Indians pitcher wounded by bullet

A bullet struck the Cleveland Indians' team bus on its way to the airport after a game, wounding one player and grazing another, a spokesman said.
Team trainers were able to remove the bullet from the right calf of pitcher Kyle Denney, who was expected to spend the night in the hospital but was not seriously hurt, club spokesman Bart Swain said.

The rest of the team was unharmed in the incident, which happened as the team rode to Kansas City International Airport late Wednesday night after a game with the Kansas City Royals.

Swain said the shot was fired into the side of one of the Indians' two buses while it was on a ramp between Interstate 435 and I-70, grazing outfielder Ryan Ludwick.

"It went through his pants and then hit Denney," Swain said. "At first, there was a little bit of panic. Once we realized Kyle was OK, fears were subsided."

Police spokesman Darin Snapp said there were no suspects and it wasn't known if the team's bus was the intended target.

The Indians arrived safely at the airport and boarded a plane bound for Minneapolis early Thursday.

Denney, who started Wednesday night's 5-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium, was expected to rejoin the Indians on Thursday in Minnesota, where Cleveland begins its final series of the season Friday.

Expos Moving to Washington

Some day, Frank Robinson might feel like celebrating baseball's return to Washington. But yesterday was not the time, and this was definitely not the place.

"Any time a franchise moves, it's sad, because you are saying that you failed," said Robinson, a Hall of Fame player who was talking three hours before stepping onto the field at Olympic Stadium to manage the last-ever Montreal Expos home game.

Major League Baseball has owned and operated the Expos for the past three years, and yesterday, it made an announcement that had seemed inevitable for much longer than that: The Expos will leave Montreal after 36 seasons and play the 2005 season at RFK Stadium while a new ballpark and ownership group take shape.

Just what my third grader needs...NOT!

Staff Slip Gives Liquor to Children at Alexandria Private School

It was not the sort of letter a school delights in sending home to its families.

"Dear Third, Fourth, and Fifth Grade Parents:

"It is with great regret that I tell you that your child may have been exposed to alcohol today at lunch," said the missive signed by Alexander Harvey IV, head of the private Alexandria Country Day School.

It was tequila and margarita mix, to be precise, left in the refrigerator in a pitcher and mistaken for limeade by kitchen staff, who poured it into small cups and served it to children as a lunch treat, he wrote.

Some youngsters didn't like the smell and declined; others took a sip and declared it "gross," according to parents and Harvey.

An administrator who realized something was wrong started investigating, Harvey said, and quickly discovered that the limeade was really liquor -- although it is unclear why the kitchen staff didn't notice. It had been left over, he said, from a party two days earlier at the school for the staff, faculty and Board of Trustees.

The cups were collected, teachers were told and students were observed for any ill effects. There were none, Harvey said; the most any child took was believed to be a few sips because no cup was close to being emptied. The episode, he said, left him mortified.

"I am embarrassed and deeply sorry that this happened," Harvey wrote in the letter, adding that liquor was immediately banned on campus -- a policy already set at many schools -- and that all future faculty parties would be off school grounds. He also spoke with staff about health issues involved with serving children food or drink from open containers.

Alexandria police spokeswoman Amy Bertsch said nobody informed the police. Alexandria Commonwealth's Attorney S. Randolph Sengel said that "while it's true procuring alcohol for someone under the legal age of 21 is illegal," the incident would not rise to the level of criminal conduct because the kitchen staff members did not know they were serving alcohol. He said it sounded like "an innocent mistake."

Harvey told parents in the letter that everybody in the school, with 240 students from kindergarten through eighth grade who pay tuition from $14,200 to $15,600, was informed the same day, Sept. 10.

"We ask the students to be honest and admit their mistakes, and we should do the same," the letter said.

Parents learned about the episode that day when their children came home talking about it and carrying Harvey's letter.

Bill Paxson, a former U.S. congressman who has two children at the school, said yesterday that his third-grader was "very excited about it."

"Her words were, 'Something really fun and illegal happened today at school.' Then she proceeded to say what happened. She said it was gross and disgusting stuff. . . . She said she tasted it and it was so disgusting she couldn't drink it."

Paxson said he was pleased with the school's reaction.

"They handled it in a textbook way," he said.

Kim McKernan, vice president of the Parent-Teacher League, said yesterday that she heard parents praising Harvey for addressing the situation "so quickly and honestly" and that nobody she knew had questioned why the staff did not realize alcohol was being served.

Harvey said he received no complaints from parents.

Launch of new $50 bill today

NEW $50 TO DEBUT AT UNION STATION

The Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the Federal Reserve and the U.S Secret Service will release into circulation the first newly redesigned $50 bill on Tuesday, September 28, 2004. Underscoring the "Stars and Stripes" design theme of the new note, government officials will spend the first new $50 at Alamo Flags, a flag retailer in Washington, D.C.'s, Union Station on Capitol Hill.

