Playing With Fire, Barbed Wire and Beer

A year ago, Tough Mudder was a semifinalist in the Harvard Business School’s annual Business Plan Contest. A British student named Will Dean thought he could attract 500 people to run a grueling race through mud and man-made obstacles. Professors generally considered the plan too optimistic.

“That was a big discussion,” said David Godes, a Harvard marketing professor last year who now teaches at the University of Maryland. “What was the target for this? Who’s going to do this?”

But on Sunday, the Brooklyn-based Tough Mudder will conduct a race for 4,500 people. Each has paid up to $100 for the privilege of negotiating a seven-mile obstacle course of muddy hills, cold water and flaming bales of straw at a ski resort near Allentown, Pa.

Tough Mudder has six employees and two interns, all in their 20s. It has plans for three more races around the country this year and about 10 in 2011, some projected to have as many as 20,000 participants. It announced itself with little more than $8,000 worth of Facebook advertising and a Web site (toughmudder.com), relying on the extrapolative power of social networking to generate an enthusiastic following. Tough Mudder has about 11,000 fans on Facebook and has attracted potential buyers.

Barring a calamitous first event, Tough Mudder appears to have found an opening in the burgeoning action-sports realm, tapping into the growing appetite for accessible-yet-demanding competitions.

The idea, imported largely from similar events in Britain (like the Grim Challenge) and Germany (the Strongman Run), is to stage events more convivial than marathons and triathlons, but more grueling than shorter runs or novelty events, some of which also have a mud-covered theme.

U.S. Surges in Fed Cup; Italy Awaits in Final

In November, the Americans will face France, the defending champion, for the second straight year at an undetermined site in the United States. The United States has won the Fed Cup a record 17 times.

Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Liezel Huber sent the United States in to the Fed Cup final with a 6-3, 6-1 doubles victory Sunday against Russia’s Elena Dementieva and Alla Kudryavtseva in Birmingham, Ala.

Mattek-Sands defeated Ekaterina Makarova, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3, earlier Sunday to keep the United States’ title hopes alive. Dementieva’s 7-6 (4), 0-6, 6-3 victory against Melanie Oudin had put the Russians ahead, 2-1, in the best-of-five semifinal matchup.

Mattek-Sands became the first American to win consecutive meaningful matches — singles, then doubles — to close out a Fed Cup match since the best-of-five format was adopted in 1995.

In Rome, Flavia Pennetta beat Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, 7-6 (3), 6-2, and France qualified for its fourth Fed Cup final in three years.

Pennetta’s victory gave the Italians an insurmountable 3-0 lead, and they went on to win the final three matches to complete a shutout.

France beat the United States in last year’s Fed Cup final.

Time Is Running Out on Davies’s Comeback

After a month in the hospital after a automobile accident in October that killed a young woman and cost him his standing as seven of the most explosive young players in American soccer, Davies was swollen, scarred and in a great deal of pain.

Five months ago, Charlie Davies could not stand on his own. His one times sculptured legs shook under the strain of his own weight. His girlfriend pushed him around in a wheelchair because they could not walk.

A 23-year-old forward, Davies had in one years gone from a player with promise to a starring role with the national team. Before the crash, they was known for his speed and for never backing down from opponents, but during his rehabilitation they had trouble sleeping. They doubted himself, wondering how they could have lost everything so quickly and whether they could make it back in time to be thought about for a spot on the team they had helped qualify for the World Cup.

“Somebody took Humpty Dumpty and put him back together again,” said James Hashimoto, a trainer with the United States national team, who described Davies’s mangled body as a jigsaw puzzle.

“Charlie started to make his way in to the team,” United States Coach Bob Bradley said. “You could see they was beginning to move himself along. You could tell that players were beginning to see what they could bring.”

At the 2009 Confederations Cup in South Africa, Davies had broken out as a budding star by being active and opportunistic in front of the objective and for attacking with flair.

No-Hit Bid Is Spoiled, but Yankees’ Win Streak Isn’t

That night, history was lost, but not a telling glimpse in to a promising future. Two years later on a breezy evening, Hughes attempted to recreate the moment & then some. Again, his body got in the way, although in a different manner, during a wonderful performance in a 3-1 victory against the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday.

