18th FINA Visa Diving World Cup : London Olympics 2012

18th FINA Visa Diving World Cup : London Olympics 2012

18th FINA Visa Diving World Cup : London Olympics 2012

18th FINA Visa Diving World Cup : London Olympics 2012

18th FINA Visa Diving World Cup : London Olympics 2012

18th FINA Visa Diving World Cup : London Olympics 2012

Usain Bolt could run 100m in 9.4 seconds, says Michael Johnson

Four-time Olympic champion Michael Johnson believes Usain Bolt can run 100m in 9.4 seconds - but only if the Jamaican refines his sprinting style.

The 25-year-old broke his own world record with a time of 9.58 secs at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin.

Wimbledon 2012: Serena Williams wins fifth singles title

Serena Williams overcame a resurgent Agnieszka Radwanska to clinch a hard-fought 6-1 5-7 6-2 victory and earn her fifth Wimbledon singles title.

The American had eased through the opening set before Radwanska regrouped to win a rain-delayed second set.

But Williams broke twice in the decider to kill off Radwanska's challenge.
The 30-year-old then followed up her success to claim the doubles title with sister Venus, defeating Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka 7-5 6-4.

Her singles victory is Williams's 14th Grand Slam title and follows Wimbledon singles victories in 2002, 2003, 2009 and 2010.

But it is also her first since spending almost a year out of action between summer 2010
and 2011 with a leg injury and subsequent pulmonary embolism.

Wimbledon 2012: Serena Williams & Petra Kvitova reach round four

Serena Williams fought back from a set down and set a new Wimbledon women's record of 23 aces to keep alive her bid for a fifth singles title. Williams, 30, had to dig deep to edge past China's Zheng Jie 6-7 (5-7) 6-2 9-7, while defending champion Petra Kvitova breezed into round four. "I definitely felt like it was a gut check for me," said Williams. "I never felt I would lose. I told myself to stay calm. I'm always strong mentally. That's not going anywhere." The American, who set the previous aces record of 20 in the 2009 semi-final against Elena Dementieva, stumbled in the first-set tie-break. But she romped through the second set before coming out on top in a nail-biting decider after two hours and 28 minutes on Centre Court. "I thought in the third set, if I'm going to go out I want to go out with a bang," said Williams, who served three times to stay in the match, winning each game to love. Williams, the sixth seed, will next play Kazakh wildcard Yaroslava Shvedova, who made history by achieving the first 'golden set' in Grand Slams against Sara Errani . French Open finalist Errani failed to win a single point during a 15-minute first set, in which Shvedova won 24 consecutive points, and eventually fell 6-0 6-4 to the world number 65.
Source: BBC

'Alpha male' Andy Roddick keeps fans guessing

Andy Roddick kissed Wimbledon Centre Court farewell on Saturday, but the ''alpha male'' of American tennis refused to reveal whether it meant goodbye for good.

Sanya Richards-Ross setting sights high for Birmingham

World 400m champion Sanya Richards-Ross is looking to use her appearance at the Birmingham Grand Prix to prepare for her World title defence in August.

The 26-year-old American lost the whole of the 2010 season to injury after taking gold in Berlin the year before.

After appearing in Birmingham on 10 July, she will travel to South Korea for the World Championships in August.

Sanya Richards-Ross setting sights high for Birmingham

World 400m champion Sanya Richards-Ross is looking to use her appearance at the Birmingham Grand Prix to prepare for her World title defence in August.

The 26-year-old American lost the whole of the 2010 season to injury after taking gold in Berlin the year before.

After appearing in Birmingham on 10 July, she will travel to South Korea for the World Championships in August.

Sania leapfrogs to doubles world number 2

The semifinal appearance in the Wimbledon women's doubles on Monday catapulted Sania Mirza and Elena Vesnina to number two slot in the WTA Race to the year-end Championships.

Sania-Elena now have 4506 points in the list, headed by Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik, who have 6865 points. The top-four pairs compete in the prestigious year-end championship.

