Andy Murray claims his Wimbledon crown!

Seventy-seven years after the MP’s son from Stockport won the last of his three All England Club titles, Britain finally has another Wimbledon men’s singles champion. Andy Murray, for so long the standard-bearer for his country, achieved one of his lifetime ambitions and ended the nation’s tortuous wait for a home winner when he claimed the trophy here on Sunday amid scenes of raucous celebration on Centre Court.

Twelve months after suffering one of the greatest disappointments of his career when he lost to Roger Federer in his first Wimbledon final, Murray returned to beat Novak Djokovic 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 after three hours and nine minutes of pulsating drama. The lessons learned from last year, plus the confidence he derived from his subsequent Olympic and US Open triumphs, were all evident as Murray swept aside the world No 1 with a superbly focused display of attacking tennis.

“Winning Wimbledon, yeah, I still can’t believe it,” Murray said in his post-final press conference. “I can’t get my head around that. I can’t believe it.”

In front of a crowd full of famous faces, ranging from David Cameron through to Wayne Rooney, and two Wimbledon legends in Rod Laver and Roy Emerson, Murray confirmed what a supreme master of grass-court tennis he has become. This was his 18th victory in a row on the sport’s most challenging surface and was achieved on the hottest day of the tournament, with the temperature approaching 30C.

“It was so hot,” Murray said. “I hadn’t played any matches in the heat of the day. Since I missed the French Open with my back, it had been cool. I hadn’t played at all in those sort of conditions. The first few games were brutal as well. The first four games took 30 minutes, so it was an incredibly demanding match physically.”

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Josh Smith $56 million deal!

The free agent forward agreed to terms on a four-year, $56 million deal with the Detroit Pistons this afternoon, a deal first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

This ends Smith’s at times tumultuous nine-year tenure with his hometown Atlanta Hawks, the team that selected him with the 17th pick in the 2004 Draft. It also ends the pursuit of the versatile forward by both the Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks, who were both still trying to figure out ways to present possible sign-and-trade deals to the Hawks that would land Smith.

Smith’s childhood friend and fellow free agent prize Dwight Howard picked the Rockets Friday night. It was widely known that the Rockets were trying to pair the former AAU teammates, both 27, as professionals in a dynamic frontcourt package with All-Star James Harden and point guard Jeremy Lin in the backcourt.

Ultimately, the opportunity to play for an organization, general manager (Joe Dumars) and coach (Mo Cheeks) who believe that Smith can be a game changer in a promising frontcourt group that includes Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond won Smith over, according to a person familiar with the situation.

The Pistons were the first team to meet with Smith when free agency began at 12:01 a.m. on July 1. He’ll play both forward spots for the Pistons and brings career averages of 15.3 points, 8.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 2.1 blocks and 1.3 steals.

Smith inspired a love-hate relationship with the hometown fans, they loved him when he was at his best and extremely tough on him when his shot selection wavered or he had dust-ups with his coaches. The Hawks replaced Smith Friday night by adding former Utah power forward Paul Millsap on a two-year, $19 million deal.

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61 days to NFL Kickoff

KICKOFF!!! 

Only 4 weeks left for the kick off and just 61 days to Kickoff. 

The NFL is an ever-changing world.

As skill sets, strategies and rules change, so does the game of professional football.

Teams and players must, in turn, evolve in order to keep up with the game as it changes from year to year.

Every offseason, we see coaches hired and fired, game plans tweaked and rosters overhauled in an effort to keep up with the competition, changing trends and the great game itself.

This offseason, like each before it, each of the NFL's 32 teams has undergone changes—some only minor, some drastic.

I guess time wil only help us next, who will be the top, who do you think will come victorious?

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Dwight Howard with Houston ROCKETS!

Dwight confirms!
Just a while ago Dwight Howard of LA Lakers confirmed that he will be signing with Houston Rockets. Will he like this team and work well with it more than the Lakers or Orlando Magic? Will he play better than he played his previous season with Lakers, I guess we just have to wait and find out.

