I downloaded SP3 at 2:45 PM today, April 29, 2008, from the direct link given above. I saved it to my C: drive and run the installer. I had it installed and running by 3:30 PM. When the installer was done running, I had to restart the system just once. That was it! Everything is up and running without a problem.
Euro 2008 kicks off on 7 June and you can keep up with all the action from Switzerland and Austria online.
Surfers can catch all the action online via UEFA’s Euro 2008 website.
There are a range of packages from single matches to complete tournament passes including highlights, match replays and extensive analysis.
The BBC and ITV will be showing all the matches live on TV and and the BBC will have extensive coverage on Radio 5 also.
The competition comprises of 16 teams in four groups all battling it out to be crowned Champions of Europe at the 29 June final in the Austrian capital of Vienna.
More than one million tickets allocated for the tournament have been snapped up in what promises to be a football feast.
Group C, nicknamed the ‘Group of Death’, features World Cup finalists France and winners Italy as well as the Netherlands and Romania.
As only the top two teams from each group will progress to the quarter-finals it’s certain that one of the tournament’s favourites will exit early on.
Elsewhere Germany face rivals and neighbours Poland and Austria in Group B. England’s nemesis Croatia are the final team in the group.
Another tournament favourite Portugal are pitted against host nation Switzerland, Turkey and the Czech Republic.
In Group D reining champions Greece face Sweden, Spain and Russia.
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The NFL’s biggest problem now is a call from Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., for an independent investigation and his threat to yank its antitrust exemption.
This can be partly traced to the league’s ongoing dispute with Comcast, the Philadelphia-based cable operator, ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio said this week.
The NFL and Comcast were buddy-buddy when NFL Network launched. But the league’s decision to award a regular season TV package of eight games to NFL Network, rather than Comcast, soured the relationship. Last year, Comcast moved NFL Network to a sports tier that cost subscribers about $5 extra per month.
Specter has “close ties” to Comcast, noted Paolantonio on NFL Live Wednesday, and the league will have to “tread lightly” with Specter as it pursues a complaint against Comcast with the Federal Communications Commission.
Kremer’s interview with Walsh, who worked for the Patriots from 1997 to 2003, will add more fuel to the fire. Among the highlights:
•Walsh says videotaping opponents’ defensive signals gave the Patriots a competitive advantage: “If you know what defense a particular team’s gonna run, if you’re essentially in their huddle … that’s quite an advantage to have on offense.”
•On Bill Belichick’s assertion that taping had little or no impact on games: “If it was of little or no importance, I imagine they wouldn’t have continued to do it, and probably not taken the chances of going down onto the field in Pittsburgh.”
•On whether NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s punishment ($750,000 in fines and loss of a 2008 first-round pick) fit the crime: “If they (the Patriots) had to do it again, I imagine they’d pay a $750,000 fine for three Super Bowls.”
Barkley: I’ll repay $400K casino debt
TNT basketball analyst Charles Barkley admitted owing $400,000 in gambling debts to a Las Vegas casino Thursday. Barkley promised to make good after Clark County District Attorney David Roger said he faced a possible criminal complaint if he did not repay the Wynn Las Vegas resort.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. — In May 2003, he was THE horse, winner of the Kentucky Derby, showered with media attention, roses and glory.
Today, he is the most famous stable pony at any racetrack in the country.
Unlike other recent Derby winners, Funny Cide — a gelding — wasn’t rushed to stud duty after his 3-year-old season. Instead, he continued racing until last year, when he was retired at age 7.
Now, his job is to carry trainer Barclay Tagg or assistant Robin Smullen as they accompany active racers to and from morning workouts — and the “Funny Cide” saddle towel is all that signals the uninformed that they are in the presence of a champion.
“That’s probably a first and a last, for the winner of the Kentucky Derby,” said Hall of Fame trainer and Lexington, Ky., native Shug McGaughey.
A gelding hadn’t won the Derby since Clyde Van Dusen in 1929 until Funny Cide claimed the garland of roses five years ago at odds that paid $27.60 on a $2 win bet.
