The News Of …

Taylor Swift and Adele tied with three wins at the American Music Awards, but the event belonged to the country superstar after she beat the soulful crooner, as well as Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Lil Wayne, to win artist of the year, the ceremony’s highest accolade, which the 21-year-old singer-songwriter previously claimed in 2009.
“This is so crazy” – beamed Swift, who also picked up the trophies for favorite country female artist and favorite country album for “Speak Now.”
Adele had been the night’s leading nominee with four bids, but the soulful singer didn’t have much of a presence during the show – She was absent from the ceremony because she is recovering from recent throat surgery. Adele tied Swift with three awards, nabbing favorite pop/rock female artist, adult contemporary artist and pop/rock album for “21.”
Other winners included Maroon 5 as favorite pop-rock band/duo/group, Beyonce as favorite soul/R&B female artist, Bruno Mars as pop/rock male artist, Foo Fighters as favorite alternative rock artist, Rihanna for favorite soul/R&B album for “Loud,” Hot Chelle Rae as new artist of the year and Lady Antebellum as favorite country band/duo/group.
“We thank you very much for an incredible year” – Lady A singer Charles Kelley told fans.
Nicki Minaj kicked off the 39th annual fan-favorite ceremony with an over-the-top performance that featured the pink-loving singer sporting a pair of speakers on her much-talked about derriere. She later earned two trophies – favorite rap/hip-hop artist, besting a group that included mentor Lil Wayne, and favorite rap/hip-hop album for “Pink Friday.”
“Chase your dreams” – the pink-haired Minaj encouraged the audience. “I never thought this could be possible.”
The sprawling three-hour ceremony inside the Nokia Theatre in an unusually rainy Los Angeles was drenched with musical performances, including Justin Bieber getting into the holiday spirit amid a forest of neon lights with “Under the Mistletoe,” and Kelly Clarkson channeling the big-band era with a swinging rendition of “Mr. Know It All.”

Taylor Swift.

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Lee Corso blurted out an expletive starting with the letter ‘F’ during the final ESPN’s College GameDay late Saturday morning.
In the show’s final segment, after guest picker, nine-time Olympic gold medalist and Houston alum Carl Lewis picked the Cougars, Corso picked up a large SMU megaphone, indicating he was leaning toward picking the Mustangs to upset an undefeated Houston team that is ranked No. 10 in the USA TODAY coaches poll.
After about five seconds of screaming into the megaphone, Corso clearly said “Ah —- it,” while tossing it aside before putting on the headgear for Shasta, the Houston mascot, indicating he was picking the Houston to beat their Conference USA rival.
The incident left Lewis and Corso’s Gameday colleagues Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit laughing and making jokes.
“Glad there’s a delay” – Lewis said.
“Shasta, shame on you” – Fowler came back and said. “Wash that mouth out.”
Here’s a link to Corso’s F-bomb via our friends at SportsGrid.com. Those who wish to watch the video, proceed with caution as it contains language and content some audiences won’t find acceptable.
Later, during a break in the action of ESPN’s coverage of Michigan’s win over Nebraska in Ann Arbor, Mich., the network aired Corso reading a statement of apology for uttering the expletive.
“Earlier today on College Game Day, I used an expletive I shouldn’t have” – Corso said. “I apologize and promise it won’t happen again.”

Lee Corso.

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Kurt Budke touched the lives of many people in his years as a women’s basketball coach. Now they are left trying to come to grips with the Oklahoma State coach’s sudden death.
Budke and assistant Miranda Serna were killed when the single-engine plane transporting them on a recruiting trip crashed in steep terrain in Arkansas, the university said Friday.
“The tragedy at Oklahoma State, which has known its share of tragedy in the past, leaves you with a helpless feeling” – Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma said. “My heart goes out to the families of Kurt and Miranda and everyone associated with the basketball program and university. The women’s college basketball community just lost two family members and all of us are feeling the effects. There won’t be a day that goes by this season that we won’t think about them in one form or another.”
Budke’s mentor at Louisiana Tech, Leon Barmore, was on vacation with his family at Disney World when he heard the news.
“It’s so unbelievable” – Barmore said. “I truly enjoyed being around him. We lost a family man and a great friend. When I retired after 25 years, you don’t want just anyone to take your place. I thought Kurt was the right guy to do it.”
The 50-year-old Budke went 80-16 in three seasons running the Lady Techsters before taking over at Oklahoma State. Barmore got to know him when Budke was coaching junior college Trinity Valley and he was recruiting future Louisiana Tech star Betty Lennox. Barmore was impressed by Budke’s repartee with his players.
“When I first went there and got into the gym, I saw eight players in the outer office hanging around, enjoying themselves and relaxing” – he said. “This was a player’s coach. The players loved to play for him. He presented an environment which was relaxing. He made you feel warm and at ease – that always stood out to me.”

