Chicago White Sox ace Mark Buehrle has set a major league record by retiring 45 straight batters. Coming off a perfect game in his last start against Tampa Bay, Buehrle retired the first 17 Minnesota Twins batters to surpass the record of 41 straight set by and San Francisco's Jim Barr in 1972 and tied by teammate Bobby Jenks, a reliever, in 2007. Buehrle retired 27 in a row against the Rays in his last start, then breezed through the first five innings against the Twins to break the record. His bid for a second consecutive perfect game ended with a walk to Alexi Casilla on a close call with two outs in the sixth. The Metrodome crowd stood and cheered Buehrle. Then Denard Span followed with a single to break up the no-hitter. The Twins flashed the record on the main scoreboard. On the record-breaking play, Buehrle got former teammate Joe Crede to hit a soft grounder to Alexei Ramirez at shortstop. He smiled after Paul Konerko made a nifty scoop of a low throw at first base for the second out of the inning. The ball was thrown into the White Sox dugout as a keepsake. Buehrle then got Brendan Harris to ground out to shortstop to end the fifth inning and keep his perfect game going. The performance comes against a Twins team that he has had difficulty with him in the past. His 23 career victories against the Twins are his most against any opponent. But four hitters in the lineup on Tuesday night had career averages of .316 or better against the lefty.

A season that has already produced more than its fair share of thrills and spills just got even more exciting after it was confirmed on Wednesday that Michael Schumacher is to make a sensational comeback for Ferrari as temporary cover for the injured Felipe Massa. Provided the 40-year-old seven-time world champion can prove his fitness - and the German is a man who prides himself on his conditioning - he will line up against reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton for the very first time at the European Grand Prix in Valencia on Aug 23. The announcement, which will have Ferrari's hardcore tifosi drooling, came just 24 hours after the German driver's manager, Willi Weber, said he was "200 per cent sure" his client would not race in Valencia. That bold prediction was made to look rather foolish at about 6pm on Wednesday. "Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro intends to entrust Michael Schumacher with Felipe Massa's car until the Brazilian driver is able to race again," Ferrari announced on its website. "Michael Schumacher has shown his willingness and in the next few days he will undergo a specific programme of preparation at the end of which it will be possible to confirm his participation in the championship starting with the European Grand Prix." The question is: why? Schumacher, who most certainly does not need the money, said as recently as three weeks ago that he had no intention of making a comeback in a sport he bestrode like a colossus for 15 seasons. And as Weber pointed out, the most successful F1 driver of all time, a man with 91 grand prix wins to his name, is not one to settle for second best. "When Michael was racing he would get as close to perfection as possible," Weber said on Tuesday. "In this case, it would not be perfection; it would be a gamble - and that's not Michael's style." Schumacher clearly has other ideas. Although he said his decision was inspired by a sense of duty to a team for whom he still acts as an advisor following Massa's horrific read more »

(click image)

Michael Vick was reinstated by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell today and could play in regular season games as early as October. Vick can immediately participate in preseason practices, workouts and meetings and can play in the final two preseason games — if he can find a team that will sign him. A number of teams have already said they would not. “Needless to say, your margin for error is extremely limited,” Goodell said in a letter to Vick. “I urge you to take full advantage of the resources available to support you and to dedicate yourself to rebuilding your life and your career. If you do this, the NFL will support you.”

The legend of Sam Bradford is growing. It's nowhere near the Tebow's legend yet as people have yet to wonder about Bradford's sexual pursuits, but it's growing. And fast. So fast, that normal autograph signings, like the one pictured above, are a thing of the past. If by chance you leave your jerseys, photos, and media guides at home, it's cool. Sam Bradford will still honor your autograph request. Just have your newborn there ready and willing to be autographed. Bradford, speaking Tuesday during the Big 12 Conference's annual football preview, shook his head as he recounted the incident back in the spring. Like Tebow, the revered Florida quarterback and 2007 Heisman Trophy winner, the Sooners' winner a year ago has grown accustomed to the sacrifice of privacy, to a star's life in a fishbowl. Mealtime interruptions are routine. But the night he and some buddies decided to dine out in Norman, Okla., "was a little bit different. I never pictured that happening before," he said. The mother and father approached with their son, whom Bradford estimated at no more than a couple of months old. Could he autograph the baby?

