Vincent Feli Boy’s Blog

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Ring-rusty Tiger Woods made a stumbling start in the opening round of the U.S. Open, double-bogeying the par-four first hole at Torrey Pines on Thursday.

The American world number one, playing his first tournament since the Masters two months ago, pulled his tee shot into the left rough, punched out on to the fairway and then overshot the green with his approach. After chipping five feet beyond the hole, his uphill bogey putt slid past the right edge of the cup. His playing partners in a high-profile grouping, world number two Phil Mickelson and third-ranked Adam Scott of Australia, both parred the hole after reaching the green in regulation.

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What do you think this means for female mixed martial arts? How will this fight change the future for women fighters? How do you feel about this? What are you thoughts? No matter the words, no matter the tone, no matter the inquirer — Gina Carano’s heard it all. And on Saturday at the Prudential Center, she seemed to answer everyone’s question without saying anything. The “female face of MMA,” Carano has become a pioneer in the sport; and on Saturday, she continued blazing her already lengthy trail: as the first female brawler to capture a victory on prime-time television. In front of 8,033 fans in Newark and millions across the country, Carano extended her perfect record to 6-0 with a victory over Kaitlin Young.

Young threw Carano a slew of punches and held her on the mat for much of the first round, but Carano jumped on the second round. Literally. “Conviction” justified the chants of “Gina! Gina! Gina!” by the Prudential Center crowd having sent Young a string of punches to create a purple welt the side of a tennis ball under her left eye. earned Carano the win by TKO (doctor order stoppage) three minutes into the second round. But Saturday was just the latest mile marker for Carano and, by association, female MMA.

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Avery Johnson will not get a second chance to lead newly arrived point guard Jason Kidd and the Dallas Mavericks into the playoffs. After losing in the first round of the playoffs for two consecutive seasons, Johnson was fired Wednesday. Though 194-70 in three-plus seasons, the coach is ousted because of his playoff struggles, which include two straight first-round exits. From the Associated Press May 1, 2008 The Dallas Mavericks fired coach Avery Johnson on Wednesday after flopping in the first round of the playoffs for the second straight year.

Johnson, 43, leaves with an impressive resume after three-plus seasons, but Mavericks owner Mark Cuban couldn’t tolerate two straight years of first-round exits – or the fact that Dallas has gone 3-12 in the playoffs since blowing a 2-0 lead in the 2006 NBA Finals against Miami. “This is something that needed to happen,” said Johnson, who had three years left on his contract. “There’s no animosity or bitterness.

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Obama sought to quell a political firestorm ignited when news outlets called attention to sermons by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, which the Illinois senator attended for two decades. “We have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism,” he said.

“Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, ‘Not this time.’” Wright, who retired recently, has railed that the September 11 attacks were retribution for U.S. foreign policy, called the U.S. government the source of the AIDS virus and expressed anger over what he called racist America.

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