to finish the round were Rory McIlroy, who led the Masters for 63 holes before a disastrous final round.
Nadal, Federer into quarters in Monte Carlo
MONACO —
Six-time defending champion Rafael Nadal of Spain and Swiss star Roger Federer coasted into the quarterfinals of the Monte Carlo Masters with straight-set victories Thursday.
Nadal, the five-time French Open champion, was rarely troubled and beat Richard Gasquet of France 6-2, 6-4 to chalk up his 34th straight win at the clay-court tournament.
The top-ranked Spaniard remains on track for a fourth Monte Carlo final, having beaten Federer for the title from 2006-08. Federer earned a comfortable 6-4, 6-3 victory over 15th-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia.
"I think I was consistent and didn't allow him to get into the points he wanted to on my own serve," said the second-seeded Swiss.
The 16-time Grand Slam champion next plays seventh-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria, while Nadal faces Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia.
Nadal has lost his last three finals - once to Federer and twice against second-ranked Novak Djokovic - and is without a title since winning the Japan Open in October. He felt he was far more aggressive than he was against Finland's Jarkko Nieminen on Wednesday.
"I feel when I'm playing well with the forehand, is very important shot for me. So I can have the control of the point most of the time," said Nadal, who broke Gasquet's serve twice in each set. "When I am playing well with the forehand, everything is a little bit less difficult."
Nadal had a brief wobble when the 13th-seeded Gasquet picked up his form late in the second set, breaking the Spaniard's serve with a superb crosscourt winner from the back of the court to level at 4-4.
But Gasquet hurried his shots in the next game, going for spectacular forehand winners, and Nadal broke back.
Federer once again looked sharp, just as he did in beating Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber in just 50 minutes in the second round. Federer won 79 percent of his first-serve points and 75 percent of the second, breaking Cilic once in each set.
"I'm mixing it up well, using kick serves, slider, hitting it hard enough, making sure that I don't have to maybe go through that many second serves," Federer said.
Third-seeded Andy Murray and fourth-seeded David Ferrer also had easy wins on Thursday.
Murray ousted a hobbling Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-3. The Frenchman turned his right ankle jumping up to play a forehand from the baseline at the end of the first set and completed the match with the ankle heavily wrapped.
Murray was jeered by fans throughout the second set for playing several drop shots that Simon could not return.
"Well, you just got to deal with it. I wasn't doing anything wrong," Murray said. "I know every single player on the tour would have done exactly the same thing."
Simon agreed with Murray, adding that "even without my injury he would have won the first set." Simon is optimistic his sore ankle will heal within a few days.
Murray next will play Portuguese qualifier Frederico Gil, who upset the eighth-seeded Gael Monfils of France 7-6 (6), 6-2.
Ferrer was far too experienced for 20-year-old Canadian Milos Raonic, winning 6-1, 6-3. The Spaniard dictated most of the rallies and pegged Raonic behind the baseline. The big-serving Raonic rarely threatened, managing only one ace and losing his own serve five times.
Ferrer next takes on 11th-seeded Viktor Troicki of Serbia, who was trailing 3-6, 2-1 when Spaniard Tommy Robredo retired with a groin injury.
Ljubicic beat fifth-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-2 to reach his third quarterfinal of the season, while Melzer won 6-1, 6-4 against No. 9 Nicolas Almagro of Spain.
Manchester United star Rio Ferdinand insists it is time to stop 'lynching' Wayne Rooney
The Manchester United striker will discover on Thursday morning the extent of his punishment for the four-letter outburst at West Ham on Saturday that threatens a two-match ban that would rule him out of the FA Cup semi-final with Manchester City at Wembley on April 16.
He put his problems behind him tonight, netting the only goal in a 1-0 Champions League quarter-final first-leg win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge that leaves United favourites to book a last-four clash with either Inter Milan or, more probably, Schalke later this month.
And Ferdinand feels it is should be the signal to call a halt to the attacks on his team-mate's character.
''We should follow him as a footballer rather than keep lynching him for a lot of the stuff that goes on,'' he said.
