Andanh.com

It's 11:30 on a Thursday morning, not exactly a prime television viewing hour.

Flipping channels in his office in the back of the Wingnuts' clubhouse, manager James Beauchamp -- who goes by his middle name, Kash -- stops on a program about baseball in the 1960s.

Beauchamp's eyes light up as they drift back to his childhood, when he and his father, Jim, who played in the major leagues from 1964-73, developed a bond woven tighter by baseball. It began to develop when Kash uttered his first word -- ball.

Jim's superior talent alone would have made him a productive professional ballplayer, but he accentuated it by playing with an all-out style that he passed down to his son.

Beauchamp, 45, is still grinning as he reaches for a biography about Ty Cobb, his favorite player. He reads out loud a brief passage and through his words comes a self-appointed responsibility to make sure his father's memory -- and style of play -- live on.

There was no shortage of fight Saturday among the Royals. Except when it mattered.

Perhaps they had nothing left after a pre-game clubhouse confrontation between outfielder Jose Guillen and pitching coach Bob McClure. Or perhaps Tampa Bay's Andy Sonnanstine was really this good.

Either way, the Royals showed no spark in their 3-0 loss to these surging Rays at Tropicana Field.

Sonnanstine improved to 10-3 by limiting the Royals to five hits, all singles, with a soft-toss repertoire in a brisk 85-pitch performance over seven innings.

"He was cutting it," left fielder David DeJesus said, "and he had just enough cut to keep it off the middle part of the bat. Then he would sink it away. He was throwing it at 85, then he'd come with a 70-mph curveball."

Michael Phelps set another world record. No surprise there. Dara Torres is going back to the Olympics. Who would've believed it?

Fresh off an endorsement from Mark Spitz, the iconic star he'll try to better in Beijing, Phelps set another world record to win the 200-meter individual medley at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials Friday night.

Phelps claimed his fourth individual victory of the trials in 1 minute, 54.80 seconds, beating the mark of 1:54.98 he set while winning seven events at last year's world championships in Australia.

"I just tried to hang on," he said. "I was hurting that last 50."

It was the second world record of the meet for Phelps, who also swam faster than anyone in history to win the 400 IM. His only piece of unfinished business: the 100 butterfly and an expected showdown with world recordholder Ian Crocker.

Two athletes with Kansas ties advanced to the finals with their performances on Friday at the U.S. Olympic trials.

Former Kansas State runner and Riley County product Amy Mortimer had the third-fastest time in the women's 1,500, finishing in 4:12.49, second in her heat.

Wichita State throws coach John Hetzendorf finished sixth in the preliminaries of the javelin throw with a toss of 243 feet, five inches.

Both finals are on Sunday.

"The race couldn't have gone much better, especially coming out of lane one," Mortimer told the USATF web site. "I'm more fit now than I was when I ran my PR two years ago, so I'm excited about the finals. I'm ready to get in there and see what I can do."

Yankees 2, Red Sox 1 --Mariano Rivera flashed his classic form just in time.

The New York Yankees closer pitched himself in and out of trouble, escaping a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the ninth inning and preserving a victory over the Boston Red Sox.

• After Mike Mussina (11-6) pitched six shutout innings, Rivera took over in the ninth with a 2-0 lead. The Red Sox quickly scored a run and were poised to get more, but Rivera struck out Coco Crisp, got Jason Varitek on a popup and fanned Julio Lugo for his 23rd save.... The Yankees won after losing the first two games of the series to Boston.... Melky Cabrera and Brett Gardner, two of New York's three healthy outfielders, each drove in a run and made a nice play in the field.... Justin Masterson (4-3) hit three batters, threw a wild pitch and walked two, but managed to hold the Yankees in check in his six innings. The rookie right-hander allowed six hits in his first appearance against New York.

White Sox 6, Athletics 1 -- Gavin Floyd pitched 7 1/3 scoreless innings to get his 10th victory and Nick Swisher, Brian Anderson and Alexei Ramirez homered in Chicago's win over Oakland.

