Mammoth Blog

Happy Phi Day! Phi, also known as the Golden Ratio, is the irrational number equal to aprx. 1.618033...(not to be confused with that other curious ratio, Pi, which has its own day on 3-14). Phi is used in astronomy, architecture, and the Fibonacci Sequence. On June 18, 1178, five Canterbury monks saw "two horns of light" on the moon's surface, and it was later proposed they were witnessing the formation of Giordano Bruno crater. source>>>

First Governor Steve Beshear went after the online gambling industry, claiming that they were taking money that could have stayed in Kentucky, out of Kentucky. Now, the governor appears to have his sights set on eliminating online bargain shopping in the state.

The legislature is meeting this week in a special session to iron out budget problems in Kentucky. Gambling expansion was supposed to be a main subject, but as he so often does, Beshear went off course on Wednesday.

"I am introducing legislation that would make it illegal for Kentuckians to place bids and buy merchandise on eBay," said Beshear at a news conference, "the people of Kentucky should be spending money at state racetracks, and state racetracks only."

Beshear has kept with the notion that if the racetracks are failing financially, it must be because of an outside influence, such as online gambling or eBay. He has not yet conceded the fact that it may be the economy that is hurting the tracks.

Track owners will be put in an awkward situation if the legislation is passed. Many of the owners have said that if they had to downsize their operations, they would use eBay to rid themselves of their excess assets.

"I was going to put some of the old pictures of Kentucky Derby winners on eBay in the hopes that a collector would buy them," said the owner of Churchill Downs, "if this law goes in effect, I don't know what I will do."

Beshear, in a separate statement hours after the first press conference, contradicted his reasons for the eBay ban. He claimed that too many children were stumbling into their parents accounts and being exposed to the dangers of shopping.

"The children are the real losers with the eBay phenomenon," said Beshear, this time at a press conference held in front of a mirror in his house, "there is just no way to safeguard the site. Let's say a five year old gets on the Internet, and types in Tonka trucks. He finds that there is a shiny red truck available. What is to stop the child from stealing his parents credit card, knowing how to set up an eBay account, and bidding on the truck? Now, we have parents who can't pay the bills at home, committed to buying a Tonka truck on eBay."

After convincing himself in front of the mirror that he made the morally correct decision. Beshear signed the legislation he proposed into law. source>>> Disclaimer: All news articles published on this online craps site are spoofs, parody, or satire. None of the information contained in This article should be taken seriously.

Former NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf posted a $45,000 bond Wednesday for drug and burglary charges out of Texas after being arrested by customs agents as he returned to the United States from Canada at the Peace Arch in Blaine.

James Farren, the district attorney in Randall County in West Texas, said Leaf was arrested by federal customs agents. Legal assistant Jennifer Bonstein said the former Washington State star declined to waive extradition during a hearing.

Wendy Jones, chief corrections deputy for the Whatcom County Jail, confirmed that Leaf posted bond Wednesday evening.

Leaf's attorney in Washington told the court Leaf would post the bond and return to Texas by himself. Leaf also was to come back to court in Whatcom County on July 16, Bonstein said.

Bill Kelly, Leaf's attorney in Texas, said his client was returning to Texas to turn himself in by today's deadline.

The former San Diego Chargers quarterback is charged with burglary to a habitation, a second-degree felony. Leaf also was indicted on seven counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and one count of delivery of a simulated controlled substance.

Leaf coached quarterbacks at West Texas A&M in Canyon, where the indictment was returned in May.

Leaf, who resigned from West Texas A&M after being investigated for drug crimes in November, was working in British Columbia, his attorney said. Kelly said Leaf "has been to rehab and successfully completed it."

Leaf, who coached for three seasons at West Texas A&M, spent four seasons in the NFL after being chosen with the No. 2 overall pick in the 1998 draft by the Chargers.

