Game, Set and Match!!!

PIKESVILLE, Md. - A herd of buffalo somehow got loose and wandered around an upscale neighborhood Tuesday, disrupting traffic and alarming homeowners before officers managed to corral them in a tennis court. More than a dozen police cars and a police helicopter were used to herd the roughly 10 beasts, authorities said. Officers eventually managed to maneuver the buffalo onto the tennis court about a mile from where they first were spotted.

"Somehow they figured it out; I've got to give a lot of credit to the creativity of our officers," police spokesman Shawn Vinson said. The officers used lounge chairs beside the tennis court as shields and formed a human chain to corral the wayward buffalo. One buffalo was seen leaping over one of the tennis nets in an effort to evade capture.

NFL Football Draft

It's baseball season and the NBA has started the playoffs. So what are the sports newspapers and sports shows full of?? The NFL football draft. There was all the talk before the draft, the two days of the draft, and now an analysis of the draft. Too much!!!  Football doesn't get serious until September, so let it be. Now, I feel better.

Happy Earth Day???

Brazilian children view a bird soaked in crude oil from off-shore drilling. The photo is by Gustavo Stephan and is entitled "Bird of Oil". It received an honorable mention in a U.N. general category contest.

Boston Rob and Amber Wedding

They fell in love on TV, and their nuptials will be shown on TV. A two-hour prime-time special on the wedding of Rob Mariano and Amber Brkich, who were cast members on CBS' "Survivor All-Stars," will air May 24 (9 p.m. ET), the network announced Tuesday.

"Rob and Amber Get Married" will document the planning, the bachelor and bachelorette parties, and the wedding ceremony, which was held Saturday in the Bahamas.

Mariano proposed to Brkich on the live finale of "Survivor All-Stars" in May 2004. Since she wore a shirt proclaiming, "I (heart) Rob," the answer wasn't in much doubt. She beat Mariano by just one vote to win the reality show's $1 million prize, but told The Associated Press afterward: "We didn't even care who was going to win. We knew we both had each other for the rest of lives."

"Boston Rob" Mariano earlier appeared on "Survivor: Marquesas."  Brkich was first a castaway on "Survivor: The Australian Outback." They are now one of the final four contestants on the seventh season of CBS' "The Amazing Race."

Happy 18th Birthday Maria

She served up her birthday party invitations on three pink tennis balls. Russian-born Maria Sharapova, who took the Wimbledon title last year, has been celebrating her 18th birthday in style.

Although the big day isn't until April 19 - when she plans to have a small party for family and friends back home in Florida - the tennis ace enjoyed a first round of festivities at the weekend, taking over the ballroom at New York's Maritime Hotel for the occasion.

And Maria, who is ranked second in the world, made good use of her visit to the Big Apple, enjoying a stroll round her favourite boutiques on the day before the party. Perhaps she was still looking for something to wear: the new face of Motorola says she plans her on-court ensembles weeks in advance, but only decided on her Nicole Miller party dress on the night itself.

Nationals Open at Home Tied for First

Jose Guillen drove in four runs to help the Washington Nationals pound the Atlanta Braves, 11-4, in front of 19,093 at Turner Field on Wednesday afternoon. The Nationals took two out of three games, and it's the first time since March 31-April 3, 2003, that the Nationals won a regular-season series from the Braves.

The Nationals finished theie season beginning road trip with a 5-4 record against divisional rivals Philadelphia, Florida and Atlanta, and head to Washington to play their first home opener on Thursday. The Nationals are the last team in The Major League to have a home game.
Although it's early, the Nationals were happy to go home in a first-place tie with the Braves and Marlins. The Nationals are beginning to believe that they can compete in the NL East race.

Baseball returns to Washington on Thursday with the home opener for the Nationals. The last game played in Washington was in 1971, before the then Washington Senators moved to Texas, leaving Washington without a team until this year when the Montreal Expos re-located to D.C. President Bush is expected to throw the ceremonial "first pitch" in this highly anticipated game.

Reinvent Your Relationship

10 Things To Reinvent your relationship

1.)  Let go of the past. Holding on to pains of yesterday won't allow you to forgive your partner or yourself.

2.)  Create a fantasy vacation together. Plan it and talk about it even if you can't do it right away.

3.) Take a class together. Try something new or something you have always wanted to do(like dancing, tennis or golf).

4.)  Give each other a make-over. Go to the mall and pick-out some clothes for each other.

5.)  Remember why you fell in love. Recreate your first dates and things you did in those earlier days of your realtionship.

6.)  Have lunch together once a week. Go somewhere new and treat it as a date.

7.)  Do the unusual. Enjoy the full moon, lay on the grass and look at the stars. Go to a park and take a  walk holding hands.

8.)  Do a lazy weekend. Sleep in or just lounge around. No TV -  just talk, or if you both like to read, read together.

9.)  Ask your partner 20 questions about their favorite things(book, song, movie) - you mayl find out things you didn't know about your partner.

10.) Make the normal days a little extra special. Leave a "love note", take a shower together, or give each other a massage instead of TV.

A Blast From the Past: WEAM's Short Return

Washington Post., April 9, 2005 With a typical hyper-cheerful jingle -- "Who's got the Beatles? We've got the Beatles!" -- wonderful WEAM, Washington's fast-talking powerhouse from the long-gone golden age of Top-40 radio, was back on the air yesterday.