• Oakland had captured the first two games of the four-game series to cool off the White Sox, who'd won seven straight before the A's came to town.... Floyd (10-4), who was 8-10 in his career entering this season, allowed only three singles, walking three and striking out six.... Greg Smith (5-7), who pitched a complete game four-hitter in his previous start against the Angels, went five-plus innings, allowing five hits and four runs while tying a career high with six walks.

Nevada 5, Joplin 3

Friday's Results

Dodge City 8, Liberal 5

Hays 3, Derby 2

Jake Gautreau hit a three-run homer and helped power the Fort Worth Cats to an 8-7 victory over the Wingnuts on Saturday in Fort Worth.

Fort Worth led 8-4 after six innings. Wichita scored twice in the seventh and added another run in the eighth, but couldn't get the tying run across.

Wingnuts starter Justin Young allowed seven runs and left without retiring a batter in the fourth inning.

Ed Montague and Bryan Fryer each homered to help Fort Worth defeat Wichita 9-3 Friday night in Fort Worth.

Blake Gailen, Michael Thompson and Steve Pearson drove in runs for the Wingnuts.

Pearson now has 31 RBIs in his last 31 games.

Wichita will send Justin Young to the mound tonight for game two of the American Association series.

Richard Salazar, who allowed five runs in five innings, lost his first game as a starter.

Kyle Busch raced side-by-side with Carl Edwards in the closing laps at Daytona International Speedway, each driver running wide open toward the win.

When a multicar accident brought out the caution behind them, the field was frozen and no one had any idea who won Saturday night's race. After an anxious few moments while NASCAR looked at the ending, Busch was awarded the win.

Again.

For Busch, the Sprint Cup Series points leader, it was his sixth Cup win of the year. In all, Busch has 12 victories this season spanning all three of NASCAR's top series.

"I can't believe that we're here right now," Busch said in Victory Lane. "We didn't have the best car. Luckily we were leading there when it mattered most."

Saturday's Results

Modifieds

A Feature--1. Brian Franz; 2. Ryan McAninch; 3. Marc Hurd. B Feature--1. Greg Stephens; 2. Casey McClaskey; 3. Jimmie Hobbs. C Feature--1. Jeremy Massey; 2. Jordan Whitehead; 3. Jim Johnson. Heat 1--1. Ryan McAninch; 2. Brian Powers; 3. Jimmie Hobbs. Heat 2--1. Marc Hurd; 2. Marlin Farr; 3. John Allen. Heat 3--1. Nic Baalman; 2. Allen Adams; 3. Ross Shipman. Heat 4--1. Brian Franz; 2. Brandon Morton; 3. Greg Stephens.

Rookie Modifieds

A Feature--1. Shawn Langhover Jr.; 2. James Lutkie; 3. Shawn Ridpath. Heat 1--1. Don Hodge; 2. Shawn Langhover Jr.; 3. Billy Hardin. Heat 2--1. Harley Peery; 2. Niel Dossie; 3. James Lutkie.

Jimmie Johnson, one win. Dale Earnhardt Jr., one win. Jeff Gordon and Casey Mears, winless.

Hendrick Motorsports wrapped the Sprint Cup series in an anaconda squeeze and swallowed it whole last season, winning half of the 36 races -- 10 of the first 14 -- as Johnson won his second consecutive championship. Gordon was second and Kyle Busch, who was ousted for Earnhardt Jr., was fifth. By the 2007 Coke Zero 400 at Daytona, Johnson had four wins en route to a series-best 10, Gordon four of six, Busch his one victory of the season and Mears his first Cup win.

A year later, NASCAR's most successful team is a statistical shadow of its recent self, if trips to Victory Lane are the lone factor. But they're not, and Hendrick might not be much worse off than a year ago. At least its race teams are telling themselves so.

Consider: Earnhardt Jr. is third in driver points, Johnson fifth and Gordon sixth and safely ensconced in the 12-driver Chase for the Championship field that will be settled nine races from now at Richmond. Wins pay well in prestige, points and purses, but consistency wins championships. And that means Hendrick's drivers are indeed having very good seasons.

"I wouldn't say that we've got the confidence or the momentum that we had this time last year, but I feel like our teams are still really solid," Gordon said. "I just think that we've gotten a little bit behind vs. the competition competitively. That's something that we're working hard on. Last year, as strong as we were going into the Chase, you still had no guarantee once you got into the Chase what was going to happen.