U.S. Bureau of Printing and Engraving Web site

New Fastest Roller Coaster

Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, NJ is opening the world's tallest and fastest roller coaster this spring — a thrill ride that accelerates to 128 mph in 3.5 seconds and rises 456 feet off the ground.

Plans for Kingda Ka, which is expected to be the cornerstone of new development at the central New Jersey amusement park, were to be unveiled Wednesday.

The current speed and height record holder is "Top Thrill Dragster" at Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio. Made by Intamin — the same company Six Flags hired to build Kingda Ka — Dragster shoots riders to 120 mph in 4 seconds and takes them to a height of 420 feet.

An animated depiction of Kingda Ka shows the coaster creeping slowly, stopping and then launching forward horizontally at nearly 130 mph before climbing at a 90-degree angle more than 45 stories above the park.

The coaster then spirals 270 degrees as it plummets, flattens out and climbs again as it shoots over a 129-foot hill, which the company says will make riders feel weightless. It's over in about 50 seconds.

"This is the first step in a process of really transforming Six Flags Great Adventure from the largest regional theme park in the world to a true regional destination," Kieran Burke, chief executive officer of Oklahoma City-based Six Flags, told The Associated Press.

Six Flags last year had 35 million visitors at 31 parks. In July, it reported a 3.3 percent attendance drop compared with last year.

Duane Marden, 35, a Brookfield, Wis., computer programmer who runs the online Roller Coaster Data Base, has ridden the Ohio coaster twice and calls it "a very intense experience." He expects the one in New Jersey to quickly become popular with enthusiasts.

"Anybody on the East Coast who is into roller coasters is going to be on this ride very soon," he said.

Rocco DiSpirito's Restaurants to be closed

Rocco DiSpirito famously opened his namesake restaurant in a reality show last summer and was famously thrown out by his partners in July. Now he has been removed from a second restaurant, Union Pacific, once the jewel in his crown, which will close at the end of the year.

Starting next week Mr. DiSpirito will no longer be the executive chef at Union Pacific, where he first made his mark when the restaurant opened in 1997. Main Street Restaurant Partners, his partners in Union Pacific, said yesterday that it would close on Christmas Eve, and until then Laurent Tourondel, the chef at BLT Steak, would act as a consultant. That leaves Mr. DiSpirito without a kitchen to cook in.

Rocco's on 22nd closed last week. In July, Jeffrey Chodorow and China Grill Management, its owner, were granted a court order barring Mr. DiSpirito from the kitchen, even though his mother, Nicolina, remained and made meatballs.

Steven Scher said he and his partners and Mr. DiSpirito "decided together it was time to close Union Pacific." He added: "Its run had ended. That was its life span. We had a long successful run together. Rocco will be moving on to pursue his other ventures, and we will be moving on to other ventures with Laurent Tourendel." Asked if Union Pacific still made money, he said: "Obviously, if it were extraordinarily profitable." He then paused and said, "I don't want to say anymore."

Mr. Scher said Mr. DiSpirito would be nominally involved with Union Pacific because he is a partner. Mr. DiSpirito could not be reached for comment but did release a statement by e-mail: "I found my culinary soul at Union Pacific, and my collaboration with Main Street Restaurant Partners has been a great experience for me. I have made a decision to take a break from the day-to-day operations of a restaurant to focus on other opportunities outside the restaurant world. Chef Laurent Tourondel is an excellent chef, and I wish him much success."

Union Pacific will now be a joint venture between the BLT Group, run by Jimmy Haber, and Main Street Restaurant Partners, which also owns Rain, Rain East, Django and Calle Ocho. Mr. Haber and Mr. Tourondel are still planning to open BLT Fish in the former AZ space.

"I will be consulting three days a week until the restaurant closes," Mr. Tourondel said yesterday. "I will be doing a very simple menu."

The owners say that Union Pacific will reopen next year as an offshoot of BLT Steak.

As for Rocco's on 22nd, Mr. Chodorow is bringing in Claude Troisgros, who has a restaurant in Rio de Janeiro and is the consulting chef at the Blue Door at the Delano Hotel in Miami Beach. Mr. Troisgros ran the restaurant CT, which occupied the space that became Union Pacific. His family owns the Michelin three-star restaurant Troisgros in Roanne, France, where Mr. Tourondel has worked.

Mr. Chodorow said Mr. Troisgois will be serving Brazilian food with French fare. "The décor will have a Carmen Miranda spirit," said Mr. Chodorow, whose feud with Mr. DiSpirito became a plot line of "The Restaurant."

Mr. DiSpirito, who is 37, attended the Culinary Institute of America when he was 16, apprenticed in France and worked at New York restaurants including Lespinasse and Dava before opening Union Pacific in August 1997. On Nov. 26 that year, the restaurant received two stars from Ruth Reichl of The New York Times, who raised it to three stars on Aug. 5, 1998. This year, despite having undergone a refurbishing, Union Pacific lost one of the three stars when Marian Burros reviewed it on Feb. 11.

