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Roger Federer US Open 2014

2:53 AM Anonymous 0

Roger Federer survives two match points in great escape at US Open<br />
New York: Gael Monfils very nearly did enough on Thursday night to break up the all-star coaches reunion. Mixing speeds and bright ideas in gusting wind, he won the first two sets of this US Open quarter-final against Roger Federer. He even had two match points on Federer's serve in the 10th game of the fourth set.<img alt="Roger Federer US Open 2014" src="http://images.smh.com.au/2014/09/05/5736337/Article%20Lead%20-%20wide6107069410cyiz1409897953359.jpg-620x349.jpg" title="Roger Federer US Open 2014" /><br />
But as has so often been the case through the years and the tournaments that matter most, the standing ovation would be for Federer, who rallied to win 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-2.<br />
Monfils might have the stuff of a showman, but Federer - even at age 33 with millions of dollars and 17 grand slam singles titles in the bank - still has the desire of a champion. And instead of Monfils making a breakthrough at Flushing Meadows, it will be Federer making a return to the semi-finals for the first time since 2011.<br />
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He will do so in the company of his new coach Stefan Edberg, the elegant, net-rushing Swede who won back-to-back US Opens in 1991 and 1992. Federer's opponent on Saturday will be the 14th-seeded Marin Cilic, the Croatian veteran who is now coached by former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic.<br />
In the other semi-final, Novak Djokovic, now coached by former No. 1 Boris Becker, will face Kei Nishikori, coached by former French Open champion Michael Chang.<br />
Edberg, Ivanisevic, Becker and Chang all played against each other. And after nearly a full season, the evidence appears indisputable: star players turned star coaches do make a difference.<br />
Missed chance: A dejected Gael Monfils.<br />
Missed chance: A dejected Gael Monfils. Photo: Getty Images<br />
"It's crazy and it's fun and it's great to see Michael, Stefan and Boris all in the semi-finals," Ivanisevic said on Thursday night. "We had so many great matches against each other, and now we are sitting there and we can't do anything, just clap and hope our guys are playing well and winning. Now, one of us is going to win a grand slam again as a coach. Who? It's going to be interesting."<br />
The only man who could have spoiled the symmetry was Monfils, who has no coach at all at the moment and seemed none the worse for the situation as he swept through his first four matches without dropping a set. He won the first two against Federer, too, before Federer put a stop to the streak by winning the third. But with the crowd pulling against him, Monfils managed to shake off an early break of serve in the fourth by breaking Federer back to 2-2. His chance came with Federer serving at 4-5 and 15-40.<br />
But Monfils decided to play it conservatively instead of boldly. Federer, with Edberg watching from the front row of the players' box, did the attacking, saving the first match point with a forehand volley that Monfils reached with his backhand and then missed.<br />
Federer saved the second match point with a forehand winner down the line and then served out the game to get back to 5-5.<br />
"I still thought the finish line was far for Gael," Federer said of losing the first two sets. "I knew I could play better tennis, and I got off to a good start and was feeling all right. But then when I was down two match points, I wasn't feeling so great any more. I thought, 'This was it, the last point, man. Just go down fighting. Don't miss an easy shot and let him have it.' "<br />
Monfils, clearly shaken, served consecutive double faults to lose his own serve in the next game, and Federer then served out the set.<br />
The rest, to borrow a French word, was denouement. Federer, after a resurgent year, is back in the final four of the US Open for the first time since 2011.<br />
Semi-finalist Cilic's last grand slam semi-final appearance occurred more than four years ago, an eternity in tennis years. The span included the peak of Cilic's years as a Croatian prodigy, a player graced with size and skill, but he never seemed to live up to the promise.<br />
The low point came last year, when a doping suspension forced him to miss four months and sit out the US Open. His ranking dipped to No. 37. He drew criticism from other players for the use of a banned stimulant, although he convinced an arbitrator that he was mostly not at fault.<br />
A year later, Cilic has climbed out of that career valley. He beat sixth-seeded Tomas Berdych 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (4) in the quarter-finals on Thursday, propelling himself into the semi-finals of a major for the first time since he was a 21-year-old wonder at the 2010 Australian Open.<br />
Cilic conquered swirling winds at Arthur Ashe Stadium, on a court his opponent was far more familiar with, only a few days after a gruelling five-set match.<br />
"This was an amazing day for me," Cilic said. "I had a very hard couple of years, but I'm very happy. I'm very happy to break through here on this court."<br />
Cilic, the 14th seed, had beaten Berdych in the third round at Wimbledon, but the hardcourt at the Open seemed to favour Berdych's bigger serve and his deeper experience on one of tennis' biggest stages.<br />
The conventional wisdom proved to be wrong. Berdych could not figure out the wind during the first two sets, dropping his first two service games and four of his first five. He eventually found his way, but by then Cilic had won the first two sets and was revelling in the upgrades to his game, including a powerful serve of his own.<br />
"We are both hitting big, and it's a matter of who was going to put pressure on the other guy," Cilic said. "I think I did a little bit better today. I was returning a bit better, and I was putting a little bit more pressure on his second serve. Just overall, I felt that I used the wind a little bit better to my advantage."<br />
Cilic's serve peaked at 212km/h, as strong as Berdych's and far more effective.<br />
That made Cilic's coach very happy. A year ago, during his suspension, Cilic turned to Ivanisevic, his boyhood hero, to coach him. Ivanisevic, a Wimbledon champion who competed for 12 years at the top level of the sport, was known for his explosive serve - and temper.<br />
It was the serve that Ivanisevic wanted to teach to the tall Cilic.<br />
Against Berdych, Cilic had 19 aces and many other serves large enough to set up easy points. His serve is the most noticeable improvement since his forced hiatus, a time that Cilic credits for his new success.<br />
"I matured a bit more, and I was working day after day," Cilic said. "I wasn't, you know, relaxing and doing nothing. So I think that helped me to improve physically. Also, it helped me to have, you know, enough time to put some new parts in my game, which are helping me to play this good now."<br />
That new-found maturity helped him against Berdych, who seemed to come unglued when umpire Louise Azemar Engzell called a point against him in the third set, ruling the ball had bounced twice before he hit it. He won neither the argument nor the game, losing his poise and his last chance to be competitive.<br />
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<br />
New York Times<br />
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Roger Federer survives two match points in great escape at US Open New York: Gael Monfils very nearly did enough on Thursday night to break up the all-star coaches reunion. Mixing speeds and bright ideas in gusting wind, he won the first two sets of …

