Monday, September 04, 2006


CROCODILE HUNTER, STEVE IRWIN, KILLED BY STINGRAY



The Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, was killed in a freak accident. While diving for a documentary, he was stung through the heart by a stingray and died.

Dastardly end to a colorful life.

Steve Irwin killed by stingray | The Daily Telegraph


THE Crocodile Man, Steve Irwin, is dead. He was killed in a freak accident in Cairns, police sources said.

It is understood he was killed by a sting-ray barb that went through his chest.

He was 44.

He was swimming off the Low Isles at Port Douglas filming an underwater documentary when the incident happened.

Ambulance officers confirmed they attended a reef fatality this morning at Batt Reef off Port Douglas.

It is understood Mr Irwin was killed around midday, Eastern Australian time.


More perspective on Steve Irwin's death.



AUSTRALIA ABC NEWS

The naturalist and television star Steve Irwin has died in a diving accident in far north Queensland. He was 44.

Police say he was stung through the heart by a stingray while diving off Port Douglas.

He was filming a documentary when the accident occurred around midday AEST near the Low Isles.

A helicopter arrived with paramedics on board to try to resuscitate him, but it was too late.

Irwin's body is being taken to the morgue in Cairns.

His family are believed to be flying from Brisbane to Cairns this afternoon.

Irwin, who was was born in Victoria in 1962, inherited his love of reptiles from his father.

His father Bob was a keen reptile enthusiast and moved the family to Queensland in 1970 to open a small reptile park on the Sunshine Coast.

Irwin took over the family business in 1991 and grew it into Australia Zoo.

In 1992 he ventured into television, making the first series of the Crocodile Hunter.

When the program aired in the United States, he shot to international fame.


ANDRE AGASSI SAYS GOODBYE



ESPN.com - TENNIS - Garber: Agassi gave until his body gave out

Andre Agassi's career ended today in memorable fashion. How many storied professional athletes can say that?

Usually when an athlete's skills are on the decline, fans and spectators quietly or overtly hope they retire in order to not besmirch any old memories of their their glory.

In Agassi's case, the fans and spectators didn't want his career to end and were doing everything they could to will him to victory, one match at a time.

When the crowd refuses to say goodbye to a dimming star then that is the ultimate sign of respect.

Andre Agassi is only 36 years old, but these final days he has shuffled around like a senior citizen, limping into restaurants, hobbling through the hallways underneath Arthur Ashe Stadium. Four injections in five days did little to quiet the shrieking pain in his back.

He was unseeded here and his one-time No. 1 world ranking has slipped to No. 39. And yet, when he stepped onto center court for his first two matches, the eight-time Grand Slam champion came alive. Elevated by a full house of passionate believers, his aching body seemed to, fleetingly, live in the past.

On Sunday, Agassi -- his face frozen into a perpetual grimace -- walked into Arthur Ashe for a third time to play a 25-year-old qualifier named Benjamin Becker. His heart, his soul and the U.S. Open crowd were desperately willing, but this time he couldn't rise above his horrible physical reality.

Friday, September 01, 2006


Greece Shocks U.S. Basketball Team: Face It, the NBA Is an Inferior Product

Anyone who watches an NBA games this winter will be wasting their time, anyone who gives the NBA their money is wasting hard-earned cash.

Greece Shocks U.S. Basketball Team - New York Times



Well, Team USA lost in the semifinals of the World Championships.

Face it, the NBA is not a very good basketball league and definitely is not as good as it advertises itself to be. We stopped watching the NBA several years ago and we don't miss it.

Don't kid yourself. After the United States has turned in abysmal performances in the last two tournaments many American sports fans were told this team was the best squad of cagers since the 1992 Dream Team. Well, this special crew of future legends will now be playing for the lowly bronze medal.

In terms of quality of play, the NBA is the worst of the 4 major North American sports leagues but, the NBA runs the biggest hype machine out of all of them.

Most Americans assumed that Team USA would win the goal medal without any regard for the opponents or any knowledge of the players on other teams. (Can you name 2 guys on the Greek squad? One?) Look at the salaries of our home-grown losers. YOU pay those 8-figure salaries.

David Stern assumes Americans will gladly hand over hundreds of dollars to watch crappy basketball games filled with players who are more concerned with choking their girlfriends, firing guns in public, filming movies and promoting sneaker endorsements.

Hopefully, David Stern will be disabused of that notion, his league is a disaster and a joke.

The NBA is dead to us. Are you really looking forward to misguided hoisted shots, crummy free throw shooting and 84-77 final scores?

The NBA is not worth the money, time and attention of American sports fans.