Downloading delays should be over or better now.

Let me know if it still persists, you impatient freaks!!!!!!!!!!!

Furious Sharapova blasts WTA. From Sceral. Thanks.

Sceral

Hi all! What do you think?

WTA Tour – Furious Sharapova blasts WTA

Eurosport – Sat, 03 May 16:40:00 2008

Maria Sharapova hit out at the ruling body of women’s tennis for making her take part in a publicity shoot on the eve of the Italian Open.
TENNIS 2008 – Maria Sharapova at WTA Indian Wells – 0
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* WTA Fantasy tennis tips

Sharapova could be fined $700,000 (£354,735) if she declines to do the shoot, which is part of the WTA’s multi-million dollar global marketing campaign. The tournament begins on May 12.

Since she does not wear a WTA patch on her clothing, the fine for skipping a tour promotional event would rise $400,000 from the standard $300,000.

“To ask me, or any of the other players, to do a long shoot like this is not right. Do you think the NBA would ask their top players to do a five-hour shoot the day before a playoff game?” Sharapova said.

The 2008 Australian Open champion said she understood the importance of supporting the tour and that she wanted to do the shoot. The issue was the timing.

“For them to threaten me with a $700,000 fine is just not right. The tour does not care what any of the players think, not just top players,” the world number three added.

“The tour will say: ‘We have done all these amazing things that the players wanted’. But trust me, these things they wanted as well and financially benefited from, including this shoot.

“I want people to understand that I took this action because this is one in a long list of things that the tour has ignored the players. This is not about just one shoot, I could not just sit back anymore.”

The WTA said Sharapova had the option of doing a two-and-a-half hour shoot, allowing for transport time.

“We will be as flexible as possible to accommodate all the player schedules, but we are not making exceptions,” said WTA spokesman Andrew Walker.

The WTA was working to raise the profile of the players, something their agents had been striving for, he added.

“This is an opportunity to do it as we are putting millions of dollars into this worldwide campaign. It’s important for women’s tennis and while we are sensitive to the demands of the tournament on our players, they’ve known about it for some time.

“It’s in the rules.”

Top matches to watch other than amongst the top four contenders.

-Federer vs Canas.

-Djokovic vs Monaco.

-Nadal vs Murray.

-Ferrer vs Gasquet.

-Federer vs Ferrer.

-Nalbandian vs Almagro.

-Blake vs Santoro.

Federer should follow Jose’s policy and refuse all press conferences other than the mandatory ones.

And KISS (keep it simple, stupid) the mandatory ones.

You think people will understand, considering what he is involved in? You bet!!!!!!!!!!!

Talking to media and repeatedly claiming he is not in decline and he is confident of winning Roland Garros, Wimbledon, Olympics, US Open and the next Indy 500, the golf masters etc. is not helping matters.

Remember how Woods had to eat his words after claiming he is going to win all four majors this year? Well, he couldn’t even win the first one and that may not boost his chances of winning the calendar Grand Slam this year. When asked about it, he said ”I have learnt a lesson about talking to the media”.

Last time and place to be making these predictions is when you are down and still building. You gain so little if you make those predictions come true and have a whole truck load to lose if you don’t. Wouldn’t it be better to be written off by the media and surprise them by proving them wrong?

You think Sampras kept declaring he is going to win one more major to shut everyone up, when he was in the middle of a two-year title drought? No. Instead, everyone time he heard screams of retirement, his resolve to show the world became even stronger.

Shut down the rhetoric and limit all and everything you have to say to the court. Nothing that you say anywhere else will ever make any difference, specially now.

Nadal’s Rome draw gives him what he needs to defend his titles on clay.

Nadal has the easiest path to the finals of all the four contenders to the title. The closest he comes to getting challenged by a clay court specialist is from ‘over the hill’ jokers in Moya and Ferrero. The real dangerous ones like Nalbandian, Ferrer, Almagro, even Canas are all sprinkled over Federer and Djokovic.

