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It's time to reveal today's WhoAreYa?
The pile of Stuff We Found On Peter FitzSimons' Desk is heading the way of Swans Fan North of the Border, who was very quick off the mark with his guess of Kerrin McEvoy winning the 2000 Melbourne Cup on Brew. Check your inbox and we'll get the prizes to you soon. Today's prizes were ... a DVD of the 2012 State of Origin series, the Encyclopaedia of Australian Cricket Players & a 4-disc "Victory Pack" DVD set on the Melbourne Storm's run through the NRL finals series last year.
And on that charitable note, that's a wrap for us here at SportsDay Live, thanks as always for joining us and we'll be back from 8.30am on Wednesday morning. Be sure to log on to smh.com.au for all the latest from the world of sport, including Bernard Tomic's Sydney International showdown with Marko Matosevic.
Cricket. Cricket Australia has today confirmed that the Melbourne Renegades will host the first semi-final of the Big Bash League at Etihad Stadium next Tuesday, January 15.
With the Renegades guaranteed to finish on top of the BBL ladder, their opponents (the team that finishes fourth) will be decided after the final match of the season between the Hobart Hurricanes and Brisbane Heat on Saturday night. The Renegades are the only team to have won all matches at home this season.
It's competition time again. WhoAreYa? Guess the identity of the two well-known sporting figures in the photo and you can win, win, win!!!
We've gone through the pile of Stuff We Found On Peter FitzSimons' Desk to dig out some sweet prizes. Today's prizes are ... a DVD of the 2012 State of Origin series, the Encyclopaedia of Australian Cricket Players & a 4-disc "Victory Pack" DVD set on the Melbourne Storm's run through the NRL finals series last year.
To enter log on, contact us via Twitter @SMHsport with the hashtag #whoareya or via the comments section on the blog.
League. Fans have less than a week to play selector for the 2013 Rugby League All Stars with voting for both the NRL and Indigenous All Stars teams closing next Monday (January 14). Almost 16,000 fans have already registered their selections at www.nrl.com/allstars for the 16 prized public-chosen spots in the 20-man squads for both teams for the fourth annual All Stars match to be played at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium on February 9. Only one player from each club is eligible for Wayne Bennett's NRL All Stars, while fans can choose from all of Rugby League's best Indigenous talent for Laurie Daley's Indigenous All Stars. The final squads will be announced in Brisbane on January 16.
Top 10 in overall votes so far:
(Indigenous All Stars) in the list on the left (NRL All Stars) in the list on the right
Greg Inglis
Jarryd Hayne
Greg Bird
James Tamou
Ben Barba
Brett Morris
Tom Learoyd-Lahrs
Paul Gallen
Jamal Idris
Akuila Uate
George Rose
Sea Eagles
Billy Slater
Andrew Fifita
Michael Jennings
Justin Hodges
Josh Morris
Nathan Merritt
David Taylor
Joel Thompson
Adam Reynolds
On this day in 1901 … NSW made 918 in a Sheffield Shield clash with South Australia at the SCG. Five batsmen scored tons and it was the world record for first-class cricket until Victoria made 1059 against Tasmania in 1922-23. Versus Tassie? Did that count as first-class cricket back then?
Basketball. Our resident Celtics fanatic, online sports editor, Steve Samuelson is overjoyed Boston scored a 102-96 win over the New York Knicks, the favourite team of acting Sun-Herald sports editor Paul Zalunardo. Knicks guard JR Smith copped a nasty gash above his eye which needed 11 stitches.
In the other games, the Bulls beat Cleveland 118-92 in Chicago, New Orleans upset San Antonio 95-88, Utah won 100-94 at home over Dallas, Memphis were victorious 113-81 in Sacramento and the Trail Blazers edged out Orlando 125-119 in overtime at Portland.
Tennis/Copyright issues. Fairfax Media's man from north of the border, Phil Lutton, has been quick to point out that he coined the "Millmania" hashtag to describe the feats of John Millman at last week's Brisbane International, and is demanding a share of all royalties for its future use and a cut from all merchandising profits. As they say in the classics, good luck with that..
Tennis. And Lleyton Hewitt has some advice for Sam Stosur as well...
''She's sort of digging a bigger hole for herself, I guess, and putting more pressure and expectation on herself every time she goes out there, and it's a matter of going out there and enjoying it.''
Orange bowl ... Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban is doused with Gatorade after his team defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the NCAA National Championship college football game in Miami. Photo: Getty Images
American football. We're fairly sure there's plenty of people across Australia right now who'd be happy to be in coach Saban's shoes. Here he is receiving the traditional thank-you after his Alabama side's big win in the NCAA championship game.
Tennis. 18-time grand slam champion Martina Navratilova has some advice for Sam Stosur after her latest capitulation on home soil, saying the 2011 US Open winner needs to relax to save her Australian summer.
''She has got a risky game,'' Navratilova said.
''It should be safer than it is. But when she gets a little nervous, she just hasn't been able to put it together.
''And I think the girls now are on to her serve, they kind of know what is coming and they have gotten used to it so it's not as much of a surprise.''
It's competition time. WhoAreYa? Guess the identity of the two well-known sporting figures in the photo and you can win, win, win!!!
We've gone through the pile of Stuff We Found On Peter FitzSimons' Desk to dig out some sweet prizes. Today's prizes are ... a DVD of the 2012 State of Origin series, the Encyclopaedia of Australian Cricket Players & a 4-disc "Victory Pack" DVD set on the Melbourne Storm's run through the NRL finals series last year.
To enter log on, contact us via Twitter @SMHsport with the hashtag #whoareya or via the comments section on the blog.
Whoareya? Whoareya? Whoareya?
Tennis. Another result from the Sydney International where Germany's Angelique Kerber has cruised to a straight sets win over Galina Voskoboeva 6-2, 7-5. Kerber will now face the winner of the aforementioned Wozniacki/Kuznetsova clash in the quarter-finals.
Tennis. After dropping the first set to Svetlana Kuznetsova in sweltering conditions at the Sydney International, former world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki has her game face on, taking the second 6-1 over the Russian.
American football. It's full-time in Miami and a massive win for Alabama in the NCAA championship game. The Crimson Tide have recorded a 42-14 win over Notre Dame and that's a third title in four years.
League. Here's Fairfax Media's Brad Walter's take on the Beau Champion deal:
#nrl Great to see Beau Champion back with @ssfcrabbitohs - I still disagree with GI cap ruling that forced club to release him— Brad Walter (@BradWalterSMH) January 8, 2013
Tennis. Lleyton Hewitt says he's going into his 17th Australian Open free of psychological barriers for the first time in years. The 2005 finalist, who turns 32 next month, said it would be a relief to be able to concentrate on his game rather than playing with the lingering fear that his body might break down.
''Now I can actually go out there with a clear mind in terms of just worrying about hitting the ball and competing against these guys,'' he said.
''It's hard enough playing them when you are 100 per cent, let alone when you're in pain and got an injury."
Hewitt received wildcard entries into all four grand slam tournaments last year and reached the fourth round of the Australian Open.
Basketball. Bradley Beal found room with a pump fake then sank a game-winning jump shot with three-tenths of a second left as the lowly Washington Wizards beat Oklahoma City 101-99 in a NBA shocker.
Despite the absence of injured Jordan Crawford and Nene, the Wizards captured their fifth win of the season against 28 defeats. Beal and Martell Webster both scored 22 points for the Wizards and Kevin Seraphin chipped in 19. Emeka Okafor notched a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds as Washington won for just the second time in 15 games. The Wizards had lost five in a row going into the game.
Kevin Durant scored 29 points with eight assists and seven rebounds for the Thunder, the Western Conference leaders who had won five of six coming into the contest.
League. Some of the NRL's young playmakers will be hoping things have cooled off somewhat by Thursday as NSW take a summer step towards ending seven years of Queensland Origin dominance. Adrian Proszenko tells us the NSWRL's high-performance manager has scheduled an individual halfbacks/five-eighths session for that afternoon. Laurie Daley, Brad Fittler and Trent Barrett will be putting the players through their paces. In attendance will be Tigers foursome Curtis Sironen, Jacob Miller, Luke Brooks and Mitchell Moses, as well as Cronulla's Chad Townsend, Penrith's Toby Evans, Newcastle's Tyler Sullivan and Dragon Shannon Crook.
American football. It's been a night to remember for the Brisbane-raised Jesse Williams, whose Alabama Crimson Tide outfit have absolutely dominated Notre Dame in college football's night of nights. There's still nine minutes to go in the fourth quarter but we're confident of calling this one, with 'Bama ahead 42-7 over the Fighting Irish.
Football. Canberra Times superstar Fleta Page with the latest on the heatwave:
The weather gods seem to be conspiring against Canberra United and the Western Sydney Wanderers in the W-League. Their fixture on Saturday afternoon was delayed due to extreme heat in the capital, then an electrical storm that evening forced the match to be abandoned at 0-0 after 33 minutes.
It was rescheduled for 7pm tonight, but as the Wanderers are on the bus down to Canberra, the Bureau of Meteorology is now predicting another electrical storm for the capital late this afternoon.
Both teams are fighting for a place in the top four with one round remaining, so splitting the points won't be the option either side is looking for.
It's competition time. WhoAreYa? Guess the identity of the two well-known sporting figures in the photo and you can win, win, win!!!
We've gone through the pile of Stuff We Found On Peter FitzSimons' Desk to dig out some sweet prizes. Today's prizes are ... a DVD of the 2012 State of Origin series, the Encyclopaedia of Australian Cricket Players & a 4-disc "Victory Pack" DVD set on the Melbourne Storm's run through the NRL finals series last year.
