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Saturday, April 22, 2017

Next major event for Tiger Woods will be his retirement ...

Tiger Woods’ iconic 1997 Masters victory

Running off at the typewriter

Tiger Woods just had his fourth back surgery in three years and will once again miss the entire golf season. you can forget about tiger ever winning again. In fact, I dont think h**l ever play again. Prediction: By this time next year, Tiger Woods wont be competing in the majors; h**l be commentating on them. Sentinel colleague Scott Maxwell did an excellent column earlier this week on 10 people who make Orlando a better place to live. And now for the 10 people who make Orlando a worse place to live: The Magic scouting department. Speaking of the Magic, theyve given thought to reaching out to Cleveland Cavaliers GM David Griffin to gauge his interest in heading their basketball operations, according to Yahoo Sports. This potential news is absolutely shocking to me not because the Magic are interested in Griffin but because I thought LeBron James was the GM of the Cavs. Speaking of LeBron, he is the only player in the league that if you put him on the Magic, they would instantly become a Finals team. This makes him the MVP this year and every year.

How massive is the Magics rebuild? Excluding the Brooklyn Nets, they have the least amount of talent on their roster in the league, ESPN analyst Brian Windhorst told me earlier this week. Its a major rebuilding situation. Happy times. Hope all of you got your taxes filed on time earlier this week and are getting a nice fat refund check. Sports fans, you earned a deduction if: (1) You dont blindly justify the transgressions of a player or coach just because hes on your team; (2) You resist the urge to walk out of church in the middle of the pastors sermon so you can make a last-minute fantasy-football transaction; (3) You dont litter your Facebook feed with political rants. Likewise, you get audited if: (1) Youve ever unsuccessfully tried to start the wave; (2) Youve ever been asked to leave a Little League game; (3) Youve ever used the term arm talent when discussing Mitch Trubiskys strengths heading into the NFL Draft. ...

When I was a guest earlier this week on the SEC Networks Paul Finebaum Show, I suggested that FSU might be the preseason No. 1 team in the country. Finebaum seemed legitimately offended that anyone might actually believe another team other than his beloved Alabama Crimson Tide should be preseason No. 1. Then again, Im not surprised. When it comes to Finebaum, SEC stands for (Saban-Exalting Commentator). New York Knicks president Phil Jackson says Carmelo Anthony would be better off somewhere else. Couldnt the same be said for Jackson, who is starting to look more and more like former Knicks president Isiah Thomas without the sexual-harassment charges. . Amazingly, Serena Williams was 10 weeks pregnant when she won the Australian Open. Then, as Jimmy Fallon cracked, the baby said, So do I get a doubles trophy? ... Did you see where the Tampa Bay Bucs are going to be the featured team on the HBO TV series Hard Knocks? Question for the Bucs: Is it really a good idea to have a camera documenting Jameis Winstons every move? This is the football equivalent of that Greek dude who flew too close to the sun with wings made of wax.

Fox News covered up Bill OReillys transgressions for years and only removed him when they became public. Hey, that sounds like how most college football programs do business! And speaking of shady college football programs reacting to public outrage, Baylor just hired its first female president. What a coincidence! When the Simpsons turned 30 earlier this week, I came up with my Mount Rushmore of cartoon characters: (1) Bugs Bunny; (2) Foghorn Leghorn; (3) Penelope Pitstop; (4) Scooby-Doo. The New England Patriots were honored at the White House earlier this week, and I dont even want to know what Gronk was doing in the Lincoln bedroom. ... LAST WORD: And with the first pick in next weeks NFL Draft, the Cleveland Browns take drum roll, please the wrong guy!

Open Mike

Don"t forget, you can click on OrlandoSentinel.com and read the wildly popular Open Mike blog and interactive extravaganza to get my freshest takes on what"s happening in the world of sports. Here"s excerpt about UCF football.

UCF football coach Scott Frost seems a bit perturbed with all of the attention being given to the new high-profile coaches in the state of Florida marquee names such as Charlie Strong at USF, Lane Kiffin at FAU and Butch Davis at FIU.

Frosts message is essentially this: Its not even close UCF has so much more to offer recruits than all of the other non-Power 5 schools in the talent-rich Sunshine State.