In addition to his restaurants, Mr. DiSpirito wrote books and has been making frequent appearances on television, including selling sausages on the QVC shopping network.

story

Seinfeld coming to DVD

This year, Festivus comes a bit early for Seinfeld fans.

First, viewers of the Emmy-winning sitcom will finally be able to enjoy the show's first three seasons on DVD on Nov. 23. And two nights later, on Thanksgiving, Jerry and his New York cohorts return to their old Thursday night stomping grounds on NBC for The Seinfeld Story, a one-hour retrospective of the show's early history hosted by Seinfeld, and including episode clips and fresh interviews with costars Jason Alexander, Michael Richards and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Italian Ices

I'd like to open up one of these on a beach somewhere. We have had their Italian Ices a few times now. I think I like chocolate the best so far. You have to try the Gelati (layered Rita's vanilla or chocolate old-fashioned custard and your favorite flavor of Italian Ice or Cream Ice) . Excellent!

Looks like currently you can find them in Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia.

If you don't have one near you, I found these Luigi's in the grocery. My favorite is the Strawberry Banana Blast and Blue Razzin' Lemonade combo.

Twinkies Maker Seeking Ch. 11 Protection

Interstate Bakeries Corp., the nation's largest wholesaler baker whose products include Twinkies and Wonder Bread, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection early Wednesday.

I think we'll take two

Just what Shelley needs to take the kids to school.

Navistar's 14,500-pound vehicle gets a whopping 7 miles a gallon.

International Truck and Engine Corp. is producing what it calls the world's biggest production pickup, a 14,500-pound monster capable of towing 20 tons.

Family Day is coming

September 27,2004

Hectic work schedules, after-school activities and time with school friends often interfere with dinnertime. Yet research by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University consistently finds that the more often children eat dinner with their families, the less likely they are to smoke, drink or use illegal drugs.

more information

Miss Universe Fashion

TV frame grab combination showing Miss Universe 2004 Jennifer Hawkins of Australia as she hurries off the catwalk after unintentionally revealing her G-string during a fashion show in Sydney. Jennifer's Bora blue-and-gold gown became caught on her stiletto and fell down around her ankles exposing some of the assets that led to her being crowned Miss Universe in Quito in June.

Picnic in Findlay today

We drove up to Findlay today for a nice picnic. Played a little whiffle ball too!

Pro-Hunting Demonstrator

A pro-hunting demonstrator taking part in a gathering outside the Houses of Parliament as MPs voted on a ban.

Barry Bonds does it, 700!

Jack wants to join Cub Scouts

Since he's not showing much interest in playing baseball anymore, he's going to finish out the season and join Cub Scouts. He'll be a Tiger Cub.

Oktoberfest in Germany

A waitress carries one-liter beer mugs during the opening day of the Oktoberfest in Munich September 18, 2004.

Man phones daughter at his own funeral

Man presumed dead in train accident calls daughter at own funeral

Toranto, Canada - Dane Squires was late for his own funeral.

At least it seemed that way after people gathered Thursday at a Toronto funeral home to mourn the retired welder from Newfoundland, whom they believed had been hit by a train.

Relatives of Squires were watching the casket being loaded into a hearse when his daughter Trina was told she had an important phone call.

Her father was on the other end.

"She totally, totally lost it," Squires' brother Gilbert said.

"She said, `There's a ghost talking to me on the phone. Please somebody try to make sense out of this because I'm losing my mind.'"

Squires was initially identified as the man who was hit by a commuter train last Friday night. The body was badly mutilated in the accident but still fit Squires' description, police said. Authorities haven't yet identified the victim.

"He went to my sister's house, and whoever answered the door fainted," said Gilbert Squires, noting his brother didn't become aware of the confusion until he read his own obituary in the newspaper.

Squires' sister identified the dead man as her brother after viewing the body at the coroner's office this week, police said.

Fitting License plate for Florida

Gwen Stefani

Gwen Stefani, untitled (Nov. 23)

Last hand: As frontwoman of No Doubt — whose last studio album, 2001's Rock Steady, has sold 2.8 million — the platinum blonde has become a darling of the music and fashion communities, with a firm foundation of critical and commercial cachet.

Stakes: With No Doubt's future in little doubt, and a blossoming film career to boot, a successful solo bow could cement Stefani's stature as a multitasking A-lister.

Owners Lock Out NHL Players Over Contract Dispute

National Hockey League owners carried out their threat to lock out players on Wednesday, shutting down the league after the two sides were unable to reach a new labor deal.