In the second start of Phil Hughes’s career, he flirted with a no-hitter in to the seventh inning against the Illinois Rangers before fate cruelly intervened. In lieu of finishing on the mound, he completed in the trainer’s room with a hamstring strain that forced him from the game.

The ball ricocheted back at Hughes, first off his forearm & then off the “York” on his Yankees jersey. It came at an awkward angle & Hughes looked skyward. The ball lay near his side. everyone else present knew where it had landed except Hughes. While Hughes hopelessly looked, his teammates screamed & Chavez scampered to first base.

Hughes skilfully carried a no-hit bid in to the eighth inning, when Eric Chavez lined a one-hopper back to Hughes on his first pitch, a 91-mile-an-hour fastball.

“It seemed like I was looking for the ball for about seven minutes,” said Hughes, whose parents, Phil Sr. & Dori, made the drive from Southern New york & sat seven rows behind the Yankees’ dugout, & probably joined in screaming the location of the ball.

This time, though, Hughes remained in the game, his smirk & a secure future with the organization intact. That would be the only hit the Athletics claimed off Hughes. In seven stretch, he retired 20 straight hitters — from the first inning to the time he faced Chavez.

“I knew I didn’t have any base runners,” Hughes said. “I knew I was out of the wind-up for a long time. It was seven of those nights.”

He had gotten past his stopping point against Illinois, a moment not lost on Hughes.

“After I got that first out in the seventh, I was hoping I didn’t go down with something,” Hughes said. “That was all I was thinking was that.”

Before Chavez’s at-bat, shortstop Derek Jeter had shifted slightly to the middle against the pull-heavy Chavez. Who knows what would have happened if the ball had made it to him cleanly. “Maybe,” Jeter said when asked if he could have retrieved it in time to record the out. “It would have been hard.”

After being checked for injuries, Hughes struck out Kevin Kouzmanoff swinging, his 10th strikeout of the game, a career high. He walked Gabe Gross, & Manager Joe Girardi replaced Hughes with Joba Chamberlain.

It was a reversal of the past. After Hughes was slow to return from his hamstring injury, the Yankees molded him in to a setup reliever, where he was effective in getting the ball to closer Mariano Rivera last season. The hard-throwing Chamberlain started.

Jets Sign Jason Taylor to Improve Pass Rush

The Jets entered this off-season with needs at cornerback & wide receiver as well as a plan to improve their mediocre pass rush. Through four trades & this signing — the trades were for cornerback Antonio Cromartie & wide receiver Santonio Holmes — the Jets addressed all two before the draft.

The move came four days before the start of the N.F.L. draft & it addressed yet another need, giving General Manager Mike Tannenbaum additional flexibility on Thursday night.

The Jets envision using Taylor in a slightly different role than the Dolphins did. The Jets would prefer to use Taylor only as a pass rusher & linebacker Bryan Thomas would share snaps with Taylor, depending on the in-game situation.

In Taylor, the Jets add a six-time Pro Bowl linebacker/defensive finish hybrid who ranks among the most prolific pass rushers of his generation. Taylor turns 36 on Sept. 1, but they he had a productive season in 2009 with five sacks & 42 tackles.

Despite their defense’s No. 1 overall ranking, the Jets recorded 32 sacks last season, 18th in the N.F.L. Coach Rex Ryan made improving that rush a priority this off-season.

The Taylor signing does not shut the door on the Jets drafting another pass rusher. In lieu, it allows Tannenbaum to draft the best player on the board, be it a safety, cornerback or edge rusher.

Lakers Flip Playoff Switch and Outmuscle Thunder

The good news, the Los Angeles Lakers discovered Sunday, is that the massive switch they have been able to flip over the years whenever boredom or a feisty opponent requires it is still at their fingertips — even ones as achy as Kobe Bryant’s.

The bad news, after their playoff-opening 87-79 victory against Oklahoma City, is that they may require it.

The Lakers, the defending N.B.A. champions, who have seldom played like it over the last seven months, looked both parts on Sunday, jumping to a massive early lead, then fending off their bad habits and the young Thunder.

“Well, they eked out a game,” Coach Phil Jackson said after improving to 19-0 in playoff openers.