To enter log on, contact us via Twitter @SMHsport with the hashtag #whoareya or via the comments section on the blog.
Heatwave update: Spare a thought for pets doing it tough in the soaring temperatures today. Cronulla prop Bryce Gibbs has. Not sure this is the vet-approved dog-hydration method, but it'll work....
Just gave my dog 20 zooper dooper ice blocks in his dog bowl!— bryce kenneth gibbs (@bryceegibbs) January 8, 2013
ANDREW WU: Cricket. Omen time, for those who believe in this sort of thing: The Melbourne Renegades have beaten the Sydney Sixers into Sydney airport ahead of tomorrow night's Big Bash match. The Sixers were due to land at 1pm, but were delayed, paving the way for the Renegades to beat them to the luggage carousel.
On this day in 1986 … football star David Silva was born in Arguineguín in southern Spain. A member of Spain's historic 2010 World Cup-winning team, he played six seasons in La Liga with before signing with cashed-up Manchester City in 2010. Known as Merlin for his magic on the pitch, he was a member of City's FA Cup and EPL champion teams.
Tennis. World No.12 Juan Monaco's Australian Open campaign is in doubt after injury forced him to withdraw from the Kooyong Classic lead-up event. The Argentine pulled out on the eve of the exhibition event citing a hand problem. His spot in the eight-man field for Kooyong was taken by world No.58 Paul-Henri Mathieu of France.
Tennis. Australian tennis player Greg Jones has continued his giantkilling run at the Auckland Open, knocking out sixth seed Jurgen Melzer of Austria. Jones, ranked 373 in the world, played precision serve-and-volley tennis to defeat the 29th-ranked Melzer 7-6 6-2.
Sydney International wildcard entrant John Millman in his win over Tommy Robredo of Spain. Photo: Anthony Johnson
Tennis. The Millmania levels are rising nationwide after Queensland cult hero John Millman upset Spain's Tommy Robredo 6-3 6-4 in their first round clash at the Sydney International.
Finland's Jarkko Nieminen beat German Bjorn Phau 6-0 6-1, Spanish veteran Feliciano Lopez eliminated French seventh seed Jeremy Chardy 6-7 7-5 6-3 while Czech sixth seed Radek Stepanek downed Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2 6-3.
Basketball. The New Zealand Breakers are 3-0 up against Townsville in the National Basketball League this season, but face a new threat when the sides meet in North Queensland on Friday night. Having languished at the bottom of the table with an 0-10 record, Townsville have done a sudden U-turn and strung together a five-match winning streak to climb to sixth. Their change in fortune coincides with the acquisition of 2.18m centre Luke Nevill after the West Australian missed out on an NBA contract after trialling with the Indiana Pacers.
Tennis. The legendary Martina Navratilova says Samantha Stosur needs to relax to save her Australian summer. Navratilova believes Stosur's troubles are a combination of her rivals no longer fearing her power-serving game and the 28-year-old not being able to execute on the big points. ''She has got a risky game. It should be safer than it is. But when she gets a little nervous, she just hasn't been able to put it together. And I think the girls now are onto her serve, they kind of know what is coming and they have gotten used to it so it's not as much of a surprise. She has got the skills. If she can just relax and perhaps lower the expectations, take the pressure off - but it's tricky. I know when I played and the crowd was really on my side, it was almost counter-productive because you miss a shot and you're already disappointed and the crowd goes 'ahhh' and it just exponentially gets worse.''
Mats Wilander playing at the Australian Open in 1988.
Tennis. The great Mats Wilander believes dumping Bernard Tomic from Australia's Davis Cup team will be the making of the 20-year-old talent. Tomic has vowed to recommit to tennis this year after tumbling down the world rankings in a controversy-marred 2012 season that culminated in his suspension from Davis Cup duties. Tomic has been banned for Australia's Cup tie against Taiwan in February, penalised by captain Pat Rafter for a poor attitude. ''We all know that he is very talented and I think we all know that he needed to mature, definitely needed to work a little harder than he has in the last two years,'' Wilander told reporters in South Australia's Barossa Valley. ''But from what I read in the papers, that is exactly what he has done. And being taken off the Davis Cup team was probably a really good thing for him - it wakes you up and realise that you have to be selfish, but you have to respect the game, and it seems like that is what he is doing. Now, as he says himself, there is really no limit, he is that talented.''
Tennis. World No.4 Agnieszka Radwanska declared it ''too hot to play tennis'' and suggested it might be time for event organisers to halt proceedings as temperatures tipped the 40-degree mark at the Sydney International. The Pole hung tough for a straight-sets win over Kimiko Date-Krumm to reach the last eight of the event but the weather quickly became more of a talking point than the quality of her play. ''I think this is too hot to play tennis. Even for players, for ball kids, for the people sitting out there, I think it's just too hot. I think I would prefer to go on court at 11:00pm and play a match.''
Cricket. The Melbourne Stars will be without Lasith Malinga for tonight's clash with Sydney Thunder. He has been called into the Sri Lankan ODI squad and won't be playing in the BBL again this season.
League. Returning Rabbitoh Beau Champion ...
"I'm over the moon at having the opportunity to return to South Sydney, the Club where my career began, the team which I supported as a kid, and the Club which I've always dreamed of playing for. I appreciate everything the people at the Titans and Storm have done for me over the past two years, and I think my time at both Clubs have made me a better player and better person. However now that an opportunity has come up to rejoin Souths, I can't miss the chance to return to the Club. The Club has taken some big strides forward since I was last there and I'm looking forward to being part of a renewed South Sydney and representing the district and the Members once again."
Football. Midfielder Rocky Visconte has been linked with Western Sydney Wanderers after being released by A-League champions the Brisbane Roar. The Australian under-23 representative's contract had been due to expire at the end of the season, but he has made the move after being told by Roar coach Mike Mulvey he's not likely to feature in first team action.
Sailing. Middle Harbour Yacht Club will host the 8th edition of its popular Sydney Harbour Regatta in March and the Notice of Race is now available online at: http://www.shr.mhyc.com.au/ where prospective competitors can also now enter electronically. To be held on Saturday and Sunday 9-10 March, the regatta, which brings major racing to a close for the year in NSW, attracts entries from across NSW and from interstate, bringing together club racers, state, national and world champions, along with Olympians.
Welcome back ... Souths junior Beau Champion is heading home to the Rabbitohs after getting a release from Gold Coast. Photo: Getty Images
League. South Sydney junior Beau Champion will return to Redfern for the next two NRL seasons after being granted a release from Gold Coast. The former representative centre was pushed out of Souths before the 2011 season to create room under the salary cap for the arrival of Greg Inglis from Melbourne. But he returns to Souths as the club bids to find an effective centre combination after Inglis's spectacularly successful move to fullback.
Baseball. Get out to the ball game tonight and support the Sydney Blue Sox in their push for an ABL title ...
Tonight's game is still ON! First pitch is at 7:30 p.m. but we encourage everyone to stay cool throughout the day— Sydney Blue Sox (@SydneyBlueSox) January 8, 2013
Cricket. Don't go Travis Birt, the Twitterverse will miss ya ...
Thanks Twitter, been good while it lasted.See ya. C'mon the @hurricanesbbl!! #canetrain— Travis Birt (@T_Bird81) January 8, 2013
Cricket. It's been a bad week for Renegades all-rounder Marlon Samuels, who has now been ruled out of the rest of the Big Bash League season with a suspected eye socket fracture. The Renegades have signed up Englishman Alex Hales to replace him. Hales is en route from Britain and the franchise expects him to play in tomorrow night's clash with the Sydney Sixers at the SCG.
Cricket. Wondering why Hurricanes batsman Travis Birt was sanctioned? He posted on Twitter "Umpires ruining games" after he was out in controversial circumstances in the December 23 clash with Sydney Thunder in Hobart. Birt indicated on Tuesday the fine might stop him using the social medium again, tweeting: ''Thanks Twitter, been good while it lasted. See ya.''
Cricket. Not surprisingly, the TAB has installed Australia as $1.40 favourites for Friday's opening one-dayer at the MCG. Value in Sri Lanka at $2.90?
Rugby. Waikato five-eighth Sam Christie has claimed the final playing squad contract with the Western Force for the upcoming Super 15 season. Christie, 26, is the ninth new member to the Force's back division for the 2013 campaign. He is one of four No.10 options for the Force in 2013 along with former Cheetahs playmaker Sias Ebersohn, returning Wallaby Sam Norton-Knight and Australian under-20s representative Kyle Godwin. ''We wanted to ensure we had depth at flyhalf this season,'' head coach Michael Foley said. ''We've now got four quality options at 10 as well as the ability to cover a number of other positions.''
Australian Open drawcard ... Cheyenne Woods. Photo: Getty Images
Golf. Former world No.1 Tiger Woods's niece, Cheyenne Woods, and Petr Korda's daughter Jessica Korda will be teeing off at the Australian Open at the Royal Canberra Golf Club in February 14-17. World No.1 Yani Tseng is also lining up. "I've made a lot of good friends at this championship and in Australia and I'm looking forward to playing for my third Australian Open title which would also be a great start to my 2013 LPGA Tour season," Tseng said. Woods, 22, turned professional in 2012 and will make her Australian Open debut after claiming her first professional win on the SunCoast Ladies Series in the United States in August.
Cricket. Hobart Hurricanes batsman Travis Birt is in trouble again. Cricket Australia has fined him for breaching "Rule 9" of the code of conduct, relating to "Detrimental Public Comment" regarding a comment he made about umpires on Twitter on 24 December 2012. He was in trouble after hitting an advertising sign with his bat after getting out against the Sydney Thunder a couple of weeks ago. Commissioner Ray Brown found Birt guilty of this latest offence and fined him $1000.
