Danica Patrick struggles mightily in first Darlington Sprint Cup practice session

Danica Patrick pretty much held her own, running 17th, in Friday's two-hour Nationwide Series practice session at treacherous ol' Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. But the track seriously cuffed her around when she got in her Sprint Cup car for that two-hour practice session.

Patrick, in the No. 10 Chevrolet for Tommy Baldwin/Stewart Hass Racing, was dead-last in the Cup session, more than 9 miles per hour slower than Kevin Harvick. She was among six drivers--a mixture of veterans and newcomers--who spun or slapped the wall for a “Darlington Stripe” that's been part of the 1.366-mile, egg-shaped track since 1950. Despite her poor performance so far, she has an owner-points provisional that ensures she'll make the 43-car field. This weekend marks the second of her 12 Cup races that will prepare her for next year's full 36-race grind.

Harvick, in a Chevy for Richard Childress Racing, led the session at 177.090 mph. Greg Biffle, in a Roush Fenway Ford, was second-fastest at 176.290 mph. Kurt Busch (175.993 mph) in a Chevy for Phoenix Racing, Carl Edwards (175.760 mph) in a Ford for Roush Fenway and Tony Stewart (175.647 mph) in a Chevy for Stewart-Haas Racing rounded out the top-10.

The rest of the top-10: Martin Truex in a Toyota at 175.403 mph and Jimmie Johnson in Chevys at identical 175.353 mph laps, Joey Logano in a Toyota at 175.322 mph and AJ Allmendinger in a Dodge at 175.141 mph. Patrick, Johnson, Stephen Leicht, David Gilliland and Martin Truex Jr. hit the wall, and Aric Almirola avoided any contact when he spun early in the session.

Patrick's best lap was 167.997 mph, a time of 29.272 seconds. That's 9.093 mph and 1.503 seconds per-lap slower than Harvick's best circuit. The only other driver not in the 170 mph range was Mike Skinner, whose best lap was 169.438 mph, a time of 29.023 seconds.

Cup teams have another practice session at 2:15 p.m, then qualify at 5:10 p.m. Their 367-lap, 500-mile race is Saturday at 7:15 p.m.

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Tito Vilanova

The weekend’s action saw Barça – who had uncharacteristically lost three consecutive games – get back to winning ways with a 7-0 thrashing of Rayo Vallecano.  The Catalans kept their dim title hopes alive with goals from Lionel Messi and Pedro Rodríguez both notching braces in the rout. Thiago Alcântara and Seydou Keita also found the back of the net, while Antonio Silva Rober suffered the misfortune of scoring an own goal.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid were in action at midday against Sevilla, where Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring in the 19th minute and while the visitors had chances, they were made to rue wasted opportunities when Karim Benzema finished twice at the back post.

Had Barça lost their late game, Madrid would have been celebrating their first league title in four years. Instead, the party celebrations have been put on ice until the next matchday.

With the race for la liga all but officially wrapped up, the battle for the Pichichi is still neck and neck with both Messi and Ronaldo currently tied on 43 goals.

At the bottom of the table, Racing Santander were the first club to be relegated this season following a 3-0 defeat to Real Sociedad. A double from Antoine Griezmann and a strike from Imanol Agirretxe sealed the fate of the Cantabrian side whose off-the-field problems have proved detrimental to their on-field form.

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Tito Vilanova

As the curtain was raised on the liga season last summer, he was largely an anonymous figure known only by FC Barcelona aficionados, but one lone act would change that. As a melee that so often accompanies a Clásico broke out at the Camp Nou between the 22 men on the pitch, substitutes and technical staff, José Mourinho calmly strolled over and poked Tito Vilanova in the eye.

The Barcelona assistant coach swiftly responded with a slap to the back of ‘The Special One’s’ head. Vilanova was no longer anonymous and while still in the background, his figure would loom large over Barça’s season, culminating in his appointment as the new head coach after four years of Pep Guardiola at the helm.

So often when coaches are promoted from within, it is said that the number two was the true genius behind the manager’s success and while that would be an exaggeration, in this case it appears to bear some truth. With Vilanova absent for some time this season with illness, Barcelona’s form dropped and Guardiola was often seen on the phone in the dugout requesting help from his right-hand man. When he was named coach of the year at the FIFA gala earlier in the year, the former Barça midfielder dedicated part of his speech to the man who would eventually succeed him.

