June 30, 2008 - Did you know the National Women’s Football Association is currently hosting playoffs? Last weekend, several teams advanced to the second round of playoffs. The Columbus Comets will travel to the Philadelphia Phoenix; the H’Town Cyclones to the St. Louis Slam; the West Michigan Mayhem to the New York Nemesis; and the Kentucky Karma to the Los Angeles Amazons.

The Kentucky Karma beat the Pensacola Power to advance to the second round of playoffs last Saturday. That gives Kentucky ONE WEEK to prepare for the Los Angeles Amazons. Not only does the Karma need airplane tickets and hotel rooms, they also need to do this during a holiday weekend. This is a daunting task for this unbelievable team. With gas prices high and travel accommodations desperate, the Karma is asking for help. Here’s where YOU can help.

The Kentucky Karma are currently seeking donations, large or small, via paypal.

If you would like to donate money to the KY Karma Los Angeles trip, please use www.PayPal.com and send to account wwwebby@yahoo.com

If you are not comfortable with using PayPal, please contact KY Karma General Manager Geoff Webb @ 502-640-3935 or email at wwwebby@yahoo.com
-or-
KY Karma owner, Tom Hawkins @ 502-773-2607 or email at mshtlh@bellsouth.net

**For additional information on all playoff games in the NWFA go to www.womensfootballcentral.com.

These ladies deserve a trip to the playoffs. Please help them out in their time of need!

Filed under: Charity/Cause, Events, Football, Fun Stuff, General, News Bytes by Saucy
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June 30, 2008 - Second-seeded Jelena Jankovic and No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova were both ousted in the fourth round Monday, leaving Wimbledon without any of the top four women in the quarterfinals for the first time.

With top-seeded Ana Ivanovic and No. 3 Maria Sharapova eliminated last week, none of the top four women reached the quarterfinals - the first time that’s happened at Wimbledon and also the first time at any Grand Slam tournament in the 40-year history of the Open era.

Meanwhile, the Williams sisters moved closer to another Wimbledon final. Venus and Serena found themselves playing back to back Monday on  Court 2, known as the “Graveyard of Champions” based on the record number of upsets played on there.

While Roger Federer glided to victory on Centre Court, and Rafael Nadal played on Court 1, the Williams sisters were relegated to a less than stellar venue. Was the slight on purpose? Officials say no - schedules were based on other factors.

However, there are no replay reviews on Court 2, where the scoreboard is manually operated. Spectators can hear players muttering to themselves, and the soundtrack for matches also includes cheering from other courts and noise from the nearby dining area for players.

The Williams sisters might be glad to know the days are numbered for the Graveyard of Champions. As part of a project to renovate the outer courts, a new Court 2 opens next year, while the Graveyard will become Court 3 in 2009— meaning fewer marquee matches—and will eventually be torn down.

Even after Venus and Serena spent the day at the Graveyard, their title hopes remained very much alive. They’re defying the trend in a women’s tournament that, by one measure, ranks as the most upset-filled on record.  If the Graveyard can’t stop them, what will?  Which one will prevail?

In the meantime, Venus has been assigned to the Court 1 stadium Tuesday. Serena is to play on Centre Court, where fans may find them both Saturday.

Filed under: Tennis by jane
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June 30, 2008 - Last weekend was the West Coast Women’s Paddling Festival for the Whitewater Kayaking women of the West Coast.

About 15 Pretty Tough women showed up to compete in the weekend’s events, a head-to-head race, an eight ball competition, as well as a men’s freestyle. 

Check out updates of the weekend’s events on my website!

http://web.mac.com/karussell/iWeb/Site/Updates/5C328D01-E352-4AAE-ADEE-EB1FBF720FED.html 

Cheers!

Kim Russell

Filed under: Kayak by Kim Russell
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June 30, 2008 - Nineteen-year-old Inbee Park won the U.S. Women’s Open in Edina, Minn., by four strokes Sunday — her first professional title.

Park, the youngest player to win the 63-year-old championship, exhibited crucial putting and resolve beyond her years to close with a 2-under-par 71 for a total of 9-under 283.

Park was the only player in the final nine groups to break par. Her sparkling day included two key birdies on the back nine, and a final one on the 18th to seal the deal and earn the $585,000 prize. Not bad for a teenager. 

“Really, I can’t believe I just did this, especially with all these big names on the trophy that have been very, very successful with the golf,” Park said.

On the other end of the leaderboard, legend Annika Sorenstam finished 24th in her final Women’s Open before retirement at the end of the season. “Leaving with another great memory, that’s for sure,” Sorenstam said after the tournament.

Filed under: Golf, News Bytes by jane
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June 29, 2008 - One swing from completing her week’s work, Venus Williams toed the baseline, bounced the ball, gave it a toss and delivered yet another blistering serve at Wimbledon. The ace bounced off the Court 1 backstop as Williams closed out her third round match and bid another foe farewell.

The scoreboard said 127 mph, the fastest women’s serve ever recorded at Wimbledon. The scoreboard also had Williams winning 6-1, 7-5 over qualifier Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. The defending champion was not even aware that her 11th ace had broken the tournament’s fastest serve record.

Four-time champion Venus cruises into the round of 16, along with her sister Serena.

