A repository of active Atom and RSS Newsfeeds. Regularly updated summaries of web content from publishers around the globe. Adding your Feed to our Catalog authorizes the syndication of your feed. A repository of active Atom and RSS Newsfeeds. Regularly updated summaries of web content from publishers around the globe. Adding your Feed to our Catalog authorizes the syndication of your feed.From: blackrat 142 (33 posts)

From: Joe Don Lewis /pgf127rt (2 posts)

From: moss2050 (3 posts)

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Construction of new homes posted the biggest increase in more than two years in April, but analysts said it’s far too soon to declare an end to the prolonged slump.

Fannie Mae says it is doing away with higher minimum downpayment requirements for borrowers in distressed real estate markets. More Info...  

During times of market turmoil, it helps to get perspective from a truly savvy Wall Street veteran - someone like Chris Davis, lead manager of $11.3 billion Selected American Shares, a Money 70 fund.

San Antonio Texas The San Antonio Spurs up and down season comes down to tonight’s game at the AT&T Center.  Win, and the chance to defend their championship is still alive.  Lose, and they will stay home and watch with the rest of the country to find out who will claim their title.  The Spurs spotted the first two games of the series to the Hornets by a wide margin.  Tim Duncan was playing sick and had two terrible games, which gave New Orleans life, and put the Spurs in a deep hole.  Road teams have had virtually no chance in this year’s playoffs, which should give the Spurs confidence going into tonight’s game.  Unfortunately, should they win, game 7 will be in New Orleans on Monday night. New Orleans inside presence will be weakened as Tyson Chandler and David West are both banged up. Chandler has a bruised foot, and West has a back injury.  That should mean that San Antonio will go early and often to Duncan, Oberto, Thomas, or whoever is playing inside.  Of course, David West was hurt for the last game as well, and still went off for 38 points, 14 rebounds, 5 blocks, and 5 assists.  Duncan had another off-night, only managing 10 points, but accounting for an amazing 23 rebounds.  Ginobili lead the team with 20 points, 2 rebounds, and 7 assists, but the game was a 101-79 blow-out as New Orleans took over in the second half to open a big lead. Robert Horry set a new record with his participation in Game 5.  When he entered the game, he became the player to participate in the most playoff games in a career with 238.  He passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the leader in that category.  One thing San Antonio has never been able to do is to repeat as champions and successfully defend their title the following year.  After the 1999, 2003, and 2005 championships the team lost before reaching the Finals.  This year, the Spurs find themselves in a similar position with the season requiring them to win two straight to keep the dream alive.  This is the time of the season when the Spurs’ veteran leadership should come into play and allow them to at least push the series to a Game 7.  Winning in New Orleans is no small task, but first San Antonio must get through tonight’s home game to have a chance to defend their title. More Info...  

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Spurs Sink Suns Stung By Hornets During the season, the Spurs/Suns rivalry was one of the more interesting, and with Phoenix adding Shaquille O’Neil just before the trade deadline, basketball fans were salivating over the matchup between the Southwest Conference rivals with many pundits seeing the series going seven games.  The Spurs, however, had different opinions. The Spurs pulled out a hard-fought, 117-115 victory in Game 1 which saw Tim Duncan blow up for 40 points, 15 rebounds, and 5 assists.  The game was a classic between the two teams, going into double overtime, and Duncan hit a rare three pointer with three seconds left in the first overtime to extend the game.  In addition to Duncan’s effort, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili added 26 and 24 points, respectively.  The game set the tone for the series, as the Spurs went on to win 4-1. Game 5 was the Duncan/Parker show, as they were the only Spurs to score in double digits (29 and 31), but the team’s defense was the difference down the stretch.  Although the Suns were better offensively most of the night, the Spurs defense caused several costly turnovers late in the game.  That, combined with solid free throw shooting by Ginobili as time ran out, allowed the Spurs to advance to face the New Orleans Hornets, and sent the Suns back to the desert to ponder their future. This season, the Spurs have been a bit schizophrenic, putting together runs where they look like the defending champs that they are, and other times where they have looked like a team struggling to make the playoffs.  Against the Suns, the good San Antonio Spurs showed up, and took the series fairly easily.  Against the Hornets, it seems that the bad Spurs have appeared, and after two games, San Antonio finds itself down 0-2 having been beaten soundly by the younger Hornets.  In Game 1, New Orleans’ interior defense held Tim Duncan to a career playoff low of 5 points and only 3 rebounds.  San Antonio’s star center was double teamed all night long, and although the Spurs hit 12 three pointers but shot 31 for the game, and New Orleans won a comfortable 101-82 victory. Unfortunately for the Spurs, the New Orleans formula worked again for Game 2, as their double teams rattled the defending champs, forcing them to shoot from long range, where San Antonio made 8-27 from behind the arc.  Tim Duncan recovered from his miserable Game 1, scoring 18 points and grabbing 8 rebounds, but it wasn’t nearly enough.  Tony Parker scored 11, and Brent Barry added 14.  Unfortunately, the Spurs defense was not up to par, as New Orleans shot almost 60% from behind the three point line, and nearly 50 from the field. The series has been lopsided so far, but digging out of a two game hole is still something that the veteran Spurs can do against the young Hornets, but it won’t be easy.  The Spurs have to ratchet up the defense that allowed them to be the feared playoff team that can shut down any team in the league.   To be able to move on to the next round in the playoffs, San Antonio will have to come up with some answer for Chris Paul.  So far the young guard has outplayed Tony Parker, while Tyson Chandler has been holding his own against Tim Duncan.  More Info...  

