Aussies land tough Open draw

LLEYTON Hewitt has received a tough draw for the Australian Open starting on Monday, with a first-round meeting against 2007 Open runner-up Fernando Gonzalez.

The Chilean No.13 seed also beat Hewitt in the third round of the 2007 Open and holds a 3-2 career win-loss record over the unseeded Australian.Top seed Rafael Nadal of Spain will play Belgium's Christophe Rochus in round one, while Roger Federer begins his campaign for a record-equalling 14th grand slam title against Andreas Seppi of Italy.

In the women's draw made on Friday, Australian Casey Dellacqua received a tricky first-up assignment, drawing No.19 seed Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia in the opening round.

Fellow Australian Samantha Stosur will begin her campaign against Klara Zakopulova from the Czech Republic.

Top seed Jelena Jankovic from Serbia plays Austrian Yvonne Meusberger in the opening round while No.2 Serena Williams begins her quest for a fourth Australian Open title against Chinese wildcard Meng Yuan.

Billy Evangellista vs. Nam Phan

Strikeforce
Season 1 : Ep. 17|19:27|
Unbeaten lightweight Billy Evangelista faces his biggest test yet in young riser Nam Phan in a bout between two extremely well-rounded fighters.

Eagles Down the Defending Champs

AP
posted: 1 HOUR 9 MINUTES AGO

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (Jan. 11) - Donovan McNabb made all the big plays that Eli Manning did not, and the Philadelphia Eagles eliminated the Super Bowl champion New York Giants 23-11 Sunday to reach the NFC title game for the fifth time in eight seasons.Throw in Philadelphia's hard-hitting, ball-hawking defense, and these NFL playoffs are now for the Birds - the underdog Eagles, Cardinals and Ravens all won on the road this weekend.
McNabb lunged for one touchdown, threw for another and converted several key third downs to move the sixth-seeded Eagles (11-6-1) into next Sunday's title game at Arizona (11-7). Philadelphia beat the Cardinals 48-20 on Thanksgiving night.
"It feels like it was years ago," McNabb said.
Gusting, swirling winds played havoc with any ball in the air, and also helped produce an odd-looking score: This was the first game in NFL history to finish 23-11, the Elias Sports Bureau said.
A year after road success fueled the Giants' route, the Eagles are taking the same path. They opened the postseason by winning at Minnesota and, after their sixth victory in seven tries, look nothing like a team that needed several breaks on the final day simply to make the playoffs.
David Akers added three field goals - extending his NFL record to 18 straight in the postseason - to fend off the top-seeded Giants (12-5).
Manning never resembled the quarterback who won last year's Super Bowl with that one perfect spiral to Plaxico Burress. MVP of that huge upset over New England, Manning was in trouble from the start. His first pass wobbled out of his hand, got caught in the wind and missed a wide-open receiver.
Manning ended up 15-for-29 with two interceptions, often overthrowing his targets. The Giants did not score a touchdown and lost for the fourth time in five games.
"It all comes down to what you do in the playoffs. That makes your season a good one or a disappointment," Manning said. "This is a disappointment.
"We felt this was a special team that could go far. The defense played outstanding today and gave us opportunities. Offensively, we didn't do our job. We didn't score enough points."

Atlanta Braves stunned by John Smoltz's departure

ATLANTA (AP) — Bobby Cox has been through this before.

Tom Glavine left. So did Greg Maddux and Andruw Jones.

Still, the longtime Atlanta manager sounded as though he took a shot to the gut when John Smoltz called this week to deliver the stunning news: He was signing with the Boston Red Sox after 21 years with the Braves.

``He said, 'I appreciate pitching for you.' I was like, 'John, holy cow, what are you doing here?''' Cox said Friday, remembering his call from Smoltz earlier in the week. ``It really hit me then. You hate giving up one of your best guys. He'll be a Hall of Famer for sure.''

The 41-year-old Smoltz had spent his entire big league career with the Braves, but that run came to an end when he agreed this week to a $5.5 million, one-year contract that could be worth another $5 million in bonuses based largely on how much time he spends on Boston's active roster.

The Braves weren't willing to guarantee that kind of money to an aging pitcher coming off major shoulder surgery, which led to a departure with bitter overtones - not unlike Glavine's decision to sign with the New York Mets in 2002 after 16 seasons in Atlanta.

General manager Frank Wren defended his negotiations with Smoltz, saying the team made an offer that would have been worth a similar amount if the right-hander was healthy enough to pitch.

But the Braves weren't willing to offer nearly as much guaranteed money - their proposal was for $2 million - and the bar to reach some $8 million in possible incentives was much higher than Boston's proposal. Smoltz went so far as to issue a statement saying ``there were large discrepancies between the offer from the Braves and offers from other teams.''