"The partnership with Elena has been great in the last four months, specially the Slams. When we started playing together last year at Dubai, and had somebody said that we will be number two after Wimbledon, we would have laughed," Sania told PTI from Dubai.

Sania has taken a three-week break from the circuit to recover from the injury in the left knee.

"It's (knee) sore since I am off the pain killers. I am recovering. Hopefully it will be okay after 10 days rest," she said.

Sania's first tournament after the break will be the WTA event in Washington from July 25.

The good show at the Wimbledon also resulted in Sania achieving the career-best doubles rank of 11, an improvement of three slots. In the singles though Sania slid to 63, a loss of three position, after a first round exit.

In the ATP rankings, Somdev Devvarman rose to career-best 63 in the singles. Leander Paes also improved his doubles rankings by getting back into the top-10.

He is placed eighth while his partner Mahesh Bhupathi is highest ranked Indian in the list at number five. Rohan Bopanna is at number 10, just behind his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi.

Maria Sharapova's seven-year wait to wimbledon 2011final

Seven years after a surprise victory at Wimbledon at age 17, Maria Sharapova is back in the final, this time as a three-time winner in grand slams and the heavy favourite on Saturday.

Petra Kvitova is preparing for her first slam final. The 21-year-old Czech might be dreaming of a debut like that of her Russian rival, who overpowered the top-seeded Serena Williams 6-1, 6-4 in 2004 to establish herself as a precocious star of the women's game.

The seven-year gap between Wimbledon finals might surprise some, but it is not something that troubles Sharapova.

"You obviously hope that you can be in the final stages every single year, but I guess it's just not meant to happen," she said yesterday. This is the year I'm supposed to be back in the final. I don't know why. I'm not going to question it."

Since 2004, Sharapova has added the 2006 US Open and the 2008 Australian Open titles.

She also has recovered from shoulder surgery in October 2008 that took her off the singles court for nearly 10 months and necessitated a change in her service motion when she returned to action.

Her first slam final since the surgery is the sort of moment Sharapova visualised while nursing her shoulder back to health.

"I had time to reflect on my career and things that I've achieved," she said.

"But I think I was always looking towards the future more than anything than in the past because that's where I was trying to envision myself at some point, to be getting back out there."

Looking back to the 2004 final, Sharapova said she spent the day trying to recover from illness.

As she looked ahead to the biggest match of her career, Kvitova dismissed talk of nerves.

"No, I'm not nervous," she said. "I'm looking forward to tomorrow, for sure. I slept well. It's OK."

If Kvitova can hold her nerve, the final could come down to her serve. The left-handed Kvitova has hit 35 aces in her six matches so far and it was her serve that was a determining factor in her semi-final win over the fourth-seeded Victoria Azarenka.

Sharapova managed to beat Sabine Lisicki despite 13 double faults and a first-serve percentage of 48.

Martina Navratilova, the last left-handed women's champion at Wimbledon, in 1990, said Kvitova "matches up well" against Sharapova.

"It's such a toss-up. It basically comes down to who serves better," Navratilova said. "Once the ball is in play, Sharapova has an edge with Petra. I think Petra will return better [than did Lisicki] and it will be easier for her to hold serve."

Kvitova has described the nine-time Wimbledon winner Navratilova as her idol.

"She's very sweet," Navratilova said. "It's funny because I haven't had that many players that said, 'You're my hero.' It's nice. I thought she was too young for that."

Kvitova had not won a match on grass before her run to the semifinals at the All England Club last year where she was beaten by Serena Williams.

Since then, she has won three WTA Tour titles and surged into the top 10.

She trained at the same club in the city of Prostejov as 2010 Wimbledon men's finalist Tomas Berdych. Martina Hingis, the 1997 women's champion, also practised there.

Kvitova said her parents are flying over from Prostejov to watch her attempt to become the first Czech woman to win Wimbledon since Jana Novotna in 1998.

Sharapova will again be supported by her fiance, the New Jersey Nets basketball player Sasha Vujacic, who has been at the championships throughout.