Playoffs Set: Spurs Suns Set to Battle With the regular season in the books, the Spurs can focus their energy on that time of the season when they typically turn their game up a notch and focus just a bit more. San Antonio ended the regular season tied for first place in their division with New Orleans with a 56-26 record. In the Western Division, the two teams finished one game back of the LA Lakers. The Spurs quest to defend their title will start off against the rival Suns. Last year, the series was a hard-fought battle that featured suspensions, hard fouls, and harder feelings. The Celtics still look like the team to beat overall, having won 66 games and winning the East by 7 games, but the Lakers have closed the season on a good note, and will be a tough out in the West. The Spurs ended the season fairly average, having won 3 of the last 5, but Spurs fans might not be sleeping easily considering who the two losses were to, and by how much. On April 9, Phoenix paid a visit to San Antonio in what would be a warm up to the first round of the playoffs, and left with a 96-79 victory. While Tim Duncan and Tony Parker played well, only one other player, Michael Finley, managed to score in double digits for the Spurs. For Phoenix, 6 players scored 10 or more points, and the Suns defense held San Antonio to just a bit over 20% from behind the arc, and out-rebounded San Antonio as well. Two nights later, the Spurs got some revenge of their own when the Supersonics came to town. The Spurs took out some frustrations against one of the worst teams in the league, beating them 95-74 behind Tony Parker’s 20 points, and 7 assists. Up next for San Antonio (/welcome/) was a trip to LA to face the Lakers, who are the class of the Western Conference, and the owners of the number one seed. The trip was not kind to the Spurs, as they suffered a 21 points loss, 106-85. Tony Parker led the team with a 20 point, 7 rebound effort , but it wasn’t enough. Tim Duncan scored 16 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, but was countered by Lamar Odom’s 17 points and 14 rebounds. Also on their west coast swing, the Spurs also faced Sacramento, and fared better against them than in the previous game. Although it was close, the Spurs managed to split the last road trip of the regular season by beating the Kings, 101-98. Tony Parker kept his play at a high level, scoring 32 points and dishing out 11 assists, and Michael Finley and Duncan both added 19. Ex-Spurs guard, Beno Udrih, scored 16 in the contest. The Western Conference (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Conference_(NBA)) was perhaps the most competitive in the history of the NBA with only 7 games separating the first seed from the last. In the East, for comparison, Boston finished 29 games ahead of Atlanta, who was the eighth seed. If San Antonio is to defend their championship this year, they will certainly have their work cut out for them. Just to show how competitive the West was, Golden State missed the playoffs with a 48-34 record. Atlanta finished with a record of 37-45. It looks as if the Western title is up for grabs, and anyone has a shot at winning it. The Spurs (http://www.nba.com/spurs) always ratchet things up in the post-season, and they will have their work cut out for them right off the bat. Phoenix has added Shaq since last year, and Amare Stoudamire has been playing well since that trade. The Spurs are healthy, having overcome injuries to what seems like every major player on their team, at some point during the year. If the Spurs are to win it all again, they will have to once again rely on defense, veteran leadership and experience, and their big three, Duncan, Ginobili, and Parker to play hard, smart, and unselfish, as they did last year when they won it all. Good Luck Spurs! More Info...  