Scott Dixon came into the weekend insisting it wasn't going to be easy to make it four straight IndyCar victories at Watkins Glen International.

Looks as if he was right.

Ryan Briscoe gave Team Penske its fourth straight pole on the 3.4-mile, 11-turn circuit in upstate New York, supplanting veteran teammate Helio Castroneves. The Brazilian's string of three in a row was ended by a broken throttle cable that sent him to the rear of the 26-car field for Sunday's race.

Justin Wilson, one of the nine drivers transitioning from the defunct Champ Car World Series to the newly unified IRL IndyCar Series, will start from second, followed by Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Wilson appeared to have his first IndyCar pole wrapped up when he pitted after turning a lap of 1 minute, 29.38 seconds. But, as the Englishman sat in his car on pit road for the final moments of qualifying, Briscoe lapped the track at 1:29.34 to grab his second series pole and the 36th for Team Penske.

Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart or Joey Logano. It doesn't matter who's behind the wheel of the No. 20 Toyota, it always seems to end up in Victory Lane.

Hamlin held off Busch on Friday night at Daytona International Speedway to extend Joe Gibbs Racing's dominance in the Nationwide Series, driving the No. 20 to its ninth victory of the season.

The car is so stout, third-place finisher Dale Earnhardt Jr. had no idea who was behind the wheel and repeatedly congratulated Stewart on the win.

Stewart, who drove the car to a win last week in New Hampshire, took Friday night off and Earnhardt eventually figured out it was Hamlin who raced to his third series win of the season.

"You can take that several different ways," Hamlin said of Earnhardt's mistake. "You could take it as I was driving a lot like Tony, which is a compliment in my eyes. If I was driving like Tony on a superspeedway, that's pretty dang good, so I'll take it."

Martin joins Hendrick -- Mark Martin is returning to NASCAR full time, agreeing to drive for powerhouse Hendrick Motorsports in a final effort to win a championship that has eluded him for 24 years.

Martin and team owner Rick Hendrick announced the deal pairing the 48-year-old driver with one of NASCAR's top teams, Friday at Daytona International Speedway.

Martin will race a full schedule next season, replacing Casey Mears in the No. 5 Chevrolet. Hendrick is parting ways with Mears after this season.

Although Dale Earnhardt Inc. might not be a championship contender, it showed Friday it still can be a force at Daytona International Speedway.

DEI swept the front row in qualifying for tonight's Coke Zero 400 and ended up with three drivers in the top eight positions.

Paul Menard won the pole when he covered the 2 ½-mile superspeedway with a fast lap of 185.916 mph, just ahead of teammate Mark Martin. Rookie Regan Smith was eighth.

DEI's other driver, Martin Truex Jr., was well back in 35th. He was driving a backup car after his primary car failed inspection Thursday and was seized by NASCAR.

Truex's setback -- he could be docked points for an illegal body modification -- combined with Martin's Friday announcement that he was moving to Hendrick Motorsports gave DEI a rough start to the weekend. But the team rebounded with its strongest qualifying effort of the season.

Tyson Gay's bid to become the first man in 24 years to sweep the Olympic Games 100- and 200-meter titles came crashing down at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials on Saturday afternoon.

Gay, the 2007 World 100 and 200 champion, collapsed to the track less than 70 meters into his 200 quarterfinal, sending a chill through the Hayward Field crowd of 20,834.

Gay, who had to be carted off the track, suffered a severe cramp in his left hamstring, his agent Mark Wetmore said. While there was no apparent damage to the muscle other than the cramp according to Wetmore, the exact extent of the injury might not be known until today.

This much is clear: Gay's quest to duplicate Carl Lewis' 100 and 200 double at the 1984 Olympic Games is over.

"I'm very disappointed," Gay said in a statement.

Carli Lloyd scored on a deflected shot in the 39th minute Saturday to give the United States a 1-0 victory over Sweden in a women's Olympic tuneup at Skelleftea, Sweden.

Lloyd dribbled past three defenders inside the box, then fired a low left-footed shot that glanced off Sara Thunebro's leg and past goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl.