Okay, so it was only for a few hours and it was only a simulation of Top-40, circa 1966, but you got the idea from the very first mention of "the WEAM Team." In the decidedly 21st-century studios of XM Satellite Radio in Northeast Washington, Terry "Motormouth" Young reached back into the stacks of wax to re-create the sound and feel of WEAM, AM 1390 on your radio dial, on his weekly tribute to 1960s radio on XM's Channel 6.

You didn't have to live in Washington in the 1960s to know what WEAM -- and its rivals WPGC and WINX -- were all about. Every city had a WEAM. It was to Washington what WMCA and WABC were to New York, what KFWB and KHJ were to Southern California, what WLS was to Chicago. The stations played only a few popular hits (the playlists were often considerably tighter than 40 songs) and featured insanely energetic DJs whose voices were the height of radio artificiality (anyone can imitate a 1960s Top-40 jock: just talk really fast and pretend you're about to puke).

Long before Walkmans and iPods, stations like WEAM rode to glory with the help of cheap and widely available portable transistor radios, which made it possible for the first time to listen almost anywhere.

And so, for a few hours that won't be reaired or archived online, XM subscribers across the country heard the voice of DJ Russ Wheeler announcing that it was "61 WEAM degrees" outside. Young, in the guise of a WEAM DJ, talked up Milt Grant's upcoming dance-party TV show on Channel 5, plugged a sale at Woodies (Levi's for $4!) and mentioned that the latest hits were available at Waxie Maxie's and Swiller's Records. As for entertainment, he suggested young listeners check out "the submarine races at Rock Creek Park and the Tidal Basin." For more read here...

Sweet!!!

Pop open the champagne bottles. Light the cigars. The Washington Nationals have their first win. Brad Wilkerson hit for the cycle for the second time in his career and Jose Guillen hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth inning, leading the Nationals to a 7-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillieson Wednesday night. It was Washington's second game since moving during the offseason after 36 years as the Montreal Expos.

Wilkerson was 4-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs, completing his cycle with a ground-rule double in the eighth against Aaron Fultz. Wilkerson homered off Bret Myers in the third, singled off Myers in the fifth and tripled in the seventh. Wilkerson's first cycle was against Pittsburgh on June 24, 2003.

Manager Fank Robinson said "To win the first is sweet". Vinny Castilla was 4-for-5 with two doubles and one RBI for Washington, which hadn't celebrated a victory by a major league team since the expansion Senators left for Texas following the 1971 season. The Nationals play their home opener at RFK Stadium on April 14 against Arizona.

Game of firsts over, now Nats need first win

With ``Washington'' written in blue block letters across their chests, the Nationals played their first official post-Montreal game Monday, opening the season and their new era with an 8-4 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.

``We're making history here. As an Expo, at Shea Stadium at the end of the year, we were the last players to wear that uniform. And now we're the first to wear this uniform,'' left fielder Termel Sledge said. ``They haven't had baseball in D.C. in 35 years, so it's a whole new atmosphere.'' Sledge hit the first home run in Nationals history, a two-run shot off starter Jon Lieber in the sixth inning.

Other Nationals' firsts included Brad Wilkerson's single leading off the game -- his uniform is headed to the Hall of Fame -- and Sledge's RBI groundout that drove in Nick Johnson with their first run with one out in the second. All those team firsts go into the books, and memorabilia will head to Cooperstown, but Robinson has other concerns -  "We need to get our first win". Maybe tonight.

Washington Nationals first game in RFK

The Washington Nationals made their first appearance at their "new" home, RFK stadium in their last exhibition game of the Spring.  And everyone from team officials to manager Frank Robinson to players to fans gave a glowing assessment for the rennovated stadium after the Nationals' 4-3 loss to the New York Mets.

There were still signals that Sunday was merely a dress rehearsal. That's understandable, given that RFK hasn't housed a baseball team since the Senators left after the 1971 season. But, as catcher Brian Schneider put it: ``The biggest surprise was how good the field looked.''  Now there are 1 1/2 weeks to iron out whatever wrinkles remain ahead of the April 14 "real" home opener against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The paid attendance of 25,453 for the game was excellent considering it was an exhibition game and the weather was more like Redskin weather(40 degrees cold, overcast and windy). Playing as the Expos in Montreal last season, the team only drew crowds that large just twice in 81 home games.

Maria beats Venus

Maria Sharapova beat Venus Williams 6-4 6-3 Thursday and will play in the Nasdaq-100 Open final on Saturday.

After easily winning the first set, Sharapova kept playing strong in the second set, breaking Williams to go 2-0 up and she remained ahead until she served for match at 5-3. Only then did the Russian begin to show any signs of self-doubt. In a long and dramatic ninth game, Sharapova was forced to save her first breakpoints of the match as Williams fought to stay in the tournament.

Eventually, after an hour and twenty minutes, Sharapova watched Williams's final shot sail long on her third match-point and fell to her knees in relief and triumph. "I think we both of fought to the end," said Sharapova. "So many points were so big. I'm a big competitor and I love to fight. Everyone is hungry and everyone wants to beat me so I know that I have to be that way if I want to win."

The 17-year-old Russian will play Kim Clijsters in Saturday's final. A Victory over the Belgian would take Sharapova to number two in the world.