Jessica Simpson to Play Daisy Duke

Jessica Simpson will have more than a t-shirt on for her upcoming film role.
The pop star will add some snug denim to her wardrobe to play southern babe Daisy Duke in the feature film adaptation of "The Dukes of Hazzard," according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Simpson, 24, will star opposite Seann William Scott and Johnny Knoxville, who will play Bo and Luke Duke, respectively.

The '80s sitcom follows the adventures of cousins Bo and Luke Duke, whose chief joys in life are tooling around in their Dodge Charger, the General Lee, and messing with the Hazzard county lawmen Boss Hogg and Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane. The boys are aided by Daisy and Uncle Jesse. Brunette Catherine Bach originated the role of Daisy Duke and made the eponymous short shorts famous.

Jay Chandrasekhar ("Broken Lizard's Super Troopers" and "Club Dread") will direct.

The role marks Simpson's feature film acting debut. She previously appeared as herself in 2002's "The Master of Disguise" and on television in MTV's "Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica" with husband Nick Lachey, former 98 Degrees boy band member.

NHL Owners Plan to Lock Out Players Tomorrow

NHL Owners Plan to Lock Out Players Tomorrow Without New Deal

Barring a last-minute contract settlement, National Hockey League owners plan to authorize a lockout of players tomorrow after the current labor agreement expires.

The agreement between the league and its players union expires tonight at midnight. The 30 NHL teams are scheduled to open their training camps on Thursday, and the regular season is slated to begin on Oct. 13.

The league, which says it lost about $273 million during the 2002-03 season, wants a salary cap that would reduce player payrolls by about 24 percent to $31 million per team. The union opposes a salary cap.

NHL owners will meet tomorrow in New York to vote on the lockout if a new labor agreement isn't reached. It would be the league's first work stoppage since the 1994-95 season, which was shortened by a 103-day lockout.

The only other work stoppage in modern times was a 10-day players strike in 1992. Missed games were rescheduled after a new agreement was reached.

The NHL says the 87-year-old league can't survive under the existing economic structure. The players say owners aren't including all revenue in their calculations.

Last week, the NHL rejected a union proposal that included a revenue-sharing plan, a ``luxury tax'' on clubs with high payrolls and a one-time 5 percent reduction in salaries.

In July, the union turned down NHL proposals that would have given players more than 50 percent of league revenue and set an average player salary of $1.3 million.

Payroll made up 75 percent of the NHL's $1.96 billion in revenue last season, the highest percentage of the four major North American sports, according to a study commissioned by the NHL. The average player salary has tripled over the past 10 years, from $558,000 to $1.83 million.

The league, which says it lost about $273 million during the 2002-03 season, wants a salary cap that would reduce player payrolls by about 24 percent to $31 million per team. The union opposes a salary cap.

NHL owners will meet tomorrow in New York to vote on the lockout if a new labor agreement isn't reached. It would be the league's first work stoppage since the 1994-95 season, which was shortened by a 103-day lockout.

The only other work stoppage in modern times was a 10-day players strike in 1992. Missed games were rescheduled after a new agreement was reached.

The NHL says the 87-year-old league can't survive under the existing economic structure. The players say owners aren't including all revenue in their calculations.

Last week, the NHL rejected a union proposal that included a revenue-sharing plan, a ``luxury tax'' on clubs with high payrolls and a one-time 5 percent reduction in salaries.

In July, the union turned down NHL proposals that would have given players more than 50 percent of league revenue and set an average player salary of $1.3 million.

Payroll made up 75 percent of the NHL's $1.96 billion in revenue last season, the highest percentage of the four major North American sports, according to a study commissioned by the NHL. The average player salary has tripled over the past 10 years, from $558,000 to $1.83 million.

Wimbledon Premiere

Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova, this year's Wimbledon champion, arrives at the premiere of the film "Wimbledon" at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Roberto Clemente Sign

I ordered this sign today.

This was really silly. If I ordered it directly from the Sports Section website, the shipping was $8.99. But, if I ordered it from shop.com shipping was FREE. Sad thing is that it's the same company and if you order diectly from their site you get screwed.

Guess where I ordered it from?

Buckeyes Simply Expect to Win

Good fortune is an offshoot of good coaching

If you placed Jim Tressel 3 feet in front of a Gatling gun and fired the trigger, not one bullet would scratch his sweater vest. Bury his Ohio State Buckeyes down in the planet’s core and they’d find a straw long enough to poke up through the Earth’s crust for air. If the past three seasons have taught anything, it’s that OSU is college football’s most fortunate team, right?
These are the Luckeyes, right?

Well, fate has smiled kindly on the Buckeyes, no doubt about it, since the start of the 2002 season.

Yet that isn’t the entire answer to the riddle of how OSU keeps wiggling into victories that seemingly don’t fit.

Nobody, not even Teflon Tressel, can have a string of luck run as long as the Buckeyes have enjoyed while winning 27 of their past 29 games.

