Tennis Star Serena Williams Goes Off on Her Opponent

PARIS – Serena Williams was sure the ball went off her opponent's arm, a no-no in tennis. The opponent, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, insisted the ball went off her racket.

Williams accused Martinez Sanchez of "cheating." Martinez Sanchez thought that was a "stupid" thing for Williams to say.

Then consider that the point in question helped Martinez Sanchez win the first set of their French Open match Saturday. Oh, and that Williams had a coughing fit during a third-set changeover. All in all, what eventually became a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory for Williams stands as the latest example of the athlete/actress' penchant for theatrics.

"I'm, like, drama. And I don't want to be drama," a hoarse Williams said, straining to get the words out. "I'm like one of those girls on areality show that has all the drama, and everyone in the house hates them because no matter what they do, like, drama follows them. I don't want to be that girl."

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Lebron’s Got Crazy Numbers, but Cavs Still Not Winning

He is averaging an outrageous 42.3 points in the Eastern Conference finals while shooting 50.9 percent with 7.3 assists -- numbers that exceed his MVP season. So what more is LeBron James supposed to do?

"Just try to win ball games," he said less than two hours before he contributed 44 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists to Cleveland's loss in Game 4 at Orlando, stranding the Cavaliers with a 3-1 deficit heading into Game 5 here Thursday night. "Just try to win ball games and put our team in a position to win every game. I've been able to do that."

But the Cavs have wasted those chances. Despite his gaudy numbers, James hasn't been blameless, as he acknowledged after committing an unusual seven turnovers in the final 12 minutes of regulation and overtime in Game 4. Those mistakes were forced by a Magic defensive strategy that is enabling LeBron to score while limiting opportunities for his teammates. The failure of those teammates is the story of Cleveland's series. Knowing that he can't outscore Orlando by himself, and wired as he is to make plays for others, James was forced to take risks in hopes of rallying his team.

 

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Lebron James One-Ups MJ

Michael Jordan no longer has the most famous buzzer-beater in Cleveland sports history.

The Shot has been topped.

LeBron James(notes) made one better.

James dropped a 3-pointer from the top of the key over Orlando’sHedo Turkoglu(notes) as the final horn sounded Friday night to give the Cavaliers, their season a heartbeat from major trouble, a 96-95 victory over the Magic that evened the Eastern Conference finals at one game apiece.

From 23 feet—matching his jersey number and Jordan’s—James hit a shot that will go down as one of the defining moments in a career that’s just hitting its stride.

“That guy is not in the league any more,” James said of Jordan. “The other 23 is on the good side now.”

 

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NFL May Reach Out for More Diversity

NFL teams looking to hire general managers may soon be required to interview at least one minority candidate.

Commissioner Roger Goodell said Wednesday the league's owners discussed expanding the Rooney Rule -- which already applies to coaching openings -- during the final session of their two-day meetings in South Florida. No vote was taken, though Goodell indicated any changes could be made soon.

"It's a judgment I will make with the diversity committee," Goodell said.

The Rooney Rule is named for Steelers owner Dan Rooney, who was not at the meeting for a good reason: He's at what Goodell described as "ambassador school."

Rooney, a lifelong Republican, was picked by President Barack Obama earlier this year to be U.S. ambassador to Ireland.

 

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Black News: Tim Brown Attacks Al Davis

We'll go ahead and file that one under "headlines I didn't anticipate typing today."

It's a bizarre statement. It's a bizarre subset of people to hate, even if you insist on hating a group of people. And it's a bizarre thing to say to an African-American athlete from Notre Dame when meeting him for the first time.

But according to Tim Brown(notes), that's exactly what Al Davis did. Brown was interviewed on WCNN in Atlanta, and here's what he had to say about the first time he met Al. From SportsRadioInterviews.com (audio is available at the link):

“Meeting Al [Davis] was pretty unique. I found out five or ten minutes after my first practice there that he hated African-American athletes from Notre Dame. And they literally told me that. They literally told me that because we’re known for using our education more than our athletic ability that he thought that I would be one of these guys that would basically take the money and run. I don’t know if that was a ploy to get me amped up, but it certainly worked.”

 

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Jason Taylor returns to the Dolphins for chump change

Jason Taylor's newest step has him back where he started. The dancing linebacker signed a $1.5 million, one-year contract Wednesday with the Miami Dolphins.

Taylor played his first 11 seasons with Miami before being traded a year ago to the Washington Redskins -- a fallout from his stint on the TV show "Dancing With the Stars." He was released by Washington in March after one injury-plagued season.

The New England Patriots courted the 34-year-old Taylor in recent weeks, but he wanted to return to South Florida, where he still lives. He will make $1.1 million in base salary and $400,000 in easy to reach incentives.

"My heart has always been in Miami, and so I'm truly excited to call myself a Dolphin once again," Taylor said in a statement. "I was presented with a number of different opportunities, but in the end the combination of this being the best situation for my family, my love for this community and my tremendous loyalty to a great organization made this an easy decision."

Taylor made the Pro Bowl six times with Miami and was NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2006.

 

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Your Collegiate News: NCAA Gets Sued for Using Player Images

Electronic Arts Inc. and the National Collegiate Athletic Association were sued by a former college football player who claims athletes’ images are used in video games without their permission and in violation of NCAA rules.

Electronic Arts, the second-largest video-game publisher, circumvents the rules by allowing customers to upload player names directly into games and creating images that closely resemble student athletes to increase sales and NCCA royalties, according to the complaint filed by Sam Keller, a former quarterback for Arizona State University.

The practice is sanctioned by the NCAA and a licensing company for the association, Keller said in his complaint filed yesterday in federal court in Oakland, California. Keller seeks to represent all NCCA football and basketball players featured in Electronic Arts’ NCAA video games.

 

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Get Your Paper Straight: Dr Boyce and George Kilpatrick on the Value of Education

Get Your Paper Straight: Dr Boyce and George Kilpatrick discuss the economic value of education.  Click the image to listen!

 

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