A Dose Of Tennis And Football

Serena Charges To Victory

Three-time Australian Tennis Champion, Serena Williams rallied back to beat Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova 5-7, 7-5, 6-1. in a match which at times seemed like a far reach for Ms. Williams. Serena who was only one win away from reaching the quarter finals, but was seemingly bother by the intense weather conditions. Her opponent capitalized on that and moved ahead in the first set. But amidst her struggles, Williams was persistent and kept hitting winners, although majority of her first serves were not connecting. Williams, who has nine Grand Slam singles titles, was thankful that the roof was closed over the court after she’d dropped the first set.
The temperature had risen to 107F) degrees by then. When the air conditioning finally kicked in, so did Williams’ performance. Until then, she said, “I was in like an out-of-body experience.”
“I felt I was watching someone play in a blue dress, and it wasn’t me, because it was so hot out there,” she said. “And I kept trying to tell myself that it’s not hot, you know.
Down a set and a break and with Kuznetsova serving for the match, Williams broke back to get even at 5-5 when Kuznetsova missed an open-court volley that turned the match.
Williams held and then broke Kuznetsova’s serve again, pulling to a set apiece with a forehand winner down the line.
William who broke to lead 3-1 in the third and then, after saving two break points with a pair of forehand winners. After putting away one Russian opponent, she slated to face three more in the semis. Serena will play Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva, who ousted Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 6-2 in Wednesday’s earlier match.
Williams has won the Australian title in 2003, 2005 and 2007 is two wins from continuing the odd-numbered sequence. While the Williams-Kuznetsova match was interrupted for 10 minutes to close the roof, matches on outside courts were suspended or rescheduled to be played in the second closed arena.

SuperBowl Media Day is always the a great day for athletes, journalist and wonnabe journalists. And there are the few oddballs who attend to crash the party shocking some players with the absurdity of their questions and the audacity of their antics.
This year’s crowd at the annual fete seemed a bit tamer, one would suppose the weakened economy and lack of a forthcoming stimulus package had anything to do with this. Not to be disappointed by the no-show of the Tom Brady stacking bride, this year we had a “fairy godmother” dressed in drag. Under the red evening gown, long blonde wig and layers of thick makeup was Joel Bengoa, a reporter from Telemundo Sports Network, the NBC-owned U.S. Spanish language network, looking for a laugh. Doing his best Scarlett Johansson imitation, Bengoa teetered in his heels en route to present several players with boxes of chocolates.
“The fairy godmother claims to be the good luck charm for the Cardinals, but again I am a bitter Eagles fan…no comment there. Ines Sainz was back for her sixth Super Bowl for TV Azteca out of Mexico City, measuring players’ biceps then comparing them to her 27-inch waist.

Game Face

At the other end of the festivities, Entertainment Tonight staged a “Dancing with the Super Bowl Stars” contest between hulking defensive tackles: Arizona’s Alan Branch claimed the disco ball trophy, claimed he’d keep it forever, then accidentally broke the ball off the base.

Kurt Warner’s Rise To Stardom – A Journey That Started With Arena Football

Age Is Nothing But A Number - 13

Arizona Cardinals Quarterback Kurt Warner’s journey to the NFL will be one left to be documented for the history books. One chapter that will be written for sure will be that Kurt is the one of the few players who has played in three different leagues AFL, NFLE, and NFL) in his journey to stardom. Born June 22, 1971 in Burlington, Iowa, Kurt Warner played high school ball at Regis High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and went on to the University of Northern Iowa. At UNI, Warner was third on the Panthers’ depth chart until his senior year. When Warner was finally given the chance to start, he was named the Gateway Conference’s Offensive Player of the Year.

An undrafted free agent, the 6’2/220 QB, attended the Green Bay Packers training camp in 1994, but was released before the regular season began. Warner returned to Northern Iowa and worked as a graduate assistant coach with the football team, all the while still hoping to get a tryout with an NFL team. With no NFL teams willing to give him a chance, Warner turned to the Arena Football League in 1995 and signed with the Iowa Barnstormers. Warner was named to the AFL’s All-Arena first team in both 1996 and 1997 as he led the Barnstormers to Arena Bowl appearances in both seasons. He was also named twelfth on a list of the twenty best Arena Football players of all time.

Following his stellar performances with the Arena Football League, in 1998, Warner was signed by the St. Louis Rams and was allocated to NFL Europe’s Amsterdam Admirals. Warner led NFL Europe in touchdowns and passing yards.[6] His backup was Jake Delhomme, now the starting quarterback for the Carolina Panthers.

Warner was the backup quarterback for the St. Louis Rams during the 1998 regular season and the 1999 preseason. When starting quarterback Trent Green was injured in a preseason game, Warner took over as the starter. With the support of running back Marshall Faulk and wide receivers Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, Az-Zahir Hakim, and Ricky Proehl, Warner completed one of the top seasons by a quarterback in NFL history by throwing for 4,353 yards with 41 touchdown passes and a completion rate of 65.1%. The Rams’ high-powered offense was nicknamed “The Greatest Show on Turf” and registered the first in a string of three consecutive 500-point seasons, an NFL record. Warner threw three touchdown passes in each of the first three games in the 1999 season, his first three NFL starts. He is the only NFL quarterback in history to accomplish that feat, and only the second other than Dan Marino to do it in his first two NFL starts.

Teacher and Student

Since last playing for the Rams, his voyage has taken him to the Big Apple as backup to Eli Manning and has taken him to The Arizona Cardinals, now a place he calls home sweet home, especially after this year’s performance.

Although footballs fans here in America might not pay much attention to the Arena Football League, this league has propelled several players to the next level, players such as Greg White of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Rasheed Davis of the Chicago Bears, among others. I am convinced that the hard-knocks ironman styled indoor game of Arena Football prepared Mr. Warner for life in the outdoors.

Many Faces Of The Ageless Wonder

But as luck and history would have it on February 1, 2009 at about 6:38 pm, Kurt Warner will lead the Cardinals to break the 90 year drought that the Cardinals have held. Being an Eagles’ fan myself, it will be a bitter sweet felling, but not even a lackluster fan like me could deny his place in history. Kudos to Kurt and the Cards.