2015 Williams Watch-Only One Can Go To The Quarterfinals...

Because the geniuses at the All England Club had Serena and Venus on the same side of the draw, they met for the 26th time and the first time in six years at this Grand Slam event that has been their personal playground.

At 'Williams'-don, Serena and Venus have won a combined 10 singles titles (and counting), five doubles crowns. one mixed doubles title, and oh yeah, the 2012 London Olympic singles and doubles gold medals.

But this time they were playing for high stakes at Centre Court.  In addition to both seeking their sixth Wimbledon crowns and a spot in the quarterfinals, Serena was playing to keep her Serena Slam alive and her pursuit of a calendar year Grand Slam going as well. 

While Venus had a 6-3, 6-2 straight set victory over Aleksandra Krunic to get to this fourth round showdown with her number one seeded little sister, Serena had to battle all of the Centre Court crowd and Great Britain's Heather Wilson to get there.  It took three sets in which there were some testy moments, but she prevailed 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 to get to the match with Big Sis.

While Big Sis put up a fight, Little Sis is just too good and rolled to a 6-4, 6-3 straight set win.

But the fun is just getting started for Serena.   Waiting for her in the quarters is Victoria Azarenka, and should she get past her, a potential semifinal matchup with Maria Sharapova is on the horizon should she survive her quarterfinal match with American Coco Vandeweghe.

If she gets past them, she will have earned that spot in the final versus potential opponents from the  other side of the quarterfinal bracket like Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska or Madison Keys who square off in one quarterfinal match.   The survivor would get the Garbine Muguruza-Timea Bacsinszky winner.

We'll see if Little Sis can survive and advance to Saturday, and I'm rooting for her to do so.

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Team USA Watch-Redemption!

After navigating and defeating a series of knockout round opponents that included FIFA number 10 ranked Colombia, China, and FIFA world number one ranked Germany in the semifinals,  Team USA not only reached the goal they set for themselves when this tournament started, they got the finals matchup they wanted in Vancouver with Japan.

And far from being the tight finals matchup that everyone expected, it turned into a surprising 5-2 rout as the USA scored four goals in a 16 minute onslaught that avenged the 2011 FIFA finals loss in Germany on penalty kicks to the Nadeshiko and sent them on cruise control to the FIFA women's world championship and first since 1999.

The Houston Dash's Carli Lloyd got things off to a fast and successful start when just 3 minutes into the match she scored the first of her three goals courtesy of a Megan Rapinoe corner kick to put Team USA up 1-0.

Two minutes later Lloyd was Janie on the spot as another corner kick from Lauren Holiday found its way through a maze of players to her foot and she tapped it in the net from short range for her second goal and fifth of the tournament which put the Red White and Blue up 2-0. 

Lauren Holiday would score in the 14th minute to put Team USA up 3-0, but the offensive fireworks in BC Place weren't done yet to the delight of the pro-American crowd. 

And if it wasn't enough for Carli Lloyd to score the two fastest goals in FIFA Women's World Cup finals history, she scored another one that will probably be talked about for decades that put the USA up 4-0

In what will rank up there as the goal of the tournament, in the 16th minute Lloyd capped off her finals hat trick by lobbing a ball from the midfield stripe 54 yards away from the Japanese goal that caught keeper Ayumi Kaihori way off her line.  Kaihori stumbled and fell on her back as she tried to get back in position to stop the ball that sailed past her desperately outstretched hands into the net.



Speaking of goalkeeping, Hope Solo was working on a record of her own.  When the match started she hadn't allowed a goal in 513 minutes, and for another 27 minutes Solo was handling her goalkeeping business until Yuki Ogimi fired a shot past her to cut the USA lead to 4-1.

She fell one agonizing minute short of breaking the Germans World Cup shutout streak record they set during their 2007 title run in which they didn't give up a single goal in the entire tournament.