I took it as a little bit of a challenge when I would turn on ESPN and I would see segments on how tough recruiting was going to get in the state of Florida, and they would mention all of those other guys and not mention us, Frost said on our Open Mike radio show. Were proud of the recruiting class we got this past year. It was the No. 1 class outside of the Power 5 and we beat several Power 5 teams as well.

Frost is not exaggerating.

The Knights, by most national rankings, outrecruited every non-Power Five school in the state and the nation.

As they should.

Lets be honest here, shall we? UCF has better facilities, better fan support, a better college football environment and, pretty much, a better everything than does USF, FAU and FIU. UCF is in a huge metropolitan area that doesnt have an NFL team unlike the other state schools the Knights are competing against..

We have the best campus, the best town, the best stadium and the best facilities, Frost said. Inevitably, they [the national media] mention all of those other schools and dont mention UCF. When kids come to our campus and see what we have to offer, I think it sets us apart from those schools.

I cant disagree with Frost.

What about you?

Mail bonding

Most interesting reader responses on my column in the wake of Aaron Hernandezs suicide:

As a Nebraska Cornhusker, we have had our issues with seedy types such as Lawrence Phillips, but none compare to the monster Hernandez was.
Aaron Hernandez is responsible for his own actions, but it sure sounds like his friends and coaches at UF enabled his bad decisions.
Aaron Hernandez is not somebody who should be celebrated or mourned. He is simply a killer who deserved to die.

Notable quotables

In honor of the first week of the NBA playoffs, three of my favorite old quotes from the world of pro basketball:

What do you have when you have an agent buried up to his neck in sand? Not enough sand. Pat Williams when he was general manager of the Magic
We have a great bunch of outside shooters. Unfortunately, all our games are played indoors. Former NBA coach Hubie Brown
I told him, Son, what is it with you? Is it ignorance or apathy? He said, Coach, I don"t know and I don"t care. Former Utah Jazz president Frank Layden on one of his players

E-mail me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com. Follow me on Twitter @BianchiWrites. Listen to my radio show every weekday from 6 to 9 a.m. on FM 96.9 and AM 740.

Source: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/open-mike/os-sp-saturday-circus-mike-bianchi-0422-story.html

OKC Thunder needs Victor Oladipo to break out of slump

Houston Rockets vs OKC Thunder - Full Game Highlights | Game 1 | April 16, 2017 | NBA Playoffs

OKLAHOMA CITY-- Victor Oladipo knows the Oklahoma City Thunder need more offense from him, and Russell Westbrook"s wingman is feeling the heat.

The shooting guard averaged nearly 16 points a game during Westbrook"s record-setting season, but his scoring has dropped to about half that in the postseason. His disappearing act is a major reason the thunder trail the Houston Rockets 2-0 heading into Friday"s game in Oklahoma City.

Westbrook has averaged a triple-double the first two games of the series and dropped a 51-point triple-double on Wednesday night. But the Thunder have no wins to show for his heroics. Oladipo, Oklahoma City"s No. 2 scorer in the regular season, is averaging 8.5 points and shooting a woeful 19 percent from the field in the series.

The 24-year-old Oladipo, who played collegiately at Indiana, is trying to keep it simple in the first playoff appearances of his career.

"That"s the thing," Oladipo said, "when you have games like this, you go back to the basics. You go back to what got you here, continue to keep working and never lose confidence."

The focus on Oladipo"s production is magnified with no Kevin Durant in OKC.

The Thunder acquired Oladipo in a draft-night deal with Orlando last year, and it looked like he would be the team"s third option. But Durant left for Golden State, leaving Oladipo to fill a massive void created by the departure of the four-time scoring champion.

At times, the explosive Oladipo has looked capable. He got off to a hot start with the Thunder, and his scoring average was over 17 points at the end of November. He missed nine games in December after spraining his right wrist, then missed six games in February with back spasms, slowing his momentum.

He was solid upon his return from the back issues before falling into a bit of a slump in April that has carried over into the playoffs

Westbrook and Thunder coach Billy Donovan have talked to Oladipo about his struggles and tried to reassure him.