On Friday morning as journalists eagerly awaited Guardiola’s official announcement, the managerial candidates were being rounded up. Strong favourites were Marcelo Bielsa, Ernesto Valverde and Luis Enrique. Even former Chelsea manager André Villas-Boas was being touted for the job.

Vilanova was barely mentioned but when finally announced, it seemed such an obvious choice. Guardiola had been given the same surprising opportunity when he was promoted from Barcelona B manager to head of one of the world’s biggest clubs four years ago – and look how well that turned out.

It seems only logical that for a club with such a strong identity and specific style of play, they would choose to stick close to home to preserve the Barcelona philosophy that is now so intertwined with Guardiola’s history and subsequently with that of the assistant coach.

It is a move which will provide continuity and while Guardiola assured the waiting press pack that the club was in safe hands, it remains to be seen how the new man in charge will tackle the step forward into the spotlight. He is taking on the role at a difficult time, which has seen Barcelona all but concede the liga title to Madrid and certainly their Champions League trophy to either Chelsea or Bayern Munich.

Tactical nous is one thing, man management is quite another and unlike Madrid’s number two, Aitor Karanka, who regularly holds press conferences in the absence of Mourinho, the Spanish press – who are unforgiving at the best of times – have yet to hear from the new man. Vilanova will have to find his voice and fast.

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Ariane Friedrich

Ariane Friedrich, a 28-year-old German high-jumper currently training for the 2012 London Games, is taking on more than one Olympic-size challenge: she is also publicly challenging an alleged stalker. The athlete from Frankfurt says that she recently received an email with a sexually explicit photo from a stalker.

In what some see as a controversial move, she chose to out the stalker on Facebook –- posting his full name, excerpts from the email he sent her and his hometown.

“It’s time to act, it’s time to defend myself. And that’s what I’m doing. No more and no less,” Friedrich wrote on her Facebook page on Saturday.

In Germany, where strict online data protection laws exist, Friedrich's decision to “name and shame” her alleged stalker is receiving broad attention and has triggered a heated debate about the moral and legal implications of the online allegations.

Fears of a Web mob
Friedrich, who is not just an athlete, but also a police officer, also filed a legal complaint against her offender, according to German media reports.

While the move has triggered lots of positive responses from her fans on her Facebook page, with posts calling her “courageous,” there was also growing criticism.

“As much as I can understand your anger about the stalker, you as a police officer should not just pillory somebody on the Internet,” one person wrote on Friedrich’s Facebook page.

“The reaction of Mrs. Friedrich is of course understandable, but she reacted too fast,” Dr. Thilo Weichert, a data privacy law expert in Kiel, Germany, told NBC News.

”It needs to be checked first, if the named person is really the correct one. Anybody can use a wrong name on Facebook,” Weichert said.

On Monday, many of the critical Facebook posts referenced a recent incident in which the equivalent of a lynch mob turned against a 17-year-old in the northern German city of Emden after police had arrested him for questioning in the murder of an 11-year-old girl.

The teen was later declared innocent and released, but the social media storm led to a gathering of an angry crowd in front of the police station. Afterward the boy and his family felt so harassed that they moved to an undisclosed location.

Don’t need the distraction
Friedrich’s coaches aren’t exactly welcoming the move. On Saturday, Guenter Eisinger, her coach and manager, tried to downplay the incident, saying he is concerned that the growing media attention will negatively affect her preparations for the Summer Games.

“The issue has nothing to do with the public,” Eisinger told German news agency dpa on Saturday. “We can do without any stress factors.”

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Real Madrid FC

"Real Madrid" redirects here. For the basketball team, see Real Madrid Baloncesto. For other uses, see Real Madrid (disambiguation).

Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (Spanish pronunciation: [reˈal maˈðɾið ˈkluβ ðe ˈfutβol] Royal Madrid Football Club), commonly known as Real Madrid, is a professional football club based in Madrid, Spain. It was founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club and has traditionally worn a white home kit since. The word Real is Spanish for royal and was bestowed to the club by King Alfonso XIII in 1920 together with the royal crown in the emblem. The club established itself as a major force in both Spanish and European football during the 1950s.

Unlike most European football clubs, Real Madrid's members (socios) have owned and operated the club since its inception. The club is the richest football club in terms of annual revenue, generating €438.6 million in 2011 and the second most valuable, worth €1.4 billion. Real Madrid holds many long-standing rivalries, most notably El Clásico with FC Barcelona. The team has played its home matches in the 85,454-capacity Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in downtown Madrid since 1947.