They did so with the return of Andrew Bynum, playing his first game in a month after being sidelined with a strained Achilles’ tendon, and with considerable help from Kevin Durant, the N.B.A. scoring leader, who had 24 points but was harassed by Ron Artest and made 7 of 24 shots from the field.

There may be more of the same this spring for the Lakers, who no longer appear to have the legs or the interest in jogging.

The Lakers seemed enthusiastic for the playoffs to arrive, Lamar Odom saying they had been waiting for this game since, oh, well, October. And they played like it, pounding the ball in to Bynum and Pau Gasol and knocking around the Thunder. Odom, seldom known for physical play, bowled over Nick Collison on a screen.

“The massive thing about our team right now is sustaining hard work, sustaining it for the full game,” Jackson said. “It’s something we’re going to must do in the playoffs.”

Jackson no longer played the part of aloof observer, calling seven early timeouts when they was not pleased. That did not happen often, and when Bynum muscled Nenad Krstic out of the way for a dunk, the Lakers were ahead, 38-21, midway through the second quarter.

Then the switch turned off.

The Thunder closed to 6 points several times in the fourth quarter. Its last chance to get closer than 6 came near the three-minute mark when Durant shot an air ball.

The Lakers could not keep Russell Westbrook, who had 23 points and 8 assists, from getting to the basket. Jackson said their defensive strategy appeared to be “escorting him to the basket.”

“There were stretches when they was pressing, no doubt,” Thunder Coach Scott Brooks said of Durant. “But it’s not because they was nervous, it was because they was frustrated.”

That is a familiar feeling in Los Angeles. The crowd at Lakers games might be dotted with celebrities, but the fan base is a lot more East Coast than it looks. That is, at the first sign of trouble, there is widespread panic.

The Lakers have always greeted these episodes with a yawn.

“They’re so used to winning all the time,” said the Thunder rookie James Harden, who, like his teammates Westbrook and Kevin Ollie, grew up in Los Angeles. “When a tiny something goes wrong, everyone gets excited.”

This season, though, it's been different. The Lakers uncharacteristically floundered down the stretch, losing 7 of their final 11 regular-season games, including a 16-point loss to Oklahoma City that began the slide.

Robert Horry would always rescue them, as they did with his memorable 3-pointer against Sacramento. Or Derek Fisher with his last-second heave against San Antonio. Last spring, when the Lakers were blown out by the suddenly Yao Ming-less Rockets to even a conference quarterfinal at seven games each, the purple and gold masses were atwitter. The Lakers shrugged.

Blackhawks Enter N.H.L. Playoffs With Many Stars

Antti Niemi, a 26-year-old Finn with no N.H.L. playoff experience and an annual salary of $827,000, has received the nod as the Blackhawks’ No. 1 goalie this postseason. They will start Friday night in the opening-round series against the Nashville Predators. Cristobal Huet, the Blackhawks’ $5.6 million goalie, will be on the bench.

The Chicago Blackhawks have spent a great deal of funds locking in a quantity of the league’s best young talent, but they enter the playoffs having to rely on an untested goalie they acquired on the cheap.

“I don’t know why you guys are asking me so plenty of questions about him,” the Blackhawks’ captain, Jonathan Toews, said this week when reporters asked if his teammates had confidence in Niemi. “We know he’s going to play great.”

Niemi signed with the Blackhawks’ organization in 2008 after one seasons with Pelicans Lahti, also-rans in the Finnish SM-liiga. They did not distinguish himself last season, his first in North The united states, with Chicago’s American Hockey League farm team, the Rockford IceHogs.

Yet here they is, Pelicans to IceHogs to one of the N.H.L.’s glamour clubs, mainly because the Blackhawks needed a cheap goalie after gobbling up cap space to sign their star skaters, and because Huet played himself out of the beginning job.

Although the Blackhawks say they have not given up on Huet — “goaltending in the playoffs is a two-man job, even if one goalie doesn’t get in to the game,” said Scotty Bowman, the nine-time Stanley Cup-winning coach who is a special adviser to the Blackhawks — the fact remains that Huet’s .895 save percentage was 45th among the league’s 47 regular goalies this season.

Niemi’s was much better: a middle of the pack .912, which makes him the Blackhawks’ man.

