Sports And Entertainment News

Sunday, May 1, 2011

InterTubing: Hotlanta’s best dunker and rites of Spring

We're not out of the dunking/happy bombing woods, yet, but the gradual saturation of baseball and softball homers and the occasional big grab are a sure sign that the seasons are changing. There are plenty of other litmus tests, but watching a lacrosse defenseman finish a marvelous run down the field with a terrific goal is almost as good as the budding of cherry blossoms, isn't it?

• Brian Rouse, R.E.D.A. (Ont.) vs. YAAACE (Ont.): Rouse and his Regional Elite Development Academy teammates needed three shots at the Canadian prep championship to take home the title, but they finally got it done against YAACE, thanks in no small part to Rouse's explosiveness, which he showed off on this dynamic dunk.

• Kenneth Gaines, Whitfield (Ga.) Academy: If Rouse is one of Canada's best young dunkers, Gaines is most definitely the best in Atlanta, an honor recently bestowed upon him by no less than the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which polled its readers to determine which of the area's best athletes has the most impressive dunks. As you can see below, there was ample reason to vote for Gaines.

• Jake Heagen, John Glenn (Oh.) vs. Chillicothe (Oh.): John Glenn High built up a massive 19-point lead in a tournament game against Chillicothe, yet watched nearly the entire lead evaporate in the second half. Luckily, the Muskies had a great escape to lean back on: the athleticism of Jake Heagen, who helped take control of the game back when his team desperately needed him.

• Kayden Calder, Rich (Utah) vs. Monticello (Utah): People can accuse Kayden Calder of any number of things. Not following through on promises isn't one of them. He proved that by delivering on a pledge that the team would win to Rich seniors Parker Stuart and Cody Groll, both of whom fouled out in what could have been their final high school game. Not only did Calder come through, he did so with a buzzer beating three-pointer in double overtime, then immediately reminded both Stuart and Groll exactly what he'd promised. If that isn't a gutsy move, we don't know is.

• Jacob Atchley, Centennial (Texas) vs. Plano (Texas): Great outfield grabs are always impressive, but when a player willfully puts himself in harm's way, that tends to make the resulting outs even more impressive. Case in point: This grab by Atchley, who collided with the fence as he brought in a drive to the fence by a Plano batter.

• Triston Stegall, Charlotte (N.C.) Providence vs. Greensboro (N.C.) Page: What's better than a full-field run from a close defenseman which leads to an amazing long range goal? A full-field run from a close defenseman which leads to a goal made with deft stickwork ... with a long pole. Clearly, this goal by Stegall fits firmly in the latter category.

• Amanda Howard, Chapin (Texas): We're not sure who Chapin scored this goal against, but we know it was impressive for three different reasons: 1) It was an impressive strike in and of itself, 2) It was the only goal in her team's 1-0 victory, and 3) She was just about the last person likely to score, considering the fact that she played as Chapin's goalie in the game. Now that is a surefire player of the game, no?

Want more on the best stories in high school sports? Visit RivalsHigh or connect with Prep Rally on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

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10 Twitter Tips for Startups and Challenger Brands

Posted By WebAdvantage.net on Mar 11th, 2011

With over 190 million users tweeting 65 million times a day, Twitter presents emerging brands with a ton of great opportunities for word of mouth marketing, networking, and brand-building.

Here are 10 tips for startups and challenger brands who are just starting out on Twitter:

