Nov 24
Current cricketers are not meant to consort with alleged match-fixers but Owais Shah has always been his own man.
Such independence has, at times, made him difficult to coach. At Middlesex, the county he has played for since emerging as a 17-year-old prodigy, his desire to take counsel from coaches not employed by the club upset John Emburey, the head coach. And his reluctance to follow every other England batsman and adopt Duncan Fletcher’s fabled forward press when playing spin probably cost him many international caps. As we now know, Fletcher, the former England coach, did not warm to people he could not control.
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Nov 24
For one of Bristol’s Heineken Cup heroes, the little bit of domestic business down the A4 this afternoon will be not so much after the Lord Mayor’s Show as the after the Lord Mayor’s dinner. It was for a spot of replenishment rather than entertainment that Mark Regan was invited as a guest of Bristol’s civic leader to the Mansion House on Thursday evening, having switched on the Christmas lights at Downend, the Bristolian suburb that gave the world W G Grace and two thirds of pop group Bananarama.
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Nov 24
PETE Sampras shocked world number one Roger Federer in Macau on Saturday to pull back to 2-1 in their Asian exhibition series.
The former US world champion forced the first break of the match at 4-4 in the second set and served out for victory.
He had earlier taken the first set on a tie-break 10-8 after a tight affair in which there were no breaks of serve.
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Nov 24
The Computer’s Weekly Picks Against the Money Lines, Week 13 College / Week 12 NFL
Money Line Picks
13 Cincinnati Syracuse Low -1100 $9.17 [BODY].83 0.00 13 Central Florida UTEP Low -1100 $9.17 [BODY].83 0.00 13 North Carolina Duke Low -600 $8.57 $1.43 0.00 13 Marshall Alabama-Birmingham Low -600 $8.57 $1.43 0.00 13 Tulsa Rice Low -420 $8.08 $1.92 0.00 13 Mississippi St Mississippi Low -236 $7.02 $2.98 0.00 13 Auburn Alabama Low -226 $6.93 $3.07 0.00 13 Virginia Tech Virginia Low -164 $6.21 $3.79 0.00 13 Wake Forest Vanderbilt Low -105 $5.12 $4.88 0.00 13 Fresno St Kansas St Low -101 $5.02 $4.98 0.00 13 SMU Memphis Low 260 $2.78 $7.22 0.00 13 Pittsburgh South Florida Low 330 $2.33 $7.67 0.00 13 Florida St Florida Low 420 $1.92 $8.08 0.00 Subtotal 0.00 13 Washington Washington St Med -222 $10.34 $4.66 0.00 13 Louisiana-Monroe Louisiana-Lafayette Med -150 $9.00 $6.00 0.00 13 Clemson South Carolina Med -137 $8.67 $6.33 0.00 13 San José St Nevada Med 146 $6.10 $8.90 0.00 13 Texas A&M Texas Med 190 $5.17 $9.83 0.00 13 Florida Int’l Florida Atlantic Med 350 $3.33 $11.67 0.00 Subtotal 0.00 13 Ohio U. Miami OH High -124 $11.07 $8.93 0.00 13 Oregon UCLA High -110 $10.48 $9.52 0.00 13 Wyoming Colorado St High 146 $8.13 $11.87 0.00 13 Notre Dame Stanford High 149 $8.03 $11.97 0.00 13 Temple Western Michigan High 355 $4.40 $15.60 0.00 13 San Diego St TCU High 380 $4.17 $15.83 0.00 13 Arkansas St Southern Miss High 420 $3.85 $16.15 0.00 Subtotal 0.00 Net Gain 0.00
Upset Picks
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Nov 24
Michigan’s head coaching search just went in a different direction. Houston Nutt’s life took a sharply positive turn. Wild celebrations began in Morgantown, Columbia and Columbus. New Orleans just assured itself of getting more tourist dollars. Amazing what one football game can do, eh?
The reverberations from Arkansas’ 50-48 triple-overtime upset of LSU will be felt for quite some time across the United States. When Tiger quarterback Matt Flynn’s pass was intercepted on a rule-mandated two-point try at the end of the third overtime stanza, several communities and multiple coaching reputations were changed in an instant. One play at the end of a paralyzing pigskin pulse-pounder immediately reshaped the college football world as we know it. This latest and greatest upset in The Year That Sanity Forgot served to transform the national championship derby and the Michigan coaching search at the very same time. The bowl landscape and so many other aspects of the college football industry were permanently altered by this baffling bombshell in Baton Rouge.
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Nov 24
CARLTON have selected ruckman Matthew Kreuzer with the No.1 pick at the AFL national draft.
Kreuzer, 18, from the Northern Knights Victorian under-18 side, is the Blues’ third top pick in as many years following Marc Murphy (2005) and Bryce Gibbs (2006).
Richmond selected midfielder Trent Cotchin, also from Northen Knights, with their No.2 pick and West Coast chose West Australian Chris Masten, a Toyota Rookie Road featured player, with their third pick.
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Nov 24
STRONG ties with Port Adelaide and one of the strongest bloodlines in the AFL highlighted Hawthorn’s draft day.
The Hawks recruited small forward Cyril "Junior Boy" Rioli in round one at No.12 and later, after a long deliberation, drew some gasps from the audience when they went ahead with their left-field plan to give Stuart Dew a comeback.
The 2004 Power premiership player has been out of the game for a year and, as noted by one rival club this week, was never someone noted for his fitness fanaticism.
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Nov 24
Maxiell Blocks Iguodala
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – Tayshaun Prince scored 15 points as the Detroit Pistons held on for their fourth home victory in four games, with an 83-79 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night.
Detroit never shook the Sixers until the final seconds. Philadelphia’s Andre Iguodala hit a three-pointer to cut the lead to 79-78 with less than 15 seconds to play, but Chauncey Billups made two free throws and the Pistons forced Iguodala into a bad shot at the other end that missed the rim.
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Nov 24
He turned out to be Croatia’s secret weapon, and now the people want him as their mascot.
Opera singer Tony Henry was at Wembley on Wednesday to sing the national anthems. He kicked off with the visitors’ anthem, but instead of singing “Mila kuda si planina”, which translates as “You know, my dear, how we love your mountains”, he sang, “Mila kura si planina” – “My dear, my penis is a mountain”.
Vedran Corluka and Luka Modric enjoyed the moment, grinning widely at each other – and Croatia’s fans are convinced it relaxed the team and helped them on the way to a 3-2 victory.
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Nov 24
KIRKLAND, Wash. — Unexpectedly, nothing came on the side for Matt Hasselbeck on Friday.
The Seahawks were hoping their quarterback might be able to throw on the side sometime before the NFC West leaders (6-4) flew to St. Louis to play the Rams (2-8) on Sunday. Instead, Hasselbeck asked into Friday’s practice and was in the middle of the field running the offense for the first time all week.
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