Git your Terrapin Fishers on

Source: Sports Network ()

Niners Game Could Impact Bucs’ Playoff Position

(Sports Network) - To be No. 3 or not to be No. 3 - that is the Shakespearean
question facing the NFC South Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who will travel
to meet the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

The Bucs, who clinched their second division title in the last three years
with last week’s 37-3 pummeling of the Atlanta Falcons, are contending with
the similarly 9-5 Seattle Seahawks for the third seed in the NFC. The Bucs are
currently No. 4 in the conference hierarchy due to their head-to-head loss in
Seattle back in Week 1, but it is a matter of perspective whether that is a
more or less advantageous position in which to be.

If the current seeding holds over the next two weeks, Tampa Bay would be in
line to play the No. 5 New York Giants in the First-Round, with an eye toward
a trip to No. 1 Dallas if the home favorites win on January’s first weekend.

No. 3-seeded Seattle, meanwhile, is in line to play an up-and-coming and
physical Minnesota team in the First-Round, and the prize for winning that
contest would be a trip to frigid Green Bay in the Divisional Round.

If the above scenario indeed plays out, you would have to believe Jon Gruden
and his staff would be none too upset about ranking as number four in the
pecking order.

That said, the Buccaneers will undoubtedly be gunning for a victory in San
Francisco, where they face a 49ers team that has been among the most
disappointing units in football this season.

The Niners were 20-13 winners over the Bengals last Saturday night, just the
second win in the last 12 games for Mike Nolan’s crew.

With the triumph and the Rams’ loss to Green Bay on Sunday, San Francisco
pulled out of a last-place tie in the NFC West.

SERIES HISTORY

San Francisco holds a 14-3 in its all-time regular season series with
Tampa Bay, with the losses coming in 1980, 1997, …

Source: Examiner.com ()

College Park
(Map, News)
-
Comcast Center wasn’t at full capacity Saturday afternoon, though it was overflowing with frustrated fans. The holiday break crowd — announced as a sellout at 17,950 fans — showered the Terrapins with boos in the closing seconds of a 67-59 loss to American University. It was just the second time in 16 meetings the Eagles had toppled the Terrapins, and the first since the 1926-27 season.

Maryland (6-6) lost for the third consecutive game — all at Comcast Center — and is 6-6 for the first time since the 1995-96 season. The Terrapins have lost three straight home games for the first time since February 1993.

“Its real frustrating,” sophomore guard Eric Hayes said. “We’ve beaten a Big Ten team [Illinois], and we’re capable of doing that. To come out and play like we did against Ohio, and tonight against American, we’re kind of just playing down to the competition.”

Maryland shot just 35.8 percent from the field, including 20.8 in the first half, and was out-rebounded, 40-33.

“I’m tired of teams coming in here with a higher intensity level than we have,” coach Gary Williams said. “We have to figure out how to be a much more aggressive team. My teams usually are. We need to figure out how to get this team aggressive.”

American (7-5) didn’t exactly hit everything it shot, hitting just 38.6 percent from the floor. The Eagles, however, hit 15-of-18 free throws. Three American players in double-digits, led by junior guard Derrick Mercer, who scored 18 points in 40 minutes.

Maryland’s Greivis Vasquez led all scorers with a career-high 28 points, and Hayes scored 16 points. But aside from the sophomore guards, the rest of Maryland’s players combined to shoot 4-of-27 from the field with 15 points.

“It’s getting to the point where it’s enough talk and enough on guys to step up,” senior forward James Gist said. “We have to step up now.” …

Source: Tampa Bay (9-5) at San Francisco (4-10) - MiamiHerald.com ()

To be No. 3 or not to be No. 3 - that is the Shakespearean question facing the NFC South Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who will travel to meet the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

The Bucs, who clinched their second division title in the last three years with last week’s 37-3 pummeling of the Atlanta Falcons, are contending with the similarly 9-5 Seattle Seahawks for the third seed in the NFC. The Bucs are currently No. 4 in the conference hierarchy due to their head-to-head loss in Seattle back in Week 1, but it is a matter of perspective whether that is a more or less advantageous position in which to be.

If the current seeding holds over the next two weeks, Tampa Bay would be in line to play the No. 5 New York Giants in the First-Round, with an eye toward a trip to No. 1 Dallas if the home favorites win on January’s first weekend.

No. 3-seeded Seattle, meanwhile, is in line to play an up-and-coming and physical Minnesota team in the First-Round, and the prize for winning that contest would be a trip to frigid Green Bay in the Divisional Round.

If the above scenario indeed plays out, you would have to believe Jon Gruden and his staff would be none too upset about ranking as number four in the pecking order.

That said, the Buccaneers will undoubtedly be gunning for a victory in San Francisco, where they face a 49ers team that has been among the most disappointing units in football this season.