It is one of three clubs to have never been relegated from the top flight of Spanish football, along with Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona. Domestically, Real Madrid has won a record 31 La Liga titles, 18 Copas del Rey, 8 Supercopas de España, 1 Copa Eva Duarte and 1 Copa de la Liga. Internationally it has won a record nine European Cup/UEFA Champions League titles and a record three Intercontinental Cups, as well as two UEFA Cups, and one UEFA Super Cup.

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Gary Anderson’s review of the F1 teams after two races

It has been a great start to the new season.

Two races in, and Formula 1 2012 is already proving even better and more unpredictable than expected.

In many ways, the Australian and Malaysian Grands Prix have posed as many questions as they have answered, but what exactly has been learned so far?
LOOKING GOOD FOR McLAREN

McLaren have been the most consistently fast team. The fact they have locked out the front row of the grid in both races shows the car has raw performance.

They are leading the constructors' championship thanks to Jenson Button's victory in Australia and two third places for Lewis Hamilton.

McLaren will have come home pretty happy, even if they have not got as many points as they will feel they might have.
MIRACLE START FOR FERRARI

Ferrari are leading the championship, which nobody expected.

It shows that if you give Fernando Alonso that little bit of a challenge he never lies down. He is just waiting for an opportunity to drag something out of the car.

Nevertheless, Ferrari have pulled a rabbit out of the hat because there is something dramatically missing in the performance of the car.

That win in the conditions in Malaysia will have created more questions than answers.

The main one will be over the torsional stiffness of the car, because in the wet a more flexible structure is a more compliant car, which can be a benefit.

At the other extreme, McLaren always run the car very stiff to control the aerodynamics.

It's quite likely that this is the reason the Ferrari went very well in the wet conditions and McLaren dropped off.

The question those at Ferrari will be asking is why the car doesn't go well in the dry, when the grip levels are high.

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Andy Murray beats Janko Tipsarevic to book Nadal semi-final

Andy Murray overcame a stomach upset to secure his place in the last four of the Miami Masters.

Murray secured a 4-6 6-3 6-4 victory over Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic but it was far from easy for the Scot.

The British number one lost the first set, with several unforced errors proving costly after he had led 4-2.

Murray will now meet Rafael Nadal in the semi-final on Friday, after the world number two beat France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-2 5-7 6-4.

Murray received treatment for a stomach complaint after the first set, but rallied to claim victory despite a far from convincing display.

Ninth-seed Tipsarevic put up a good fight as he looked to take advantage of Murray's discomfort.

But in the end, the 2009 champion's fighting instinct saw him battle back into the match and secure the win after two hours and 39 minutes.

After being broken in his opening service game, Murray then raced into a 4-2 lead in the opening set.

But Tipsarevic won four successive games to snatch the set, before claiming an early break in the second.

Murray called for the doctor complaining of indigestion.

He returned to court and quickly found himself 2-0 down in the second set before breaking back.

Murray slowly began to settle, and his movement around the court improved as he grabbed another break before serving out the second set to force a decider.

Murray made the breakthrough in the third, winning a crucial third game in which Tipsarevic had his chances, before consolidating his position with a love service game.

While Murray never looked completely comfortable, he held his nerve to secure a gutsy victory.

Murray felt that he did not use the conditions well in the first set, but was pleased by the way he fought back in the second and third.

"It was a slow court and conditions were windy, so you could get broken at any point," he said.

"You need to be smart and intelligent on the court, and use the conditions to your advantage. In the first set I wasn't really doing that.

"But when I went behind, I started to think my way through the shots a little more. My shot selection improved, and I was able to dictate a lot of the points."

Murray admits he was affected by the stomach complaint, which he attributed to drinking too much water in the hours before the match.

"I had it once before in Bangkok a few months ago," he said.

"That was there pretty much the whole week, but hopefully this time I will try and sort it out, and not drink too much before the next match."

In the other quarter-final, Nadal took almost three hours to beat Tsonga.

The Spaniard served for the match at 5-4 in the second set but Tsonga won three straight games to force a final set.

However, Nadal broke the Frenchman in the ninth game of the third to lead 5-4, and survived two break points in the final game.

Murray feels the Miami surface gives him a better chance of success against Nadal.

"I think hard courts are the best surfaces to play him on," he said.

"It will be incredibly challenging - he is one of the toughest guys to have played the game. But on this surface, I feel I can use my game to make him doubt himself a little bit."