Seven years on from her 2004 victory, when she played like a carefree teenager, the 24-year-old Sharapova will go into the final with a far more nuanced perspective.

"I'm a few years older, more mature. I hope so at least," she said, smiling.

"You develop, not only as a player, but as a person as well.

"Obviously, a big part of my life is tennis, but at the end of the day I'm not going to be playing for my whole life. Next page

Venus Williams eases through at Wimbledon

Venus Williams crushed Akgul Amanmuradova 6-3 6-1 on Monday to reach the second round at Wimbledon.

The American five-times champion, seeded 23rd after slipping down the rankings due to injury problems, overpowered her opponent from Uzbekistan with a clinical performance.

The 31-year-old Williams, who last won Wimbledon in 2008, will next play Japan's Kimiko Date-Krumm.

50 Cent wants to have fun with Ashley Cole

English footballer Ashley Cole seems to have an unlikely new pal in 50 Cent. The rapper has stated that he wants to meet Ashley and spend some time with him following his split with wife Cheryl.

he Chelsea star met the rapper while working on 2009 crime movie Dead Man Running. "We'll probably get together and have some fun. I've got his number. He's having a hard time," the Daily Star quoted 50 Cent as saying.

"You gotta take your bumps and wear your bruises. I'll definitely see what's up with him," he added.

EA Sports moves forward with Tiger Woods' game rollout

EA Sports said on Monday it was moving forward with plans to introduce a Tiger Woods online game despite the top golfer's public relations nightmare and drastic drop in popularity following his adultery scandal.

The Electronic Arts Inc unit's president, Peter Moore, said in a company blog, www.itsinthegame.com, that the company would this month begin offering 'Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online,' a browser-based golf game developed in the past year.

"Our relationship with Tiger has always been rooted in golf," he wrote on the blog. "We didn't form a relationship with him so that he could act as an arm's length endorser.

"Regardless of what's happening in his personal life ... Tiger Woods is still one of the greatest athletes in history," he added.

EA's move comes four days after AT&T Inc terminated its sponsorship deal with Woods, joining other companies that have either distanced themselves or cut ties with the world's first billionaire athlete since he became engulfed in allegations of multiple extramarital affairs after a minor car accident outside his Florida home November 27.

Woods, believed to be the world's wealthiest athlete, estimated to earn about $100 million a year in endorsement deals before his troubles, confessed on December 11 to "infidelity." He announced he would take an indefinite break from golf to save his marriage to Swedish wife Elin Nordegren.

The game is one of EA Sports' first online efforts, to be offered to consumers initially at no cost during a testing phase, but eventually requiring a subscription fee to play.

EA, which previously had said its Tiger Woods PGA Tour business would remain unchanged, signed a sponsor deal with the world's No. 1 golfer in 1997 and has introduced 12 versions of the video game bearing his name.

However, Moore did not say on Monday whether EA would move forward with the expected rollout this summer of its next Tiger Woods PGA Tour video game, annually one of the company's highest-selling sports products. A spokesman declined further comment.

Previously, technology outsourcing and consulting firm Accenture Plcended its endorsement deal with Woods, while Procter & Gamble Co's shaving products maker Gillette and Tag Heuer, a unit of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, said they would continue their relationships but drop Woods from their marketing.

In addition to EA Sports, others who have not backed away from Woods include athletic shoe maker Nike Inc, Upper Deck, Berkshire Hathaway's NetJets business and TLC Vision Corp, as well as developers in Dubai working on completing a Tiger Woods golf course project.

Indian tennis needs a sports science centre: Leander Paes

If India has not produced many tennis stars, it is because the players have been perennially lacking in physical fitness and they desperately need a sports science centre for training, says multiple-Grand Slam winner Leander Paes.

When it comes to tennis heroes in India, the counting does not go beyond three or four and the picture is piteous on women's side.

Dwelling on the reasons for the bleak scenario, Paes said the problem lies in off-court training.

"The primary factor is the lack of understanding about the need for an intensive training regime away from the court. Our juniors have great tennis skills but fall short on the physical aspect," Paes said in an interview.