"He wants to do great like every player," Westbrook said. "Everybody always wants to come out and play great. It doesn"t always work out that way. Your mindset - you"ve just got to keep going, regardless of if you miss or make shots. He does so many other things for our team when he"s on the floor - defending at a high level, rebounding, can make plays. Regardless of if he misses or makes shots, his job is to play, and he"ll be all right."

Westbrook said he doesn"t need Oladipo to do any more than he normally does - or did during the regular season.

"Just play," Westbrook said. "Go out and compete at a level he"s able to compete at, and that"s it."

Donovan said the 6-foot-4 Oladipo has been solid overall. He is averaging six rebounds in the two games and has been one of OKC"s better defenders.

"Victor"s not a one-dimensional player - he can do a lot of different things," Donovan said. "Taking his mindset off the ball going in the basket, and him realizing, `I"m not going to allow myself to be defined by that because there"s too many other things I can do out there to help this team.""

There are plenty of other problems for Oklahoma City - the Thunder fall apart when Westbrook rests, the team has struggled to keep James Harden off the foul line, Steven Adams" foul trouble crippled their interior defense in Game 2 and they are stretched thin chasing Houston"s numerous perimeter threats. But getting Oladipo on track is perhaps the most critical.

In Game 2, Oladipo missed his only two shots in the fourth quarter against the Rockets while Wesbrook was just 4 of 18 from the field. But Oladipo isn"t concerned.

"I"m just out there playing," Oladipo said. "I"m doing whatever it takes to help my team win. We"ve been in that situation all year, and Russ has made shots."

Both will have to knock down shots when they count the most to get back in the series, especially Oladipo.

Source: http://www.nba.com/article/2017/04/20/okc-thunder-needs-victor-oladipo-break-out-slump

Sean Kuraly"s double-overtime goal lifts Boston Bruins past Senators in Game 5

Ottawa Senators vs Boston Bruins. 2017 NHL Playoffs. Round 1. Game 3. April 17th, 2017. (HD)

The Boston Bruins will live to play another day.

Forward Sean Kuraly provided the heroics Friday night at Canadian Tire Center, scoring the first two goals of his NHL career -- including the game-winning tally in double overtime -- to lead Boston to a 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators in Game 5 of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Ottawa now holds a 3-2 series advantage, with Game 6 heading back to TD Garden Sunday afternoon.

Kuraly helped bring the Bruins out of a two-goal deficit, tying the contest in the closing minutes of the second period before beating Senators goaltender Craig Anderson off a backhand shot at 10:19 in double overtime to close out the dramatic win.

Charlie McAvoy generated the scoring chance off of a shot from the point that deflected off David Backes and sailed over to Kuraly in the low slot. Kuraly did not hesitate -- firing the puck past Anderson to cap off a memorable night for the 24-year-old forward.

Prior to Friday"s tilt, Kuraly had only logged 90 minutes of NHL action in his career -- with the physical forward earning a spot in the Bruins" lineupin place of center Ryan Spooner.

"I liked his game earlier in the series, but we had guys that had been here," Bruins interim head coach Bruce Cassidy said. "We liked him, we just put guys ahead of him that have been here all year. One door closes and another one opens and he took advantage of his opportunities.

"He started in the bottom of the lineup. Tonight, we just needed him more. It"s a good series for him, because it"s a forechecking series and that"s one of his strengths."

David Pastrank also lit the lamp for the Bruins, while Tuukka Rask posted 41 saves in the victory.

Rask saved his best for overtime, stopping all 19 shots that came his way over the final 30 minutes of play -- highlighted by a miraculous save on a breakaway chance from Kyle Turris in double overtime.

Mark Stone and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored for Ottawa, while Anderson stopped 36 shots.

After an uneventful opening 10 minutes of play, Stone capitalized off of a Bruins defensive miscue to draw first blood in the contest -- with Stone beating Rask off of a delayed backhand shot on a breakaway to put Ottawa up at 11:19.

While the Senators built themselves an early lead, Boston struggled to generate many scoring chances against Anderson, with the Bruins stymied in Ottawa"s neutral-zone trap. Even without the Senators" 1-3-1 zone play, Boston failed to string together consistent scoring opportunities due to turnovers and icing calls.

