ORLANDO, Fla. - Stan Van Gundy turned to his assistant coaches on the Orlando Magic bench, unsure what to do with star Dwight Howard finally avoiding foul trouble and his team on his way to a blowout victory.

“Should I give Dwight a rest?” Van Gundy asked. “They said, ’No. Just let it ride.”’

What a ride it was.

Howard had 21 points and 12 rebounds in one of the most crushing playoff wins in Magic history, a 114-71 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal.

Howard added five blocks and avoided the fouls and frustration that overwhelmed him in the first round, helping the Magic go ahead by as many as 46 points. Vince Carter finished with 20 points as Orlando showed no signs of rust after an eight-day layoff since sweeping Charlotte.

Maybe all Howard needed was some time to cool off.

“I still played about the same amount of minutes,” Howard said, chuckling, because he wasn’t needed much in the fourth. “The first round is over with.”

Josh Smith scored 14 points and Zaza Pachulia had 12 points for a Hawks team that had little playoff poise. Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is Thursday night in Orlando, and Atlanta will have to find some way to rally from such a paralyzing defeat.

“It’s embarrassing,” Hawks point guard Mike Bibby said. “They embarrassed us.”

Only a 47-point win in the first round against Boston in 1995 was a larger margin of victory in a playoff game for Orlando. This was just one big Magic highlight reel.

Nothing riled up fans more than when Howard snatched a layup attempt by Smith in the air, pulling down the ball with one hand. He threw the ball upcourt to Jason Williams, who lobbed a pass from just past midcourt for an alley-oop dunk to Mickael Pietrus that was part of 17 straight Magic points in the second quarter.

The arena was roaring so loud that, even after Hawks coach Mike Woodson called timeout and was on the floor pleading with officials for a goaltend, many players couldn’t hear the whistle and continued.

Finally, somebody had to tell the Magic to stop.

“I think the challenge is not to get carried away with the score,” Van Gundy said. “It was one of those nights where everything just snowballed.”

Timeouts might have been Atlanta’s only reprieve.

The Hawks were held to 10 points in the second quarter, and just 11 points in the third. Howard and most of the Magic starters weren’t even needed in the fourth, and Atlanta players covered their heads with towels on the bench in the final minutes.

Fresh off a Game 7 victory against undermanned Milwaukee, the Hawks were outhustled and outmuscled at every step. The little more than 48-hour turnaround didn’t keep them sharp, and they looked more like the team trying to get back in rhythm.

And they could do nothing to stop Howard.

“I didn’t allow anything to throw me off my game,” Howard said, adding that he made it a point not to engage officials about calls. “And I think that’s what I have to do the rest of the series, just not let things take me off my game, just stay free and clear.”

The Magic came out and hit the Hawks where it hurt — literally.

Howard grabbed a defensive rebound and swung his elbow to shake off Smith, hitting Atlanta’s forward in the face. Howard was whistled for a foul, and Smith iced down his cheek on the bench during a break.

The Hawks didn’t know what hit them.

“They made a run,” Pachulia said, “and they never looked back.”

That inside-outside game with Howard in the paint was the biggest reason Atlanta has struggled against its Southeast Division rival for several seasons. The Magic had taken six straight regular-season games in the series until the Hawks won on a buzzer-beating dunk by Smith in their last meeting.

“It was an ugly game for us,” Woodson said of the latest defeat. “I wish I knew what happened.”

Howard and Co. weren’t taking any chances this time.

If the NBA’s two-time defensive player of the year can avoid foul trouble, it could be another quick second-round stint for Atlanta. The Hawks were swept by Cleveland in the conference semifinals last year, and they’ll need to find a way to slow down Howard to have any chance this time.

Van Gundy was already thinking about how his team could put the win behind them.

“I told them that (Wednesday) I will have for them virtually every time in NBA playoff history that a team had a blowout win, came back and lost the next game,” Van Gundy said. “You’ve got to forget what happened.”

NOTES: NBA commissioner David Stern announced earlier in the day that Orlando’s new arena would host the 2012 All-Star game. … The fewest points an opponent has ever scored against Orlando in a playoff game was 68. … Actor Chris Tucker was among those in attendance.