"The lack of a sports science center in the country hinders not only tennis but every other sport too. That is one of the primary needs of Indian sports.

"We need to get that sports science center which will allow our athletes to train scientifically. Then, the whole culture of fitness for professional sport has to come in.

"We need world-class trainers and physios. Tennis skills our coaches can impart ?" especially at the beginner level ?" but that emphasis on sweating off-court has to be made."

The trio of Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza has been the face of Indian tennis internationally for quite some time.

Of late India have found the mettlesome Somdev Devvarman, who with his indomitable spirit, revived the interest in the game. Then there is fast growing Yuki Bhambri, whose age and demeanour belies the sheer grit and passion with which he takes the court.

And Leander acknowledges their training regimen.

"Somdev already knows the value of quality fitness. He trains with Andy Roddick and has good support through his managers at Mamba. He does not need my advise, he's smart enough to know what professional tennis demands.

"Also, he has a good work ethic and the willingness to go through the pain of persistent gym work.

"Yuki is still growing as a player. He regularly visits the Nick Bollettieri academy in Florida and has access to their trainers," he said.

Leander said there is no dearth of tournaments in India for exposure and urged the players to understand the need for out of court training.

"There has been major improvement in exposure as now India holds a great number of Futures. It is up to aspiring players to understand that hitting balls alone will not make them into performers on the Tour. They have to hit the gym and that too under expert supervision," he said.

US-SPORTS Summary

Stingy Cavaliers defense clips Hawks wings

ATLANTA - The Cleveland Cavaliers used stingy defense and a fourth quarter burst to beat the Atlanta Hawks 95-84 on Tuesday and post their fifth straight win. Mo Williams shot a team-high 20 points and LeBron James 14 with 10 assists and eight rebounds for the Cavaliers, who scored 10 unanswered points early in the fourth quarter and then choked the Hawks offense to coast to victory.

Coyotes beat Canucks for 10th straight home win

PHOENIX - The Phoenix Coyotes maintained their hot streak on home ice after a 3-2 shootout win over the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday earned them a 10th successive home triumph. Lauri Korpikoski scored the only goal in the shootout to beat the Canucks and improve the Coyotes' home record to 16-5-0 on the year.

Nadal feels in better shape for 2010 season

MADRID - World number two Rafael Nadal believes he is in better shape for the start of the 2010 tennis season than he was this year despite having a relatively short time to prepare. Nadal, who was plagued by knee and stomach injuries during 2009, helped Spain to a crushing victory over Czech Republic in this month's Davis Cup final and has had only three weeks to train for the new season.

Usain Bolt reminds the world why sport means so much to so many

LONDON - Amid the soaring triumphs and tawdry scandals underscoring the first decade of the new millennium, Usain Bolt reminded the world why sport captivates and exalts so many people. A roar of disbelief greeted the tall Jamaican in Beijing's Bird's Nest stadium last year after he shattered the world 100 record and became the first person to run under 9.7 seconds.

Tiger Woods scandal cost shareholders up to $12 billion

MIAMI - The sex scandal that engulfed Tiger Woods may have cost shareholders of companies endorsed by the world's No. 1 golfer up to $12 billion in losses, according to a study by two economics professors from the University of California, Davis. The study, released on Monday by researchers Victor Stango and Christopher Knittel, gave an estimate for damage to the market value of Woods' main sponsors caused by revelations of alleged extramarital affairs that surfaced after he was involved in a minor car accident outside his Florida home on November 27.

Seven teams, two AFC wildcard slots

MIAMI - Seven teams remain in contention for the AFC's two wild card places before Sunday's final round of regular season play in one of the most complex playoff run-ins for years. While all the NFC's playoff spots have been taken and only the positioning is at stake on Sunday, there are all manner of scenarios in the other conference.

College football: Local ND recruits Lombard, Rees say they're still going to South Bend; Prater contacted by Kelly but sticks with USC

The coaching change at Notre Dame has not changed the minds of Tommy Rees and Christian Lombard.