Roger Federer fightback ends Monfils run

2:07 AM Anonymous 0

<a href="http://cache.images.core.optasports.com/news/tennis/2014/9/5/635299header.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Roger Federer " border="0" src="http://cache.images.core.optasports.com/news/tennis/2014/9/5/635299header.jpg" title="Roger Federer " /></a>Roger Federer progressed to the US Open semi-finals after he came from two sets down to deny a brave Gael Monfils on Thursday.<br />
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The Swiss second seed saved match points in the fourth set, and eventually prevailed 4-6 3-6 6-4 7-5 6-2 on Arthur Ashe Stadium.<br />
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It was just the seventh time in a major that Federer had successfully arrested a two-set deficit.<br />
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French 20th seed Monfils had not lost a set heading into his quarter-final with 17-time major winner Federer, and was still on a perfect run when he claimed the first two sets within one hour 18 minutes of the first ball being hit.<br />
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Federer claimed the third after getting the decisive break in the fifth game, and maintaining his advantage by dropping just two points on serve in his next three service games.<br />
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Monfils' chance to seal the upset came in the 10th game of the fourth set, as he opened up a 15-40 lead on the Federer serve - and two match points - but the Swiss saved the first when Monfils put a pass attempt long and the second with a brutal forehand down-the-line winner.<br />
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The game was the first of five straight for the five-time champion at Flushing Meadows, with Monfils - serving at deuce in the 11th game - double-faulting twice in succession to hand his opponent an easy break.<br />
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Federer took it to a fifth and opened up a break lead for 2-0 in the decider, as he raced towards the finish line.<br />
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When Monfils was broken to love in the fifth game, his spirit was virtually crushed as Federer went on to complete a brilliant comeback in three hours 20 minutes.<br />
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There was not much between the pair statistically, with Federer edging Monfils in the winners' count 48-43 and conceding slightly fewer unforced errors 44-49.<br />
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Federer will take on Croatian 14th seed Marin Cilic in the semi-finals.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/GAa_JW9XVAw" width="420"></iframe>

Federer Roger Federer Rogers Cup SPORT tennis US Open Roger Federer fightback ends Monfils run

Roger Federer progressed to the US Open semi-finals after he came from two sets down to deny a brave Gael Monfils on Thursday. The Swiss second seed saved match points in the fourth set, and eventually prevailed 4-6 3-6 6-4 7-5 6-2 on Arthur Ashe Sta…

Bouchard back on the winners list in New Haven, Cibulkova bundled out

11:13 AM Anonymous 0

<a href="http://cache.images.core.optasports.com/news/tennis/2014/8/19/604481header.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cache.images.core.optasports.com/news/tennis/2014/8/19/604481header.jpg" /></a>Eugenie Bouchard claimed her first win since July after dismantling Bojana Jovanovski 6-1 6-1 in the opening round at the Eugenie Bouchard.<br />
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Bouchard - the Canadian third seed - overcame Simona Halep in the Wimbledon semi-finals but injuries have plagued her since losing the final to Petra Kvitova last month.<br />
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However, the 20-year-old, who withdrew from the Citi Open and lost in the second round in both Montreal and Cincinnati after first-round byes, returned to the WTA Tour winners list with a straight sets demolition of Serbia's Jovanovski in just 52 minutes on Monday.<br />
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Bouchard sent down four aces and won six break points as she earned a second-round showdown with Australian wildcard Samantha Stosur, who survived to beat Japan's Kurumi Nara 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (10-12) 6-2 in New Haven.<br />
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The head-to-head record between the pair is level at one win apiece.<br />
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"I'm looking forward to a battle," Bouchard said.<br />
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"We've had tough matches in the past. I know she'll try to take control with her serve and forehand.<br />
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"I'm going to look to try to take it early and control the point like I did today and really put pressure on her."<br />
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Four-time champion Caroline Wozniacki also progressed to the next round.<br />
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Wozniacki - the Danish fourth seed - lost the first set but fought back to topple Swiss qualifier Timea Bacsinszky 4-6 6-1 6-2.<br />
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There was no such luck for Slovak fifth seed Dominika Cibulkova and seventh-seeded Italian Sara Errani.<br />
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Cibulkova crashed out at the hands of Germany's Andrea Petkovic, losing 7-6 (7-2) 6-3.<br />
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Errani, meanwhile, was ousted by Garbine Muguruza of Spain 6-2 3-6 6-1.<br />
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In other results on Monday, Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova accounted for Spanish qualifier Silvia Soler-Espinosa 6-4 6-3.<br />
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Chinese qualifier Shuai Peng beat Ukraine's Elina Svitolina by the same scoreline.<br />
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Belgian wildcard Kirsten Flipkens prevailed 6-3 4-6 6-2 against Japanese qualifier Misaki Doi.<br />
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Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova emerged victorious against Swiss qualifier Belinda Bencic, winning 6-4 5-7 6-3 after more than three hours on court.<br />
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Meanwhile, French lucky loser Caroline Garcia edged Romanian qualifier Irina-Camelia Begu 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-4).