In the second half Aya Miyama's free kick in the 52nd minute took a glancing blow off of Julie Johnston's head and unfortunately past Hope Solo for an own goal that cut the deficit to 4-2.

But just two minutes later Tobin Heath scored to push the lead back up to 5-2 to the delight of the 53,331 predominately American peeps in the stands as they began to party like it was 1999 and celebrate the Team USA women's third FIFA world championship and first in 16 years.

Hope Solo was deservedly awarded the Golden Glove Award as the best goalkeeper. and Carli Lloyd the Golden Ball as best player.   She just missed out on the Golden Boot because although she and Germany's Celia Sasic had six goals, Sasic scored her six with less playing time than Lloyd.

It was also a long awaited celebratory moment for Abby Wambach, Christie Rampone and Shannon Box, who have probably played in their final World Cups for the Red White and Blue (we have got to get a cooler nickname for our women and men's national teams) and probably won`t be on the Olympic squad in Rio as the seek their fourth straight gold medal.

But that's next year.  Congratulations to the now three time FIFA women's world champions.  Time to sew that third star on the US team jerseys.

And Carli, hope you have some more scoring magic left for the remainder of the Houston Dash season.

2015 Williams Watch- Welcome To 'Williams'-don

It's the start of the third Grand Slam of the 2015 tennis season in London, known to the world as The Championships, but what I call on these electronic pages 'Williams'-don.

It will run from today until July 12, and the start of it was delayed a week to give players time to adjust to grass from the clay surfaces of Roland Garros.

The All England Club has been such a personal playground for both Venus and Serena they have won a combined ten Ladies Singles titles, five Ladies doubles titles and the 2012 London Games singles and doubles gold medals on those hallowed grass surface courts that seem to be tailor made for their power tennis games.

But the last time world number one Serena took the Venus Rosewater Dish home was in 2012, and Venus' last win was in 2008.  

You can bet both sisters wish to change that dynamic.  Serena lost last year in a third round three set   upset loss to Aliza Cornet, and in 2013 lost a three set battle in the fourth round to runner up Sabine Lisicki.

Venus is hoping that she can get back to playing the consistent tennis she needs to play to make a deep run in a Grand final again.

We will find out as the Wimbledon fortnight progresses.

Moni's Excellent Night With The Houston Dash

Been a rough week for me, and I got the opportunity thanks to Mike Craig to knock things off my Houston bucket list.  

I got the opportunity to on a cooler than normal Saturday night to not only check out BBVA Compass Stadium for the first time, but watch the Houston Dash play.

It was the first time since 2001 I'd gotten the opportunity to see a Houston based women's professional sports franchise play a game since the dearly departed Houston Comets played WNBA games in the former arena that is now Joel Osteen's sanctuary.

That's another post and another sport, so back to focusing on our femme footballers.

The opposition for the Dash was the Western New York Flash, and the Dash were missing six total players who were doing Women's World Cup duty for the USA and Canadian squads.  Carli Lloyd, Meghan Klingenberg and Morgan Brian were playing for Team USA and Erin McLeod, Lauren Sesselman and Allysha Chapman for the host Canadians. 

The Dash coming into this game were on a bit of a hot streak, having gone unbeaten in four straight games and looking to extend that streak in this World Cup shortened 2015 NWSL season in which every match is critical and only the top four teams make the playoffs.

My seats were in section 110, in the corner where I could along with the rest of the peeps who came see the corner kicks and all the action developing in front of goal.  We.also had a Latino guy in our section named Carlos who was attending the game as an early Father's Day gift from his wife and he was making this even more fun.

It took a while but we were finally rewarded with a Dash goal in the 24th minute as Jessica McDonald headed the ball into the upper left hand corner for her 5th goal of the season and a 1-0 Dash lead they would take into halftime.

The party continued for us and Carlos as Kealia Ohai, the sister in law of Houston Texans linebacker Brian Cushing, scored her third goal of the season in the 63th minute to build a 2-0 lead and grant Carlos' wish for a Dash victory, three points in the standings and just one point away from first place.