Rees, a quarterback from Lake Forest High, and Lombard, a Fremd offensive lineman, have re-affirmed their oral commitments to new Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly.

Both Rees and Lombard committed to Notre Dame long before Kelly replaced Charlie Weis on Dec. 11. Oral commitments are not binding and do not become official until recruits sign letters of intent Feb. 3.

"Nothing has changed," said the 6-foot-6, 295-pound Lombard, considered among the nation's top offensive linemen. "I wish the best to Coach Weis and look forward to building a great future with Coach Kelly."

Rees, who threw for 2,695 yards and 24 touchdowns this season, might benefit from the coaching change. The other quarterback to commit to Weis, Andrew Hendrix of Moeller High in Cincinnati, expressed disappointment in Weis' firing and has yet to affirm his plans to attend Notre Dame.

Lake Forest coach Chuck Spagnoli said Rees spoke with Kelly on Sunday.

"His intentions have not changed," Spagnoli said. "Coach Kelly is supposed to come in some time this week and see him."

According to the Rivals.com, 18 recruits remain committed to the Irish in the wake of the coaching change. Earlier this week, defensive end Chris Martin of Grandview High in Aurora, Colo., took back his commitment and announced his intention to sign with California.

Martin was Notre Dame's top-ranked recruit.

Kelly also contacted Proviso West receiver Kyle Prater over the weekend. Prater, the top-ranked receiver in the country by Rivals, announced his intention to attend USC last week for the second time.

Prater made an official visit to Notre Dame in late November while Weis was on the hot seat.

"He is going to stay strong on the commitment unless something changes," said Johnny Prater, Kyle's father.

Kelly left Cincinnati after leading the Bearcats to a 12-0 record this season and a berth in the Sugar Bowl.

Lions release FB Terrelle Smith

The Lions have released fullback Terrelle Smith and claimed guard Roy Schuening off waivers from Oakland.

mith started Sunday at Baltimore, playing for the first time in four games. His departure leaves Jerome Felton as the only fullback on the roster.

Schuening, listed at 6-foot-3, 315 pounds, has played only one NFL game. That was last year as a rookie in St. Louis, where Lions offensive coordinator Scott Linehan began the season as head coach. The Rams drafted him in the fifth round last year out of Oregon State.

Greenberg ready for new challenge

Chuck Greenberg has been a Minor League owner for the past eight years in Altoona and State College, Pa., and in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

As an attorney operating out of Pittsburgh, he was instrumental in putting together deals that helped NHL great Mario Lemieux buy the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1999, and he assisted another group in their purchase of the Florida Panthers in 2001.

His Minor League teams have won awards for marketing and promotion.

His company, Greenberg Sports Group, also provides management, consulting and marketing services to the sports industry all across the country.

All of that was like a nice stroll through the foothills compared to the mountain range he approaches now.

He is on the verge of taking the reins as managing general partner and CEO of the Texas Rangers, a ballclub that has appeared in the playoffs three times in 38 years, has not yet won a postseason series and is one of three franchises in search of that elusive first Fall Classic appearance (the Mariners and Nationals, formerly the Expos, are the other two).

Greenberg, undaunted by the task at hand, refers to it as a great opportunity. "I think it could be one of the great success stories in professional baseball and all of sports," Greenberg said on Wednesday evening. "It's the perfect opportunity. The vitality and the quality of life in the DFW [Dallas-Fort Worth] area and surrounding communities are tremendous. It's a wonderful place to live and do business.

"In this area, there is a tremendous amount of pent-up enthusiasm for the Rangers waiting to explode. They may not have a history of World Series championships, but there is a great deal of hope and passion. With a little help and tender love and care, it can be pushed over the top, and hopefully our group can push it over the top."

His mission is clear. "The goal is simple: win," Greenberg said. "Win the division, get through the League Championship Series and win the World Series. Our intention is to make smart decisions to achieve that goal.

"Fortunately, the Rangers have a great foundation. If additional moves need to be made, we want to be smart about it but we will make the moves. We want to win a championship."