Source (article): MSNBC

Source (photo): ORLANDOSENTINEL

AUGUSTA, Ga. - Tiger Woods saw it as a gathering of friends and, indeed, it all started with a hug of the first guy he saw wearing a green jacket.

By the time he finished, some of his new friends probably felt like giving Woods hugs themselves. After all, who in their right mind wouldn’t get choked up after hearing the sad tale of a man who will live forever with the guilt of missing his son’s first birthday?

If this was all an act, Woods should be given an Oscar instead of another green jacket. As a performance it was just as masterful as any Woods has given us on his way to four wins at Augusta National.

He talked softly. He was contrite. He even called his “friends” by their first names.

It helps, of course, that the facts never got in the way. The 207 reporters who crowded into the interview room at the Masters did their best, but Woods was as slippery as the 18th green when he wanted to be.

Besides, it’s hard to kick a guy when he’s down. Maybe not so hard when you’re an alleged mistress — one of many.

“I think he’s still a big, fat liar,” adult film star Joslyn James said

A lot of others probably think the same thing, and it’s easy to see why. When you live a lie for as many years as Woods did, even 45 days in therapy may not be enough to change anything.

But the tone was perfect, the delivery impeccable. In just 35 minutes, Woods pulled off the kind of serious damage control he seemed incapable of doing in the previous five months.

He even tossed in a couple of little factoids just to make sure no one went away empty- handed.

No, he wasn’t going to say how he smashed his Escalade into a fire hydrant last Thanksgiving night. But he did, for the first time, confirm he got a sore neck and five stitches in his lip from the accident.

As for the other details of the accident, he said he did everything to the letter of the law. No one else’s business, and no need to address reports that he may have been under the influence of painkillers and sleeping tablets when he got behind the wheel of the 5,500-pound vehicle.

“Well, the police investigated the accident and they cited me 166 bucks and it’s a closed case,” Woods said.

Unfortunately for Woods, another 166 bucks won’t make the questions all go away. The sex scandal seems to have a half-life of its own and every time he makes an attempt to move past it, one of his mistresses pops up to remind everyone what a cad he really is.

In this case it was James, who invited the media to a watch-Tiger-with-me party at the Friars Club in Manhattan, where she countered Woods’ portrayal of himself as a devoted father by claiming he was with her just 10 days after his daughter was born. She also poked holes in his claim that he wasn’t having much fun while having to live a lie.

“He was having a good time from what he told me,” said James, who, not so coincidentally, will be performing at the Pink Pony strip club in Atlanta during the Masters.

Another woman in Woods’ life may not be totally convinced of his intentions to lead a better and more spiritual life, either. Woods declined to say what his relationship is right now with his wife, Elin, but he did say she wasn’t going to be with him in Augusta this week.

Ultimately, of course, people are going to believe what they want to believe, and the lack of candor by Woods in discussing the scandal probably doesn’t matter in the long run. A certain segment of the population will always hold him in contempt, but when it comes to superstars most people tend to be forgiving and have short memories.

They’re not going to care months from now that Woods hides behind a police report, or that he hasn’t fully disclosed his relationship with a Canadian doctor who faces charges involving human growth hormone. They’re going to believe him when he says he now knows that family means everything, and that what he really wants to do is help others like him.

Woods likely already won some people back with his first real answers to real questions. He’ll win some more if he follows through on his pledge to be more respectful of the game, something that was on display in Monday’s practice round when he smiled often and signed autographs.

“To be out there in front of the people where I have done some things that are just horrible, and you know, for the fans to really want to see me play golf again, I mean, that felt great,” Woods said. “That really did.”

The newly introspective Woods, though, will have to find a way to fit his new persona into his old game. Giving up fist bumps and cursing could come at a price, he acknowledged, because they have sometimes helped him win even when all seemed lost.

Still, a flash of the old bravado remains as he returns to a game that has missed him terribly.

“Nothing’s changed. I’m going to go out there and try to win this thing,” Woods said.

If that happens, it would be one of the greatest sports stories ever. It would also speed up the public rehabilitation that began in earnest Monday on the same course where his career took off when he became the youngest to ever win a green jacket in 1997.

It seems improbable, even impossible.

So, too, though, did the sex scandal that started it all.

