New York Liberty facelift! and other news

MARCH/APRIL WNBA NEWS

Opening day for the WNBA is not to far away and there have been some major team makeovers and with only 132 spots up for grabs teams are trying to find the best match for their team.

New York LIBERTY news...

Ashley Battle (released) will not be returning to the New York Liberty. She is the 4th player (Christon, Kraayveld, and Moore) not returning to the Liberty in 2011. The Liberty has now signed/invited to training camp: McWilliams, Powell, Greene, Pondexter, and Mattera. A whole different look!!!! They kept 7 players from last season: McCarville, Carson,Mitchell, Larkins, Spencer, Jackson and Vaughn. Who will make the cut?

Mazzante - waived
Battle - released
Moore - waived

Other WNBA news:

INDIANA FEVER
Ashley Battle - training camp

Seattle STORM
Svetlana Abrosimova training camp
Janell Burse released
Lori More - training camp

Connecticut SUN
Tamika Whitmore released

Atlanta DREAM
Ivory Latta - waived

Washington MYSTICS
Katie Smith - signed


More to come as opening day quickly approaches...

Marriage....

So I send out an invite to all my FB peeps and urged them to join a site called "Marriage is So Gay". One of my friends responds with this message....

Rene, I am not sure why you would invite me to a site titled "marriage is so gay." You know my stance on marriage, and we respect each others views on opposing matters. I would never invite you to a site that was titled: 'Gay is so Disordered.' You know that I will stand up for your human rights, and I will oppose anyone who wants to disrespect you for your lifestyle, and I would appreciate others respecting my belief as well.

You know what I mean, jelley-bean?

Your friend
Kirth

I respond with....

You know I am going to respond after all. If you sent out an invite that was entitled "gay is so disordered" I would be over it. But I would of hit ignore invite. I wouldn't respond. THE END. Just because I choose to love a man versus a woman doesn't mean I have a DISORDER. That's what I don't like about religion. I deserve the right to marry whoever I choose. I am not a 2nd class citizen. Its a right everyone deserve and in the end god doesn't care who you just to love. Friends accept everything and never would use the word disorder.

New FB status.. I do not have a DISORDER!!!!!! Everyone deserves the right to MARRY!!!!!!! God doesn't not really care who you choose to love as long as you treat everyone with love and respect! I am not perfect but I will not be treated like a 2nd CLASS CITIZEN!

Top 10 television shows of 2010 so far...

Here is a list of my 10 favorite television shows so far in 2009....
1. Project Runway
2. Community
3. America's Next Top Model
4. Cougar Town
5. Shear Genius
6. The Middle
7. Modern Family
8. 30 Rock
9. Parks and Recreation
10.The Celebrity Apprentice















RIP....Ugly Betty and Eastwick







Need to catch up on Desperate Housewives :)

Taj McWilliams signs with the New York Liberty!!

I was really starting to lose my faith in the New York Liberty. I was sad to hear that Shameka and Catherine were traded and then to find out that Ann Donovan will coach only for a year..Wow two very big blows, but patience is a virtue. We now have Taj McWilliams on our side. That is going to make an awesome season. We needed faces and we got them.

I have also been thinking really hard on who will make the 11 team roster this year. Here are my picks, in random order of course....
1. Cappie Pondexter
2. Taj McWilliams
3. Janel McCarville
4. Nicole Powell
5. Essence Carson
6. Kia Vaughn
7. Lealani Mitchell
8. Tiffany Jackson
9. Kalana Greene
10. up for grabs
11. up for grabs

2 additional spots are up for grabs and while 2 ladies will not make the cut. Good luck to all of them.

















WNBA Champion & Six-Time WNBA All-Star Taj McWilliams Signs With Liberty

NEW YORK, NY - April 22 - The New York Liberty has signed unrestricted free agent Taj McWilliams, it was announced today by team President and General Manager Carol Blazejowski. As per team policy, terms of the contract were not disclosed.
"We are delighted to have the opportunity to add another player with championship experience to our roster," said Blazejowski. "Taj will provide a physical inside presence, bring veteran leadership that will help make our frontcourt one of the best in the league, and further position the Liberty to compete for the WNBA Championship this season."

McWilliams joins the Liberty after spending two seasons with the Detroit Shock, where she won the 2008 WNBA Championship. The 6-2 center owns a 12.1 ppg and 7.2 rpg career average through 339 games with 336 starts, and has earned six trips to the WNBA All-Star Game over the course of her 11 WNBA seasons. McWilliams was originally drafted by the Orlando Miracle as the No. 32 overall pick in the 1999 WNBA Draft. She spent four seasons in Orlando, and four seasons in Connecticut when the franchise was relocated and renamed the Sun prior to the 2003 season. Through those eight seasons, she compiled a 12.4 ppg and 7.7 rpg average. McWilliams played for the Los Angeles Sparks in 2007 and the Washington Mystics in 2008 before being traded to Detroit seven games before the end of the regular season.

