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The Boston Bruins will live to play another day, forcing a Game 7 in Vancouver with a 5-2 victory. Scoring four times in the first period, the Bruins established an early lead and never relented.
The series has stayed true to form. The Canucks have won each game in Vancouver, where goaltender Roberto Luongo has been marvelous. In Boston he is a sieve. Go figure.
He was pulled after allowing three goals in a span of 3 minutes 4 seconds of the first period Monday night. In Games 2 and 3 here, he allowed a total of 12.
While Boston fans howled with glee inside TD Garden, a couple of hundred Canucks fans sat mutely, having traveled across the continent to see a beatdown.
Brad Marchand, Milan Lucic, Andrew Ference and Michael Ryder struck for the goals over a 4:14 span. Luongo was pulled after Ference’s goal, having stopped 5 of 8 shots in a mere 8 minutes 35 seconds of play.
It’s all over for the Shaq-ster. Shaquille O’Neal tweeted today that he’s over and done with as a basketballer after 19 seasons in the NBA.
“We did it. 19 years baby. I want to thank you very much,” he said in a video posted Twitter on Wednesday. “That’s why I’m telling YOU I’m about to retire. Love you. Talk to you soon.”
O’Neal, 39, was with six pro teams: The (Orlando) Magic, (Los Angeles) Lakers, (Miami) Heat, (Cleveland) Cavaliers, (Phoenix) Suns and the (Boston) Celtics.
O’Neal also released four rap albums and starred several movies and TV reality shows. He was also officially sworn in as a Miami Beach police officer in 2005.
On the personal side, he was married to Shaunie Nelson (“NBA Wives” creator/producer) in 2002, but they separated in 2007 … got back together, and then for divorce in 2009. The marriage produced 4 children.
Jill Scott is the cover girl for the music issue of Ebony magazine.
Toni Newman is ready to tell all. Newman is a transgendered prostitute who has written a tell-all book about his exploits with celebrities. The book mentions LL Cool J and Eddie Murphy. Reps for LL Cool J say the stories about LL are not true.
NeNe Leakes is preparing to return to The Real Housewives Of Atlanta. She walked off the set of Celebrity Apprentice saying she abruptly left the show because Donald Trump disrespected her behind and in front of the camera. She says she left for her own sanity. The new season of Real Housewives Of Atlanta kicks off later this year.
Paula Abdul is reuniting with Simon Cowell. It’s official. She will be a judge on Simon Cowell’s reality singing show The X-Factor. The X-Factor debuts on FOX this fall. Speaking of singing reality shows, NBC has a hit on its hands with The Voice. The talent on this show is awesome. Judges Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Christina Aguilera and Cee-Lo Green have great chemistry.
Also on TV May 30th, it’s the 3rd season premiere of VH1’s Basketball Wives. All the ladies will be back (Evelyn, Royce, Jennifer and Tami) plus some new additions.
With a $163-million (U.S.) payroll you got the sense that the Red Sox would turn it around – and they have – pulling into Toronto for a two-game series against the Blue Jays just one game below the .500 mark.
Boston (17-19) will have to wait a bit to get over that hump as the Blue Jays (16-20) finally broke into the win column after three consecutive losses, recording a 7-6 victory in 10 innings.
It was a drawn-out, topsy-turvy affair in which the Blue Jays took a 6-5 lead in the eighth inning when David Cooper, playing just his ninth game since getting called up from the minors, drilled his first major-league home run off Boston reliever Daniel Bard.
With Frank Francisco in to protect the lead in the ninth, Boston slugger Adrian Gonzalez hit his second home run of the game to tie it up.
Rajai Davis engineered the winning run, singling with one out in the 10th and then stealing second base – on a pitch out no less.
Not content with that, Davis then stole third, which set the table for Cooper and he came through once again, launching a sacrifice fly to centre field to score the winning run.
Boston opened the year with six consecutive losses, the club’s longest season-opening drought since 1945.
The natives were restless, especially with Crawford, one of their big off-season free-agent acquisitions, who had been more bust than boom.
Crawford has picked up the pace in the 15 games prior to Tuesday’s contest, batting .305, including a couple of walk off hits, raising his average from .135 to .211. He singled home Boston’s first run in the second inning on Tuesday to extend his hit streak to 10 games.