Boston suffered another major blow in the closing minutes of the first, as center David Krejci was forced to leave the game after taking a knee-on-knee hit from defenseman Chris Wideman.

Krejci, who missed the first two games of the series due to an upper-body injury, was ruled out for the remainder of the tilt with a lower-body injury.

The start of the second period didn"t yield better results for the Bruins, with yet another defensive slipup leading to a Senators" goal.

Bruins captain Zdeno Chara attempted to pinch in on a Senators" rush in the neutral zone, leading to an easy breakaway chance from Pageau. Pageau beat Rask five-hole just 30 seconds into the middle stanza to give Ottawa some insurance.

The Bruins" first line finally put Boston on the board at 8:40, with Pastrnak scoring his second goal of the postseason.

After defenseman Charlie McAvoy kept the puck in Ottawa"s zone, Brad Marchand generated a prime scoring opportunity off of a wraparound backhander that bounced off of Anderson"s pads. Pastrnak bounced on the rebound and potted it to cut the Senators" lead in half.

After being inserted into the Bruins" lineup in place of Ryan Spooner, Kuraly made his presence felt in the waning minutes of the second, notching his first career NHL goal at 17:05.

After a sustained shift generated from strong forechecking, Kuraly gathered the puck behind the Senators" net and brought the puck into the crease. While Kuraly"s shot was from a tough angle, the puck managed to ricochet off of Wideman"s foot and past goalie Craig Anderson to make it a 2-2 game.

While the Bruins held the Senators to zero shots on goal through the first 10 minutes of the third period, Ottawa nearly secured the go-ahead tally with nine minutes remaining in regulation, as a wrister from Hoffman bounced off Rask"s pads and slid just wide of the Bruins" net.

Two sloppy mistakes nearly cost Boston as regulation started to wind down -- as the Senators spent four of the last five minutes of play on the man advantage off of a delay-of-game and too-many-men penalty against the Bruins. However, the Bruins" penalty-kill unit stood tall to force the contest into overtime.

The Bruins appeared to score off of Noel Acciari potting a rebound with 5:34 remaining in overtime, but the game-winning strike was called off due to goaltender interference on Kuraly.

After Rask robbed Turris of his breakway chance in double overtime, Kuraly ended the contest -- jumping on a rebound down low and firing it home to extend Boston"s season.

"A lot of good plays leading up to it," Kuraly said. "I was just at the tail end of it. The puck lands on my stick and I pass it into the back of the net. ... Those are the good ones. You don"t get many of those. It bounced on my stick tonight and I"m happy that it did."

the bruins and Senators will resume play on Sunday, with Game 6 set for 3 p.m. at TD Garden.

Source: http://www.masslive.com/bruins/index.ssf/2017/04/bruins-senators_game_5.html

Subway back up and running after power outage delays

Massive Power Outage Hits San Francisco

The subway B line is finally back up and running.

Power was restored to the Seventh Avenue-53rd Street station several hours after an outage crippled it during the morning commute.

The track juice went out at about 7:25 a.m., causing the MTA to suspend the line from end to end.

power was restored to the station at 12:36 p.m., MTA officials said.

The express train rumbles from Brighton Beach in Brooklyn up to Bedford Park in the Bronx.

On top of forgetting my headphones and there not being any f- B train service. I just hate today, one annoyed commuter tweeted.

The agency also rerouted D, E and M service, and told riders to expect delays on the A, B, C, D, E, F, J, M, N, Q and R trains in both directions.

Riders were frustrated by what they say are increasingly common subway delays.

[The MTA] needs someone newmaybe fresh eyes to look over what could be implemented in this situation, said rider Judy D, 36. We shouldnt have to deal with this.

Source: http://nypost.com/2017/04/21/power-outage-is-making-morning-commute-horrible/

Friday, April 21, 2017

Prince"s posthumous "Deliverance" EP is great for about 3 minutes

Prince, Tom Petty, Steve Winwood, Jeff Lynne and others -- "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"

What a tease. "Deliverance," a six-track EP of previously unreleased Prince songs, surfaced a few days ago and then was quickly removed from several major digital music sites, including iTunes, after a lawsuit was filed in federal court by Prince"s estate. The tracks were assembled and released by one of the late singer"s former studio engineers, Ian Boxhill, apparently without the estate"s authorization. Boxhill co-wrote and co-produced the tracks, which were recorded in 2006-08, according to Rogue Music Alliance, a Washington-based record company.