Carlos even got us and the 3,400 peeps in attendance after several tries to do the wave.

Mike had another surprise for us when the game was over and we got to meet a Dash player after the match.

That player turned out to be Dash forward Ella Masar.   She signed autographs and took photos with us to cap off a thoroughly enjoyable evening for me and my crew.

Can't wait to check out another Dash game, and the next time it'll be when all of our players doing World Cup duty will be back.

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Team USA Watch-Escaping The 'Group Of Death'

Last night Team USA played their final group match in Vancouver against Nigeria with much on the  line. 

A Team USA win over the Super Falcons would clinch Group D, send them into the knockout round with a favorable draw that would allow them to avoid a clash with FIFA number one ranked Germany until at least the semis, and they wouldn't play until June 22 in Edmonton against the third place team from either Group B, E or F.

While they were an unbeaten (4-0) against Nigeria coming into that match, there's always that chance the breakthrough win for the Super Falcons could come at any time, and with the team having come off a draw with Sweden and being dropped to number 4 in the FIFA world rankings, Team USA fans had a lot to be worried about.

But with Alex Morgan finally starting and being paired with her running buddy Abby Wambach, the team we were looking for offensively finally showed up.

They kept the pressure on Nigeria from the outset, and in the 8th minute finally broke through with a goal from Julie Johnston that was waved off due to a controversial offside call

But they kept attacking, and it was Abby Wambach to the rescue in stoppage time just before the half as she headed a corner kick from Megan Rapinoe into the back of the net for the only goal the USA would need.



It was Wambach's first of the tournament and 14th career World Cup goal, putting her at second all time behind Brazil's Marta. And to those of us in the US LGBT community, I loved the fact it was two of our LGBT family members teaming up to score against a Nigerian squad that bans gay players and sending them packing as a result.

Thanks to another clean sheet for Hope Solo, who has now gone 243 minutes without allowing a goal, the Red White and Blue have escaped the Group of Death and await their initial knockout round match against the third place team from either Group B, E or F

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Team USA Watch-Next Up Nigeria

The final group play match for now FIFA ranked number four Team USA is taking place in Vancouver against Nigeria with much at stake for the Red, White and Blue. (We have to come up with a cooler nickname for our team).

They also slipped two spots in the FIFA world rankings.

Thanks to Meghan Klingenberg's header that preserved the 0-0 draw against Sweden, a win by Team USA in tonight's match at BC Place Stadium will allow them to clinch the 'Group of Death', punch their ticket to the knockout round, have an easier bracket, and face off in Edmonton June 22 against the third place team from either Group B, E or F.

If the Nigerians do something they have never done in Women's World Cup  competition and either upset Team USA or draw with them, it could depending on the result of the Australia-Sweden match either have them facing the Germans in Ottawa on June 20 , finishing second with a less favorable knockout round draw or knock them completely out of the tournament well short of their goal of winning the World Cup.

The Super Falcons aren't going to roll over and let Team USA waltz into the knockout round, especially since they have a chance with a win for the ages to advance to the knockout round themselves. 

So Team USA better not fall asleep on the job tomorrow night because they have much riding on the outcome of this match.  While Team USA's defense has been improving, their offense is a concern for Team USA fans.   

Here's hoping that whatever is ailing Team USA on the offensive end will get rectified starting at 7 PM CDT and continue through the rest of the tournament.

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Team USA Watch-Great Start In Winnipeg

The 2015 World Cup has completed its first week and Team USA is off to a great start in Group D play after getting positive results in their matches with two FIFA top ranked opponents.

They beat number 10 ranked Australia 3-1 and held number 5 ranked Sweden to a scoreless draw that has them atop the Group of Death with 4 points.  Australia has 3 points thanks to their win over Nigeria, and Sweden has just two after draws with Nigeria and the USA.

