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If you’re injured it doesn’t mean you can forget about making a statement — that’s what the modern tennis players are telling us. You need to use bright colors, strange or even symbolic taping.

After securing Taiwan’s spot in the 2008 Hopman Cup, Hsieh Su-wei wore a blue “V” for victory. Serena Williams shocked us all when she showed up at the Sony Ericsson Championships wrapped like a mummy (unfortunately, she had to retire from the tournament because of a knee injury). Maria Sharapova was much more simplistic concerning the shape, but the bright pink color couldn’t get unnoticed (this was at the Acura Classic in San Diego this July; by the way, the shoulder injury is now 100% fine judging from her fantastic performance at the recently-finished tournament in Madrid) .

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Source: Don’t forget to glam up your injury

Nate Tomlinson, one of the premier point guards on the board, opted to end his recruitment Monday morning.

Filed under Colorado

Source: Aussie Is Big 12 Bound

Wayne, our Southern correspondant, asked me a fairly simply question:

Granted it’s early in the season, but the NHL All-Star Game is getting no buzz nationally (par for the course, I guess). Do you think the format should be changed from East vs. West (or Patrick vs. Campbell for oldtimers) to North Americans vs. Europeans?

We all know that the All-Star Game hasn’t mattered in many years, and is basically one big corporate schmoozefest for Bettman and the big companies he is trying to court.

Players certainly don’t want to risk fatigue and injury playing in an exhibition games with players they’d normally be trying to bodycheck through the glass. Therefore, getting the All-Star Game to matter would be an enormous chore.

The NHL could go the MLB route by awarding home advantage in the Stanley Cup Finals, but we all know how incredibly dumb that idea is. Sure, let’s not reward a team for having success during a long regular season, and give home ice based on a game of shinny.

The NHL could offer a large monetary award to the winners of the game, since players seem to chase a roll of green almost as much as the blondest bunny, I suppose giving a substantional amount of coin to the winning team to divvy up *MIGHT* induce some hard play.

Then again, players in the ASG already make serious coin …

As for the buzz, the Rory Fitzpatrick story was the best thing that could have happened for the NHL last season. Even I got into the voting, something I don’t normally do. The hype the story created gave the ASG some actual press!! Good or bad, air time is what the NHL wants, and what the NHL got.

This year? What stories are there to tell?

*crickets chirp*

Exactly.

I don’t worry if the ASG will matter or not, since I use that time to take a break from the game. If I am going to worry about anything, it’ll be making the skills competition more exciting to watch.

Labels: All-Star game

Source: The All-Star Game Just Doesn’t Matter

Lewes 1-5 Welwyn Garden City
The FA Women’s Cup sponsored by E.ON
Second Round Proper
Sunday 11 November 2007
The Dripping Pan, Lewes FC 

Welwyn Garden City had already beaten Lewes 4-0 in a South East Combination fixture this season and the Hertfordshire side achieved another four-goal victory in an eventful FA Women’s Cup tie at The Dripping Pan yesterday afternoon.

The match kicked off in sunshine, 17 minutes late, and the visitors immediately put together some useful attacks. After just five minutes Laveena Betts was given space to try a shot from the right and the ball clipped a Lewes player’s shoulder to beat Trish Gower at her near post for an early goal. Within a minute it was 2-0, after Naomi Lyon had dribbled round two defenders to plant a shot past Gower’s right hand.

But it wasn’t about to become a landslide and Lewes enjoyed a lot of possession in the next 20 minutes or so. Clare Trafford looked dangerous and enterprising at centre-forward, curling one effort wide of the right-hand post and forcing an outstanding save from Verity Crook on the line with another.

Then, on the half-hour, a controversial penalty brought Lewes back into contention.

Crook felled Stafford with a crude lunge near the edge of the box on the left and the referee signalled for a free-kick. As Welwyn lined up their defensive wall, a flagging assistant drew the referee’s attention and a spot-kick was subsequently awarded. ‘H’ Whitton’s low shot was easily held by the ‘keeper but the assistant, taking centre stage again, indicated that she had moved before the kick was taken.

Whitton stepped up again and thumped the ball into the top corner. 2-1 to the visitors at half time, with the sky now overcast.

A much more solid performance from Welwyn in the second half brought them three goals and a passage into the Third Round Proper, the stage when some of the Premier League clubs enter.