With Nadal’s current form and the need to defend the mountain of points on clay this season, it wouldn’t have mattered much anyway, except that he would have had to expend lot more energy than he will in the current setting. Energy is in short supply on clay as Hamburg proved for him last year. So this is just a mere formality until the finals for Nadal.

Federer is starting out against Canas. Although Canas has not been in his best form lately and has never gone past the third round at Rome in his four attempts, he is the one who beat Federer last year back to back on hard courts. However, Federer did beat him in their last meeting at Madrid 2007 in straight sets with a bagel.

Despite that, Canas holds the rare winning H2H against Federer 3-2. They have never played on clay. Will all these stats play into Canas’s game to raise it a couple notches? You think????????????

It may not be like facing Murray in the opening round, but it’s not anywhere like facing Rochus (Estoril) or Ruben Ramirez (Monte Carlo). Add all the erratic showing against tomato cans in the early rounds at the two clay events Federer has played so far, and suddenly it’s not just any routine opening round match.

And as if that was not enough, the grind this time will start early for Federer, at the quarters with Ferrer, followed by Djokovic and Nadal. That’s No. 5, 3 and 2 back to back to back.

Djokovic is not too far from where Nadal is. Except for Nalbadian in the quarters (on current form Nalby may not make that far this time), he has just the semifinal and final to worry about, unless any of his body part inexplicably gets sore. You think Federer-Djokovic match will get wider audience and coverage this time? You bet!!!!!!!! There will be a whole lot more at stake than just a win. Parent’s humiliation by Federer may not be among the bottom of that pile.

Federer may not be happy with the lopsided draw considering he is in building mode, but these may be the very hurdles that may prepare and possibly help him win Roland Garros this year. He has taken two timely steps forward, even if Monte Carlo was lost and the form has been inconsistent. He has to make sure to break the curse and not take a step back here. Just reaching the finals will signal that. Winning the title will be a leap, specially against the raging bull, if he somehow makes to the final.

Nadal also has one eye on the point totals. With Federer winning at Estoril and reaching the finals at Monte Carlo, Nadal’s work is only getting harder. Unless Federer falters early at Rome, Hamburg and Roland Garros, he is not looking for any respite soon. The point differential ballooning to over 1000 points from a mere 350 few weeks ago, the No. 1 rank carrot is gradually slipping away unless Federer steps in to help.

With so much maneuvering in action, this clay season may be one of the most decisive one in the history of the game for a garden variety of reasons. Whoever comes out meeting or exceeding his expectations among the top three jokers, the rest of his season is bound to look rosy in more ways than one.

Rome draw is out. Djokovic lands in Federer’s half – again. Does that mean that he will in Nadal’s half by Roland Garros?

Round	Federer	Nadal	Djokovic	Nalbandian
1	Bye	Bye	Bye	Bye
2	Canas (31)	Ferrero (23)	Ljubicic (30)	Almagro (22)
3	Mathieu(18)	Murray (19)	Monaco (16)	Gonzalez (15)
Quarters	Ferrer (5)	Verdasco (29)	Nalbandian (7)	Djokovic (3)
Semifinal	Djokovic (3)	Davydenko (4)	Federer (1)	Federer (1)
Final	Nadal (2)	Federer (1)	Nadal (2)	Nadal (2)
Total	59	76	56	43

Free live stream for Barcelona. From Jenny. Thanks.

Jenny

Hi Everybody,

Found a great free live stream for Barcelona!

http://www.mogulus.com/grid/PlayerV2.swf?channel=baloncesto

This appears to be a Spanish sports channel so you will get commercial breaks, so hang in there and obviously the commentary/interviews are in Spanish. Managed to view the 2 semis:

Nadal/Gremelmayr – no contest really and with all due respect, I didn’t expect it to be. I was surprised Gremelmayr beat Almagro. When asked about the bagel, Rafael replied with his usual humility, it’s not important in English.

