Baseball

Golf Jam

Orlando Magic big man Dwight Howard donned a Superman costume as part of a performance that allowed him to capture the NBA Slam Dunk competition in New Orleans on Saturday.Howard beat Gerald Green, last year’s winner, in the final round of the event, which came at the end of a night of skills as part of the All-Star Weekend.

The highlight of Howard’s performance saw him remove his jersey to unveil a Superman shirt and then add a cape, which he bought in a New Orleans shop. He then flew through the air and threw the basketball through the hoop.

“Take off a just try to fly,” Howard told a television audience. “Just take off as far as I could. I decided to put the cape on and found one on the street.”

Minnesota’s Green, who won last year’s contest while playing for the Boston Celtics, had one dunk that saw him put a cupcake on top of the rim and have it lit before he blew it out during a dunk.

Superman Howard flies to slam dunk contest win | Sports | Reuters

Baseball home run king Barry Bonds tested positive for steroids in November 2000, months before his record breaking 73-home run season, U.S. prosecutors said on Thursday.

The allegation came in a legal filing in his steroid perjury case which referred to Bonds’ long-time trainer, Greg Anderson.

“At trial, the government’s evidence will show that Bonds received steroids from Anderson in the period before the November 2000 positive drug test, and that evidence raises the inference that Anderson gave Bonds the steroids that caused him to test positive in November 2000,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Russoniello wrote.

The filing twice referred to a failed drug test in 2001 as well as a failed test in 2000, but prosecutors later said there was a failed test only in 2000. “It’s a typo. We’ll file a corrected copy tomorrow,” said Josh Eaton, a spokesman for Russoniello. “Nothing nefarious is going on here.”

U.S. says Bonds failed steroid test before record | Sports | Reuters

“Let me tell about a little movie called ‘Rocky 4’,” jokes Serra. “I don’t know if you ever saw it; if not, rent it, it will change your life. Seriously though, I never once said I’m fighting here and not there, there and not here; that’s not my style. I never once picked an opponent, I never refused an opponent, and I’m pretty easy going. The fact that it’s in his backyard, hey, as far as I’m concerned, as long as it’s the same cage, I don’t care if it’s in his living room. I’m a professional fighter, and the key word is ‘professional’. I’m not sweating it. It’s a fight, and if anything, it’s more pressure on him. Mentally, I can’t be broken. I’m a big believer in myself, even when the people don’t. I’ve proven it before and I’m ready to do it again.”

It’s what we want to hear from our champions, and similar to the thoughts of middleweight king Anderson Silva when he traveled to Cincinnati last year to fight and beat hometown hero Rich Franklin a second time. Of course, having a first round win over your opponent - like Silva did and like Serra does – doesn’t hurt either. But while the mental edge of having that type of victory is evident, from a gameplan point of view, what do you do for fight two when you fought the perfect fight the first time?

“You’re gonna just have to adapt and overcome,” said Serra. “Now we have less of the element of surprise, at least with the standup. Nobody thought I was any threat standing up and I guess now they’re gonna look at that differently. The good thing about that is, if you want to take it to the floor, I guarantee my jiu-jitsu will be on point. That’s how I made my name, through my jiu-jitsu, and I have so many techniques in the arsenal that I was preparing to use the first time that I didn’t get to use, and more so since. Hey, if I go out there, throw one punch and it’s over, that’s awesome, but you are remembered for your battles and your wars, and that’s what you’re also gonna remember when you’re old and gray, so if this is gonna be a bloody battle, bring it on, I’m ready.”

UFC® : Ultimate Fighting Championship®

Baseball star Roger Clemens dismissed as bogus on Thursday new claims of evidence by his former trainer — including needles and bloody gauze pads — that Clemens used performance-enhancing drugs.“This is a fabricated story,” Clemens’ attorney, Rusty Hardin, said after the pitcher’s former trainer, Brian McNamee, testified behind closed doors for about seven hours to U.S. congressional investigators.

Clemens let his attorneys do most of talking at a brief news conference, but said, “I’m looking forward to Wednesday of next week,” when he and McNamee will be sworn in to testify before the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Clemens rejects claims of evidence of steroids | Sports | Reuters

The Giants stood 83 yards from the lead, trailing an unbeaten team by 4 points with only 2 minutes 39 seconds left in Super Bowl XLII. Defensive players paced the sideline shouting one-word directions: Believe.

Last week, the Giants heard reports of the Patriots’ attempts to secure rights to “19-0” (already trademarked, as it turned out), of a book planned to hit the presses immediately after a New England triumph, and of plans for a victory parade in Boston.

Of course, all of those were simply cases of people preparing for the possibility, not necessarily the expectation, that the Patriots would win. Plans for a parade up Broadway in Manhattan on Tuesday were being made, too.

Being fueled by doubters was a trick that even reached the winning drive. Receiver Amani Toomer said the Patriots, who had come from behind to defeat the Giants in the regular-season finale, were teasingly inviting him to their postgame celebration as the Giants tried to mount their comeback, trailing by 14-10 in the final two minutes.

They Might Be Champions: One Last Drive of Conviction - New York Times