The now-you-hear-it, now-you-don"t EP marks a new litigious chapter in what is sure to be a protracted struggle over Prince"s extensive musical archives. Despite releasing 39 studio albums in his lifetime and dozens of other projects, Prince left behind a trove of music at his Paisley Park studio. As evidenced by the outpouring of posthumous recordings that have extended the careers of artists ranging from Jimi Hendrix and Tupac Shukar sometimes for the worse the Prince archive seems ripe for exploring and exploiting.

New York Rangers" Derek Stepan Needs Performance Level to Start Matching Salary

Unboxing de Juguetes Power Rangers de Saban

The offseason before the 2014-2015 season, the New York Rangers generously gave Derek Stepan anaverage annual salaryof $6.5 million. At the time, it made sense because he had a great regular season and even stronger playoff performance in 2015.

His most important contribution that season was his game seven overtime winner against the Capitals to complete a 3-1 series comeback and send the Rangers to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second year in a row. But that isnt indicative of how hes playing now.

Over the course of games one through four of this first round series against the Canadiens, Stepan has been nearly nonexistent. He has only posted one assist in game two, which the Rangers didnt even win. And his +/- rating has been even except in gamethree, which was also a loss.

7 Essential Flying Saucer Flicks

PHOENIX FORGOTTEN (2017) Official Teaser
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phoenix forgotten is like blair witch with UFOs.

Cinelou/Scott Free Productions

Flying saucers carrying mysterious visitors are one of the classic sci-fi motifs. But there are visitors and there are visitors. Some aliens, like Klaatu in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), land their saucer on the Mall in Washington, D.C., then walk right out backed up by his badass robot Gort and sternly tell the human race to clean up our act.

Then there are visitors of the sort we see in Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956), who pilot the death-ray-vomiting crafts of the title, and eventually lay waste to Washington D.C.

But then there are the sort of visitors who prefer to keep on the down-low, the sort whose saucers are only witnessed accidentally, out in the boondocks, where, as Jay Leno used to put it, Bob Bookey and his Cousin Weenie are fishing. Lenos theory was that these visits were bathroom breaks: If youre traveling the universe, coming to Earth is like stopping at Stuckeys.

Anyway, movies and TV shows in this category are the true UFO movies, heavy on the U. They exploit not only the thrill of an encounter with otherworldly beings, but also the isolation of being disbelieved, or the paranoid terror of being at odds with a government cover-up.

A new entry in this UFO genre opens this weekend: Phoenix Forgotten, a found-footage chiller inspired by the famous Phoenix Lights phenomenon of March 13, 1997 sort of a sci-fi spin on The Blair Witch Project. So to welcome it, lets take a look at some of its more memorable predecessors.

The Flying SaucerThe term flying saucer was popularized in the wake of pilot Kenneth Arnolds reported sightings in 1947, and gradually came to be applicable to any UFOs, even if they werent actually saucer-shaped. This low-budget 1950 melodrama was probably the first to cash in on the craze, but spoiler alert! the vehicle in question turns out to be of earthly origin: a secret experimental aircraft developed by a scientist, and coveted by Commie agents. It is, however, a pretty cool retro-looking saucer, sort of like a metallic horseshoe crab. Producer-director-star Mikel Conrad, who also concocted the story, added a note in the credits suggesting the film was showing something classified: We gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of those in authority who made the release of the Flying Saucer film possible at this time.

Invasion of the Saucer MenPaul Fairmans short story The Cosmic Frame was about aliens who frame a guy for a hit-and-run in order to discredit his account of their presence on Earth.This tongue-in-cheek 1957 screen adaptation features iconic, bulbous-brained, irritable-faced little aliens creations of the great 50s-era monster designer Paul Blaisdell shooting their witnesses up with alcohol from their pointy fingers, thus either killing them or rendering them too drunk to believe.

