Derrick Rose aggressive in return
Chicago Bulls star point guard Derrick Rose returned to the court Saturday night after missing the past 17 months while recovering from knee surgery, scoring 13 points in 20 minutes in an 82-76 victory against the Indiana Pacers in both teams' preseason opener.
Rose, the 2010-11 league MVP, looked comfortable on the floor and happy to be back with his teammates as he displayed his trademark speed at various points throughout the game, including a breakaway dunk early in the third quarter.
"I've been preparing myself for this moment for a year and a half now," Rose said after the game. "So just getting prepared for this and continue to go out there and know how blessed I am to be stepping back on the court again, especially with these guys that dedicated their whole summer to trying to make this team better. I'm fortunate to be on this team and blessed to be in this organization and playing for Thibs [coach Tom Thibodeau] and the coaching staff."
The feeling is mutual within the Bulls organization. Thibodeau was pleased to see Rose back on the floor and was happy with the 25-year-old's effort.
"It was good to have him back for sure," Thibodeau said. "I think you see how he makes the game easier for everybody. And the speed with which he plays, you got to get accustomed to that, too. His teammates have to get used to it again. He has to get used to it. But overall I thought he played very, very well. Some rust, but that's to be expected. But you could see as each minute went by he got more and more comfortable, and he ran the team great."
Rose acknowledged throughout the week that he thought he'd have some rust, and he was right. He turned over the ball four times and seemed a little out of sync at times.
The good news for the Bulls is that Rose showed no hesitation while going to the rim. He attacked the basket the same way he did before the injury and didn't back down when Pacers center Roy Hibbert stood in front.
Rafael Nadal reclaims No. 1 ranking
Rafael Nadal has been No. 1 in the world rankings before. In two stints, in fact.
But it's safe to say getting to top spot for a third time is a little extra special for the Spaniard.
When Nadal reached the final of the China Open in Beijing, he was guaranteed of overtaking Novak Djokovic when the rankings are released Monday. The exclamation point for Nadal would be beating the defending champion in Sunday's title match.
"(This is) a great year, one of the best years of my career without any doubt," Nadal said on the ATP Tour's official website after Saturday's semifinal opponent Tomas Berdych retired due to a back injury at 4-2 down in the opening set.
"It sure is special be back to the top position of the rankings after more than a half year without playing tennis. I worked hard every day with the right attitude I think, and because of that, I am today in this situation. I am number one today, but it's not (assured) for the end of the season."
Not many, including Nadal, could have seen this coming.
Last year, he suffered a shock second-round loss at Wimbledon and went on to miss seven months with a knee injury.
There were whispers that he might never return to the tennis tour.
He did, however, come back and since then has been almost unstoppable, capturing two majors in 2013 to lift his tally to 13 -- a mere four behind men's record-holder Roger Federer.
"I won't go to sleep tonight feeling that I am the best player of the world. That's something that I never thought, and I don't think that now today," said Nadal. "I played a very complete season, and that's why I am the best in the rankings today."
The 27-year-old's record stands at a dazzling 65-3, meaning he's on course to put together one of the finest seasons ever in terms of winning percentage.
Nadal suffered a first-round loss at Wimbledon this year to Steve Darcis amid speculation his famous knees were bothering him again.
With his form uncertain heading into the US Open Series, though, Nadal captured the Canadian Masters in Montreal and Cincinnati Masters before finishing his North American road trip with an emphatic win at the U.S. Open.
There he downed Djokovic.
Whereas the Australian Open champion once owned a seven-match winning streak against Nadal, he has now lost six of their last seven tussles.
The Serbian reached the China final for the fourth time in five years after beating French fifth seed Richard Gasquet 6-4 6-2 in Saturday's second semifinal, and will be seeking to add to his titles from 2009, 2010 and last year.
Nadal won the tournament back in 2005, the year after it was reinstated to the ATP Tour calendar.