Now they head to Vancouver, where they wish to be playing on July 5 for their final group match against Nigeria Monday.   While the Nigerians are only ranked number 33 in the world, the Super Falcons have several players from their U-20 squad that finished as runner ups last year to Germany.

But after getting through their two toughest opponents in Group D, Team USA will be focused on getting the points they need to win the group and clinch their spot in the knockout round.

We'll see what happens at BC Place on Tuesday, but one thing that definitely needs to happen for Team USA is they need to score more goals while playing that defense they played in the second half against Australia and the entire game against Sweden.

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup USA Watch-Next Up Sweden

Team USA got their redemption campaign off to a great start with a 3-1 over Australia on June 8 thanks to two goals from Megan Rapinoe.

It added to a great day in which Nigeria forged a come from behind 3-3 draw with Sweden that left the Red White and Blue atop the 'Group of Death' with the crucial 3 points for the win..

They can clinch a spot in the Group of 16 stage with a win tonight in Winnipeg and Australia and Nigeria coming up with another draw.

However, they will have to get past FIFA number 5 ranked Sweden and their old coach Pia Sundhage to make that happen.

Should be a fun and interesting match, and me and the American Outlaws swarming Winnipeg right now hope that we get that win or no worse than a draw.

We'll see in a few hours.

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup USA Watch-Starting Group Play Today Versus Australia

The FIFA world number 2 ranked USA women finally get the Group D party started with their opening round FIFA Women's World Cup match against Australia later tonight in Winnipeg.

Group D is considered this tournament's 'Group of Death', because in addition to the FIFA number 2 ranked USA and FIFA number 10 ranked Australia, has FIFA number 5 ranked Sweden and FIFA number 33 ranked African champs Nigeria in the mix in this competitive group.

Only three teams will advance to the knockout round, so one of these four teams will have their dreams dashed.   So getting off to a winning start and getting points in these three group stage matches (3 for a win, 1 for a tie, 0 for a loss) will be critical in surviving and advancing from Group D..

Once the Red, White & Blue (gotta come up with a cooler nickname than this) completes their match with the Matildas, they will face Sweden and their old coach Pia Sundhage on June 12  in Winnipeg and finish up in Vancouver on June 16 against the Super Falcons of Nigeria.

But the road to the July 5 title match starts today, and Team USA will hopefully be at BC Place in Vancouver as one of the two teams playing for the title.

But they have to get past Australia first.

2015 Williams Watch-Number 20 And Counting!

Serena Williams run to this third French Open title was a bumpy one at times.   She had several three set matches in which she dropped the first set against formidable opponents like Victoria Azarenka and Sloane Stephens but roared back to win.   She battled the flu in her semifinal round match with Timea Bacsisczky but came back to win in three sets.

She was so ill that she couldn't even train yesterday, but there she was on Court Philippe Chatrier for the 2015 French Open final against the Czech Republic's Lucie Safarova.

It started in dominating fashion with Serena taking the first set 6-3.   She was cruising at 4-1 in the second set and serving for a 5-1 lead when in her words in the post match interview 'she choked'.

Williams stopped playing her A++ game as Lucie Safarova seized the early Christmas gift to get back into the set and win it in a tiebreaker. 6-7 (2-7) to even the match.

A pissed off Serena, upset that she blew her opportunity to close it out in straight sets, fell into an 0-2 hole in the third set before she kicked up her game another level that Safarova tried to match but couldn't.   Williams won the next six games to take the match 6-2 and hold the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen for the third time.

It was Serena's 20th Grand Slam title, tying her with Steffi Graf, her third straight Grand Slam win since the 2014 US Open, her third French Open title and first since 2013.

And how apropos at the conclusion of this successful business trip to Paris, she's hoisting the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen on D-Day..

And oh yeah,Serena haters. she's halfway to a calendar year Grand Slam.    The next Grand Slam is across the Channel at the All England Lawn Tennis And Croquet Club starting June 29, which has been her and Big Sis' personal playground throughout her career..