The Philadelphia Eagles are saddened to announce Jim Johnson has passed away Tuesday afternoon at the age of 68 after a courageous battle with cancer. A veteran of 22 years as an NFL assistant, Johnson is regarded as one of the top defensive masterminds in National Football League history. Over the last decade, he gained a great deal of praise as the orchestrator of the renowned Eagles defense. His aggressive style kept Philadelphia at or near the top of the NFL in nearly every major defensive category since joining Andy Reid's staff on January 22, 1999. From 2000-08, Johnson's units ranked second in the NFL in sacks (390), 3rd down efficiency (34.0%) and red zone touchdown percentage (43.9%), and fourth in fewest points allowed (17.7 per game). During his 10-year tenure in Philadelphia, the Eagles earned seven playoff berths, five trips to the NFC Championship game and one Super Bowl appearance (following the 2004 season). As the Eagles' defensive chief, Johnson's defense has produced 26 Pro Bowl selections: Brian Dawkins (7), Troy Vincent (5), Jeremiah Trotter (4), Hugh Douglas (3), Lito Sheppard (2), Asante Samuel (1), Trent Cole (1), Michael Lewis (1), Corey Simon (1), and Bobby Taylor (1). Four of his defensive assistants have gone on to successful careers with other NFL franchises: Steve Spagnuolo (head coach of the St. Louis Rams), John Harbaugh (head coach of the Baltimore Ravens), Ron Rivera (defensive coordinator of the San Diego Chargers) and Leslie Frazier (defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings). Prior to his tenure in Philadelphia, Johnson served as the linebackers coach with Seattle in 1998. That year, Johnson helped the Seahawks register 10 touchdowns on defense, including eight interceptions returned for scores, second-most in NFL history. He arrived in Seattle after a four-year stint in Indianapolis, the last two as defensive coordinator. While with the Colts, Johnson helped them secure a berth in the AFC Championship game at Pittsb read more »

(click image)

The BMW Group has released the following statement after their announcement that they will quit F1 at the end of the season. The BMW Group will not continue its Formula One campaign after the end of the 2009 season. Resources freed up as a result are to be dedicated to the development of new drive technologies and projects in the field of sustainability. BMW will continue to be actively involved in other motor sports series. The landmark decision to restructure BMW Motorsport?s activities was made at the Board of Management's meeting yesterday. "Of course, this was a difficult decision for us. But it's a resolute step in view of our company's strategic realignment," explained Dr. Norbert Reithofer, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG. "Premium will increasingly be defined in terms of sustainability and environmental compatibility. This is an area in which we want to remain in the lead. In line with our Strategy Number ONE, we are continually reviewing all projects and initiatives to check them for future viability and sustainability. Our Formula One campaign is thus less a key promoter for us. Mario Theissen has been in charge of our motor sports program since 1999. We have scored a large number of successes in this period, including some in Formula One racing. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Mario Theissen and his team for this," said, Reithofer. Dr. Klaus Draeger, the member of the Board of Management responsible for development, said: "It only took us three years to establish ourselves as a top team with the BMW Sauber F1 Team. Unfortunately, we were unable to meet expectations in the current season. Nevertheless, our ten years of Formula One experience have had a major impact on our development engineers. We have racing to thank for numerous technological innovations as well as the competitive spirit that drives us to develop mass-produced cars." Possible redundancies in Munich and Hinwil cannot be quantified at present. Says Dra read more »

(click image)

If you weren’t watching the Phillies game last night like you should’ve been, you missed out on perhaps one of the greatest foul ball catches in the history of foul ball catches. At the start of the Fightins 2-run fifth inning last night, Carlos Ruiz led off against D-back’s ace Dan Haren and fouled a 1-1 pitch back into the stands. An attentive Arizona fan was in a great position to snag the ball, and threw up his left arm and picked it out of the air. Now, I know what you’re thinking — what’s so impressive about that, meech? Fair enough. But what if I told you he made the catch while HOLDING A FRICKIN LITTLE KID IN HIS RIGHT HAND? I got your attention now, don’t I, you cynical prick? Without exaggeration, his catch was a more impressive defensive play than anything the Arizona Diamondbacks have done over the past two games. So much so, that a D-backs announcer approached Shane (that’s the guy’s name, Shane. He coaches baseball for Mesquite High in Gilbert, AZ) and offered him a mock contract. Actually, if you wanna get technical, I think the kid not dropping that 64 oz. bucket of soda with those tiny paws of his was more impressive than anything the Diamondbacks have done the past two days. Good on ya, Shane.

