Toronto - Rob Ramage has been sentenced to four years in prison for a December 2003 crash that killed a former Chicago Blackhawks player.
Keith Magnuson died on December 15th, 2003, when a rental car driven by Ramage slammed head-on into another vehicle just north of Toronto.
Before sentencing, Ramage told the court Magnuson “was a dear friend and mentor.”
The judge noted that while Ramage was an “exemplary citizen”, he could not ignore the fact the sentence had to send a message of general deterrence to the public. (more…)
Toronto - “Toronto harboured a superstar. All of us were lucky to have him as long as we did.” That from the late Jim Proudfoot, 13 years ago about his Toronto Star colleague Milt Dunnell.
The former newspaper sports columnist has died at the age of 102. Dunnell died at North York General Hospital during the evening.
In 2005 when he turned 100, Dunnell said he didn’t think it was any great achievement. He was a member of Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame, and similar halls of fame for Hockey, Horse Racing and Football reporters.
He went around the world to cover sports, including Olympic Games in Mexico City and Melbourne. He followed Muhammad Ali to Zaire and the Philippines.
Dunnell wrote at the star from 1942 until 1994.
Toronto - Rookie Toronto Maple Leaf forward Jiri Tlusty has just been pushed in to the spotlight.
Tlusty is likely feeling an incredible amount of regret after a nude picture of the 19-year-old rookie turned up on the internet.
The nude photo, which shows the young hockey player standing in front of a mirror holding nothing but a camera phone, was taken last year after a women on Myspace dared him to take off his boxers.
Tlusty says he made a bad decision.
“I used poor judgment in this instance last season and I have learned a valuable lesson,” Tlusty said in a statement released by the Leafs following Tuesday’s 4-3 overtime loss to Montreal. “It will not happen again and I have no further comment.”
The front office for the Toronto Maple Leafs agree, it was a mistake.
“Photographs were posted recently on the Internet without Jiri’s knowledge or consent,” said Leafs general manager John Ferguson in a statement. “He made a naive mistake as a teenager. It’s a lesson in how something private can easily become very public in the Internet age. Hopefully it’s a lesson that other people will learn from as well.”
Boston (EON) - The Boston Red Sox came back after being doen three games to one against the Cleveland Indians in the ALCS to win game 7 at home in Fenway Park and earn a spot in the World Series to play the Colorado Rockies.
The Boston Red Sox are headed to their 2nd World Series in just 3 years. It took the Red Sox 86 years to win their first World Series title and now they are knocking on the door to win the second. The Boston Red Sox started game 7 on Sunday night at Fenway Park with picture Daisuke Matsuzaka. He pitched 5-strong innings only allowing 2 runs.
Following Matsuzaka was Hideo Okajima who pitched up until the 8th inning when Jonathan Papelbon, the Red Sox closer, took over.
The Red Sox ended up winning the game 11-2 thanks to late home runs from Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, and others.
Dustin Pedroia, the Red Sox 2nd baseman, stated “We worked so hard all year long, nobody wanted to have our season cut short. Nobody wanted to go home. Nobody wanted to say goodbye to everybody.”
The Red Sox are the only team to come back from two 3-1 deficits in the LCS as they did in 1986 and 2004, and now they have done it three times. They start the 2007 MLB World Series Wednesday night at home in Boston in the infamous Fenway Park against the Colorado Rockies.
Boston (EON) - A jury ruled on Tuesday that the head coach of the New York Knicks Isiah Thomas is guilty of sexual harassment of a former top team executive.
The jury found him guilty of subjecting the team executive of unwanted advances as well as verbal insults which kept going for quite some time. The jury has ruled he will not have to pay any punitive damages.
The woman was involved with Thomas in a three-week trial which found Thomas as well as Madison Square Garden guilty of harassment against the woman. Madison Square Garden was ordered to pay millions in punitive damages to Anucha Browne Sanders.
U.S. District Judge Gerard E. Lynch stated that it was “eminently reasonable” to come to a verdict of this.
Thomas stated after the ruling “I’m innocent, very innocent, and I did not do the things she has accused me in this courtroom of doing. I’m extremely disappointed that the jury did not see the facts in this case. I will appeal this, and I remain confident in the man that I am and what I stand for and the family that I have.”
Madison Square Garden sill also appeal and are confident they will win.
New York (EON) - In one of the most exciting moments in MLB history the Colorado Rockies defeated the San Diego Padres in a shocking 13th inning comeback to win the National League wildcard in a tie breaker game.
The Rockies were down 8-6 heading into the bottom of the 13th inning but they did not give up. The Rockies had to win 14 out of their last 15 games to get into the playoffs and they did it the most dramatic way possible.
Leading off the bottom of the 13th Kazuo Matsui hit a double to deep right center field. This began the rally and was followed up by another double hit by Troy Tulowitzki.
With him on second and the Rockies trailing 8-7, Matt Holliday stepped up to the plate and hit a huge triple to tie the game 8-8. Then came the game-winning sacrifice fly by Carroll after Todd Helton was intentionally walked.
This put the Rockies in the playoffs for the first time since 1995 as the fans in Colorado were going crazy.