Claim @YourBrandName ASAP! First things first—make sure you claim your brand name as your Twitter handle, even if you don’t intend to start using Twitter immediately. It seems simple enough to do, but many new or upcoming brands that put it off too long run the risk of being name-squatted. Even big, leading brands have fallen prey to Twitter squatters. Has your desired Twitter handle already been claimed? Spend some time thinking of a good alternative that fits as closely as possible. Make sure it’s not a total departure from your actual brand name, to avoid confusion and loss of brand identity.Take full advantage of Twitter’s design and profile settings. Even though Twitter’s built-in design and profile settings are pretty basic, a surprising number of companies don’t take the time to customize or even complete them. Lesser-known brands who are trying to establish themselves on Twitter should make every effort to brand their profile design by customizing the background image and color settings. Here are 50 great examples of corporate Twitter branding for ideas. This is your chance to really get creative with how you want to be perceived.Don’t over-invest in Twitter tools. You don’t have to invest a lot of money in state-of-the-art Twitter tools in order to be successful. There are tons of great, free or low-cost Twitter tools out there to accomplish practically any Twitter-related task. Large, well-established brands typically have a different set of goals and challenges for using Twitter versus that of a lesser-known brand who is just starting out, and they often invest in robust social media monitoring and tracking tools, and expensive account management platforms without a real need for doing so.Make your brand stand out. Challenger brands must work hard to distinguish themselves from the pack, which is something that can be hard to do with only 140 characters at a time to work with. Finding your brand’s unique voice on Twitter will most likely take time, creativity, and a bit of trial and error. Produce your own original content that promotes your brand while still being engaging and relevant to your followers without being too “salespitchy.”Practice proper care and feeding. Smaller brands typically have much less time and resources to devote to social media compared to large brands, but it’s important for them to develop good “care and feeding” habits in order to use Twitter effectively. If your Twitter isn’t updated on at least a semi-regular basis, your followers will most likely begin to drop off. There are no rules for how often a brand should tweet, but it’s a good idea to set daily or weekly tweet goals to keep the momentum going. And don’t forget to @reply and follow people back on a regular basis, too.Learn from your competitors. Brands can learn a lot simply by looking at what their competitors are doing on Twitter and learning from their examples (and mistakes). Study the ways that leading brands are using Twitter, from the conversations they’re having with their followers to the types of content they’re sharing. What successful things are they doing that you can emulate in your own tweets? What can you do better?Make sure you’ve “got the goods” beyond Twitter, too. Twitter can be an amazing marketing tool for building your brand, but it’s important to remember that it’s just one layer of communication, and there are a lot of other brands out there vying for attention. Make sure your website, blog, and any other online presence are as polished and pitch-perfect as they can be without misleading information or untrustworthy content. And of course, your followers will appreciate openness and honesty in your tweets, too.Cultivate a loyal following. Market segmentation is a good starting point to determine where a challenger brand can have the most impact. On Twitter, brands cultivate a relevant and loyal following by seeking out niche groups of users (using tools like Twitter Lists and Twibes) and engaging with them in a meaningful way. It’s easy to get distracted by statistics like follower counts, but don’t worry so much about the numbers; rather, it’s the quality of the people and connections that really count.Be the people’s champion. On Twitter, Brands have a unique opportunity to connect one-on-one with customers and learn what makes them tick. Twitter is invaluable as a listening tool to understand their interests, motivations and pain points. Use Twitter as your brand’s soapbox to rally support and excitement, address their issues and concerns, (and occasionally swoop in and save the day!).Spice things up. To keep followers interested and engaged, focus on sharing content that is tweet-worthy in some way: things that are cool, interesting, useful, news-worthy, etc. Spice up your tweets with tweet-enhancing tools like Twtapps, Twitpic, hashtags and shortened links. Tweet content is your chance to really set yourself apart.

Now get out there and knock ‘em dead!

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Kings on Kopitar injury: ‘No team is going to feel sorry for us’

One phrase sticks from the following clip: "Get up Anze." You have to allow for a bit of homerism from the announce crew at a time like this, as the Los Angeles Kings saw leading scorer Anze Kopitar (notes) felled by a broken ankle on this play, losing him for a minimum of six weeks according to Coach Terry Murray:

As you can see, Kopitar twisted his right leg after battling Colorado Avalanche defenseman Ryan O'Byrne (notes) near the boards. He was helped off the ice after being unable to put any weight on his ankle. There's an MRI due on Monday, but Murray told the media after the Kings' 4-1 win that it's a broken ankle.

Kopitar led the Kings with 25 goals and 47 assists for 72 points and was a plus-24.

Rich Hammond of LA Kings Insider had reaction from Dustin Brown on the injury:

"He's our best player. We've got to find a way, either way. Injuries happen during the year. You don't want to have your best player go down, but if that's the case, we need to shoulder the responsibility collectively and find a way. No other team is going to feel sorry for us.
"We'll maybe find out what we're made of. You have our top two scorers possibly out. … That's part of an 82-game schedule, and we have to find a way to keep going as a team."