Eugenie Bouchard news sports SPORT SPORTS tennis Bouchard back on the winners list in New Haven, Cibulkova bundled out

Eugenie Bouchard claimed her first win since July after dismantling Bojana Jovanovski 6-1 6-1 in the opening round at the Eugenie Bouchard. Bouchard - the Canadian third seed - overcame Simona Halep in the Wimbledon semi-finals but injuries have plag…

CONCACAF Champions League Review Comunicaciones start strongly

9:59 PM Anonymous 0

<a href="http://cache.images.core.optasports.com/news/soccer/2014/8/8/592639header.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cache.images.core.optasports.com/news/soccer/2014/8/8/592639header.jpg" /></a>Comunicaciones opened their CONCACAF Champions League campaign with a 4-0 victory over Bayamon, while debutants Waterhouse won away.<br />
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Rolando Blackburn struck a hat-trick for Comunicaciones as the Guatemalan club stormed to the top of Group Eight, while Waterhouse defeated Tauro 2-1 to claim first position in Group Four.<br />
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Comunicaciones blitzed Bayamon in the opening half hour on Thursday, scoring three times, including two goals to Blackburn, while the Panamanian striker added his third just two minutes after half-time.<br />
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The Guatemalans missed out on qualifying for the knockout stages of last season's Champions League, finishing six points behind Toluca of Mexico, but William Coito's team gave themselves every chance of progressing this term with a big win at home.<br />
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Comunicaciones took the lead in the ninth minute when Jairo Arreola collected an initial right-wing cross on the left-hand side of the box and drilled his pass back across goal for Blackburn to tap in.<br />
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The home side had the ball in the back of the net again in the 20th minute when Arreola drilled his shot past Bayamon goalkeeper Maximiliano Torlacoff but the goal was ruled out for a foul.<br />
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Comunicaciones did not have to wait much longer for their second goal, however, as Agustin Herrera struck a minute later, finishing off left-back Jorge Aparicio's cross.<br />
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Bayamon's right-hand side struggled in the opening half hour and Comunicaciones took advantage again in the 28th minute.<br />
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The home team's captain Jose Contreras found space on the left and chipped the ball to the back post for Blackburn to score with his head.<br />
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Blackburn effectively wrapped up the win for Coito's side in the 47th minute, getting his head to a corner, after Torlacoff came off his line but missed the ball.<br />
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In Panama, local club Tauro failed to complete a late comeback against Waterhouse.<br />
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The visitors from Jamaica had hit the front in the second minute through a brilliant free-kick from Romario Campbell and doubled their advantage 17 minutes later when Upston Edwards' driving run set up Damarley Samuels.<br />
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But Tauro surged in the second half with Jair Renteria scoring with five minutes left, converting the rebound after Christian Lopez hit the bar.<br />
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Rolando Palma's team could not find an equaliser, however, as Waterhouse won on their continental debut.

Champions League CONCACAF news sports Rolando SPORT SPORTS CONCACAF Champions League Review Comunicaciones start strongly

Comunicaciones opened their CONCACAF Champions League campaign with a 4-0 victory over Bayamon, while debutants Waterhouse won away. Rolando Blackburn struck a hat-trick for Comunicaciones as the Guatemalan club stormed to the top of Group Eight, whi…