Tressel has managed to create something else much stronger than fortune during his tenure as coach, and it was evident again yesterday when Mike Nugent booted a 55-yard field goal on the game’s final play to beat Marshall 24-21.

The Buckeyes, as a bonded group, simply expect to win the game at all times, no matter how dire the situation.

"Why you’ve been seeing what you’ve been seeing is that the kids believe," defensive coordinator Mark Snyder said.

Combine that confidence with the talent that a traditionladen powerhouse annually possesses and it makes for a powerful potion.

"Coach Tressel has brought this to the team," senior tailback Lydell Ross said. "You see it on the field. He’s instilled in us a way to win and what to expect. It’s like a natural thing."

This is not a great OSU team, at least not yet. The Buckeyes might be ranked No. 9 in the nation, but they’ve got a slew of new starters, including sophomore quarterback Justin Zwick.

The inexperience showed often yesterday as OSU staggered through a second half dominated by the Thundering Herd.

Marshall had the ball for 19:45 to OSU’s 10:15 in the final two quarters. In the fourth quarter alone, Zwick threw two interceptions and receiver Santonio Holmes lost a fumble.

In all, the Buckeyes lost four turnovers to zero by Marshall. The Buckeyes finished with 79 rushing yards and failed to convert eight of 10 third-down situations.

Yet none of those numbers ultimately mattered.

Marshall helped OSU in the game’s final 25 minutes by getting too cute with a failed fake field goal attempt, missing a 35-yard field goal attempt, shanking a punt and getting too conservative on offense on its final possession.

At clutch moments, the Thundering Herd played as if it hoped to win, negating its long stretches of dominance.

OSU expected to win, even when it couldn’t run the ball, couldn’t stop the run and suffered three turnovers in the game’s final 10 minutes.

The Buckeyes are going to have some rough moments this season, perhaps as soon as Saturday when they play at North Carolina State.

OSU will endure some growing pains. There are too many players, namely Zwick, who need more experience.

Those green players, however, already carry themselves with a certain confidence that should serve as a cornerstone for improvement. Like their departed former teammates, they expect to stay upright on greased tightropes.

"We’re such a close-knit team," junior linebacker Bobby Carpenter said. "Everyone on the team trusts each other. No one ever points fingers. We just expect to get the job done."

Tressel is the one who creates and cultivates a positive environment for his team. He’s established a palpable level of expectation for success.

OSU, because of its tradition, will always have talent. Talent doesn’t always win.

Talent combined with unshakable belief that good things will happen is a difficult combination to defeat.

Luck isn’t the answer to everything.

By Todd Jones, The Columbus Dispatch

article

September 11th Anniversary

Mike Nugent kicks game winning 55-yard FG

Two seconds remained in a 21-21 game. Marshall had stood toe-to-toe with Ohio State’s big boys all day, and the Thundering Herd was looking to go to overtime and possibly end OSU’s 109-year winning streak over Mid-American Conference teams.

Ohio State kicker Mike Nugent kicks the game winner

The Buckeyes had taken over at their 45-yard line with 25 seconds left and no timeouts, and quarterback Justin Zwick had completed three passes and spiked the ball.

An illegal-shift penalty put the ball back on the Marshall 37, meaning Nugent was backpedaling the field to attempt a career-long 55-yard field goal.

The tension, the pressure, the chaos — none of that bothered the senior captain from Centerville.

He stepped up, slammed his right foot into the ball and sent it sailing safely inside the left upright, allowing the Buckeyes (2-0) to blow out a relieved breath and escape with a 24-21 victory.

"That’s his personality — very calm," said Carolyn Nugent, Mike’s mother. "I’m shaking right now — my knees are weak. But he gives me strength. He’ll say, ‘I want it. That’s what I want to do every game. I want the game-winner.’ "

Nugent’s kick bailed out his teammates, who committed four turnovers and did not force one. That puts OSU at minus-seven in turnover ratio this season.

"We’re lucky, I guess, because typically if you’re at minus-seven, you’re going to be 0-2," coach Jim Tressel said. "But that tells you that something else must be going substantially right."

Like Nugent, perhaps, who shrugged off his heroics.

"When you say, ‘What was your emotion when I won the game?’ I don’t think I won the game at all," he said. "I just kind of did my job when I was called upon. I think the best part about the game was how Justin handled the adversity he saw all game and took the guys down the field the last drive. That was unbelievable."

Indeed, Zwick suffered through an up-and-down day that saw him throw for 255 yards and three touchdowns in the first half but turn wild in the second half to keep the Thundering Herd (0-2) in the game.

Zwick threw two bad interceptions — one of which set up Marshall at the OSU 13 and resulted in the tying touchdown with 8:40 left in the game.

He played all but one series and ended 18 of 30 passing for 318 yards.