''I wouldn't say he is innocent in a lot of the stuff that has happened but sometimes because of the player he is and who he is the reaction can be over the top.
''Wayne Rooney swearing on TV, as much as I don't condone it, is not front page news.
''There are bigger things going on in the world. There are things happening in Libya and Ivory Coast and we are talking about Wayne Rooney on the front page of newspapers because he swore at a camera.
''I don't condone it but because it is him everyone goes over the top.''
As it presently stands, Rooney will miss Saturday's Premier League clash with Fulham at Old Trafford in addition to the semi-final.
He could face further punishment though if the FA have deemed his challenge to be frivolous.
The FA are thought to have informed United of their decision this evening prior to kick-off.
However, United wanted the verdict kept under wraps until the morning and it seemed their players were under instruction to follow Ferguson's lead and say nothing.
''Hopefully the decision will go his way,'' said Ferdinand. ''I don't feel sorry for him. He thrives off the attention. But he thrives off football attention rather than the stuff on the outside.
''He loves playing football. That's what he wants to be judged on and talked about. Tonight he did what he does best.''
Arizona Diamondbacks avoid sweep, beat Chicago Cubs
"You try to be ready for that first play," Young said. "My positioning put me in a good place to attempt to make a play."
Young had quite a day. He made two other good plays in the field and for a club starving for big hits in recent days, he came up with two of them - a triple in third and a double in the fifth, each scoring a run.
The win improved the Diamondbacks to 2-3 on their season-opening road trip, which was cut short by a game due to snow in Colorado on Sunday. After an off-day Thursday, they will open their home schedule on Friday against the Reds, the first game of a nine-game homestand.
Young's terrific defense, which included a second nice catch in the first inning, was a welcome sight for Galarraga. When Tyler Colvin drove a ball deep to left-center field in the fourth, Galarraga feared the worst, putting both hands up behind his head, but Young jumped at the wall and came down with the ball.
"(Defense) is a key for a pitcher like me," Galarraga said. "I'm not a power pitcher, so it's really nice when I saw those two catches in the first inning. It gave me more momentum and allowed me to be aggressive."
Like several of his teammates, Young had not done much offensively in the season's first four games, prompting manager Kirk Gibson to emphasize during a "little meeting" for his players to play loose rather than get uptight.
"We're a different team than in the past, I can tell you that right now," Gibson said. "We're going to keep driving ahead and the more consistent we get at executing the things we need to execute, we're going to win a lot more ballgames.
"We came out today and they were loose and they had fun in the game. That's what we're supposed to be doing here."
It was Young who was at the plate for the club's first at-bat with a man scoring position, as Willie Bloomquist stole second while Young was hitting in the third inning. It turned out to be an important play.
When Young hit a liner to center, Cubs center fielder Marlon Byrd rolled the dice, diving for the ball. It got by him and Young raced around the bases, scoring when left fielder Alfonso Soriano couldn't pick up the ball cleanly, an error.
"I give the credit to Willie," Young said. "Willie stole that base, which pretty much made Marlon try to make a play to stop the run from scoring and it ended up coming out in our advantage."
Miguel Montero added a solo home run in the top of the eighth, reliever Juan Gutierrez worked out of a jam in the bottom of the inning and closer J.J. Putz pitched an uneventful ninth for his second save, retiring the side in order just as he did in his first save opportunity on Opening Day.
Diamondbacks rewind
Sliders galore: Diamondbacks right-hander Armando Galarraga threw 94 pitches on Wednesday, 38 of which (40 percent) were sliders.
"When I have command of my slider is when I'm going to have a really good game," he said. "That's when I can throw a lot of innings."
He threw almost exclusively two-seam fastballs and sliders.
Going deep: Catcher Miguel Montero drilled his second home run of the season in the eighth, taking an outside fastball from lefty John Grabow to left field for a solo shot.
"I was thinking that I've been rolling over too many pitches," Montero said, "and I told myself to stay through the middle and hit it to the left-center gap. Sure enough that's what I did."