Tennis. It's Millmania. Queensland cult hero John Millman has beaten Spanish veteran Tommy Robredo 6-3 in the first set of their Sydney International match. It's 1-1 in the second.
RUPERT GUINNESS: Cycling. If you want to see some top-line bike racing after work, then get on out to Heffron Park in Maroubra where the Subaru/Focus Bikes Summer of Cycling 2013 pointscore series kicks off at 6pm. The Heffron Park circuit will be windblown by the looks of things and temperatures are set to still be high out there. Latest check a few minutes ago had the temperature at 41C out there. But organisers have no intention of calling off the racing - and never had, despite some calls asking if it would still be on. Cycle races are often held in extreme hot weather - you only had to see last week's Jayco Herald Sun Tour and Bay Criterium Series. In the Tour Down Under in Adelaide, temperatures are regularly above 40C and racing has never stopped. Elite athletes in outdoor sports know how to handle the heat - hydration and being prepared for whatever conditions are thrown at them is as important as diet, training and recover. Were it easy, they wouldn't bother.
Washington Wizards centre Emeka Okafor works against Oklahoma City Thunder counterpart Kendrick Perkins. Photo: AP
Basketball. Washington Wizards have scored a huuuuuuge upset in the NBA, beating the high-flying Oklahoma City Thunder 99-94. At New York, the Knicks are leading Boston 66-64 in the third quarter, the Bulls lead Cleveland 53-50 at half-time in Chicago, the Hornets are 49-41 up at the main break over San Antonio in New Orleans, while Dallas have a 13-9 advantage early on in Utah.
The later games are Memphis at Sacramento and Orlando are in Portland.
Football. Adelaide United have lost attacking weapon Marcelo Carrusca for at least two A-League matches because of a groin injury. The Argentinian playmaker suffered a torn adductor muscle during Adelaide's scoreless draw last Saturday against Newcastle Jets.
Rugby. Queensland Reds director of coaching Ewen McKenzie says Will Genia's recovery from a knee reconstruction appears ahead of schedule but can't confirm when he will unleash the halfback in the upcoming Super Rugby season. He also says James Horwill is on track to start the season but is unsure whether to use his recovering captain in their two-game pre-season program.
Tennis. Millmania has come to the Sydney International. John Millman is on court against Spanish veteran Tommy Robredo with the Queenslander up 4-3 in the first set.
Feliciano Lopez leads Jeremy Chardy 6-7 7-5 5-2 and Li Na has thrashed Ayumi Morita in the first set 6-1.
Rugby. Reds and Wallabies centre Ben Tapuai shows his compassionate side ...
Hope everyone is safe during the bush fires! Praying for the families who have lost there houses �� #keepthefaith #aussiespirit— Ben Tapuai (@bentapuai) January 8, 2013
American football. Prime Minister Julia Gillard makes her debut on the SportsDay Live blog ...
Good luck to @thamonstar today in the #BCS National Champs. Great to see an Aussie doing so well in US college football. #NDvsBAMA JG— Julia Gillard (@JuliaGillard) January 8, 2013
Cricket. Should George Bailey be leading the Australian one-day team in Michael Clarke's absence?
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Cricket. It's finals time in the Women's National Cricket League with the NSW Breakers up against the Western Fury and Victorian Spirit taking on the Queensland Fire on Friday. Both games will be held at Blacktown International Sportspark. The losers will play off for third at 10am on Saturday while the winning semi-finalists will battle it out for the trophy on Sunday at the SCG. All games start at 10am.
NSW have won 12 titles since the WNCL started in 1996-97, the Vics have been victorious twice. WA, Queensland & SA have each played in two finals (losing to the Breakers on all six occasions). Tasmania and the ACT have never been in a finals series.
Cricket. He has many critics, including cranky old Shane Warne, but George Bailey will become Australia's 21st ODI captain on Friday against Sri Lanka at the MCG. At least he has played a few games and isn't making his debut at the same time like when he became the Twenty20 captain.
It's competition time. WhoAreYa? Guess the identity of the two well-known sporting figures in the photo and you can win, win, win!!!
We've gone through the pile of Stuff We Found On Peter FitzSimons' Desk to dig out some sweet prizes. Today's prizes are ... a DVD of the 2012 State of Origin series, the Encyclopaedia of Australian Cricket Players & a 4-disc "Victory Pack" DVD set on the Melbourne Storm's run through the NRL finals series last year.
To enter log on, contact us via Twitter @SMHsport with the hashtag #whoareya or via the comments section on the blog.
Whoareya? Whoareya? Whoareya?
Cricket. That Jackson Bird certainly gets around, the rookie Test paceman who grew up in Sydney, plays first-class cricket for Tasmania and lines up in the Big Bash League for the Melbourne Stars ...
Let's see that sea of Stars green at the 'G tonight! Mums will get free entry with a child too. Great deal! strs.co/TGdJcY— Jackson bird (@Jackson_bird) January 8, 2013
Tennis. Results just in from the Hobart International ... Bojana Jovanovski (SRB) bt Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor (ESP) 6-0 7-6 (9-7) and 3-Klara Zakopalova (CZE) bt Timea Babos (HUN) 6-4 6-3.
Cricket. Is this a concern for fans of the Australian cricket team? Mitchell Johnson is the most capped player for Australia in the squad for Friday's clash with Sri Lanka at the MCG, with 112 games.
Football. Injured Sydney FC pair Fabio and Yairo Yau trained strongly this morning and are expected to be available for the Sunday's clash v Melbourne Heart at the SFS. Coach Frank Farina would not be drawn on what role they'd play. ''It's only Tuesday and the game's Sunday, so there's no point talking about who's going to start or who's going to be on the bench.'' While the 48-year-old said the club was still hunting a centre back, he admitted: ''it's a bit of a tall ask at this stage. We can look hard but we've got to find one - one that's ready to play right now, and is available.''
Football. "As of today, Frank Vercauteren is no longer head coach of the football team,'' read a terse statement from the club released to the stock exchange." And with that brief statement, Sporting Lisbon sacked Belgian coach Franky Vercauteren less than three months after he was appointed.The 56-year-old - a former international playmaker who was a pivotal member of the outstanding side that reached the 1986 World Cup semi-finals - has been replaced by sporting director Jesualdo Ferreira after he failed to revive the fortunes of the ailing giants.
Football. Wow! Check this out! A team of Greek children playing for AO Giannina put the beauty back into the beautiful game with a glorious passage of passing football straight from the kick-off that results in a goal. Remember Argentina's extraordinary passing goal during the 2006 World Cup. This is better, with 20 passes, including some dashing skill from the keeper, until the ball ends up in the back of the net before the opposing team even touches the ball.
Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska is the top seed for the Sydney International. Photo: AFP
Tennis. Agnieszka Radwanska is has beaten Kimiko Date-Krumm at the Sydney International 6-4 6-3, while Italy's Sara Errani has thrashed Maria Kirilenko 6-1 6-1.
Tennis. Agnieszka Radwanska is one game away from beating Kimiko Date-Krumm at the Sydney International, leading 6-4 5-3, likewise Italy's Sara Errani, who's up 6-1 5-1 over Maria Kirilenko.
Surfing. Hawaiian star Sunny Garcia is not a bad photographer ...
Such a sucker for Sunsetspheed.com/sunny_garcia/2…— Sunny Garcia (@sunny_garcia) January 8, 2013
Welcome back ... Souths junior Beau Champion is heading home to the Rabbitohs after getting a release from Gold Coast. Photo: Getty Images
League. Perhaps the Sydney Roosters should have been sniffing around the Gold Coast if they need a centre instead of trying to get the high-priced Michael Jennings from Penrith. Beau Champion will be a handy pick-up for the Rabbitohs. He played his best footy during his first stint at Souths and hasn't looked settled at the Storm and Titans over the past couple of years.
League. Good news for Rabbitohs fans ...
We can confirm that Beau Champion has been given an immediate release from his contract to return to the Rabbitohs. More details to come.— Gold Coast Titans (@GCTitans) January 8, 2013
Football. The countdown is on to AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015, with tomorrow marking two years until the jewel in the crown of Asian football begins in Australia.
A very happy birthday to Australian golfing stalwart Mike Harwood. Photo: Sebastian Costanzo
On this day in 1959 … golfer Mike Harwood was born in Sydney. Over a lengthy career he has recorded 13 professional wins. His career highlight was finishing second at the 1991 British Open. If you are going to be runner-up at a major it might as well be to a fellow Australian in Ian Baker-Finch.
League. Parramatta star Jarryd Hayne ready to feel the heat at pre-season training ...
It's been cloudy all day. About to start our field session an suddenly the clouds go missing!!!! #ouch #torture #sunscreen #eels2013— jarryd hayne (@jarrydhayne_1) January 8, 2013
It's competition time. WhoAreYa? Guess the identity of the two well-known sporting figures in the photo and you can win, win, win!!!
We've gone through the pile of Stuff We Found On Peter FitzSimons' Desk to dig out some sweet prizes. Today's prizes are ... a DVD of the 2012 State of Origin series, the Encyclopaedia of Australian Cricket Players & a 4-disc "Victory Pack" DVD set on the Melbourne Storm's run through the NRL finals series last year.
To enter log on, contact us via Twitter @SMHsport with the hashtag #whoareya or via the comments section on the blog.
Whoareya? Whoareya? Whoareya?
Tennis. Radek Stepanek is up 6-2 1-0 over qualifier Guillermo Garcia-Lopez at the Sydney International. Radek has to back up in the heat later in the day for the doubles.