See y'all at 'Williams'-don..

2015 Women's World Cup Starts Today!

This is the month that women's soccer fans have been waiting for since the last World Cup in Germany ended with Japan taking the title home after winning the final over the USA in a shootout. 

The 2015 Women's World Cup will start today and run until July 5 north of the border with the host Canadians taking on China later today in Edmonton. 

This tournament has an expanded field of 24 nations, and the FIFA number two ranked Team USA will be seeking their third title and first since 1999.   Germany after the heartbreak of losing on their home soil to Japan in the quarterfinals, will not only come into this tournament ranked number one, but will also be seeking to take the trophy back home for a record third time as well.

The host Canadians after not winning a game in the group stage in 2011, not only want to get to the knockout round, but play in the final in Vancouver.

Speaking of Team USA, their first Group D match will be played June 8 in Winnipeg against Australia.  They will play Sweden on June 12 and finish up in Vancouver on June 16 against Nigeria.

Going to be fun to see how this month of women's soccer plays out, and it starts in a few hours.

2015 Williams Watch-Serena Rolls To The French Open Semis!

Serena Williams Roland Garros business trip is a step closer to a successful conclusion, but she had another slow start that almost derailed it.

She entered her fourth round match with Sloane Stephens mired in a puzzling pattern of getting of getting off to a slow start that puts her in a bind, then clawing back to win the match.

And once again, Serena dropped the first set 1-6 to Stephens, who hadn't beaten Williams since the 2013 Australian Open quarterfinal upset.

Serena woke up after trailing 0-2 in the second set to take it 7-5, and even the match, then punched her ticket to the quarterfinals by taking the third set 6-3 to close out another comeback and face Sara Errani.

In her quarterfinal match with Errani, who has never beaten her, the world number one was determined to avoid the bad starts that had plagued her in her last three French Open matches.    Serena took only 63 minutes to overpower her 6-1, 6-3 in a match that included a 123 mph ace.

She's baaaaack....and that may be bad news for Williams' semifinal opponent Timea Bacsinszky.  Serena is closing in on her third French Open title, 20th Grad Slam title overall and her third straight Grand Slam since taking the 2014 US Open.

If she gets past Bacsinszky tomorrow, she'll face the winner of the other semifinal being contested between seventh seed  Ana Ivanovic and number 13 seed Lucie Safarova.

2015 Williams Watch-The French Open Starts

The second major of the 2015 international tennis calendar is here in the French Open. It started on May 23 and will run until June 7, and is being contested on the clay courts of Roland Garros in Paris.

Once again my fave tennis playing siblings are in France to handle their tennis business.  

Serena came in holding the world number one ranking and the number one seeding.  She came to Roland Garros looking for her third French Open title,  her 20th overall and keep a calendar year Grand Slam alive, but was battling an elbow injury.

Meanwhile big sis Venus was seeded 17th and facing a tough opening round match with Sloane Stephens. Venus' tournament stay was unfortunately a short one as she was ousted in the first round by Stephens 6-7 (5-7) 1-6.

As most people in the tennis world know, clay is not one of Serena's fave surfaces, and if you ant to knock her out of a tournament, you have to catch her early in the first week of a tourney before she gets on one of those rolls that ends with her waving to the crowd and holding up another championship trophy.

Meanwhile Little Sis got her opening week at Roland Garros off to a good start with a straight set 6-2, 6-3 win over Andrea Hlavackova.   

But her second round match with Germany's Anna-Lena Friedsam was a little more difficult.   She dropped the first set 5-7, but roared back to take the second and third sets 6-3, 6-3  to move on to a third round battle with Victoria Azarenka

Azarenka took advantage of another slow start out of the gate by Serena to take the first set 3-6..  Azarenka was up 4-2 in the second set until Serena woke up and took the next four games to take the second set 6-4 to even the match.  A pissed off Azarenka jumped out to a 0-2 lead in the third, but Serena raised her game another level, took the next five games to put herself firmly in control and sen Azarenka packing with a 6-3 third set win and punch her fourth round ticket.