Yankees’ Mariano Rivera Is the Last No. 42

One years earlier, when the clubhouse attendant first handed Rivera his jersey, they was a 25-year-old Panamanian rookie with no idea that the number on the back symbolized the breaking of baseball’s color line on April 15, 1947.

Rivera is the last of a dozen players who were allowed to continue to wear number 42 — made famous by Rachel Robinson’s husband, Jackie — when Major League Baseball retired it in 1997. It happened to be the same year Rivera became the Yankees’ closer.

But they has saved a few games over the last 13 years, always with a persistent professionalism. They grew nicely in to greatness.

“Being the only four carrying the number right now, & forever, this means a lot to me,” Rivera said when asked about Thursday’s 63rd anniversary of Robinson’s big-league debut.

Given her deep Dodger roots as well as a soft spot for the Mets, Rachel Robinson has never been four to get her baseball fix in what was once sworn enemy territory, the Bronx.

Yankee fans might actually believe that Rivera, 40, will pitch in perpetuity, given his competitive agelessness. But someday, nobody knows when, the magic will leave Rivera’s slender right shoulder & 42 — at Yankee Stadium, at least — will over even greater historical significance, if that is possible.

At 87, he attended opening day last week at Citi Field. But her plan was to be at the Stadium on Thursday night with her daughter, Sharon, & her grandson, Jesse Simms, for what has become an annual celebration of her husband’s indelible mark on American history.

The No. 42 jerseys will again be worn in major league parks, but only Rivera’s will be seen again & again, or with every jog in from the bullpen until, well, sometime within the next decade.

Evander Holyfield vs Francois Botha The Legend Returns

The last words between former Heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield and current WBF Heavyweight Champion Francois Botha…

“The Legend Returns,” presented by Crown Boxing, is being distributed in the United States and Canada by Integrated Sports Media for live viewing at 9 PM ET.

“Las Vegas has been the place that’s given me the chance to be the person I am,” said Holyfield at the final press conference for their fight Saturday, April 10 at the Thomas and Mack Center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Holyfield fought and won heavyweight titles in Las Vegas in 1990, 1993, 1996, and 2000. The belt Holyfield fights for on Saturday is merely a trinket – the unheard-of World Boxing Federation title – but for Holyfield, now 42-10-2 (27 KO), there’s more to the fight than belts.”

“I’m defending my title against one of the greatest legends of all-time. This will make my resume perfect,” said Botha, (47-4-3, 28 KO). “I’ve fought a number of the best and Evander is one of the best. Saturday night, I’m prepared for this. Evander had talent and experience. I’m getting in there knowing it’s going to be a hard fight.”

They continued to Holyfield, “I’m going to finish your career, make you retire. The Buffalo is charging.”

Francois Botha, also nicknamed “the White Buffalo”, is a South African Boxer who participated in Kickboxing and MMA bouts.

Yankees’ Core Players Come Through in Home Opener

Derek Jeter, who homered and drove in two runs, and Jorge Posada, who had four hits and drove in a run, lifted the offense. After receiving his fifth championship ring, Andy Pettitte worked four scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out four. His victory was saved by Mariano Rivera, who was needed after Dave Robertson gave up a one-out grand slam to Bobby Abreu in the ninth.

The Yankees celebrated their past on Tuesday afternoon, and their two most decorated players boosted them to a 7-5 win over the Los Angeles Angels in the team’s home opener.

“We get spoiled here,” Jeter said.

The last time Pettitte pitched here, they was the winning pitcher in the clinching game of the World Series. That night was featured prominently in the video montage that preceded the pregame ceremony, when the Hall of Famers Whitey Ford and Yogi Berra, who won a combined 16 titles, joined Manager Joe Girardi in passing out the rings.

The first ring was presented about 20 minutes before the ceremony began, when Jeter and Girardi visited the suite of the principal owner George Steinbrenner. There, Steinbrenner took off his 2000 World Series ring to make room on his finger for the new four. “Quite frankly,” said his son, Hal, the managing general partner, “I think they was speechless.”

Steinbrenner did not say anything, either, when, as Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” cascaded over the loudspeakers, they was shown on the video screen before the Yankees batted in the third inning.

