LSU female goalkeeper Mo Isom to try out for football team

From CBS Sports: LSU female goalkeeper Mo Isom to try out for football team

Mo Isom isn't content to just wrap up a stellar LSU soccer career and move on. Now, she wants to perform on the football field.

The goalkeeper, who has exhausted her soccer eligibility, is attempting to make the Tigers football team as a walk-on, according to multiple reports.

Isom, who is six feet tall, worked out with the football team in September, practicing kickoffs and field goals.

"(I'm) absolutely overwhelmed and humbled by all of the amazing support that has been pouring in surrounding tryouts," Isom said on her Facebook page. "There is so much power in prayer, so please know that I truly appreciate every single one of you! Today is the first of a 3-day tryout, so I would appreciate continued prayer through this week."

Isom would not be the first woman to reach the top collegiate level. In 2003, Katie Hnida became the first woman to kick for an NCAA Division I-A school, when she participated in one regular-season game and the Las Vegas Bowl for the University of New Mexico.

Leave it to the women to show the men how to fire up MMA crowd

From CBS Sports blog by Greg Doyel: Leave it to the women to show the men how to fire up MMA crowd
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Women headlined the Strikeforce card here Saturday night, and the crowd was brutal. It was yelling awful things during the action, things like "prom night" and "those are love taps" and "make love, not war!"

The crowd was onto something, because that was a bad fight. But that wasn't the women. It was the men, the final men's fight of the night, a headliner-quality affair between former Strikeforce lightweight champion Josh Thomson and K.J. Noons. They were rolling and tiptoeing around the mat, fighting more to survive than to destroy, and the crowd was having none of it.

At one point some guy in the first row yelled at Thomson and Noons, "Girls fight better than you!"

And he was right. A bit sexist, maybe -- girls, really? -- but ultimately correct. The women did fight better than Thomson and Noons on Saturday night. They fought better than Paul Daley and Kaz Misaki. Better than Lumumba Sayers and Scott Smith. And better than Bristol Marunde and Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza.

The women had the best two fights of the night, starting of course with the main event, in which challenger Ronda Rousey took Miesha Tate's bantamweight belt, and the better part of her left arm, with a gruesome finish that the uninitiated might not have expected from women.

But women's MMA is not women's basketball. It's not women's golf. It's not an inferior product to the men's version, is what I'm saying. I'm not going to spend any time backing up that assertion, that women's basketball and women's golf are inferior to the men's versions, other than stating these facts: Women basketball players use a smaller ball and play below almost exclusively the rim; women golfers use shorter tees.

Women's MMA? Same five-minute rounds as the men. Same five-round title bouts. Same elbows, fists, knees. Same submissions. Same knockouts.

Same violence.

That's not to say, at the top of the food chain, that a female fighter could beat a male fighter. Do I think Ronda Rousey could beat the best 135-pound male MMA fighter in the world, UFC champion Dominick Cruz? No, of course she couldn't. Maybe if everything went right, and she used her world-class judo to get Cruz to the ground before slapping on her brutal arm bar, Rousey could beat Cruz -- maybe. But if they fought 10 times, I'd bet everything I had on Cruz to win all 10. And he probably would win devastatingly.

The point here is not that female MMA fighters belong in the same cage as the men. They don't, and nobody wants to see that. But female MMA fighters belong on the same fight card as the men, even at the top of the fight card, as Saturday night proved.

Hell, the women didn't just put on the best fight of the night -- they put on the second-best fight, too. And one of them wasn't even aired. Showtime stashed Sarah Kaufman and Alexis Davis on the undercard, which means the viewing audience lost out because Kaufman and Davis put on a show.

"That's what you wanna see, right? You wanna see a fight!" the victorious Kaufman screamed afterward, the crowd screaming at her in return. "You don't wanna see two girls parading around, not fighting. You wanna see a fight."

And they saw it. Kaufman and Davis traded punches for 15 minutes. They were the fourth fight of the night, but when Kaufman and Davis went toe-to-toe late in the first round, the crowd erupted for the first time all night. Blood was on both the fighters' faces, all of it belonging to Davis (until she got even later and drew blood of her own). When rounds ended, the crowd stood and cheered. During the action, the crowd was buzzing.

And this was a crowd that had to be convinced. A few minutes into the fight, it was so quiet that you could hear some idiot yell, "Why are they wearing shirts?" Nobody laughed, because it wasn't funny. In fact, the idiot noticed that nobody laughed and whined, "Tough crowd, because I know that was funny."