"I've decided to become a member of the Houston Rockets. I feel [it's] the best place for me and I am excited about joining the Rockets and I'm looking forward to a great season," Howard wrote on Twitter on Friday night.

"We have been informed of Dwight's decision to not return to the Lakers," Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak said in a statement. "Naturally we're disappointed. However, we will now move forward in a different direction with the future of the franchise and, as always, will do our best to build the best team possible, one our great Lakers fans will be proud to support.

"To Dwight, we thank him for his time and consideration, and for his efforts with us last season. We wish him the best of luck on the remainder of his NBA career."

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Allen Iverson "The Answer"

Will he be back?

Yet again he has been named for gambling and losing all the money, his wife also said he kidnapped their children. But, no matter what everyone has only one question, "will he be back?".

Allen Iverson has announced all the reports of him playing outside NBA is False. It looks like He is looking to get into NBA, Some say he is only after the money but is it true? I think that, he is serious he wants to play and show what he is made of. for his age i don't think he can match up the athleticism of young players but i still think he can do it. Should he get another chance? If he did get it, will he make it big?

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OKC out, Knicks struggling and Warriors still confident

This wasn’t supposed to go down like this. Not this game. Not this series. Not this postseason. Kevin Durant’s historic offensive regular season came to a cringing, clanging conclusion Wednesday night, smothered for a fourth consecutive game by a focused Memphis Grizzlies defense.I thought that trading westbrook from okc would make them better. Well, it looks like it will be the other way round if they do that. They're looking so terrible even kevin durant couldn't do much. I miss the OKC team from last year with harden. They looked unbeatable. Haha and Derrick Fisher. You ain't getting your 6th ring. Grizzlies were beasts under the paint and OKC just couldn't stop it. Tough loss.

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NBA Draft. Canadian Talent

It is a testament to the depth of young basketball talent Canada is producing that history may be in the offing as the lead-up to this year’s NBA draft begins here in earnest this week.

The league’s draft combine — a series of group and individual workouts along with a series of physical and psychological tests — includes more than 60 of the top prospects for the June 27 draft, including enough local Toronto talent to make it one of the most intriguing drafts ever.

There is a slim chance — if the guesswork of mock drafts are to be believed this far in advance — that UNLV forward and Toronto native Anthony Bennett could eclipse Tristan Thompson (fourth overall, 2011) as the highest selected Canadian ever.

If Gonzaga forward Kelly Olynyk, a resident of Kamloops whose father, Ken, was the long-time University of Toronto head coach, earns himself a lottery spot it will mark the first time two Canadians have been taken in the top half of the first round of the draft.

And Myck Kabongo, a Toronto product and a Texas point guard, would make it an historic Canadian threesome if he’s drafted, as expected, sometime early in the second round.

Two of the three — Bennett had shoulder surgery and is out for four months — are here for three days of workouts and meetings with teams hoping to raise their stock.

“Players can move up and down a lot, but this is early in the process,” one NBA official said recently.

That Bennett is injured is keeping with an enduring theme in a draft that lacks a splashy marquee player, a fact that will put added emphasis on workouts and interviews here. Kentucky’s Nerlens Noel (knee) is out for the summer as is Maryland’s Alex Len (ankle).

While both are going to be lottery picks — Noel is likely to go No. 1 overall regardless — if teams find a safer, more ready teenager through the workout process that starts here it could affect the top of the draft.

Players and their agents are, typically, taking a careful approach lest flaws in talent become more apparent in workouts against other players. Some combine invitees will only take physicals and meet with team officials rather than go through full workouts.

There are generally three things that teams look for above any drills scenario here since all the top prospects have been seen repeatedly over the course of the college season.

Some teams put high value on how a player conducts himself in the interview process, they look to see if players have been working diligently on conditioning and they want to see effort in all drills.

The Raptors are represented here by a group of front-office types but basically just as a formality. So far without a pick in the draft — they only retain it if they vault to the top three in next week’s lottery — they will take in workouts as basic due diligence in case something comes up.

But with the future of president and general manager Bryan Colangelo still undetermined, it will be anything but business as usual for the Toronto contingent.

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