| Eagles installing new playing surface
The Eagles will have a new playing field for their next home game, Dec. 2 against the Seattle Seahawks. Head groundskeeper Tony Leonard recommended after Sunday's game against the Miami Dolphins that the Eagles re-sod the entire field. Team officials approved the operation, which began yesterday. It marks the first time the field has received a makeover during the season since Lincoln Financial Field opened in 2003. Including Temple football games, "we had four games there in a 15-day stretch and three in an eight-day stretch," Leonard said yesterday as he oversaw the operation. "We had a window of opportunity to do this and we wanted to provide a good, safe playing field. I made the recommendation after the game." The field was an eyesore before Sunday's game and only got worse as the teams played in rainy conditions.
Islanders hot on ice and full of surprise
A year ago at this time, after their 0-3 start was compounded by an injury to goaltender Rick DiPietro, it felt as though the Islanders were fighting an uphill battle to get into playoff contention. After an offseason makeover that eliminated virtually half their playoff roster of last season, many forecasts placed the Islanders near the bottom of the Eastern Conference, but once again, they look like the NHL's surprise team under coach Ted Nolan after a 9-4 start and four straight wins.
They took advantage of a favorable early schedule that had them at home for nine of their first 13 games, but it hasn't been a cakewalk. Long breaks between games made it difficult to maintain game shape, but the Islanders have been at their best when it counted, as reflected by their 8-0 record against playoff teams and their 5-1 mark against Atlantic Division opposition.
Sod At Heinz Field To Get A Makeover
Heinz Field is getting a makeover, and a quick one, too. The Steelers will put down a new grass playing field in time for Monday night's game against the Dolphins, but must wait until four Pittsburgh-area high school championship games on Friday and the South Florida-Pitt game on Saturday afternoon are played. With intermittent rain forecast all week, the Steelers were concerned that the pounding their current field will take this weekend might create a poor playing surface on Monday. "Our goal is to do everything in our power to provide the best possible conditions for both teams," Heinz Field director of management Jimmie Sacco said Wednesday in a statement. "After considering the number of high school, college and pro football games being played at Heinz Field in November, combined with the possibility of inclement weather, we believe this is the best way to go." Running back Willie Parker complained of being unable to gain good footing during the Steelers' last home game, a 31-28 victory over Cleveland on Nov.
Tomb Raider: Anniversary comes to Xbox Live
The game is available in four episodes. The first two weigh in at 1.5GB each and cost around 1,200 Microsoft Points, or about £10 each. Episodes three and four will follow later. Eidos reckons this is the first time that the serialisation of a full retail game will be available for purchase through Xbox Live Marketplace. Tomb Raider: Anniversary is a remake of the original Tomb Raider at a basic level, but has been given a complete makeover and a lot more extras. "We have created this version of Anniversary specifically for digital distribution as episodic content," said Jane Cavanagh, chief executive at Eidos. "This is part of our strategy to grow our presence in online and digital distribution as we believe there are huge opportunities in this format and we intend to capitalise on the increasing demand for digitally downloaded content.
A cool reception for NBA in New Orleans
For the New Orleans Hornets, nothing is easy these days in the Big Easy. It should be easier because when you start a season 8-2, you'd think it would draw some praise and ticket sales. Instead, they've drawn fewer than 10,000 for home games against Philadelphia and Portland. Granted, the Sixers and Trail Blazers aren't great draws this season. But a team as unexpectedly hot as the Hornets deserves some kind of buzz, don't you think? I didn't pick the Hornets among my eight playoff teams in the Western Conference, but I should have. It was obvious in an exhibition against the Bobcats that they had something going. (The problem is whether to dismiss the preseason as a mirage.) The Hornets have three core pieces at the right positions -- a great point guard (Chris Paul), a dependable lead scorer (Peja Stojakovic) and a defensive center (Tyson Chandler).
Soccer's Lalas has undergone makeover
CARSON, Calif. With his long, unruly, mane of red hair, scraggly goatee and side gig as a musician, Alexi Lalas looked more like a leftover from the Haight-Ashbury than a vanguard of U.S. soccer. He was quirky and edgy, not at all what Americans pictured when if they gave the sport a thought in the early 1990s. Turns out, he knew a thing or two about selling soccer long before he brought David Beckham to America. See, Lalas understood he had to be a world-class entertainer as well as a world-class player. Sports especially ones scratching and clawing to carve out a niche need personalities, colorful characters who leave you eager to see what they'll do next. "I loved getting in front of people, being on that stage and having people react to that positively, negatively, whatever, at least eliciting some sort of emotion or reaction," he said.
Symes a happy Crow
BRAD Symes has got more than he bargained for at new club Adelaide - and he couldn't be happier. Pursuing a move from Port Adelaide to the team he grew up barracking for to salvage his AFL career, defender Symes has been told a coveted midfield spot is his - if he is good enough to take it. "I grew up playing in the midfield and that's where I'd like to be," Symes said after a gruelling, two-hour first training session with the Crows yesterday. "The last few years at Port I spent down back but I've enjoyed my time in the midfield at Central (District) and hopefully I can get in there at Adelaide. Neil (Craig) has encouraged me to work hard on my fitness and skills and said if I do the right things I can hopefully grab a spot there." After cutting his teeth in the AFL as a rebounding half-back flanker but hitting a roadblock this year by playing just seven games for Port in its wild ride to the grand final, Symes decided enough was enough and perhaps he didn't fit into coach Mark Williams' plans.
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