New Jersey native Rosie Napravnik hopes to make a little history today by becoming the first female jockey to win the Kentucky Derby. She heads into the day with 20-1 odds aboard Pants on Fire, reports the Star-Ledger in a profile. Napravnik, 23, will be the sixth woman to ride in the Derby, and she’s got a solid track record behind her—first-, second-, or third-place finishes in 52% of her 445 starts.
It helps that she grew up on a horse farm. “As soon as she could hold her head up, she probably sat on a horse,” her mom, Cindy, tells the newspaper. Napravnik began racing at age 7 and steadily moved up the ranks while juggling school classes. “I was so overworked and tired and you know what, it didn’t even bother me,” she says. “It was exactly what I wanted to be doing.”
Seve Ballesteros, one of golf’s most gifted and charismatic players, has died after a long battle with cancer.
The 54-year-old passed away surrounded by his family at his home in Pedrena, northern Spain, in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Ballesteros was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2008 after losing consciousness at Madrid Airport.
The five-time major winner had four operations to remove the tumour as well as undergoing chemotherapy.
The funeral will take place on Wednesday at the San Pedro parish church in his home village of Pedrena, near Santander.
In a statement, the Ballesteros family expressed gratitude for the “support and gestures of love” they had received and asked for “respect and privacy at such a painful time”.
Ballesteros, who claimed 87 titles over his career, won the Open in 1979, 1984 and 1988 and became the first European to win the Augusta Masters in 1980, repeating the feat in 1983.
He also enjoyed a successful Ryder Cup career as both player and captain – playing in eight Ryder Cups and winning 20 points from 37 matches before guiding Europe to victory over the United States at Valderrama in 1997.
But it was his daring and flamboyant style that made Ballesteros special, transforming the image of golf and bringing a whole new audience to the sport.
Kobe Bryant says he’s planning to appeal his NBA fine for hurling a gay slur during a game, calling the decision “standard protocol.”
During an interview on ESPN radio, Kobe also said, “The concern that I have is for those that follow what I say … look to me as a role model .. for them not to take what was said as a message of hate or a license to degrade … or to embarrass or tease … because that’s something I don’t wanna see have happen.”
Kobe said his message to people is, “It’s OK to be who you are.”
Kobe Bryant Fined $100, 000 for Slur; Apologizes to Gay Rights Org
The National Basketball Association fined Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers $100,000 on Wednesday for “offensive and inexcusable” comments he made during Tuesday night’s game, the league said in a statement.
NBA Commissioner David Stern called Bryant’s outburst “offensive and inexcusable.”
“While I’m fully aware that basketball is an emotional game, such a distasteful term should never be tolerated,” Stern said in a statement. “Kobe and everyone associated with the NBA know that insensitive or derogatory comments are not acceptable and have no place in our game or society.”
Meanwhile, TMZ is reporting that Bryant has apologized to a gay rights organization. The embattled lakers guard spoke with Human Rights Campaign head Joe Solmonese, who told TMZ:
“I applaud Kobe Bryant for his swift apology. We had a very sincere conversation in which he expressed his heartfelt regret for the hurt that his words caused.”
Solmonese adds: “He told me that it’s never OK to degrade or tease, and that he understands how his words could unfortunately give the wrong impression that this is appropriate conduct.
“At the end of a difficult day, I applaud Kobe for coming forward and taking responsibility for his actions.”
Earlier we reported …
Kobe Bryant Releases Statement on Slur; Gay Rights Groups Unload
*Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant issued a statement Wednesday afternoon addressing the gay slur he appeared to have hurled at referee Bennie Adams during Tuesday’s game against the San Antonio Spurs.
As previously reported, Bryant was hit with a technical foul in the 3rd quarter, stormed to the bench, hit his seat before sitting down, threw a towel and then yelled, “Bennie!” toward the court. Bryant then leaned back and muttered what appeared to be the words, “f**king f**got!”
“What I said last night should not be taken literally,” Bryant said in a statement. “My actions were out of frustration during the heat of the game, period. The words expressed do NOT reflect my feelings towards the gay and lesbian communities and were NOT meant to offend anyone.”
