Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18335015#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Flights resume at Tripoli airport
Some air traffic resumes at Tripoli's main airport, a day after it was seized by a Libyan militia group - but questions remain about security.
Martin hits slam, Pettitte dominant for Yanks (Yahoo! Sports)
NEW YORK (AP) Go ahead, call it what you want. It doesn't matter to Yankees manager Joe Girardi. He's pleased with his team's recent play however it's categorized.
Seahawks trade for Kellen Winslow; hope to make 2-TE sets more productive
In 2011, per the game-charting of NFL.com's Brian McIntyre, the Seattle Seahawks put two tight ends on the field 39 percent of the time, one of the highest figures in the NFL. However, they didn't get much production from those tight ends. Former Oakland Raiders tight end Zach Miller, acquired as a free agent before the 2011 season, caught just 25 passes on 44 targets for 233 yards and no touchdowns -- Seattle's injury-weakened offensive line put Miller in a position to block most of the time. Despite that, Miller led the team in all categories at the position.
On Monday evening, the Seahawks endeavored to become more productive with the 2-TE sets they prefer by trading for ex-Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Kellen Winslow. For assuming Winslow's contract, the Seahawks gave up just a seventh-round draft pick in 2013 (conditional sixth if Winslow meets certain performance guidelines). Winslow has three years left in a six-year, $36.1 million contract he signed in 2009, but the $3.3 million he's due this season in base salary is not guaranteed.
The eight-year veteran was deemed expendable by new Bucs head coach Greg Schiano after missing a recent round of OTAs, and it was Winslow himself who revealed the news -- last Saturday, Schiano told him that the Bucs were looking to make a deal and get him out of there. In his place, the Bucs signed former Indianapolis Colts TE Dallas Clark to a one-year deal.
[Related: Trading Kellen Winslow could be risky for the Buccaneers]
"It's kind of shocking, but that's what it is," Winslow told Ross Tucker of SIRIUS NFL Radio on Monday morning. " [Schiano] said he was upset that I wasn't working out with the team in the offseason, and then, the first week of OTAs. But, look -- I've been there the last three years, and I've had a successful career so far, and you just don't get rid of one of your best players because of that. That's just what I was told, but I have nothing bad to say about coach Schiano -- it was just a disagreement on why I'm not there yet. I was training in San Diego, and I was going to start [in OTAs with the team] today, but I got the call on Saturday that they're looking for somebody else."
Winslow was especially surprised, given his claim that he has participated in a team event before in this preseason. "There was a previous minicamp -- I went to that. It was a three-day minicamp and then, I came back down to San Diego to train, and I was going to start [back with the team] today."
According to Winslow, he flew cross-country from San Diego to Tampa to hear that he was going to be gone. "They tried to catch me before I left, but that didn't work out."
[Related: Detroit Lions bar own player from practice after fight with teammate]
In Seattle, there is room for a player as productive as Winslow has been in the recent past. Drafted sixth overall by the Cleveland Browns in the 2004 NFL draft, Winslow most recently averaged 72.6 catches, 792.3 yards and four touchdowns in each of the last three seasons for Tampa Bay. In 2011, he was the fourth-most targeted tight end in the NFL -- only Jimmy Graham, Rob Gronkowski and Brandon Pettigrew had more footballs thrown in their general direction by their quarterbacks. He played through pain on a right knee that has seen six different surgeries, and though the sheer physical upside is limited at this point in his career, Winslow seems a good risk for a Seattle team in need of far more consistent production from his position.
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Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Aaron Rodgers hopes to be a ?Packer for life?; could be even better in the process
Aaron Rodgers knows what it's like to be humbled, and he knows what it's like to be great. He didn't receive a single Division I scholarship offer out of high school and had to go to Butte College in his hometown of Chico, Calif., before Cal picked him up a year later. After an impressive college career, he then had to sit behind Brett Favre in Green Bay for three interesting years after dropping to 24th overall in the 2005 draft. He learned patiently behind Favre, and he watched as Utah's Alex Smith, taken first overall by the San Francisco 49ers (the team Rodgers loved as a kid), struggled mightily.
We know the story from there. After Favre's first of many retirements in 2008, the Green Bay Packers became Rodgers' team, and he's put up the kind of numbers you see from people who are messing with cheat codes on Madden. One season after leading the Packers to their fourth Lombardi Trophy, he had one of the best years any quarterback has ever enjoyed -- 343 completions in 520 attempts (68.3 completion percentage) for 4,643 yards, 45 touchdowns and just six interceptions. He led the NFL in touchdown percentage (9.0) and yards per attempt (9.2).
