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Neil Warnock is beginning to realise the extent of the challenge he has taken on at Crystal Palace following Tuesday night’s 3-1 defeat by Stoke City in his first home game in charge.

Richard Cresswell struck twice and Ryan Shawcross added a third – although Jon Parkin also claimed the goal – as Stoke grabbed their first Championship away win since the opening day of the season and turned Warnock’s big day into a damp squib.

“It was very disappointing, but it’s made me realise just what a great challenge this is, especially at this stage of my career. I couldn’t ask for a better one,” Warnock said.

“It’s disappointing for me, but the crowd were superb under the circumstances. They were bad goals to concede. They shouldn’t be scoring goals at this level from those positions. But I can’t fault the players for effort – perhaps one or two are trying too hard. The occasion got to some of them.”

After a low-key first half, the floodgates opened four minutes into the second when Dominic Matteo swung over a free-kick and Cresswell headed the ball past Julian Speroni at the far post for his first league goal of the season.

But the hosts were level within two minutes when James Scowcroft’s reverse pass sent Dougie Freedman into the area. The veteran striker still had plenty to do, but he expertly toyed with Stoke defender Carl Dickinson, made himself a yard of space and guided the ball past Steve Simonsen with the outside of his right boot.

“At 1-1, I thought we would go on and win it, but instead they picked us off,” added Warnock. “There is an expectation about playing at home and some of the players need to ask themselves whether they can do it. You learn more about a team when they are 3-1 down at home. You have to stand up and be counted and some did. I need winners in the team, but I’m not asking anyone to do anything they haven’t done before.”

Cresswell, who infuriated Warnock two years ago when he opted to join Leeds instead of Sheffield United on transfer deadline day, doubled Stoke’s advantage in the 59th minute. Liam Lawrence’s shot rebounded off Speroni’s right-hand post and into the path of the striker, who made no mistake from 12 yards.

Stoke went three up in the 74th minute when Rory Delap thumped a 30-yard drive on to the crossbar and on-loan Manchester United defender Shawcross headed the rebound against the underside of the bar and downwards, before turning away to celebrate his fifth goal of the season.

Parkin made sure by putting the ball into the back of the net, but the Stoke manager, Tony Pulis, did not care who got the final touch as his team moved into the play-off places.

“They’re arguing about it but all I care about is it was a Stoke City player who scored it,” he said. “It makes no difference to me,” he said. “I thought we needed a response after Saturday’s defeat by Sheffield Wednesday. We knew it would be difficult with it being Neil’s first game, and we knew the supporters would get behind the team.

“The oldest player in our back four is 22, and Palace had a good spell when we were creaking a bit but they came through it and over the 90 minutes I thought we deserved the win.”

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Source: sport.independent.co.uk

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) - With Pat White running the show and Steve Slaton racing sideline to sideline, No. 6 West Virginia had no problem beating No. 25 Rutgers yet again.

Slaton ran for three touchdowns, White rushed for 156 yards and a score and the Mountaineers kept their BCS hopes alive with a 31-3 win Saturday.

“I think it puts us right where we want to be,” Slaton said after West Virginia (7-1, 2-1 Big East) beat Rutgers for the 13th straight time. “We lost one Big East game and hopefully that’ll be the last one we lose.”

The Mountaineers have Louisville, Cincinnati, Connecticut and Pittsburgh left on their schedule, and they should end up in a BCS game if they run the table.

There were seven bowl representatives at the game, including folks from the Sugar, Orange and Fiesta. They had to be excited watching White and Slaton and a stingy Mountaineers defense.

Slaton went from sideline to sideline on a spectacular 38-yard run for an early lead, and he scored second-half touchdowns of 1 and 6 yards to bury Rutgers (5-3, 2-2).

White, who missed last year’s wild 41-39 triple overtime win over Rutgers with an ankle injury, was even more impressive. He scored on a 1-yard run and drove defenders crazy with his elusiveness. The junior also hit 10-of-16 passes for 144 yards, highlighted by a 51-yard screen pass to Slaton to set up a touchdown.

Thursday’s action:

Saturday’s action:

To honor the Seminole Tribe, Florida State will again don their black, “Unconquered” uniforms for this weekend’s homecoming game against Duke.

The all-black uniforms, which were designed by Nike, were unveiled last year against Boston College as a way to honor the Seminole Tribe. The uniforms bear the word “Unconquered” in recognition of the tribe’s status as the only Native Americans that have not negotiated a formal peace treaty with the United States.

FSU is 0-1 in the all-black “Unconquered” uniforms.

This year, there are persistent rumors that FSU will also wear black shell helmets to complete the “blackout” look. As evidence that the Seminoles may wear black helmets, a limited-edition, commemorative black helmet is being sold in the webstore at the team’s official website.

