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During an interview with the Associated Press on Monday, NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar revealed that he is being treated for a rare form of leukemia.

Kareem apparently learned of the diagnosis nearly a year ago, but held off on making the news public until now.

"The word 'leukemia' is a very frightening word," he said in a phone interview from New York. "In many instances, it's a killer and it's something that you have to deal with in a very serious and determined way if you're going to beat it."

However, as terrifying as that statement sounds -- and Abdul-Jabbar acknowledged that he has been frightened while dealing with the diagnosis -- the Laker legend has a long-term prognosis that is considered positive, and has apparently responded well to treatment.

Additionally, Jabbar pointed out that he was going public with the diagnosis in order to affect the treatment of the blood cancer, citing the manner in which Magic Johnson assisted public awareness.

"I've never been a person to share my private life. But I can help save lives," he said at a midtown Manhattan conference room. "It's incumbent on someone like me to talk about this."

Jabbar, who is the NBA's all-time leading scorer, learned of the disease when he began having hot flashes last year and was told to have blood work done after expressing concern to his doctor. Jabbar also pointed to his excellent health -- he was one of the first pro athletes to pick up yoga -- as a reason for not only finding the disease but having a shot at beating it.

And that may be the biggest public service he provides throughout this entire health issue -- Jabbar can not only help everyday people (and athletes) learn leukemia awareness, but also how to best deal with leukemia and raise awareness about the disease.

NBA Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has a rare form of leukemia, but the Lakers legend says his long-term prognosis is very good.
Abdul-Jabbar, 62, revealed during an interview Monday that he has Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow that produces cancerous blood cells.
The disease was diagnosed in December. But Abdul-Jabbar said his condition can be managed by taking oral medication daily, seeing his specialist every other month and getting his blood analyzed regularly. He said he expects to lead a healthy life.
Abdul-Jabbar acknowledged he was scared after visiting his doctor and learning of the diagnosis.

t began as Armistice Day; with the world commemorating the end of the "War to end all wars," and was declared as such in 1918 at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month. A few months later in June of 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signed; technically signifying the end of World War I.
In 1954, the day officially was changed to Veterans Day here in the United States; with the intention of honoring veterans who had fought in all wars.
Tomorrow is Veterans Day, and it makes my heart ache to think that a holiday that should be so incredibly revered is barely recognized in many communities. All caught up in the rush of "the holidays are coming," we've grown lax in celebrating this important holiday. Without our veterans we might not enjoy the privileges we do in this country when we sit down to eat Thanksgiving dinner or celebrate Christmas with our families and friends.
My high school aged son has the day off from school tomorrow; and I know he understands the reason why. You see, he was homeschooled for several years, and every year on Veterans Day (as well as Memorial Day) we attended the services held at the local cemetery. We observed the parade, along with a sparse trickling of other watchers; and we visited veterans in local nursing homes. We helped put flags on the graves of veterans in our city and two adjacent cities as well.
I spent a few minutes yesterday asking some of my son's friends if they knew why they were getting a day off from school on Wednesday. The responses saddened me, but didn't surprise me in the least.
"I think the teachers are doing some kind of workshop thingy."
"It's so the teachers can shop for Christmas and Thanksgiving, because they don't get time to closer to the holidays."
"No clue; but I get a day off, so who cares?"
"I think it's so people can protest the war in Iraq in the square downtown."
I guess I wasn't surprised because I've witnessed rapidly increasing apathy in our country of great fortune. We can't blame these teenage boys. But what about their parents? What about the teachers? Can't they remind these kids of the significance of such an important holiday? Don't the parents recall grandparents, uncles, aunts, and perhaps even parents who served in wars?
I know Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming; but before either of these celebrations comes Veterans Day...and while I realize it doesn't hold the allure of a big fancy meal or wrapped presents; can't we celebrate the presence of those veterans who are still here among us, and honor those who have passed?
If everyone would simply acknowledge the day and share a bit about it with one of our young people, values like honor and respect might eventually trickle back into our country's veins.
Isn't it at least worth a try?

