The BBC has an online poll going.Last date to submit your votes is the 4th of Jan.The winner will be announced during the Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana on 1 February 2008.The nominees are
Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal and Togo) ,Didier Drogba (Chelsea and Ivory Coast), Michael Essien (Chelsea and Ghana), Samuel Eto’o (Barcelona and Cameroon) and Frederic Kanoute (Sevilla and Mali)
Kevin Jones
DETROIT – Detroit Lions running back Kevin Jones injured his right knee late in the first half Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs, and did not return.
Jones caught a pass late and after being tackled, he immediately grabbed his right knee.
Team Canada devastated
Winless at the FIFA under-20 World Cup, bounced from the women’s World Cup and a national office that operated under a cloud of controversy.
It was a tough 2007 for Canadian soccer.
“Having worked six hard years, up at the crack of dawn, and working for relatively peanuts, it helps me appreciate everything I have now”
More than one Birmingham City player has expressed a degree of bewilderment about the unsettling nature of the club’s circumstances this season, as speculation about a takeover from Hong Kong was compounded by uncertainty over the tenure of manager Steve Bruce.
The simulated 16-team college football tournament – Second Round: Ohio State vs. West Virginia
What if college football had a 16-team tournament at the end of the year to decide a championship? WhatIfSports.com has taken the CFN Championship Series and run a simulation for each round. Go to the WhatIfSports.com December Madness page for further breakdowns of all the games.
SECOND ROUND
West Virginia (8) at Ohio State (1)
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total W. Virginia 0 6 0 3 9 Ohio State 14 3 3 7 27 Play by Play: Click here for the quarter-by-quarter play-by-play breakdown Scoring Summary 1st Quarter OSU 5:30 TD Chris Wells 4 yd. run (Pretorius kick) 0-7 OSU 2:01 TD Chris Wells 8 yd. run (Pretorius kick) 0-14 2nd Quarter WVU 10:49 FG Pat McAfee 30 yds. 3-14 OSU 7:10 FG Ryan Pretorius 42 yds. 3-17 WVU 0:09 FG Pat McAfee 40 yds. 6-17 3rd Quarter OSU 2:21 FG Ryan Pretorius 21 yds. 6-20 4th Quarter WVU 14:56 FG Pat McAfee 27 yds. 9-20 OSU 2:02 TD Ray Small 72 yd. pass from Boeckman (Pretorius kick) 9-27 Team Statistics WVU OSU First Downs 15 13 – Rushing 12 7 – Passing 3 6 – Penalty 0 0 3rd Down Eff 4/20 5/16 4th Down Eff 3/4 0/0 Rushes-Yards 67-268 45-253 Avg Rush 4.0 5.6 Comp-Att-Int 6-12-1 10-16-0 Passing Yards 54 186 Sacks-Yards 3-22 2-10 Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-1 Punts-Avg 8-39.9 7-38.0 KR-Avg 6-19.7 4-10.0 PR-Avg 7-10.0 8-10.0 Penalties-Yard 6-35 5-40 Time of Possession 32:02 27:58 W. Virginia Individual Stats Ohio State Individual Stats Rushing Att Yds 20+ L TD Steve Slaton 23 115 2 46 0 Patrick White 23 56 0 13 0 Ed Collington 8 42 0 16 0 Noel Devine 9 38 0 9 0 Owen Schmitt 4 17 0 13 0 Rushing Att Yds 20+ L TD Chris Wells 22 222 3 77 2 Maurice Wells 6 28 1 23 0 Brandon Saine 9 13 0 7 0 Todd Boeckman 8 -10 0 2 0 Receiving Rec Yds 20+ 40+ L TD Steve Slaton 2 34 1 0 26 0 Darius Reynaud 3 21 0 0 12 0 Dorrell Jalloh 1 -1 0 0 -1 0 Receiving Rec Yds 20+ 40+ L TD Ray Small 3 100 2 1 72 1 Brian Robiskie 2 55 2 0 29 0 Rory Nicol 3 20 0 0 12 0 Jake Ballard 1 11 0 0 11 0 Chris Wells 1 0 0 0 0 0 Passing Comp. Att. Yards TD INT Patrick White 6 12 54 0 1 Passing Comp. Att. Yards TD INT Todd Boeckman 10 16 186 1 0
DC heavyweight Corey “T-Rex” Sanders lost a six-round decision to Denis Bakhtov on a card in Halle, Germany. The 358-pound Sanders did score a knockdown in the fifth round but lost the bout on points.
The loss is Sanders’s seventh straight and drops his record to 23-13, 15 KO’s. The Russian Bakhtov’s record rises to 26-5, 16 KO’s.
The 2008 Australian Open will be played on the new Plexicushion surface, as the old Rebound Ace surface was replaced, but lately there has been a lot of talk about the quality of the new surface. However, the latest news is that the new courts are fast and good enough. What the truth is, we’ll see when the tournament starts.
The new courts were used during the Australian Open wildcard playoffs and it has been speculated that they are actually slower than the old ones (Reminder: Tennis Australia's decision to change their courts came after players wanted to see a faster surface similar to those played on at the US Open). Other two things that initialized the concerns were the injuries of Mark Philippoussis and Jelena Dokic (although I didn’t notice Dokic found the new surface responsible for her injury), as well as attacks from the supplier of the old courts who said that claims of the Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley that Plexicushion is superior to Rebound Ace in consistency, speed and heat retention are false.
Mark Viduka struck a priceless late equaliser to deny bottom club Derby their second win over Newcastle – and their second win of the season.
Kenny Miller’s superb finish from Gary Teale’s flick-on looked to have sealed victory for Derby but Viduka came to Newcastle’s rescue with a half-volley.
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Gary Pinkel helped lead long-suffering Missouri into college football’s elite ranks this year. Now he has the contract to match that lofty perch.
On Sunday, Missouri athletic director Mike Alden announced that Pinkel will receive a $550,000 annual raise and a one-year contract extension. That gives Pinkel a guaranteed $1.85 million a year.
via The Telegraph (AP)
“Make eye contact, Tom and give us the real scoop. Are you in or not?”
The growing sense out of Anfield is that the American owners of Liverpool might be struggling to keep hold of the club. There are many worrying signs but chief amongst them is banks are increasingly cagey in giving out the full loan to finance the new stadium, relying more on a piecemeal approach. It looks increasingly likely that the financing for the stadium will be put on hold till 2009.
The owners have already reneged on their original promise to keep Liverpool from becoming another Man Utd and as in the case of the Glazers, rather than relying on their own assets, loans are now needed to finance Liverpool’s buyout burdening it with debt. The huge interest repayments will eat a significant chunk of the revenues. More alarmingly, Hicks seems to have developed cold feet on the whole Liverpool financing ordeal and is seeking a takeover of his share.