The only major tournament Nadal hasn't won -- apart from his majors, he possesses an Olympic gold in singles and has won multiple Davis Cups -- is the ATP's year-end championships.
But he'll likely be the favorite for the November event in London.
Although Djokovic relinquished his No. 1 ranking -- he has held it for 101 non-consecutive weeks -- he will lead Serbia when it faces the Czech Republic in the following Davis Cup final.
Source-CNN
FIFA World Cup Trophy travels to the Caribbean
This is it! The coveted FIFA World Cup Trophy is in Jamaica this weekend.
The official unveiling will take place later Sunday evening.
The Trophy arrived in Jamaica Saturday on the FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour, sponsored by Coca-Cola.
The trophy will journey to the Turks & Caicos Islands on Saturday September 13,2013 and will be on display at Club Med on the 14th September 2013.
World Cup 2014 will be held in Brazil.
US take command over Internationals President Cup
The United States have built up a five-point lead over the International team at a storm-affected Presidents Cup at Muirfield Village, Ohio.
The hosts won four of Saturday's five fourball matches and the only foursomes match to be completed to open a 11½-6½ lead as rain again interrupted play.
Four foursomes matches need completing on Sunday before the concluding 12 singles matches.
The US need six of 16 points available to win for the fifth time in a row.
"It's not over," Internationals captain Nick Price said. "We've still got a lot of golf to play."
The singles matches have been shifted to the morning in an effort to try and escape the storms which are expected to return in the afternoon and have delayed play on the previous three days.
Saturday's play started with the completion of four of Friday's foursomes and both sides collected two points to leave the US with a one-point lead at 6½-5½.
The hosts then dominated the five fourball matches with Bill Haas and Webb Simpson completing a 4&3 win over Argentina's Angel Cabrera and Branden Grace of South Africa.
Birdies from Haas at the sixth and ninth and Simpson at the seventh and 10th helped them to win their match.
Americans Keegan Bradley and Phil Mickelson won five out of eight holes from the eighth to come back from two down after seven to earn a 2&1 win over South African duo Ernie Els and Brendon de Jonge.
Canada's Graham DeLaet birdied the last hole to ensure he and Australian playing partner Jason Day pulled a point back with a two-up victory over Steve Stricker and Jordan Spieth.
But Brandt Snedeker and Hunter Mahan restored the American's three-point lead with a win over South Africa pair Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel.
Tiger Woods and Matt Kuchar won three successive holes from the 13th on the way to beating Japan's Hideki Matsuyama and Adam Scott of Australia to round-off a dominant performance from the US in the fourballs.
In the only foursomes match to be completed, Australia's Marc Leishman and Richard Sterne of South Africa started well and were two up after six holes against Jason Dufner and Zach Johnson.
But the Americans won five of seven holes from the seventh and finished the match with an eagle three at the par-five 15th.
The International team lead two of the four matches to be completed on Sunday with the Americans up in one and the other is tied.
Els and De Jonge are two up against Woods and Kuchar after nine holes, while Oosthuizen and Schwartzel are three up after 12 holes against Simpson and Snedeker.
Haas and Stricker are two up against Matsuyama and Scott after 10 holes and Mickelson and Bradley are all square with Day and DeLaet after 13 holes.
Dwight Howard: I'm not stupid
Dwight Howard says he's not a stupid player, despite Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's criticism, and he doesn't know why the legend cares anyway.
"Dwight is an extraordinary athlete and has incredible athletic ability, but basketball is a game where the most important muscle that you use on the court is the one between your ears," Abdul-Jabbar said on ESPN's "First Take" Thursday. "Dwight's basketball IQ is not up to speed for him to be a dominant player."
Howard, who signed with the Rockets this offseason after a disappointing stint with the Lakers, fired back.
"You can't win three Defensive Player of the Year trophies and be stupid. That can't be done," he said, according to the Houston Chronicle. "And I don't think any coach that has ever coached me has said I have a low IQ for basketball.
