Sunday, January 23, 2011
WWE John Cena Movie Release
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Murray Considers Break
Andy Murray has hinted he could take a break from tennis following his latest Grand Slam near-miss in the Australian Open final.
The out-of-sorts British number one saw his best chance yet to win a major slip through his grasp on Sunday, as Novak Djokovic posted an emphatic straight-sets triumph to land his second Melbourne crown.
The 23-year-old Serb, who came up through the ranks with his same-aged opponent, had too much for the fifth seed as he romped to a 6-4 6-2 6-3 success on Rod Laver Arena.
And Murray put a brave face on his most recent set-back after admitting the defeat was easier to swallow than last year's heartache against Roger Federer, when he broke down in tears at the presentation ceremony.
"It's better than it was last year," said the conquered Scot, who has now lost three major finals as he bids to become the first British male champion since Fred Perry in 1936.
"You know, it was obviously tough, disappointing. I thought Novak played unbelievably well and yeah, it's tough, but I've got to deal with it.
"I was in a much worse state last year than I was this year. I don't know why.
"I'll see what I do from here, you know. I don't know, I might not play for a few months, I might feel like playing in a week's time. It depends - see how I feel."
Improvements
The languid 23-year-old has now failed to muster a set in three Grand Slam final appearances. But the Dunblane right-hander insisted he will not lose any sleep over his failure to land a big title.
"I want to keep working hard, try and improve, but I said before the final, it's not something that I lose sleep over at night," he said.
"It's going to be tough for sure for a few days but I want to try and win one, of course.
"But if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. I'm just working as hard as I can. I train very hard, I take tennis very seriously.
"But I love my life away from tennis, as well. That's why maybe this year, compared with last, I'm very, very happy off the court.
"I'm enjoying myself. There's other things to look forward to, too."
Unbelievable
Murray claimed he had no fitness problems heading into the match, despite looking ponderous at times around the court. Instead the Briton, who had a punishing semi-final against David Ferrer on Friday, praised Djokovic for being at the top of his game.
"He played great. I would have liked to have played better but I think he would have beaten every other player on the tour if he played like that tonight," added the world number five.
"He served well, he didn't make many mistakes from the back of the court, he moved really, really well, he hit the ball very clean. That was it.
"He defended unbelievably well tonight so when I got ahead in some games, and even just in points, he was sticking up lobs that were landing on the baseline, passing shots that were very close to the lines.
"So it was quite difficult to find parts of the court where I was getting free points from.
"I think I broke his serve maybe twice in the third set and still lost it 6-3. I was trying to find a way - I just wasn't able to put enough good points together."
Friday, January 14, 2011
Mickelson Excited
Phil Mickelson heads into this week's Waste Management Open in Phoenix still looking for his first victory in almost a year.
The four-time major champion's last win was at the Masters in April, but he insists he is close to a return to the winner's enclosure.
Mickelson was runner-up by a shot to Bubba Watson
at last week's Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego
and heads to Phoenix in upbeat mood.
"I'm excited because I can tell that my game's coming around," he said.
"I'm kind of done making changes. I'm trying to hit shots now - I'm trying to hit draws, hooks, slices, fades and see if I can get it close."
Mickelson will play alongside his fellow left-hander Watson this week in the tournament that is traditionally the best-attended - and noisiest - on the PGA Tour.
The Tour's new sensation Jhonattan Vegas is also in action this week, in the group behind Mickelson and Watson that also includes fellow South Americans Camilo Villegas and Angel Cabrera.
Dream
Rookie Vegas, the first Venezuelan to earn a PGA Tour card, has finished first and third the past two weeks and in his first-ever round with Tiger Woods, beat the 14-time major champion by five shots.
The 26-year-old is top of the money list with over $1.2million, first on the FedEx Cup points standings and up from 187th in the world to 69th. As he says himself; "it's been a dream come true - I'm just loving it."
There could be lengthy frost delays at the start of the tournament with ground and air temperatures plummeting to extreme levels in the desert.
Wednesday's pro-am had to be cancelled and PGA Tour referee Slugger White said: "It doesn't look good tomorrow morning - it's supposed to be colder - and it might be even colder on Friday.
"I've talked to people that grew up here and they've never seen it like this. Obviously we've had frost delays before, but usually that's an hour or so.
"We've got 20 to 30-mph winds out there with a wind chill factor of about 30 right now."
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Hammers Delay Obinna Decision
West Ham boss Avram Grant will wait until the end of the season before deciding whether to sign Victor Obinna on a permanent deal.
The 23-year-old forward joined the Hammers on a season-long loan from Inter Milan at the start of the campaign.
He has performed well for Grant and has really come to light in his last two games with five goals, including a hat-trick against Nottingham Forest.
West Ham have an option to sign him, but they are still in the middle of a relegation battle and will not be making a decision on his future until they know how the season has gone.
"He is a big player with big talent and we like him. I think he wants to stay here," said Grant.
"We like him but we will have to wait until the end of the season."
Obinna's somersault celebration is now being seen on a much more regular basis and Grant has no issues.
"I love his somersaults, I hope he will have a lot of reasons to do them again this season," he said.