In his NFL career, which included stints with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Dallas Cowboys, Leaf had 14 touchdowns and 36 interceptions. He was better known for outbursts directed at teammates, coaches, fans and reporters.

Washington State fans know Leaf as the quarterback who helped end the school's 67-year Rose Bowl drought by guiding the Cougars to a 1998 matchup against Michigan. source>>>

Thirty days. That's the going rate for a life now. Thirty mystifying days.

You drink through the night. You jump in your Bentley in the early morning, and your blood alcohol count could melt a breathalyzer machine.

Down the road, a 59-year-old husband and father is punching the clock to leave his all-night job. He has to take the bus home because he can't afford a car. He is as far from your world of wealth and privilege as Mercury is from Pluto.

He's walking to the bus stop and he crosses the street. Maybe he looks and maybe he doesn't. Maybe he's too tired to be careful.

But in this moment of fate, he is there when your expensive car rolls by. Pretty soon, Mario Reyes, 59, an anonymous night shift construction crane operator in the wrong place at the wrong time, is dead.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: National Football League | Minnesota Vikings | Cleveland Browns | Roger Goodell | Donte' Stallworth

He is not an NFL player. He has not just signed for a multi-million dollar bonus like you. The first headlines of his life are the last headlines of his life.

And your punishment for driving drunk, for killing a man, for a making a wife a widow and a teenage daughter fatherless?

Thirty days. Thirty unfathomable days.

THE HUDDLE BLOG: Is the justice system out of whack?

There are moments when it is impossible to look at the world, and sport's corner of it, and not be utterly dumbfounded. This is one of them.

Donte' Stallworth, receiver for the Cleveland Browns, stood in judgment Tuesday. He is going to jail for killing a man while driving drunk.

Watch an infomercial tonight. Order a new mattress for better sleep. Chances are, Donte' Stallworth will be out by the time you get it.

And here's the really good news, football fans. He'll be free for training camp! He'll be ready to go for the season opener against the Minnesota Vikings! He might even catch a touchdown pass, and won't the crowd roar?

Unless, of course, the NFL says differently. Justice has now plopped onto the desk of commissioner Roger Goodell. He hasn't blinked much lately. He certainly better not blink now.

The Reyes family and Stallworth have reached a settlement. The survivors wanted to move on, and who is anyone else to say they shouldn't? Plus, Stallworth is by all accounts genuinely sorry. He hasn't been a bad guy in the past.

Fine. Nobody here is saying he's a repeat felon, so toss him in jail and throw away the key. Nobody suggests he is a hard core criminal.

But he killed a man. Thirty days. Something is very wrong with that.

We have devalued so many things in the modern age. One is accountability. Another is human life. Here, they intersect, and we see how numb we have become to the loss of both. The funeral bills will still be coming after 30 days.

Say you're sorry and mean it. Write a few checks. Lose your license. All fitting, all proper.

But there should be more. There has to be more. Drunk driving kills a lot of people in this country. Kids, parents, grandparents. This is one lousy message to send.

Disguise it in all the P.R. and legal spin you want. It is an appalling message to send.

So now it is up to Roger Goodell, who has had to deal with crimes against dogs and now must ponder a crime against a third shift worker from Miami.

The commissioner can't send Stallworth to jail. The NFL is powerful, but not that powerful. He can send him to the bench.

A one-year suspension seems fair. All 16 games. Mario Reyes' daughter is going to live without a father a lot longer than that.

Or do we just dismiss Mario Reyes as unlucky, and go on with the season, the pressing issue being whether the Browns can do better than 4-12? source>>>

Less than one month after Michael Vick was released from Leavenworth, a military penitentiary, after 19 months served, Donte' Stallworth began a 30-day jail sentence.

Almost a year ago I wrote an article about how Josh Hamilton and Ricky Williams were so differently characterized by the media despite their very similar pasts. The point I attempted to make was that while Williams has been rightfully vilified and deserves no sympathy, Hamilton has been unduly celebrated.

