Detroit Pistons Fire Head Coach June 3, 2008

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Flip Saunders was fired as Detroit Pistons coach Tuesday, four days after his team was eliminated by the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals.

President of basketball operations Joe Dumars said it’s “time for a new voice to lead our team.” Saunders had a year left on a four-year deal he signed in 2005. The decision comes three years after Saunders took over for Larry Brown, who led the Pistons to two straight NBA finals.

“Decisions like this are difficult to make, especially with the success we have had throughout the last three regular seasons,” Dumars said in a statement. “However, at this time, I feel it is necessary to make a change.”

A message left for Saunders was not immediately returned. Dumars was to speak Tuesday at the team’s practice facility.

Assistant coach Michael Curry appears to be the leading candidate to replace Saunders. Other possible candidates include Detroit assistant coach Terry Porter and former Dallas Mavericks coach Avery Johnson.

In Saunders’ three seasons, the Pistons were 176-70 in the regular season and 30-21 in the postseason, but they lost in the Eastern Conference finals each year.

The Pistons have appeared in six straight conference finals, the first franchise to do so since the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s. But they also are the second team in league history to lose in the round before the NBA finals three years in a row, joining the Celtics from 1953-55.

Dumars decided a year ago to bring back key players who have been together since the 2004 championship season, as well as Saunders, while infusing energy with rookies and young reserves. But after the loss in Game 6 of the East finals to Boston on Friday, the likelihood of change grew.

Before coming to Detroit, Saunders was 411-326 with the Minnesota Timberwolves from 1995-05. He led them to eight straight postseason appearances — seven first-round exits and an appearance in the 2004 conference finals. After leading Minnesota to a franchise-high 58 wins, he was fired with a 25-26 mark in the 2004-05 season.

Vince McMahon Is Giving Away 1 Million Dollars to RAW Fan June 3, 2008

LOS ANGELES (AP)—Wrestling fans eager to get their hands on Vince McMahon’s money will have to jump through a few hoops first.

The World Wrestling Entertainment chairman announced during last week’s “Monday Night Raw” that he would give away $1 million of his own wealth to viewers, but he didn’t specify when or how it would be distributed.

The cash will be given away as part of a lengthy promotional sweepstakes, McMahon and the WWE told The Associated Press.

For a chance to win $1 million each week for the foreseeable future, viewers must pre-register on WWE.com and then watch the beginning of “Raw” each week to receive a special code, which viewers must tell McMahon if he calls them during the live broadcast.

The code will change each week of the promotion and will not be revealed until the beginning of each episode.

“People can view this as my own version of an economic stimulus plan to benefit our viewers,” McMahon told the AP.

While the USA Network series continues to be one of the most watched shows on cable TV, its ratings have recently declined. Last Monday’s episode received the lowest ratings for a Memorial Day broadcast in five years, according to Nielsen Media Research.

McMahon said his goal with the giveaway, which begins June 9, is to reward loyal “Raw” fans and draw new and former viewers back to the show.

USA is owned by General Electric Co.’s NBC Universal.

Steven Tyler Checks into Rehab May 21, 2008

So-called “Demon of Screamin,’” Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler, has checked himself into a rehab facility, reports TMZ.com.

Tyler, 60, reportedly is seeking treatment for substance abuse at a California facility.

The musician’s representatives had no comment.

In September 2006, the Aerosmith frontman revealed that in 2003 he had been diagnosed with hepatitis C and had undergone 11 months of treatment.

After keeping quiet about the disease for so long, Tyler said at the time that he wanted to share his experience and knowledge with others.

Maine Man Offers $5,000 To Right Woman In Search For Love May 21, 2008

WELLS, Maine — A 39-year-old man from Wells is looking for love in the classifieds.

 

Charles Haeberle hasn’t been able to find Miss Right since moving to Maine six years ago, so he’s taken out a newspaper ad offering $5,000 to the woman he marries.

 

Actually, he said he’ll pay $400 after the fourth date, $1,100 at the engagement and $3,500 at the wedding.

 

Haeberle manages a hotel in Kennebunk, travels widely and likes to hike, kayak and stay physically active.

 

He knows his ad sounds silly, but said it costs no more than an online dating service. He hasn’t had much luck with those, so he figures he’s simply cutting out the middleman.

 

The ad said he already has a 4-carat engagement ring and a one-year anniversary gift.

 

He put the ad in the York Weekly, and he’s also running it on the Craigslist classified ad Web site.

DUI Deja Vu: Woman Crashes in Same Spot Twice in 5 Months May 21, 2008

TRUCKEE, Calif. - Call it drunken driving deja vu. For the second time in five months, a 23-year-old California woman has been arrested after she allegedly crashed her car while driving under the influence at the exact same spot north of Lake Tahoe.

And to top it off, Truckee Police say that in both cases, her blood alcohol content was more than three times the legal limit.

Police say Melissa Dennison of Truckee crashed at about noon on Sunday on Glenshire Drive just south of the Glenshire Bridge. They say she was extremely intoxicated and had trouble standing or walking. Her blood alcohol level initially was measured at .346. The legal limit is .08.