She began her professional career in 1996 when she was drafted by the Philadelphia Rage of the American Basketball League (ABL) and competed for three seasons.

"I am thrilled to work with Taj again and look forward to all the qualities that she will bring the Liberty, after having a solid, long standing relationship since she played for me with the Philadelphia Rage," said Head Coach Anne Donovan. "Taj has proven to be invaluable on every team she has competed with. Her versatile skill set, strength and durability make her one of the best post players in the WNBA."

The Liberty will tip-off the 2010 regular season at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, May 16 against the Chicago Sky. Individual game tickets are available for purchase by clicking here or visiting The Garden Box Office.

Playing or Praying

The NCAA respect colleges who honor the Sabbath like that of the Mormons? How Rugby is not an NCAA sanction sport. Instead its ran by USA Rugby. If the NCAA were involved this match would of been held on Monday. Instead the BYU ladies rugby team has decided to forfeit their Sunday Round of 8 match against #1Penn State. Should the championship match been moved to Monday to accommodate the schools religious views? Are they quitters? Is this fair to the team from Wisconsin....You decide.



To Pray or Play, That Is Not a Question
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4/18/2010 7:30 PM ET By David Whitley

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David Whitley
National Columnist
SANFORD, Fla. -- The field was empty Sunday. Just a day earlier, the BYU women's rugby players had happily posed for a team photo under the stadium's scoreboard.

The lights said the Cougars had just beaten Wisconsin-Milwaukee 46-7. The score didn't begin to tell their story.

"We won today," Coach Tom Waqa said. "But the girls' biggest opponent is tomorrow. That is adversity."

With a national championship in sight, the Cougars walked away. To advance meant they would have to play Sunday.

As in the Sabbath. As in keep it holy.

As in bye-bye championship.

"It's bittersweet," team captain Kirsten Siebach said. "But it was a decision we had to make."

The players are all members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Perhaps you know them as Mormons. By any name, what they did is almost unheard of these days.

Imagine Kentucky forfeiting a chance to make the Final Four. John Calipari probably wouldn't get a bonus for placing religion ahead of basketball. Or is there a difference in Kentucky?

BYU is the updated Title IX version of Chariots of Fire. In that movie, Scotsman Eric Liddell refused to run in the 100 meters in the 1924 Olympics because it fell on a Sunday.

Instead of running his specialty, the devout Christian started training for the 400 meters. Newspapers called Liddell a traitor to his country. He persevered and won a gold medal.

Sandy Koufax triggered a national debate when he attended a synagogue instead of pitching Game 1 of the 1965 World Series. It was Yom Kippur and Koufax couldn't bring himself to work on the Jewish holy day.

There have been other conscientious objectors to Sabbath play. This may be the first time an entire team has stood up by walking away.

The difference is BYU won't get another chance to compete. And unlike Liddell and Koufax, the Cougars were blindsided into this predicament.

Governing bodies usually accommodate BYU's scheduling wishes. The NCAA classifies women's rugby as an "emerging sport," and doesn't fully sanction it.

It is run by USA Rugby, which inadvertently scheduled games on Saturday and Sunday at the Seminole Soccer Complex. The Cougars said they couldn't play on Sunday, and USA Rugby said it would switch the schedule.

BYU's 35 players raised $10,000 to pay for non-refundable plane tickets to the Sweet 16. That's another thing you'll never see a men's basketball have to do.

To save money, the Cougars arranged to stay with local Mormon families. It's hard to imagine John Wall sharing a bunk bed with the son of a local Wildcat booster.
"They'll be remembered more for this than being champions."
-- Tom Waqa
BYU Women's Rugby Coach
After the plans were set, USA Rugby informed BYU that other teams had made plane and hotel reservations that couldn't be switched.

Too bad, so sad.

Would the Cougars have gone to all that trouble if they hadn't been assured they wouldn't play on Sunday?

"No way we'd do that," Siebach said.

She sounded slightly irritated, which was something of a relief. The Cougars were so magnanimous about their predicament it was almost enough to make me look into becoming a Mormon.

Instead of bellyaching, they went on a mission.

"We saw it as an opportunity to stand up for what we believe we have to do," Siebach said. "We're not trying to tell everybody not to play on Sundays.

"But we'd like to show them it's important to stand up for what you believe in."

Koufax did and became the World Series MVP. Liddell not only won a gold medal, he became a missionary to China and died a hero in a Japanese prison camp. Being true to yourself is a reward far more valuable than a trophy.

With that kind of attitude none of BYU's young women will make it as athletic administrators. College sports are built on compromise, from hiring shady coaches to recruiting Dumbo students.

If ESPN wanted to schedule a game at St. Peter's Square during Papal Mass, teams would fight for the contract. And don't say it's only women's rugby, so nobody would watch even if ESPN paid them.

