Baseball, Basketball, Football, Hockey and Golf Blog

Turkey’s bid to beat Germany and reach the final of Euro 2008 is in danger of being wrecked by injuries and suspensions.

The Turkish team which faces Germany in the semi-final at St Jakob Park on Wednesday (7:45 British time) will be very different from the one that beat Croatia on penalties in Friday’s quarter-final in Vienna.

Turkey will definitely be without six players and possibly more depending on how they respond to treatment before kickoff.

“Of course having lots of injured players is hard but the players who fill their places will give their utmost,” forward Semih Senturk told a news conference on Monday.

Semih scored the last gasp extra-time equalizer in the win over Croatia and said their constant comebacks in the tournament boded well.

“I think it gives us more self-confidence. Germany will be more cautious because the winner gets to the final.”

Goalkeeper Volkan Demirel, who was red carded at the end of Turkey’s dramatic last-gasp 3-2 win over Czech Republic on June 15 is out, serving the second game of his two-match suspension for that offence.

Well, it finally happened. The nonsense with Cristiano Ronaldo has reached the point where it is reminiscent of a serialized television drama, and a rather predictable one at that. Picture the key players: Ronaldo, the young, desirable hero; Manchester United, the woman who currently has him; Real Madrid, the woman chasing him; FIFA, the frustrated school official; and Sir Alex Ferguson, the father of Manchester United. And here is the current installment….

Ronaldo (as Real Madrid stands by smiling): I don’t love you anymore, Manchester United. I want to be with Real Madrid now.

Real Madrid: That’s right; he wants to play for a real team.

Manchester United: He’s mine! You can’t have him! I don’t want you talking to Real Madrid anymore, Ronaldo. I don’t even want to hear the name come out of your mouth!

Real Madrid (as Ronoldo stands by tight-lipped): That doesn’t change anything. Everyone knows where his heart truly lies.

Manchester United: FIFA, did you hear Real Madrid? Do something about it.

FIFA (sounding clearly exhausted): Manchester, Real Madrid hasn’t done anything wrong. However, Madrid, you do understand that you are toeing a dangerous line.

Alex Ferguson (whispering loudly enough that Manchester United can hear him): If you let Ronaldo go, I am out of here and I won’t have anything more to do with you.

*Screen fades to black on all the key players*

And, yes, that about covers the news on Ronaldo this week. He’s still quietly letting it be known that he wants to move to Spain. FIFA has made it clear that thus far, Real Madrid hasn’t done anything wrong. There has been no breach of contract, and thus legal action can’t be taken against the club. In a move that seems like it was designed for the sole purpose of appeasing Manchester United, however, they have sent Real a warning. Of course, since all that has really happened so far is talk, the warning hasn’t changed anything.

In fact, all it seems to have done is pushed Real Madrid to do things through more official means. They are reportedly preparing to make a bid of up to £75 million for the winger. Real Madrid is ready to put their money where their mouth is, and it’s starting to make people wonder if the powers that be at United can, in fact, be bought.

One of the most important people curious about that fact is Sir Alex Ferguson himself. He’s a bit leery that United might sell Ronaldo off if the price is right, and that they would do so without even bothering to talk to him. While he isn’t completely against selling the winger, he is furious that he might not be consulted.

The entire situation was turning into a bad joke before last week. Now it has degenerated into a pathetic excuse for a soap opera. Watching the whole thing unfold is this summer’s guilty pleasure. Someone needs to tell both scripted and reality television to move over. For real entertainment, all one needs to do is pay attention to this summer’s football transfers.

Sluman fired a dazzling 8-under-par 64 Sunday to win the Bank of America Championship by two strokes - his first victory on the Champions Tour.

Playing in his first full season on the elder circuit, Sluman overhauled second-round leader Loren Roberts by carding eight birdies in his bogey-free round to finish at 17-under 199 and pocket the first-place check of $247,500 at Nashawtuc Country Club.