Sloane Stephens: The Teenage Star Who Beat Serena Williams

8:29 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><iframe height="360" id="kaltura_player_1359001422" src="http://cdnapi.kaltura.com/index.php/kwidget/wid/1_utr00pz2/uiconf_id/3775332/st_cache/23218?referer=http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/sloane-stephens-19-beats-serena-williams-18297379&autoPlay=false&addThis.playerSize=392x221&freeWheel.siteSectionId=nws_offsite&closedCaptionActive=true&addThis.playerSize=640x360&closedCaptionsOverPlayer.fontsize=18" style="border: 0px solid #ffffff;" width="640">Unfortunately your browser does not support IFrames.</iframe> <div style="margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">Sloane Stephens, 19, Beats Serena Williams</span></div><div style="font-size: x-small;"></div><div id="date_partner" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; height: 32px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 150px; min-height: 30px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 490px;"></div><div class="byline_date" style="float: left; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 490px;"><div class="byline_date_inner" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 485px;"><div class="byline" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">By JENNIFER ABBEY and <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/author/ron_claiborne" rel="author" style="color: #336699; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">RON CLAIBORNE</a></div><div class="date" style="margin: 0px; padding: 4px 0px 0px;">Jan. 23, 2013</div></div></div><div style="font-size: x-small;"></div><div id="sponsoredByAd" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; left: 430px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 0px; text-align: right; top: 404px;"><span id="sponsoredbylogo1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span id="_fw_container_sponsoredbylogo1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">Some may call it the shock heard around the tennis world.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Sloane Stephens defeated one of the greatest players to lace up tennis shoes, Serena Williams, a tennis player whose poster once adorned Stephens' bedroom wall.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The 19-year-old can now say she is the only American younger than Williams to beat the 31-year-old. Stephens, with a giant white smile from ear to ear, won 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 against Williams in the Australian Open quarterfinals Wednesday.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The match was the farthest Stephens has ever gotten in a Grand Slam tournament. Williams, on the other hand, is a 15-time major winner, a five-time Australian Open champion and was on a 20-match winning streak.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Unfortunately for Williams, she suffered injuries in her ankle and back during the game. She called a trainer onto the court and had a three-minute medical timeout.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">When asked about the win, all 29th-seeded Stephens could manage to say was, "I don't even know. Oh, my goodness."</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"While it's not good for Serena, it's a great development for U.S. tennis. They've been waiting for a long time for someone to come to the forefront," said Christine Brennan, a sports columnist for USA Today and sports consultant for ABC News. "It's too early to know what this will all mean, but it's possible that they may have found the next up-and-coming female star."</span></div><div class="rel_container g_4" id="rel_image_feature" style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; float: left; line-height: 23px; margin: 20px 50px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 200px;"><div class="rel_content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="rel_thumb" style="line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8896966065785019252" name="lpos=widget[Left_Rail_Image]&lid=view[Image]" style="color: #336699; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><img alt="PHOTO: Sloane Stephens of the US hits a forehand return to compatriot Serena Williams during their quarterfinal match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia on Jan. 23, 2013." border="0" height="112" src="http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/ap_sloane_stephens_kb_130123_wg.jpg" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.5px; padding: 0px;" title="" width="199" /><span class="image_icon" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://a.abcnews.com/assets/images/icons/image_icon_35x35.png); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; height: 35px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 5px; top: 73px; width: 35px;"></span></span></a></div><div class="rel_headline" style="line-height: 15px; margin: 3px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="photo_credit" style="color: #aaaaaa; line-height: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Andy Wong/AP Photo</span></div><div class="photo_caption" style="margin: 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Sloane Stephens of the United States hits a... <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8896966065785019252" name="lpos=widget[Left_Rail_Image]&lid=view[Image]" style="color: #336699; 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background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; height: 35px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 5px; top: 73px; width: 35px;"></span></span></a></div><div class="rel_headline" style="line-height: 15px; margin: 3px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Instant Index: Divers Save Dolphin; Orangutans Play With iPads Watch Video</span></div></div></div><div class="rel_container g_4" id="rel_2" style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; float: left; line-height: 23px; margin: 20px 50px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 200px;"><div class="rel_content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="rel_thumb" style="line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8896966065785019252" name="lpos=widget[Left_Rail_Video_2]&lid=view[Video]" style="color: #336699; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="112" src="http://a.abcnews.com/images/WNT/abc_wn_couric_130123_wl.jpg" style="margin: 0px; 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margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="112" src="http://a.abcnews.com/images/WNT/abc_wn_hasan_130123_wl.jpg" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="200" /><span class="image_icon" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://a.abcnews.com/assets/images/icons/play_icon_35x35.png); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; height: 35px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 5px; top: 73px; width: 35px;"></span></span></a></div><div class="rel_headline" style="line-height: 15px; margin: 3px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Prince Harry Returns Home to Storm of Controversy Watch Video</span></div></div></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Even before Stephens started playing tennis, she had posters of both Williams sisters -- Serena and Venus -- up in her bedroom, her mother, Sybil Smith, told ABC News. When she began playing tennis at age 9, she began looking up to their game.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"The funny thing about it is we kind of have a joke with Team Sloane, with my family," Smith said. "We say, 'We think you can beat everyone but Serena because she's the best.' And that's a little bit of a joke, because she is the best. Sloane said she's arguably the greatest of all time. So Sloane always had in her mind that Serena would be extremely tough to beat."</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Stephens played against Williams before in Brisbane, but this time around she was ready for the match-up.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"She wasn't so paranoid about playing Serena. She was excited to play Serena," Smith said. "She wasn't so concerned about the hype and playing the greatest of all time. She just changed her mind-set and said, 'You know, it's just another tennis match. I've got to go compete, no matter who I'm playing against.'"</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Off the court, Stephens, originally of Plantation, Fla., but now living in Bel Air, Calif., is a typical teenager. She texts, she tweets, she loves spending time with friends, and she has a serious shopping addiction.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"I said I was going to buy one thing but now I'm going to buy two," she said in an interview just after the big win. "I was begging my mom for these pair of shoes, but I'm sure she'll have them waiting when I get home -- so I have to think of something quick so I can tell her, so she can have it when I get home."</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Stephens told ESPN she had 145 text messages after her win. She added she hoped the win would get her more Twitter followers. Her followers shot from 17,000 before the competition to 46,300 and counting.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Stephens is also getting attention from Hollywood and other sports greats after her win.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"Just found out her dad is John Stephens from the Pats. (that's my real name) I had his football card when I was a kid. I was so proud, ha ha," John Legend tweeted. Stephens' father is a former New England Patriots player who died in a car accident in 2009.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"@sloanetweets congrats on a great match. Excellent focus n poise. Keep it goin. When u defeat a legend you become a legend. Keep it going," Shaquille O'Neal tweeted.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"Wow. What a win for Sloane. Some amazing defense. She gets every ball back," Dallas Mavericks player Dirk Nowitzki tweeted.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The real test now is to see how Stephens can handle the pressure of the main stage of tennis and if she can keep rising.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"Could Sloane put back-to-back matches together? How's she going to react?" Brennan wondered. "There are a lot of unknowns. Sloane is now going to enter a new phase of her career."</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Stephens' mother said her daughter has a good head on her shoulders. She's determined to play her game the best that she can but she also schedules valuable time with friends and family.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"She called home last night right after the match. She was getting ready to go into press, and she goes, 'What are you guys doing?'" Smith said. "It was three minutes of what's going on at home right now. It wasn't even about tennis."</span></div><div class="story_pagination" style="clear: both; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-transform: uppercase;"><ul style="display: inline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;"><li style="background-image: url(http://a.abcnews.com/assets/images/icons/bullet-999.gif); background-position: -5px 5px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; display: inline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 13px; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;"><a class="previous" href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/sloane-stephens-teenage-star-beat-serena-williams/story?id=18296642" name="lpos=widget[Story_Pagination_Previous]&lid=view[Link]" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://a.abcnews.com/assets/images/story/pagination_arrows.png); background-position: 0px -50px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #336699; display: inline-block; height: 20px; margin: 0px 8px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration: none; top: -5px; width: 103px;"><span style="font-size: 10px; line-height: 10px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; right: 8px; top: 5px;">PREVIOUS PAGE</span></a> </li><li class="pager" style="background-image: url(http://a.abcnews.com/assets/images/icons/bullet-999.gif); background-position: -5px 5px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; display: inline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 13px; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;"><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/sloane-stephens-teenage-star-beat-serena-williams/story?id=18296642" style="color: #336699; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">1</a> </li><li style="background-image: url(http://a.abcnews.com/assets/images/icons/bullet-999.gif); background-position: -5px 5px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; display: inline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 13px; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;"><span class="pipe" style="color: #cccccc; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px; position: relative; top: -1px;">|</span></li></ul></div><div class="story_pagination" style="clear: both; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px 0px; text-align: right; text-transform: uppercase;"><ul style="display: inline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;"><li style="background-image: url(http://a.abcnews.com/assets/images/icons/bullet-999.gif); background-position: -5px 5px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; display: inline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 13px; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;"><span class="pipe" style="color: #cccccc; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px; position: relative; top: -1px;"><br /></span></li></ul></div><div style="font-size: x-small;"></div><div style="font-size: x-small;"></div></div></div>