The video from Tuesday’s game “is under review” by the NBA, league spokesman Tim Frank said to ESPNLosAngeles.com via email.
“We haven’t seen the video, so it would be inappropriate for us to comment on it,” a Lakers spokesperson told ESPNLosAngeles.com earlier Wednesday.
On Monday, the league rescinded Bryant’s 15th technical of the season. If it had stood, he would have received his 16th on Tuesday and would have been suspended for the Lakers’ season finale. If he receives another T on Wednesday, he would be suspended for the first game next season. Technical counts start over in the playoffs.
Meanwhile, advocacy groups condemned Bryant’s comments on Wednesday.
The Human Rights Campaign — a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization — said in a statement: “Hopefully Mr. Bryant will recognize that as a person with such fame and influence, the use of such language not only offends millions of LGBT people around the world, but also perpetuates a culture of discrimination and hate that all of us, most notably Mr. Bryant, should be working to eradicate.”
The president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, the nation’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender media advocacy and anti-defamation organization, also put out a statement.
“Discriminatory slurs have no place on or off the court,” Jarrett Barrios said. “Professional sports players need to set a better example for young people who use words like this on the playground and in our schools, creating a climate of intolerance and hostility. The LA Lakers have a responsibility to educate their fans about why this word is unacceptable.”
Actor Charlie Sheen was booed off stage by fans on the first night of his Violent Torpedo Of Truth: Defeat Is Not An Option one-man show in Detroit.
The former Two And A Half Men star had initially been greeted with rapturous applause, but fans reportedly began to walk out within 15 minutes.
Sheen had promised to tell “the real story”, but critics said he instead gave “a series of nonsensical rants”.
The show ended after an hour when Sheen failed to return after a musical break.
Entertainment Weekly described the show as an “unmitigated disaster”.
“The padded and disjointed show was a hodgepodge of video clips and Sheen-isms that felt hastily assembled and misjudged the patience of even the hardest of hardcore fans,” it said.
The Hollywood Reporter said: “Call it ‘tiger blood’ or ‘Adonis DNA’ if you will. Just don’t call it entertainment.”
Sheen opened with a monologue saying: “I am finally here to identify and train the Vatican assassin locked inside each and every one of you.”
Unhappy fans walked out of Sheen’s show early
After talking about his “napalm dripping brain” and describing himself as “a giant and leaky bag of mayhem”, he added: “Is anybody else as confused by this as I am?”
He also showed film clips including one he wrote, produced and directed entitled RPG, but was abruptly halted after more booing from the audience.
The 45-year-old responded to one heckle by saying: “I already got your money, dude.”
He later told the crowd the show was “an experiment” adding: “You paid your hard-earned money without knowing what this show was about.”
Fans walked out chanting “Refund!” and were quick to express their disappointment outside.
“I was hoping for something. I didn’t think it would be this bad,” said Linda Fugate from Detroit, who said she paid $150 (£93) for two tickets.
“I expected him to at least entertain a little bit. It was just a bunch of ranting,” said Rodney Gagnon, who travelled from Ontario in Canada for the show.
Others blamed the audience: “I thought it was good. It was what I expected,” Lori Caputo of Battle Creek, Michigan, told USA Today.
“I was disappointed in everybody booing.”
The Detroit performance was the first of 22 sold-out planned shows in 20 US and Canadian cities.
Sheen’s publicist Larry Solters declined to comment after the show.
Sheen was fired from hit comedy Two and A Half Men last month amid a frenzy of US media reports on his controversial personal life.
For all intents and purposes, the NFL lockout of players is back on.
No sooner than players had been allowed to return to their teams for workouts and meetings, a federal appeals court gave the N.F.L. a temporary delay of an injunction Friday, effectively reinstalling the lockout, at least for a few days.
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis, in a 2-1 decision, granted the league’s request for the temporary stay until the panel of judges had time to decide on a request for a full stay that would keep the lockout in place while an appeal of the injunction players won last week that reopened the league works its way through court. That could take at least a month.
However, the granting of the temporary stay doesn’t necessarily mean the N.F.L. will get the full stay, or that it will win the appeal.
The appeals court will probably rule on the full stay early next week.