Women's top seed Agnieszka Radwanska leads Kimiko Date-Krumm 6-4 1-0 while Italian third seed Sara Errani leads Russian Maria Kirilenko 6-1 1-0. Maria is also backing up later on for doubles action.
Cricket. Four ODI debutants, the last time, we hear you ask? Well as a matter of fact the last time Australia had four debutants in the one game was v New Zealand in Melbourne in January 1986 when Simon Davis, Dave Gilbert, Bruce Reid and Steve Waugh all played their first match in the canary yellow.
Golf. "Acting" Sun-Herald sports editor Paul Zalunardo empathises with the world's best golfers ...
Bubba Watson just had a 100ft putt at Kapalua . I feel your pain, I've been there..— paul zalunardo (@zalman44) January 8, 2013
Surplus to requirements ... Brisbane Roar have released Rocky Visconte. Photo: Getty Images
SEBASTIAN HASSETT: Football. Rocky Visconte might have set up the most dramatic equaliser in A-League history during the dying stages of the 2011 grand final but his tenure with Brisbane Roar has been brought to an abrupt halt.
"These decisions are never taken lightly but we felt it was the right thing to do at this point in time," Mulvey said. "At this stage of his career Rocky needs to play first team football and he was not likely to figure in our first team plans."
Cricket. Fairfax Media cricket correspondent Chloe Saltau didn't hold back with her thoughts on Shane Warne's latest antics.
Rugby. Scotland's most-capped scrum-half Mike Blair has announced he has retired from international rugby at the age of 31. Blair was capped 85 times for his country and was captain of the side on 14 occasions. His decision follows six weeks after the resignation of Scotland coach Andy Robinson in the wake of the defeat to Tonga in Aberdeen. Australian Scott Johnson has been put in charge for the Six Nations tournament.
Cricket. If Australia name three of their four uncapped squad members in the first ODI v Sri Lanka it'll be the first time they have had three or more debutants in the one game since they played Sri Lanka in Colombo in August 1996 when George Bradley Hogg, Jason Gillespie and Darren Lehman all played their first game.
Golf. Americans Dustin Johnson, Nick Watney and Mark Wilson have made good starts after the US PGA Tour season finally got underway in Hawaii. The trio shot four-under-par rounds of 69 to lead the Tournament of Champions at Kapalua on the island of Maui. The tournament has been reduced to 54-holes after play was postponed for three consecutive days because of high winds. Players will play one more round today and the final round tomorrow.
It's competition time. WhoAreYa? Guess the identity of the two well-known sporting figures in the photo and you can win, win, win!!!
We've gone through the pile of Stuff We Found On Peter FitzSimons' Desk to dig out some sweet prizes. Today's prizes are ... a DVD of the 2012 State of Origin series, the Encyclopaedia of Australian Cricket Players & a 4-disc "Victory Pack" DVD set on the Melbourne Storm's run through the NRL finals series last year.
To enter log on, contact us via Twitter @SMHsport with the hashtag #whoareya or via the comments section on the blog.
whoareya? whoareya? whoareya?
Tennis. Results just in from the New Zealand Open in Auckland. Lukas Lacko (SVK) bt Paolo Lorenzi (ITA) 6-3 6-3. Santiago Giraldo (COL) bt Go Soeda (JPN) 6-1 6-0.
Cricket. Who will be the 200th men's player to wear the canary yellow/modern green outfit for Australia? A total of 196 players have represented Australia in ODIs. Four of the squad of 13 for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka have not made their debut - Ben Cutting, Aaron Finch, Phil Hughes and Usman Khawaja.
Cricket. Australia are favourites to beat Sri Lanka in the upcoming ODI series and with good reason - they have played each other 84 times in the ODI format & Australia have won 53, Sri Lanka 28 and there have been three ending in no result
Cricket: Phillip Hughes has been upgraded to the CA Contract List for 2012/13 having achieved sufficient upgrade points. He was upgraded on 3/1/2013 having played 3 x Tests since July 1, 2012. He joins recently upgraded CA contract players George Bailey, Glenn Maxwell and Ed Cowan.
Basketball: It's all going La-La in La-La-Land for the Lakers. The news became even worse on Monday, as the struggling NBA club announced forward Pau Gasol and centre Dwight Howard will be sidelined indefinitely with injuries. Both players were hurt on Sunday in a home loss to Denver - the Lakers' third straight defeat. Howard, already playing with a sore right shoulder, suffered a torn labrum in the shoulder and will be re-examined in a week.
Despite the injury, Howard tied his career-high with 26 rebounds in the defeat. Gasol, who took an inadvertent elbow to the face from Denver centre JaVale McGee in the fourth quarter and left the court with a bleeding cut on his nose, has concussion. Both Gasol and coach Mike D'Antoni had predicted Gasol would be ready for Tuesday's game at Houston but, instead, he won't be travelling with the team. Jordan Hill was also hurt in the loss to the Nuggets, and was to have his right hip examined by a doctor.
Golf (here we go again): Dustin Johnson, Nick Watney and Mark Wilson made good starts on Monday in the Tournament of Champions in Hawaii. Then again, just starting was good.
Three days behind schedule because of high wind, the 2013 PGA Tour season finally began on the day its first tournament was supposed to finish.
Watney rolled in a long eagle putt and joined Johnson and Wilson in a tie for the lead with a 4-under 69. That matches the highest score to lead after one round in 15 years at Kapalua.
The opening round was scrapped on Friday and Sunday because of gusts topping almost 80km/h, and no one could play on Saturday.
The players had about 30 minutes for lunch on Monday before going back out for 18 more holes.
This will be followed by an 18-hole finish on Tuesday to put this wacky event in the books.
Dustin Johnson (R) demonstrates how strong the wind is by letting it hold his jacket against him. Photo: AP
Basketball: There is life after the Wollongong Hawks for Townsville Crocodiles star Gary Ervin. The former Hawks point guard has been named the NBL Player of the Week for round 13 after scoring 20 points, to go with his nine rebounds and five assists, against the Adelaide 36ers.
Cricket: Defending champions Sydney Sixers have called batsman Dominic Thornely and allrounder Ian Moran into their squad for Wednesday's must-win clash with Big Bash League leaders Melbourne Renegades.
The pair come into the 13-man squad to replace Brad Haddin and Steve Smith who are on national team duty for the one-day international series against Sri Lanka.
(More) Football: For those wondering, here is the complete list of award winners at the Ballon d'Or ceremony overnight.
Ballon d'Or
1. Lionel Messi (ARG)
2. Cristiano Ronaldo (POR)
3. Andrs Iniesta (ESP)
1. Vicente Del Bosque (ESP)
2. Jose Mourinho (POR)
3. Pep Guardiola (ESP)
Team: Iker Casillas (ESP) - Dani Alves (BRA), Gerard Pique (ESP), Sergio Ramos (ESP), Marcelo (BRA) - Xabi Alonso (ESP), Xavi Hernandez (ESP), Andres Iniesta (ESP) - Lionel Messi (ARG), Radamel Falcao (COL), Cristiano Ronaldo (POR)
Best goal
1. Miroslav Stoch (SVK)
2. Falcao (COL)
3. Neymar (BRA)
Fair play: Uzbekistan Football Federation (UFF)
FIFA president award: Franz Beckenbauer (GER)
Woman player
1. Abby Wambach (USA)
2. Marta (BRA)
3. Alex Morgan (USA)
Football: A British television commentator who labelled Luis Suarez "a cheat" following his controversial goal in Liverpool's FA Cup win at Mansfield on Sunday, has been spoken to by his employer.
Jon Champion, an experienced football broadcaster, made his views clear while working for satellite station ESPN who were carrying live coverage of the match between Premier League side Liverpool and fifth-tier Mansfield at the non-league club's Field Mill ground.
The ball hit Suarez on the right wrist before he put Liverpool 2-0 up in a game they eventually won 2-1 but the Uruguay striker's goal was allowed to stand by the referee.
However, as ESPN showed a replay of the incident, Champion said: "That, I'm afraid, is the work of a cheat."
But an ESPN statement issued Monday distanced themselves from Champion's comment, saying: "We take our responsibility to deliver the highest standards of coverage to our viewers.
"ESPN's editorial policy is for commentators to be unbiased and honest, to call things as they see them.
"Inevitably this can involve treading a fine line on occasion, especially in the heat of the moment.
"Comments during the Mansfield v Liverpool match caused offence where none was intended and we have spoken to our commentator about this incident."
On this day in 1962 … a fresh-faced 21-year-old golfer named Jack Nicklaus made his first professional appearance. The Golden Bear finished 50th in his first event as a pro but went on to do a little better in later years, ie, 18 majors. An often overlooked stat is that he has been the runner-up in majors 19 times. Phenomenal. Will Tiger overtake him? Greg Norman for one doesn't think so. To be as good as Jack all you need to do is watch this clip ...
Football: Former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola, currently on a one-year sabbatical, said on Monday he was already thinking about a return to coaching but stressed he didn't know at which club.
"I want to coach," said Guardiola, who left the Nou Camp last summer. "I'm young, I'm only 41 years old. Now I have another type of life, a type of life that I wanted to have at this moment, that's it.
"I don't have a team to go to, but yes, I'd like to return to coaching.
"I have taken a decision to return to coaching but beyond that no decision has been taken."
Guardiola's name has been linked with jobs at a raft of top-flight clubs and countries after his decision to step down as coach of Barcelona after four years in charge in which he delivered 14 trophies, including two Champions League titles.
Poll: Which manager should feel the most nervous at the prospect of Pep Guardiola returning to the coaching ranks?