Many of the players are very excited about the prospect of wearing the Unconquered uniforms and helmets, however, the fans seem to be more evenly split. Many fans believe that FSU should only wear garnet & gold, the team’s official colors, while others believe that the school’s willingness to wear the commemorative uniforms honors the relationship with the Seminole tribe, and others believe that they simply look cool.

As a long time FSU fan, I like this notion of the commemorative “Unconquered” uniforms. I will concede that they probably would have looked better with a black helmet last year, but I’m still a little apprehensive about wearing a helmet that has no historical place in the program’s history. I get that “there’s a first time for everything”, but the skeptic in me has to question Nike’s role in all of this.

It bears noting that Florida State has not issued a press packet with details about the black helmet specifically. So, either the Seminoles will don the traditional Vegas Gold helmets, or the team is saving this helmet as a “surprise”.

I guess this is one way to add any intrigue whatsoever into a 4-3 FSU vs 1-6 Duke game.

Source: feeds.feedburner.com

By: Gregg Hall

When I was in the automotive industry I saw the extension of car loans going into 54, then 60, then 72 months and with the extension of the loan installments came the inevitable negative equity. In general the longer the term you finance for the more likely you are to find yourself “upside down”. The motorcycle industry is no stranger to this as well and recently with the motorcycle finance companies offering loans that extend payments out as far as 72 months the problem is just getting worse. This is even more common with motorcycles that depreciate rapidly.

Just as with automotive loans when you extend the payments out over more than three years you begin to put yourself in a situation where your debt exceeds the value of your motorcycle. This is even more true if you do not put money down or even worse if you trade in a bike that you still owe on.

But how does this happen and what can be done to prevent it?

To begin with you need to look at the way the lender determines the interest. Some lenders use the rule of 78 in which you will be paying almost all interest at the beginning of the loan and then you have the other more preferable method of simple interest.

With an installment plan set up on a rule of 78 interest calculation you will be paying almost pure interest for the first couple of years and therefore will have virtually nothing in the way of equity. When you consider that statistically the average motorcycle owner trades bikes more often than every two years you can begin to see how this can be a problem.

The interest computation of choice is simple interest; as a matter of fact I personally would accept no other option. The way simple interest works is that it is calculated on the balance of the loan and if you keep the length of the loan at a reasonable time frame you will not run into the negative equity problem. If you extend the payments out over more than four years you will still get yourself in trouble just as you will if you skip payments.

If you have found yourself in a negative equity or upside down situation with your motorcycle don’t feel like there is no way out. A lot of people just give up and allow their bike to be repossessed and sold off at auction which just exacerbates their problem, now you owe money on a bike that you don’t have and can’t ride!

To avoid being caught in the “upside down” predicament on your motorcycle always look for a lender that will give you a simple interest loan on your bike. Secondly, always put some money down upfront to reduce the payments and the terms. Finally, never finance your motorcycle purchase over more than three years.

Article Source: http://www.articleyard.com

Information about the Author:

Gregg Hall is a consultant for online and offline businesses and lives in Navarre Florida. Get reviews on motorcycle gear and accessories at www.motorcyclegearandaccessories.com

Source: ju-sport.blogspot.com

DC super featherweight Ron “Teflon” Boyd was stopped in the fifth round by undefeated Eloy Perez in a main event bout at the Monterey Conference Center in Monterey, CA.

According to Fightnews.com, Perez floored Boyd twice in the fifth with body shots, the second time for the count at the 58 second mark.

With the loss, Boyd falls to 5-3, two KO’s. Perez is now 10-0-2, two KO’s.

Source: boxingalongthebeltway.blogspot.com

Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen

Kimi Raikkonen will have to wait until November 15 to learn if he officially is the Formula One champion for 2007.

The FIA International Court of Appeal will hear McLaren’s case against the decision of the Brazilian Grand Prix stewards on that date.

The race stewards elected not to penalize the cars of Nico Rosberg, Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld after being notified that the temperature of the fuel being put into the cars during the race was lower than the mininum allowed under the technical regulations. They determined that the evidence was not conclusive in order to make a ruling.

Rosberg finished fourth while Kubica and Heidfeld were fifth and sixth respectively. If they were to be disqualified, it could move Lewis Hamilton up into fourth, which would give him enough points to win the championship over Raikkonen.

Hamilton has publicly stated he does not want to win the title in this manner and McLaren have said that there reasoning behind the appeal is to get clarification about the regulations in question for the benefit of all teams.

FIA president Max Mosley says as far as he’s concerned, Raikkonen is the rightful champion.

"For us the world championship is over, the result is what it is," he tells autosport.com. "A team presented an appeal; at the moment, this doesn’t change anything - it’s up to them to prove they are right."

"But even if the cars classified ahead of Hamilton would be excluded, would this change his position? The Court of Appeal will have to rule on that."

Source: www.tsn.ca

Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison

READING, Pa. - Canada’s Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison took the pairs short program Friday night at Skate America.