The victory was the United States' 20th straight this year, including one on penalty kicks over Canada in the final of CONCACAF Olympic qualifying.

The United States next plays Brazil on July 13 near Denver, and July 16 at San Diego before heading to China.

BASKETBALL

Michael Phelps will get another shot at Mark Spitz's Olympic record in Beijing.

Gary Hall Jr. won't be going to China at all.

Phelps locked up his eight-race schedule by winning the 100-meter butterfly at the U.S. swimming trials Saturday night, powering away on the return lap to easily beat world-record holder Ian Crocker. The winning time was 50.89 seconds, about a half-second slower than Crocker's 3-year-old mark of 50.40.

The trials wrap up today with two more events. Phelps' work is already done.

"This week turned out how I wanted it to," Phelps said. "I'm ready for the challenge that lies ahead of me. At the Olympics, it's going to be harder than it was here. It's a higher level. And you add the relays in there, and it's the Olympic Games. Hopefully, it's something I can be successful at."

As invariably happens in swimming, one of the sport's most historic feats was a bang-bang moment Friday night.

Dara Torres, 41, touched the wall first, making her swimming's oldest female Olympic qualifier. But 13,247 pairs of eyes in the Qwest Center had to turn to the JumboTron for verification.

Pandemonium. The red, white and blue T-shirt-wearing U.S. Olympic trials fans erupted, Torres burst into tears, and "American Woman" blared on the public address system.

Yes, it was the Fourth of July, but after Torres' startling 100-meter freestyle victory, Wonder Woman seemed a more apt description. Many thought she would place top-six and earn a relay spot, but that her best chance for an individual-event berth was Saturday's 50-freestyle, where Torres continued her incredible run by setting an American record, winning her semifinal heat in 24.38 seconds.

"I think tonight was all mental," she said Friday. "When I was warming up, I thought this was going to have to be about my head and heart, because my body was beat up."

Thrilled as she was to win her fifth Wimbledon singles championship, Venus Williams dialed down her celebration.

No hopping in place and skipping to the net after match point, the way she's done so often on that Centre Court lawn. No giddy laughter and whoops of joy, as she's let out in the past.

This title was different from her previous successes at the grass-court Grand Slam.

This title came at the expense of her younger sibling, Serena.

Reprising their Sister Slam Show in the Wimbledon final after a five-year hiatus, Venus and Serena Williams smacked big serves, hit hard strokes from all angles and chased down seemingly unreachable balls, like no one else does. Overcoming an early deficit, Venus beat Serena 7-5, 6-4 Saturday for her second consecutive title at the All England Club and seventh major championship overall.

Alejandro Valverde is determined to contend for the Tour de France title. And the Tour de France is determined to run a clean race.

The Spaniard won the opening stage in a final sprint Saturday as cycling's three-week showcase took a first step in trying to get beyond the doping scandals that for years have battered the race and the entire sport.

"I've achieved two of my objectives: to win a stage and to wear the yellow jersey," Valverde said. "That's done today.... It gives me peace of mind for the rest of the race."

Valverde, fresh off winning last month's Dauphine Libere and the Spanish championship, broke away from the pack at the end of the 123-mile leg from Brest to Plumelec.

"Valverde is just so good, that's a perfect finish for him today," said Britain's David Millar of the U.S. team Garmin Chipotle. "It was good to see him take control of the race and show he's a proper champion."

Tyson Gay tumbled to the ground at the start of his 200-meter quarterfinal heat at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials Saturday and had to be carted off the track.

Running in Lane 7, Gay was speeding to the lead in the first turn, but on his 14th stride, something went wrong. He went airborne, fell, then laid on the ground in pain, grabbing his left thigh and hamstring.

Officials from USA Track and Field said Gay pulled up with a severe cramp in his hamstring.

Gay's manager, Mark Wetmore, said the sprinter was at his hotel, resting and working with his physical therapist. Gay was scheduled for an MRI as a precaution.

"There is no apparent damage otherwise, except for some road rash from the fall," Wetmore said. "He said he felt a little tightness before the race."

Former Chargers safety Terrence Kiel was killed after he was thrown from a Chevy sedan he was driving, police said Saturday.