SPORT tennis Sloane Stephens: The Teenage Star Who Beat Serena Williams

Unfortunately your browser does not support IFrames. Sloane Stephens, 19, Beats Serena WilliamsBy JENNIFER ABBEY and RON CLAIBORNEJan. 23, 2013Some may call it the shock heard around the tennis world.Sloane Stephens defeated one of the greatest playe…

UFC on FX: Belfort TKOs Bisping

11:04 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><iframe frameborder="0" height="360" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://hub.video.msn.com/embed/b6f580ff-dab3-486f-bccb-f7b77c26f195/?vars=bGlua292ZXJyaWRlMj1odHRwJTNBJTJGJTJGbXNuLmZveHNwb3J0cy5jb20lMkZ2aWRlbyUzRnZpZGVvaWQlM0QlN0IwJTdEJm1rdD1lbi11cyZzeW5kaWNhdGlvbj10YWcmY29uZmlnTmFtZT1zeW5kaWNhdGlvbnBsYXllciZsaW5rYmFjaz1odHRwJTNBJTJGJTJGd3d3LmJpbmcuY29tJTJGdmlkZW9zJmNvbmZpZ0NzaWQ9TVNOVmlkZW8mYnJhbmQ9Zm94c3BvcnRzJmZyPXNoYXJlZW1iZWQtc3luZGljYXRpb24%3D" width="640">  <A href="http://msn.foxsports.com/video?videoid=b6f580ff-dab3-486f-bccb-f7b77c26f195&src=v5:embed:syndication:&from=shareembed-syndication&quot;Story_MP2_UFC&quot;" target="_new" title="Highlights: UFC on FX 7: Belfort - Bisping">Video: Highlights: UFC on FX 7: Belfort - Bisping</A> </iframe><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Vitor Belfort won’t get a title shot in the immediate future.</span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 14px;">His TKO victory of Michael Bisping in the second round of UFC on FX 7 on Saturday centrally made the Brazilian middleweight relevant again, so much so he wants to move up a weight class and take on Jon Jones at April’s UFC 159 — a fight where Chael Sonnen will challenge for the light heavyweight crown.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 14px;">“I want to get that belt,” said Beflort, a former UFC champ who lost to Jones via a submission in September. “Take that punk, Chael Sonnen, I don’t even know your name, and get out. (UFC president) Dana (White) and (UFC co-owner) Lorenzo (Fertitta), kick him out. I want to fight Jon Jones. Take that clown away. Go home. Let me fight the champ. Champ vs. champ.”</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 14px;"></div><div class="parentWrapper" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #252525; float: right; font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; padding: 4px 0px 4px 8px;"><div class="fs-partner-includes" style="border-left-color: rgb(186, 192, 196); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 11px; margin-right: -10px; margin-top: 11px; padding-left: 20px; width: 240px;"><a href="http://theultimatefighter.com/" id="inline-num-1 - link-num-1" style="color: #265970; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="The Ultimate Fighter"><img src="http://o.static.foxsports.com/content/fscom/img/2013/01/15/011513-UFC-Ultimate-Fighter-Logo-DG-PI_20130115173953541_202_97.JPG" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: none;" /></a><br /><h3 style="color: #1a303a; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER</h3>Jon Jones. Chael Sonnen. What more could you want? Season premiereTuesday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on FX.</div></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 14px;"></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 14px;">Belfort looked much more impressive against Bisping, who — unlike Belfort — would have gotten a shot at the middleweight titleholder Anderson Silva with a victory. Belfort first stunned the boisterous Bisping late in the first round with a kick.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 14px;">While time ran out before he could follow it up in the first, he unleashed a left kick to Bisping’s temple early in the second. The shot dropped Bisping and Belfort followed with a series of fists before the referee stopped the fight a minute, 27 seconds into the second round.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 14px;">“You win some. You lose some,” Bisping said. “I am not going away. Trust me.”</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 14px;">The KO earned Belfort the $50,000 “Knockout of the Night” bonus and his post-fight comments earned him the ire of Sonnen.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 14px;">“Let me be really, really clear and speak directly to you, Vitor,” said Sonnen, a Fuel TV analyst. “You’re telling the world that you want to meet Jesus and I will gladly arrange that travel. First, I’m going to get rid of Jon Jones.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 14px;">“Let me be clear: I accept. You called me out twice now.”</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 14px;"></div><div class="parentWrapper" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #252525; float: right; font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; padding: 4px 0px 4px 8px;"><div class="fs-partner-includes" style="border-left-color: rgb(186, 192, 196); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 11px; margin-right: -10px; margin-top: 11px; padding-left: 20px; width: 240px;"><a href="http://msn.foxsports.com/ufc/gallery/ufc-fx-belfort-bisping-fight-images-011913" id="inline-num-2 - link-num-1" style="color: #265970; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="UFC on FX 7: Top Shots"><img align="middle" alt="" src="http://o.static.foxsports.com/content/fscom/img/2013/01/19/011913-UFC-Shut-Up-Fight-TV-Pi_20130119171639674_202_97.JPG" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: none;" /></a><br /><h3 style="color: #1a303a; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">FIGHT GALLERY</h3>Take a look at the most brutal shots from UFC on FX 7.</div></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 14px;"></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 14px;">The rest of the main card did not disappoint.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 14px;">In the opening fight on FX, Khabib Nurmagomedov made UFC fans (and UFC bloggers who didn’t want to have to type his name multiple times) very happy when he made short work of Thiago Tavares. Nurmagomedov caught Tavares with a deft punch, leveling the Brazilian to the canvas. He then pounced with a series of vicious elbows, forcing the fight to be stopped inside of two minutes of the first round.<br /><br />The Brazilian crowd received a boon in the second bout when their countryman Gabriel Gonzaga kept the action rolling, defeating Ben Rothwell in two rounds. Gonzaga showed great versatility for a heavyweight, controlling the striking game and pressuring Rothwell with a series of takedowns. Gonzaga outworked Rothwell, to the delight of the crowd, sinking in a guillotine choke for the finish.<br /><br />And Daniel Sarafian, who had to miss the finale of TUF Brazil due to injury, entered the Octagon and put on a showcase with fellow middleweight C.B. Dollaway that earned "Fight of the Night" honors. With the entire country firmly in his corner, Sarafian came out blazing, delivering combinations and a wicked overhand right that rocked Dollaway early and often.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 14px;">It wasn’t until the middle of round two that Dollaway turned the tides, implementing a counter right that opened up his grappling game. With the fight spending more time on the ground, Dollaway dealt damage to Sarafian diminishing his stamina. This led to a gutsy third round where the fighters constantly flopped dominant position, leaving the judges in a quandary. In the end, the judges sided with Dollaway in a split decision that caused some of the loudest booing ever to drown out a post-fight interview.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 14px;">From: FOXSports.com’s Eric Pierce<br /></div></div></div>