After he won by more than nine lengths in the Preakness Stakes, the racing world harbored high hopes that Funny Cide could become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978.
But he finished third in the Belmont Stakes after dueling with eventual winner Empire Maker.
In the years after that, Funny Cide remained a fan favorite — he won every year he raced, except when he was injured at 5, with victories in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, the Dominion Day Stakes and in the last race of his career, the $100,000 Wadsworth Memorial at Finger Lakes.
“We kind of reached a point where we said, ‘What more can he do for us?’ ” said Jack Knowlton, managing partner for Funny Cide’s owners, the Sackatoga Stable group known for riding to the 2003 Derby in a yellow school bus.
It all got so very confusing on Sunday during an endless final day of the 2008 draft.
The details are fuzzy, but it seems the Bears landed the next Hines Ward, a new John Lynch, a guy on probation, a guy just off probation, a guy with two knees, another with a shoulder, someone from Alaska, someone who has eaten baked Alaskan and a tight end with as many sacks as the defensive lineman taken two rounds earlier.
And that was before the seventh round, which the Bears dominated with five picks. That included the first selection of the round, used on Michigan State defensive end Ervin Baldwin, an international man of mystery who wasn’t invited to the NFL Scouting Combine and didn’t make the cut in the draft guides. Baldwin later was hilariously asked in a conference call how he earned the moniker ”The Big Cheese,” which actually is the preferred nickname of Chester Adams, an offensive lineman selected 14 picks after Baldwin.
Confused? It was just that kind of day. The Bears landed 10 players to go with two chosen Saturday, and it will take years to figure out exactly how they fared.
That didn’t stop general manager Jerry Angelo — who said last week he was hoping to select four starters — from declaring he actually drafted five potential starters, counting safety Craig Steltz of LSU, who was taken in the fourth round over USC quarterback John David Booty.
If Angelo can pull off that feat, he’ll be in rare company. An examination of the last five drafts reveals that only two teams exceeded Angelo’s goal. The Buffalo Bills came up with six starters in their 2006 draft and the Philadelphia Eagles five in 2005. No other team selected more than four, and generally speaking, if a GM can find three, it’s a great draft.
Well, the feeding frenzy for players that weren’t selected with any of the draft’s 253 picks has started, and somebody had better call Mr. French and/or Mary J. Blige, because the Vikings have made this a family affair.
According to Judd Zulgad of the Star-Tribune, here are the Undrafted Free Agents that the Vikings have agreed with:
Husain Abdullah S Washington State
Martail Burnett DE Utah
Leger Douzable DT Central Florida
Marcus Griffin S Texas
Steven Hauschka K NC State
Erin Henderson LB Maryland
Nate Jones WR Texas
Travis Key CB Michigan State
Jeremy “J” Leman LB Illinois
Tim Mattran C Stanford
Drew Radovich T USC
Darius Reynaud WR West Virginia
Brandon Sumrall CB S Mississippi
Marcus Walker CB Oklahoma
Kyle Wright QB Miami (Fla.)
Albert Young RB Iowa
Erin Henderson is the younger brother of Vikings linebacker E.J. Henderson, while Marcus Griffin is the younger brother of Vikings cornerback Cedric Griffin. Both players attended the same college as their older brothers did. Gee. . .you suppose the Vikings had the inside track on those two signings?
Looking at where The Sporting News had each of them ranked, Reynaud was listed as their 15th best WR and the highest WR not drafted. Henderson was their 8th ranked outside linebacker. Leman was the #13 inside linebacker, and Griffin was the #14 safety in their listings.
Not sure how many of these guys are actually going to have a shot at making the roster, but it’s good to see that the Beloved Purple didn’t just sit on their hands after the final name was called out.
Thanks for the great weekend, everybody. Despite not seeing a lot of action, the Vikings made the draft weekend a pretty successful one in my book, as well as a pretty successful one for the Daily Norseman. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday night, and we’ll see you all back here tomorrow!
Always, the Masters seems to revolve around anniversaries. That’s the way it is with celebrations cared for by folks who consider it their sacred duty to uphold tradition and pay tribute to days of yesteryear.