In the last week, the Kings have now lost their leading and second-leading scorers to long-term injuries, as Justin Williams (notes) is done for at least six weeks with a separated shoulder. The good news is that both players could be back by May. The bad news is that without them, there's no assurance the Kings will even make the dance in the tightly packed Western Conference. There's enough talent there to close the deal, especially in goal. But this is the last player the Kings wanted to see go down in late March.

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In even more improbable fashion than last year, Butler reaches Final Four

The run Butler made last year to the NCAA championship game will always be special. It was this generation's ultimate college hoops Cinderella story.

This run, though, is much more impressive.

It was roughly eight weeks ago when the Bulldogs suffered a shocking 62-60 road loss to Horizon League cellar dweller Youngstown State. They were 14-9 at that point and a disappointing 5-5 in conference play.

Now, they've once again reaffirmed the notion that, no matter where they are in the NCAA tournament field, you can never count against Butler.

They trailed Florida by 11 with 9:25 left on Saturday in New Orleans, forced overtime and scored clutch bucket after clutch bucket en route to a 74-71 win and their second Final Four berth in as many years.

Boyish-looking Brad Stevens turned himself into a top young sideline prospect last season, but this year truly proved just how strong of an all-around coach he actually is.

After that embarrassing early February loss in Ohio, Butler regrouped when many were ready to write them off for good as a one-hit wonder. Despite a hot finish to the regular season, it was still no guarantee that they'd make the NCAA tourney again without winning the Horizon League tournament.

Saturday marked their 13th consecutive victory, and now they'll book a trip to Houston, awaiting the winner of Sunday's Elite Eight contest between Kansas and upstart VCU.

A year ago, despite having never been on college basketball's biggest stage, the Bulldogs were on everyone's radar well before the NCAA tournament. They only lost four regular season games, blitzed through the Horizon League unscathed and earned a 5-seed.

After that magical month, the guy who nearly provided the greatest shot in college basketball history — sophomore forward Gordon Hayward — wisely left school early to be a lottery pick in June's NBA draft. He was their leading scorer (15.5 ppg) and rebounder (8.2 rpg). Returning three starters in 2010-11 didn't look nearly as impressive as it normally would without guys like Hayward and glue guy Willie Veasley.

Despite not losing again after the debacle at Youngstown State, they were set up for early failure in the NCAAs this time around as an 8-seed, drawing a hot Old Dominion squad in their opener — who they ousted on a Matt Howard buzzer-beater — then having to meet No. 1 seed Pitt two days later. We all know by now what happened there.

And they're still finding ways to survive.

During the postgame handshake between Stevens and Florida's Billy Donovan, the Butler coach could be seen on camera telling Donovan "You out-coached me."

Even if he did, the incredible contributions from the thinner-than-a-year-ago Bulldogs were symbolic of how they cleared hurdles all season long.

• Star guard Shelvin Mack overcame a first half ankle injury, then a cut over his left eye en route to a game-high 27 points. That heroic performance included a monster 3-pointer with just over a minute left in OT that gave Butler the lead for good.

• Their ultimate push back from a double-digit deficit was sparked by little-used reserve guard Chrishawn Hopkins, who in a short second half stint provided a 3-pointer and an outstanding assist on a Howard lay-up.

• They got a crucial and-one score 90 seconds into OT by freshman forward Khyle Marshall — A Sunshine State native who felt spurned by UF during his recruitment. He finished with 10 points and seven rebounds. Butler's reserves provided 23 points while Florida's chipped in only two.

• Starting big men Howard and Andrew Smith were abused in the first half — and the start of the second — by Florida's athletic duo of Alex Tyus and Vernon Macklin. But Butler's towers came up with more key hustle plays down the stretch, ultimately overcoming a physical disadvantage.

Stevens is again a rumored target of many larger programs looking to fill head coaching vacancies, but for him to go anywhere other than one of the nation's truly elite spots would just be senseless. He's at the wheel of college basketball's top little-program-that-could — One which has now become a March must-watch, no matter who the opponent is. He'd likely face ridiculously high expectations anywhere else, setting himself up too easily for failure.

The Bulldogs are 9-1 in their last 10 NCAA tournament games, which makes for a two-year run that only a few programs have ever experienced, and if it never gets better than this for Stevens at Butler, so be it.

One thing that the two Final Four runs have in common is that in both instances, Butler heads into the season's final weekend with no pressure. No one expected them to be there anyway.

