Maria Sharapova won her third grand slam title winning the 2008 Austrailian Tennis Open 7-5, 6-3 over Ana Ivanovic
It was an emphatic title -- she won the crown without losing a set in seven matches.
"I love you everyone, thanks so much for everything," the former Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion beamed as she held aloft the trophy.
"This morning I got a text from Billie Jean King saying champions take chances and pressure is a privilege. I am just glad I could take my chances today."
Fifth-ranked Sharapova toppled number 1 seed Justine Henin 6-4, 6-0 Tuesday to advance to the semifinals of the 2008 Austrailian Open. This was Sharapova's fourth straight year to make it to the semi-finals. Last year she lost in the finals to Serena Williams.
Henin had not lost a match since Wimbledon 2007 -- a run of 32 matches -- but was brought to her knees under the night sky by a rampant Maria Sharapova. It was the first time the Belgian had lost a set 6-0 since 2002.
"It's funny because I felt like I was in my own bubble today," the statuesque Sharapova beamed. "It's amazing when you go out on the court and feel you're doing the right things to beat such an amazing player as her. It's just incredible."
Bambale "Boom" Osby's layup with 21 seconds left helped Maryland stun North Carolina 82-80 on Saturday, giving the Terps a shocking win that will likely end the Tar Heels' run atop the polls.
Osby dropped to the court with his hands covering his face. He knew his basket had given Maryland Terrapins(12-7, 2-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), the lead late. He heard the horn as North Carolina's final desperation shot clanged off the rim. Yet he still couldn't believe it. "It didn't feel real, man," Osby said. "It was like, 'Did this really just happen?"' The same could be said of the top-ranked — and formerly unbeaten — Tar Heels.
This was the 10th time Maryland has beaten the #1 team in the country (second only to North Carolina's 13 wins), and the 7th time that Gary Williams has done it, which is the most by any active coach. Maryland is 4-2 in it's last six games against #1 teams in the country.
Vinyl Gets Its Groove Back
By Kristina Dell
From college dorm rooms to high school sleepovers, an all-but-extinct music medium has been showing up lately. And we don't mean CDs. Vinyl records, especially the full-length LPs that helped define the golden era of rock in the 1960s and '70s, are suddenly cool again. Some of the new fans are baby boomers nostalgic for their youth. But to the surprise and delight of music executives, increasing numbers of the iPod generation are also purchasing turntables (or dusting off Dad's), buying long-playing vinyl records and giving them a spin.
Like the comeback of Puma sneakers or vintage T shirts, vinyl's resurgence has benefited from its retro-rock aura. Many young listeners discovered LPs after they rifled through their parents' collections looking for oldies and found that they liked the warmer sound quality of records, the more elaborate album covers and liner notes that come with them, and the experience of putting one on and sharing it with friends, as opposed to plugging in some earbuds and listening alone. "Bad sound on an iPod has had an impact on a lot of people going back to vinyl," says David MacRunnel, a 15-year-old high school sophomore from Creve Coeur, Mo., who owns more than 1,000 records.
The music industry, hoping to find another revenue source that doesn't easily lend itself to illegal downloads, has happily jumped on the bandwagon. Contemporary artists like the Killers and Ryan Adams have begun issuing their new releases on vinyl in addition to the CD and MP3 formats. As an extra lure, many labels are including coupons for free audio downloads with their vinyl albums so that Generation Y music fans can get the best of both worlds: high-quality sound at home and iPod portability for the road. Also, vinyl's different shapes (hearts, triangles) and eye-catching designs (bright colors, sparkles) are created to appeal to a younger audience. While new records sell for about $14, used LPs go for as little as a penny--perfect for a teenager's budget--or as much as $2,400 for a collectible, autographed copy of Beck's Steve Threw Up.
Vinyl records are just a small scratch on the surface when it comes to total album sales--only about 0.2%, compared to 10% for digital downloads and 89.7% for CDs, according to Nielsen SoundScan--but these numbers may underrepresent the vinyl trend since they don't always include sales at smaller indie shops where vinyl does best. Still, 990,000 vinyl albums were sold in 2007, up 15.4% from the 858,000 units bought in 2006. Mike Dreese, CEO of Newbury Comics, a New England chain of independent music retailers that sells LPs and CDs, says his vinyl sales were up 37% last year, and Patrick Amory, general manager of indie label Matador Records, whose artists include Cat Power and the New Pornographers, claims, "We can't keep up with the demand."