BYU's women wanted to win a rugby championship every bit as badly as Duke's men wanted a basketball title. Judging from the grass, dirt and sweat covering their white uniforms Saturday, the Cougars certainly worked as hard for their goal.

"We want Penn State!" a fan yelled.

Penn State's the defending national champ. BYU is ranked No. 6.

"No disrespect to the other teams," Waqa said, "but I think we could play well against any Division 1 team."

So playing Devil's Advocate, why not just do it?

Siebach just smiled.

"As members of the church, we're committed to its standards and commandments," she said. "And one of them is to keep the Sabbath day holy. Everybody may not understand that."

No, but we should all understand principles. And nowadays when anybody refuses to compromise theirs, it's worth applauding.

"They'll be remembered more for this than being champions," Waqa said.

Let's hope so, though the sports world's attention hasn't exactly been focused on the Seminole Soccer Complex the past few days. On Sunday, there was only an empty field and a blank scoreboard.

Penn State reluctantly accepted the forfeit and advanced to the Final Four. BYU's women reluctantly boarded a plane, taking their next opponent with them.

Adversity?

It didn't stand a chance.

Remembering Dixie Carter

Dixie Carter, Spirited Actress and Chanteuse, Dies at 70
By Robert Simonson
11 Apr 2010

Dixie Carter

Dixie Carter, the stage and television actress who played the tempestuous and fiercely dignified Julia Sugarbaker for seven seasons on television's "Designing Women," and carved out a late career as a nightclub singer, died April 10. She was 70.

Of the four spirited females that ran the Atlanta-based Sugarbaker interior design company—the others were played by Annie Potts, Jean Smart and Delta Burke—Ms. Carter's Julia was the most authoritative and opinionated, and clearly the mother hen. Many episodes climaxed with her launching into a comical tirade about the bad behavior of her fellow human beings, the clear intimation being that the end of civilization was just around the corner.

Ms. Carter sometimes complained that the liberal politics espoused by Julia—shared by the show's creator Linda Bloodworth-Thomason and her husband Harry Thomason (both friends of President Clinton)—were in direct opposition to her own conservative views. She forged a deal with Bloodworth-Thomason that, for every time she was an unwilling leftish mouthpiece, she would be given an opportunity to sing on the show.


The actress took her life-long love of singing to a new professional level after leaving "Designing Women," appearing at such select New York cabarets as Cafe Carlyle and the Oak Room. She was known for championing the work of composer John Wallowitch, who often joined her as accompanist. The two artists met in Greenwich Village in the 1960s, when Ms. Carter had just moved to New York. She also sang as the villainous Mrs. Meers in the Broadway musical Thoroughly Modern Millie.
Dixie Carter made her professional stage debut in a Memphis production of Carousel. Moving to New York in 1963, she won a part in A Winter's Tale. An eight-year hiatus from acting soon followed, during which she married businessman Arthur Carter and gave birth to two children. She returned to her profession by taking on work in the soap operas "One Life to Live" and "The Edge of Night."

Meaningful success started to come as she approached her mid-30s. She received a Theatre World Award for Jesse and the Bandit Queen in 1976, and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for her performance in Fathers and Sons Off-Broadway in 1979. Around this same time, she made two brief appearances in Broadway musicals, 1974's Sextet and a 1976 revival of Pal Joey.

Dixie Carter was born May 25, 1939, in McLemoreville, TN, (her first husband shared her last name and was no relation). Her earliest dreams were of becoming an opera singer. A botched tonsillectomy when she was seven, however, ruined her chances. Still, she studied singing and classical music and learned to play the piano, trumpet, and harmonica. She graduated from Memphis State with an English degree. Ms. Carter retained her southern accent in most her performances, adding a headstrong, subtly sexy tinge to the characters she portrayed.

"I started performing for a quart of strawberries when I was two," she told Playbill. "I sang a song in Sunday school, and my reward was a quart of fresh strawberries. I don't know whether it had to with that or, probably, more with my parents being very loving individuals. I always come to an audience expecting that they're just gonna love what I have to do for them and [love] me, too. I'm scared to death and very nervous, but I love the audience, the people in the audience."

If she never got to be an opera singer, she did get to play one on stage, being the third and last actress to play Maria Callas in the hit Broadway production of Master Class.

Dixie Carter was married three times. She and Arthur Carter were married in 1967 and divorced in 1977. Her second union, to actor George Hearn, lasted from 1977 to 1979. Actor Hal Holbrook, whom she wed in 1984, and who had a recurring role as Julia Sugarbaker's love interest in "Designing Women," and frequently performed together on stage, survives her. She is also survived by Mary Dixie and Ginna, daughters from her first marriage.

O.M.G. Moment: Wendy Williams Show - Guest Omarosa

Is it real or fake? If I was Wendy, I would of asked her to leave!