Kiel, 27, was driving alone after leaving a party at about 10:15 Friday night when he hit a wall in San Diego's upscale Scripps Ranch neighborhood and was thrown from the car, police Sgt. Alan Hayward said.

Kiel was barely breathing when paramedics reached him and he died about an hour later, Hayward said.

Friends had tried to keep Kiel from driving home from the party, Hayward said, and witnesses told police he appeared to be driving in the wrong direction when he crashed.

Police would not know whether Kiel had been under the influence of drugs or alcohol until toxicology tests were performed, Hayward said.

After moving within a victory of his sixth consecutive Wimbledon title, Roger Federer found time to catch only a few games of Rafael Nadal's semifinal.

Federer does have a DVD of Nadal's match, but he wasn't exactly rushing to use it for scouting purposes before they meet for the Wimbledon championship today.

"I know plenty already," Federer said. "I'll watch more if I think I have to, but at the moment, I think I know everything that I need to."

He certainly should. After all, today's encounter will be the sixth Grand Slam title match between the No. 1-ranked Federer and No. 2 Nadal, more than for any other pair of men in the 40-year Open era.

"I think it's quite incredible, myself," Federer said, "that we've played each other so many times on so many big occasions."

Michael Phelps set another world record. No surprise there. Dara Torres is going back to the Olympics. Who would've believed it? Fresh off an endorsement from Mark Spitz, the iconic star he'll try to better in Beijing, Phelps set another world record to win the 200-meter individual medley at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials Friday night.

Phelps claimed his fourth individual victory of the trials in 1 minute, 54.80 seconds, beating the mark of 1:54.98 he set while winning seven events at last year's world championships in Australia.

"I just tried to hang on," he said. "I was hurting that last 50."

It was the second world record of the meet for Phelps, who also swam faster than anyone in history to win the 400 IM. His only piece of unfinished business: the 100 butterfly and an expected showdown with world recordholder Ian Crocker.

Phelps must finish first or second in that event Saturday night to ensure he swims eight events at the Olympics. Then he'll need to win them all to beat Spitz's record of seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Kara Goucher, Jennifer Rhines and Shalane Flanagan have qualified for the U.S. Olympic team in the women's 5,000 meters.

Goucher, who finished second in the 10,000 earlier at the Olympic trials, finished the 5,000 in 15 minutes, 1.02 seconds to earn the chance to go for the rare double.

Flanagan, who owns the American record in the 5,000 and 10,000, finished third and also will have the chance to go for the double. She beat Goucher in the 10,000.

Federer:

Right-handed, 26, born in Basel, Switzerland, and lives in Oberwil, Switzerland.... Playing at Wimbledon for the 10th time.... Has won the past five championships at the All England Club.... Trying to become the first man since Willie Renshaw in 1881-86 to win Wimbledon six years in a row.... Beat Nadal in the 2006 and 2007 finals.... Lost to Nadal in last month's French Open final, his third consecutive loss to the Spaniard in the title match in Paris.... Is 6-11 overall against Nadal, but 5-2 on surfaces other than clay.... Hasn't lost a set at Wimbledon this year; he also reached the 2006 final without dropping a set.... Beat Dominik Hrbaty, Robin Soderling, Marc Giquel, No. 20 Lleyton Hewitt, Mario Ancic, Marat Safin.... Ranked No. 1 since Feb. 2, 2004, a record 231 consecutive weeks.... Will be playing in his 16th major final, tying Bjorn Borg for fourth most in tennis history.... Has won 12 Grand Slam titles, five at Wimbledon, four at the U.S. Open, three at the Australian Open. Pete Sampras holds the record with 14.... Has 55 career titles, two this year.... Is 43-8 in 2008.... Doesn't have a full-time coach.