11 November is known as the Veterans Day and consequently was given the status of holiday in order to remember those who put their lives at stake for the protection of their mother land the United States of America. The history of Veterans Day dates back to 1919 when it was celebrated as the Armistice Day on the initiative of President Woodrow Wilson. Now a pertinent question arises why this day was known as the Armistice Day. The meaning of “Armistice” is peaceful agreement. The peaceful agreement took place between the forces of allied nations and Germany
The number “11″ has great significance for Armistice Day because it ended the World War 1 at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Due to World War II, The same day was lofted to higher stature as the day to pay homage to all veterans of the U.S. But on the same day of 11 November, people of the U.S are celebrating the day as a holiday to “stop”, commemorate and rejoice the services of the soldiers who have put their lives on stake for the country.
Now the celebrations include the sentiment to "stop" them from fighting anymore. Now the people are excited and eager to end the war in Iraq on this special veterans or Armistice Day. "It sucks when someone is away at war," said Emily Keehn. She is a student who had the experience of accompanying soldiers at war in a boot camp. She was of the view that the relatives of the soldiers constantly remain in stressful anxiety about their love ones because they don't know what is actually happening there. Going to war is going to bombing for them and they always remain in a state of apprehensions about them. So Armistice Day pays homage to all these stressful moments of the warriors as well as their family members.

Lee Boyd Malvo says John Allen Muhammad made him a ‘monster.’ 24-year-old Lee Boyd Malvo is the teenage ally of John Allen Muhammad who was arrested on October 24, 2002 and convicted of mass murder and D.M.V. sniper attacks. He’s serving multiple life sentences without the possibility of parole.
In the month of May, 2006 while standing before the Maryland jury the then 21-year-old Lee Boyd Malvo (also John Lee Malvo or Malik Malvo) made a statement about his senior partner John Allen Muhammad and put it all on him; ‘Muhammad turned him into a monster,’ the kid had said. He was there to testify against in John Allen Muhammad’s murder trial.
Lee Malvo then unveiled the details of a scrupulous and conscientious plans he and John Allen had gone through prior to the shocking 2002 sniper killings that rocked the Washington, D.C. surroundings. He also admitted that taking the triggerman blame all upon him was in fact an attempt to save John Allen Muhammad considering a minor’s chances of escaping a death penalty thus he had lied earlier.

In what were a terror filled 10 days of agony and insecurity, the man charged with the slaying of 10 sniper shot victims has been sentenced to death via lethal injection on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009. The individual held responsible for the killing spree is no other than John Allen Muhammad.
Now, after testifying in court three years back, the sniper’s young accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo has spoken up. The 24 year old said he is not proud of the acts he committed in association with John Allen and is attempting to make amends for what he has done.
During the trial, the then 21 year old Lee Boyd Malvo vocally sketched the plan behind all the murders. He also confessed to untruthfully accepting blame for pulling the trigger in each victim’s death. His reasons for stating falsely were no other than to shield John Allen from receiving a death sentence.
According to Lee Boyd Malvo’s statement in course of the trial, John Allen had envisioned to terrorize America’s capitol city of Washington DC. The latter went about bringing his plans to life when he shot his first victim on the 2nd of October in 2002. He would not stop for another ten days, till his arrest.
Lee Boyd Malvo and John Allen became acquainted through Lee’s mother Una in Antigua and Barbuda back in ‘99. It was a relation young Lee surely did not appreciate as was obvious & apparent when he stated he was turned into a “monster” by John Allen.

This morning's Daily TwitPic is full of win, in that it's got something for everyone. Twilighters in the audience will appreciate the subject, Christian Serratos, who plays one of Bella's human school pals, Angela, in the "Twilight" series. What's more, Serratos poses for her pic surrounded by fog-shrouded woods of the sort you'd see in the area around Forks, Washington. Did I mention that Serratos is nude? That's where everyone else comes in. The pic is an ad for PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which is apparently trying to sex up its image a bit. Serratos, in baring all, makes the point that killing animals for their fur is a bad thing. Sure, she could've put SOMETHING on, but that wouldn't have gotten your attention quite as easily, would it?

Twilight New Moon beauty Christian Serratos is the latest star to strip down for Peta's anti-fur campaign. The actress appears naked in a suitably dark, misty forest for the campaign: 'I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur'.

New Moon Movie: Beauty Christian Serratos Strips for PETA Ad (Image: Splash News)

Aged just 19, Christian is the youngest celebrity to pose for the eye-catching series of ads by the animal rights group.  The actress, a vegetarian, insisted: "I've always been opposed to slaughtering, eating, or wearing carcass[es]."

The Tesco store in Kettering will be among 252 of the company's biggest shops to open on December 26, compared with 120 last year and just 10 the year before.