Anchored by those beliefs, the 2008 Masters gets underway today at Augusta National GC in Augusta, Ga., and nary a soul taking note of the tournament hasn’t heard something about it being the 50th anniversary of the birth of a king, a victory by Arnold Palmer.
What they need to know, too, is that 60 years ago it was about a beloved father, a victory by Claude Harmon.
Palmer would go on to shape the game, so far as the public is concerned, and it would be foolhardy to think that his impact on the PGA Tour isn’t as great as any other individual’s. But let it be said that years before Palmer arrived, Harmon had, in his own way, helped give the game shape and so, too, is his impact on golf still being felt. You could argue that he’s the most important teacher the game has ever known, but what isn’t open for debate is this: His Masters victory in 1948 remains a celebratory cause for his sons.
“For years, we used dad’s win to make the Masters a chance for us all to get together,” said Butch Harmon, the oldest of Claude’s four sons, all of whom followed their father into the business of teaching the game. “We were proud of that history.”
Said Billy Harmon, the youngest: “I don’t know how many people have won the Masters, but I know it’s not many. That means there aren’t many children of Masters winners. It’s special to be part of that history.”
Tomorrow will mark the 60th anniversary of that Sunday when Harmon shot a 2-under 70 to complete a stunning 9-under 279 trip around Augusta National to win by five shots over Cary Middlecoff. Stunning not because his talents were not appreciated - “He was a good player. No doubt about that,” said 1968 Masters champ Bob Goalby - but because the rigors of the PGA Tour were a way of life for his friends, not for Harmon, a native of Savannah, Ga.
New York — Tracy Letts has won the Pulitzer Prize for drama for his play August: Osage County and Bob Dylan has been awarded a special music citation. Junot Diaz won the prize for fiction for The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.
Daniel Walker Howe won for history for What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848. Winning the award for biography was John Matteson for Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father. Saul Friedlander won the non-fiction award for The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945.
Two prizes were awarded for poetry: Robert Hass for Time and Materials and Philip Schultz for Failure.
David Lang won in music, for The Little Match Girl Passion.
Dylan’s citation noted his "profound impact on popular music and American culture."
On the journalism side of the Pulitzers, The Washington Post was the clear favourite, earning six prizes, including breaking-news reporting for its coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings.
Other newspapers that earned Pulitzers include The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune andThe Boston Globe.
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The Champions Tour has the week off because of that little tournament in Augusta, Ga. But 10 players with ties to Augusta National Golf Club won’t be taking a break from golf. Instead, they will head to the Masters Tournament to try to recapture some of their past glory.
Of the 10 active Champions Tour players in the Masters field, five are in the World Golf Hall of Fame. A perfect 10 out of 10 have a Green Jacket and four have more than one.
Gary Player has both the most wins and the most appearances with three and 50, respectively. When he tees it up on Thursday, Player will set the record for most starts in the tournament by any player in history. His first win at one of the world’s most popular sporting events came in 1961 and marked a ground-breaking time for International players since Player was the first non-American to win on the azalea-speckled grounds. He captured the trophy again in 1974 and 1978.
Raymond Floyd will be there for his 42nd time and won in 1976 by a whopping eight strokes (that record wasn’t broken until Tiger Woods came along in 1997). Floyd has 11 top-10 finishes compared to Player’s 15.
Tom Watson slipped into his two Green Jackets in 1977 and 1981. Watson played in his 33rd Masters last year and would have made the cut if not for a triple bogey on the 36th hole.
Craig Stadler did make the cut in 2007, his 29th year in the event. Stadler captured his Masters title in 1982, a season when he won four times on the PGA TOUR.
Stadler wasn’t the only player older than 50 to make the cut last year — two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw and 1979 winner Fuzzy Zoeller did as well. Crenshaw created one of the most memorable Masters memories when he captured an emotional win in 1995 despite the loss of his long-time friend and teacher Harvey Penick earlier that week. Zoeller and Crenshaw are back in Augusta for the 2008 tournament.