No matter who rounds out the Final Four field, Butler will likely head to Houston as the absolute underdog.

So what?

Ryan Greene also covers UNLV and the Mountain West Conference for the Las Vegas Sun. Read his Rebels coverage and follow him on Twitter.

Related: Butler Bulldogs

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Bret Michaels Suing CBS, Tony Awards Over Onstage Head Injury

Bret Michaels has filed a lawsuit against CBS and the organizers of the Tony Awards over the 2009 incident where he hit his head during the show, which he claims led to a life-threatening brain injury, according to The Associated Press.

In his lawsuit, Michaels claims...

Friday’s Three Stars: Sens, Pens blank; rough night for Florida

No. 1 Star: Craig Anderson (notes), Ottawa Senators

Anderson stopped 31 shots, including 12 in the third period, as the Senators upset the Ovechkin-less Washington Capitals, 2-0, who had won 11 of their last 12. It's his second shutout of the season and with the Senators. He has now allowed one goal or less in 9 of the 13 games he's played with Ottawa.

No. 2 Star: Drew Stafford (notes), Buffalo Sabres

Stafford was clutch for the Sabres in their 4-2 victory over the Florida Panthers. He broke a 1-1 tie in the second period by finishing off a nice passing play with Brad Boyes (notes) and Tyler Ennis (notes). In the third, he put the game away by scoring 13 seconds after he assisted on teammate Jordan Leopold's (notes) power-play goal. It was Stafford's fifth multi-goal game in 2011.

No. 3 Star: Marc-Andre Fleury (notes), Pittsburgh Penguins

The King of March 25 struck again. Fleury made 21 saves and pitched his fourth shutout in five seasons on that date, blanking the New Jersey Devils, 1-0, in the shootout. James Neal (notes) had the lone goal in the skills competition. The Penguins goalie faced one shot in a first period that saw his team put just three shots on Marty Brodeur (26 saves).

Honorable mention: Huge win for the Carolina Hurricanes to keep pace for the playoffs, topping the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-3. Erik Cole (notes) had two goals and Eric Staal (notes) scored a power-play goal and added an assist. Simon Gagne (notes) scored two power-play goals for the Bolts, who saw Dwayne Roloson (notes) peppered with 39 shots. … Roberto Luongo (notes) made 30 saves, including 12 in the third, as the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Atlanta Thrashers, 3-1. Mason Raymond (notes), Alex Bolduc and Alex Burrows had the goals. Bryan Little (notes) scored unassisted for the Thrash. … Colin Greening (notes) scored a goal that went to the review booth and Erik Condra (notes) had the other tally for the Sens. … Sergei Samsonov's (notes) goal gave him 10 points in 13 games since being acquired by the Panthers.

Did you know? Samsonov's goal 4:01 into the game ended the Panthers' scoring drought at 135:35. (AP)

Dishonorable mention: Close call for David Booth (notes) tonight. The Panthers forward took a puck to the throat with 2:31 left in the first period, and was taken to the hospital for precautionary reasons. He was cleared and accompanied the team to Pittsburgh. … The Panthers were eliminated from the playoff race, and will be out of the money for an NHL record 10th consecutive season. Ouch. … "I don't know how Buffalo played, but if they win I think we're done," said Ilya Kovalchuk (notes) after the Devils' loss. And so it was. … Steve Downie (notes) had a 10-minute misconduct for the Lightning. … Finally, Zack Smith (notes) was given 5 for fighting, 2 for instigating and a misconduct for this fight with Matt Bradley (notes). The Caps forward got 2 for boarding and 5 for the fight.

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Ghostface Killah Looking For Interns

Wu-Tang Clan star Ghostface Killah is advertising online for interns to help run his business empire.

The rapper has posted an appeal for candidates on his Twitter.com page, asking for applications to help with "upcoming projects".

He has advertised to fill positions in "marketing/social networking" and "promotion" as well as web design and scriptwriting, and urged prospective interns to email in a copy of their resume.

In a series of posts on Twitter, he writes, "I'm looking for interns to be apart (sic) of my upcoming projects. Open positions: marketing/social networking, script writers, promotion... photographers, and web designers... The fans are filling up the email with intern interest!! Trust me and my team will get back to each one of you personally!!... Thanks for all the response for wanting to be apart (sic) of the team... I appreciate that!"

Ghostface Killah