Another injustice occurred when Stallworth was sentenced, but unlike the comparison of Williams to Hamilton, the centerpiece of the injustice is not race, but species.

During Vick's legal process, there was something of a racial uproar, and while I feel that there was a cultural bias, I don't think that race was the culprit.

I recently visited a good friend of mine in Atlanta. He owns two pit bulls. At the end of a beverage-heavy night, he, I, and a few of his friends were all talking in his back yard. I asked if any of them had been to a dog fight. They all said no. I asked if they've heard of any dog fights, and the answers became a lot less negative.

Truth be told, whether it is crawfish or coffee beans, hula skirts or halter tops, marijuana or methamphetamines, there are simply things that go on in regions of this country, right and wrong, that the rest of the country simply won't understand.

When Vick called his acts a "mistake" he was criticized. He attempted to pass a despicable lifestyle off with the same term of remorse as one would use when waking up late for work or parking illegally.

Vick was wrong, he's a criminal, and he was given a sentence that, at least to some extent, fit the crime.

If we are in fact from whence we came, be it the product of poverty or prosperity, is persecution the mandatory reaction to the exposure of origin?

When Vick was suspected of animal cruelty, the hyper-liberal Northwest (where I'm from) had convicted him in their own minds already. It wasn't because he was black, but because animals have grown to have more rights in the public conscience than humans, which is the crux of the problem.

We have become desensitized to human death and suffering in this country. From Darfur to Honduras, from Italy to Iraq, news stories have become a fashion statement, a status symbol, a beacon for hipness.

Recovery is no longer measured in quality of life, but pallet quantities of aid supplies and measurements cease when a newer, sexier, trendier plight is established.

Vick killed dogs, he fought dogs, he tortured dogs, and he facilitated the same heinous acts even when his hands weren't bloody.

He's been in the news for the better part of two years as a result.

Stallworth killed a human being. A man's life ended because Stallworth, knowingly impaired, got behind the wheel of a car. A man with a family, a history, a past, no longer has a life because of Stallworth. Stallworth was sentenced to one twenty-third the sentence that Vick got.

But human death is boring and overplayed.

Stallworth's accident was a display of bad judgment, but he wasn't playing with his stereo or text messaging -- he was drunk. He didn't make a mistake; he made a decision, or more accurately, multiple decisions. Multiple bad decisions.

Somehow, Stallworth has come out of this case looking like a decent guy. He didn't flee the scene, he expressed remorse, and he's reached out to the family of the deceased. However, that does not excuse the action that led to his remorse.

Acting properly after the incident doesn't absolve sin.

Perhaps, though, familiarity is what has led to our leniency. Each of us probably knows someone who has, or have ourselves, driven impaired in the last week, month, or year.

Driving intoxicated has become as much a laughing as a legal matter. A DUI is often met with the same reaction as a speeding ticket: "It sucks he got caught."

As part of Stallworth's plea agreement, he agreed to pay $2,500 to Mothers Against Drunk Driving. He reached a financial settlement with the family of the deceased, avoiding a civil suit.

Remorse isn't reincarnation or revival, and reconciliation shouldn't be measured in dollar figures, though it often is.

But dogs don't have bank accounts.

That doesn't mean, however, that Vick hasn't suffered financially.

Vick filed for bankruptcy, was released from a contract worth more than $100 million, and has lost two years in his chosen profession directly from his athletic prime.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has been at the forefront of Vick critics. They've demonstrated at hearings, and organized a campaign for Vick to educate people on animal rights upon his release from prison.

But like many activists groups, they've leapt the murky moat between motivation and agenda.

PETA works toward equality between human and animal rights, but when did equality become a relative term?

For that matter, when did ethics become a catch phrase?

Human lives have inherited a monetary value, effectively cheapening their inherent value. But when did humane and humanity lose their first five letters?