Nadal:

Left-handed, 22, born and lives in Manacor, Mallorca, Spain.... Playing at Wimbledon for the fifth time.... Will be playing in his third consecutive final; lost to Federer in the title match the past two years.... One of only eight men to reach at least three Wimbledon finals in a row in the 40-year Open era.... In his 2003 debut at Wimbledon, at 17, became the youngest man to reach the third round since 16-year-old Boris Becker in 1984.... Is aiming to become the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year.... Has won the past four French Open titles, the first to win that many in a row since Borg did it from 1978-81.... Has won 23 consecutive matches.... Has lost one set at the All England Club this year.... Beat Andreas Beck, Ernests Gulbis, No. 27 Nicolas Kiefer, No. 17 Mikhail Youzhny, No. 12 Andy Murray, Rainer Schuettler.... Ranked No. 2 since July 25, 2005 -- 154 consecutive weeks.... Has won 28 career titles, including five this year.... Is 55-7 this year.... Coached by his uncle, Toni Nadal.

LPGA NW Arkansas Championship -- South Korea's Seon Hwa Lee birdied five of her final six holes for an 8-under 64 to take a two-shot lead at the LPGA Tour's NW Arkansas Championship.

Lee, the Ginn Tribute last month, ended with a flourish, hitting a pitching wedge from 104 yards to about 3 feet on No. 18, setting up her last birdie.

H.J. Choi (66) was second, a shot ahead of Ai Miyazato and Eun-Hee Ji. Kristy McPherson also was 5 under through 13 holes.

Add up all of Roger Federer's greatness on grass courts, and the numbers are striking: 40 wins in a row at Wimbledon, 65 overall on the surface.

Now he seeks an additional victory, a victory that would make him the first man since the 1880s to win six consecutive Wimbledon titles, a victory that would give him a 13th Grand Slam championship, one shy of Pete Sampras' career record.

And a victory that would have to come against his only real rival in today's game, Rafael Nadal.

No. 1 Federer and No. 2 Nadal set up their third straight showdown in the Wimbledon final on Sunday, and sixth meeting in a major title match, by handily beating unseeded opponents Friday. Federer eliminated Marat Safin 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-4 in the first semifinal, and Nadal defeated Rainer Schuettler 6-1, 7-6 (3), 6-4.

"There's one more left," Federer said. "I don't think it matters really a lot if I'm the favorite or not. I'm on an incredible winning streak on grass. First somebody has to be able to break that before we start talking differently."

Jeff Overton doesn't feel like a different player than the guy who could couldn't make it to the weekend on the PGA Tour over the last two months. Funny how seeing the ball go in the hole changes everything.

Overton continued his one-week turnaround Friday with a 5-under 65, giving him a share of the lead with Tom Pernice Jr. in the AT&T National before storms rained on the Fourth of July atmosphere at Congressional and interrupted the second round.

Overton and Pernice, who matched the course record on a soft, still day at Congressional with a 63, were at 9-under 131.

Anthony Kim, living up to his billing as the next young threat in golf, appeared poised to catch the leaders until a 1 ½-hour storm delay that slowed his momentum. A bogey on the par-5 ninth gave him a 67, three shots behind with Cliff Kresge (65).

Dick's Sporting Goods Open -- Joe Ozaki shot a 9-under 63, his best round in three years on the Champions Tour, to take a two-shot lead over Argentina's Eduardo Romero in the Dick's Sporting Goods Open at Endicott, N.Y.

No. 6 Serena Williams of the United States vs. No. 7 Venus Williams of the United States:

Serena:

Right-handed, 26, born in Saginaw, Mich., and lives in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.... Playing at Wimbledon for the ninth time.... Won the 2002 and 2003 championships, beating older sister Venus each time; lost to Maria Sharapova in 2004 final.... Is 8-7 overall against Venus, including 5-1 in Grand Slam finals.... Their last meeting in a title match came at the All England Club in 2003.... Hasn't lost a set at Wimbledon this year.... Beat Kaia Kanepi, Urszula Radwanska, No. 29 Amelie Mauresmo, Bethanie Mattek, No. 14 Agnieszka Radwanska, Zheng Jie.... Will be playing in her 11th Grand Slam final.... Has won eight Grand Slam titles, two at Wimbledon, two at the U.S. Open, three at the Australian Open, one at the French Open.... Has 31 career titles, three this year.... Is 31-3 in 2008.... Coached by her father, Richard Williams, and mother, Oracene Price. Hitting partner is Sasha Bajin.