"Have I done some dumb stuff on the floor? Yes, every player has. Have I done some stupid things in life? Yes, it's life. We make mistakes and learn from them. It is what it is. I think I am very intelligent when it comes to the game of basketball. I have been playing since I was 3 years old. Each year, I get a little smarter.
"People will have something to say. Is what it is. I'm in (Houston) now. This city has my back and we are going to ride together."
Howard is a seven-time All-Star who has averaged 18.3 points, 12.9 rebounds and 2.2 blocks in his nine-year career, all but one of the years with Orlando. He's made one appearance in the Finals, losing to the Lakers in 2008-09.
Abdul-Jabbar averaged 24.6 points, 11.2 rebounds and 2.6 blocks in a 20-year Hall of Fame career that included six championships. Howard was thought to be the next great Lakers center, but injuries and inconsistency led to Los Angeles losing in the first round of the playoffs.
"When I joined the Lakers I was the greatest center. When I left, I was the worst," Howard said, according to the Chronicle. "Mentally, I wasn't capable of playing center. I understand a lot of things are said out of emotion. I will say if he has anything to say, I am here in Houston. We can talk man to man. That's how I feel."
Howard said he had one conversation with Abdul-Jabbar in Los Angeles and asked that they don't talk about basketball.
"There is no need for me to go back and forth with him," Howard said. "One thing I would say is that he is old enough to where whatever I do shouldn't even matter. He is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. If I'm Kareem, I'm like why? Four championships, five championships, whatever. I've been in Airplane and done movies with Bruce Lee. I am not worried about the young whippersnapper.
"I wish him good luck. People do things different and when I am done playing, I will do what I can to help the younger generations."
Source-ESPN
Halle Berry gives birth to a son
Actress Halle Berry and husband, Olivier Martinez, welcomed the birth of their first son Saturday.
A representative for Berry would not share any other details about the boy -- Berry's second child -- including where he was born or his name.
The Oscar-winner has a 5-year-old daughter with ex-boyfriend Gabriel Aubry.
Berry, 47, married Martinez, 47, in a private ceremony in France in July. It is the third marriage for the Berry, who revealed in April that she was expecting a baby with the French actor.
Berry and Martinez began their relationship last year after meeting on the set of the film "Dark Tide."
Martinez was by her side through the last months of her bitter custody battle with Aubry, the Canadian model who fathered daughter Nahla.
They reached "an amicable agreement" over custody in November, a week after a Thanksgiving Day fistfight in Berry's Hollywood driveway between Martinez and Aubry.
Berry was previously married to former pro baseball player David Justice -- from 1993 until 1996 -- and singer Eric Benet -- from 2001 to 2004.
"This has been the biggest surprise of my life, to tell you the truth," Berry told CNN when discussing her pregnancy in April. "I thought I was kind of past the point where this could be a reality for me. So it's been a big surprise and the most wonderful."
Source-CNN
Willem Dafoe Disses 'Amazing Spider-Man' Reboot.
Willem Dafoe was not impressed by Marc Webb's "The Amazing Spider-Man". The actor who plays Norman Osborn/Green Goblin in Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" trilogy criticized the reboot project in a new interview with Total Film.
The actor who plays Norman Osborn/Green Goblin in Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" trilogy criticized the reboot project in a new interview with Total Film.
"I saw a trailer for the first Spider-Man reboot and I thought, 'This is crazy! It's not shot for shot, but it's the same story,' " the 58-year-old star explained why the movie didn't work for him. "I thought, 'This is sort of a cynical approach to making money!' "
Comparing it to the Raimi series, Dafoe said, "I like Spider-Man, the first one that I was involved in, because although you can argue all sorts of things, from my perspective it was very pure. It really was. The way Sam Raimi approached it, it was pure in its intentions and I think he captured, particularly, Tobey [Maguire] at that particular moment."
He added, "This real, genuine innocence; it wasn't indicated. Then after that it became more difficult because it's hard to achieve that when it's gotten some kind of attention and a certain level of success!"