But the Tesco store in Wellingborough, as well as Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons stores

To be honest, this blog isn’t really a big fan of the boxing.
Having said that whilst growing up in the seventies I was hooked on the fabulous Ali fights with Joe Frazier and George Foreman and later would follow Marvin Haggler and the like. I haven’t been interested much since.
However this week I have been hearing of the fight for a world heavyweight title which took place last night between British boxer David Haye and Russian Nikolai Valuev. It was being billed as “David v Goliath”.
Now, using your skill and judgement and remembering that Valuev (left) is much taller, has a longer reach and weighs SEVEN STONES (98lbs) more than Haye (right) which one would you have put your money on?
Bear in mind here that no boxing or sporting commentator or anyone in the media gave Haye a chance. Many considered the match a joke.

Here is how the result was announced at the end of the fight, in which the outcome was pretty much the same as the original David v Goliath.

It looks like singer Toni Braxton, has become the latest celebrity to sign divorce papers. According to reports from s2smagazine.com, Toni has now separated from her husband Keri Lewis, who she had been married to for eight years.
The latest news comes only days, after she shared a steamy kiss with fellow singer Trey Songz, on stage at the Soul Train Awards. This kiss was said to have been part of their “Yesterday” performance at the ceremony.
Toni is going to be kept busy for a while now, as she has just signed with Atlantic Records and her label debut/comeback album, has apparently been slated to drop on 2nd February, 2010. The first single will be “Yesterday.”

Another bolt from the blue for Toni Braxton as one more bad news comes from sources that her husband Keri Lewis formerly of the group Mint Condition is planning to separate from her. The singer already trapped in financial set backs and health problems so what comes after that would be more horrible for her in form of divorce.
Their son is autistic child and when it was diagnosed shortly after that Braxton appeared on The View and cried about the diagnosis and said it ain’t be the reason of separation with her husband.
Speculation further heats up as Tom Joyner’ of Black America Web adds that a kiss in a video pic with a 25 years old Trey Songz after they sang “Yesterday” at the Soul Train Music Awards would be the last nail in the coffin. The most catastrophic thing for Toni Braxton was that her husband in the audience at that time.
The performance in 2009 Soul Train Music Awards which airs on Sunday, November 29 at 9:00 pm EST on both CENTRIC and BET was probably scripted and it might not be the cause of separation.
Not only Toni Braxton but Trey Songz had his own melodrama with blogger Sandra Rose in recent times. There is more misery still at the door of Toni Braxton as he upload a picture on his site in which Songz and Braxton have a indulging kiss. Fans are hitting that site in great numbers to post their comments for this erotic kiss which brings woes in life of Toni Braxton.

Cada and Moon were the last two players remaining after 276 hands, final table marathon halted Sunday morning with Cada eliminating French poker professional Antoine Saout when a dealer turned a king on the final card of the final hand.
Cada said “For the last four years, I’ve been waiting to play this tournament,” “Now, it means everything.” He went on to say “I can’t even tell you how lucky I got at that final table, but sometimes you do get lucky and that’s the thing about poker.” Cada went on to win the tournament and the prize money of $8,546,435.
To be honest I know the title means everything however runner up Darvin Moon walks away with a cool $5,182,601, in third place was the Frenchman Antoine Saout who takes $3,479,485 in prize money.
To read more on this story go to oregonlive.com. To see the full list of players and prize money go to wsop.com. With that amount of prize money, would you like to take up Poker? Let us know your thoughts.

The 2009 World Series of Poker main event results are in, and Joe Cada, a 21-year-old from Shelby Township, Michigan, has won, collecting $8.55 million and becoming the youngest champion ever.

Cada said afterward:

"I ran really well and I never really thought this was possible," Cada said. "It was one of those dreams and I'm thankful it came true. ... I only play good when my back's against the wall."

Gambling is in the Cada family; his mom, Ann Cada, is a dealer in a Detroit casino. Ann Cada exclaimed, "My baby!" after Joe won.

Joe Cada says his goal now is simple: "To win it back-to-back."

WASHINGTON sniper John Allen Muhammad, who killed 10 people in a 2002 shooting spree around the US capital, will be executed today after the nation's top court denied a stay of execution.