"It took him time to adjust this season because he didn't play much in Italy, but he is playing well now."
Confident
Obinna himself is confident West Ham will stay up, saying: "In December we were out of the relegation zone and then we lost at Newcastle which brought us back. It's not an easy process.
"We're getting the confidence back. We just have to continue this way.
"We started very badly, losing four games in a row and lacking confidence but I believe now everything has changed.
"Last Saturday, when we beat Nottingham Forest, I noticed there was a fantastic atmosphere in the dressing room before the game.
"It was special and even better with leaders like Robbie Keane in the team.
"At this point I think West Ham are too good to go down."
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Mickie James on Monsters in the Morning
TNA's Mickie James and Jeremy Borash were on the Monsters in the Morning show in Orlando (XM 152).
She talked about this being her first country album, Strangers & Angels. The hosts asked her how we can get more people into country music. She said there's a misconception about the music and now it can be a little bit of southern rock with pop too, so people should be open to the crossover that's there. The hosts talked about how that Country Strong movie did poorly at the theaters in its opening weekend because some people get turned off by country music.
They asked about celebrities in TNA. Borash mentioned that Toby Keith shows up once in a while and Snoop Dogg has showed up. They talked about J-Woww from Jersey Shore showing up saying they got exposure on TMZ with it. Then the hosts talked about J-Woww's features, but Jeremy quickly moved off topic.
- They asked Mickie how the other girls treated her. Mickie said they welcomed her with open arms. They all realize that the bigger names that people have, the better it is for the company in terms of exposure.
- Mickie said that there's a mix in the company from TNA originals, to former WWE people and wrestlers from all over the world, which makes it a cool place to work in.
Borash talked about how he and other TNA wrestlers like Jeff Hardy & Beer Money went to Japan last week and how it helps the exposure of the company.
They plugged Impact tapings for the next two nights at Universal in Orlando starting at around 5:30pm with free entry as always. Borash mentioned the Hardy brothers being together at the tapings last night. Mickie mentions they don't really know what they will do on the day of the taping until you get to the building.
- The hosts asked Mickie if she's single. She said yes. Madison Rayne said on the show yesterday she doesn't date wrestlers and Mickie mentioned that you're around many wrestlers all the time, so sometimes stuff happens, but she's been single for a couple of years because she's so busy. Borash mentioned a lot of the guys on the roster have crushes on Mickie.
Mickie plugs the TNA theme song "Hardcore Country." She mentions the song "Don't Apologize" from her Strangers & Angels CD being her favorite. Then she talks about "Are You With Me?" being her first single and "Hollywood Movie Moment" being another favorite on the album. Then they started playing "Are You With Me?" She mentioned Tim McGraw being a favorite artist. She mentioned the songs will be on iTunes again soon. (I should also note the whole CD will be available again on mickiejames.com very soon.)
The hosts plugged the Impact tapings one more time and mentioned their close association with the the TNA brand.
Bubba Breaks Top- 20
Bubba Watson has broken into the world's top-20 on the back of his one-stroke success at the Farmers Insurance Open over the weekend.
The big-hitting left-hander has climbed 15 spots to number 18 in the world rankings after holding off Phil Mickelson to triumph by a single stroke at Torrey Pines.
Watson's nerveless 12-foot breaking putt for birdie at 18 was enough to seal victory, leaving Mickelson the improbable prospect of having to hole out from some 72 yards to force a play-off.
Despite a wonderful attempt, he was unable to do so, but there was some consolation for Mickelson who moved back above Steve Stricker and Graeme McDowell to reclaim the No.4 spot.
Paul Casey's triumph at the Volvo Golf Champions event in Bahrain has seen edge up three spots to six in the world, behind Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer, Tiger Woods, Mickelson and McDowell.
Neither Westwood or Kaymer were in action last weekend, Woods was but could only manage tied 44th at Torrey Pines and could soon slide further down the rankings if his results don't improve.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Toon Keen on Brazilian
The 29-year-old left Palmeiras by mutual consent early in January and now a host of clubs in Europe are chasing his signature.
Top-flight clubs cannot sign players at the moment unless they are emergency loans or free transfers, so Ewerthon is now attracting a great deal of interest.
The former Borussia Dortmund and Real Zaragoza star has offers to return to Germany and Spain, but he is understood to be keen on testing himself in England.
West Brom were understood to be leading the chase in the Premier League, with up to half-a-dozen clubs now thought to be keen.
But now Newcastle, who failed to sign a replacement for Andy Carroll
on transfer deadline day after he joined Liverpool,
are stepping up their interest.
Toon chief Alan Pardew is keen to bolster his striking options with Shola Ameobi
also facing up to six months on the sidelines, and signing a player of Ewerthon's calibre on a free transfer is an obvious attraction.
Talks
The player's agent Barry McIntosh admitted talks with a number of clubs were ongoing.
"A number of clubs like Ewerthon, he is a free agent and is looking to seal his next move," McIntosh told skysports.com.
"It is no secret that a number of Premier League clubs are keen on him.
"I am not going to go into details about who we are talking with, but if you're asking me about whether he would move to Newcastle? Then yes, obviously they are a calibre of club he would very much consider playing for."