Source (article): MSNBC

Source (pictures): LIVEJOURNAL, GOLFDIGEST, BABBLE, SPORTSALEX

MOSCOW - Two female suicide bombers blew themselves up on Moscow’s subway system as it was jam-packed with rush-hour passengers Monday, killing at least 37 people, officials said.

Witnesses described panic at two stations, with commuters falling over each other in dense smoke and dust as they tried to escape the worst attack on the Russian capital in six years.

The head of Russia’s main security agency said preliminary investigation places the blame on rebels from the restive Caucasus region that includes Chechnya, where separatists have fought Russian forces since the mid-1990s. Alexander Bortnikov, head of the FSB, told President Dmitry Medvedev the bombs were filled with bolts and iron rods.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who built much of his political capital by directing a fierce war with Chechen separatists a decade ago, vowed that “terrorists will be destroyed.”

In the wake of the explosions, New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced a “heightened security presence,” NBC News reported.

The first blast just before 8 a.m. (12.00 a.m. ET) tore through the second carriage of a train as it stood at the Lubyanka metro station. The explosion killed at least 23 people.

The headquarters of the FSB, Russia’s main domestic security service and the successor to the Soviet-era KGB, is located in a building above the station.

‘Stampede’
Another blast about 40 minutes later wrecked the second carriage of a train waiting at the Park Kultury metro station, killing 14 more people.

“I heard a bang, turned my head and smoke was everywhere. People ran for the exits screaming,” said 24-year-old Alexander Vakulov, who said he was waiting on the platform opposite the targeted train at Park Kultury.

“I saw a dead person for the first time in my life,” said 19-year-old Valentin Popov, who also was standing on the opposite platform. “Everyone was screaming. There was a stampede at the doors. I saw one woman holding a child and pleading with people to let her through, but it was impossible.”

Surveillance camera footage posted on the Internet showed motionless bodies lying in Lubyanka station lobby and emergency workers treating victims.

Emergency Minister Sergei Shoigu said the toll was 37 killed and 102 injured, according to Russian news agencies.

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said both explosions were believed to have been set off on the trains.

“The first information that the FSB has given us is that there were two female suicide bombers,” he told reporters.

Russia’s civil aviation regulator ordered local airports to increase security, an official told Reuters.

President Barack Obama condemned the “outrageous” attacks. “The American people stand united with the people of Russia in opposition to violent extremism,” he added.

The Kremlin had declared victory in their battle with Chechen separatists who fought two wars with Moscow; but violence has intensified in the neighboring regions of Dagestan and Ingushetia, where Islamist militancy overlaps with clan rivalries and criminal rings.

‘Black Widows’
Jonathan Eyal, director of international security studies with the London-based Royal United Services Institute, said a group known as the “Black Widows” may have been involved in the attack. Some “Black Widows” are believed to have lost brothers or husbands in the Chechen conflict.

“This is a direct affront to Vladimir Putin, whose entire rise to power was built on his pledge to crush the enemies of Russia,” Eyal added. “The fact of the matter is that there is very little you can do to protect against this kind of attack without shutting down the entire transport system.”

The Moscow subway system is one of the world’s busiest, carrying around 7 million passengers on an average workday, and is a key element in running the sprawling and traffic-choked city.

The blasts practically paralyzed movement on the city center’s main roads, as emergency vehicles sped to the stations. Helicopters hovered overhead the Park Kultury station area, which is next to the city’s renowned Gorky Park.

Passengers, many of them in tears, streamed out of the station, one man exclaiming over and over “This is how we live!”

The current death toll makes it the worst attack on Moscow since February 2004, when a suicide bombing killed at least 39 people and wounded more than 100 on a metro train.

Chechen separatists were blamed for that attack.

Rapid transit has increasingly become the favored means of attack for Islamist terrorists. Over the past seven years, terrorists have targeted trains and subways throughout the world, killing nearly 800 people and wounding more than 1,500.

Source (article): MSNBC

Source (picture): WATODAY

Only hours after FIU running back Kendall Berry was stabbed to death on the school’s Miami campus, the university president said in a video message that officials “will not rest” until his attacker is found.

“Our hearts are heavy,” a somber FIU president Mark B. Rosenberg said Friday morning.

Berry was stabbed late Thursday night, after Miami-Dade police said the 22-year-old junior from Haines City, Fla., was involved in an argument with another man outside the front doors of the school’s student recreation center — one of the spots where the football team trains. Several witnesses to the incident were being interviewed, Miami-Dade Police Detective Javier Baez said.