Perhaps sports are a poor outlet and a bad parallel for societal woes, but it appears that the judicial system is trading human lives for animal lives at pennies on the dollar. source>>>

Matt Ryan? Not a brutal pick for the Falcons at No. 3 overall in the NFL draft on Saturday, but it was far from brilliant. Mediocre comes to mind, and so does this thought: If Michael Vick wasn't officially gone before as the face of the Falcons, he is now.

That is, unless Vick leaves his flag-football team in prison as an offensive tackle, defensive tackle or cornerback, among the slew of positions his former team still needs to solidify to become relevant again.

Whether the Falcons still need to fill Vick's old position of quarterback after selecting Ryan is debatable.

Highly debatable.

These two things aren't debatable: First, with Ryan's selection, Falcons officials dramatically sacked the public whispers about whether No. 7 and his exciting but controversial ways ever will return to the franchise. Second, if you go by logic when it comes to trying to change the momentum of a reeling franchise, the Falcons just blew it, especially with the extraordinary Glenn Dorsey sitting there on the draft board as the defensive tackle that they really need. That's because they don't have any defensive tackles worth mentioning. Not only that, franchises such as the Falcons with offensively and defensively impaired lines should start by building those lines.

Instead, the Falcons drafted a quarterback, and remember: They don't have enough decent folks to block for the guy anyway, even if he does play anytime soon. It also isn't comforting to know that the Falcons tried to help Ryan's plight by trading for another first-round pick at No. 21 to reach for Sam Baker, an offensive lineman with short arms and owner of a damaged hamstring last season at USC.

Ryan has normal arms, and he lacks health issues, but he does have history issues to overcome. Quarterbacks taken in the first round often evolve into Ryan Leaf, Tim Couch, David Carr or Alex Smith instead of somebody good. And, yes, Ryan has a nice resume. He completed 59 percent of his 654 passes last season at Boston College for 4,507 yards and 31 touchdowns. He also won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award and was the ACC player of the year.

It's just that Leaf was Ryan after leading Washington State to the Rose Bowl for the first time in 67 years while throwing a Pac 10-record 33 touchdowns. Couch was Ryan after leaving Kentucky with NCAA records for completions in a season and career completion percentage (67). Carr was Ryan after winning the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award while making Fresno State significant in football for the first time ever as a Sports Illustrated cover boy. Alex Smith was Ryan after helping Urban Meyer jump to the Mighty Gators after Smith became the mighty engine for Urban Meyer's spread offense at Utah.

Let's just say Leaf, Couch, Carr and Smith aren't in Starr, Montana, Favre or Manning territory. "Yeah, I've understood that along the way, as far as the percentages," said general manager Thomas Dimitroff, running his first draft for the Falcons, or any NFL team for that matter. "However, I think with Matt, it's a combination of the intelligence that he has. The leadership ability that he has. I can't stress it enough. He not only has the ability to take the offense but the whole team [to success]. To me, that's huge.

"I've been around a situation in New England where we had a quarterback with that same ability."

Speaking of New England and that quarterback, Dimitroff spent six seasons working in the Patriots' scouting department, and this is the same Patriots franchise that won three of its four Super Bowls with Tom Brady leading the way.

Brady was a sixth-round pick.

With all of those picks for the Falcons (11 overall, including four among the top 48 to start the day), they could have selected Dorsey at No. 3 and taken a chance later in the draft on John David Booty, Chad Henne or Andre' Woodson becoming their Tom Brady. After all, those quarterbacks aren't that much more of an NFL gamble than the one they got. source>>>

Micah Owings won for the first time in seven starts Wednesday, helping himself with a three-run homer in the fifth in Cincinnati's 4-3 victory over Atlanta.

The Reds trailed 2-1 going into the fifth, but Javier Vazquez walked Jerry Hairston to open the inning and Ryan Hanigan singled Hairston to third.

That brought up the Cincinnati pitcher, who hit an 0-1 pitch over the wall in right for his second home run of the season and the seventh of his three-year major league career.