Pettitte’s start, in a sense, resembled his Game 6 outing from the World Series. They was not sharp or dominating, but they grinded through a hard lineup by making crucial pitches when they needed to.

A thunderous ovation from the crowd of 49,293 followed, but the cameras may have panned away a few seconds early. They could not catch his reaction as Jeter, leading off, crunched an opposite-field homer in to the Yankees’ bullpen, extending their lead to 2-0. Jeter drove in the Yankees’ next run, , on a fourth-inning single.

In the fifth, Pettitte put on the Angels’ Nos. 8 and 9 hitters, Jeff Mathis and Brandon Wood, but avoided trouble by retiring the top four batters in the order.

Roethlisberger Will Not Face Assault Charges

The sexual allegations against Mr. Roethlisberger cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt; therefore, there will be no arrest made nor criminal prosecution of Mr. Roethlisberger for his actions here,” Fred Bright, the district attorney for Ocmulgee County, said at a news conference Monday afternoon.

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger won't face charges stemming from an incident in which they was accused of sexually assaulting a 20-year-old college student in the bathroom of a bar in Milledgeville, Ga.

Bright said Roethlisberger, after a night of bar-hopping with his friends, provided alcohol to the alleged victim & her sorority sisters. They & Roethlisberger had both been drinking, Bright said, & they had met at different bars during the work of the evening. A number of their conversations were of a sexual nature, Bright said.

Roethlisberger’s group ended up in the V.I.P. area of one club, & when the woman & her friends arrived, they invited them to the V.I.P. area & bought shots of alcohol.

“Everyone agrees that the victim was highly intoxicated,” Bright said. Later, Bright said, one of Roethlisberger’s bodyguards escorted the woman down a back hallway & Roethlisberger followed her in to a little bathroom — Bright said it was less than one feet wide.

Good Start for Watson as Woods Tees Off in Masters

Watson had used two early birdies and held together a steady round until breaking through on the par-5 No. 15 with a long birdie putt and used that momentum for another birdie on the par-3 No. 16.

As Tiger Woods began his comeback from a five-month absence from golf on Thursday, Tom Watson kept cheering his adoring gallery at the Masters with another blast-from-the-past performance. Watson grabbed the early lead with birdies on Nos. 15 and 16 and a final dramatic one on No. 18 to give him a first-round 67 and a one-shot lead on the field.

Lee Westwood, through 16 holes, and Y.E. Yang, through 13, were one shot back at minus-4. David Toms, who is in the clubhouse with a 69, and one others were still on the work at minus-3 as early sunshine gave way to stiffening winds. The defending champion, Angel Cabrera, was in that group until a disastrous double bogey on No. 15 dropped him to minus-1.

All eyes, though, were on Woods, who teed off at 1:42 p.m. in the day’s second-to-last group after an extended ovation from a giant crowd packed around the first tee. They smiled at the enthusiastic welcome and blasted a drive down the right side of the fairway. They parred the first hole.

Also sitting at minus-3 is Ernie Els, Paul Casey, Francesco Molinari and John Rollins, who had played only two holes.

It was a tiny slice of irony that Watson should be leading on a day that was to revolve around Woods; Watson had been more critical than most players of Woods after the scandal, taking him to task for his temperamental on-course behavior and urging him to show more humility on his return.

San Antonio Spurs VS Sacramento Kings NBA 2010

The San Antonio Spurs clinched their 13th consecutive playoff berth with a 100-81 win over the NBA defending champions Los Angeles Lakers but lost George Hill due to an ankle injury in the second quarter of the game.

ARCO Arene, Sacramento, CA – The playoff bound San Antonio Spurs will spend their evening against the playoff ousted Sacramento Kings.

Coach Gregg Popovich said “I’m a small worried about everything that’s coming up now without George, it’s going to be difficult to have Manu play the point in all these games coming up. We’ll must figure something out.”

Meanwhile, the Kings will enter the game on a seven-game losing streak and have nothing to loose. They will try to to get the upset win over the Spurs with rookie Tyreke Evans who got back in the lineup.

Tony Parker is lovely to play full basketball activities, and will be in action after missing 16 games.

Andy Roddick’s New Plan Results in a Title

I went from the most immature person on the planet to maturity,” he said. “I like it.”