Betts’ 30-yarder flew over Gower’s head barely 30 seconds into the second period, Lyon side-footed the fourth after good work by Faye Rees and Betts completed her hat-trick in stoppage time with a left-foot rocket after a corner had only been half-cleared.

The visitors’ manager was red-carded and sent into the stand a few minutes before his left-back was badly injured after jumping for a header and landing awkwardly. She was quickly stretchered off and taken away by ambulance.

Attendance: 50 

Source: No joy for Lewes

Cristiano Ronaldo

After a pair of stellar performances Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo earns TSN.ca/Soccer player of the week honours.

Love him or hate him, you cannot deny that the Portuguese International is one of the top talents in football.  Those talents were on display this week in both Europe and domestically as Man U flexed their footballing muscles.

Ronaldo was at the centre of the Red Devils 4-0 destruction on Dynamo Kiev during their Champions League encounter Wednesday.  His long range free kick lead directly to Gerard Pique’s opening goal while Cris himself finished off the scoring in the 88th minute with a beautiful solo effort.  With the win United assured themselves a spot in the next round.

On Sunday, Ronaldo needed only a two minute span to rip out the hearts of the Blackburn faithful as he scored a pair of quick goals to ensure United earned all three points.  The win also vaulted Manchester past Arsenal for top spot in the Premier League.

Others worthy of consideration this week included Stuttgart’s Mario Gomez, Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard, Feyenoord’s Canadian-born star Julian de Guzman, Marseille’s Mamadou Niang and Spartak Moscow’s Roman Pavluchenko.

Source: Ronaldo named Player of the Week

NEW YORK — Jorge Posada prefers to stay with the New York Yankees and believes he is “really close” to reaching a new deal with the team.

Jorge Posada

Catcher
New York Yankees

Profile

2007 Season Stats GM HR RBI R OBP AVG 144 20 90 91 .426 .338

“My first priority is the Yankees,” the five-time All-Star catcher told reporters Sunday at halftime of the New York Knicks’ game against the Miami Heat. “I would like to stay with the Yankees. My heart is with the Yankees, so hopefully we can get something done.”

The Yankees’ exclusive negotiating rights with Posada end on Tuesday, when free agents can talk money with all teams.

“We’re working with the Yankees,” Posada said. “Right now it’s up in the air, but the chances are good.”

Posada, coming off a season in which he hit a career-best .338 with 20 homers, 90 RBIs and 91 runs scored, has reportedly been offered a three-year deal for around $40 million by the Yankees. He is believed to be seeking a fourth year.

Posada also voiceed his support for new Yankees manager Joe Girardi, a teammate in the Bronx from 1996-99.

“I love Joe,” he said. “He’s been like a big brother to me since ‘96, so I’m really hopefully looking forward to working with him.”

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press

Source: Posada ‘really close’ to re-signing with Yankees

One falls, and everyone takes a step up.

From LSU down to West Virginia, the teams ranked second through sixth last week all moved up one spot with Ohio State freefalling from the unquestioned number one to an also-ran seventh. Not only did the Buckeyes topple, but they fell so far that any dream of being in the discussion along with the other one-loss teams for a spot in the BCS championship game is now gone.

Things will get more and more interesting over the next few weeks, with the Big 12 playing a bigger role in the debate. LSU isn’t just number one, it’s number one with a 25-mile wide gap before getting to Oregon. The Ducks are on a relative island, a solid 0.0289 ahead of Kansas, but if the Jayhawks win out that’ll mean they’ll have beaten No. 5 Missouri to get to No. 4 Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship to go 13-0. As the lone unbeaten among the BCS conferences, the pollsters would all but assure Mark Mangino’s club of a spot in the title game, meaning Oregon will be out in the cold.

What happens if Oklahoma wins out? That’ll mean it’ll have beaten either No. 3 Kansas, or what will be No. 3 or 4 Missouri if the Tigers beat the Jayhawks. Will that be enough to leapfrog the Sooners over the Ducks? The same question applies to Missouri, who will have beaten No. 3 Kansas and No. 4 Oklahoma if it wins the Big 12 championship. Assuming Chase Daniel and the boys get by Kansas State this week, will that be enough to get by Oregon?