The Niners were 20-13 winners over the Bengals last Saturday night, just the second win in the last 12 games for Mike Nolan’s crew.

With the triumph and the Rams’ loss to Green Bay on Sunday, San Francisco pulled out of a last-place tie in the NFC West.

SERIES HISTORY

San Francisco holds a 14-3 edge in its all-time regular season series with Tampa Bay, with the losses coming in 1980, 1997, and 2004 seasons. The Niners were 15-10 winners when the teams last met, in Week 8 of the 2005 season. The Buccaneers won …

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch ()

12/20/2007

(Jonathan Cohon /Bravo)

FOX THEATRE

Kathy Griffin will perform at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 10. Tickets are $40-$50, on sale now. MetroTix.

SCOTTRADE CENTER

Chris Brown and Bow Wow will perform Jan. 31. Soulja Boy is also on the bill. Tickets are $39.75-$75.75, on sale at 5 p.m. Friday. Also, Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus return for a show at 7 p.m. Jan. 15 (sold out). Ticketmaster.

THE PAGEANT

Drive-By Truckers will perform at 8 p.m. Feb. 29. The Felice Brothers are also on the bill. Tickets are $20, on sale at 5 p.m. Friday. Richard Thompson: A Thousand Years of Music is at 8 p.m. Feb. 11. Tickets are $25, on sale at 5 p.m. Friday. Ticketmaster.

BLUEBERRY HILL’S DUCK ROOM

Marleyfest with the St. Louis Reggae All Stars featuring Tony Rome and Prince Phillip with the Murder City Players is Feb. 9. Tickets are $15, on sale at 5 p.m. Friday. MetroTix.

LUCAS SCHOOL HOUSE

Molly Irene Band, the Roger Peterson Explosion and Brendan O’Malley perform Saturday. Tiny Cows performs Wednesday. Steve Ewing Unplugged is Dec. 27. Café Soul is Dec. 28. Melvin Seals with Terrapin Flyer is Jan. 10. John Hammond is Jan. 30. 314-621-6565 or info@lucasevents.com

Read more stories from the paper’s A&E section and see an index of the last two weeks

FINALE MUSIC & DINING

A St. Louis Holiday featuring the Best of Finale with Ralph Butler, Velvet, Satin, Arvell Keithley, Steve Schankman, Jim Manley, Linda Gall, and the music of Arvell & Co. is Thursday. Tickets are $15. Ticketmaster.

VOODOO CAFE’ AND LOUNGE AT HARRAH’S

The Dynamites featuring Charles Walker is Jan. 10. The Lee Boys is Jan. 24. Richard Marx and Matt Scannell are Jan. 31. Ticketmaster.

POP’S

The Calusari, Strych9hollow and Letters for the Blind are at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 4. Tickets are Supersuckers are at 7 p.m. Feb. 11. Tickets are $15. Emery is at 5 p.m. Feb. …

Source: BBC News ()

Police are urging a group of youths to return two terrapins stolen from a pet shop in Hampshire, including one baby, because of the special care they need.

Seven teenagers entered Shirley Pets and Reptiles, in Southampton, on Sunday and distracted the shop assistant.

Three of the group walked out and by the time the rest had left, one of the terrapins was missing.

Soon after, the assistant was at the back of the shop when she heard a noise and found a second terrapin missing.

The reptiles are both yellow-bellied with green shells.

One is a baby and is just 3-4cm in circumference.

Five of the group were boys aged about 17 and about 5ft 7in or 5ft 8in tall.

Police said one boy had messy blond hair, while another wore a Nike hat and had very blue sharp

Two girls were among the group; one had brown hair and was possibly wearing a black and white scarf.

Source: Baltimore Sun ()

COLLEGE PARK - Illinois was in possession against Maryland at Comcast Center on Wednesday night when the ball swung to Greivis Vasquez’s man. Priming himself to play defense, Vasquez leaned forward, slapped both palms on the court and howled.

The sophomore guard was posturing neither for the television cameras nor his opponent.

He was just being Greivis.

Source: Scoop.co.nz ()

Kiwijet: Seasons Greetings
Monday, 17 December 2007, 12:06 pm
Press Release: kiwijet

Kiwijet: Seasons GreetingsDecember 17, 2007
Christchurch, New Zealand: Seasons Greetings from Patrick
Weil, Chief Executive Officer:As 2007 comes to a close,
Kiwijet has just celebrated its first year of incorporation,
and boy what a year it has been! I am delighted to report
that we are on track to launching Kiwijet in late 2008;
despite many obstacles mostly due to the surge in the global
oil market and the economic downturn in both the US and
Japan from where our principle investors are based. We will
announce our capitalization and intended launch date on
February 01, 2008 after completion of multi faceted due
diligence and a future market forecast with detailed fourth
quarter market and extensive currency analysis. We will
determine whether we can proceed as planned or defer our
options based on the forecast and global economic outlook
for 2008.