Final Four Set for Tip-Off in San Antonio San Antonio is the place to be for the next few weeks.  The Spurs are getting ready to enter the playoffs to defend their championship, Fiesta is just a couple weeks away, and the NCAA Final Four has its teams set to tip off later this week.  For the first time ever, all four number one seeds have advanced through to the last week, and the schools that have made it read like a who’s who of college basketball tradition.   Kansas (http://www.kusports.com/), North Carolina, UCLA, and Memphis have all been the most dominant teams throughout the preseason, conference seasons, and now through the tournament.  In this tournament, each team has dominated some opponents, but each has also found itself in some difficult, hard-fought battles.  Each team is stocked with future NBA talent, great coaching, and enough basketball tradition to make the last three games of the season play out like a hall of fame tournament.  UCLA has been a fixture in the Final Four since Ben Howland took over the program just a few years ago.  They have made it to the last weekend of the tournament for the last three years, but haven’t been able to win the championship yet.  The Bruins are led by freshman sensation, Kevin Love, who has elevated his game more and more as the season has gone on.  Memphis has a super freshman of their own in Derrick Rose, who is thought to be a lottery pick in the NBA draft when he decides to announce.  Memphis has only lost once all year.  The Tigers’ coach, John Calipari has been to the Final Four before, as he led the University of Massachusetts there in 1996.  North Carolina (http://tarheelblue.cstv.com/index-main.html) is the ACC champion and is led by All-American, Tyler Hansboro and speedy guard, Ty Lawson.  Kansas has reached the final 8 often since coach Bill Self took over the program, but has fallen short of the Final Four in years past.   The games should be stellar games pitting UCLA (http://uclabruins.cstv.com/)’s stingy defense and efficient offense against Memphis (http://gotigersgo.cstv.com/) athleticism and power, while Kansas goes up against former coach Roy Williams, who led the Jayhawks to the Final Four several times as Kansas’ coach, but never could win the championship there.  What made the move all the worse for Kansas fans was that Williams led Carolina to the national championship in his second year at UNC.  He was elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame last year.   San Antonio is ready for the action, and tickets still remain.  In addition to the games themselves, there are tons of other events that will be going on throughout the city in conjunction with the culmination of the tournament.  The best part?  Some of the better events feature A-list stars and free entrance!  Friday, the AT&T Block Party kicks off the weekend as Fall Out Boy, The Roots, and Ludo provide the musical entertainment for the evening, which ends with a huge fireworks display.  Saturday evening brings the Pontiac Garage at the Final Four, which features a full day of pep rallies, a military fly over, and the musical performances of Kid Rock, Puddle of Mud, and Meridianwest, who will all perform leading up until tip off.  People without tickets can still enjoy the games which will be broadcast on giant screens.  Sunday brings My Coke Fest, which will be hosted by Ryan Seacrest, and will feature Taylor Swift, 3 Doors Down, and All American Rejects.  Before the Championship Game on Monday night, Robert Earl Keen, Bob Schneider, and Mingo Flagship will all perform leading up to the tip-off which is set for 8:15. More Info...  

 Fiesta Sporting Events   San Antonio is known as one of the best cities in America for eating, and while Fiesta may a time for some to put on weight eating fajitas, oysters, barbeque, and more, there is also a wide variety of sports and physical activities to stay in shape and work off some of the extra calories that Fiesta can result in.   Saturday, April 19 is the day for most of the sporting events, which start off with the Fiesta Mission 10K and Kids’ Runs.  The event starts at 7 AM as the San Antonio Roadrunners sponsor the 34th edition of the race which begins and ends in Mission County Park.  The kids’ run gets started at 9:30, and all participants will receive a t-shirt, and prizes are given to winners from different age groups. At 7:30, Fort Sam Houston is the site of the 10K Caminada de Fiesta Walk.  Sponsored by the Texas Wanderers, the Army Medical Department Activities, and the Fort’s Outdoor Recreation Division, this walk is a great opportunity to walk through the grounds of Fort Sam Houston and see some of San Antonio’s history while getting some exercise. Starting at 8 AM and going all day, the Women’s Soccer Association of San Antonio sponsors its 30th annual co-ed tournament for teams of all ages. The San Antonio Botanical Society sponsors its yearly Walk Across Texas, which meanders through the 11 acres of the Botanical Gardens and through the Texas Native Trail.  Along the hike, participants can visit Texas cabins, lakes, and see all the natural beauty that the Hill Country has to offer.  This event goes from 9 AM until noon. The girls of Zeta Phi Beta sorority host their 24th annual kids’ track meet.  Youths from the ages of 6-14 are invited to participate, and winners receive ribbons, and all participants will get a certificate of participation. Starting at 9 AM, San Antonio’s Lacrosse Association sponsors their 34th annual youth lacrosse tournament, as teams from across the state get together to play in the tournament. The Alamo City Rugby Football Club gets their Rugby Battle underway at 9 AM, and features teams ranging from youths, to military, men’s and college teams.  In addition, teams from across the world come to participate in this event. The last day of Fiesta, April 26, just before the Fiesta Flambeau Night Parade, the San Antonio Roadrunners sponsor a 2.6-mile Fun Run that goes along the parade route, from Grayson and Broadway to Columbus Park.  Crowds will line the route, so participants can expect to be cheered on along their journey.  Registration can be done the day of the race at Sunken Gardens, or online at saroadrunner.com.   More Info...