All Day Sports News Blog

NFL Hall of Famer and activist Jim Brown recently ripped Tiger Woods for not giving back to his community, and that’s just "dead wrong," Michael Wilbon writes in the Washington Post . Brown seems to think Woods' Learning Center in Anaheim exists to teach kids how to golf. If he did a little homework, he'd know that's not the case. And he'd know he's wrong to "demean the efforts and the results of a man who is answering the call already, in his mid-30s as Tiger Woods is."

President and Basketballer-in-Chief Obama wasn’t coy when asked whether he preferred Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan: “Oh, Michael,” he told the AP. “I mean, Kobe’s terrific. Don’t get me wrong,” he said. “But I haven’t seen anybody match up with Michael.” Jordan, of course, played for Obama’s hometown Bulls—though Obama says he’s “no Lakers hater,” and indeed predicted Los Angeles’ victory over Orlando in the NBA finals.

In her photo shoot for a recent Runner’s World story, Sarah Palin appears to have committed an act that could shock Republican supporters: breaking the American “flag code.” The magazine features a picture of Palin leaning on a flag draped over a chair—apparently violating rules against “bunching up” the flag and using it as “drapery,” notes Katy Kelleher for Jezebel.

For the first time ever, four Jewish players could make baseball’s All-Star Game, Bloomberg reports. Boston’s Kevin Youkilis and Texas’ Ian Kinsler each lead the voting at their positions, Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun is second in voting among National League outfielders, and Colorado pitcher Jason Marquis has the most wins in his league. “We’re in a glory time for Jewish baseball players,” says Howard Megdal, author of The Baseball Talmud .

Venus Williams set up another Wimbledon final match against her sister, following Serena’s semifinal victory today over Elena Dementieva with her own thrashing of top seed Dinara Safina, the AP reports. Serena, a two-time winner of the tournament and the No. 2 seed, battled for a 6-7 (4), 7-5, 8-6 win; third-seeded Venus, who beat Serena last year for her fifth title, cruised 6-1, 6-0.

With the just-completed Confederations Cup a success, South Africa has passed its dress rehearsal for the 2010 World Cup, Nicolas Brulliard writes for GlobalPost. The African nation faced more scrutiny than any previous host, but that now appears overblown. Enthusiastic fans turned up despite the winter chill, and the nation’s high crime rate didn’t affect the games. The main drawback was Johannesburg’s poor public transportation.

Andy Roddick reached his fourth Wimbledon semifinal, beating 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt today 6-3, 6-7 (10), 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-4. The American broke Hewitt to lead 5-4 in the final set and then served out the match. He finished the match with 43 aces.

Major League Baseball’s disabled list has expanded to include a previously touchy ailment, the Wall Street Journal reports—anxiety. Three players have recently sat out games because of publicly acknowledged cases of the “butterflies,” an admission unheard of just years ago. Though the airing of psychological problems is rare in baseball, they are openly spoken of in other sports from golf to archery.

Tommy Haas continued his surprising Wimbledon run today, with the 24th-seeded German upsetting fourth seed Novak Djokovic, ESPN reports. Haas beat Djokovic 7-5, 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-3 to advance to a meeting with five-time champ Roger Federer, a winner over Ivo Karlovic. British favorite Andy Murray is in the other semifinal after beating Juan Carlos Ferrero; he awaits the winner of today’s Andy Roddick-Lleyton Hewitt match.

Sports fans love to grouse about athletes' salaries and bemoan the ever-rising prices of tickets, concessions, and merchandise. But “it isn’t some vague indefinable ‘they’ who pays the players,” writes Allen Barra for the Wall Street Journal . “It’s you, or rather, it’s us.” Owners set prices they think fans will pay, and "if you are willing to pay their prices that means they set the right prices after all."