Serena's fourth round opponent is the same Sloane Stephens who knocked her big sis out of this tournament tomorrow, with a quarterfinal berth on the line 

Winner gets the winner of the Sara Errani-Julia Gorges match.

TransGriot Update.  Serena knocked off Sloane Stephens 1-6, 7-5, 6-3  and will face Sara Errani in the French Open quarterfinals.

Houston Dash Are Undefeated!

The Houston Dash, our women's soccer team that is the sister club of the Houston Dynamo, started their second NWSL season back on April 10.

This is a 2015 season in which all the NWSL clubs will play only 20 games instead of 24 matches because of the FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada this June.

One goal of the 2015 Dash was to improve on the 5-16-3 last place finish during their maiden NWSL campaign, in which an expansion team put together in only 90 days was competitive in many of the matches they eventually lost.

Another goal of the Dash was to improve the quality of players on the team.  They added Team USA veteran Carli Lloyd along with Morgan Brian and Irish national team forward Stephanie Roche in the off season to their retooled lineup that also includes Canadian national team members Erin McLeod and Lauren Sesselmann

They opened at BBVA Compass Stadium with a 2-0 win over the Washington Spirit, who were a 2014 NWSL playoff team.  Carli Lloyd didn't waste any time in her Dash debut, scoring the team's opening goal in first half extra time in the win over the Spirit.

They traveled to New Jersey to take on Sky Blue FC and came from behind to get a 1-1 draw.  

This season is off to a great start, and let's hope they can keep it up when they travel to Boston on April 26 to take on the Breakers.

Vinny, You May Wish To Keep Fallon's Name Out Of Your Transphobic Mouth

There are some folks in MMA who sure do love to talk shyt and call my homegirl Fallon Fox's name in vain don't they? 

This time another MMA fighter recently did so, and Fallon was nowhere near the cage in question when it happened.

It started when women's MMA fighter Julianna Pena made her UFC debut in Fairfax, VA Saturday against Russia's Milena Dudieva.

Pena spent a year on the sidelines rehabbing from a January 2014 freak training accident injury in which she tore the ACL, MCL, LCL and meniscus in her right knee.

The 25 year old Pena is not a fan of undefeated UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey  and has become increasingly vocal about wanting to fight her and take the championship belt from Rousey.

She took her first steps toward making that happen by taking Dudieva out in a brutally efficient first round 3:59 TKO.

In the wake of that MMA butt kicking 'The Venezuelan Vixen' administered to Dudieva that took her record to 6-2, Brazilian MMA fighter Vinny Magalhaes tweeted a transphobic and tasteless comment in which he called Pena 'Fallon Fox' .


When peeps started calling him out on Twitter about it, Magalhaes deleted the tweet and unleashed homophobic comments at his Twitter critics.   But as we all know, the Internet is forever, which is why I have it on this post.

This is also a prime example of how transphobia doesn't just affect trans women, but also affects cisgender women.  Far too often transphobia is aimed at cisgender women of color, and especially cisgender women of color athletes who have their femininity attacked.

Naw Vinny, I didn't appreciate that transphobic crap at all in attacking the femininity of another WMMA fighter of color in Julianna Pena and thinking bringing Fallon's name in it was funny.

It wasn't, and you need to apologize to not only Ms. Pena and Ms. Fox, but women athletes in general who hear that misgendering crap far too often.

And Vinny, keep Fallon's name out of your transphobic mouth, unless it's a call for UFC to stop stalling and sign my 5-1 WMMA fighting sis to a UFC contract.

Popping My NCAA Women's Tournament Colllar

The NCAA Women's Final Four will be kicking off in Tampa this weekend, and I get to gloat a little bit before it starts.

For the fourth time in TransGriot history and for the first time since 2012, I correctly predicted all four women's Final Four teams (Connecticut, South Carolina, Maryland and Notre Dame) that ended up in Tampa.