- Rafa Benitez (Chelsea)
- Roberto Mancini (Manchester City)
- Arsene Wenger (Arsenal)
- Carlo Ancelotti (Paris Saint-Germain)
- Frank Farina (Sydney FC)
- Other
Total votes: 162.
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These polls are not scientific and reflect the opinion only of visitors who have chosen to participate.
Corin Henry of the Kings. The Sydney side ran out of puff on the weekend. Photo: Getty Images
@Hoops_Heaven NBL Power Rankings after round 13:
1 NZ Breakers: True pros, copped some bad calls in Wollongong but got the job done.
2 Wildcats: Coach Rob Beveridge says it isn't a two-horse race but he's being diplomatic.
3 Crocs: After losing 10 straight now they can't lose. The improbable finals dream is still alive.
4 Kings: Split their weekend double, running out of petrol in Melbourne, understandable when it's your second game in less than 24 hours.
5 Hawks: Injuries have stalled their momentum mid-season but Tim Coenraad's return will help shooting firepower.
6 Tigers: Good win over Kings, hanging tough down the stretch but they still don't seem to be getting enough out of Jonny Flynn.
7 Cairns: Lost 85-66 to Perth and the scoreline flattered the Taipans. Struggling in every department.
8 Notan-so-Radelaide: It was supposed to be a new era for the Sixers but eight straight losses means coach Marty Clarke should be nervous.
Football: Everton swept into the FA Cup fourth round with a 5-1 rout of League Two minnows Cheltenham on Monday.
Although Everton are flying high in the Premier League and harbour genuine ambitions of qualifying for the Champions League, Toffees boss David Moyes refused to rest his key players and sent out a strong side at Whaddon Road to guard against a potential third round giant-killing.
And his senior stars proved too hot for fourth-tier Cheltenham to handle as Nikica Jelavic's early goal and a Leighton Baines penalty put the result beyond doubt within 21 minutes.
Leon Osman added Everton's third goal soon after half-time and although Russell Penn got one back for Cheltenham there was never any chance of a comeback.
Seamus Coleman and Marouane Fellaini rounded off the scoring to ensure Everton, beaten by Liverpool in the semi-finals last season, earned a last 32 clash with Bolton or Sunderland later this month.
Steve Elliott of Cheltenham Town beats Nikica Jelavic of Everton to a header during their FA Cup third round match at the Abbey Business Stadium. Photo: Reuters
Motorsport: 2010 champion Carlos Sainz was reinstated as leader of the Dakar Rally in South America at the expense of defending champion Stephane Peterhansel of France after organisers admitted a satellite problem had hindered the Spaniard during the second stage.
Peterhansel, a 10-time champion on the world's toughest auto endurance race, was initially credited with taking his Mini to victory on the second stage, a 242km timed run in and around Pisco, in 2hr 35min 38sec.
Sainz endured a nightmare session, getting lost as he tackled a tricky dune at the 75km mark, and finished outside the top 10 after losing more than 21 minutes.
But the reason behind Sainz losing that time was not his on-board GPS but the satellites used by the race organisers, officials said.
Sainz was handed the second stage victory and has a 5min 05sec lead over Peterhansel in the overall standings ahead of Monday's 343km third stage from Pisco to Nazca.
Dune buggy ... race leader Carlos Sainz. Photo: AFP
Olympics: The three cities hoping to win the right to host the 2020 Olympic Games completed a significant step towards that goal on Monday as they lodged their bid dossiers with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
All three cities sent high-profile delegations to Olympic headquarters at Lausanne in Switzerland, handing over their dossiers which they hope will convince IOC members to vote for them on September 7 in Buenos Aires.
The three candidates are Istanbul, with the most credible of their bids after failing four times previously; Madrid - bidding to make it third time lucky after finishing third for the 2012 and second for the 2016 editions; and favourites Tokyo - who hosted the Games in 1964.
In other news, the IOC has yet to announce the Australian TV rights holder for the Sochi 2014 Winter Games and the 2016 Rio Summer Games. It's only 13 months until the Winter Olympics so the successful bidder has their work cut out.
How quickly the Test cricket season departs.
Today's back page of the Herald features a story by Michael Chammas regading the extreme heat that is set to afflict the Apia International today - and how the players may have to endure it.
There was also Monday's exclusive revelation by Chris Roots on how bookmaker Tom Waterhouse blew his opponents out of the water to become the NRL's official bookmaker - complete with shameless plug for SportsDay Live.
Stephen Samuelson: Welcome to SportsDay live for Tuesday, January 8. As the mercury soars in Sydney will cover all the action - if any - from the Apia International tennis at Sydney Olympic Park. We'll also be keeping you up to date with all the local and international news from the world of sport.


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Germantown Garden Apartments
730 Germantown Circle, East Ridge TN 37412 $639 - $2000 1-3 Bed Pets OK
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Property Features
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- $300 Refundable Deposit
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Convenient to downtown and I-75...
Germantown Gardens Apartments is a quiet and beautiful community hidden off the main road yet convenient to all areas of Chattanooga. Our community offers a delightful resort-style sunning deck and pool. All apartments have large flowing floorplans and feature a private patio/balcony with a large storage area and plenty of room for patio furniture. Our award-winning office and excellent maintenance teams, along with your wonderful new neighbors, ensure that you will love coming home! Germantown Gardens Apartment Homes is the "Hidden Treasure" of East Ridge. Let us show you why this is the only address you will ever want.
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The staff is wonderful, and everything is clean and well kept. This is by far the most positive experience I Read Morehave had in apartment living. The ONLY reason I no longer live there is because I moved states, but I loved it there and would highly recommend it to anyone looking to save money and still live in a very nice place!
January 11, 2014
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Since we have moved in there has been a turnover of maintenance personel. Sometimes there are problems that t Read Moreake an extended period of time to correct. But we realize having so many apartments to deal with at the same time things don't get done on your schedule, we have to rely on things getting done on their schedule.
October 19, 2013
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In spite of having cell phones one neighbor came everyday at 3 pm and honked his horn to announce he was here. Read More This happened several more times each day. We moved to Germantown Gardens because my husband was ill and all of his doctors were at Memorial Hospital. This honking was very disturbing and created a lot of stress.
October 19, 2013
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Give Bobby Flay credit for keeping his latest restaurant's menu affordable. In an era in which celebrity chefs are cashing in on name recognition with sky-high prices at their self-titled establishments, no item at Bobby's Burger Palace exceeds $8.50. Of course, the namesake says not to give him too much praise.
"If you want to spend a lot of money at my restaurants, I have opportunities for you to do that," Flay says with a laugh. "I have six high-end restaurants where the check averages are about $75-$85 a person. When we first opened [Bobby's], people were surprised that the food was fairly simple, not in the gourmet burger department using artisanal buns and grass-fed meats, and that burgers weren't $22. I wanted to be able to touch basically anybody."


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Alana's Q & A
Favorite Sport/Team
Favorite Movie/Actor
Jack Nicholson
Go-to karaoke song
Anything Brittany
My first job
Gymnastics Coach
Piercings/Tattoos (How many? Where?)
Cross tattoo on my thigh
Mac or PC?
Nintendo, Xbox 360, PS3, or don't game?
Dont game
What's the most memorable pick up line you've ever heard?
Are you from Tennessee? Because you're the only ten I see!
What's the most unusual place you've ever hooked up? How'd it go?
Its a secret!
What's in your purse or pocket right now?
Pink lip gloss
What do you feel most comfortable wearing?
A cute tank top, shorts and wedges
Would you rather have boring sex all the time or an amazing romp once a year?
Amazing romp once a year
If you could do a shot of Jose Cuervo with anyone -- dead or alive -- who would it be?
Marilyn Monroe


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Thunderstorms, hurricanes, windstorms and tornados are not always predictable, making storm phobia a particularly difficult fear to treat in pets. For owners whose pets exhibit these fears, it can be equally distressing.
Not only do the pets show signs of nervousness (pacing, panting, chewing and drooling), they will also display behavioral signs (hiding, owner seeking, trembling, vocalizing, trying to escape and destruction), which can be even more upsetting, and even dangerous, as phobic dogs have been known to break through screen doors or windows in an attempt to escape, causing serious harm to themselves.
Here are a few tips from HomeoPet to keep your pet calm and safe during storms:
1. Leave your pets at home and indoors. Most pets are afraid of storms and may try to run away.
2. Close all doors and windows and put on ambient audio to muffle the sound.
3. Close curtains and blinds to block the lightning.
4. Be sure your pets are wearing identification tags or have microchips in case they do run away or get lost.
5. Try to distract your pet with chew toys and games, or play with another pet that does not share his fear.
6. If you have time, desensitization techniques with appropriate sound CDs, such as thunder, fireworks, trains, sirens, etc. may help pets get used to the sounds at a lower volume, then as they become more comfortable, gradually increase the volume.
7. If your pet has storm phobias, speak to your veterinary clinic staff about a veterinary-only, non-sedating remedy such as HomeoPet Storm Stress to keep your pet calm during storm seasons.
For more information. visit www.homeopet.com and www.homeopetpro.com.
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Research Scientist Associate Professor, Department Family Medicine, School of Medicine
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Ruffin, M.T., Gorenflo, D.W., Woodman, B. (2000). Predictors of screening for breast cervical, colorecotal, and prostatic cancer among community-based Primary Care Practices. The Journal of the American Board of Family Practice, 13 (1), 1-10.
Krishnan, K., Ruffin, M.T., Brenner, D.E. (2000). Chemoprevention for colorectal cancer. Cir Rev Ono Hematol, 33 (3), 199-219.
