- In what will come as a total shocker to most non-tennis fans, Serena Williams was defeated Wednesday morning by 19 year old Floridian upstart Sloane Stephens. Not only was it the first time Stephens had ever been in a quarterfinals of a major, she was playing against her idol, whose picture she had on her bedroom wall as a child. After winning the match in comeback fashion, 3-6 7-5 6-4, Stephens grabbed her cell phone and began to check her text messages and Twitter.
- It was Serena's first loss in 20 matches, since last August, a streak that included Wimbledon, the London Olympics and the U.S. Open. It was the first time in 31 year old Serena's career that she had lost a match to a younger American player. During this match, she had to be worked on by a trainer in the second set for a back that continued to lock up. The back spasms made it difficult for her to serve and to twist for a backhand.
- Things don't get any easier for Stephens who will look to continue her run through Melbourne against Victoria Azarenka, the #1 player in the world.
Te’o Situation Becomes More Confusing
- The Manti Te’o story has taken a few twists since we reported on it last Friday. Te’o did an off-camera interview with Jeremy Schaap of ESPN in which he stood by his claim that he was a victim of the hoax.
- Then yesterday, Te’o sat down with Katie Couric and partially admitted to lying. He claimed that he knew the situation on December 6th, when he got a call from his girlfriend, who he thought had died 6 weeks prior. He was on the stage two days later in New York City for the Heisman Trophy presentation where he was asked about his relationship with Kekua. In that interview, he still answered under the pretense that she had in fact died.
- As we said on Friday, this situation will continue to grow, but for right now, we are left even more confused. The one thing that continues to gain in meomentum without looking back is the never-ending pile of jokes, but as Seth Meyers wisely said, "These Te'o jokes are all very funny but let's all try and remember that a person who never existed is dead."
Brown claims Callahan sabotaged Super Bowl
- Ten years after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers convincingly defeated the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII, one of the stars of the team, WR Tim Brown, is going on record as saying that his coach Bill Callahan intentionally sabotaged the team in an effort to allow his friend and Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden (who had formerly been the coach of the Raiders) to win the Super Bowl and because he hated the Raiders.
- Brown alleges that Callahan shifted the offensive gameplan to a very pass heavy just days before the Super Bowl after spending nearly the entire week-plus prior practicing and focusing on a run-heavy attack. While other details are iffy, this one has been confirmed by multiple members of the Raiders including starting FB Jon Ritchie and HOF WR Jerry Rice, who started opposite Brown.
- On ESPN, Rice went so far as to say, "[Callahan thought] Hey look, maybe we should sabotage just a little bit and let Jon Gruden go out and win this one." Other players have backed Callahan but a few of those have even mentioned that Callahan actively disliked the players and organization.
- Callahan called on the allegations against him to be taken back saying, "Any suggestion that I would undermine the integrity of the sport that I love and dedicated my life to, or dishonor the commitment I made to our players, coaches and fans is flat-out wrong," he said. "I think it would be in the best interests of all, including the game America loves, that these allegations be retracted immediately."
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