Venus:

Right-handed, 28, born in Lynwood, Calif., and lives in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.... Playing at Wimbledon for the 12th time.... Won the 2000, 2001, 2005 and 2007 championships; reached two other finals, losing to Serena in 2002 and 2003.... Beat Serena in the 2001 U.S. Open final, the first time two sisters had played in a Grand Slam title match since Maud Watson beat Lillian Watson at Wimbledon in 1884.... Hasn't lost a set at the All England Club this year.... Beat Naomi Cavaday, Anne Keothavong, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, Alisa Kleybanova, Tamarine Tanasugarn, No. 5 Elena Dementieva.... Will be playing in her 13th Grand Slam final.... Has won six Grand Slam titles, four at Wimbledon, two at the U.S. Open.... Has 36 career titles, none this year. Hadn't made it past the semifinals at any tournament before Wimbledon in 2008.... Is 20-7 in 2008.... Coached by her father, Richard Williams, and mother, Oracene Price. Hitting partner is David Witt.

Here's what victory will look like for Tour de France organizers: The riders reach the finish line in three weeks with no doping scandals.

Cycling's most prestigious race begins today, trying to shake its history of drugs and cheating. The turmoil has left this year's race without many of the sport's biggest names. The loss of glamour, however, gives a new crop of riders a chance to step forward.

Cadel Evans, Alejandro Valverde, Carlos Sastre, Denis Menchov and Damiano Cunego are among the most likely to prevail in the 2,175-mile trek.

"I'd rate myself as a pretty good chance to win," said Evans, who has improved from eighth place in 2005 to fourth the next year and runner-up in 2007. One sign of potential stardom? He now has the same bodyguard Lance Armstrong once did.

The race begins with a 123-mile flat ride through Brittany. For the first time since 1967, the Tour will begin without an opening-day prologue.

When rumors started circulating in the late 1990s that she had multiple sclerosis, actress Teri Garr discovered a lot of Hollywood was afraid to even meet with her about potential acting gigs.

Although she managed to keep working, interviews went from rare to nonexistent for the popular comedic actress who was Oscar-nominated for "Tootsie."

"When you hear the word 'disabled,' people immediately think about people who can't walk or talk or do everything that people take for granted," Garr said in a recent interview. "Now, I take nothing for granted. But I find the real disability is people who can't find joy in life and are bitter."

Garr, 63, is anything but depressed and bitter these days despite the fact she's had the chronic and often debilitating disease involving the central nervous system for the last 25 years -- it was officially diagnosed in 1999 -- and suffered a near-fatal brain aneurysm in December 2006. She's in several new movies, including "Expired," which opened last month.

"What's next?" she said, with her trademark laugh that has endeared her to audiences.

The jazz band from Friends University is going to Europe.

The 20-student band and its director, Lisa Hittle, will play at three jazz festivals in Italy and France during a 10-day tour that begins Saturday.

The band, Friends University Jazz Ensemble I, will play a "Bon Voyage" concert Thursday at Friends University. The performance will feature special guest stars and a silent auction to help raise funds for the trip.

"We're trying to program a pretty wide variety of jazz styles," Hittle said of the tour music. "But I'm intentionally trying to represent Kansas and Wichita by what we play."

Song lists -- which will vary at each of six European performances -- will include big band tunes by Count Basie (whose band formed in Kansas City, Mo., in the 1930s) and selections by Stan Kenton, who was born in Wichita and whose innovative sounds were the rage in the 1950s and '60s.

Arthur Drooker's photographs are not only evocative of another time and place, but they also appear otherworldly because of the techniques used to capture them.

In an exhibit titled "American Ruins," Drooker's photographs are on display through Sept. 7 at the Wichita Art Museum.

Drooker, based in Los Angeles, makes his living writing and directing television documentaries for the History Channel but has pursued a passion for photography since his father gave him a camera at the age of 14.

"American Ruins" captures architecturally and historically significant ruins within the United States.

"People don't often think about there being ruins in our country because we are so young," Drooker said during an interview while in Wichita for the opening of his exhibit. "But some of the ruins that I have photographed date as far back as 300 A.D."