With time winding down, Zwick found his favorite target, Santonio Holmes (10 catches, 218 yards, two TDs), twice for 17 yards. Holmes got out of bounds both times, stopping the clock with 17 seconds left and the ball at the Marshall 38.

Zwick then hit tight end Ryan Hamby for 5 yards in the middle of the field. The clock wound under 10 seconds as Hamby struggled to free himself and hurry back to the line.

"(Marshall players) were laying on him a little bit," Zwick said, "so it took him longer than he wanted."

Hamby was still moving when Zwick spiked the ball, drawing the penalty.

But the increased distance did not deter Nugent.

"It kind of scared me at first," he said of his kick. "First it was going dead center, and then it faded out (left), and then it started going back in.

"I don’t know if that’s because I told it to. I was screaming at it."

By halftime, Zwick and Holmes already had hooked up for 199 yards and two touchdowns. Roy Hall caught Zwick’s third TD pass of the half, and the Buckeyes led 21-14.

Zwick said the Buckeyes noticed that Marshall’s safeties, crowding the line to stop the run, were vulnerable to deep throws.

Marshall had a chance to tie after a 16-play, 85-yard drive in the third quarter. The Herd ran on 14 of those plays, with Ahmad Bradshaw (17 carries, 81 yards overall) and Earl Charles (16 for 73) repeatedly bursting through the OSU defensive line for good gains.

But after being held to an apparent field goal try, Marshall was stopped scoreless when it tried a fake.

Zwick’s first interception led to Marshall’s tying drive. On that possession, Herd quarterback Stan Hill (22 of 34, 140 yards, one TD) threw incomplete on third-and-9 at the OSU 12, but Tressel decided to accept a holding penalty and give Marshall another chance — third-and-19 from the 23.

Hill promptly threw a scoring strike to Brad Bates to make it 21-21.

"We talked about it a little bit," Tressel said of accepting the penalty. "As it turned out, it wasn’t the best decision, but you have to make decisions and you have to do it in 20 seconds."

OSU dodged a bullet after Zwick’s second interception when Ian O’Connor missed a 35-yard field goal try that would have given the Herd the lead with 3:17 left.

Had Marshall won, it would have been the first MAC team to beat Ohio State since Akron did the trick in 1895.

article

Finns set to face U.S. in World Cup Hockey

Create Our Day" has become the rallying cry of Team Finland as it aims for its first championship in a World Cup event.

But while coach Raimo Summanen spurred his players — and his country's hockey-mad fans — when he coined the phrase two weeks ago, opposing teams in this global tournament realize there's more to the Finns than fanciful hopes that they are a team of destiny.

The Finns are tough — probably the toughest team outside North America.

The Finns, who have never advanced to the final of a World Cup or Canada Cup, don't want people to get the wrong idea — goons they are not.

But when it comes to gutsy work ethic, fitness, and yes, flattening body checks, they are on par with Canada, the U.S. and any other country in this tourney.

"I think work ethic is the biggest thing for us," said Saku Koivu, who leads Finland into tonight's semifinal against the U.S. (7 p.m., ESPN 2), with the winner advancing to Tuesday's final in Toronto.

"When we work hard, our hardest, we play well as a team. We are not a good team if we are a bunch of individuals. We are checking ... we take the big hit when we can, but we aren't a team that relies only on hitting."

The Finns, who have never finished higher than third in this event (1991), left Helsinki after a hard-fought quarter-final win over Germany that had fans at home getting excited.

"I don't think anybody in Finland believed we would get this far," Summanen said after practice yesterday.

"Finland is just a small country so it would be huge for hockey in our country if we could win this tournament," added forward Teemu Selanne. "The celebration would be like the summer carnival in Rio (de Janeiro)."

The Finns, though, are relying on far more than emotions. Goalie Miikka Kiprusoff continues where he left off for the Calgary Flames in the Stanley Cup final, having risen from obscurity to become one of the finest young goalies in the game. Jere Lehtinen of the Dallas Stars and Kimmo Timonen of Nashville are having great tournaments offensively to complement the country's top scoring stars, Koivu, Selanne and Olli Jokinen.

But what's raising eyebrows in the tourney is the Finns' peskiness and physical play. Players like Ville Nieminen of the Flames are needling opponents very effectively.

It's something U.S. coach Ron Wilson is aware of, but isn't necessarily worried about.

"Let's not forget they are doing that in the European pool, but will they do it in the North American pool?" Wilson wondered.

"They know they won't intimidate us. ... But if they try to intimidate us, they're going down the wrong road. And conversely, I don't think we'll intimidate them either. Let's just see what happens."

The Finns say they have recovered from any jet lag related to their flight across the Atlantic on Wednesday.

They have become media darlings once again in their homeland, but endured a major distraction along the way.

Veteran defenceman Janne Niiminaa sparked headlines of discontent and disunity in the dressing room when he left the team in the preliminary round after feuding with the coaching staff over his role.

