BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa (AP)—Talk about a full reversal of fortunes.

On the verge of elimination from the Confederations Cup a few days ago, the United States finds itself in the final of the World Cup test event thanks to a stunning 2-0 victory over top-ranked Spain.

Goals by Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey, and superb goalkeeping by Tim Howard on Wednesday lifted the Americans into their first FIFA tournament final since starting play in 1916.

The shocking turnaround from first-round losses to Italy and Brazil has the United States contemplating a championship game matchup with either the mighty Brazilians or host South Africa.

“Three games ago I think it would have been impossible to think about a night like tonight,” Howard said. “We’ve had our fair share of critics, but we stood up and took it on the chin and kept going.”

And after grabbing the 2-0 lead, they held on in the face of European champion Spain’s surge. The American team most everyone counted out before a win over Egypt and an edge in tiebreakers got it into the semifinals just might come home with a prestigious trophy.

“This win is huge for American soccer,” Dempsey said. “This one is much sweeter because we were down and out, came back fighting.”

Altidore scored in the 27th minute and Dempsey added a goal in the 74th as the Americans became the first team to defeat Spain since Romania in November 2006.

“It goes to show what hard work and commitment to each other can bring,” said Howard, who made eight saves as he frustrated David Villa and Fernando Torres. “Sometimes football is a funny thing.”

While the Spaniards could find nothing comical or comforting about their performance, the 14th-ranked Americans showed they can outplay and even outthink the world’s best.

“We had a real confidence that we could try to make it harder for them than some of the other teams they have played against,” U.S. coach Bob Bradley said, “and we had the weapons that could cause them some trouble.”

Spain had set an international record with 15 straight victories and tied Brazil’s record unbeaten streak of 35 games from December 1993 to January 1996. Meanwhile, the United States had been 1-7-1 against No. 1 teams, beating Brazil in the 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup and tying Argentina last summer in an exhibition at Giants Stadium.

The numbers hardly mattered.

“I think it just shows that we can compete with the best. Now we need to do it on a consistent basis,” U.S. captain Carlos Bocanegra said.

Midfielder Michael Bradley, son of the U.S. coach, will miss the final. He received a red card for a late challenge in the 87th minute, the third American ejection of the tournament.

Still, American players had much to celebrate.

Altidore got the first goal when he outmuscled Joan Capdevila, his teammate on Spain’s Villarreal, to send an 18-yard shot in off the hand of goalkeeper Iker Casillas. Capdevila thought he was fouled by Altidore, who had engaged in some trash texting a few days ago.

“I told him, ‘Be careful of the USA.’ And he tried to say I didn’t understand Spanish, so it was just all fun and games,” Altidore said. “We’re teammates and we were just messing around with each other a little bit, but in the end we had the last laugh.”

That wasn’t secured until Dempsey’s goal from 6 yards when he pounced on Landon Donovan’s cross, which had bounced off Gerard Pique and the foot of Sergio Ramos.

* RECROPPED VERSION ** USA’…
AP – Jun 24, 6:07 pm EDT

“There will be ups and downs in any cycle,” U.S. Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati said. “I think this tournament makes that point very clearly. Tonight was a very big up.”

But not such a big downer for Spain, according to its coach.

“This is an accident, a little step backward. We have to look forward with optimism,” Vicente del Bosque said.

“A streak is over, and we have to start from zero,” Capdevilla added. “This sobers us up.”

Optimism hardly was a buzzword for the U.S. team when it opened the tournament with a 3-1 loss to world champion Italy, then was outclassed by South American champ Brazil in a 3-0 defeat. The Americans advanced over the Italians on the second tiebreaker—total goals—by beating Egypt 3-0 on Sunday as Brazil defeated the Azzurri by the same score.

The United States had lost its three previous matches against Spain, including 1-0 in an exhibition on June 4 last year.

And now, it is a finalist.

“We just beat the best team in the world,” Donovan said. “Emotionally we’re on a bit of a high. We might be a little tired physically but we’ll be ready for it. We don’t play in a lot of finals.”

While the U.S. women have won two world championships, the men have long been outsiders and didn’t even qualify for the showcase event between 1950 and ’90. This ranked alongside the upset of Brazil as one of their top wins, just below World Cup victories over England in 1950, Portugal and Mexico in 2002 and Colombia in 1994.