"The Amazing Spider-Man" series will continue with a second installment due May 2, 2014. Director Webb and lead actors Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone return to their respective posts. Jamie Foxx will play the villainous Electro, and Paul Giamatti will be Aleksei Sytsevich/The Rhino.
Two years after "The Amazing Spider-Man 2", "The Amazing Spider-Man 3" will be out on June 10, 2016 before "The Amazing Spider-Man 4" follows on May 4, 2018.
Sinead O'Connor to Sue Miley Cyrus If She Doesn't Apologize
Sinead O'Connor's feud with Miley Cyrus may end in legal battle. After the 20-year-old singer replied Sinead's open letter with a Twitter post which mocked her past mental health struggle as well as Amanda Bynes', the Irish singer asks Miley to apologize or she will see the "Nothing Compares 2 U" singer's legal team.
In response to Miley's tweet which read, "So if youd like to meet up and talk lemme know in your next letter," Sinead said in her third open letter, "I have no interest whatsoever in meeting you. You had plenty of time yesterday to abuse Amanda Bynes .. an entirely innocent party.. and myself.. who also did nothing to deserve your abuse.. along with every other sufferer of mental health problems and every person who suffered abuse at the hands of priests."
"When you publicly apologise to Amanda and myself and all mental health sufferers as well as all who were abused by priests that will end the matter as far as I am concerned. What you did yesterday was designed to damage me and my career and has caused me enormous distress and harassment and has potential to damage my career, since you deliberately gave the impression those tweets of mine were not two years old but reflect my current condition," she added.
Sinead wrote again, "If you cannot apologize I will have no choice but to bring legal proceedings against you since it is extremely hard to be given work when people think one is suffering from mental illness." The 46-year-old singer previously also told Miley to remove her offending Twitter post.
In her first open letter to Miley, Sinead advised the twerking singer to stop "pimping" herself and rely on her talent. The "Hannah Montana" star, however, took aim at Sinead's past mental health issue in her response, adding, "Sinead. I don't have time to write you an open letter cause Im hosting & performing on SNL this week."
Source-Ace.Showbiz
Madonna Reveals She Was Raped at Knifepoint During Her First Year in New York
Madonna opens up about the obstacle, the violence and the prejudice she had endured when she relocated to New York years ago trying to pursue her dream career as an artist. The Michigan-born singer reveals in the November 2013 issue of Harper's Bazaar that she was raped during her first year in the Big Apple.
"New York wasn't everything I thought it would be. It did not welcome me with open arms. The first year, I was held up at gunpoint. Raped on the roof of a building I was dragged up to with a knife in my back," she spills, "and had my apartment broken into three times. I don't know why; I had nothing of value after they took my radio the first time."
Madge gave up her dance scholarship at the University of Michigan to move to NY. "I am not a big fan of rules," she says. "Rules people follow without question. Order is what happens when words and actions bring people together, not tear them apart. Yes, I like to provoke; it's in my DNA. But nine times out of 10, there's a reason for it."
And the Material Girl was unapologetic with her tendency to push the boundaries. "If I can't be daring in my work or the way I live my life, then I don't really see the point of being on this planet," so she explains. Even when she was younger, she always did "the opposite of what all the other girls were doing."
"That didn't go very well. Most people thought I was strange. I didn't have many friends; I might not have had any friends," she admits. "But it all turned out good in the end, because when you aren't popular and you don't have a social life, it gives you more time to focus on your future. And for me, that was going to New York to become a REAL artist."
She remembers arriving in the city with only $35 in her pocket and working odd jobs to earn a living. She was 19 back then. "It wasn't anything I prepared for," she says. "Trying to be a professional dancer, paying my rent by posing nude for art classes, staring at people staring at me naked. Daring them to think of me as anything but a form they were trying to capture with their pencils and charcoal."