Sgt. J. Litchie said Dennison also had been charged with a DUI in January when she crashed at the same spot and registered a blood alcohol level of .380.

If convicted of the second offense, she faces up to 10 years in prison and fines in excess of $2,000.

No. 3 Pick From NFL Draft Gets 6-Year, $72 Million Dollar Contract May 21, 2008

ATLANTA (AP)—For the second time in eight years, the Atlanta Falcons opened the vault and dropped a ton of cash on a franchise quarterback.

Matt Ryan, the No. 3 pick in last month’s draft, signed a $72 million, six-year contract Tuesday. The announcement of the new deal came with smiles, confident talk of the future and no mention of Michael Vick, the first pick in 2001 who signed a $130 million extension, the richest in the league at the time, in December 2005.

Team owner Arthur Blank and the Falcons were especially eager to sign Ryan, avoid a holdout and help the franchise move away from the Vick era with new general manager Thomas Dimitroff, new coach Mike Smith and now a new quarterback.

“The circumstances are always different when it comes to a player, and in Matt’s case the research that Thomas did and Coach Smith did, they were extremely comfortable in Matt and what Matt stood for and what he’s going to be for the long term,” said team president Rich McKay, the Falcons’ lead negotiator.

“I don’t think there was any hesitancy because of the experience we just had.”

Vick last year began a 23-month prison sentence after he confessed to bankrolling a dogfighting ring.

The Falcons’ haste in finalizing the deal with Ryan received a boost when word leaked the NFL owners, who met Tuesday in Atlanta, were about to opt out of a labor deal with the players’ union in 2011. Before the owners’ unanimous vote, the deal could not have gone through 2013.

The Falcons and Ryan’s agent, Tom Condon, already had agreed on six years as the basis for their deal, and to make that happen they needed to complete the negotiations by Tuesday.

“We couldn’t have gotten a six-year contract if we didn’t get this deal done by 4 today,” Blank said.

“That was the urgency in getting it done today. The structure of the contract would not have been permissible because of the opt out.”

McKay said he was involved in negotiations until 3 a.m. Tuesday and started again at 6 a.m.

Ryan is guaranteed $34.75 million. His guaranteed money is $4.75 million more than that given to Jake Long, the No. 1 overall choice who also is represented by Condon.

Ryan worked behind quarterbacks Chris Redman and Joey Harrington at his first minicamp with the team this month, but he’s getting paid to be the starter. He said he’ll enter training camp expecting to play immediately.

“I think that’s certainly the goal, to prepare to play, to do everything you can to be on the field and play,” Ryan said. “That’s what I’m going to do. I think I did well picking things up in minicamp. I know there’s still a lot to learn. I think I’ve done pretty well so far.”

Redman, Harrington and Byron Leftwich shared the starting job last season. Leftwich was released after the season. Ryan will join Harrington, Redman and D.J. Shockley in the quarterback competition in training camp.

Redman, who finished the 2007 season as the starter, is the favorite to open 2008 with the job. Redman worked with the first-team offense with newly signed running back Michael Turner in minicamp.

The 6-foot-5 Ryan ranked third in the nation with his school-record 4,507 yards passing in 2007.

“It’s highly unusual to get a first-round pick this high in the first round signed in the month of May, and it’s indicative of the kind of person he is,” Blank said.

“We’re anxious that he be part of the team and show that kind of leadership.”

Ryan said he wasn’t surprised to have the deal done so soon.

“I knew everyone had made the commitment and wanted to get it done,” Ryan said. “I’m just excited and happy. … I’m proud of the fact I’m an Atlanta Falcon.”

Blank said he wanted to sign Ryan early to avoid a repeat of quarterback JaMarcus Russell’s holdout with the Oakland Raiders last year. Russell, the top pick in last year’s draft, missed all of training camp, signed three days before the 2007 season and made his only start in the final game of the season.

“We don’t want to go through a situation like they went through last year in Oakland,” Blank said. “This young man wants to come in and compete.”

McKay said he experienced a holdout while with Tampa Bay when the Buccaneers drafted quarterback Trent Dilfer No. 6 overall in 1994.

“I really felt it affected the player and it affected the franchise,” McKay said.

“I thought it was not just the right message for the franchise but it’s the right thing to do for the quarterback if you can get him in camp on time so that he doesn’t at all fall behind and have one of those rookie years where he doesn’t catch up.”

Jessica Alba Gets Married May 21, 2008

LOS ANGELES — Jessica Alba wed fiance Cash Warren on Monday, her rep confirms.

Jessica and Cash, who are expecting their first child in late spring/early summer, had announced their engagement in December after Alba was spotted with a diamond on that tell-tale left ring finger.

The newleyweds met on the set of 2004’s “Fantastic Four”.

More Information:

Mom-to-be Jessica Alba and Cash Warren have gotten married, PEOPLE confirms.

The couple quietly wed Monday, says her rep, Brad Cafarelli.