Kurt Budke.

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Natalie Wood’s death has been reopened as a homicide investigation, primarily because of a book written by the captain of the boat where Natalie Wood spent her last minutes … a book suggesting foul play … this according to sources close to the investigation.
We’ve learned Marti Rulli – who co-authored the book – has been in regular touch with the L.A. County Sheriff’s Dept. over the last few months. She has given Sheriff’s investigators documents supporting material in her book, and we’re told the Sheriff is so impressed he has assigned 2 full-time homicide detectives to the case.
In the book – “Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour” – Rulli and Splendour Captain Dennis Davern write about the night Natalie drowned. They say before Natalie disappeared from the boat, she was drinking and taking Quaaludes with her husband, Robert Wagner and actor Christopher Walken.
According to the book, Wagner became enraged when he saw Wood and Walken speaking, and smashed a wine bottle, yelling at Walken: “What do you want to do, f**k my wife? Is that what you want?”
At that point, Walken returned to his cabin and Natalie and Robert went to their state room. According to the Captain, he heard a loud argument between the couple and thumping sounds, and eventually silence.
A short time later, the Captain went to the deck and was told by Wagner: “Natalie is missing.”

Natalie Wood.

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He’s a Georgetown University graduate who cooks, rides motorcycles and speaks fluent French, but US actor Bradley Cooper can now add “sexiest man alive” to his bio, People said Wednesday.
In picking Cooper for its annual designation, the magazine said the 36-year-old remains modest despite his “dazzling baby blues” and “killer smile.” And he’s also close to his mother Gloria, especially after his father Charles died in January.
“I think it’s really cool that a guy who doesn’t look like a model can have this” – the ‘Hangover’ star told People. “I think I’m a decent-looking guy. Sometimes I can look great, and other times I look horrifying.”
Cooper, who was with actress Renee Zellweger for two years until they split up in March, has been seen with Jennifer Lopez, but insisted he is no Casanova.
And Cooper said his first thought at being crowned top hunk was “my mother is going to be so happy.”
Past winners (mostly actors) have included Ryan Reynolds, George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Mel Gibson who was the first to get the male attractiveness nod, in 1985.

Bradley Cooper.

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Bob Costas’ interview Monday with Jerry Sandusky on NBC stood out for something it wasn’t – It wasn’t about the interviewer using the occasion to call attention to himself.
That happens too often on TV. Instead, Costas used concise questions to let viewers draw their own conclusions.
The interview, taped at about 7:15 p.m. ET for the NBC newsmagazine show Rock Center that aired at 10 p.m., came about suddenly. In a phone interview Tuesday, Costas said he was set to interview Joseph Amendola, Sandusky’s lawyer, when Amendola, about 20 minutes before their scheduled talk, asked Costas if he’d like to talk by phone to Sandusky. Costas says there were “no restrictions” and he told Amendola: “You realize this questioning will be pointed. And he said, fine.” Costas says the attorney also told him that with his client having already “been tried and convicted in the court of public opinion,” he wanted to present Sandusky “as a person.”
Costas said of the last-minute switch – “Much of what I’d prepared for Amendola could be redirected. But a lot was off the cuff. … I was determined to not get bogged down in the particulars. I thought – What are the questions the viewers might want answered?”
Appropriately, Costas says he has “no concern” about whether the interview might be used in a future trial of the ex-Penn State assistant football coach, who is facing child sex abuse charges. Sandusky told Costas he’s “innocent of those charges” but also said “I have done some of those things” such as “horsing around” when showering with kids. Costas largely is keeping his own opinions to himself. “A lot of people would conclude that Sandusky is having difficulty coming to grips with his own behavior” – Costas says. “Even the very minimum he acknowledges is troubling and inappropriate.”

Jerry Sandusky.

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Ilya Zhitomirskiy, a former New York University NYU student who co-founded the social networking site Diaspora has died from an apparent suicide at the age of 22.
Zhitomirskiy was one of four schoolmates from NYU who started Disaspora in 2010.
They billed it as a site that was less centralized, and more private than other social network giants such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+.
Albie Esparza of the San Francisco Police Department, said that his death was ‘a possible suicide,’ and that the case had been referred to the San Francisco Medical Examiner’s office, which would soon confirm what had happened, ABC News reports.
Diaspora was designed to not even have its own servers, the computer banks that a centralized website uses to store users’ data.
Its founders said on the site’s homepage that: ‘Diaspora makes sharing clean and easy, and this goes for privacy too.’
Today, even as word of Zhitomirskiy’s death spread, Diaspora announced it was inviting users to try a new, redesigned experimental version of the service – the report said.