"That's behind us," Koivu said. "You don't want to see a teammate leave your team. Certainly it was a distraction before the Germany game. There's a lot of individuals and egos but just because one player and the coaches can't solve a problem ... doesn't mean the rest of the team can't be fine. We are together here. We're playing as a team."

QUARTERFINALS
Europe
#1 Finland 2, #4 Germany 1
#3 Czech Republic 6, #2 Sweden 1

North America
#1 Canada 5, #4 Slovakia 1
#3 United States 5, #2 Russia 3

SEMIFINALS
Finland vs. United States
Czech Republic vs. Canada

Meet any Olympians at work today?

I did. Three from Team USA Morgan Hamm, Paul Hamm and Blaine Wilson stopped by today. They're a lot smaller than I thought they would be.

From left to right: Brett McClure, Morgan Hamm, Paul Hamm, Jason Gatson, Blaine Wilson and Guard Young.

In addition to earning a silver medal in the team competition during the summer games in Athens, Greece, Paul Hamm became the first American man to win the all-around gold medal. Paul also earned a silver medal in the men’s horizontal bar competition.

Blaine Wilson was born and raised in Columbus, and still resides in the city with his wife and their infant daughter. The Athens games were his third appearance as a representative of the U.S. men’s Olympic gymnastic team. He is a five-time national champion.

Jeopardy champ reportedly finally loses

Ken Jennings, a Utah man who holds Jeopardy's record for the most wins on the U.S. TV quiz show, reportedly ended his winning streak after his 75th game.

Unidentified sources said Jennings, whose 41st victory was broadcast Wednesday, was defeated at Tuesday's taping of the show after earning approximately $2.5 million in cash and prizes on the long-running game show. His final episode likely will air later this fall, TV Week reported Thursday.

Jeopardy officials would not confirm news of Jennings' loss, and Jennings was tight-lipped in an appearance on CBS Early Morning Thursday.

'Jeopardy!' is now in its 21st season, and since its inception we have never disclosed whether a contestant has won or lost before a show has aired. We have no intention of changing this policy, said an unidentified spokesperson for the show.

Jennings, a software engineer, began his winning streak June 2, continued winning throughout the summer and returned on Monday's season premiere.

After winning the show that aired Wednesday, his 41st, he had amassed $1,380,661.

The series' limit on five consecutive wins was lifted at the beginning of the last season.

No fun for you!

I got this message at work when I tried to pull up a website today.

"Humor" content is forbidden by "Company A" Information Security policy.

Of course you would not want your employees to have "fun" at work. That would be ludicrous.

Diet Coke anyone?

This Kate Beckinsale chick is not bad. I never really paid any attention to who she was. Saw an interview with her recently. Very pretty. She can pour me a Diet Coke anytime!

Talk Like A Pirate Day 2004

Are you ready? Coming September 19th - Talk Like A Pirate Day.

Top Ten Pickup Lines for the Lady Pirates

10. What are YOU doing here?

9. Is that a belayin' pin in yer britches, or are ye ... (this one is never completed)

8. Come show me how ye bury yer treasure, lad!

7. So, tell me, why do they call ye, "Cap'n Feathersword?"

6. That's quite a cutlass ye got thar, what ye need is a good scabbard!

5. Aye, I guarantee ye, I've had a twenty percent decrease in me "lice ratio!"

4. I've crushed seventeen men's skulls between me thighs!

3. C'mon, lad, shiver me timbers!

2. RAMMING SPEED!

...and the number one Female Pirate Pick-up Line:

1. You. Pants Off. Now!

Get your Ohio State Buckeye playing cards

These look pretty good.

Chris Speilman Stacker

These are on sale at Speedway 10/1. I think 'll get one.

Millennium Park

I was able to visit the park in downtown Chicago. Pretty nice. The picture here is a bar that's on the ice rink which opens in the winter.

Dallas Mavericks Fan

Puerto Rican singer Roselyn Sanchez

Need a new car?

Europe's 'smart' cars coming to U.S.

Importers promise 60-mpg coupes; carmaker itself eyes SUV

The tiny car that won over Europeans with its cute looks and very high mileage is finally coming to America, just not in the way you might expect it to.

The 60-mpg, two-seat coupes are made by a European company called smart, but the DaimlerChrysler division is not the one selling them here anytime soon. True, they will be sold in Canada starting in September, but not so in the United States.

Instead, smart USA is betting Americans won't want the small smarts, at least not yet, and has taken a different strategy: a smart SUV, available here in 2006. The first press release touts not the mileage but that it's "loaded with adrenaline — both off road as well as on."

While that might run counter to smart's origins as a nifty, thrifty machine, it also has left the door open for third-party importers to bring the small smarts into the United States.

And that's exactly what several importers plan to do.