According to a source, they were married in the Beverly Hills courthouse’s ceremony room under an arch of green silk foliage and white flowers. They were casually dressed, with Alba wearing a long blue dress and her hair back in a ponytail.

“She looked happy but nervous,” the source says.

Warren, in a white shirt and brown pants, arrived with Alba at about 11:30 a.m. on Monday, applied for a marriage license and waited about 40 minutes for the paperwork to be processed before a staff member from the courthouse married them, the source says.

Nobody else attended the wedding, the source adds.

Who Won Dancing With the Stars? May 21, 2008

Do not read on if you do not want to know who won last night on ‘Dancing with the Stars’.

After four consecutive male winners on “Dancing With the Stars,” it was finally ladies’ night.

Kristi Yamaguchi was named the new “Dancing” champ on the show’s season finale, becoming the first woman to win the ABC dance-off since its inaugural season. The figure skater came into the final contest Tuesday with a perfect score and bested fan favorites Jason Taylor and Cristian de la Fuente to claim the mirrorball trophy.

“This is definitely for all those women out there to continue to be strong,” she said after the show, hoisting the prize above her head.

The Olympic gold medalist was clearly the most talented dancer on this season’s competition, regularly landing atop the judges’ scoreboard. But viewer votes count just as much, and with the audience 75 percent female, men have had the edge. Last season ended with a shocker when race-car driver Helio Castroneves upset Spice Girl Melanie Brown.

“Obviously the fans are the deciding factor here,” Yamaguchi said, “and I can’t say enough to thank them.”

She also had plenty of fans among her fellow competitors, who said she deserved the title.

Taylor, the massive but graceful pro football star, called Yamaguchi “just perfect,” adding that he “grew up watching her compete for our country.” De la Fuente, who was eliminated early in the two-hour season finale, said “it was impossible to beat her.”

His professional partner, Cheryl Burke, agreed. “Kristi deserved it more than any other woman in any other season,” she said. “It’s about time that a woman wins.”

Yamaguchi’s athletic background helped make her a winner, said judge Carrie Ann Inaba, because athletes know how to channel criticism into competition.

“She was technically great and she was doing incredible choreography,” Inaba said, adding that Yamaguchi’s performance personality emerged throughout the season. “She was able to really develop her crowd-pleasing skills and that’s what set her over the top.”

The judge acknowledged on Monday’s show that men often fare better in the ballroom, saying “they have a natural tendency to be more crowd-pleasers.”

“When men get on the floor and you’re watching the male power, it’s unbeatable,” Inaba said after Tuesday’s show. “It generates this sort of excitement on the dance floor that’s really hard to touch.”

Winning the “Dancing” crown doesn’t quite compare to winning an Olympic gold medal, Yamaguchi said, but it’s still “a fun, amazing experience.”

“It’s not just this (trophy) but what it represents,” she said. “It’s all the hard work and the time spent together and the friendships made, challenging yourself and learning something new.”

Though Taylor and de la Fuente didn’t win, each was victorious in his own way. Besides forming a close friendship with each other, Taylor, an aspiring actor, has taken meetings with Hollywood heavyweights, and de la Fuente learned an important life lesson.

The actor ruptured a tendon in his biceps while dancing on April 28, but delayed the surgery necessary to repair it so he could continue in the contest.

“It’s about wanting something in life and going for it,” he said. “In this case it was a dance show, but it can be anything that you’re afraid of. Go for it. Do it. The reward that you get when you put your heart, your soul, everything you’ve got in something, it’s priceless.”

Casino, DA: Charles Barkley’s Debt Still Unpaid May 20, 2008

LAS VEGAS — Just one day after former NBA great Charles Barkley said he paid his loan to the Wynn Hotel-Casino and was giving up gambling for a while, casino officials — along with Clark County District Attorney David Roger — said Barkley’s $400,000 gambling debt is still outstanding.

 

During an announcement Tuesday, Wynn officials and the district attorney’s office said there’s been no payment and no contact with the former NBA star and TV analyst.

 

During Turner Network Television’s pre-game show before the NBA playoffs Monday, Barkley said the debt had been paid and he was giving up gambling.

 

In a complaint filed last week, Rogers said Barkley borrowed four $100,000 gambling markers from the Wynn on Oct. 18 and 19. When he finished playing, the report said, Barkley left the debt unpaid.

Officials from the Wynn said they are not allowed to comment on a pending case.

 

The district attorney’s office has yet to hear from Barkley. Roger has promised to file a criminal complaint if Barkley doesn’t pay up by June 9.

$175 Hamburger on Wall Street May 20, 2008

NEW YORK (AP)– Despite the economic downturn, a Lower Manhattan restaurant is now offering a $175 (euro112) hamburger.

The opulent and extravagant burger is made of Japanese Kobe beef, topped with gold flakes, black truffles, a thick slab of seared foie gras and aged Gruyere cheese.

Wall Street Burger Shoppe co-owner Heather Tierney thinks of it as “a work of art.”

Tierney says the item attracts Wall Street types who down a few beers and then fork over $175 (euro112) to “show off in front of their friends.”