BOXING FIGHT news SPORT UFC UFC on FX: Belfort TKOs Bisping

Video: Highlights: UFC on FX 7: Belfort - Bisping Vitor Belfort won’t get a title shot in the immediate future.His TKO victory of Michael Bisping in the second round of UFC on FX 7 on Saturday centrally made the Brazilian middleweight relevant agai…

Was the Late Stan Musial Baseball's Greatest Living Hitter? How About Barry Bonds?

9:48 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="Cardinals Hall of Famer Stan Musial Dead" src="http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/ap_stan_musial_sswm_jt_130120_wg.jpg" /><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 24px;">If last Friday, someone asked “Who is baseball’s greatest living hitter?” odds are that even the game’s most rabid fans wouldn’t have immediately responded “Stan Musial.”</span><br /><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Musial, who died on Saturday at the age of 92, had a long and storied career, and was generally loved by friend and foe alike. But Stan the Man was famous, not for earning more than the President (like Babe Ruth), marrying Marilyn Monroe (like Joe DiMaggio), spitting on fans (like Ted Williams) or going on epic benders (like Mickey Mantle), but for hitting a baseball. And for better or for worse, that fame proved somewhat less enduring than those of the other denizens of baseball’s pantheon.</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/T-MkfzSy4p8?feature=player_embedded" style="font-size: small;" width="640"></iframe></div></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 24px;">But let’s take a look at Musial’s statistical legacy.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 24px;">Was Musial, when he was alive, baseball’s Greatest Living Player? No. That honor (probably) goes to Willie Mays. In the 2000 edition of Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, Mays ranks third all time, behind Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner, and just ahead of Negro League legend Oscar Charleston. James ranks Musial 10th, behind Ty Cobb, Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, Walter Johnson and Josh Gibson. Good company, and a look at similar lists generally put Musial just at the bottom of the top 10.</span><br /><br /><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Three further things to note. All the guys in the top 10 besides Mays are dead. And James ranks Musial ahead of Tris Speaker, Hank Aaron (who is alive), Joe DiMaggio, and Lou Gehrig. And James’ list dates back to 2000.</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">So how does Musial stack up to Mays? A quick glance at their bottom line batting numbers suggests that Musial was not only a great hitter, but a better hitter than Mays.</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Mays had a substantial edge in home runs 660 to 475, and Musial had an edge, large or small, in almost everything else. Old school fans will point to Musial’s .331 career batting average, 29 points ahead of Mays .302.  Modern fans will find an equally big edge in on base percentage ( .417 to .384) and a small one in slugging percentage (.559 to .557)</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A Sabremetric dive puts Musial ahead in OPS, which combines slugging and on base percentage, (.976 to .941) and in adjusted OPS, which takes into account the fact that Mays played longer into the offense-starved 1960s (159 to 156).  The bottom line: Stan Musial had been baseball’s Greatest Living<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Hitter</em>. Maybe (More on this in a moment.)</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">If Musial was a better hitter than Mays, what makes Mays a greater <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">player</em>than Musial? Fielding and baserunning. The tools that we have to analyze these facets of the game are less precise than those we apply to hitting, but we’re not trying to parse a narrow gap. Stats that assign “runs” to fielding and baserunning give us a way to compare them. Mays was one of the best centerfielders of all time. Musial was an average left fielder. That’s reflected in their career fielding runs (185 for Mays, which puts him in the top 10 all time, versus 50 for Musial, which means he was a serviceable outfielder.)</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">As far as base running, Mays again has a big lead (77 runs to -2 for Musial.)</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">And if you add it up, the comparison looks like this: Musial has an 83-run edge in hitting, 885 to 802, while Mays has an edge in everything else that amounts to 214 runs. No amount of quibbling over the these metrics closes this gap enough to change the conclusion. Eagle-eyed fans will note that Hank Aaron slots between Mays and Musial in most hitting metrics and it’s likely that with Musial’s passing, he and not Mays becomes Baseball’s Greatest Hitter.</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">So far we’ve been spending our time on the bottom line career numbers for these guys, and came to the conclusion that Musial was, by a rather narrow margin, the better hitter.  Here’s where things get messy.</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">There’s another living hitter who has a .444 career on base percentage, a slugging average of .608 for an OPS of  1.051, 1129 batting runs, and a runs above replacement total of 1,508 that puts him well ahead of both Mays (1437) and Musial (1231).</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">His name is Barry Bonds.</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">We all understand the issues of taking Bonds’s statistics at face value. He played in an era in which many if not most of the top players have admitted to using performance enhancing drugs and there are reasonable suspicions, if not absolute proof, that he did so too. So it’s not unreasonable to put an asterisk next to those totals.</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">But what about Musial’s totals? If you scroll up to his seasonal notation, you’ll see that he broke into the majors in 1941. He lost a prime year, 1945, to military service. But he also posted a three-year stretch between 1943 and 1946 in which his<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> lowest</em> seasonal batting average was .347. What was special about those years?  As African-Americans, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron and, for that matter, Barry Bonds wouldn’t have been allowed to play.</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"></div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">because Jackie Robinson had not yet broken the color barrier and major league baseball was still segregated. And indeed, Musial played most of his prime seasons before 1952, winning six of his seven batting titles during an era in which baseball was not yet fully integrated.</span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Now, of course, there are fundamental differences between using performance-enhancing drugs and playing in pre-integration baseball. But those are questions of ethics, not analysis.</span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Putting morality aside, it’s clear, that for all his greatness, Stan Musial, like so many of baseball’s all-time greats, enjoyed a very real advantage in compiling those impressive numbers against less than the very best competition.</span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"></div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">How much of an advantage? It’s difficult, if not impossible, to say, except to note that by Bill James’ analysis, two of the top 10 players of all time–Oscar Charleston and Josh Gibson–were barred from major league baseball during parts of Stan Musial’s career.</span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Was Stan Musial Baseball’s Greatest Living Hitter? Maybe, but perhaps he too merits an asterisk.</span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">RIP, Donora Greyhound.*</span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">*An asterisk of a different kind, and a true story:<br />A few years ago, a friend’s young son took a strange, sudden and unexpected interest in Stan Musial. Finally a grown-up asked him why.<br />“Because he’s Jewish like me,” the seven-year old exclaimed with pride.<br />“Stan Musial’s not Jewish,” the grown up said, puzzled.<br />To which the kid replied, “Then why would they call him the Menorah Greyhound?”</span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">From: </span><a href="http://www.forbes.com/">http://www.forbes.com</a></div><br /><br /></div>