Despite the rough life she had in the city, she's not a quitter, thanks to her rebellious spirit. "I was poised for survival. I felt alive. But I was also scared s**tless," the 55-year-old popstar recalls. "I was defiant. Hell-bent on surviving. On making it. But it was hard and it was lonely, and I had to dare myself every day to keep going."
The "Like a Virgin" hitmaker finally got her big break in early 1980s and was soon known for her antics. "When you're 25, it's a little bit easier to be daring, especially if you are a pop star, because eccentric behavior is expected from you," the mega star explains.
While she understood why her antics caused controversies, she was baffled when her study of Kabbalah in search for a more spiritual life was also scrutinized. "It made people nervous. It made people mad. Was I doing something dangerous? It forced me to ask myself, Is trying to have a relationship with God daring? Maybe it is," she wonders.
But her most "eye-opening experience" came when she was facing backlash while trying to adopt her son David in 2006 from Africa. "I didn't know that trying to adopt a child was going to land me in another s**t storm. But it did. I was accused of kidnapping, child trafficking, using my celebrity muscle to jump ahead in the line, bribing government officials, witchcraft, you name it. Certainly I had done something illegal!" she says.
Calling it "a real low point" in her life, Madge adds, "I could get my head around people giving me a hard time for simulating masturbation onstage or publishing my Sex book, even kissing Britney Spears at an awards show, but trying to save a child's life was not something I thought I would be punished for."
Now she's in happy place "with four amazing children." She says, "I try to teach them to think outside the box. To be daring. To choose to do things because they are the right thing to do, not because everybody else is doing them."
Anoushka Shankar discusses impact of Delhi gang rape
Musician Anoushka Shankar says she was prompted to reveal her experience of sexual abuse after learning of the gang rape and murder of a woman in Delhi.
Shankar, daughter of legendary Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar, said in February she had been abused by "a man my parents trusted" in her childhood.
Her revelation followed the fatal attack on an Indian student, for which four men have been sentenced to death.
"Her story is the apex of millions of stories," Shankar told BBC Radio 4.
Speaking on the Front Row programme, she said: "No-one I knew could help being affected by the gravity and intensity of that attack - and if it resonates with something in our experience then obviously it doubles the impact of hearing a story like that.
"I felt quite conscious as an Indian woman that there was a very unique moment happening where the entire world's attention was on sexual violence and on the role and position of women in India.
"I felt almost an obligation [to talk about my experience]. It didn't feel dragged out of me. If I was ever going to talk about my story, that felt like the right moment."
Shankar, 32, took the decision to talk about her experiences in a video, recorded in her London home, in which she appealed for people to support a campaign in memory of the gang rape victim.
"As a child I suffered sexual and emotional abuse for several years at the hands of a man my parents trusted implicitly," she said.
She added the attacks had included "groping, touching and verbal abuse".
Reflecting on the statement, the musician told Front Row's John Wilson: "It was something I never spoke to the media about.
"It had never felt like something relevant in a public context until this moment where I thought 'hang on, it's important for people to realise that this kind of thing can happen to anyone, anywhere'.
"I think there's a class issue in India where there can be an assumption that things like this don't happen to people from upper classes or who are privileged. I think part of what shocked people within India was that [the victim] was a middle-class girl. It's so ridiculous."
The musician has responded to the attack, and tried to address its causes, with a track on her new album, Traces Of You.
She said the song, which references the 23-year-old victim's name in its title, tries to capture a sense of the horror of the attack.
The album, recorded with producer Nitin Sawhney and her sister Norah Jones, also addresses the death of her father last year.
Shankar said her experiences had informed the spirit of the record, and brought a sense of "resilience" to the music.
"It's not necessarily about the passing of my father, it's about me passing through the passing of my father.
"There's a way that we all go through horrible and painful things and I'm not nullifying it in any way when I say we do go on.
"My childhood experiences were one of the big experiences for me [but] I know as a woman I've come through that.
"At some cost, but I've come through it."