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Ernie Els not feeling qualifying pressure for Masters

South Africa's Ernie Els has refused to put pressure on himself ahead of the Houston Open despite it being his final chance to qualify for the Masters.

Els, who has not missed the Masters since 1993, must win the Texan event, which starts on Thursday, to qualify for the first major of the year.

He said: My goal here is not to get into the Masters, it's to play the Houston Open as good as I can."

Lee Westwood and Graeme McDowell will also be in action in Houston.

    “If I get into the Masters, that's great. If I don't, then I've had many Masters that I can look back at, and I'll get back in there next year”

Ernie Els

Els needed to finish outright third or higher at last weekend's Arnold Palmer Invitational to guarantee his spot at Augusta where he finished runner-up in 2000 and 2004.

But the 42-year-old finished tied for fourth - his second successive top-five finish - to miss out.

"I just want to have a good week. If I can win, obviously, that would be absolutely wonderful," said the three-time major winner.

"If I get into the Masters, that's great. If I don't, then I've had many Masters that I can look back at and I'll get back in there next year."

World number three Westwood is using the Texan event, which features light rough and fast greens like Augusta, as his Masters warm-up event for the fourth successive year as he bids to win a major at his 56th attempt.


"I feel like my game is better equipped to tackle major championship golf courses," said Westwood, who has six top-three major finishes in the past four seasons.

"You really should go into it treating it like just another tournament. We have plenty of them and major championships are no different."

While former Masters champions Tiger Woods and Phil Mickleson have decided to arrive at Augusta early to begin their preparations, Westwood has not followed suit.

"I didn't think it was that necessary," he said. "It's a nice place to go and soak up the atmosphere with nobody there and get some work done, but the course isn't really reflective of how it's going to be on Thursday morning next week.

"It changes so much in three days. I just decided not to this year and thought the extra couple of days at home would do me more good."

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Rangers: Brian Kennedy's takeover bid is rejected by administrators

The Sale Sharks owner made his offer almost two weeks ago and had urged administrators to speed up the process.

"I'm disappointed but not surprised by this outcome," he told BBC Scotland.

"I always said that I would only get involved for the good of the club and it seems my bid just wasn't good enough."

Kennedy was one of five interested parties aiming to succeed current owner Craig Whyte.

Former Rangers director Paul Murray's Blue Knights consortium, United States-based Club 9 Sports, a UK-based consortium and a Singapore-based consortium have all expressed an interest.

Administrators Duff and Phelps want a new owner in place by the summer.

Kennedy added: "I'm glad the process is moving forward and I just hope the administrators go with Paul Murray and his Blue Knights now.

"I think they have the best interests of the club at heart."

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Lucky breaks even themselves out - Sir Alex Ferguson

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson insists contentious refereeing decisions even themselves out over the course of a season.

Fulham were denied a late penalty in the 1-0 loss at Old Trafford as United moved three points clear of Manchester City at the Premier League summit.

"It evens itself out over a season and that will never change," said Ferguson.

"You get breaks here and there. Every club gets good breaks, bad breaks."

Fulham wanted a spot-kick in the 87th minute on Monday when Michael Carrick appeared to trip Danny Murphy in the box.
Continue reading the main story

    “City could have had a penalty kick against them at Stoke as everyone saw. We had a terrible decision at Old Trafford when Newcastle got a penalty kick”

But referee Michael Oliver rejected their appeals, as he did when United felt Stephen Kelly handled Patrice Evra's cross before half-time.

City executive Patrick Vieira said on Wednesday that he believed United and other big clubs "get some advantage" from officials at home, though his club later released a statement to say his views had been taken out of context.

"From the referee's position, I can see why he didn't give a penalty kick when Danny Murphy was brought down because the ball has moved to the angle as Michael Carrick has challenged him," Ferguson argued.

"From that position it wasn't clear. It was a good claim.

"We could have had a penalty but you don't often get these ones when a wide player's crossing the ball.

"He almost caught the ball between his arm and his body. We could have got a penalty but I wouldn't have expected one for that, to be honest."

Ferguson suggested Manchester City were fortunate not to concede a penalty when Gareth Barry challenged Stoke's Glenn Whelan in Saturday's 1-1 draw at the Britannia Stadium

He also mentioned the controversial penalty Newcastle were awarded in their 1-1 draw at Old Trafford in November and an apparent stamp on Scott Parker by Mario Balotelli - who went on the score the winning goal - in Manchester City's 3-2 victory over Tottenham in January.