Will I get the champion right, too.   We'll see when the fun starts on April 5 with the semifinal games.

Connecticut will take on Maryland, and Notre Dame will battle South Carolina for the other berth in the April 7 NCAA women's title game.

Can Maryland do what only Stanford has done this season and derail UConn's bid to threepeat?   Can South Carolina and Notre Dame rebound from previous losses to UConn and shock them in the title game? Or will UConn roll to their 10th title?

We'll see who is cutting down the net on April 7.

Moni's 2015 NCAA Women's B-Ball Bracket

As part of Women's History Month I started compiling in 2008 a women's NCAA tournament bracket, especially since I have a lot of women's sports fans and I think it's only fair that the NCAA women's ballers get the same kind of love I give the men.

Giving them more love this year because I got squeezed for time in doing my men's bracket.

Here's my 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 women's brackets.   I have only a 4-3 record in picking the eventual NCAA women's champion, but bear in mind I have correctly picked all four Women's Final Four teams in 2008, 2009 and 2012.

The Road to Tampa Bay starts March 20 , and who will be the team cutting down the nets on April 7?

Despite Geno Auriemma trying to downplay it, I and everybody else in America believes it'll be UConn getting their 3-peat, but they will have to work for it.

But then again, that's why we're playing this tournament.

Albany Region

First Round
Connecticut, Rutgers, Texas, California, LSU, Louisville, Iowa State, Kentucky

Second Round
Connecticut, Texas, Louisville, Kentucky

Elite Eight
Connecticut, Kentucky

Albany Region Champions
Connecticut

Spokane Region

First Round
Maryland, Princeton, Mississippi State, Duke, Gonzaga, Oregon State, Pittsburgh, Tennessee

Second Round
Maryland, Duke, Oregon State, Tennessee

Elite Eight
Maryland, Tennessee

Spokane Region Champions
Maryland

Oklahoma City Region
First Round
Notre Dame, DePaul, Oklahoma, Stanford, Washington, Iowa, Northwestern, Baylor

Second Round
Notre Dame, Stanford, Iowa, Baylor

Elite Eight
Notre Dame, Baylor

Oklahoma City Region Champions
Notre Dame

Greensboro Region

First Round
South Carolina, Nebraska, Ohio State, North Carolina, Texas A&M, Arizona State, Oklahoma State, Florida State

Second Round
South Carolina, North Carolina, Texas A&M, Florida State

Elite Eight
South Carolina, Texas A&M

Greensboro Region Champion
South Carolina

Final Four Teams
Connecticut, Maryland, Notre Dame, South Carolina



Championship Game
Connecticut, Notre Dame

2015 NCAA Champion
Connecticut

One Of Fallon's WMMA Critics Caught Cheating

As I like to say on these electronic pages, karma not only is a you know what, but she wears a dress and stiletto heels.

Right now I'm pondering the situation of seeing another one of Fallon Fox's loud and wrong transphobic critics get karma's high heeled foot planted squarely in the crack of her behind.

When we last heard about Ashlee Evans-Smith, she was basking in the afterglow of an upset win over my fave women's MMA warrior in the finals of a 2013 tournament and then being a sore winner about it, which Fallon called her out about later.

Evans-Smith parted her lips to say at the time that Fox should be barred from women's MMA because of 'unfair advantages'.   

"I don't feel like Fallon should fight dudes," she said. "I don't feel like she should fight women. I feel like there should be a unique organization for those needs. She did have an advantage. She definitely did."

So sayeth the cis woman who just got caught cheating.

Yep, you read that last sentence correctly.   After her December 6 debut in a UFC 181 match that she lost in a first round submission to Raquel Pennington, Evans-Smith tested positive post match for the diuretic hydrochlorizide, which is on the World Anti-Doping Agency's banned substance list.