The Bamboo SaucerThe title craft isnt made of bamboo, but its hidden in a remote temple in China, so, you know, bamboo. It could as well have been titled The Kung Pao Saucer. Even though it is an alien spaceship in this 1967 effort, the conflict still derives from the Cold War. The aliens who brought it to Earth are already dead, and American and Soviet scientific-military teams are competing to get their hands on it. Theres a thawing of international relations as the two sides team up, and the studly U.S. pilot (John Ericson) and the hottie Soviet scientist (Lois Nettleton) fall in love. The highlight of the dialogue comes when the scientist, having activated the saucers gravitational field, cries out Ve vill be skvooshed, like bugs!

The InvadersThis TV series (ABC, 1967-1968), created by Larry Cohen for Quinn Martin Productions, had a particularly seamless conspiracy-theory premise: In the first episode, hero David Vincent, lost on a lonely country road, sees a flying saucer land near an abandoned diner. It turns out be part of a fleet belonging to the title aliens, refugees from a dying planet who have taken human form to infiltrate human society, in order to take over Earth. Whenever an individual invader was killed, its body would vaporize, thus destroying the evidence. Vincent thus becomes an itinerant hero, a la David Janssen in The Fugitive, traveling from one set of guest stars to the next every episode, now and then convincing a few people that hes right. The Invaders are imperfect human knockoffs, however. Most of them have a tell: their pinky fingers are rigid! Theres something marvelous about the idea that the aliens have perfected not only interplanetary travel but human duplication, yet they find it tricky to bend the pinky finger.

UFO: Target EarthShot in Georgia, this 1974 low-budgeter features a young researcher (Nick Plakias) who makes contact with a spaceship submerged in a remote lake. The pure-energy aliens therein are depicted via electronic special effects reminiscent those near the end of Kubricks 2001, though more primitive many of them now look like Spirograph designs. Also like Kier Dullea in 2001, our hero here ages rapidly under the influence of the aliens, ultimately looking very peaked indeed. Make no mistake, this is a terrible, slow-moving film, but having seen it at a theater when I was 12, I can attest that it has a strange, creepy atmosphere that can stick in your head. For decades. Maybe it has to do with the spooky, pretty Mystic-Tides-ish theme song, Between the Attic and the Moon.

Liquid SkyIts pretty likely that no UFO movie has ever had quite as much hipster cred as this 1982 indie, a hilarious but also harrowing take on the drug-fueled 80s New York club-fashion scene from Russian expat director Slava Tsukerman. The dinner-plate-sized flying saucer that lands on the roof of a Manhattan apartment building contains an alien represented by electronic effects similar to those in UFO: Target Earth attracted to areas with lots of heroin. The alien pilot starts observing a resplendent club model (Anne Carlisle) and feeding on the opiate-like brain secretions of her lovers during o****m, causing the orgasmic person to die of a crystal spike to the head. After this their bodies disintegrate, like in The Invaders. o*****s are dangerous, concludes one observer.

The Search for SimonThe searcher is David, a fortyish, unemployed ufologist. Simon is the younger brother, absent since they were kids, who David is convinced has been abducted by aliens. Davids spent his whole adult life, and most of a substantial lottery windfall, traveling the world to supposed UFO hotspots from Denmark to Utah, or paying shady-seeming contacts for supposed leads to Simons whereabouts. Hes tried repeatedly, without success, to get into Area 51. His few friends, hopeless geeks themselves, are sick of his fixation, as is his careworn mum. David is played, well, by Martin Gooch, who also co-wrote and directed this low-budget Brit comedy of 2013. Gooch freely mixes a Monty Python/Douglas Adams/Simon Pegg style of silliness with a poignant backstory. The poignancy wins here, partly because the variable quality of some of the acting dulls the edge of the comic timing in the ensemble scenes, but also because spoiler alert! said backstory is really quite sad. Python alumna Carol Cleveland, playing Davids mother, is given full-on tragic exposition to deliver, and does a creditably touching job of it. But the seriousness of this side of the material gives an uneasy tinge to the jolly side.

Source: http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/arts/freaky-flying-saucer-flicks-9260353