With No. 1-ranked Ana Ivanovic and No. 2 Maria Sharapova eliminated, and with No. 3 Jelena Jankovic limping to victory Saturday, prospects look good for an all-Williams final next weekend. It would be their first meeting in a Grand Slam final since Serena beat Venus for the 2003 Wimbledon title.

Filed under: Tennis by jane
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June 28, 2008 - Torri Edwards, Allyson Felix, Sanya Richards and Lauryn Williams are among the top competitors at the historic Hayward Field at the University of Oregon looking to earn a trip to Beijing to represent the U.S. at the Olympic Games.

But the first athletes to secure their Olympic team berths came in the women’s 10,000 at the end of Friday’s session, led by winner Shalane Flanagan in 31 minutes, 34.81 seconds, breaking the Hayward Field mark set by Mary Slaney in 1982. Kara Goucher and Amy Begley also earned trips to Beijing.

Begley barely made it, though, finishing 1 1/2 seconds inside the Olympic qualifying standard. She received pats on the back from 2004 Olympian Flanagan and 2007 world bronze medalist Goucher, then joined them for a celebratory trot around the track.

“It still hasn’t hit me that I’m going to Beijing, because I thought I was off 1 or 2 seconds,” Begley said.  “This is probably the best day ever.”

Filed under: Athletics, Beijing Summer Games 2008, Track & Field by jane
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June 28, 2008 - You never know how one of these can come in handy. A 24-year-old Colorado Springs woman, vacationing in Europe, went for a hike in the Bavarian Alps. During the trek, Jessica Bruinsma lost her footing and fell 16 feet to a narrow overhang, spending the next 70 hours waiting to be found. After nearly three days, she spotted a group of lumberjacks but they were too far away to hear her, so she improvised.

Apparently, there was a cable that brought wood up and down the mountain. Initially, the timber transport system was out of service. But when a repairman restored the line on Thursday, Jessica hooked her sports bra on the cable and it reached a worker at the base. He had heard of the missing hiker and immediately alerted police who airlifted her to safety.

Bruisnma realized she needed her shirt and jacket for warmth but the bra might serve as an appropriate signal to those on the ground. And her resourcefulness paid off! She has scrapped plans to stay in Berchtesgaden to learn German and plans to return home to Colorado where she hopes she’ll recover quick enough to participate in an upcoming marathon. Her goal is to complete the course in three hours and ten minutes. We’re guessing she’ll be properly outfitted for the run.

Full story

Filed under: Mountaineering, News Bytes, Outdoors by jane
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June 27, 2008 - With movies like “Girl Fight” and “Million Dollar Baby”, one has to wonder why female boxing is so underrated. Men and women alike have criticized the sport saying that the women were unskilled, untrained, and most of all unentertaining. Every once in a while there’s an athlete that defies the stereotype, an undeniable force not to be ignored. LaTonya King, 19, is that athlete.

LaTonya decided at 11, she would learn to box in order to protect herself. A year later, she would become the first black woman to ever win a Golden Gloves title match. By the time she was 15, she had six national titles under belt. With a training regiment that consisted of three hour sessions - five days a week, she refused to let her boxing interfere with her school work. She not only played clarinet, joined the cheerleading squad, and maintained straight A’s, she graduated valedictorian of her high school.

With boxing idols such as Roy Jones, Jr. and Laila Ali, it’s no surprise that her skills mimic those she admires. Emanuel Steward, Boxing Hall of Fame instructor, can not deny her talent. In Jet magazine he was quoted as saying ‘”She makes me more excited than any other boxer. I never thought in a million years I’d be training a girl.”

At 18, she became part of Nike Women’s Work 2 Play campaign highlighting female athletes from all sporting genres. Work 2 Play gives insight into just how hard these female athletes work to maintain their athletic edge.

As it stands now, King has earned eight national titles, three of them being Golden Glove titles, a Ringside National Championship, as well as an International Boxing Championship. At 19, she is pound for pound the best boxer in her weight class. With a record of 25 wins, 0 losses and 5 knockouts it isn’t hard to imagine that she would be much more than just a boxer.

You may be asking yourself, ‘What’s left for LaTonya King?’ Who knows, maybe she’ll turn pro.

Filed under: Boxing, General, Profiles by Rachel Greaser
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June 28, 2008 - Top seed Ana Ivanovic, clear favorite to win Wimbledon for the first time this year, was upset in the third round on Court No. 1 by wild card entry Zheng Jie of China. Zheng, ranked 133 in the world, secured the astonishing 6-1, 6-4 victory in 72 minutes.

Ivanovic of Serbia, who took over the No. 1 ranking after winning the French Open earlier this month, blamed the pressures of winning her first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros this month and becoming world number one for her shock defeat.

“It has been a very emotional past couple of weeks and it took its toll,” Ivanovic claimed.

“It’s a surprise for me,” said the 24-year-old Zheng, who has won 11 tour doubles titles, including the 2006 Wimbledon and Australian Open championships. “Thanks to Wimbledon, (which) gave me a wild card. I just tried my best and had to keep going, going.” Her unexpected win extended a spate of stunning upsets at the All England Club including Maria Sharapova’s round two loss yesterday.

Filed under: News Bytes, Tennis by jane
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June 28, 2008 - By way of my basketball buddy, Judy Naz, comes this great viral video. With over 2 million YouTube views, the girl in this clip has created quite a buzz. Is it real? Clue: Note the bottle of Gatorade in the last shot.

Filed under: Baseball, Entertainment by jane
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