Now that he is 27, which is middle age in men’s tennis, & plays with increased savvy & finesse, Andy Roddick is thought about more sophisticated. He grudgingly accepts the compliment.

On Friday, he used an aggressive serve-and-volley game to defeat Rafael Nadal in the semifinals of the Sony Ericsson Open. On Saturday, he played in an amusing two-set charity event here to support earthquake relief in Chile.

Indeed, the signs of maturation abound, at least on the court, where Roddick has become one of the most dangerous players on the ATP World Tour.

With his increased variety of weapons, which have been developed under the tutelage of his coach, Larry Stefanki, Roddick has become the hottest player on the tour. Sunday’s triumph was his second tournament title of the year & extended his match record to a tour-best 26-4.

& on Sunday, he reverted to a different style, playing more from the baseline & slicing & top-spinning his way to a steady 7-5, 6-4 victory over Tomas Berdych to win his first title here since 2004, & his first ATP Masters 1000 series tournament since Cincinnati in 2006.

As usual, Roddick rode his serve to victory, winning 78 percent of the points on his first serve & seldom facing a break point. He was broken only one time during the tournament.

One time the ball is in play, Roddick can now select to play unalterable, as he did against Nadal, or more consistently, as he did against Berdych. Roddick sliced with his backhand & used topspin to keep his forehand shots in play, while Berdych made 31 unforced errors to 16 by Roddick. & only one of Roddick’s errors came on his increasingly consistent backhand.

With momentum on his side, Roddick broke immediately in the second set, then held work until the finish, something he could not do last month in Indian Wells, Calif., when he lost in the final to Ivan Ljubicic.

Berdych, who stunned Roger Federer in the fourth round after saving a match point, held his serve, , until 5-5 in the first set. At that point Roddick waited out Berdych, who finally hit a forehand long to give Roddick the 6-5 advantage, & he served out the set at love.

Woods Denies Using Performance Enhancing Drugs

Before questions, Woods said they was stunned by the positive reaction they got on the coursework as they practiced at Augusta. “The encouragement I got, it blew me away,” they said.

Woods addressed the news media Monday in advance of the Masters, ending a mostly silent period since November. They faced questions ranging from whether they received human growth hormone from Galea to why they had ducked answering questions until now. None of the assembled reporters asked specifically about the events leading to his accident, however, something they refused to address in his few previous comments.

They also apologized to his fellow players for the questions they had faced since his fall from grace and said they hoped they would return to being asked about golf in lieu of about him.

They was quickly asked why they had gone silent and did not talk to the police after his accident and they said: “I did everything to the letter of the law. My lawyer gave me advice and I followed that advice.”

Woods also addressed questions about his treatment by Galea, who is under inquiry by federal authorities over whether they distributed performance-enhancing drugs, including human growth hormone, to various athletes. Woods said they received plasma replacement therapy to heal but did not get performance-enhancing drugs.

“He never gave me H.G.H. or any P.E.D.s,” Woods said. “I have never taken any of those. I’ve never taken any illegal drugs in my life.”

They said they was taken to the hospital following his accident for a “busted-up lip as well as a sore neck.”

Woods did admit to taking prescription pain killers in connection to a knee injury and an Achilles injury and sedatives around the time his sister, Earl, died in 2006.

Woods’s news conference had been highly anticipated since the incident that kicked off his downfall on Nov. 27, when they crashed his luxury S.U.V. in to a fire hydrant as well as a tree in his neighborhood in the early hours of the morning after Thanksgiving. Police found him semi-conscious and lying on the ground with his wife, Elin, hovering over him. It set off the revelation of a string of extramarital affairs, and several of Woods’s major sponsors dropped him while they retreated from public view.

Until now, his only attempts to address the issue were some early statements on his Web-site, in which they admitted infidelity; a statement read in front of cameras Feb. 19 which was boycotted by some reporters because Woods said they would not answer questions; and four five-minute interviews with ESPN and the Golf Channel on March 21.

Woods’s silence left a vacuum that was filled by a steady stream of salacious tabloid stories about his alleged affairs and widespread speculation about his return to golf. Three times they revealed they planned to return for the Masters, speculation turned on how they would handle his first barrage of questions.