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Andy Hampsten, 1988 Giro d'Italia Winner
"Wrap your thumbs around your bar. Even some pros just lay their thumbs next to their fingers on top of the bar when they're not racing hard. But accidents seem to happen more often when people are relaxed than during the intense moments of a ride. Use your thumb as a hook, and you have a better chance of maintaining control during stupid accidents."
Chris Baldwin, 2003 & 2005 U.S. National Time-Trial Champion
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Posts about Twitter
Mayor Gray must refute mediocrity, or fall victim to it
Members of Vincent Gray's administration have been both quoted and sourced on background as being unhappy with a city employee going above and beyond the call of duty on the job. The mayor must explicitly quash such thinking if he doesn't want to send a signal to all other city employees not to work very hard.
Lon Walls. Image from Twitter.
Lon Walls, the communications director for DC's the Fire & Emergency Medical Services (FEMS), gave Mark Segraves some revealing statements regarding the ongoing saga of Pete Piringer, who ran the DC Fire & EMS twitter feed (@dcfireems).
Walls told WTOP, "We had a discussion, I told Pete he was going out of his lanes in terms of other agencies." One of those "lanes" apparently included tweeting about fallen trees and crime scenes. It seems other agencies were miffed that @dcfireems was tweeting about things slightly outside their core competency, and that was "making [other agencies] look slow and unresponsive."
Washington Life Magazine listed Walls as one of the "Titans of PR" last year. He ran Walls Communications prior to becoming the head of communications at FEMS. (It appears that the regular website of his firm has been scaled back, with a more detailed site residing here.)
The site boasts of "transforming [communications] challenges into successful and measurable results." Is less communication with residents the kind of results the city is looking for? (Incidentally, Walls is on Twitter, but he doesn't appear to have mastered use of it as a communication forum.)
Put simply, Pete Piringer ran a fantastic service while working at FEMS. I'm one of the three people who worked on compiling the Struck in DC (@struckdc) twitter feed, and we relied on timely information from @dcfireems to keep people aware of how many pedestrians and cyclists had been victims of incidents involving vehicles in the city for over a year. Without the information that Piringer supplied, our service has withered on the vine.
In September, the feed went silent. Concerned reporters and blogs initially thought Piringer had just gone on vacation, but officials later revealed that they'd stopped the feed.
Walls told DCist, "I'd rather be slow and right than fast and wrong," and, "Social media is for parties. We ain't givin' parties." Instead of a sneering, derisive taunt, Walls should be able to see, as a communications professional, the value of actually "communicating" with citizens.
In response to objections, the Mayor promised on September 22 that @dcfireems would not be "filtered" or "silenced." This temporarily assuaged frazzled nerves, but the goodwill was short-lived. The @dcfireems feed has not mentioned a single struck pedestrian or cyclist since August 29. While it would be wonderful if no such crashes have occurred since then, we already know that's sadly not the case.
Since September 22, @dcfireems has tweeted more about the fire chief's weight and pictures of the mayor with McGruff the Crime Dog than the information it was known for prior to September 1. That's a shame. A valuable service is gone.
Meanwhile, Piringer has been moved to work for the Office of the Secretary of the District of Columbia, where he will work on publicizing things like ceremonial documents.
Because Pete Piringer was busting his butt, he got busted down a notch (contrary to what Lon Walls would like to have us believe). Instead of other agencies stepping up their game to try to match his, we instead get the lowest common denominator. It's depressing to think that might be official policy from the executive branch.
Members of the Gray administration have essentially declared that those who perform above and beyond the call of duty will be punished for their hard work. If Mayor Gray himself does not see this for the "buck stops here" situation that this is, we can only assume he condones such thinking. If I were an ambitious employee looking to make my name as a civil servant, I certainly would look somewhere besides the District of Columbia to ply my trade.
To really FixWMATA or Unsuck DC Metro, get involved
Online critics of WMATA like Unsuck DC Metro and FixWMATA have shone valuable light on Metro failings and built pressure for change. But online shaming can only do so much to change an agency. I hope they will take the next step and get involved in actually trying to push for reform.
Throwing barbs at WMATA from behind a keyboard is a lot easier than getting to know the good people at WMATA and trying to understand the root causes of problems, like underfunding, management failures, or union work rules. But that's the only way to really advocate for fixes.
Today's City Paper cover story profiles the WMATA's new social media team, Dan Stessel and Brian Anderson, and their quest to reform the agency's reputation for being cranky toward customers and obstructionist with reporters and bloggers.
A large section of the article discusses WMATA's prominent online critics:
Broken rail-car air conditioners have been thrust into the spotlight thanks to the rabid persistence of an IT whiz known on Twitter as @fixwmata. The 32-year-old Atlanta native, who asked not to be named because he insists the story shouldn't be about him, began riding Metro last April.At first FixWMATA got no response from Metro. Then, Dan Stessel showed up, and started communicating back, which FixWMATA loved at first. But then, Stessel couldn't give him details of which air conditioners were being repaired.
Over the summer, he noticed complaints about hot subway cars on Twitter and decided to put his analytical skills to good use. He created what's known as the #hotcar list, a crowdsourced database tracking rail cars with broken AC.
FixWMATA, who has about 1,300 followers on Twitter, isn't buying it. And now he believes that the rosy media coverage of Metro's latest PR effort is harmful. He called the Post "an advertising arm of WMATA" when the paper covered Stessel's social media frenzy last month.What does FixWMATA mean by "our side"? Is it the side of fixing things? Because there are a lot of people at Metro who also want to fix things, though there are also folks who stand in the way. Or is "our side" those who just want to throw barbs at WMATA, no matter what?
"Not having a response from Metro last year actually worked out a little bit better," he says. "Because Metro last year also wasn't really talking to the media. So we had the media on our side last year, and we had a lot of reports
— both on TV and on the Web — from journalists interested in what's going on."
He's not the only one who thinks the local media have fallen for Metro's tricks. The journalist behind the Unsuck DC Metro blog
— complaint central for disgruntled riders since 2009 — calls Stessel's effort "Band-Aids on the public image" for a reactive agency that lacks accountability. He thinks Metro's campaign is better than nothing but doesn't address the malaise he says afflicts the agency's middle management.
"People do seem to respond to Dan saying, if somebody tweets, 'Oh, this car's hot,' Dan tweets back, 'We're on it' or 'We're checking it out. We'll check it out tonight,'" says Unsuck, who also asked to remain anonymous, because he says he's received threats from Metro employees. "That seems to convince some people that they really are. You decide for yourself if they really are. I know they're not."
For a long time after the 2009 crash and even to this day, there are those on Twitter who periodically call for just "blowing up" the whole Metro system, whatever that means.
I disagree with FixWMATA's view of the change in the press. To me, the press went through a period of overly sensationalistic "gotcha" reporting. Ann Scott Tyson's coverage at the Post, in particular, made a large headline out of any piece of data that put Metro in a negative light, regardless of whether there was a larger context.
That had the disappointing effect of making some WMATA employees even more reluctant to talk to anyone about anything, a trend that has thankfully started to reverse with Stessel and his bosses, Lynn Bowersox and Barbara Richardson. Yet when anyone praises these tentative steps toward openness, some claim that it's "advertising."
One of the biggest pieces of context is that Metro has been drastically underfunded for years and treated as a political football. It still is, like when House Republicans tried to cut its repair funding and Bob McDonnell stonewalled for months about asking his party colleagues not to destroy Metro.
Unsuck wrote, "As many long-time readers may know, Unsuck lived in Japan a while back. My experience with Japanese mass transit is a major reason I am so critical of Metro." One thing they do in Japan is they actually have money to maintain their mass transit and build more lines.
Underfunding doesn't excuse bad practices, but we need to understand the root of a problem in order to fix it, and not just heap the blame on those most visible.
John Hendel sums it up on TBD:
The contrarian view is that Metro is a perpetual screw-upWhat we need to do to fix WMATA for real is to tease apart those problems which just stem from insufficient funding, and those which come from actual bad management practices, bad employee behavior, problematic union work rules, or other non-funding problems.
— that the trains are always late, that the communication efforts are hardly ever enough and are often off-base or obtuse, that the system deteriorates, that the reform efforts are maddening, that the idea of "strategy" at Jackson Graham is the equivalent of a fairy-tale myth. The attacks are often biting, caustic, and frustrated, and the intense bitterness that characterizes some of the jibes lacks as much realistic perspective as constant Metro cheerleading.
Take the hotcars. What is really going on? How often do these units break? How quickly do they get fixed? Does management really know when they're out? For that matter, how much should Metro prioritize fixing them over fixing escalators or replacing "track modules," the signal components that allowed the 2009 Red Line crash?
Looking through the capital priorities list and discussing tradeoffs is a lot less sexy and doesn't fit in 140 characters, but it's far more vital to the task of actually fixing WMATA.
In other words, if you were Richard Sarles, what would you do? Lining everyone up against a wall and shooting them, which some people on Twitter suggest, does not fix the problem, by the way.
Nor is WMATA management a monolith. From far enough away, it looks that way. But get closer, and you discover a wide range of quality among the executives. Same for the individual employees.
Public pressure is good, but also can be bad. If an agency feels little pressure, there's not enough impetus for change. But too much criticism, and it just demoralizes the good people. I found it frustrating enough to work inside a large, sometimes-bureaucratic organization (Google) where the press constantly showered praise, much deserved, some not. I have to have enormous respect for those change agents who stick it out inside the organization and fight hard to make things better despite working for an organization that garners such vitriol.