To put a slight spin on the name of a popular folk song from the Great Depression, "How can a rich man stand such times and live?" He could buy a smaller car, for starters, such as the about-to-be-released Rolls-Royce Ghost, the first lower-cost limousine to be produced by the world's luxury automaker in more than a decade.Rolls-Royces are typically leviathan in size and synonymous with ostentatious wealth. But the company's new Ghost model will be much more modest. A prototype of the four-door sedan that has been making the rounds at auto shows this summer is shorter and sleeker than the company's flagship Phantom limousine, making it "slightly more agile" and better for daily use, says Rolls-Royce CEO Tom Purves. It's more affordable as well, priced at just $245,000, far below the $380,000 baseline price tag for the Phantom.The Ghost has been in the works for several years, well before the global economic meltdown. But the timing of the car's rollout this fall couldn't be better for the automaker. Although Rolls-Royce had a banner year in 2008, selling a record 1,212 Phantoms worldwide, the company has taken a substantial hit this year. Sales of the Phantom tanked by more than 34% in the first six months of 2009 as the superrich started to put the kibosh on their conspicuous consumption. "To have a car like the Ghost [coming out] right now is, of course, ideal," Purves says. Buyers may be attracted by not only the tens of thousands of dollars in savings, but also the ability to strike the right tone in a recession. "[The Ghost is] less ostentatious, so owners can give the impression that they're downsizing their Rolls-Royce," says Garel Rhys, president of Cardiff University's Centre for Automotive Industry Research.The Ghost has been in the works for several years, well before the global economic meltdown. But the timing of the car's rollout this fall couldn't be better for the automaker. Although Rolls-Royce had a banner year in 2008, selling a record 1,212 read more »

(click image)

I want Michael Vick back in the National Football League. I don't care if he comes back as a quarterback and shatters every passing record on the books. It won't bother me if he switches positions and becomes a Pro Bowl player at receiver, running back or defensive back or if he simply signs with some desperate team and becomes a high-paid bench warmer.I couldn't care less if the folks from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals protest at every venue Vick's new team is scheduled to visit, and I won't lose any sleep if every pit bull owner in the United States purchases season tickets for the team Vick signs with and once again makes his jersey the biggest seller in the NFL. I want Vick back in the NFL, but probably not as much as Bill and Michael Gutweiler do. You see, if Vick isn't allowed back in the NFL, the league is telling Bill and Michael Gutweiler that the life of Susan Gutweiler — Bill's wife and Michael's mother — was less meaningful than a pack of dogs. Eleven years ago, Susan Gutweiler was driving in downtown St. Louis when a car driven by a drunk and speeding Leonard Little ran a stoplight. Little's Lincoln Navigator SUV broadsided Gutweiler's vehicle, and 12 hours later Bill Gutweiler was a widower and Michael Gutweiler — who was 10 at the time — lost his mother. Little, a football player for the St. Louis Rams, was leaving a birthday party that night back in 1998. When tested, his blood alcohol level exceeded the statutory level of intoxication in the state of Missouri. Little later copped a plea to involuntary manslaughter. He was given a 90-day jail sentence, four years probation, 1,000 hours of community service and the NFL suspended him for eight games — half of the 1999 season. In 2002, Little signed a five-year, $17.5 million deal with the Rams. Two years later, he was again arrested for drunk driving and speeding. He was acquitted of driving while intoxicated, but was convicted only of the misde read more »
Discuss   Bury

If you're like me (and I know that you are), you probably spend just as much time at games checking out the action on the sidelines as the action happening on the field. Cheerleaders exist, in theory, to help guide us fans into cheering on the team. In reality, they are for our visual pleasure alone. Because of that, their uniform design is very important. Which sports have perfected the art of dressing down their cheerleaders for maximum viewer pleasure? Here are the five hottest cheerleader uniforms in all of sports.

The wheels have officially been put in motion to return some sanity to swimming, and rid the sport of the hi-tech suits which have made it farcical in recent times, but until FINA make good on their promises, Michael Phelps may not come out to play. FINA announced today that bodysuits will be banned, and they will return to full-textile suits, which will be waist-to-knee for men and shoulder-to-knee for women next year, with no zippers or fasteners. But while their start date for the changes was supposed to be January 1, it has now been put back to "April or May" next year. But obviously sick and tired of the suit debacle and dithering by the sport's governing body, Phelps's coach Bob Bowman told reporters tonight that he would recommend his protege not race internationally until FINA made good on all the changes, and brings swimming back to being swimming again. Phelps lost his world title and world record in the 200 metres freestyle overnight to previously unheralded Paul Biedermann of Germany who wears an Arena suit. Biedermann previously bettered Ian Thorpe's eight-year-old world record in the 400 metres freestyle on Sunday When asked his thoughts about Bowman's suggestion of an international boycott, Phelps replied: "Yeah, he told me. Bob chooses where I swim. He chooses the meets I swim in. He chooses what is right for me and right for my training. That is his decision. "I have one meet I am looking forward to the most and that's in three years. That is the one thing I have on my mind. I know I have things I have to do between now and then to be happy at the end of those three years. My first step is diving into pool and getting back into shape. "The one thing that has really really changed over the last few years has been the technology in the sport. It's changed the sport completely. Like I said before, now it's not swimming. The headlines are always who is wearing what suit. It's not swimming and I'm looking forward to the day when we can call our read more »