FIU opened as scheduled Friday morning, with increased security for students and grief counseling available. Students living in residence halls were advised to keep doors locked, and any person at the university could be escorted around campus if desired.

Members of the FIU football team were already receiving counseling, and a football coaching clinic scheduled for Friday and Saturday has been indefinitely postponed.

“Last night, we lost a well-liked student who was a tireless worker in the classroom and on the ball field,” Rosenberg said. “Like so many of our students, Kendall Berry had positive energy and a bright future.”

Berry died on the way to a hospital, Baez said, adding that he did not know if Berry and his attacker knew each other.

A person was “detained and questioned” but was released and “is not a currently a suspect,” Detective Aida Fina-Milian said Friday morning.

Spring football practices have been postponed. No final decision has been made about when to hold the program’s annual spring game, which for now remains scheduled for Wednesday.

“In our sorrow, we must come together,” Rosenberg said in his message to the university community. “Our campus is safe. Now more than ever, you must tell this story. … Even while we mourn Kendall and express our sympathy to his family and friends, we must not let this heinous crime overshadow the incredible track record for safety that we have.”

Outside the rec center Friday morning, police tape was stuffed into a trash can and an orange “X” was spray-painted on the ground near the front doors. A sign said the building was scheduled to reopen at noon Friday.

Other than the university statement, FIU’s athletic department did not have an immediate comment.

Television images showed several students, including some identified as FIU athletes, hugging and crying Thursday night near the spot where the stabbing took place, shortly before the university released official confirmation that Berry died from his injuries. One student dropped to her knees in grief just inside the doorway, screaming.

FIU senior Martha Carvajal, 25, said she heard helicopters and saw police lights while she studied on campus.

“I was startled by it,” Carvajal said Friday. “When I finally found out, I was like, ’Oh no, somebody actually got killed here.”’

Berry had 164 all-purpose yards in limited use as a freshman in 2007, appearing in all 12 FIU games that season. He sat out the 2008 season with a knee injury and then had some breakout moments in 2009, rushing for three touchdowns in a span of 13 minutes against Middle Tennessee on Nov. 7 and following that up with two more scores the following week in a win over North Texas.

Berry had seven brothers and sisters, the university said. A memorial service is being scheduled, Rosenberg said.

“Last night, his grief-stricken mother described Kendall as a negotiator, not a fighter,” Rosenberg said. “We will not rest until the perpetrator of this crime is brought to justice.”

Berry finished last season with a team-best seven touchdowns, despite not playing in the season’s first seven games because of continued rehab from the knee injury.

“When you put the football in his hands, that kid can do some unbelievable things,” FIU football coach Mario Cristobal said late last season of Berry.

FIU officials said they did not recall another killing on the school’s campus.

“It’s a very safe campus and we strive every day to keep it that way,” said Lt. Rick Torres of the FIU police department.

Source (article): MSNBC

Source (picture): NYDAILYNEWS

The Southern hospitality Augusta National Golf Club can provide certainly must appeal to Tiger Woods. For a man looking to re-invent himself, trying to foam a runway and softly land his badly damaged image, the Masters has irresistible charm.

Augusta doesn’t cotton to strangers, doesn’t suffer fools. The green coats won’t be expanding the press credential list or setting up an auxiliary press center. Those there to observe this Masters will be largely those that observed the last one, the last many for that matter. The grounds might be bursting with azaleas and magnolias, but you won’t see any paparazzi in bloom.

What’s more, you aren’t likely to hear any offensive taunts or catcalls from the galleries. Folks who are fortunate enough to get their paws on a gate pass at Augusta approach this golf tournament the way they might approach the Soup Nazi in an episode of “Seinfeld.” They don’t dare draw attention to themselves; they watch their p’s and q’s.

Loudmouths and wiseacres are not well-received. Song birds and piano music are the sounds of choice. Just ask Gary McCord about Augusta’s sense of humor. For the most part, save for structured news conferences, Woods will be able to go about his professional business at the Masters.

There will be nothing inside the ropes other than caddies in white overalls and some 7,450 yards of “Tiger-proofed” turf, a golf course, Woods has counted four times among his 14 major championships.