Ilya Zhitomirskiy.

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Herman Cain’s wife said she doesn’t believe the sexual harassment allegations against her husband because “he totally respects women.”
Gloria Cain made the remarks in an interview to air Monday on Fox’s “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.”
“I know that’s not the person he is. He totally respects women” – Gloria Cain said.
Last week, during an appearance on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” Cain said he still has the support of his wife.
“My own wife said that I wouldn’t do anything as silly as what that lady was talking about, because she does know me” – Cain said about one of the accusers, Sharon Bialek.
“I’ve been married for 43 years to the same woman and I’m proud of it.”
At least four women have accused the GOP presidential hopeful of sexual harassment.
In a statement last week, Cain campaign spokesman J.D. Gordon said: “There have been a number of interesting revelations that the public has learned about these women over the past few days. We hope the court of public opinion will take this into consideration as these women continue to try and keep this story alive.”
The attorney for a woman who accused Cain of sexual harassment in the late 1990s said Thursday his client is not prepared to hold a news conference about the allegations until all the other reported victims agree to join her.
Joel Bennett said his client, Karen Kraushaar, has tried to reach two other women who also claim they were sexually harassed by Cain during his 1996-99 stint as head of the National Restaurant Association.
Another accuser (Bialek) has agreed to attend a joint news conference with Kraushaar, but without the participation of all the alleged victims, Kraushaar doesn’t want to proceed, Bennett told reporters.

Gloria Cain.

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When Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez stepped into the ring in the MGM Grand on May 8, 2004 there was no one who anticipated it being the start of one of boxing’s greatest rivalries. 36 rounds later, in the same building where it began, it closed with Manny Pacquiao’s hand being raised after winning a narrow majority decision.
Amazingly (after those 36 rounds) it still feels somehow unfinished.
After 108 minutes in the ring against each other over the span of seven and a half years only seven points separate these men on the official scorecards. The combined judges scores in the fights show Manny Pacquiao with 1024 points to Juan Manuel Marquez’s 1017. It’s absurd to even think about, for two men to have been so evenly matched at three different weights and at three different stages in their careers.
This is the beauty that should not be lost in the immediate moments after the fight. Watching a great boxing match is a visceral experience, one where we, the viewers, can lose ourselves in what we feel is unfolding. We develop an emotional connection to a man like Marquez as he does the unthinkable.
Juan Manuel Marquez. The warrior, the faded star, the over-the-hill over-his-weight legend who many felt was only put in this position out of necessity and a desire to end a still unfinished story in the career of cash cow Manny Pacquiao. He did not come into the ring to play opponent. Instead we watched and we reacted as he gave as good as he got. Blasting boxing’s now favorite son with right hands, digging in with body shots and not backing down as the trademark Pacquiao left hand landed flush.
Seeing the man written off by so many despite his previous successes put on yet another masterful performance and lose a tight decision can be tough. As we invest in the underdog seeing him doing what he has no business doing, watching him lose ‘only’ because three judges say so can be an emotional shot to the gut. It just feels wrong and, even if the decision is justifiable, we feel cheated.

Pacquiao and Marquez.

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In a marriage that may or may not last longer than 72 days, Kim Zolciak wed Kroy Biermann Friday at their home, according to Life & Style magazine.
“This has been the happiest day of my life” – Zolciak exclusively told Life & Style. “It’s been perfect. It’s been a dream come true.”
The magazine will offer up exclusive pics and information in next week’s magazine. Zolciak, on her fourth season of Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” met Biermann at a charity event in June 2010 while the cameras were rolling. She admired his posterior and they were quickly an item. Within four months, she was pregnant. By June, she had a baby, Kroy Jagger Biermann Jr. In Oct., the couple were engaged.
All this was exclusively chronicled by Life & Style, which has paid Zolciak an unknown sum for all her new – her lesbian fling in early 2010, the pregnancy photos, the engagement, the baby, the marriage. If anything, the magazine has made her more than her wig line, the one that never seems to get off the ground.
Biermann, a defensive end for the Atlanta Falcons, has made 17 tackles so far in eight games.
Bravo is currently filming a spin-off show about their lives as newlyweds, according to Zolciak’s attorney Darrell Miller.
For Zolciak, this is her second marriage and third child. This is Biermann’s first marriage.

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