"City could have had a penalty kick against them at Stoke as everyone saw," Ferguson commented.

"We had a terrible decision this season at Old Trafford when Newcastle got a penalty kick. Tottenham could claim the same when Balotelli wasn't sent off and then ended up scoring the winning goal.

"You could go through millions of things like that but I think maybe we've a point that the smaller clubs feel that way.

"Someone said some years ago United always get penalty kicks at Old Trafford but when you go back through the 25 years I've been here it's only averaged about three a year, or something like that.

"It has some mileage in terms of press and things like that but most managers believe that the breaks even themselves out."

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Sebastian Vettel is a cry baby, says Narain Karthikeyan

Vettel called Karthikeyan an "idiot" after their collision as the Red Bull man was lapping his HRT. The incident cost Vettel fourth place.

Speaking to the Hindustan Times,  35-year-old Karthikeyan described Vettel as "unprofessional".

He added: "For a world champion to say things like that is really shameful."

Vettel ended up finishing 11th in Malaysia after dropping down the field with damage caused in the collision with Karthikeyan.

The result leaves the man, who has won the title for the last two years, sixth in the championship, 17 points adrift of the leader, Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

In German, Vettel used the word "gurken" - cucumber - to describe Karthikeyan's driving - a common insult used about bad drivers on the road.

Karthikeyan said: "It is really unprofessional. For a driver who has achieved so much to take out his frustrations on me just because he is having a difficult year is really sad.

"One does not expect a professional sportsman to be such a cry baby."

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TONY STEWART HITS JACKPOT IN VEGAS

It took 27 races for Tony Stewart to find Victory Lane in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series last year. Four additional wins followed in the remaining nine weeks and Stewart earned his third Cup championship in one of the more dramatic finales in the sport’s history.

Stewart made it known on Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway that his No. 14 team will not only be a force in the Chase, but in NASCAR’s 26-race regular season, as well. Stewart dominated the Kobalt Tools 400, leading a race-high 127 laps, holding off all challengers through three restarts in the final 34 laps to score his first win of the 2012 season.

“It seemed like if we could get six or eight laps under our belt, we could start building that margin out again,” Stewart said of leading the field in the closing laps. “As soon as you started pulling away, the caution would come out again. You hate having to reset it like that, knowing for the first three laps you had to be spot on and not let them take advantage of a restart like that.

“You sit there and go, ‘How many times are we going to risk losing this race because of a restart? Something is going to get taken away from us because of this.’ It's very nerve-wracking.”

Stewart’s eventual race-winning move came on the first of the final three restarts. When the green flag waved with 34 laps remaining, Stewart, lined up in row three, shot his car to the tri-oval apron and around Brad Keselowski for the lead in Turn 1.

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NASCAR HORSEPOWER RANKINGS

1. Greg Biffle  Biffle’s team was the one under the Roush Fenway banner that laid low during the offseason. The result has been third-place finishes across the board. Bristol is usually good to them, too.

2. Jimmie Johnson  It’s highly unlikely Chad Knaus’ appeal is overturned, but by appealing, Hendrick Motorsports bought Johnson a pair of top-5 finishes. Win or lose with the committee, this team remains a lock for the Chase.

3. Denny Hamlin  We’ll take the 20th-place finish at Vegas as a hiccup. Although, after fourth- and first-place runs at Daytona and Phoenix, the dip at an intermediate track was notable.

4. Tony Stewart  “Hey Darian, anything you can do, I can do better!” One week after Stewart’s former pit boss earned his first win with Hamlin, Stewart and new boss Steve Addington even the score.

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THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT: NNS RENAISSANCE, GORDON'S FLIP & BABY OTIS

Have you noticed the oddity already taking place in NASCAR this season?

Don’t see it?

Look at the Nationwide Series where all three races have been won by drivers not competing full time in Cup this year.

James Buescher won at Daytona, points leader Elliott Sadler at Phoenix and defending series champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. at Las Vegas last weekend.

Consider that only six of 34 Nationwide races last year were won by drivers not competing in Cup full time. In 2010, only one race was won by a Nationwide regular not competing in Cup.

The odds are likely that the current streak will end this weekend at Bristol. Kyle Busch has won the last three Nationwide races there and is entered, along with Cup drivers Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Kasey Kahne, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Joey Logano.

Still, a tide is turning.

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