Well, no. It wasn't. But the crowd wasn't buzzing early in the fight, either. It was watching two women fight, unsure how to react, until the blood started flowing and the exchanges started happening and Davis started licking the blood off her lips and smiling at Kaufman. And pretty soon, you could tell something had changed inside Nationwide Arena.

The crowd wasn't watching two female fighters.

The crowd was watching two fighters.

More fighters came and went, but the crowd couldn't get into it. Not when it was the men. Souza defeated Marunde in a grinding affair that drew hoots from the crowd. Sayers submitted Smith in the first round, ending the fight before it could get started. A few minutes later both fighters walked past me on press row, and had I not seen the fight with my own eyes, I wouldn't have known who had won or lost. Or that they had fought at all.

Misaki beat Daley in a split decision that had decent action, but nothing more. It was decent. Take it, leave it. I'd tell you more about it, but I've already forgotten what happened.

Thomson and Noons? I remember that one. And what I remember are the boos that greeted the fighters at the end of all three rounds. That was a fight that could turn off viewers.

And then came Miesha Tate and Ronda Rousey to turn them back on. The crowd loved Tate vs. Rousey because the build-up was so visceral, so personal, what with Tate saying Rousey had talked her way into the title shot after a meager four professional fights. And Tate was right; Rousey had talked her way into the title fight. But she deserved it, and she showed it by surviving an early haymaker to the jaw, then nearly submitting Tate in the first minute before finishing the job late in the round.

When it was over, Tate's elbow was bending the wrong way, something Rousey has done to earlier opponents and something she will surely do again. Rousey has the most devastating arm-bar in MMA, male or female, and with Tate's help they put on one of the more entertaining fights of the year.

But only the second-most entertaining fight of the night. The best one I saw? Sarah Kaufman vs. Alexis Davis.

TV reporter suspended for Danica comments

>>>After cutting to a clip of the NASCAR star lamenting how sexy often seems to be the default description for female athletes,

I'm not a fan of Danica Patrick, and I don't understand her comment above. No, she shouldn't appreciate being called a sexy athlete, but what does she expect when she makes all those GoDaddy ads that are rife with sexuality, implying in one of them that she's a lesbian?

To then get upset because sports casters refer to her as "sexy" instead of "talented" seems to be a spot of

From CBS News: TV reporter suspended for Danica comments
Remember Fox 5 San Diego sports anchor Ross Shimabuku, who implied a sexist slur about Danica Patrick on air last week?

He'll have an early spring break after being suspended for a week without pay by the station.

One of Shimabuku's on air reports last week made it clear he was no fan of Patrick calling "sexy and she knows it."

After cutting to a clip of the NASCAR star lamenting how sexy often seems to be the default description for female athletes, Shimabuku quipped that he had another word to describe her, one that "starts with a 'B'...and it's not 'beautiful.'"

Shimabuku's chaser to the piece was that Patrick "always has a chip on her shoulder, trying to prove something."

About 24 hours after the video of his report went viral, Shimabuku released a statement of apology which read:

“I truly apologize if I offended anyone by those comments. They were not meant to be an attack on Danica.”

But by then the damage had already been done and managment chose to suspend the anchor.

Stay classy San Diego.

Stanford wins HSBC Champions on 3rd extra hole

From CBS Sports: Stanford wins HSBC Champions on 3rd extra hole
SINGAPORE -- Angela Stanford of the United States captured her fifth career victory on the third playoff hole at the $1.4 million HSBC Women's Champions on Sunday.

Stanford shot even par on the last playoff hole, beating South Korea's Jenny Shin into joint second with China's Shanshan Feng and Na Yeon Choi of South Korea. Feng was eliminated at the first playoff hole, Choi at the second at Tanah Merah Country Club.

Stanford, a 34-year-old Texan who hadn't won since 2009, said it was an emotional victory.

"It's a big deal," Stanford said. "I'm just thinking about home and everybody there."

Stanford, who earned $210,000 for the win, trailed Shin by a shot after the 17th when play was suspended for about 90 minutes because of lightning. When play resumed, Shin hit her tee shot out of bounds, leading to a double bogey. Stanford shot a bogey on 18 to fall into the four-way joint lead at 10-under 278.

"I felt for [Shin] because we've all been in that position," said Stanford, who shot a 1-under 71 in the final round. "I didn't think I'd be there at the end. I was all over the map today."

The 19-year-old Shin, who turned professional in 2010 and has competed in 18 LPGA tournaments, said her inexperience may have led to jitters at the 18th.

"The tee shot on the 18th hole really threw me off," Shin said. "The playoff wasn't that bad. I wasn't as nervous as I was on the 18th."