Greenberg heads a group of approximately 12 investors who have gained exclusive negotiating rights to purchase the team from owner Tom Hicks.

Club president Nolan Ryan also is one of those investors and will remain in his current role of overseeing the day-to-day operations of the franchise. Hicks will remain with the organization as a minority partner.

The sides will spend the next 30 days or so negotiating the final agreement and then present it to Major League Baseball for approval.

If all goes well, the new ownership will be in place by Opening Day and the new boss will be a 48-year-old attorney from the Pittsburgh area who grew up a Pirates fan who was devastated when Roberto Clemente was killed in a plane crash on New Year's Eve 1972.

"I think people are going to get to know Chuck really well," Ryan said. "He'll certainly be actively involved, and with his history of sports law and owning three Minor League teams, I think he has a real understanding of baseball. That will make it much easier. He'll fit right into the community."

The formal sale will not be complete in time to have an impact on the Rangers' offseason moves. But if it is done by Opening Day, the new group promises to bring the financial flexibility necessary to make the in-season moves the Rangers were unable to pull off last season while competing near the top of the AL West.

"If we need to make a move leading up to the Trade Deadline, money will not stop us from doing so," Greenberg said.

Greenberg has succeeded in the marketing, promotional and business side of the game. He insisted Ryan will have complete control of overseeing the Rangers' baseball operations.

"That's not my role," Greenberg said. "I have the utmost confidence in Nolan."

Greenberg first expressed interest in the Rangers as far back as May when dealing with David McDavid, a Fort Worth businessman. McDavid declined to get involved but led Greenberg to Ryan, and the two quickly formed a partnership. Greenberg said he would have dropped out if Ryan had not agreed to be a part of his group.

Greenberg spent the summer looking into the possibility of buying the Rangers. He went to 16 games at the Ballpark in Arlington and anonymously talked to as many fans as possible.

He knows about the heat of Texas and does not see it as a troubling obstacle. "If it's compelling, you don't mind the heat," Greenberg said. "Our job is to make Texas Rangers baseball a compelling, emotional experience."

He loves the Ballpark but knows it needs, in his words, "a face-lift." He said the addition of the electronic ribbon scoreboards were great, but he strongly believes the Ballpark needs a large central video board.

The Ballpark has always had a video board on the roof of the right-field porch, and a small one was added on the left-field out-of-town scoreboard. "If you look at ballparks and how they've evolved over the past 15 years, it wasn't a big deal in 1994. But it is today," Greenberg said.

He has other ideas but said the new group will move slowly on some of those and will explore new ones from the get-go. Greenberg plans to spend his first season in Texas listening to the fans and getting an idea of what they want.

"In this organization, there will be no walls between us and the fans," Greenberg said. "One of our most important skills is to be good listeners, and we're going to do a lot of listening during the season. We're going to be adjusting on the fly in 2010, but we're going to be flying out of the gate in the fall of 2010 going into the offseason and the next season.

"Whatever it takes, we will do it."

Accenture ends sponsorship deal with Tiger Woods

Scandal-hit golfing superstar Tiger Woods has lost his sponsorship deal with Accenture. The consulting firm ended the deal saying the golfer, accused of cheating on his wife with several women, is "no longer the right representative" after the "circumstances of the last two weeks."

Meanwhile, razor company Gillette has also said that it is "limiting" the sportsman's marketing role, reports The Telegraph. Also, AT&T is "evaluating" its contract with Woods.

Speculators believe Woods can suffer losses of an estimated 66 million pounds in income if he is dropped by sponsors, over the course of a year. Woods has decided to take an "indefinite" break from professional golf in a bid to save his marriage.

'Tiger Woods was shy as a teenager,' says first girlfriend

Tiger Woods' first girlfriend has opened up about her relationship with the troubled golfer, saying he used to be a shy guy. Dina Gravell (now Gravell-Parr) and Woods fell for each other in high school.

"We were each other's first real boyfriend and girlfriend," the New York Post quoted Gravell, as saying. "It was fire and flames. We were in teenage love."