Get to know those change agents, and they'll tell you they're frustrated too. They have coworkers who play politics instead of focusing on what to do. They have employees who aren't productive, take up budget, but can't be removed. They have an organizational culture that resists change. They don't have enough money to do much. They get shot down by their own board. Local jurisdictions fight their ideas. Local elected officials criticize any move they make. Bloggers and tweeters have endless nitpicks.
When I started criticizing WMATA, I went to a board meeting, and Jim Graham said, hey, why don't you be on the Riders' Advisory Council. The RAC has a certain ability to ask staff to make presentations on detailed topics that a random person can't necessarily get, and to ask questions of staff.
Being on the RAC hasn't magically fixed everything, but it helped me push for open data, and more importantly, get to know the good people at WMATA so that I could help them bring about even more change. It's slow, and maddeningly frustrating, but that's how change usually happens.
It would be great to have FixWMATA and Unsuck on the RAC. There's a vacancy in DC right now, and likely one coming up in Maryland; plus, every year 1/3 of the members come up for renomination. I don't really buy that FixWMATA needs to be anonymous to make the conversation not about him, or Unsuck because of threats (Unsuck also was anonymous from the start as well, and also said it was to keep the conversation from being about him).
If they want to really fix WMATA, it's time to come out from behind the keyboard and start engaging directly with the agency. Join the RAC; I'll lobby hard for either to get appointed and would welcome having their energy to delve into problems. Try to figure out what's really wrong, deep down, instead of just what outcome is problematic. Then we can all lobby for whatever changes are necessary, whether it's funding, management fixes, labor work rule changes, or a combination of all of those.
DC officials tweet, but with varying enthusiasm
Twitter can be a powerful tool for politicians and government agencies to connect with constituents. Many of DC's elected leaders are on Twitter, but they use their accounts to widely varying degrees.
Their tweets also vary in frequency and quality, and some officials tweet personally while staff send out tweets for others. Which are the best and the worst?
Tommy Wells (@TommyWells) is the most active councilmember on Twitter and sends all his tweets himself. He often tweets about riding the bus, council hearing proceedings, and constituent issues in Ward 6. Washington City Paper recently named him "Best Tweeting DC Politician."
Councilmembers Muriel Bowser (@MurielBowser) and Yvette Alexander (@CMYMA) are active on Twitter and tweet fairly regularly. They use their accounts to respond to questions, retweet others and often take conversational approaches with their tweets. Wells, Bowser and Alexander are good about replying to questions, too.
Michael Brown (@CMMichaelABrown) and Jack Evans (@Jack Evans_Ward2) send moderate numbers of tweets, though it appears their staff do the work for them. They retweet fairly regularly and promote their schedules and news. You can often get an reply from them too, or at least links to find out more about an issue.
Mary Cheh (@MaryCheh) is less active than Evans or Brown and primarily promotes her news and updates, though occasionally she will send replies. Her account will be fairly active for a couple days, and then be silent for a stretch. It seems that staff tweet for her.
David Catania has two accounts, though neither is him personally. One is @CataniaPress, which promotes news and information about him. The other is @Catania_COS, his chief of staff, who engages more directly with followers and constituents.
Chairman Kwame Brown has an account, @KwameBrownDC which primarily mentions where the chairman has been and what visits he makes to groups and organizations in the city.
It seems that staff tweet for him as well Brown does manage his own account. He often sends replies but rarely retweets. The account was also silent from February 17th to April 2nd, when the SUV scandal was in top gear.
Jim Graham, Harry Thomas and Vincent Orange all have accounts, though they rarely use them. Graham's account, @JimGraham_Ward1 last tweeted June 14 and is only following 27 people. When the account is active, it primarily promotes news and updates from his office.
Harry Thomas's account, @HLTJrWard5, hasn't been active since March 14th. Vincent Orange used Twitter during the April 26th special election campaign, but his account, @VincentOrangeDC last tweeted on May 12th and is only following 55 people.
Councilmembers Marion Barry and Phil Mendelson do not have accounts.
Mayor Vincent Gray has a Twitter account, @MayorVinceGray, run by his communications staff. At first, the account primarily promoted the mayor's schedule, but recently has started engaging more with followers and residents.
For those councilmembers who don't use Twitter regularly, does it matter? Barry doesn't have an account, but that doesn't mean he is less popular in Ward 8. It also doesn't necessarily mean he is not engaging with his constituents.
Twitter certainly isn't the only way to engage with constituents. Not everyone is savvy with the technology or has regular internet access. Others may find it overwhelming to use. But Twitter can be an effective way for councilmembers to address constituent concerns and provide a sense of connection with residents.
Some of the more active councilmembers, like Wells, Bowser, and Alexander, can help make government somewhat more responsive and approachable. Other accounts, like Cheh and Kwame Brown, occasionally engage with residents and at least provide a medium for getting information.
Should councilmembers be managing their own accounts or is it better to have a staff member do it? Wells, Bowser and Alexander seem tweet themselves and are able to engage more than others. During the protest over Congressional budget riders, Wells' account stopped sending tweets the moment his staff (@CharlesAllenDC and @AnnePhelps) tweeted pictures of his arrest. Michael Brown's account, on the other hand, tweeted pictures of Brown himself wearing handcuffs.
Many District agencies, like DCRA and DDOT, have used Twitter with great success to answer questions and address complaints. Now the Office of Planning has joined the flock, too.
Which officials' tweets do you find most useful? How would you like to see others improve?
WMATA can learn from the New York MTA's tweeting
Early on the morning of May 17, the New York subway experienced a derailment which snarled service in Brooklyn. Instead of trying to cover up the incident, the MTA tweeted about it, including photos of the re-railing:
#SubNews:Workers assess damage to work train during early morning derailment outside of DeKalb Avenue. http://twitpic.com/4z3jux
Hopefully Dan Stessel, WMATA's new Chief Spokesperson and Director of Communications, can bring some of these best practices here. Social media engagement isn't simply about one's successes; it's about one's failures, too.
The more transparent a transit agency is, the more riders will trust it when it communicates online. Derailments happen. There will inevitably be more on the Metrorail system. How WMATA reacts to them and other incidents matters.
Creating a "climate of openness and transparency" means tweeting about the good and the bad, acknowledging when things go wrong, and being open about the recovery process. Many transit agencies already use Twitter very successfully; @PATHTweet and @NYCTSubwayScoop are two excellent examples.
WMATA would do well to model its social media initiatives after those of the Port Authority and MTA, and could start with simple steps. Many frustrated riders already report problems on Metrorail, Metrobus, and MetroAccess using the #WMATA hashtag.
Knowing that WMATA is listening, and even getting a response back from @MetroOpensDoors would help to improve communication and the public's perception of their customer service. In doing so, they'll join @DDOTDC, @DCCirculator, @bikeshare, @DCRA, @mydcwater and other DC-area agencies in providing useful customer service via Twitter.
DDOT's recent Potholepalooza was a great example of meaningful engagement, as DC residents reported potholes via Twitter (no complicated forms to fill out!) and potholes were filled within a day or two. For WMATA, the complaints might be of hot Metro cars, dirty buses, or bad driving, but the concept is the same.
The next step is to be there to provide information when riders need it most. For example, @MetroNorthTweet signs off every afternoon, just before the evening rush hour starts:
For service status and other info between now and tomorrow morning please call 212-532-4900 or visit http://www.mta.info/mnr
Tweeting for a transit agency isn't a 9-to-5 job. Whenever the system is open, riders should be able to seek help on Twitter and get a response. Twitter is all about immediacy, and if you're trying to find out why your bus is late, or report a problem on your train, getting a response the next morning may not help. WMATA may not be able to provide round-the-clock coverage on Twitter, but signing off before the evening rush hour isn't a recommended practice, either.
In short, Metro riders have been using Twitter for a while now; it's time for WMATA to come to the party with something more than just automated tweets.
Riders deserve a meaningful follow-up when they report service problems, and when things go wrong, nothing less than the unvarnished truth will do on Twitter. When weekend riders have to endure disruption and delays for upgrade work, show them the work that is being done, and explain how they benefit.
Today, WMATA has neither a reputation for transparency nor for effective communication with riders, but that's something they can change, starting with simple, effective steps.
Our public input processes are "flawed"
Public bodies from the DC Council to boards like the Zoning Commission are configured to value most highly input from people who show up in person. But this excludes many people with day jobs or family responsibilities. We need to fundamentally reexamine some basic assumptions about public input.
At last week's redistricting hearing, Marion Barry criticized me for bringing the results of the Redistricting Game to the Council. Despite having over 100 Ward 8 residents participate, he felt that it wasn't representative of the views of Ward 8:
Did you ask the economic status of each person? Did you ask the educational level of each person? This whole thing is flawed. ... I was trained as a research scientist. I know good research techniques and tactics. ... Your study is a good one, but it's not scientific enough. ... As far as Ward 8 is concerned, the information is flawed. Seriously flawed.
Mike DeBonis explained the primary motivations at work here. In short, Barry probably wants Near Southeast redistricted into Ward 8 to give him a role in the booming development in that area.
But Barry is right about one thing: The Redistricting Game was not scientific. It's not an opinion poll which tries to accurately estimate the views of all residents. But since when does the Council ever use opinion polls to make decisions?
They don't. Instead, they listen to people who testify, people who schedule meetings with them, and to a lesser extent people who email, call, or write letters.
Barry did listen to those present. He brought in a number of people to testify about extending Ward 8 west of the river; some, as it turned out, didn't even live in DC. Far fewer than 100 people from Ward 8 testified at this hearing, but Barry didn't claim their testimony was "flawed" because it's not scientifically representative.