Getting out of trouble: Reliever Juan Gutierrez gave up a single and a walk to load the bases in the eighth inning, but he got Tyler Colvin to ground out to first and struck out Alfonso Soriano to end the inning.
"We've talked to him about when that happens, to keep his pace up," manager Kirk Gibson said. "He just kept getting on the bump and throwing the ball. He's got good stuff. Your stuff doesn't change when you get in trouble."
View from the press box
Armando Galarraga's slider kept getting the job done, so Diamondbacks catcher Miguel Montero saw no reason to change the game plan. "I kept calling it because they kept swinging at it," Montero said. "Until they make adjustments, I'm going to (have him) keep throwing it." Most starting pitchers need three pitches to work deep into games, but Galarraga threw only a few change-ups. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?
New NCAA TV deal changes how fans watch tournament
NEW YORK — For all you college basketball fans who've moaned over the years that you could do a better job of switching among NCAA tournament games than CBS — here's your chance.
If a team leads by 30 points Thursday afternoon while another game is tied in the final seconds, CBS won't budge. Viewers will hold all the power in their remote controls.
The NCAA tournament's new 14-year, $10.8 billion TV deal with two media companies radically changes how a nation of bracket-fillers will watch March Madness. Every game will be broadcast nationally in its entirety, spread across four networks — old standby CBS, plus three Turner cable channels in TNT, TBS and truTV.
"That's going to take some getting used to, but it's a better programming option for the viewer at home and the basketball fan," CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus said in an interview with The Associated Press. "More work on his or her part to find the game, but they get to decide what game they want to watch. In the past, I think we did a very good job of moving around, but it was our decision."
To which fans may say: Sounds great, but what's truTV?
It's the channel formerly known as Court TV, available in 80 percent of American homes with televisions, according to Nielsen. That's a bit less than the 87 percent for the much-better-known TNT and TBS, which also have the distinction of airing other sports including the NBA and Major League Baseball.
Even TNT basketball analyst Charles Barkley, who will work the studio show as part of the new partnership, was grilling his boss last week about truTV not being available in many hotels. Turner Sports chief David Levy explained truTV was in more homes than ESPNU or ESPNews. His point: Any NCAA deal to put the tournament on four networks would almost certainly include at least one channel with somewhat limited reach.
"One reason why we invested in this was to get people to know where truTV was," Levy told the AP. "That's part of the reason why you put the kind of money up that we are."
With 13 more seasons on the deal, McManus and Levy are confident viewers will get the hang of finding truTV and flipping among four networks. For now, the challenge is to alleviate growing pains.
Announcers will encourage fans to switch to closer games on other channels. The scores — and networks — of the three other contests will always sit at the top of the screen. March Madness on Demand, which will still stream games for free online, will allow fans to enter their zip code and provider to tell them exactly where truTV is. Levy believes social networking will be a big help, too.
There will be no regionalization. In the past, fans in, say, western Pennsylvania would always be able to watch Pittsburgh's games on CBS. On Thursday, the top-seeded Panthers' opener will be on truTV everywhere. McManus and Levy said they weren't too concerned about the effect on hometown fans who don't get the cable channels, since they can still watch for free online.
March Madness on Demand will remain a major option for everybody on Thursday and Friday afternoons when most people are at work. The networks plan to do a lot of research this year into how fans watch games — on smartphones, on office computers, on iPads — so they can tailor coverage in the future.
They won't totally do away with quick cut-ins to other games, but expect to use that only rarely.
"We've made a pledge to the viewer we're going to show games nationally," McManus said.
He added: "The point is if somebody's watching that 40-point blowout, they're probably watching it because they really want to see that game."
The business model agreed to by CBS and Turner means a large audience on TNT is good news for CBS and vice versa. Companies can't buy ads on just one channel. Network executives will care only about the cumulative ratings across all four networks.
McManus and Levy said ad sales had easily surpassed their expectations.
"Considering the fact we haven't put on any basketball so far," McManus said with a laugh, "it's been a raging success."