Dube, of Drummondville, Que., and Davison, of Cambridge, Ont., seventh at worlds after winning their fourth Canadian championship, barely squeezed past China’s Pang Qing and Tong Jian. Dube and Davison were more crisp than the Chinese, particularly Tong, who stumbled twice in footwork.

Still, it was very close, with Canada’s pair getting 60.80 points to 60.32 for the 2006 world champions.

Russia’s Vera Bazarova and Yuri Larionov were third with 56.76.

U.S. champion Evan Lysacek crashed hard on his opening jump, a planned quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop combination. He rallied nicely, but finished a distant second to the dynamic Daisuke Takahashi of Japan in the men’s short program.

Takahashi, with a hip-hop version of “Swan Lake” that probably would have made Tchaikovsky walk out of the arena, turned on the crowd with his jumps, spins and footwork. The judges certainly were impressed, too, at the first Grand Prix series event of the season, awarding the Japanese skater 80.04 points.

That put the world silver medallist and 2005 Skate America winner far ahead of Lysacek, who has 67.70 points heading into Saturday night’s free skate.

Toronto’s Patrick Chan, 16, who is ranked fifth at the senior level in Canada, took bronze with 67.47 points. Kevin Reynolds of Vancouver was fifth.

Dressed all in black and skating to music from two Zorro films, Lysacek performed well after his hard fall, particularly on his other two jumps. The scores were somewhat charitable, though, because he had no combination jump in his program.

Earlier, four-time U.S. champion Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto won the ice dance compulsories.

Source: www.tsn.ca

Ivan Ljubicic

Lyon, France (Sports Network) - Veteran French crowd favorite Sebastien Grosjean was among the quarterfinal winners, while former champion Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia came up a loser Friday at the Lyon Tennis Grand Prix.

In an all-French quarter, Grosjean outlasted Julien Benneteau 6-7 (6-8), 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) in 2 hours, 34 minutes.

Meanwhile, the 2001 Lyon winner Ljubicic, seeded fifth this week, gave way to Colombian qualifier Alejandro Falla 7-5, 6-7 (3-7), 7-5 on Day 5.

In other quarterfinal action, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga trounced Belgian Olivier Rochus 6-3, 6-2 and last year’s Lyon runner-up Marc Gicquel grounded Argentine Diego Hartfield 7-5, 6-3 on the indoor carpet at Palais des Sports Lyon Gerland. Gicquel lost to Richard Gasquet in last year’s popular all-French finale here. Gasquet succumbed to Tsonga here on Thursday.

Saturday’s semis will pit Grosjean versus his compatriot Tsonga and Gicquel against Falla.

Source: www.tsn.ca

Gary Klein Los Angeles Times

EUGENE, Ore. — This is not the comfortable familiarity of the Coliseum.

It is far from the staid, mostly quiet environment that was Notre Dame Stadium.

After comparatively unchallenging tests at home against Arizona and on the road against Notre Dame, USC quarterback Mark Sanchez makes his third start at one of college football’s loudest venues: Oregon’s Autzen Stadium.

Ninth-ranked USC hopes to silence the crowd today when it plays fifth-ranked Oregon in a game that will either keep alive or end the Trojans’ hopes for Pacific 10 Conference and national titles.

“This is time for us,” Coach Pete Carroll said.

More than 54,000 Ducks-crazy fans, and acoustics that make Autzen Stadium sound like three times as many, continue to rattle opponents despite a conference ban on inflatable plastic noise makers that was imposed in the aftermath of a USC loss to Oregon in 2001.

USC won here in 2002 and overcame a 13-0 deficit to win in a rout in 2005. Those Trojans teams, however, were led by veteran quarterbacks Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart.

Today, senior John David Booty will be on the sideline resting a broken right middle finger, an injury that has opened the door for Sanchez. Booty will play only if Sanchez is injured or falters.

Sanchez passed for four touchdowns without an interception against Notre Dame and said this week he was confident the experience helped prepare him for today’s decibel level.

Offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian will monitor the third-year sophomore, noting especially his reaction to fans who are close to the field and not timid about getting personal.

“I just told him, ‘The main thing is keeping your composure. The crowd is going to be into the game and we might make a mistake here or there and you can’t dwell on it. You’ve got to be able to move on and go to the next snap,’ ” Sarkisian said.

Oregon quarterback Dennis Dixon, a 69.3% passer who also can run, has mostly basked in cheers from Autzen crowds while leading one of the nation’s most potent attacks.

The Ducks (6-1, 3-1) are coming off a 55-34 victory at Washington, the fourth time Oregon has scored at least 52 points.

“They’ve really looked like they’re a step ahead of everybody they’ve been playing all year,” Carroll said.

Said Oregon Coach Mike Bellotti: “We haven’t faced a defense the caliber of USC’s yet.”