The Rockies now move onto the National League Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies in Philadelphia beginning on Wednesday.
Boston (EON) - The New England Patriots have had a rough PR month as their superstar Rodney Harrison was suspended for HGH and now Coach Belichick has come out and apologized for the Patriots cheating.
Commissioner of the NFL Roger Goodell is looking into whether or not the Patriots cheated using illegal videotapes which they recorded of the New York Jets signals during the Week 1 game of the NFL season.
Belichick apologized on Wednesday and stated that he has spoken to the commissioner Goodell about the rule and how it is interpreted.
A video camera was confiscated from Patriots video assistant Matt Estrella by NFL security on Sunday when he was working at the New York Jets, New England Patriots game which the Pats won easily 38-14.
Belichick issued a statement stating that he has spoken to Goodell “about a videotaping procedure during last Sunday’s game and my interpretation of the rules. Although it remains a league matter, I want to apologize to everyone who has been affected, most of all ownership, staff, and players. Following the league’s decision, I will have further comment.”
Monza, Italy (EON) - Formula One team McLaren-Mercedes put all their troubles aside on Sunday as they took a one-two at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza.
Fernando Alonso, who started the race from pole, led from start to finish, beating his team-mate Lewis Hamilton into second place. Third place went to Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
For McLaren, who next week will be facing another investigation into the ongoing spy scandal involving them and Ferrari, the victory was particularly sweet as they managed to completely dominate the rest of the field.
After Alonso crossed the finish line team principal Ron Dennis had tears in his eyes as he was hugged by well-wishers.
The Spaniard managed to win the start, but Hamilton came close to losing his second-place position to Ferrari’s Felipe Massa.
The young Briton had to cut a corner on the first lap to avoid a crash with the Ferrari, but although the incident was investigated, Hamilton was found not to have done anything illegal.
The safety car had to come out on the second lap after the Red Bull of David Coulthard was involved in a crash as he smashed into the barriers.
After the safety car pulled off the track on the sixth lap there were no immediate changes in the placings.
Massa’s hopes of gaining ground on the two leading McLaren’s ended on the 11th lap as he pulled into the garage with a mechanical problem.
Alonso and Hamilton then managed to put some distance between themselves and Raikkonen, who had managed to move into fourth from fifth at the start and became the main challenger after Massa withdrew.
The Finn, who, unlike the two McLaren’s was on a one-stop strategy, managed to overtake Hamilton as the McLaren went into the pits for the second stop, but Alonso had enough of an advantage to stay in front.
Raikkonen’s hold on second place was short-lived though and lasted less than two laps as Hamilton managed to overtake the Finn on turn one in a daring move.
Germany’s Nick Heidfeld in a BMW-Sauber took fourth place from his team-mate Robert Kubica. Nico Rosberg in a Williams was sixth, while Heikki Kovalainen in a Renault was seventh. The final championship point went to Jenson Button in a Honda.
Alonso’s victory sees the Spaniard cut the lead at the top of the championship standings to three points. Hamilton has 92 points, while Alonso is on 89. Raikkonen moves into third place on 74.
The next race is the Belgian Grand Prix on September 16 at Spa- Francorchamps.
Monza, Italy - World champion Fernando Alonso was fastest ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton in Friday’s second practice session ahead of Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
It was a reversal of fortunes for the McLaren-Mercedes drivers, who were behind the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa in the morning session but dominated in the afternoon.
Alonso clocked 1 minute 22.386 seconds, finishing 0.823 seconds ahead of the season’s overall leader Hamilton.
Raikkonen was down in eighth place in 1:23.833, with Massa sixth in 1:23.722.
“It’s a good start but we’re not suddenly 1.5 seconds faster than the Ferraris,” said Mercedes sports chief Norbert Haug.
Renault driver Giancarlo Fisichella of Italy was third fastest in 1:23.584.
Finnish driver Raikkonen had clocked 1 minute 22.446 seconds to edge his Brazilian team-mate by 0.144 seconds in the first session, with Britain’s Hamilton third and Spain’s Alonso fourth.
The German Nico Rosberg in a Williams enjoyed a solid performance to finish fifth in both session.
Meanwhile Germany’s Nick Heidfeld in a BMW-Sauber, who is fifth overall, was ninth and seventh, while teammate Robert Kubica of Poland was fourth in the afternoon after an eighth-place in the first session.
Hamilton leads the drivers’ standings on 84 points, with Alonso on 79, Massa on 69 and Raikkonen on 68.
New York - Former winner Svetlana Kuznetsova closed the book on this year’s Hungarian success story at the US Open with a 6-1, 6-4 defeat of Agnes Szavay.
The Russian fourth seed denied the teenager the chance to become the first from her nation to reach the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows and the third Hungarian to move to the last eight at any Grand Slam.
2004 winner Kuznetsova will next face sixth-seeded compatriot Anna Chakvetadze, who beat Israeli Shahar Peer 6-4, 6-1.
Kuznetsoava had beaten Szavay for the New Haven title less than a fortnight ago when the teenager retired with a back injury.
“I’m so happy with performance,” said the winner, into her third career Grand Slam semi-final. “I felt very good out here.
“I’m really happy to be playing well.”