(click image)

The stories of Massa’s accident three days have been everywhere. But how much do we really understand about how hard a blow Massa suffered when he was struck by that spring? F1 Fanatic guest writer Kareem Shaya tries to put the crash into perspective. In all the discussion of Felipe Massa’s qualifying accident at the Hungarian Grand Prix, there have been few real efforts to quantify what happened. Massa was hit hard enough to be knocked out and suffer a fractured skull, and that’s essentially all we know. So let’s figure it out. How bad is it, exactly, if an 800-gram coil spring hits you in the head at 160 mph? The punch it packs is worse than being shot. Bullets are deadly because they penetrate the body, but in terms of kinetic energy, most don’t hold a candle to what hit Massa. Below is a list of kinetic energies of common projectiles. The bullet energies assume point-blank range (and are calculated using numbers from Alpine Armoring). All the energies are calculated using the old kinetic energy = 1/2 * mass * velocity^2 formula you learned in school. - 100 mph fastball from Nolan Ryan: 145 joules - Barry Bonds’ swing (33 oz. bat at 70 mph): 458 joules - 9mm handgun: 513 joules - .44 Magnum handgun: 1,510 joules - The spring that hit Massa (800 grams at 160 mph): 2,046 joules - AK-47 (7.62mm round): 2,599 joules - 12 gauge shotgun slug: 3,580 joules - The wheel that killed Henry Surtees (an estimated 12 kg at 120 mph): 17,267 joules Before we talk about those figures, it’s worth remembering that the Massa and Surtees accidents were real-world situations, and as such, the numbers above may be imprecise. Massa was moving at 160 mph, but if the spring was traveling at high speed in the same direction as his Ferrari, or if it ricocheted off of his car before striking him, the estimate of 2,046 joules will be too high. If, for instance, we change the spring’s collision speed to 120 mph, its kinetic energy drops read more »

(click image)

As Felipe Massa is still being tended to in a Hungarian hospital, the rumors have begun to fly: who will drive his car at the next race? An obvious choice has emerged in the sport’s greatest champion.Michael Schumacher drove his last race for Ferrari in October 2006 at the Brazilian Grand Prix, a heroic drive for fourth place after an early puncture which capped a remarkable and record-busting career. His sixteen years in Formula One saw him win 91 of the 248 races—a full 37%—he started, with seven world championships, 76 fastest laps, 68 poles and 154 podiums to his name as well.Felipe Massa, the young Ferrari driver who won at Schumacher’s last race, was struck in the head by a 1.5-pound suspension piece during Saturday qualifying at the Hungarian Grand Prix. His life was saved by his carbon fiber helmet and a Hungarian surgical team at the ÁEK military hospital in Budapest, where he is currently recuperating with possible permanent damage to his left eye. While the next grand prix in Valencia will take place after an unusual gap of four weeks on August 23, it is increasingly becoming clear that Massa will not be there to race. As Ferrari has retained a still very fit Michael Schumacher in an advisory role, the rumors have immediately picked up after Massa’s accident as to whether the seven-time world champion will return to F1, however temporarily. “The whole thing will be considered by Ferrari. If they approach Michael, then he will consider it,” his spokeswoman was quoted by the BBC, only to be somewhat contradicted by his manager Willi Weber in the very same report: “Michael will not sit in a car in Valencia, this is out of the question. What would we expect from Schumacher if he stepped into a Formula One car? To win. The expectations from both sides would be too high.”Make no mistake: a man of Schumacher’s stature cannot come back to F1 to drive around in circles in a car which—wh read more »

(click image)

What is a vertical farm? The basic premise, as you see in this image, is to be able to grow food in urban areas by creating tall buildings where, instead of each floor having offices, each floor is in essence its own super greenhouse, where different crops can be grown to feed people within its own community. The idea is to not only be able to feed the community, but to protect the land that’s being damaged by over-farming and making sure that there will still be enough food for an ever growing population.