Owings (4-7) gave up two runs on six hits in six innings. Francisco Cordero worked around a one-out walk in the ninth to earn his 16th save.

Vazquez (4-6) went the distance, giving up just four hits and striking out seven.

Jay Bruce produced the other Cincinnati run on a second-inning homer.

Atlanta is 1-4 on its nine-game road trip and has lost nine of its last 12 road contests. source>>>

The Rockies have received permission from Major League Baseball to allow catcher Yorvit Torrealba to work out at Coors Field with the club at least through Sunday -- the end of the current homestand -- before beginning a five-day rehab period in the Minors.

Torrealba last played June 1. The next day, he received word his 11-year-old son, and two of the boy's uncles, were kidnapped in his native Venezuela, and he left the club. All were released the following day. But with going to and from his home country, moving his family to the U.S., and helping his son adjust after the ordeal, Torrealba didn't return to the club until Sunday.

Manager Jim Tracy said Torrealba worked out with the team before Tuesday's game, and realized how much of his baseball conditioning he had lost.

"Our point to the [MLB] people in New York was with the difficult situation he was dealing with, he was completely dormant for almost two weeks," Tracy said Wednesday. "As he and I talked earlier this afternoon, yesterday, running around out here, he felt like it was almost like the first day of Spring Training."

Torrealba is on MLB's restricted list, which allows some flexibility in his rehab and return to the team and allowed the Rockies to replace him on the 40- and 25-man rosters. Tracy said MLB officials have been "mindful" of Torrealba's difficulties and are working with the club.

Tracy said the Rockies are looking at having Torrealba play one game, have a day off, play two in a row, then play the final day by ear. source>>>

Jose Canseco plans to file a class-action lawsuit against Major League Baseball and the players' association, saying he's been ostracized for going public with tales of steroids use in the sport.

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The former slugger said he intends to enlist Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro to join in the suit.

Canseco said the basis of the suit would be "lost wages -- in some cases, defamation of character."

Meanwhile, investigators for a congressional committee are examining whether Sosa lied under oath when he told the committee in 2005 that he had never taken illegal performance-enhancing drugs. source>>>

Ivan Rodriguez was 19 when the Texas Rangers promoted the fresh-faced catcher with a cannon for an arm to the major leagues midway through the 1991 season.

Now he's caught more games than anybody else -- and fittingly, he set the record in Texas.

Rodriguez, now with the Houston Astros, caught his 2,227th game Wednesday night against the Rangers, a night after matching Carlton Fisk -- a Hall of Fame catcher also nicknamed "Pudge".

Rodriguez got a standing ovation before his first at-bat.

"To be able to play so many games behind the plate, it's unbelievable," Rodriguez said. "I love this game." source>>>

We hear it every year: Team A versus Team B is the best rivalry in all of college football.

Army versus Navy. Ohio State versus Michigan. Alabama versus Auburn. Texas versus Oklahoma. The list of choices for college football's best rivalry goes on forever.

Kirk Herbstreit has said, on numerous occasions, that the nation's best rivalry is Ohio State versus Michigan. I can't imagine why he picked that one. Desmond Howard seconded Herbstreit's sentiments. Again, I am just shocked that they would feel that way.

You know what, though? They are right. Ohio State versus Michigan is the best rivalry in all of college football...to fans of the Buckeyes and Wolverines. To fans of Auburn or Alabama, the Iron Bowl is the rivalry of choice, and they are correct in their assessment as well. Ditto to those who follow Army or Navy when those two lock horns each year.

Whether it is a game with a clever name -- like the Red River Rivalry, or Shootout; the Backyard Brawl; or the Civil War -- or if it is a game in which a sacred "artifact" from storied games past is presented to the winner, such as The Old Oaken Bucket, the Stanford Axe, or the multiple Battle for the Bell games.

Even if it is a game that has no name or trophies and is merely for bragging rights, what makes college football the best sport in the entire world is that every rivalry game is the best and most important game of the year, no matter which rivalry game you would give your left kidney to attend.