Ferrer/Wawrinka – I did expect this to be more of a contest and it was. The first set went on a 10-8 tiebreak to Ferrer. By this time Wawrinka, a talented player, was being broken down and forced into error. Stan has a beautiful single hand backhand, and there were great shots. Ferru then became flying Rambo and upped his game playing clever clay tennis, with beautiful sweet touches at the net which won him points.

My dream final!

I am supposed to be a self-proclaimed tough guy, and you freaking freaks are just bringing me to tears every freaking day. You are ruining my reputation amongst the goats.

Sarah

Life Lesson
Carrying on the baseball theme

In Brooklyn, New York, Chush is a school that caters to learning disabled
children. Some children remain in Chush for their entire school career, while
others can be main-streamed into conventional schools. At a Chush
fund-raising dinner, the father of a Chush child delivered a speech that
would never be forgotten by any who attended. After extolling the school and
its dedicated staff, he cried out, “Where is the perfection in my son, Shay?
Everything God does is done with perfection. But my child cannot understand
things as other children do. My child cannot remember facts and figures as
other children do. Where is God’s perfection?

The audience was shocked by the question, pained by the father’s anguish and
stilled by the piercing query. “I believe,” the father answered, “that when
God brings a child like this into the world, the perfection that he seeks is
in the way people react to this child.”

He then told the following story about his son Shay: One afternoon, Shay and his father walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball.
Shay asked, “Do you think they will let me play?”
Shay’s father knew that his son was not at all athletic and that most boys
would not want him on their team. But Shay’s father understood that if his
son was chosen to play it would give him a comfortable sense of belonging.
Shay’s father approached one of the boys in the field and asked if Shay could
play. The boy looked around for
guidance from his team-mates. Getting none, he took matters into to his own
hands and said, “We are losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth
inning. I guess he can be on our team, and we’ll try to put him up to bat in
the ninth inning.”

Shay’s father was ecstatic as Shay smiled broadly. Shay was told to put on a
glove and go out to play short center field. In the bottom of the eighth
inning, Shay’s team
scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the bottom of the ninth
inning, Shay’s team scored again and now with two outs and the bases loaded
with the
potential winning run on base. Shay was scheduled to be up. Would the team
actually let. Shay bat at this juncture and give away their chance to win the
game?

Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that it was all but
impossible because Shay didn’t even know how to hold the bat properly, let
alone hit with it.
However as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher moved a few steps to lob
the ball in softly so Shay should at least be able to make contact. The
first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. One of Shay’s
team-mates came up to Shay and together they held the bat and faced the
pitcher waiting for the next pitch. The pitcher again took a few steps
forward to toss the ball softly toward Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay and
his teammate swung at the ball and together they hit a slow ground ball to
the pitcher. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could easily
have thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that
would have ended the game.

Instead, the pitcher took the ball and threw it on a high arc to right field,
far beyond reach of the first baseman. Everyone started yelling, “Shay, run
to first. Run to first.”
Never in his life had Shay run to first. He scampered down the baseline,
wide-eyed and startled. By the time he reached first base, the right fielder
had the ball. He could have thrown the ball to the second baseman who would
tag out Shay, who was still running. But the right fielder understood what
the pitcher’s intentions were, so he threw the ball high and far over the
third baseman’s head. Everyone yelled, “Run to second, run to second.” Shay
ran towards second base as the runners ahead of him delirious circled the
bases towards home. As Shay reached second base, the opposing short stop ran
to him, turned him in the direction of third base and shouted, “Run to
third.” As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams ran behind him
screaming, “Shay run home.”

Shay ran home, stepped on home plate and all 18 boys lifted him on their
shoulders and made him the hero, as he had just hit a “grand slam” and won
the game for his team.

“That day,” said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face,
“those 18 boys reached their level of God’s perfection.”