Later, he noted that nobody from Near Southeast had yet testified at the hearing, and therefore there must be no opposition. Is that scientific?
About 30 people testified at the hearing, and their views should be listened to. But they're not necessarily representative either. The people who filled out the Redistricting Game are also a set of residents who expressed their preferences, and the Council should consider them as it would any other set of suggestions from any other not-necessarily-representative group of 4,000 residents.
It's easy to take potshots at Barry, and regardless he's unlikely to get his redistricting wish. But there's a larger point. Why do we accept our current model of civic engagement as the right one?
It gives a much louder voice to people who want to take the time to attend hearings, which are often in the middle of the day. It gives priority to those who can afford to spend 4 hours or more on a single development project, a single bill, or a single zoning change.
That favors people who are retired, or people paid to lobby for issues, or people who feel particularly strongly about a single narrow subject.
The Zoning Commission has been holding many, many hearings on the zoning rewrite, with few participants at some of the hearings. Geoff Hatchard, Ken Archer, CSG's Cheryl Cort, DC Sierra Club's Bradley Green, and I testified recently for accelerating the parking location zoning change, and Zoning Commission member Peter May complimented everyone on attending. I'm glad we could, but this also points out how such a turnout is somewhat unusual.
Few people can go to all of the zoning hearings, or even more than a few. It's tough to get people to go to a zoning hearing on, say, changing waterfront zoning when they have no objection to the changes, when the changes won't have much of a visible effect on development, and they are likely to sail through.
The people who testified at last week's HPRB hearing on the Hine school represented those who felt so strongly they wanted to take an entire afternoon off to talk about the project. HPRB hearings happen in the middle of the day, and typically take all day. Items have start times on the schedule, but those are very approximate. I've spoken at the HPRB and had an item come up hours after it was scheduled.
I've gone to testify at the Board of Zoning Adjustment, another board with daytime hearings, and seen the mid-morning item I was there for moved to the afternoon (or moved to another day entirely). DC Council hearings have started hours late. Sometimes the chair of a council committee has moved the government witness to the beginning, instead of at the end as is usual, and talked to that witness for 2 hours or more while the public witnesses waited patiently.
Many residents of Capitol Hill think the Hine project doesn't need to get shorter, or should even be taller, but they didn't go to the hearing. Some had jobs which prevented it. Does that mean their views don't matter?
There are some advantages to a process which favors those who care about an issue. If you just poll people, a lot of folks don't know much about an issue at all and are making snap judgments on little information. Decisionmakers shouldn't necessarily hold every resident's opinion exactly equal.
But the current system goes much too far. There's little value in giving a voice only to people who can spend 4 hours in the middle of the day waiting to speak for 3 minutes.
What to do? One step is for decisionmakers to listen to other channels as well. Montgomery County at-large councilmember Hans Riemer does by listening to people on Facebook, and found drastically different views there versus in person at a hearing on the Silver Spring skybridge. DC councilmember Tommy Wells uses Twitter, sending his own tweets and reading his own Twitter feed.
That's a step, but not the end of the story either. These channels privilege people who spend a lot of time sitting around on Twitter and Facebook. That's not representative either, though when combined with people testifying in person, it adds breadth.
It'd be great to develop a good channel for leaders to hear more views from poor and minority communities, and add that to their cognitive understanding of what residents want. Wells took a meaningful step by conducting a "listening tour" about bus service in wards 4, 5, 7, and 8, but there's much more that can be done.
Elected officials try harder to hear more views because they want the votes. Unfortunately, not only do our formal boards and commissions not generally use these channels, but many can't. You can tweet @TommyWells during a hearing to suggest questions, but there's no @CatherineBuell account for the HPRB chair.
Even if there were an @AnthonyHoodZC account, the Zoning Commission chair would be breaking rules against "ex parte" communication. Just like judges, Zoning Commission and BZA members are not allowed to hear comments on cases except through the official hearing or formally submitted letters of testimony.
Sure, there are reasons for this. A body making a legal determination is required to do so based on a public record, and so the comments have to go into that record. But these rules also mean that the commission is limiting its input in ways that result in an incomplete view of residents' opinions.
Could the Zoning Commission legally set up a @DCZoningCmsn Twitter account, where messages appear on commissioners' smartphones or on screens behind the dais during the hearing, and which also go into the official public record, for example? To get people on the other side of the digital divide, are there ways to make it easier to submit comments on cases beyond sending formal and time-consuming letters or faxes?
The boards should be seeking more ways to get input while still keeping their responsibility to have a public record, and elected officials should look for opportunities to hear from a broader range of people. As a first step, both elected officials and appointed board members should acknowledge that while holding hearings is a valuable part of getting input, relying on it alone is very much "flawed."
Shorten your commute tweets with Metro station codes
Metro's station names seem to be continuously growing longer, but your tweets don't need to.
With this handy new map, you can treat Metro stations like airports and use these convenient station codes to make your commute descriptions brief.
In the unlikely event that Metro did adopt codes like these, they wouldn't be the first. Hong Kong's MTR uses 3-letter codes to help with station naming. In Atlanta, MARTA station signs are emblazoned with a code indicating line and distance from Five Points, the center of the system. There are likely other systems that use codes like these, either publicly or behind-the-scenes.
For the most part, the abbreviations are straight-forward.
In some cases, the code is merely the first three letters of the station name. That's the case with Gallery Place (GAL) and Archives (ARC). In other cases, initials suffice. East Falls Church and West Falls Church are in this category.
But sometimes those methods didn't work. I excluded codes that could be overly ambiguous. College Park and Columbia Heights, for instance, both begin with COL, so I didn't use that code for either station.
I also avoided using codes for major airports or train stations in the United States. For that reason, I didn't use BAL to abbreviate Ballston. BAL refers to Amtrak's Penn Station in Baltimore. Instead, I shortened Ballston to BSN.
A few times, codes presented themselves almost ready-made. DCA works perfectly for the station at National Airport. New Carrollton NCR and Rockville RKV inherit the Amtrak station codes from the adjacent stops. But King Street (KGS) doesn't take on the Amtrak code for it's neighboring train station, ALX.
There were other easy codes, too. I shortened Eisenhower Avenue to IKE and Stadium-Armory to RFK.
So, now when you tweet about Metro, keep it short.
Thanks to @IMGoph for the idea behind this post.
Struck in DC this week: Unknown
Unfortunately, the DC Fire and EMS Twitter feed has stopped reporting ped and cyclist struck incidents. Therefore, the statistics Struck in DC has been gathering on a weekly basis are no longer consistent or accurate and we won't be mapping this week's incidents.
However, Struck in DC will continue to accept submissions and we will track known incidents on the spreadsheet. We're also inquiring with Fire and EMS about whether reports will resume.
- 15th Street cycletrack gets s*** on ... literally
- Think you know Metro? It's whichWMATA week 25
- If Georgetown had a Metro station, it would be one of the system's busiest
- The region needs to hear the call to action on climate change
- How to sculpt a skyline: Arlington planners rethink Rosslyn
- Metro's Richard Sarles announces retirement
- More proof gas taxes don't pay for roads
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Cracker Thins
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LC Foods' LC-Cracker Thins are low carb, gluten free, wheat free and diabetic friendly.. Great traditional crackers that are easy to make and are a delicious snack that both kids and adults will love!. Enjoy these crunchy treats while you maintain your healthy lifestyle. Great topped with cheese, meat or low carb dips.


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Mike Shepherd is in his third year as Oklahoma's director of basketball operations after serving in the same capacity at UNLV the previous seven years under OU head coach Lon Kruger.
In 1999-00, Shepherd joined the University of Tulsa women's basketball program. The program had a tremendous turnaround while Shepherd was there as it recorded the second most wins in school history, going 14-15.
A native of Burlingame, Kan., Shepherd, 46, won varsity letters in basketball, football and track at Burlingame High School. He attended Allen County Community College in Iola, Kan., and received a bachelor of science degree in social sciences from Kansas State in 1992.
Shepherd is married to the former Allison Wade and the couple has a daughter, Molly, 6, and a son, Clayton, 3.


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Dynasty MLB New York Yankees Full ZIp Hoodie
This MLB Men's Full Zip Jacket is designed for the guys who appreciate a classic style with a modern twist. This track style jacket features a full zip, high collar and rib cuffs and hem. Stand tall and represent in this Full Zip MLB Jacket.
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CHICAGO, April 15, 2013 — The Chicago Sky has selected University of Delaware guard/forward Elena Delle Donne with the second overall pick in the 2013 WNBA Draft. In 2013, Delle Donne led the Blue Hen's to Delaware's first appearance at the NCAA Sweet Sixteen.
Delle Donne, a native of Wilmington, Delaware, averaged 26 points and 8.5 rebounds per game as a senior. She recorded over 30 points per game 37 times throughout her collegiate career and reached a high of 54 points against James Madison in 2010. Delle Donne is the fifth all-time leading scorer (3,039 career points) in the NCAA, surpassing notables Maya Moore and Chamique Holdsclaw.
"Elena's complete skill set for a player that stands 6'5" along with her basketball IQ is what makes her such a special player. Simply put, she can hurt you in a variety of ways on the offensive end of the floor. She met the challenge of carrying her team into the national spotlight, and I believe that journey will serve her well as she embarks upon her WNBA career."
Delle Donne is a three-time CAA Player of the Year and four-time All-American. In 2012 and 2013, she added Wooden and WBCA All-American honors to her list of accolades. In 2013, she was recognized for her dedication to education, sport and the community upon received the Senior CLASS and Honda Inspiration awards.
The Chicago Sky also has the fourth pick (28th overall) in the third round of the 2013 WNBA Draft.
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