Now, if I may backtrack for a moment, in all honesty, ranking college football rivalry games is just plain...well...stupid.

When Miami and Florida State face off each season, it has typically been an exciting game with lots of passion and emotion from fans, coaches, and players alike. But to fans of South Carolina and Clemson, the one game they want to see each year doesn't take place in the Sunshine State.

The same can be said for every other fan of every other rivalry game. To each fan, whatever rivalry your chosen favorite team plays in is the biggest game of the year -- to you. That is all that matters.

More people may attend Ohio State-Michigan games, but sheer volume attendance doesn't mean the hatred runs any deeper for their fans than it does for fans of smaller venue games, such as the Biggest Little Game in America.

This upcoming season, instead of getting into arguments with fans of other rivalry games about whether your school has the best game or theirs, just accept that their "big game" means as much to them as yours does to you, and channel all that extra energy into cheering for your team in its own big game.

Your team just might need the extra boost of support from you this year.

Whatever your game of choice, appreciate that you are part of something special in your community, something only you truly understand, something an outsider could never fully comprehend. You know what it means to beat Notre Dame, Tennessee, or BYU. You know what it is to hold your head a little higher than your neighbor for the next year, because they went to that "other" school.

You are a fan of the greatest rivalry in all of college football...your school's rivalry. Enjoy the upcoming season.

And "Go Navy, beat Army!"
source>>>>

USA Basketball announced the final rosters for its U-19 World Championship and World University Games teams on Thursday, after conducting concurrent trials over the previous two days.

The 19-and-under team, coached by Pittsburgh's Jamie Dixon, will consist of Washington State's DeAngelo Casto and Klay Thompson, Duke's Seth Curry, Pitt's Ashton Gibbs, Butler's Gordon Hayward and Shelvin Mack, Kentucky's Darius Miller, UTEP's Arnett Moultrie, Northwestern's John Shurna, Kansas' Tyshawn Taylor, Georgia's Howard Thompkins and Ole Miss' Terrico White. The team will compete in the FIBA U19 World Championships in New Zealand from July 2-12. source>>>

Three hours on Bethpage Black was all it took for some of the world's best golfers to wear the hollow-eyed look of men suffering from trauma.

Maybe after the carnage witnessed on the opening morning of the 109th United States Open, they'll change the name of the venue to Bethpage Black and Blue.

No amount of major championships proved adequate protection in the face of a brutal course fortified by a decent breeze and rain that fell in biblical amounts.

Tiger Woods stood on the first tee having hit his last 18 fairways in tournament competition. This one he missed by fully 60 yards.
tiger woods

Padraig Harrington might currently hold two of the four major titles but after the six holes he was allowed before the inevitable suspension came he was scoring more like a 14 handicapper. Mind you, there were plenty worse.

Some of the raw English players who made it through international qualifying recently to compete here were like 16 year olds being asked to play in the Premier League.

Between them, the seven Englishmen on the course when play was stopped for the day had completed 46 holes with just one birdie between them. They were a total of 26 over par. Welcome to hell, boys.

One keeping his head above water, so to speak, was Ian Poulter. He showed at last year's Open that he thrives in tough conditions and, at level par after seven, he finished up just a stroke behind an undistinguished quartet of leaders whose biggest name was the Swede, Johan Edfors.

Nothing fairweather about New York sports fans. An awful weather forecast didn't stop them boarding trains on the Long Island Rail Road and heading for their beloved Bethpage.

The hour might just have turned eight, the rain was falling but they still lined the first fairway in their thousands to greet the world number one, Woods. Well, it is the city that never sleeps.

Neither would they have had any trouble recognising his opening tee shot. What is it with Woods and the first hole of important events? He lost a ball with his opening tee shot in the 2003 Open at Sandwich, put one in the drink miles to the left of the opening fairway at the 2006 Ryder Cup at the K Club, began with a double bogey in this event last year, and missed not only the first fairway in the final round of this year's Masters but the adjoining one as well.