“When I turned 50 last year my game was in tatters,” Sluman said. “I felt like I had enough game to win out here. Very, very happy to finally win.”

Roberts, who started the day with a one-shot lead, finished alone in second at 15-under 201 despite opening his final round with four birdies in the first six holes.

Sluman more than matched his playing partner with birdies on four of the first five holes before pulling even with Roberts a birdie at No. 10 before a rain delay of one hour, 42 minutes.

“The rain delay changed momentum but Jeff played terrific today,” Roberts said. “I’m really happy to see him win. He really wanted to win badly.”

The 50-year-old Sluman, who had three top-10 finishes in his last five events, forged ahead with another birdie at the 16th hole before clinching the title by dropping long birdie putts at Nos. 17 and 18.

“I started fast and I finished fast,” Sluman said.

Polish teenager Agnieszka Radwanska continued her solid season Saturday by defeating Russia’s Nadia Petrova in the final at the International Women’s Open.

The 19-year-old Radwanska, the fourth-seed here, posted a 6-4, 6-7 (9-11), 6-4 victory over the eighth-seeded Petrova to claim her third title of the year and fourth overall. Radwanska needed 2 hours and 37 minutes to hold off Petrova and claim the first prize of $95,500 at the Tier II grasscourt event.

Radwanska won last month in Istanbul as the No. 2 seed, defeating defending champion Elena Dementieva in the final. She also captured the title at Pattaya City in February and has climbed into the top 20 in the world rankings. The only other players with three titles this year are Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams.

“I am very happy after today,” Radwanska said. “This is my best result on the tour so far. I have had a good run this year, and I am slowly making my way up to the rankings. First, my goal was Top 30, then Top 20, and now I am aiming at top 10, but I just had a good week and I am very happy to win my first Tier II.”

Radwanska advanced to her first career Grand Slam quarterfinal at the Australian Open, upsetting Russian seeds Svetlana Kuznetsova in the third round and Petrova in the fourth round. She then reached the fourth round at the French Open in the year’s second Grand Slam.

The last time Yann Sauve listened for his name to be called in a draft, his wait was nowhere near as long as this.

Sauve, a former first-overall pick in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, had to wait well into the second round of the NHL draft Saturday before the Vancouver Canucks scooped the Saint John Sea Dogs defenceman up with the 41st selection.

The native of Rigaud, Que., admitted it was getting a bit tough hearing all the names go before his. When it did go, however, it was music to his ears on a day Canucks staff honoured the memory of deceased defenceman Luc Bourdon by wearing lapel pins in the shape of electric guitars - one of Bourdon’s passions.

“I told myself not to have any expectations,” the six-foot-two, 209-pound Sauve said. “It was pretty frustrating for me last night, but now I’m in Vancouver so I’m pretty happy. It’s a dream come true.

“Growing up, my favourite team was the Montreal Canadiens, but now it’s the Vancouver Canucks.”

A fast-moving thunderstorm didn’t dampen the Fenway Park fans’ spirit for the NBA champion Boston Celtics on Friday night.

Honored during a brief pregame ceremony as heavy rain was falling, the NBA champs—atop three duck boats—entered from center-field and circled Fenway to a standing ovation, a shortened scene from their parade through downtown on Thursday.

With the Red Sox plays wearing green jerseys usually reserved for St. Patrick’s Day during spring training in Florida, the Celtics brought the NBA championship trophies from four seasons to Fenway. The players wore their warmups, with Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett leading their teammates with pumping fists and waves to a crowd as the rain was pouring and the grounds crew was putting the tarp on the field.

The Red Sox also had their grounds crew cut out a shamrock in the center-field grass prior to the game.

After about an hour delay due to the rain, the champions were reintroduced and came running in from center field, with Finals MVP Pierce sliding into the second.

Pierce then took the mound to chants of “MVP” before firing a high and hard first pitch that tipped off the glove of leaping catcher Jason Varitek.