In terms of passive environments, Augusta might as well be Eden for the scarred Sir Eldrick. Even Dr. Drew would approve of the Friendly Fruitlands. The path to golf focus will be as uncluttered as it can get.

Ah, yes, but there’s the rub. As he attempts to ease his perforated private life into an orderly professional career, as he performs CPR on television executives and restores normal breathing for PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, Woods has to play golf. Moreover, he has to play well.

The quickest way the game’s No. 1 star can put these unsavory months behind him is to change the content from “birds” to birdies, to sensationalize what is going inside the ropes rather than outside, to bring back comparisons to Jack Nicklaus and perspectives about his rank in golf history.

Al Davis can tell Woods how to make all this go away: “Just win, baby.”

But winning golf tournaments, much less majors, is never a layup, even for Woods. His career winning percentage in majors is 33 percent, which is fabulous stuff. Only Bobby Jones has a better mark, a 44 percent winning clip that demands some qualification. The definitions were significantly different during Jones’ illustrious career in the 1920s and early 1930s.

But to re-iterate, before “Driveway-gate,” before the parade of embarrassing phone messages and seamy soirees, when mental fortitude was Woods’ calling card, he failed to win 67 percent of the majors he entered. Now, he will attempt to make a major championship his first competition in five months.

And Ari Fleischer will be no help when it comes to answering the kind of questions the greens at Augusta will pose.

No one knows this better than Woods, which makes his decision to go straight to Augusta, without passing go, without collecting first-place money at Bay Hill — which he seems to do annually — all the more intriguing.

No warm-up act to iron out kinks in his swing. No dipping the toe in the waters of tournament golf to re-acclimate himself. Woods is starting off at the top, in a major.

This is not new territory for Woods. He tried this same cold turkey trick in 2006, going from an emotional frying pan into a U.S. Open fire at Winged Foot. It did not go well. After taking eight weeks off to mourn the passing of his father, Woods pulled trombones from his bag. He carded a pair of 76s, stumbled 12 strokes over par and missed the cut at a major for the first time in his professional career.

Michael Campbell, who played with Woods through those initial two rounds, noticed a difference. “He’s pretty focused, but the intensity wasn’t there as it normally is,” Campbell said afterward.

Yet, Woods has trumped that glitch as well. Two years later, he came back from eight weeks off for surgery on his knee and won the U.S. Open. He hobbled around Torrey Pines while defeating Rocco Mediate in a memorable Monday playoff.

Perhaps those conflicting results aren’t so confusing. Perhaps they speak to the essential ingredient in championship golf. The challenge at Winged Foot was personal, emotional, mental. The obstacle at Torrey Pines was mostly physical. Still mentally strong, Woods was able to overcome.

In that perspective, Augusta in April will be like Winged Foot in 2006, only the jump start in Georgia promises to be even more mentally challenging. We all know hitting balls on a range, practicing without consequences, is nothing like swinging the club when it counts. Only when thousands of people are watching, when millions of dollars are at stake, will Woods’ legendary ability to tunnel his vision be challenged. And it remains to be seen how he will react.

Given the incredible circumstances, one wonders if he can still afford to conduct himself with the same “intensity,” if he can slam clubs in anger, if he can launch the occasional f-bomb, if he can continue to be indifferent and unaffected toward the huge galleries. Or will Woods be more sensitive, more aware of his surroundings? He has said he will try to be more respectful of the game — how, exactly, will that affect his concentration?

Woods enjoyed an 88 percent USA TODAY/Gallup poll popularity rating in 2000. In recent weeks, his rating has dropped 52 points in the same poll.

Augusta will be a safe house; only golf will be spoken there. But the toll the past few months have taken on Woods remains unknown. Since the incident in November, he has appeared just once in public, in a controlled atmosphere on Feb. 19 at TPC Sawgrass. He addressed a television camera and 40 of his closest associates, including his mother. He looked sullen and uncomfortable. He read a statement and did not take questions.

The Masters might seem similar, but there will be at least one question asked, the most compelling question of all. After all that has happened, is Tiger Woods still the best player of his time?

Augusta can ask that question most succinctly. The challenge will be for Woods to provide the absolute answer.

Source (article): MSNBC

Source (picture): THEONION