Heath Ledger's performance in the Batman tale "The Dark Knight" is so remarkable that next Jan. 22, the one-year anniversary of his death, he could become just the seventh actor in Oscar history to earn a posthumous nomination.

"I do think that Heath has created an iconic villain that will stand for the ages, and of course, I would love to see him get an award," said Christian Bale, who reprises his "Batman Begins" role as the tormented crime fighter.

Superhero flicks usually are not the stuff Oscar dreams are made of. Yet Ledger delivered so far beyond anyone's expectations that he could end up as the second performer to win Hollywood's top honor after his death.

"He may be the first actor since Peter Finch. He may even win the damn thing," said Gary Oldman, who co-stars as noble cop Jim Gordon in "The Dark Knight," which hits theaters July 18.

Finch is the only person to win posthumously, earning the best-actor prize for 1976's "Network" two months after he died.

Tom and Ray Magliozzi, aka Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers of NPR's "Car Talk" fame, are just two low-ego lugs. That's why -- familiar self-deprecating shtick aside -- the boys' ambivalence about their new public television series rings seriously true.

"I hope that people look at it mercifully," says the younger, stockier, talkier Ray (Clack) about "As the Wrench Turns," a half-hour series that wraps social and environmental messages inside an animated sitcom.

Premiering at 7 p.m. Wednesday on PBS, the show follows Click and Clack's exploits co-hosting a nationally syndicated radio show and running a car repair shop that mirrors their real-life Good News Garage in Cambridge, Mass. The show will air in two-episode blocks for five weeks.

But will the humor of "As the Wrench Turns" compare to what we've come to expect from Tom and Ray's hugely popular radio franchise -- the most listened-to entertainment program on NPR?

"It's lame enough that people will laugh at some of the lame stuff," Rays says in between bites of lunch on the patio of radio station WBUR-FM in Boston, where the Magliozzis tape "Car Talk." "There will be some chuckles and wry smiles," he says as brother Tom (Click) looks on, cigar-smoking and chortling gently.

Gus Hansen has a reputation as someone who will play any two cards. He knows it and has milked that image to win four World Poker Tour titles. He bets fearlessly at a lot of pots with nothing, which gets him a lot of action. It's a style that can pay off when he actually has something big, as with this hand from the World Poker Tour's $15,000-buy-in Doyle Brunson World Poker Classic at Las Vegas' Bellagio in 2007.

With blinds at $1,500-$3,000 plus a $400 ante, Hansen drew K-8 of clubs in the big blind.

"An older gentleman that I played the day before who gave me the impression that he played tight but was playing a lot of hands raised to $10,600 in middle position," Hansen said. "I'm in the big blind and have K-8 suited, a reasonable hand. I decided to take a flop (getting about 3-1 on his money by calling the extra $7,600)."

The flop came K-J-9, two hearts.

"It's not my dream flop, but I have top pair," said Hansen, who won the main event at the 2007 Aussie Millions. "I check, and he bets $12,000, which is a smallish bet (at a pot worth more than $26,000). I felt it was a weak bet, but I wasn't going to go crazy, so I decided to just call and see what developed."

Without the help of choreographers or voice coaches, Leroy, Andrew and 10 other contestants have been preparing for stardom on a new reality show. They're intensely training by running, jumping, fetching and just looking adorable.

The doggy dozen includes two dogs from Virginia. They're all vying for the title of "Greatest American Dog," CBS's new unscripted series hosted by pet expert-zoologist Jarod Miller. With weekly challenges and a three-judge panel, the program offers a grand prize of $250,000 for the winning dog-and-human team.

"Leroy has been getting ready for a show like this since he was a baby," said Fairfax, Va., resident Teresa Hanula, a former high school Latin teacher whose border collie is poised for his close-up. Leroy, a 5-year-old with mismatched ears, is "obsessed with Frisbee and loves swimming," Hanula said.

To prep Leroy for life on camera, she said, she once held a puppy shower "with people, pinatas, kids, music and noise, everything he would find remotely distracting. And he loved it. He knows when it's showtime."

Hanula said she's anxious about being on the program: "I feel it's a big opportunity, and if we mess something up, it will be me being nervous or putting too much pressure on him."