Top-ranked Yani Tseng began the third round at 1-under but a 5-under 67 on Saturday and a 4-under 32 on the first nine holes Sunday put her in a brief tie for the lead with Shin. A disastrous double bogey on 10 and another bogey on 14 pushed her back down the leaderboard and she finished fifth, one shot behind the leaders after 72 holes.

Tseng had seven LPGA Tour victories last year and started this year with a win at last week's LPGA Thailand. She has yet to win the HSBC Women's Champions since it started in 2008.

"I'm kind of upset," Tseng said. "I feel disappointed because I didn't win this tournament. I was very close this year. I played great front nine, but hopefully next year I won't be disappointed."

Stanford started the day tied for the lead with Shin and Katie Futcher, who faltered Sunday with five bogeys for a 4-over 76 and finished tied for 11th.

Karrie Webb, who won last year in Singapore, shot a 2-under 70 to finish 9 shots off the lead to tie for 25th place.

American Michelle Wie had another disappointing round with a 75 and was 32 shots behind the leaders. Wie finished the tournament second to last, ahead of only Singapore amateur Sock Hwee Koh.

The tournament featured a field of 63 golfers including 18 of the 20 top-ranked players when play started Thursday.

However, American Paula Creamer, the No. 5-ranked player, withdrew after the second round for family reasons.

Stanford shares LPGA lead in Singapore

From CBS News: Stanford shares LPGA lead in Singapore
SINGAPORE -- Katie Futcher and Jenny Shin shot 5-under 67s in the HSBC Women's Champions on Friday to join first-round leader Angela Stanford at the top of the leaderboard.

Futcher and Shin both had six birdies and one bogey to reach 8-under 136 and tie Stanford, who had a 70, on a day temperatures reached the low 90s.

"My putting has been great the last two days so I'm happy to be where I'm at," said Shin, who bogeyed the 13th.

The second-year LPGA player placed seventh at the season-opening Australian Open and is coming off a tie for ninth in Thailand in Sunday.

"I feel a little bit more confident with my golf game," the South Korean said. "I think Australia helped me a lot. I feel like I know what I'm doing out on the course now.

Futcher's bogey, her first of the tournament, came on the 17th.

"I'm very, very satisfied," the American said. "Went out, made a great putt on No. 1 today for par, and that kind of really just got me settled and I was able after that to hit it pretty close and make a couple of putts."

Stanford started the day with a two-shot lead, but admitted feeling fatigued after her opening 66.

"When I started today, I knew that I didn't quite have that much energy, and so at least I'm starting to recognize it a little earlier in the round," she said. "I felt more tired this morning and the heat didn't help right off the bat."

South Korea's Hee Young Park (68), compatriot Na Yeon Choi (71) and Japan's Ai Miyazato (70) were tied three shots back at 5-under at Tanah Merah Country Club.

World No. 1 Yani Tseng struggled to a 72, but said her sore elbow wasn't to blame.

"I feel I hit the ball pretty good, but my score was terrible and I just - I don't know why," she said. "I didn't make putts and I didn't have much birdie chances actually."

Tseng had two birdies and two bogeys and is tied for 20th at 1 under.

Michelle Wie shot an 81 after a 79 Thursday and was 24 shots behind at 16 over.

The 63-player field in the $1.4 million tournament includes 18 of the top 20 in world rankings.

Stanford opens with 66 in Singapore

From CBS News: Stanford opens with 66 in Singapore
SINGAPORE -- Angela Stanford shot a 6-under 66 to take a two-stroke lead after the opening round of the HSBC Women's Champions on Thursday.

The American started her round with a birdie on the 10th hole and added another on the 16th to make the turn at 2-under 34.

"Well it was a pretty good start, birdied 10 and hit it pretty close on 11, in the past I think I've struggled with that stretch right there, 10, 11, 12," said Stanford, who held a share of the HSBC first-round lead in 2010.

"So the fact that I hit some pretty solid shots off the bat kind of gave me some confidence throughout the round."

It showed on the back nine when she added birdies on Nos. 1, 2, 7 and the par-5 ninth, where she topped her second shot with a 3-wood before recovering to sink a 30-foot birdie putt.

"I can honestly tell you, I've never topped a shot and made birdie on the same hole," Stanford said. "That's a first, right?"

Her 66 was one shot shy of Lorena Ochoa's course record.

Momoko Ueda, Amy Yang, Na Yeon Choi, I.K. Kim and So Yeon Ryu were tied for second at 4-under. A group of seven was at 3-under at Tanah Merah Country Club.

Ueda overcame a double bogey on her first hole, the 10th, with three straight birdies on two separate occasions, Nos. 15-17 and Nos. 5-7.

"I had a good feeling today," she said. "My start was so bad, but I stayed patient."