THE witness room on death row at the Greensville correctional centre in Virginia will be crowded for John Allen Muhammad’s execution on Tuesday, writes Tony Allen-Mills. But his former wife Mildred will not attend the final act in the life of the Washington sniper.
Muhammad, who randomly murdered 10 people in 2002 during a 23-day shooting spree, is scheduled to die by lethal injection.
Muhammad, an African-American convert to Islam who toured the US capital in a battered Chevrolet with a teenage sidekick, Lee Boyd Malvo, claims he intended to demand a $10m ransom to stop the shootings. But his ex-wife has written a book in which she puts forward a different motive.
When the couple’s marriage broke down she won custody of their three children and, in her book, she says her ex-husband warned her: “You have become my enemy, and as my enemy I will kill you.”
Mildred Muhammad’s belief that the sniper killings were a smokescreen that would have led to her front door is supported by Dr Park Dietz, a psychiatrist who examined Muhammad. “The other shootings were designed to provide him cover so that he wouldn’t be suspected when she became a victim,” he said.

Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- India’s billionaire Ambani brothers said they haven’t reached an out-of-court settlement of their dispute over natural gas supplies from the country’s biggest field, denying a report of a compromise.
Reliance Industries Ltd., controlled by Mukesh Ambani, said in a statement today it is “not open” to a settlement and called the report “untrue and baseless.” Anil Ambani’sReliance Natural Resources Ltd. told the Bombay Stock Exchange that rumors of a resolution are “baseless and speculative.”
Anil Ambani is fighting a lawsuit in India’s Supreme Court to enforce a 2005 family agreement to buy gas from Reliance Industries at 44 percent less than a government-approved price. The Ambani family, including brothers Mukesh and Anil, met in Mumbai on Nov. 7 to discuss ending the dispute, Daily News & Analysis reported, citing unidentified investment bankers.
“Everyone would be delighted if they settled,” said Homi Phiroze Ranina, a Supreme Court lawyer. An out-of-court resolution would allow the family to keep details of their 2005 accord confidential, while the judges would not be forced to determine the legal validity of a private agreement, he said.
The Supreme Court in New Delhi started hearings in the lawsuit on Oct. 20. The arguments started afresh on Nov. 5 after Justice B. Sudershan Reddy replaced R.V. Raveendran on the three-judge panel. Raveendran stepped down after six days of arguments, citing a potential conflict of interest.
Reliance Natural gained 1.7 percent to 73.40 rupees in Mumbai trading. Reliance Industries rose 1.5 percent compared with a 0.4 percent fall in the benchmark Sensitive Index.
Compromise Price
A compromise that may be reached would allow Anil Ambani’s companies to buy the gas at $3.60 per million British thermal units, Daily News said. The price is 14.3 percent less that the rate set by the government and 54 percent higher than that sought by the Anil Ambani group, according to the report.
Reliance Industries has said the gas can’t be sold for less than $4.20 per mBtu that the government approved in 2007. Production from the field started in April and the gas is being sold to customers, including power and fertilizer producers, selected by the government.
Current gas output at the KG-D6 field is 45 million to 46 million cubic meters a day, P.M.S. Prasad, president for the oil and gas business at Reliance Industries, told reporters in New Delhi today. At the peak rate of 80 million cubic meters a day, production from the field will double the availability of the cleaner-burning fuel in the country.