Importers' hurdles
The most ambitious plan was conceived by a German entrepreneur, an auto conversion specialist and an electric-vehicle company.

Thomas Heidemann threw himself, and $5 million, into his import venture after selling his construction business in Germany. His goal: Selling 15,000 smarts a year in large U.S. cities.

Two years later, he's learned that it's not easy getting a foreign car modified for approval by U.S. agencies. But with the help of a G&K Automotive Conversion, a California company, he's finally gotten approval from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration and is awaiting emission results from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Heidemann, of course, thinks smart has the wrong strategy. "I never would do an SUV because there are so many of them already," he says. Besides, "the times are changing, you see that with hybrid cars, with smaller cars" like the popular MINI Cooper.

Heidemann's company, smart-automobile, Inc., signed a deal to sell the cars through ZAP, a California company that until now had specialized in all-electric vehicles. ZAP has agreed to pay $10 million for exclusive rights to distribute the car for 10 years and is now lining up dealers.

"The response has been incredible," says Alex Campbell, a ZAP spokesman. "When people found out that we were in this deal, they have been contacting us wanting to buy them right away."

Pricing should run between $12,000 for the cheapest model, and just over $20,000 for a convertible with all the available extras, Heidemann says. That's a markup of a few thousand dollars over the price in Europe, where Heidemann has been buying them from dealers.

Each dealer will have a service department, he adds, and vehicles will be warrantied by smart-automobile. Specifics are being worked out, but a basic warranty should be around 36 months.

Some 200 are in a California warehouse, he adds, ready to ship once the federal green light is given. Ironically, California won't be one of the first states to see the cars, since its car certification process is even more stringent than U.S. standards.

But is it safe?
A potentially bigger obstacle for Heidemann is convincing Americans that the smart cars — just over eight feet long — are safe.

Smart
The frame for smart cars is made of reinforced steel, creating what engineers compare to the way a walnut shell protects the nut.

In Europe's five-star crash rating system, the smarts get three stars.

Since introducing smarts in 1998, the carmaker itself has spent time and advertising money convincing Europeans on safety, touting a frame design it likens to a walnut, with high-strength steel beams reinforcing key areas.

Smart also likes to show off a 30-mph crash test between a smart coupe and a Mercedes sedan twice as big. "The passenger cell survived the collision almost unscathed," says spokeswoman Julia Knittel.

Other safety features on the manual transmission smarts include braking and stability technology usually found only on high-end luxury cars. And on hills, a start assist keeps the brakes on for just under a second to allow time for the feet to adjust.

Smart
Since smart cars are so short, side impacts like this crash test will likely hit an axle. Smart engineers say that will absorb some of the impact, adding protection for those inside.

Adrian Lund, of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, isn't impressed by such claims, saying that "every carmaker advertises that they have the state of the art design" on safety.

But he adds that as long as the imports meet with federal approval "they're not unsafe."

"On the other hand," he says, "they are small and lightweight and cannot protect you" as well as a larger car. "Fatalities are much higher with small, lightweight vehicles."

The institute, a group funded by insurers that crash tests cars, hasn't tested the smarts and probably wouldn't unless they were sold in large quantities.

"I don't expect them to be less safe than other small cars," Lund says, "it's just that they face the same limitations."

Parent's plans
Smart USA, which is run out of the Mercedes-Benz USA headquarters in Montvale, N.J., won't have to worry about the size issue with its SUV, dubbed the formore.

Smart USA plans to sell a smart SUV, called the formore, in the United States in 2006.

But why doesn't smart itself bring in the smaller cars? It feels a bigger market lies in the small SUV segment, where drivers can get a bit of both worlds. So smart will build a vehicle similar in size to the Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V and sell them through 60 Mercedes dealers.

The company hopes to sell 30,000 a year in the United States, and product manager Mark Ramsey says the first should be available in the third quarter of 2006. No price has been set yet.

As for the small smarts, Ramsey says the company is flattered by the importers. "It speaks very well for the car and the brand in general," he says, while adding that his concern about third-party imports is how they'd be serviced and warrantied.

And Ramsey doesn't discount the possibility that the company might sell the small smarts, known in Europe as fortwos, through Mercedes dealers in America some day. "We are definitely looking at the next generation of the fortwo to come to the United States," he says.

Canadians get diesel versions Up north, meanwhile, Canadian drivers will get two-seater smart cars starting in September. In fact, they'll have two models to chose from that get around 70 mpg because they're diesels, not gasoline-powered.

The models use what's called common rail diesel, a technology that's cleaner than older diesel engines. The top speed is 75 mph and prices start around $12,100 for the coupe and $15,170 for the cabriolet.

So what about heading north and bringing a diesel-powered smart back over the border? JoAnne Caza, a Mercedes-Benz spokesperson in Canada, says don't even think about it. "It is not possible since the Canadian car is not certified for sale in the USA," she says.