In addition to being fined 30% of her $8,000 purse, she is retroactively suspended from UFC competition for nine months.  In addition, Evans-Smith will be required to submit to a Nevada Athletic Commission sanctioned drug test at her own expense before she can reapply for a license to fight in Nevada.

Can you say 'hypocrite' boys and girls?   Thought you could.

2015 Williams Watch-Number 19!

The 2015 Australian Open started with Serena Williams being ranked number one but not having won this title since 2010.  

But with an amazing 18-4 record in Grand Slam finals, she had a great shot at ending her Australian Open title drought.

For the first time in eleven years, the Australian Open featured the world number one versus the world number two player playing for the title.   

It was Serena versus her favorite whipping girl Maria Sharapova.   Ever since that Wimbledon final upset in 2004, Serena has beaten Sharapova like a drum 15 straight times since then.  Two of those losses for Sharapova came in Grand Slam finals, the 2007 Australian Open and the 2013 French Open

Little Sis got off to a fast start in this one by immediately breaking Sharapova's serve and never trailing in that first set.   With Serena up 3-2, here comes the rain and the Rod Laver Stadium room was closed.   After the 12 minute delay, Serena won the next ten points to take control of the set 5-2 and win it  6-3,

;But Sharapova isn't ranked number two in the world for nothing, and jacked up her game another level.  Neither player dropped a game, there were some amazing shots made on both sides and the second set went to a tiebreaker.

The tiebreaker was just as hard fought as the second set was.    After Sharapova got a mini break by hitting a wicked forehand winner, Serena fought back to take both points and get back on serve.

Williams raced out to a 4-1 lead in the tiebreaker before Sharapova fought back to narrow the gap to 6-5.

But one aspect of her game that puts Serena on a another level from \the rest of the women's tennis world is her serve, and she cranked what she thought along with the Rod Laver Arena crowd was the championship point.  

But after it was called alet, she gathered herself and hit another no doubt about it ace which was the 18th of the match and the title clinching point.

6-3,7-6 (7-5).  In addition to this being Serena's 6th Australian Open title, it was her 19th Grand slam title, putting her only three behind Steffi Graf at 22 and Margaret Court at 24.

The race to catch Steffi is on, and if Serena gets a calendar year Grand Slam, she will.  Just remains to be seen if she will accomplish it.

Congrats on title number 19, and on to Paris.

2015 Williams Watch-Serena To The Aussie Open Finals!

After the all-Russian semifinal ended with another Sharapova win over Ekaterina Makarova, the all American semifinal took place at Rod Laver Arena  between world number one Serena Williams and 19 year old phenom Madison Keys.

Keys knocked off fourth seeded Petra Kvitova and Big Sis on the way to her first ever Grand Slam semifinal.

This match was going to be a tough one for Little Sis because Keys is one of the few younglings who have the power in her serve and shots to match Serena.

Keys showed that power early and often in a tightly contested first set in which  a nervous Serena was immediately broken in her opening game, but eventually was broken by Williams to even the match in the first set at 3-3 despite a barrage of big serves and laser like ground strokes from Keys.   

Both players stayed on serve in the rest of the first set until the tiebreaker, in which Serena opened up a 4-1 lead before winning the tiebreaker 7-5 to take the first set.7-6.

Serena showed Keys who was the woman in the second set.  She broke Keys twice to run up a 5-1 second set lead.   But Keys showed she had some intestinal fortitude as well.   Serving to extend the match, she fought off seven match points to eventually take the game and force Serena to serve it out.

After Keys survived an eighth match point, Serena uncorked an ace to close out the hard fought match over Keys and win it 7-6 (7-5) 6-2.

She now has a shot at winning her first Australian Open title since 2010 and her 19th Grand Slam title overall.   Because she subdued Keys in the semifinal, she will continue to hold on to the world number one ranking no matter what the result of the final match is at 2 AM CST Saturday. 

Those of us who love Serena hope it's her capturing her fifth Australian Open title.