For three weeks in 2002, John Allen Muhammad led a two-man sniper team that struck on his orders, claimed 10 lives and deliberately terrorized Virginia, Maryland and Washington. "Call me God," police were told in notes left at the scene of two attacks.
He is set to be executed by injection Tuesday for the slaying of Dean Harold Meyers, 53, shot in the head from long distance at a Manassas-area service station the evening of Oct. 9, 2002.
It was later that same night, in Pennsylvania, that Robert Meyers, 56, one of Dean's three brothers, learned of the snipers' seventh murder like the rest of the country.
"I was watching the news with my wife-to-be," he recalled. "I felt horrible that another person had been shot."
He didn't know that the latest victim was his own brother.
"We saw the picture that showed [Dean's] car and the crime scene tape and all that," but it did not register that it was his brother's car. "Honestly, it wasn't really clear. It was night. . . . It blew right by me."
At 5 a.m. the next day, a nephew knocked on Robert's door and told him that it was Dean, a bachelor and a civil en-gineer, who was slain the night before in Manassas.
Robert Meyers plans to attend Muhammad's execution, set for 9 p.m. at Greensville Correctional Center near Jarratt. An undisclosed number of family members of other sniper victims also hope to witness.
The shootings of October 2002 put millions on edge in Virginia, Maryland and Washington and triggered one of the largest manhunts in U.S. history.
Highways were shut down. Schools were closed. People quickly pumped gasoline while looking over their shoulder.
The terror ended early on the morning of Oct. 24, 2002, when Muhammad, then 41, and his accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, 17, were captured at an interstate rest stop in Maryland in a 1990 Caprice, a former police car purchased for $250 and used in many of the attacks.
Though more sniper victims were in Maryland, then-U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft turned Muhammad and Malvo over to Virginia for prosecution, where they were more likely to be sentenced to death if convicted.
At the time, Virginia -- second only to Texas in executions since 1976 -- executed juvenile offenders and Maryland did not. But in the end, Malvo was spared a death sentence in Virginia and is serving four life terms in Virginia's toughest prison.
The execution, like the 2003 capital-murder trials of Muhammad and Malvo, have drawn widespread media attention.
"The world is definitely watching," said David Clemenston, spokesman for the Virginia attorney general's office. "I've gotten calls from all over the globe, as international media outlets are interested in covering this execution."
The world also watched during the three-week period in October 2002, when Muhammad and Malvo spread fear in a region of the country already rocked by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the subsequent anthrax mailings.
No place in the region seemed safe -- a Fairfax County high-school football team moved a game to Richmond to avoid the snipers' territory and ended up eating its postgame meal at a Ponderosa restaurant in Ashland two hours before the snipers shot and wounded a man outside it.
And anyone could be a target -- victims included men and women, whites and blacks, the mothers or fathers of 21 children; a shopper; a man mowing grass, and a 13-year-old boy about to step through the door of his middle school.
"Your children are not safe anywhere at any time," said a note to police in Ashland near the scene of one wounding.
The same note, left in a plastic sandwich bag, sought $10 million to stop the killing and was the basis for one of two death sentences Muhammad was given for killing Meyers. The other was for killing more than one person in a three-year period.

Prejean and pageant producers find themselves in a suit/countersuit battle. K2 Productions, producer of the Miss California pageant, has filed suit against Carrie Prejean for failure to repay $5200 that they loaned her for breast augmentation. This is a countersuit in response to a previous filing by Prejean which claimed that the company violated her privacy by confirming to reporters that her breasts are fake. K2's lawyers state that Prejean revealed the truth herself, though not literally, when she walked the stage for the Miss USA pageant in a bikini.
Of course, the controversy all started when Prejean declared her opposition to gay marriage during the 2008 Miss USA pageant. She was stripped of her title as Miss California. She alleges that her beliefs are the reason her title was removed, while pageant producers state that she failed to live up to her contractual obligations.
K2 states that Prejean entered into a verbal agreement to accept a loan for breast augmentation. The suit goes on to request that they receive any profits from Prejean's book that's due out next month, which they say is a violation of her contract.

Talking with Sean Hannity Carrie Prejean has called her sex tape, “the biggest mistake of her life”. She revealed that the tape was filmed for her boyfriend. However Carrie Prejean’s nipple revealing tape created a blitz, it’s the hottest topic on the internet and has been watched by the model’s mother also.
Carrie Prejean’s tape came into the spot light as Ms California USA Pageant organizers – K2 Productions, sued the model for not revealing the truth to them. The contract with the Carrie Prejean included a clause that requires the models that they do not have participated in pornographic photography prior to the taking part in the competition. There appeared on the net a picture of the model in which she is only wearing a pink panty. As it was totally against the contract the organizers asked the model to repay $5,200. The amount has been spent on model’s breast augmentation procedure, that made her breast and nipples more prominent (see the pictures below).
Carrie Prejean in her turn sued K2 productions for defaming her and asked the officials to pay her $ 1 Million.
Reportedly officials showed her, her own sex tape. As the tape started, reportedly with model fingering her p***y, she was quick to label the actions as disgusting and disowning the tape. However few shots later her face became clear in the camera.
It took less than a minute for Carrie Prejean to take her case back.
It was announced that the matters between Carrie Prejean and K2 Productions have been resolved quite amicably.