Meyer winningest coach in men's college basketball

ABERDEEN, S.D. (AP) — Four months after a car accident nearly killed Don Meyer, the Northern State coach passed Bob Knight as the NCAA's winningest men's basketball coach.

Northern State's 82-62 win over Mary on Saturday night gave Meyer his 903rd victory.

``There's no clinician I'd rather listen to than Bobby Knight,'' Meyer said. ``He's taught us a lot.''

Always the teacher himself, Meyer still was instructing his team after the historic victory.

``We've got a ways to go,'' said Meyer, who made note in the postgame huddle of his team's defensive lapses on some 3-point shots. ``How selfish it would be if I was celebrating all this stuff and they were trying to be a better team.''

He compiled his 903 wins at three universities in a career that began in 1972 and nearly ended last September in a car accident that sent him to the hospital for 55 days, forced doctors to amputate his lower left leg and led to the discovery of a slow-growing cancer.

A few minutes after the game, Meyer finally smiled, letting the moment sink in.

Charles Barkley's

Hours after test results stemming from his recent DUI bust were released, TNT announced that the outspoken NBA commentator will be taking a leave of absence from his job as resident bon mot-provider for the network's basketball coverage.

Barkley's blood work—he refused a Breathalyzer test—showed a blood-alcohol level of 0.149, nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent, according to the Gilbert Police Department.

Per the incident report, the former power forward was pulled over Dec. 31 in Scottsdale, Ariz., at 1:27 a.m. after officers saw him run stop sign. Once in custody, Barkley was at no loss for words, telling his arresting officers that he had been on his way to get oral sex—hence his haste—before he was stopped.

"When I spoke with Charles, he was apologetic for the events that transpired and it was obvious he understood the significance of this situation," Turner Sports president David Levy wrote in an email to Bloomberg.com.


Update: Charles Barkley
Saturday Night Live
Excerpt (s.34 : ep.12)|03:51|
Sir Charles Barkley discusses his latest traffic violation with Seth.



Barkley won a Sports Emmy in 2001 as a studio analyst for TNT's award-winning Inside the NBA. He has been ranked as one of the top-50 NBA players of all time.

Coaching Eagles Is a Blessing and a Curse

PHILADELPHIA — On Jan. 11, 1999, Andy Reid became the coach of the Eagles. Several days after his hiring, he arrived in a winter storm, worked a long day and went to an Italian restaurant in South Philadelphia. A priest walked in, recognized Reid, blessed him and wished him good luck.he businessmen at the next table became curious. They were drinking something stronger than iced tea. Upon learning who the burly diner was, one of the men stood and said, “Yo, Coach Reid, welcome to Philadelphia.”

Then everyone at the table booed in unison.

“You know,” said Butch Buchanico, the Eagles’ director of security, who had accompanied Reid, “you set a record. You ain’t in this town 12 hours, you ain’t played a game, and you got booed and blessed at the same time.”

A decade later, as the Eagles (10-6-1) face the Giants (12-4) in the divisional playoffs Sunday, the feelings about Reid here are no less complicated.Win or lose against the Giants, Reid is certain to begin his post game news conference, not with an emotional recounting, but with a bloodless, monotone recitation of the various muscles, ligaments and joints injured when large men hit each other at high speed. He will mention pulled hamstrings and sprained knees. He will probably use euphemisms like dinged and tweaked, and he will speak with such low affect that he might be talking of automobile parts that can be hammered into shape in a body shop. Then he will say tersely to reporters, “Time’s yours.”

Referring to the rationing of civic approval, Reid said: “In a lot of cities, it’s game to game. In Philadelphia, it’s play to play, and you have to love that.”

If the Eagles beat the Giants, many will consider this season a belated success. A defeat will stir the pot of dissent once again. Reid understands. Anyone who has been simultaneously blessed and booed would.

Cardinals Stun Panthers and Advance to N.F.C. Title Game

Before this postseason, the Cardinals had a total of one playoff victory since winning the N.F.L. championship in 1947. That came in 1998.

But all of that is history. And so are the Carolina Panthers.

The Cardinals thoroughly outplayed heavily favored Carolina for a 33-13 victory Saturday night in front of a stunned crowd of 73,695 at Bank of America Stadium. Arizona, which beat Atlanta in the first round, reached the National Football Conference title game for the first time since the league began holding conference championships.

“It’s huge,” Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner said. “We haven’t been here in a long time. It just shows the progress that we’re making.”

The Cardinals will play the winner of Sunday’s game between Philadelphia and the Giants.