World No. 1 Yani Tseng of Taiwan battled elbow soreness in shooting a 71.

"Today it wasn't hurt, just sore," she said. "... Yesterday, when hitting driver and hitting shots out of the rough, it's very painful. But I did some ultrasound and ice and physio work, so it's getting much better."

She's seeking her second win of the year after her victory at last week's LPGA Thailand, where she overcame a seven-shot first-round deficit, and is seeking to add the Singapore crown to her already impressive collection of career titles.

Defending champion Karrie Webb of Australia shot an even par 72, while American star Michelle Wie shot a 79.

The 63-player field for the $1.4 million tournament includes 18 of the top 20 in the world rankings.

RIP Marie Colvin

Marie Colvin was a journalist rather than a professional sportswoman, but her life of courage is one to be celebrated. Many journalists have lost their lives covering wars and uprisings and terrorist activity around the world. Marie Colvin joins that august company.

New York Daily News: Marie Colvin, American-born journalist killed in Syria, remembered as fearless
Marie Colvin, an American war reporter killed in a mortar strike in Syria Tuesday, is being remembered by colleagues as one of the bravest foreign correspondents of the current generation.

Raised in the Oyster Bay area of Long Island, Colvin attended Yale University before starting her career as an overnight crime reporter for the United Press Agency in New York City.

She later moved overseas to work as a foreign correspondent for Britain’s Sunday Times, where she reported for the past two decades.

TWO WAR CORRESPONDENTS KILLED IN SYRIA

"Marie was an extraordinary figure in the life of The Sunday Times, driven by a passion to cover wars in the belief that what she did mattered," Sunday Times editor John Witherow said in a statement.

"But she was much more than a war reporter. She was a woman with a tremendous joie de vivre, full of humour and mischief and surrounded by a large circle of friends, all of whom feared the consequences of her bravery."

Colvin, 57, was renowned for her fearless reporting from notorious war zones including Afghanistan, the Balkans, Baghdad, Beirut, Chechnya, East Timor, Libya and Sri Lanka, where she lost an eye after being hit with shrapnel in a 2001 attack.

"So, was I stupid? Stupid I would feel writing a column about the dinner party I went to last night," she wrote in the Sunday Times after the attack in Sri Lanka. "Equally, I'd rather be in that middle ground between a desk job and getting shot, no offense to desk jobs.

"For my part, the next war I cover, I'll be more awed than ever by the quiet bravery of civilians who endure far more than I ever will. They must stay where they are; I can come home to London."

Colvin married and divorced twice. She had no children.

Colleagues said she spent her life defending and reporting on the plight of women and children in insufferable war zones.

"She was among the greatest human beings I have ever met because she was always on the side of truth. She was always on the side of the oppressed. She never once tired. She never once faltered. All that mattered to Marie was the truth," American journalist T.D. Allman wrote in the Daily Beast on Wednesday.

She was believed to be the only British journalist in Homs - and was last seen making the media rounds eerily close to her death. In an appearance on the BBC on Tuesday night, she described seeing a baby die in front of her. And in her last report published in the Sunday Times over the weekend she wrote that people in the besieged Syrian city were, "waiting for a massacre."

The scale of human tragedy in the city is immense," she wrote. "The inhabitants are living in terror. Almost every family seems to have suffered the death or injury of a loved one."

Peter Bouckaert, the emergencies director of the Human Rights Watch told Britain's Telegraph newspaper it never occurred to Colvin to evacuate the war zone.

"Just yesterday, after she filed her news story, one of the first things Marie Colvin did was get in touch to tell me just how horrible the situation was in Homs. It was vintage Marie Colvin -- I could just imagine her happily chatting away with me as the shells fell around her building, and being totally in her element," he said. "She was one of the most fearless and dedicated ... reporters I have ever met, and someone I looked up to as a hero and an inspiration."

Colvin shrugged off her many accolades and awards and was known for her quick wit, laughter and for being the life of any party, Sky News defense and security editor Sam Kiley wrote.

"She was, however, never coarse. Always elegant. She did not get around to having children but yearned for them without bitterness," he wrote. "Her maternal warmth was so gentle and magnetic than when she played with my toddlers years ago in Jerusalem, it was all I could do to resist giving her one to take home."

Her death, according to the Telegraph, was something she never saw as too big of a price to pay to report the truth.

"Our mission is to report these horrors of war with accuracy and without prejudice," she said at a ceremony honoring foreign journalists in 2010. "We always have to ask ourselves whether the level of risk is worth the story. What is bravery, and what is bravado?

"Journalists covering combat shoulder great responsibilities and face difficult choices. Sometimes they pay the ultimate price."