Whether the basketball itself will be considered a raging success will likely depend on how many buzzer-beaters and Cinderellas this tournament produces. Levy noted that when TBS started broadcasting baseball's division series in 2007, it actually averaged more viewers than the previous year, when some games were on Fox and available to more people — but he was quick to add it was helped by the presence of several popular, large-market franchises.
The new NCAA contract, signed in April, paired up two companies with individual goals solved by the same solution. CBS wanted to keep the tournament but couldn't afford to without a partner. Turner, a Time Warner company, wanted a piece of another big-time sports event.
ESPN bid for the rights, too. CBS and Turner pitched to the NCAA that putting the tournament somewhere other than ESPN provided more exposure for college basketball. The argument: ESPN would promote the sport either way, but CBS would probably stop airing regular-season games if it didn't have the tourney, leaving fewer major platforms for NCAA hoops.
The tournament is the latest mega competition to migrate to cable, though the Final Four will remain on CBS through 2015. After that, it will alternate between CBS and TBS.
The round of 16 will be split between CBS and TBS this year, with the regional finals on CBS.
"One area David and I may disagree on is I firmly believe there are some events, iconic broadcasts, that should be and will be on broadcast television for a long time. David may disagree, and we'll negotiate against each other," McManus said as Levy laughed.
"There is still an advantage on certain events," McManus added, specifically mentioning the Masters. "I think this one, because of the unique nature of the event, is perfectly suited to a Time Warner-CBS partnership."
Levy believes viewers will eventually make no distinction between the big four over-the-air networks and cable channels.
"If you ask anybody who's anywhere from 12 years old to 35 years old, 'What's a broadcast network?' I'm not exactly sure they know," Levy said.
Other championship-level sports events don't present the challenge of multiple contests happening at the same time. The Olympics is the closest comparison, and NBC has used a roster of cable networks to air different competitions live simultaneously. NBC, though, has still held back certain marquee sports to show them in prime time, even if it means they're delayed.
With the recent Comcast-NBC merger and ESPN's stable of networks, media companies have more flexibility to use multiple channels. NBC is already directing viewers to and from new partners Versus and Golf Channel for NHL games and golf tournaments.
ESPN senior vice president Artie Bulgrin said when his network started working with ABC Sports, officials at the traditional broadcast network fretted about college football games on ESPN airing the same time as those on ABC and drawing away viewers. But every time an ESPN channel has added games, Bulgrin said, the total audience across all their networks has only grown.
Viewers could actually catch all NCAA tournament games in recent years, but only if they bought a special package on TV or watched online. Now the national pastime of complaining about how CBS flips between games is history. On Thursday and Friday, viewers will often have four games to choose from.
To McManus and Levy, the NCAA tournament is the perfect fit for that model. As with the NFL, where fantasy football forces fans to agonize over games they otherwise don't care about, brackets make every game matter in March. The picking starts sooner this year, with the First Four games Tuesday and Wednesday featuring No. 11 and 12 seeds who could make a run.
Those matchups will be on a network that once featured hours and hours of a different kind of court proceeding.
"Trust me," Levy said, "you're going to find where truTV is."
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Hanson has rough start as Braves lose to Nationals 6-3
WASHINGTON — Tommy Hanson's control issues put Atlanta in a hole early, and some of the Braves' hardest hits ended up in fielders' gloves.
Hanson (0-1) gave up four runs, three earned, in a rain-shortened start as the Braves lost 6-3 to the Washington Nationals on Saturday.
"I felt good, I'd just go through spurts where I'd make pitches, and then I wouldn't make pitches," Hanson said. "That's not going to cut it."
The Atlanta hitters had troubles of their own despite getting 10 hits. The Braves stranded runners on second and third in the second, fourth and sixth innings.
"We hit the ball as hard as anybody," Atlanta Manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "We just didn't get that blooper when we needed to, with people on base."
Hanson allowed five hits, walked two and struck out one in 3-2/3 innings before a 55-minute rain delay ended his outing. Most of the damage came in a three-run third.