What followed however, was equally typical, a shot from the cabbage to a greenside bunker followed by a sand shot to 5ft and a holed putt for par. Not fair, is it?

One thing about this place, however, is you can't get away with daylight robbery for long and at the 5th Woods duly paid for another poor drive with an ugly double bogey. A birdie to follow left him on one over par for six holes, the same mark as world No 3 Paul Casey.
ian poulter

Back in the sanctuary of the clubhouse, Poulter caught up with his twitter messaging. He only opened an account on the social networking website two weeks ago and already has more than 50,000 followers. 'It's official, I feel like a fish,' he wrote. 'That got pretty funny in a sick kind of way. Course is underwater and we can't pick and place.'

At media headquarters, Jim Hyler, vice-president of the United States Golf Association, was giving the most unintentionally hilarious press conference heard for many a year.

'We're hopeful that we will get a window of maybe three to five hours play this afternoon,' he said, as television pictures showed whole fairways in danger of losing their moorings. Never mind the hole being submerged - it looked as if the flagsticks were about to disappear as well. Play was called for the day at almost precisely the time Hyler predicted they would be restarting.

Was someone consoling young Englishman David Horsey in the players' lounge? Let us hope so.

A month ago he was the toast of the first round of the PGA at Wentworth, after going round in 67 strokes. He followed that by qualifying to play here, his first major championship, and teed off yesterday at 7-22am.

By 7-40am, he had written down his first triple bogey. Another followed shortly afterwards as did four bogeys. He was ten over par after 10 when the horn to stop play sounded.

Cruel game, golf. source>>>

The first round of the United States Open at Bethpage greeted golfers with waves of heavy rain and gusts of wind Thursday morning, turning the job of hitting golf shots and holding golf umbrellas into a perilous enterprise. Play was suspended at 10:16 a.m. Thursday in the hope of resuming Thursday afternoon, but then suspended for the day just before 2 p.m.

The first round will resume 7:30 a.m. Friday and may push the tournament's final round into Monday, although a definitive schedule has not been released. Friday's forecast contains a chance of rain; it will otherwise be cloudy with temperatures in the mid-70s. Saturday brings another chance of rain.

United States Golf Association officials said that roughly an inch of rain had fallen on the course Thursday morning and early afternoon and that workers were no longer able to clear water off the greens fast enough to make them playable.

Seventy-eight players began the first round Thursday, with the first groups completing 11 holes. Four players were tied for the lead at one under par: Jeff Brehaut, who was through 11 holes; Johan Edfors, who was through four; and Andrew Parr and Ryan Spears through three.

When Tiger Woods and his marquee group, which also included Ángel Cabrera and Padraig Harrington, stepped to the first tee with the rain falling steadily, fans near the crowded the tee box managed to keep a sense of humor. After applause greeted Woods's introduction like a crack of thunder, one fan yelled out, "Go, Padraig." Another shouted, "Go, Tiger." There was a pause, and then from across the bleachers, someone yelled, "O.K., I'll bite." Cabrera said earlier in the week that he would not be intimidated by playing in front of the large, boisterous crowds that follow Woods. On the first hole, he did not handle the commotion well. He drove into the left rough, but Woods drove even farther left, his ball landing in front of a merchandise tent.

Woods put his second shot in a greenside bunker, after which photographers and fans scurried for position. Photographers were trying to get back inside the ropes and fans were trying to hold their ground in a scrum that looked like the Holland Tunnel entrance at rush hour.

A policeman was trying in vain to get people to stand still while a few yards away Cabrera stood over his ball. Instead of backing off the shot, he hit the shot and struck it poorly, then looked back and glared at the crowd.

His ball landed well in front of the green, leading to a bogey. Woods saved par, and Harrington, who was on the green in two, three-putted for bogey.

