| Women's
Soccer: WS II Initiative to revive WUSA League |
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With the upcoming
season fast approaching, a new initiative to revive the Women's United
Soccer Association has been formed. The Women's Soccer Initiative (WS II)
CEO Tonya Antonucci Dec 7 laid out plans to revive the league. |
| Olympics:
The real Athens Dream Team - Soccer or Softball? |
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While the women's soccer
team has received all the props, the softball team has labored in obscurity
for almost as long and has hauled in more gold and a far better international
record. But is the softball team about to become a victim of its own
success? |
| LPGA
Golf: Sorenstam comes from behind to win Samsung World
Championship |
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It looked like Grace Park
was headed for a wire-to wire victory at the Samsung World Championship at
Bighorn, but Annika Sorenstam chipped for eagle on the 15th and birdied the
17th to take the lead en route to securing her fourth Samsung. |
| Women's
Surfing: Roxy Wahine Classic just keeps getting bigger |
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Nothing shows the growing
popularity of women's surfing than the continued success of the Roxy Wahine
longboard classic. A few years back, the contest had to be split into two
days to accomodate more surfers. Now, in the eight edition of the contest,
simultaneous heats were run to permit the large numbers of Junior (ages 15-19)
and Master (34+) entrants to compete. |
| NCAA
Soccer: Washington jumps to surprising PAC-10 lead |
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The University of Washington
women's soccer team continued its early-season roll, ending non-conference
play with a 1-0 win at San Diego State. In piling up a 9-1 record, the Huskies
have ascended to the top of the PAC-10 and fourth in the NCAA Coaches' Poll.
The young Husky team was not even ranked in the preseason polling. |
| Triathlon:
Newton wins Mission Bay Triathlon |
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The first triathlon in
history, the Mission Bay Triathlon, was held in 1974 as a run-bike-swim-run
event on Fiesta Island by the San Diego Track Club. The race consisted of
over 5 miles of running, 5 miles of cycling and 600 yards of swimming. On
Oct. 3, 2004, an estimated 1,600 competitors from around the country returned
to essentially the same course, to compete at the 17th Annual Jamba Juice
Triathlon at Mission Bay. |
| USA
Gymnastics: Two different gymnastic tours duel for post-Athens
fans |
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Two separate post-Athens
gymnastics tours are criss-crossing the country, and their co-existence so
far is anything but peaceful... |
| USA
Soccer: Wambach scores two goals in Celebration Tour opener |
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Team USA got the Fan
Celebration Tour off on the right foot with a 4-3 victory over Iceland in
Rochester, New York. Hometown hero Abby Wambach cements her role as the team's
new superstar with two goals, while Mia Hamm chipped in one and Heather Mitts
the winner in injury time. |
| USA
Soccer: Olympic Tour to start Sept. 25 |
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The U.S. Women’s National
Team’s highly anticipated “Fan Celebration Tour” will travel
through 10 American cities this Fall, beginning with a Sept. 25 match at
Frontier Field in Rochester, N.Y. The match in Rochester sold out on Saturday
just a few hours after tickets went on sale to the general public. |
| US
Open: Soviet supremacy continues in Grand Slam events |
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As recently as three months
ago, no Russian female had ever won a Grand Slam. But the floodgates opened
after Anastasia Myskina won the French Open (in another all-Russian finale).
Maria Sharapova then beat Serena to win Wimbledon. And now, Svetlana Kuznetsova
makes it three in a row for Russian women by beating Elena Dementieva at
the US Open. |
| WPFL
Football: Scorpions over Amazons in OT |
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The SoCal Scorpions need
five quarters to defeat the LA Amazons 3-0, and pick up their first
victory of the season. Both sides struggled against stingy defenses in a
game which came down to the final second of overtime. |
| JC
Water Polo: Grossmont contends for third straight PCC title |
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The Grossmont College women's
water polo team has won two consecutive Pacific Coast Conference championships.
The Griffins do not look like they are slowing down anytime soon after defeating
host Southwestern by a score of 18-4 on Sept. 9. |
| US
Open: Serena, referee exit tournament |
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Serena William's run was
cut short Tuesday after chair umpire Mariana Alves (POR) called out a ball
that was inches inside the line - overruling the line judge who had correctly
called it in. Serena exited the tournament and Alves soon after, in another
round of curious officiating that began at Wimbledon when sister Venus lost
a third-set tiebreak and match when her opponent was awarded an extra
point. |
| Women's
Soccer: Retirements won't affect national team play |
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With most of The Fab Five
(from 1991) retiring, the torch of women's soccer is passed into the
able hands of the new generation: Lindsay Tarpley, Abby Wambach and Heather
O'Reilly. Kristine Lilly and Brandi Chastain remain as the tenured teammates
of the national team. |
| US
Open: Sharapova, Henin advance |
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Wimbledon champ Maria Sharapova
needs three sets to get past hard-serving Laura Granville in opening round
action at the US Open. Olympic gold medalist Justine Henin-Hardenne, all
other seeds advance to second round. |
| Women's
Soccer: Athens gold may be key to return of WUSA |
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Will soccer fans see a
popularity "bounce" from the gold medal won by Team USA in Athens? WUSA fans
wait to find out whether 2005 will bring back league play or only more
"festivals." |
| Athens
Olympics: The 10 Worst Ads |
 During the Olympics, the same ad may be shown dozens of times
over the weeks of the Games. Knowing this, it would seem to be a good
idea for the agencies to shelve the "hit a home run" mentality and go for
some subtlety and intelligence. But that is a forlorn hope. Unfortunately
it seems the advertisers, having been bled dry first by Olympic sponsorship
fees, and then having to max out their credit to buy ad time, apparently
had nothing left to put into making the ad. |
| Athens
Olympics: The 10 Best Ads |
 It consistently amazes: Other than the Super Bowl, the Olympics
is the best time for a company to make it's point in sport. Yet the level
of quality in these ads is below even that of ordinary network TV. It took
quite a bit of time, but we were able to fill out this list -- half way. |