Jayson Werth led off with a double — one of his three hits — Ryan Zimmerman was hit by a pitch and Michael Morse had a sacrifice fly. Rick Ankiel struck the hardest blow with a three-run home run to give the Nationals a 4-1 lead.
"My fastballs were catching way too much of the plate. I was just a little bit off with my command," Hanson said. "I'm not worried about it.
The Braves used five relievers to finish the game. Scott Linebrink and Peter Moylan each allowed a run.
After the delay, Gonzalez said it was an easy decision to remove Hanson, especially after he had some back issues in spring training.
"We want Tommy for the next 32 starts. For me, it wasn't even a difficult decision," Gonzalez said. "That's a no-brainer for me."
John Lannan (1-0) worked five innings, allowing a run and five hits for the win, Washington's first of the season.
Chipper Jones drove in a run with a single in the top of the third inning, and the Braves added a pair of solo home runs.
Chad Gaudin allowed a leadoff home run to Dan Uggla in the sixth and Drew Storen gave up an eighth-inning home run to Alex Gonzalez. It was the first homer of the season for both players.
"It's always good to get that first one out of the way," Uggla said. "First hit, first everything."
Washington's Sean Burnett pitched 1 1-3 scoreless innings for his first save, including two strong defensive plays robbing the Braves of hits. Burnett started the ninth with a nice pickup of Martin Prado's short-hop grounder up the middle, and closed the game with a catch of a comebacker by Jones.
"On offense, we could have easily had 15 or 16 hits today," Jones said. "It just seemed like they had somebody making a great play on the other end of the line drive or something. There's nothing you can do, just tip your cap."
Prado had perhaps the most difficult day at the plate for Atlanta, going 0 for 5 from the leadoff spot despite making hard contact every time.
"You can't control that," Prado said. "Hit the ball hard somewhere, and what happens, happens. That's all I can control."
The Nationals scored their fifth run in the seventh. Zimmerman opened the inning with a triple and came home a few batters later when Ankiel laid down a suicide squeeze bunt to give Washington a 5-2 lead.
Zimmerman drove in Washington's final run with an eighth-inning single.
Hanson opening appearance of the season may not have gone the way he would have liked, but he doesn't think this game will set a tone for the season.
"I'm not worried about it," Hanson said. "It's my first start, and I know I can pitch better than that. I'm going to chalk it up as one of those days."
NOTES: The start of the game was delayed 32 minutes by rain. ... Braves RHP Jair Jurrjens, who's been slowed with a rib cage injury, will throw again on the side on Sunday, Gonzalez said. It's possible he could still make his scheduled start on Wednesday in Milwaukee, but could also make a minor league start before returning to the rotation.
If they mated: Red Wings, Sabres, Flames logos
Thanks to reddit.com, sbnation.com, yahoo.com, etc. for digging this out of the Internet: mashups of various NHL logos.
They're pretty well done, too, aren't they?
But what are your thoughts on them? Does the desecration of the winged wheel boil your blood?
For what it's worth, this writer thinks they're pretty cool.
Lady Vols-Stetson: Game preview
NO. 1 TENNESSEE (31-2) VS. NO. 16 STETSON (20-12)
Where. Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville
When. 10:05 a.m. today
TV. ESPN2
Last meeting. Tennessee 83-33 (Nov. 20, 2005)
Story lines. For the 21st time in program history, the Lady Vols earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Women's Tournament. The Lady Vols have won 22 in a row and are coming off winning the SEC regular-season and conference-tournament titles, both in dominating fashion. UT has four players averaging double digits, led by freshman guard Meighan Simmons (13.7 ppg). The Lady Vols are 4-0 all-time against the Hatters, who earned an automatic bid by winning the Atlantic Sun Tournament. This is Stetson's second NCAA appearance. The Hatters are led by sophomore guard Victoria McGowan (14.2 ppg).
Drew Sharp: Michigan State's nice March reputation can't carry team
EAST LANSING -- There is no magic wand Tom Izzo hides in his office until March.
"People always wonder what the secret is," Izzo said this week, "but there's no secret. It's a combination of confidence and hard work. That's probably not sexy enough for some people."