Album extras Large album covers with imaginative graphics, pullout photos (some even have full-size posters tucked in the sleeve) and liner notes are a big draw for young fans. "Alternative rock used to have 16-page booklets and album sleeves, but with iTunes there isn't anything collectible to show I own a piece of this artist," says Dreese of Newbury Comics. In a nod to modern technology, albums known as picture discs come with an image of the band or artist printed on the vinyl. "People who are used to CDs see the artwork and the colored vinyl, and they think it's really cool," says Jordan Yates, 15, a Nashville-based vinyl enthusiast. Some LP releases even come with bonus tracks not on the CD version, giving customers added value.
Social experience Crowding around a record player to listen to a new album with friends, discussing the foldout photos, even getting up to flip over a record makes vinyl a more socially interactive way to enjoy music. "As far as a communal experience, like with family and friends, it feels better to listen to vinyl," says Jason Bini, 24, a recent graduate of Fordham University. "It's definitely more social." ..Read article here...
Jan. 7, 2008 -- Based on the quality of both its academic and financial aid offerings, the University of Virginia ranks third among more than 500 public four-year colleges and universities across the nation for "best value," according to an annual ranking by Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine.
The rankings of institutions that, in the words of the magazine editors, "combine outstanding economic value with a top-notch education," appear in the February issue, which goes on sale today. They are also available online at
The magazine's rating combines such academic quality measurements as test scores and graduation rates with cost and financial aid data. U.Va. moved up one spot from its fourth-place ranking in 2007, trailing the universities of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and Florida.
U.Va.'s four- and six-year graduation rates were the highest among the top 100 in the rankings, and the average debt load of its graduates was the lowest among the top 10. Virginia and UNC were the only institutions in the ranking to offer financial aid packages that meet 100 percent of student's demonstrated need.
Virginia ranked second among the top 100 in total cost for in-state students after financial aid. This reflects the impact of the University’s AccessUVa program, which meets 100 percent of demonstrated need for all admitted undergraduate students, provides loan-free aid packages for students from families earning up to 200 percent of the federal poverty line and places caps on loans for all other students.
Other Virginia schools listed in Kiplinger's top 100 include the College of William & Mary (fourth), the University of Mary Washington (14th), Virginia Tech (17th), James Madison University (22nd), George Mason University (77th) and Longwood University (91st). ...Read more here...
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - If only Christmas came a few times a year for the fast-fading U.S. music industry. Total album sales plunged 15 percent in 2007, and retailers waited until October for the year's top release, California tenor Josh Groban's holiday-themed "Noel," according to sales data issued on Thursday by industry tracker Nielsen SoundScan.
Sales of physical and digital albums tumbled to 500.5 million units, as the music industry was pillaged by piracy and competition from other forms of entertainment like videogames, industry experts said. It marked the lowest tally and the steepest decline since Nielsen began publishing estimates based on point-of-sales data in 1993, a spokeswoman said. The peak year in that time was 2000, when sales reached 785 million units. Album sales on the Web rose 2.4 percent to 30.1 million units, but that was down from a 19 percent jump in 2006.
Overall sales -- including albums, singles, and digital tracks -- rose 14 percent to 1.4 billion units, also down from a 19 percent rise in 2006. The main driver of growth was a 45 percent jump in digital track sales to 844.2 million units. But even then, the pace slackened from 65 percent in 2006.
Things are likely to get worse for the next four or five years, said music attorney Kenneth Kraus, a Nashville-based partner in Loeb & Loeb, whose clients include Kid Rock and Carrie Underwood. He said the music industry wasted too much time and goodwill battling digital distribution of music, and "we've lost a whole generation of kids" who grew up downloading free music from the Web and cannot fathom paying for it. "Maybe it's going to be another five years" before the music industry comes up with a viable pricing plan that allows fans to download songs with no copying restrictions, he said. ...Read article here...