When the group arrived at the second green, it was met by six volunteers with squeegees. They dried the green while the players were reading their putts, then took more swipes at the green between putts.

It was Cabrera, though, who steadied himself while Woods and Harrington struggled. Harrington fell to four over par by the fifth hole, where Woods made double-bogey after missing the fairway with his drive, hitting into a bunker and missing a 15-foot putt for bogey. That put him at two over.

Woods birdied No. 6 with a 25-foot putt to get one of those strokes back before play was suspended. He was removing his rain jacket before every shot and playing in a short-sleeve golf shirt, despite the cool temperatures.

Course officials had adjusted the course setup in the morning to account for the weather, moving up the tees on four holes -- Nos. 7, 9, 10 and 12 -- because the ball would not roll at all on the wet course.

Workers were aggressively using squeegees to keep water off the greens, sometimes between putts. Jim Hyler, U.S.G.A. vice president and chairman of the championship committee, said players were allowed to request the line of their putt be squeegeed before they hit the ball, as long as the squeegee also cleared three feet beyond the hole.

Hyler said officials were concerned about the 18th fairway, which was under water as the rain grew heavier. Players were allowed relief out of standing water, but he said in some cases relief was more than 50 feet away and players were choosing to hit out of the water instead. source>>>

Tiger Woods salvaged par from a greenside bunker after a horrendous tee shot on the first hole Thursday as the 109th US Open began in a rainy downpour at soggy Bethpage Black.

Amateur Rickie Fowler hits the first tee shot of the championship during the first round of the 109th U.S. Open on the Black Course at Bethpage State Park. Tiger Woods salvaged par from a greenside bunker after a horrendous tee shot on the first hole as the 109th US Open began in a rainy downpour at soggy Bethpage Black.

World number one Woods seeks his 15th major title, which would put him three shy of the career record 18 won by Jack Nicklaus, and a fourth US Open crown to match the record held by Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Bobby Jones and Willie Anderson.

Hearty supporters braved intense showers to surround the first tee as a super group of reigning major champions teed off just after 8 in the morning, all three clad in black rain gear that matched the dreary skies above them.

British Open and PGA Championship king Padraig Harrington of Ireland smacked his ball into the fairway. Masters champion Angel Cabrera of Argentina blasted his first tee shot long and into the dense rough on the dogleg right hole.

Woods followed by hooking his tee shot way left into a concession stand area and stared in stunned disbelief for several moments before gathering himself and starting a sloshy trek around the public course where he won the 2002 Open.

Woods blasted to a bunker but rescued a par while Cabrera and Harrington opened with bogeys, the Irishman three-putting.

Maintenance crews were frantically squeegeeing holes and trying to keep the course from becoming unplayable due to the showers, which are expected to last throughout the tournament and worsen into thunderstorms this weekend.

Woods also could become the first player to defend all four major titles - a "Back-to-Back Slam". He won the PGA Championship in 1999 and 2000, the Masters in 2001 and 2002 and the British Open in 2005 and 2006.

Not since Curtis Strange in 1989 has a player won consecutive US Opens. Woods limped to victory in last year's US Open at Torrey Pines, defeating Rocco Mediate on the first sudden-death hole following an 18-hole playoff.

Left knee surgery and an eight-month layoff followed but Woods has won twice since his return in February, including two weeks ago at the Memorial in his final US Open tuneup, where he hit every fairway in the final round.

Phil Mickelson, a three-time major winner but a four-time US Open runner-up who has never won this event, tees off in the afternoon as he tries to set aside his concern for wife Amy, who faces breast cancer surgery in a few weeks.

Mickelson, a fan favorite at Bethpage, will try to fulfil his wife's wish of having the championship trophy in her hospital room.

Japan's Ryuji Imada shared the early lead at one-under after four holes as birdied on the 10th hole, their first of the day, pulled New Zealand's Michael Campbell and Argentina's Anders Romero level. Campbell won the 2005 US Open.
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