“I think it’s always important to look and see all the different victories along the way that have helped elevate U.S. Soccer,” Bob Bradley said. “It began with the famous one against England, but there’s been many since. I think we are fortunate tonight that we can add it to the list.”

PARIS (ESPN)– Roger Federer beat Robin Soderling, tied Pete Sampras and won the French Open at last.

Undeterred by an on-court intruder, Federer beat surprise finalist Soderling 6-1, 7-6 (1), 6-4 to complete a career Grand Slam and win his 14th major title, matching Sampras’ record.

On his fourth try at Roland Garros, Federer became the sixth man to win all four Grand Slam championships.

Playing in cool, windy weather and occasional rain Sunday, Federer raced to a quick lead, sweeping the first four games. Soderling appeared nervous at the start of his first Grand Slam final, and Federer kept him scrambling with penetrating groundstrokes to both corners and an occasional drop shot.

Federer’s progress to the title was briefly delayed in the second set. The match was between points when a spectator waving a flag climbed through the photographer’s pit and onto Federer’s side of the court.

Federer backed away toward the backstop, but the fan caught up with him and tried to put a hat on Federer’s head. Security personnel seemed slow to react before chasing the man to the other side of the court, and he was tackled, then carried out.

There was silence from the stunned crowd, then a chant of “Ro-ger! Ro-ger!” when the episode ended. Federer adjusted his headband, Soderling gave him a thumbs-up sign and play resumed.

Soderling’s strokes steadied, and he pushed the second set to 6-all. But Federer played a brilliant tiebreaker, hitting aces on all four of his service points, and Soderling could only smile ruefully.
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press

The Associated Press is reporting that the Kentucky Derby favorite “I Want Revenge,” was scratched. Here is the full report from the AP:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — I Want Revenge is out of the Kentucky Derby, the first morning-line favorite to scratch the day of the race.

The 3-year-old colt was scratched Saturday morning after trainer Jeff Mullins discovered a hot spot on the horse’s left front ankle.

An X-ray and ultrasound test did not find any damage, but the ankle was tender when it was flexed. With a wet track expected, Mullins and owner David Lanzman didn’t want to take any chances.

“When the word came out that running could hurt the horse, I looked at both doctors and said, ‘Then this is no debate,’” Lanzman said. “‘What are we talking about? We’ll fight another day.’”

Larry Bramlage, the on-call veterinarian at Churchill Downs, said the horse didn’t look injured while jogging for doctors.

“Unfortunately, this close to the Derby, there’s not a way to gauge how bad that is,” he said.

With I Want Revenge out, Friesan Fire takes over as the morning-line favorite. He had already become the betting favorite Friday night.

Since the morning line was put in the racing program in 1949, no other favorite had scratched on race day. The last major contender to scratch was second choice A.P. Indy in 1992.

I Want Revenge and 19-year-old Joe Talamo were to start from post No. 13. The duo established themselves as one of the Derby favorites after a last-to-first dash in the Wood Memorial last month.

“I’m just glad the horse is OK,” Talamo said. “It could have been a lot worse. Something could have happened on the track. I’m just glad it happened in the stall.”

Mullins said he doesn’t expect the injury to be career-threatening but will give I Want Revenge some time off before deciding what to do next.

“I’ve been in this business kind of all my life,” he said. “Most of the things I’ve learned in this business I’ve learned by hard knocks in more ways than one. Your biggest dream is to get here, but the biggest nightmare is to get to race day and have to scratch. Right now I don’t think it’s really sunk in that much, but pretty disappointing.”

Mullins begins serving a seven-day suspension at 12:01 a.m. Sunday for administering an over-the-counter medication to another of his horses, Gato Go Win, in a detention barn just before a race in New York several weeks ago.

A focus on racehorse safety has been heightened this year following last year’s breakdown of filly Eight Belles, the first horse euthanized at the Derby in 134 runnings of the race. The death of that horse sparked changes in the sport, including bans on whips, the padding of starting gates and close monitoring of track conditions. Post-race drug tests on the top four finishers also now screen for steroids for the first time.

I Want Revenge was still at the barn late Saturday morning. There were no immediate plans to take him to an offsite clinic.

“If you walk by his stall, you’re not going to know anything is wrong with him,” said veterinarian Foster Northrop, who treated the horse. “He’s bucking and kicking. He doesn’t even know he’s hurt.”