The Trojans will adopt a simple strategy to neutralize Dixon.

Carroll fired the first shot across the bow at his weekly news conference when he said, “You have to hit this guy,” adding that the Trojans must “make sure that we don’t miss our opportunities to bang him around.”

Middle linebacker Rey Maualuga said Dixon would feel the Trojans’ constant presence.

“From the get-go, when he starts running the ball, we’re just going to have to punish him before he even gets momentum going,” Maualuga said.

According to defensive end Lawrence Jackson, a collective effort will be required to control Dixon, and perhaps the Trojans’ destiny.

“If he gets out and is flying around and controlling the tempo,” Jackson said, “it’s going to be a long day.”

Source: scfootball.blogspot.com

England

UEFA Women’s European Championship
Qualifying Round, Group One
12.30pm, Saturday 27 October 2007
Banks’s Stadium, Walsall FC

England secured three qualification points towards Euro 2009, and ensured they carried on where they left off at the World Cup in China with a dominant win over Group One rivals Belarus.

Faye White was the only absentee through injury, but England built on their progress and took another step on the long qualifying journey to the next major championship in Finland in two years time.

Alex Scott scored her third and fourth goals of 2007, while captain Kelly Smith and Eniola Aluko also struck to give a suitably emphatic tone to the scoreline.

Just ten minutes into the game England took the lead through an unlikely source as Alex Scott found herself in the six yard box to head home the opening goal. The chance was created after a fine run and cross from Eniola Aluko, Fara Williams picked up the loose ball at the far post and crossed for Scott to glance the ball into the net.

Although she was deployed in midfield and attack during the World Cup, Scott returned to her familiar right-back role in this encounter, and took her tally toseven goals in 34 appearances for her country with the first goal of the match.

In the moments that followed there was a flurry of chances to increase the advantage with Katie Chapman going close on three separate occasions. The second of her three efforts came after a terrific save from Sviatlana Novikava to deny Kelly Smith rebounded into her path, but she was unable to keep her header down.

Rachel Yankey then went close with a close-range volley that narrowly went wide of the post, pouncing on a Chapman header and acrobatically driving the ball goalwards. Just after the half hour mark England doubled their advantage through skipper Kelly Smith, again with a headed goal as Alex Scott was scorer-turned-provider.

It was an inch-perfect delivery from the Arsenal defender to pick out her teammate on the penalty spot, and Smith made no mistake as she headed the ball forcefully past Novikava.

Shortly before the interval England had a golden opportunity to further cement their lead, Karen Carney burst through on goal having been found by Chapman and instinctively shot at goal when a square pass to Aluko would have surely lead to a simple tap-in for the Chelsea forward.

The opportunity was a distant memory as the teams returned from half-time and Aluko added her name to the scoresheet. Kelly Smith played a perfectly weighted pass into her path and Aluko glided past the last defender and slotted the ball into the far corner.

Aluko then played her part in a sweeping move that gave Hope Powell’s side a fourth goal, and a second for Alex Scott. Aluko and substitute forward Lianne Sanderson swapped a superb one-two on the edge of the area before Sanderson angled the looping ball across goal for Scott to fire the ball into the roof of the net.

It was little more than the Three Lions deserved as the growing strength of the squad was emphasised by substitutes Sue Smith, Lianne Sanderson and Jill Scott all coming on and making an impact on the game in the second period.

Teams:

England: 1 Rachel Brown, 2 Alex Scott, 3 Casey Stoney, 4 Katie Chapman (12 Jill Scott , 5 Mary Philip, 6 Anita Asante, 7 Karen Carney (16 Sue Smith 46), 8 Fara Williams, 9 Eniola Aluko, 10 Kelly Smith (c) (14 Lianne Sanderson 55), 11 Rachel Yankey

Subs Not Used: 13 Siobhan Chamberlain, 15 Rachel Unitt, 17 Lindsay Johnson, 18 Jody Handley

Head Coach: Hope Powell

Belarus: 1 Sviatlana Novikava, 2 Viktoria Krylova, 3 Liudzmila Kuzniatsova (6 Irina Kozeeva 58), 5 Oksana Shpak, 7 Volha Radzko (16 Alena Ziuzkova 75), 8 Volha Novikava, 9 Svetlana Astasheva, 10 Natalya Ryzhevich (c), 11 Alesia Davydovic, 13 Sviatlana Ryzhova, 15 Irina Chukisova (17 Maryna Lis 53)

Subs Not Used: 4 Volha Manzhuk, 12 Ina Batsianouskaya, 14 Alena Buzinova, 18 Tatsioana Kiose

Head Coach: Vladzimir Kasakouski

Referee: Marylin Remy (France)

Assistant Referees: Karine Vives Solana, Audrey Guerlin (Both France)

Attendance: 8,632

Source: www.thefa.com