Izzo cringes at the label "Mr. March." He considers it dismissive. It suggests a program that doesn't take matters seriously until everything suddenly clicks at the end.
He can fight it all he wants, but Michigan State's unexpected annihilation of ninth-ranked Purdue on Friday only reinforced the perception that the Spartans don't get it until they absolutely need it.
"When it's March, people expect us to hit our stride," forward Draymond Green said. "But we expect it as well."
It's why a No. 10 seed that remains severely limited on offense is a popular dark-horse pick to advance through the first weekend of the NCAA tournament.
March matters most because it's when people give full attention to college basketball. But for MSU to attain super-elite status like Duke, Kansas and North Carolina, it must realize that the three-month prelude to the Madness is relevant. The Spartans must do more than simply schedule tough competition in November and December. They have to start winning those games with regularity.
MSU must have a strong season overall, not simply an impressive finish.
"People look at 14 losses as a sign of weakness," forward Delvon Roe said, "but I would think that most of the teams we lost to are in the tournament."
Indeed, 13 of their 14 losses came to teams that made the NCAA tournament. Only their loss at Iowa came to a team with a losing record.
"The regular season should be all about preparing yourself for the tournament," Roe said. "I think that's what's great about college basketball; you get the opportunity to play at Duke or North Carolina, you go through a grueling conference season, and then the tournament gives you the opportunity to still make good a season that might not have gone the way you expected."
The Spartans were lucky this time. Only one 14-loss team made the NCAA tournament in the previous five seasons -- 19-14 Arizona in 2008. But there are five 14-loss teams in this year's tournament. There are a record seven at-large teams with a minimum 13 losses. There were a total of seven 13-or-more-loss teams in the previous five NCAA tournaments.
"Nobody's going to have sympathy for us," Green said. "Nobody's going to feel sorry for us because of the struggles we've had this season. It doesn't matter. This is a fresh start. It's a clean slate. We've built a reputation that we're at our toughest when the pressure is the biggest."
If there's a word that embodies MSU's NCAA tournament formula, it's trust.
The coaches trust the players' commitment.
The players trust the coaches' preparation.
And those who have motion sickness from following the Spartans' ups and downs this season trust that Mr. March will find another answer.
Contact Drew Sharp: 313-223-4055 or dsharp@freepress.com.
Free Press columnist Drew Sharp will answer your questions about MSU basketball in a live chat at 11 a.m. Thursday at freep.com/sports. Then come back Thursday night as special writer Anthony Fenech live-blogs the MSU-UCLA game.
Play for $1 million and compete against Free Press sports writers in our Bracket Challenge game.
South Dakota State 61, Oakland 54: Women can't reach Summit title
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- While Oakland University did not wilt under the pressure of playing the two-time defending champions in their home state Tuesday, it also couldn't replicate its semifinal magic.
The Golden Grizzlies were denied a return to the NCAA tournament for the first time in five years, losing, 61-54, to South Dakota State in the Summit League women's title game before 4,701 at the Sioux Falls Arena.
Despite trailing for the final 30 minutes, Oakland (20-12) was within three with 2 minutes left but didn't score again.
The third-seeded Jackrabbits (19-13) have won three straight Summit titles -- a league first -- and two of those championships have come against OU.
"We're proud of how far we came," said Oakland sophomore forward Bethany Watterworth, who scored 17 points, "but we're very disappointed."
Kristin Rotert scored 17 points for the Jacks, who were just slightly better on both ends of the floor in defeating the Summit League's best defensive team in points allowed and defensive field-goal percentage.
Freshman Zakiya Minifee had 10 points and 10 rebounds, and sophomore Sharise Calhoun scored 12 points for the fourth-seeded Grizzlies, who scored 96 points in a semifinal rout of regular-season champ Oral Roberts. OU returns four starters next season.
"It's really hard to beat a returning champ who has confidence," Oakland coach Beckie Francis said of South Dakota State. "They were down, they struggled a bit at times this year, and I think they draw from the crowd and their confidence."