baseball SPORT Stan Musial Was the Late Stan Musial Baseball's Greatest Living Hitter? How About Barry Bonds?

If last Friday, someone asked “Who is baseball’s greatest living hitter?” odds are that even the game’s most rabid fans wouldn’t have immediately responded “Stan Musial.”Musial, who died on Saturday at the age of 92, had a long and storied career, an…

Penguins beat Flyers 3-1 in opener

6:55 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="asset-metabar-author asset-metabar-item" itemprop="name" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; float: left; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 14px; margin: 6px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 10px; position: relative;">Kevin Allen, USA TODAY Sports</span><span class="asset-metabar-time asset-metabar-item " style="background-color: white; border-left-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #999999; float: left; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14px; margin: 6px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 10px; position: relative;">7:42p.m. EST January 19, 2013</span><span class="asset-metabar-time asset-metabar-item " style="background-color: white; border-left-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #999999; float: left; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; 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background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; bottom: 0px; height: 21px; position: absolute; right: 0px; width: 21px; z-index: 200;"></span></div><div class="image-credit-wrap" style="color: #646464; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 6px; padding: 0px 5px 0px 0px;"><span class="credit" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: 400;">(Photo: Eric Hartline, USA TODAY Sports)</span></div></aside><div class="article-metadata" style="position: relative;"><aside class="comp story-highlights " style="clear: left; float: left; margin: 0px 0px 20px; min-height: 60px; width: 180px;"><h3 style="border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #999999; font-family: 'Futura Today Bold', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px auto; text-transform: uppercase;"></h3><div><br /></div></aside></div></div><br /><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"It wasn't one of our best games (either)," Penguins left wing Pascal Dupuis conceded. "But I think it's going to be like this around the league for a while. You just have to play well defensively."</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><b>SUMMARY: </b><a href="http://content.usatoday.com/sportsdata/hockey/nhl/game/penguins_flyers/2013/01/19#box-score" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://content.usatoday.com/sportsdata/hockey/nhl/game/penguins_flyers/2013/01/19#box-score">Penguins 3, Flyers 1</a></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">The Penguins scored on two of their first five shots against Philadelphia goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, </div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">PHILADELPHIA -- Flyers fans fans treated the NHL's delayed opening day as if it were a playoff game, showing up in record numbers for enthusiastic pre-game partying and revelry.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">The problem was their team performed like it was a preseason game, looking slightly rusty in a 3-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 1 of the league's abbreviated 48-game schedule</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"It wasn't one of our best games (either)," Penguins left wing Pascal Dupuis conceded. "But I think it's going to be like this around the league for a while. You just have to play well defensively."</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><b>SUMMARY: </b><a href="http://content.usatoday.com/sportsdata/hockey/nhl/game/penguins_flyers/2013/01/19#box-score" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://content.usatoday.com/sportsdata/hockey/nhl/game/penguins_flyers/2013/01/19#box-score">Penguins 3, Flyers 1</a></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">The Penguins scored on two of their first five shots against Philadelphia goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, and then rode a 26-save performance by goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to beat the team that eliminated them from the playoffs eight months ago.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">The win was the 227th of Fleury's career, passing Tom Barrasso for the team record.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"A disappointing start, for sure," Flyers forward Scott Hartnell said. "I don't know if you want to chalk it up to not playing for eight months, but we didn't have any legs that first period."</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Dupuis agrees with league-wide assertion that goaltending will be crucial in the early going as players try find their sharpness and teams try to get in sync after a six-day training camp and no preseason games.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"We saw tonight that the (Flyers) kept coming and coming," Dupuis said. "It wasn't pretty, but we blocked some shots and the saves were there."</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Any concern that Philadelphia fans might offer some of protest because of the 119-day lockout was washed away by the large group of boisterous of fans that showed up early to celebrate the opening of the season. The attendance of 19,994 for the game was the largest regular-season crowd in Flyers history, breaking the previous mark of 19,992 set on February 21, 2009, vs. Pittsburgh.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Fans cheered passionately when Flyers took the ice in warm-up. They offered their "Let's go Flyers chant" before the game.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"It's always a great atmosphere here," Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov said. "Everybody knows how passionate Flyers fans are. Doesn't matter, whether it's regular season game or playoffs, they support and cheer for the team."</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">The Penguins killed all five Philadelphia power play opportunities, including two in the final six minutes.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"(Fleury) was solid," Crosby said. "It's not an easy place to play, and they have some dangerous players. He did a great job of hanging in there for us and making some big saves. Their power play gets a lot of chances no matter how good our penalty killers play."</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Tyler Kennedy opened the scoring with a power play goal at 4:40 of the first period with defensemen Paul Martin and Matt Niskanen each drawing an assist.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"We knew we weren't going to come in here and like it's Game 6 of the playoffs," Penguins winger James Neal said. "We knew we'd be scrambling."</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Less than three minutes later, Evgeni "Geno" Malkin played a draw back to James Neal, who rifled the puck past Flyers goalie Bryzgalov to make it a 2-0 game.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"In terms of executing, I think we can get better," said Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, who had three shots on net with no points. "But I thought we still did a pretty good job of making sure we were worrying about the details, not trying to do too much."</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><b>PHOTOS: </b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/sports/2013/01/19/the-best-from-the-nhl-opening-day/1847841/" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/sports/2013/01/19/the-best-from-the-nhl-opening-day/1847841/">The best from opening day</a></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">The game looked like what the first preseason game looks like, with both teams experiencing performance levels that ebbed and flowed. Both of these teams have a collection of artistic players, but this game was more like a finger-painting than a masterpiece.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"I think if you ask anyone, you are in great skating shape," said Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik. "But battle conditioning is a lot different."</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">The Penguins and Flyers are heated rivals, and both teams tried to embrace that rivalry. There were a combined 77 hits between the two teams, including seven each from Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke and Philadelphia's Zac Rinaldo. But it seemed as if both teams had trouble sustaining their energy levels.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">The Flyers had some bursts of energy in the second period, pulling within a goal when newly minted captain Claude Giroux scored on a slick feed from Hartnell. He threaded a pass through Chris Kunitz, who might have read that play differently had he been in mid-season form.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Giroux showed some spark a few times in the game, beating defenseman Paul Martin with a charge at one point, although he wasn't able to cash in.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Hartnell also made a sparkling home run pass midway through the third period that seemed to put Giroux on a breakaway. It was ruled offside, and the replays showed it could have been called either way. It was that close of a call.The Penguins scored on two of their first five shots against Philadelphia goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, who enters this season with much to prove in the Philadelphia net.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">From: <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14px;">http://www.usatoday.com</a></div><br /></div>