Now, at age 28 (just a few weeks younger than Cleveland Browns first-round pick Brandon Weeden), the man who recently told the Green Bay Press-Gazette that he wants to be a "Packer for life" stands on the precipice of a host of similar seasons. There's no reason not to believe that he'll be one of the game's great players for years. Anyone who believes that Rodgers will slack off in the face of success doesn't understand the slights that drive him.
"I think it's a little bit less of that now and more of remembering where I came from and remembering the path I took to get here, which the doubters were a part of that," Rodgers told the Press-Gazette, when asked about the motivation given from those early struggles. "But just remembering the journey and where I came from as a high school player in Northern California going to junior college, being a backup at Cal, and remembering the hard work that it took to get to where I am now. That's kind of more of a motivator than the doubters because I realize as hard as it was to get to this point, it's going to be just as hard to stay and maintain at this point."
Like Tom Brady, another Northern California kid who came up the hard way, Rodgers now has it all at his disposal. A coach in Mike McCarthy who operates in lock-step with his own talents, the best receiver corps in the league, and a formerly befuddled defense strengthened in the 2012 draft by defensive linemen Nick Perry and Jerel Worthy. Green Bay's first-game elimination from the 2011 postseason at the hands of the New York Giants was disappointing after a regular season that saw just one loss, but Rodgers also knows that this team is primed to get back to the biggest game more than once.
"The healing process begins when you're able to leave, for me, when I'm able to leave Green Bay and get away from it, and kind of get settled into the offseason. It's still frustrating. It's not fun to watch the playoffs knowing you want to be in the game instead of at�home watching. But that was a case of you're playing a really good team and you can't turn the ball over four times. That happens. Unfortunately it happened at the wrong time for us."
With three years left on his current contract, Rodgers is far away from the kind of stress currently going on between Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints -- not that he expects that to happen down the road.
"I think they're an organization who is going to do what's best for the organization. Obviously my representation, just like any representation, is trying to get the most money possible at times. I don't see it being an issue. I want to be a Packer for life and I don't see myself going anywhere else. I don't think they would even get close to that. When the negotiation time does come I have confidence in my representation and I know we're going to do a fair deal, it's fair for them and for me. And hopefully I'll feel good about it."
According to Football Outsiders' similarity scores, the most exacting career arc for Rodgers is that of Joe Montana, Rodgers' childhood idol. He's put up better numbers than even Montana did, but Rodgers also knows that until he's got more than one or two rings, that debate isn't even worth creating.
Firmly established in his own right and excited about the future, Aaron Rodgers knows just what he wants that future to look like. "I have accomplished a lot individually and now it's all about winning some more championships."
And there's no end in sight. "I think it's got to be a combination of how my body feels and I've said it a few times over the years, when I'm not committed to being a 100 percent offseason guy, then that's probably when I should step away from the game because these guys deserve 100 percent of my effort and time."
How Xbox SmartGlass will work
Perhaps the biggest splash in the early going of this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles was made by Microsoft with its unveiling of Xbox SmartGlass. 
Source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_latest/~3/DXd6AVgFlFQ/index.html
UPDATE: Charlie Sheen didn?t buy Lawrence Taylor?s Super Bowl ring
Sadly, the rumor was just that. The news that Charlie Sheen was the man who bought the Super Bowl ring once belonging to Lawrence Taylor and auctioned by LT's son is not true. Fox Sports insider Jay Glazer first reported that Sheen may have purchased the Super Bowl XXV ring for $230,401.20, including buyer's commission. Not so fast!
Sheen was the one to confirm this on his own Twitter account: "RE: Lawrence Taylor's Ring: As much as I would be honored to own such an important artifact... I had nothing to do with the acquisition." Sheen also confirmed with "The Dan Patrick Show" on Friday morning that he was not the man.
[ Y! Sports Fantasy Minute: Unlucky break for fantasy football star ]
So, who DID throw down that kind of cash for LT's ring? We know it wasn't Osi Umenyoira, because he didn't hit the Twitter follower landmark it would have taken for the current Giants defender to make the move. Osi fell far short of the 500,000-follower number, and reacted accordingly when he heard of the final bid.
"Yikes! I guess the 450,000 let me off the hook!"
Indeed.
VIDEO: China and Russia show unity over Syria
Syria has declared as unwelcome the ambassadors of several Western states, a week after governments around the world expelled its top diplomats.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-18334677#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
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