The duo - Gravell, then 17, and Woods, then 16 - first came to know each other in 1992 while they attended an ac counting class at Western HS in Ana heim, Calif.

Gravell recalled: "It wasn't love at first sight. It wasn't a physical thing." However, as weeks passed the two came closer. Woods took the first step when he asked her to go to a movie.

Talking about how that evening ended Gravell said: "At the end of the night I had to ask him: 'Well, was that a date?' He was all shy and embarrassed.... As we said goodbye, it was really awkward. You could tell he didn't know whether to lunge for a kiss or not. So we had a hug instead."

Soon enough the lovebirds were exchanging love notes in class. Gravell's family received woods warmly and her place became their first lovenest. Gravell said: "We would wait for my parents to go to bed and then make out on the sofa in front of the television for hours.

"We were first boyfriend and girlfriend in all sense of the word." However, things changed as Woods left in 1994 to enrol in Stanford University, while Gravell attended a community college closer home. They sent each other love letters and even talked about tying the knot but distance took its toll.

Gravell said: "I was never jealous but Tiger was a little. He'd ask me what I was up to when he was gone. I never cheated on him, though. "It was college. He was a golfer. I don't flatter myself that he was faithful to me."And then Woods ended the three-year-old relationship.

Gravell recollected: "He said my parents are very concerned that you're a big distraction for me, and I have to listen to them. We have to break up.... I felt I was punched in the stomach."But only two days later, Woods called wanting reconciliation.

She said: "He said he was sad and didn't want to live without me."Woods tried some more but it was over. Gravell said: "It was so cruel.... It was so sad. We were so close. And just like that, it was over."

Gravell has now been married to businessman Keith Parr for 12 years. They are parents to three children and live in the Santa Ana Mountains of California.

And when she heard that Woods cheated on his wife, Elin Nordegren, she said: "I always hear, 'That could have been you.' And I say, 'Thank God, it's not,'.... A family is not happy because of money, a family is happy because of love and respect. I know my husband loves me and would never hurt me, and that is more important than all the money in the world."

Lions' Delmas, Bengals' Ochocinco share in trash talk

Louis Delmas shares the same agent with Cincinnati wide receiver Chad Ochocinco. One day, the agent put the players on the phone together. Naturally, they started talking trash.

“It was fun then, so I know it’s going to be fun now,” Delmas said.

The Lions drafted Delmas in the second round in April and visit the Bengals on Sunday. Delmas will go head-to-head with Ochocinco, a dangerous player and the league’s most outgoing personality.

“Tell him he’s going to get an earful, so wear some earplugs,” Ochocinco said Wednesday in a conference call with Detroit reporters.

Delmas might be a rookie safety on the NFL’s worst pass defense. But he has shown he won’t shy away from anyone. He delivers big hits. He talks big smack. He is often on the edge —sometimes drawing a flag, sometimes not.

Ochocinco offers a unique challenge. Delmas spoke highly of him as a receiver and a wordsmith.

“He’s very fast, and he’s smart,” Delmas said. “He talks a lot. I think one of his professions outside of football, he could be a rapper. He rhymes so good.”
Delmas has been preparing for Ochocinco on both fronts.

“Watching film on him, I’ve been thinking in my mind so much, little things I can say to try to compare to him,” Delmas said. “He’s got so many things that come out and pop out of his head. I’m just going to try to go in there and get in his head as much as possible, even though I know it’s probably going to be impossible to do that.”

“Tell him: Sit down,” Ochocinco said. “Don’t do that … because he’s going to end up having a bad day. You’re not going to beat me at my game.”

Ochocinco game-plans for trash talk, too. He researches hometowns, high schools, family history — whatever might throw someone off. He won’t give a preview for Sunday. He won’t give any great lines of the past. But he will give a rating.

“Remember, I never disrespect an opponent — ever,” Ochocinco said. “So you know it’s PG.”

Ochocinco declined to take shots at the Lions — not even their secondary, an easy target the Bengals likely will exploit Sunday. He called the secondary “beautiful.” (Perhaps beauty is in the eye of the opponent.)