Flyers SPORT Penguins beat Flyers 3-1 in opener

Kevin Allen, USA TODAY Sports7:42p.m. EST January 19, 2013(Photo: Eric Hartline, USA TODAY Sports)"It wasn't one of our best games (either)," Penguins left wing Pascal Dupuis conceded. "But I think it's going to be like this around the league for a w…

Kobe gets record 15th straight All-Star start

12:30 AM Tukiyooo 0

From: <a href="http://www.nba.com/">http://www.nba.com</a><br /><br /><div class="nbaStoryByLine" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; margin-top: -10px; outline: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div class="nbaStoryByLine" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; margin-top: -10px; outline: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted Jan 17, 2013 8:20 PM</div><div class="nbaStoryText" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; line-height: 1.4; outline: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">New York (AP) -- </strong>Kobe Bryant has been voted to his NBA-record 15th consecutive All-Star start, leading four Los Angeles players into next month's game.</div><div class="IEContainerRinline" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; display: inline; float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="IErow" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="266" scrolling="no" src="http://www.nba.com/video/cvp/leaguearticleplayer.html?videoID=/video/channels/allstar/2013/01/18/20130117-allstar-west-starters.nba&width=384&height=216&context=nba&env=nba" style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="384"></iframe></div></div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; line-height: 1.4; outline: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Lakers teammate Dwight Howard and the Clippers' Chris Paul and Blake Griffin will join Bryant in the Western Conference lineup for the<a href="http://www.nba.com/allstar/" style="background-color: transparent; color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Feb. 17 game in Houston</a>. Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant, the MVP of last year's game, rounds out the five.</div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; line-height: 1.4; outline: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Kevin Garnett held off Chris Bosh in fan balloting, giving the East two Boston Celtics and two Miami Heat players. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade will represent the defending champions and receive passes from Rajon Rondo. New York's Carmelo Anthony is the other starter.</div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; line-height: 1.4; outline: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Bryant finished with 1,591,437 votes, edging James by about 7,800 to finish as the leading vote-getter and break a tie with Shaquille O'Neal, Jerry West and Karl Malone for the most consecutive starting nods.</div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; line-height: 1.4; outline: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The NBA's leading scorer is a four-time MVP of the All-Star game and last year became its career scoring leader.</div><div class="IEContainerRinline" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; display: inline; float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="IErow" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="266" scrolling="no" src="http://www.nba.com/video/cvp/leaguearticleplayer.html?videoID=/video/channels/allstar/2013/01/18/20130117-allstar-east.nba&width=384&height=216&context=nba&env=nba" style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="384"></iframe></div></div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; line-height: 1.4; outline: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Garnett beat Bosh, who took to Twitter to stump for votes in the final days of balloting, by about 25,000 votes. He tied Bryant and O'Neal for second all-time with his 15th selection behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was elected to 19 games.</div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; line-height: 1.4; outline: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">It's the second straight year that Los Angeles teams will make up four players. Last year it was Bryant, Paul, Griffin and Andrew Bynum, who was dealt to Philadelphia in part of the deal that sent Howard from Orlando to Los Angeles.</div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; line-height: 1.4; outline: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The ballot changed this year, eliminating the center position. Fans were required to vote for three frontcourt players and two guards.</div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; line-height: 1.4; outline: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">They picked an interesting mix in the East. Anthony and Garnett exchanged words during a game on Jan. 7 and Anthony was suspended a game by the NBA when he tried to confront Garnett afterward in the tunnel area and by the team bus.</div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; line-height: 1.4; outline: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rondo was injured in the playoffs two years ago after getting tangled up with Wade and landing awkwardly on his arm, part of what's become a tense rivalry between the Celtics and Heat.</div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; line-height: 1.4; outline: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Reserves will be announced next Thursday. Coaches will vote for seven players in their conferences: two guards, three frontcourt players and two players regardless of position, and can't vote for a player on their own team.</div></div>

NBA news SPORT Kobe gets record 15th straight All-Star start

From: http://www.nba.comPosted Jan 17, 2013 8:20 PMNew York (AP) -- Kobe Bryant has been voted to his NBA-record 15th consecutive All-Star start, leading four Los Angeles players into next month's game.Lakers teammate Dwight Howard and the Clippers' …