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

LAS VEGAS — Floyd Mayweather Jr., the welterweight champ and pound-for-pound king until retiring last June, will officially end his retirement on Saturday at an afternoon news conference to announce a fight with lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez, multiple sources told ESPN.com.

Golden Boy promotions called the news conference late Friday, but did not reveal the particulars.

Multiple sources said Mayweather, who hasn’t boxed since knocking out Ricky Hatton in a December 2007 welterweight title defense, will fight Marquez on July 18 on HBO PPV at the MGM Grand, the same venue hosting Saturday night’s fight between junior welterweight champion Hatton and Manny Pacquiao, the man who succeeded Mayweather as the pound-for-pound king.

The sides have been close to a deal for several days but the one hang up had been the exact weight. In the end, they settled on a maximum weight of 144 pounds, a source involved with the fight told ESPN.com.

Mayweather had wanted the fight to be at 145 pounds, but Marquez (50-4-1, 37 KOs), the smaller man coming up from the 135-pound division where he is champion, wanted the weight as low as possible.

The deal was finalized Friday afternoon following a flurry of conversations over a six-hour period, another source said.

It’s Saturday Night Fever in the sports world and the match ups couldn’t get any better, well maybe a little.

Tonight (back to front) we have Ricky Hatton, the junior welterweight world champion, who stands in the way of Manny Pacquiao, the pound-for-pound king, who stands on the precipice of history.

In the second bout we have Sid “the kid” Crosby,left, and the Penguins taking on NHL MVP Alexander Ovechkin, right, and the high flying Washington Capitals. @ of NHL’s biggest and brightest star take the ice to see who will go to the Eastern Conference Finals. This is a great one and it’s only game 1.

And in the main bout, the heavy weight match-up we have Paul “the truth” Pierce, left, and the reigning champion Celtics taking on big shot Ben Gordon, right, and the team that is demanding respect, the Chicago Bulls. If you haven’t the 8 million overtimes in this series yet… than you better not miss this one especially since it GAME 7! Last game Ray Allen went off looking like a crazed monster shooting 9-three pointers, including 3 of them in the clutch to tie the game in the winding seconds, tying a NBA Playoff record. This one is sure to be a thriller.

Here’s how ESPN’s Scoop Jackson sees it:

CHICAGO — What if someone had told Muhammad Ali after the Thrilla in Manila that he’d have to go another 15 with Joe Frazier … in two days?

What if someone said to Rafael Nadal after last year’s epic Wimbledon final that he and Roger Federer would have to go five more sets … in two days?

What if someone whispered in Kellen Winslow’s ear as he was on the verge of heat exhaustion in that 1982 AFC divisional playoff game in Miami that he had to play another 15 minutes of overtime … immediately?

This is where we are. Game 7 in the Bulls-Celtics series will be more like Game 8. With the total time played in the seven overtime periods, they’ve almost completed an extra game. The six games have featured 106 lead changes. Take out Game 3 and you have five games decided by more than three points. All games decided in the final possession.

And that’s more than likely what we’ll get in Game 7 on Saturday (7 p.m. CT, ESPN Radio 1000): The team that has the ball last will be the team that advances.

If we were honest with ourselves, we’d say we’ve seen nothing like this before. We always talk about how great Game 7s are in sports, but there has never been a lead-up to any Game 7 quite like this. And with that said, if you’re a Bulls fan, don’t be sad if it ends here.

It has to end there for someone.

Between now and tipoff, you will hear often from Bulls players and coaches (rightfully so) that “All the pressure is on Boston.” Don’t fall for it. Don’t be a sucker. Pressure, if taken for what it actually means, is a component of your comfort level. The Celtics have been in this position before. The Bulls haven’t.

And this is where last season will play a bigger role than most think … or are willing to believe. The fact that the Celtics (even though they had KG at the time) went through two Game 7s just last spring and ended the season with rings on their fingers is easily something Doc Rivers can tap into. Vinny Del Negro and his staff don’t have that.

The minute the Bulls begin to believe the pressure is on Boston, they’re defeated. Pressure isn’t always about the team that has the most to lose. The pressure might be on the team that is the most unfamiliar with being in this territory.

Think about it.

The Bulls, however, will definitely have their chances. Ray Allen will not have another game like Game 6. Just as Rivers said Allen “went off” for 51 because his legs were rested after fouling out early in Game 5, the same philosophy must apply on the other end. Allen should be tired. Legs done. Ray should be Ray again, not Jesus.