For the Ducks, it’s all about style points now. Playing at Arizona, at UCLA and then getting Oregon State at home in the Civil War, there aren’t any chances left to make an impact on a national scale. That’s why it’ll be vital to be razor sharp. Even a close win might mean the national championship dream is gone.

Thursday’s action:

Saturday’s action:

Chelsea face a nervous wait over Carvalho’s back injury

Defender Ricardo Carvalho has become the latest player to join Chelsea’s growing injury list and will have a scan on a back problem on Monday.

The 29-year-old Portugal international came off during the first half of Chelsea’s 1-1 Premier League draw with Everton at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

First-choice Blues keeper Peter Cech and defenders John Terry and Paulo Ferreira are already on the sidelines.

However, England left-back Ashley Cole is fit after an ankle problem.

After Sunday’s match, which leaves Chelsea five points behind Premier League leaders Manchester United, Grant conceded: “We have too many injuries.

“It is not easy to play without all the back four and goalkeeper from the last few months.

“This is the reason we have a big squad but it is unusual.”

Source: Chelsea face Carvalho injury fear

WILLIE Mason wants his future decided by the end of the week after beginning his own pre-season training with a solo run at Centennial Park on Monday.

The disgruntled Bulldogs forward held a promising meeting with Sharks coach Ricky Stuart , while Sydney Roosters chief executive Brian Canavan visited NRL headquarters to discuss salary cap issues which could thwart their bid for Mason.

St George-Illawarra confirmed it has one or two positions vacant on its 2008 roster, plus the likely inclusion of suspended Wallabies winger Wendell Sailor, while English giants Wigan are Mason’s only overseas option and the most lucrative.

"I want to be training with a team at least by Monday or during next week,” Mason told the Nine Network.

"I’m sick of it dragging on, I’m sick of dragging the Bulldogs through it and my teammates who stuck by me.”

One thing is certain, Mason won’t be mending any burnt bridges at the Bulldogs despite receiving a breach of contract notice.

Less than a week after the board gave him permission to negotiate with other clubs, the Bulldogs advised Mason he would need to front a ’show cause hearing’ on Tuesday November 20.

It is claimed Mason failed to attend functions, wear club sponsors’ clothing and missed scheduled photo shoots on behalf of the Bulldogs.

But the hearing is unlikely to go ahead, with Mason only needing to request a contract release to sever all ties to the club.

"I’m not fronting any board. I don’t have to, they don’t want me to,” said Mason.

"They said I can negotiate with another club so I’m doing it.”

Those negotiations continued as Mason met Stuart, while other suitors crunched the numbers to finalise their offers.

Sharks chief executive Tony Zappia said the discussions were "positive” and the Sharks would not be offloading any players to fit Mason under the cap.

"We met with him this afternoon and we’ll formalise an offer in the next 48 hours,” said Zappia.

The Roosters remain favourites, but coach Brad Fittler admitted releasing lock Ashley Harrison to the Gold Coast on a three-year deal today was a necessity just to get below next year’s cap and it remains a tight fit trying to recruit Mason.

"We were above the salary cap so we had to trim it down somehow and it was getting complicated,” Fittler told the Seven Network.

Harrison said Mason would fit in nicely at the Bondi Junction club.

"Mase will be fine. He can fit in anywhere I think,” said Harrison.

"He’s played a heap of games for his country and for his state so he’ll be a great asset for any club.”

Mason was thought to have begun boxing training today for his possible professional debut in January, and prospective Roosters teammates support his boxing aspirations.

"I would rather him fight some random dude in the ring than be sparring us at training,” Fitzgibbon said.

AAP

Source: Mason wants new club very soon

Rome burns.

This comes after news that a Lazio fan was killed. Details of the incident are still hazy but according to reports, this happened when police officers intervened a roadside argument that got ugly. There were two cars involved in the incident, one carrying Juventus fans and the other Lazio.

In an attempt to disperse the fans, an officer allegedly misfired a warning shot and shot a Lazio fan, Gabriele Sandri, in the back of the neck, possibly causing him to die instantly.

What makes things worse is that it is even suggested that Sandri was seated in the car and was not in any way involved in the roadside brawl. In response, fans in Rome are rioting by setting police cars and vans on fire. The situation is urgent.

This is a sad day for Italian football, which is still recovering from last season’s tragedy, in which a police officer was killed while attempting to quell fighting between fans of Catania and Palermo.

Source: Lazio Fan Accidentally Killed By Police