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We are currently engaged in expanding our
investment capital from new players in Australia and the
United Arab Emirates as investor groups and airlines from
both countries have expressed an interest in Kiwijet which
may include a limited transtasman cooperative services
agreement.In February we plan to open our new head office
in Christchurch with an initial staff of 8 full time team
members, and begin hiring staff to launch the airline in
late 2008 with a planned staff of 200 cross trained team
members. If full funding of 35 million US dollars is
approved at the end of January. On an extremely serious
note it has been revealed that national airline has been
engaged in acquiring all the available airport space in the
regional centres …

Source: Sacramento Bee ()

SAN FRANCISCO – Yes, those were the 49ers and Cincinnati Bengals.

And yes, the NFL Network televising this game between two of the more putrid teams in the league – in prime time, no less – gave it a certain festive and, comically enough, big-time atmosphere.

But no, 49ers quarterback Shaun Hill did not look up to the crowd in the middle of a hectic huddle and ask his wheezing linemen, “Is that John Candy?” He didn’t have to.

Hill, the erstwhile career third-string quarterback who contemplated giving up football for a stress-free existence as a UPS driver two summers ago, simply beat the Bengals like they stole something in the 49ers’ 20-13 win. And given that these were the often-run-afoul-of-the-law Bengals, maybe we’re on to something here.

All Hill did in his first career start was harken a little Joe Montana, who eased the tension with the Candy query while leading the 49ers on a game-winning 92-yard drive in Super Bowl XXIII, with his precision passing.

Six days after attempting his first career throw, Hill completed 21 of 28 passes and hit heretofore forgotten man Vernon Davis with a 17-yard score to give the 49ers a 14-10 lead with nine seconds remaining in the first half. He also scored on a naked bootleg around the right end after a masterfully executed fake handoff to Frank Gore from three yards out for the game’s first score.

All this with his right index finger still swollen and bruised after being broken in practice last month.

“Joe Cool”? Try “Calm Shaun.”

Simmer down, 49er Faithful. We’re not suggesting Hill, who signed with Minnesota in 2002 as an undrafted free agent out of Maryland, is the Second Coming. After all, these were the Bungles, er, Bengals, he picked apart.

But he did show an uncanny knack in the pocket, and the play-calling – an of high-percentage passes that included rollouts, play-action fakes and swing passes – did not allow Cincinnati …

Source: Baltimore Sun ()

While other students watched a video on artist Leonardo da Vinci, fifth-graders Moira Plantier and Tayler Thomas carefully lifted glass pieces from a tray and gingerly placed them in wet mortar.

The two students were taking their turn during a Wednesday morning art class to create a glittering moon mosaic for the outdoor garden at Rolling Knolls Elementary School.

The class already finished the other side of the large mosaic coin that will be posted on top a pole like a lollipop among the garden’s decorative bushes. A bright yellow sun is on the other side.

Source: Baltimore Examiner ()

BALTIMORE
(Map, News)
-
The clock is counting down for the University of Maryland football team.

Since accepting its invitation on Dec. 2 to play in the Emerald Bowl later this month against Oregon State, Maryland has held six practices before breaking for fall semester exams yesterday. The team is scheduled to practice just three more times in College Park before flying to San Francisco for its bowl week.

Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen said it’s good for the Terrapins (6-6) to practice as much as possible before facing the Beavers (8-4) on Dec. 28 at AT&T Park in San Francisco at 8:30 p.m. in front of a national television audience on ESPN.

“So far we’ve had five practices and they’ve been tough physical practices,” Friedgen said. “Our kids have approached it in a very positive way.”

And mistakes have played a part in the Terrapins’ roller coaster season. This year’s squad is the first in school history to beat two top-10 teams in one season — then-No. 10 Rutgers, 34-24, on Sept. 29, and then-No. 8 Boston College, 42-35, on Nov. 10. The Terrapins ended the regular season with a 37-0 thrashing of N.C. State on Nov. 24 to become bowl eligible.

But Maryland has hurt itself in close games this season, turning the ball over 15 times and averaging six penalties for more than 44 yards per game.

“One of the problems with our team is being able to finish,” Friedgen said. “We can’t just go for so many periods and then lose our focus and have a bunch of mistakes.”

EMERALD BOWL: TERRAPINS (6-6) VS. OREGON BEAVERS (8-4)

» Kickoff: Dec. 28, 8:30 p.m.

» Where: AT&T Park, San Francisco

» TV/Radio: ESPN, 105.7 FM, 1300 AM

» Tickets: Available

dcarey@baltimoreexaminer.com