KG will not do a Willis Reed impersonation and walk onto the court in his sweats to ignite the crowd and inspire his teammates. This series seems like it’s something out of the Disney vault, but it ain’t. This is real reality TV. KG is hurt; he’s not playing or going to pretend like he will.

Now, the one problem — and it could be a big one — for Chicago will be trying to contain Ben Gordon if the game is close. See, BG fouling out and not being able to contribute in the overtimes of Game 6 will probably make him overanxious and feel like he has to make up for that in Game 7. That’s something the Bulls cannot afford to have happen.

But the question is, who’s going to stop it from happening?

Del Negro is a rookie coach. He’s not in a position to stop it because he hasn’t been with BG long enough. Derrick Rose can’t stop it because he hasn’t been in the league long enough to tell BG what’s necessary to win games like this. Ben’s not going to stop it because … well, that’s him. That’s what superstars do. That’s what they’re supposed to do.

It’s just going to be a matter of how it gets done. If the Bulls can find a way to run plays for Ben — re-read, plays for Ben — as opposed to just giving him the ball as he crosses half court with 20 seconds left on the shot clock and watching him try to figure out a way to get a shot off, then they have a chance of having Ben “shock the world,” as opposed to shaking up theirs. If they can find a way to get him the ball off screens with somewhere closer to eight seconds on the shot clock and somewhere around or just inside the 3-point line on several (not every!) occasions, then they have a legit shot (pun intended) at winning.

Basically, if Ben Gordon comes into the game with the same mentality and efficiency that Allen did for Boston in Game 6, then Orlando will be the Bulls’ next destination. But how do you tell a hero not to be a hero? Especially if he feels he might have let his team down in the previous game.

So basically it will come down to a mind game. Who will make the smarter decisions in the moment. A moment that is still fresh in the Celtics’ memories from just last postseason. A moment they lived to talk about … twice.

And after Game 7 — which, if the Bulls and the Celts stick to the script, will only deepen the validation that this is, game-to-game, the greatest playoff series in the history of any sport — we will see who let the supposed pressure get to them. As clichéd as it sounds, I think it applies to this series more than any other: It’s too bad one of these teams has to lose.

With the recession hitting our pockets hard, consumers are opting to stay at home rather than fork over their hard earned pennies for food delicacies.  Tom Coliccho, head judge of the of the Bravo reality TV show Top Chef and co-owner of the Craft restaurant empire, has a solution to our financial woes. Now, Damon Wise, executive chef of Craft, the restaurant will host a weekly Friday dinner that features inexpensive tapas style meals. Craft, known for its haute cuisine, fine ingredients, and celebrity chef, comes with a hefty price tag.  Just a few months ago, Coliccho introduced Tom’s Tuesday Dinner, where the busy chef would prepare an expensive impromptu tasting menu for a select few every other Tuesday, which started around $150 per person. Damon’s Frugal Fridays, which will be held in New York City at the 47 East 19^th Street private dining room, offers a wide range of food and beverages that all cost under $10. And don’t think just because it’s frugal that it’s not fancy, the 9 category menu includes such items as fried quail in a chutney and roasted garlic puree, four cheese risotto balls, and octopus, golden pineapple, and duck ham on a stick. Unlike the 6 week in advance reservations needed for most of the Craft restaurants, Frugal Fridays is first come first serve. Beware, there are already rumors of 2 hour waits, but try the “19^th Street Headache,” a lethal cocktail offered on the Friday menu that will make the wait much easier and at $4 each, you can afford to have a few.

Damon: Frugal Friday 47 East 19th Street, between Broadway and Park Avenue New York, NY http://www.craftrestaurant.com/

Well some moves that seem right, are wrong, even when they are right at first. This is the case for Kellogg’s, after they dumped Phelps over the notorious photo of him smoking via bong , now that move might not have been so smart. A large share of Kellogg’s consumers organized a boycott of the brand. Pot activists have spread the message of boycotting Kellogg’s  in support of Phelps to the point they have other not pot smoking customers onboard as well. Kellogg’s has even changed is audio recording at their office to address concerns about the brands relationship with Phelps.

The Sillicon Alley Insider reports more bad news for the brand:

Out of the 5,600 company reputations Vanno monitors, Kellogg ranked ninth before it booted Phelps. Now it’s ranked 83. Not even an industry-wide peanut scare inflicted as much damage on the food company’s reputation.