The ACT college admission and placement exam was brand new and Brusewitz, a Seymour High School senior at the time, was the first to take it, along with 75,000 other teens in 16 states.
The number of test takers grew quickly, and in the 50 years since 1959, more than 64 million ACT tests have been administered in all 50 states and in more than 120 countries.
Nationwide, the high school graduating class of 2009 set a record, as nearly 1.5 million students — 45 percent of all U.S. graduates — took the ACT.
Brusewitz, 67, has little memory of test day other than it was long and the exam was difficult in parts. A photo that appeared in The Post-Crescent shows him hunched determinedly over his exam, pencil in hand.
He doesn't have the foggiest idea what his final scores were — and laughingly said he may not want to know now — but he did well enough to get admitted to the University of Wisconsin. For the son of parents who never went to college, that qualifies as a life-changing event, even if he didn't realize how important the test was then.
Brusewitz spent freshman year of college at what is now the University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley in Menasha, transferred to UW-Madison and went on to earn degrees in agriculture and mechanical engineering, followed by master's and doctorate degrees in agricultural engineering.
Today, he's a professor emeritus in biosytems engineering at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Okla., where he lives with his wife, Glenna.
A math and science whiz in high school, Brusewitz remembers his uncertainty in 1959, interested in college but not quite sure it was in his future. He said his math teacher and guidance counselor encouraged him.
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"My dad finished eighth grade and my mom finished high school and wanted to go to teachers college but was not able to, so I didn't know much about going to college and didn't think I was going," he said. "Then my counselor said, 'Well, aren't you going to go? You have the grades, take the test and see how it comes out.'"

Thanks for the excellent editorial about Utah inflating its high school graduation statistics ("Honest statistics: State ignores some school dropouts," Our View, Oct. 8). I have long thought that Utah also gives an inflated picture of performance on ACT tests. Without fail, the media and State Office of Education stress that our students score above average on the ACT.
To me, however, the real story is that Utah's white students, who make up the bulk of ACT test-takers, never top the national average for whites. Even in the 2009 results, in which Utah's college-bound white students appear to have scored above the U.S. average by one-tenth of a point, closer scrutiny shows that they did not. That's because five of the 27 ACT-dominant states tested all students. In other words, if states such as Illinois and Michigan had reported scores only for college-bound students, as Utah does, we can readily deduce that the Beehive State would have again failed to top the national Caucasian average.
Forgive my negativity, but I wonder if Utah inflates its educational performance so that we have an excuse not to raise the taxes needed to fund reduced class sizes.
Steve Warren
West Valley City

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 could demolish video-game and box-office records when it launches Tuesday.
It is just a matter of hours before the highly anticipated and controversial “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2″ officially hits store shelves. (We say “officially” because some stores are already selling this highly coveted video game. More on that in a bit.)
How big is this release? Let’s count the ways.
• The antiterrorism-themed game will likely be the most successful video game of the year, at least among devoted gamers. “New Super Mario Bros. Wii” may pull in more sales this holiday season, thanks to children and their nostalgic parents. But among many hardcore and even mild video-game fans, the Mature-rated Modern Warfare 2 is a must-buy title.
• Analysts expect the game’s publisher, Activision, to pull in “at least half a billion dollars on the game in the first week,” reports the AP. “It could easily rake in more than last year’s record $155 million opening weekend for ‘The Dark Knight,’ ” the highest-grossing opening weekend in box-office history.
That comparison may not be entirely fair. The game costs at least $60, whereas the rising prices of movie tickets aren’t quiet there yet. So, “The Dark Knight” needed to pull in about six-times more fans to earn each million-dollar benchmark.
The biggest video game launch goes to last year’s “Grand Theft Auto 4,” which pulled in more than $500 million by selling 6 million copies in its first week. That made GTA4 the “top entertainment launch ever.” Some analysts think Modern Warfare 2 could be even bigger.
• More than 10,000 US stores will open at midnight for special launch events. They include most of the 4,300 GameStop stores across the country and many Best Buy locations. GameStop also reports that pre-orders hit an all-time high. The hype even sparked bidding wars between stores, with Amazon and WalMart each offering free $20 gift certificates if shoppers pre-order the game through them.
• To compete for a piece of that pie, several smaller video game retailers are breaking embargoes by selling the game today. This pushed many GameStop locations to follow suit. “This past weekend, GameStop made the decision to break street date and sell reserved copies of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in select markets where other retailers had broken street date,” said GameStop VP Chris Olivera. “Our decision followed many conversations with Activision and was an effort to protect our customer base.”
However, Activision says that in those “many conversation,” the publisher never condoned breaking the street date. “Activision has not given any retailer permission to sell ‘Modern Warfare 2′ prior to the Nov. 10 street date,” the company said.

If you purchased a copy of Modern Warfare 2 through Steam, caveat emptor, because you won't be able to play it today along with everyone else. Yes, Infinity Ward's operatic military-shooter goes on sale today for Windows, Xbox 360, or PlayStation 3 platforms at brick-and-mortar retailers--in fact the game went on sale unofficially several days ago when GameStop corporate loosed the hounds on street-date-snapping mom-and-pop stores and phoned their pre-sells to come in and snatch up copies.
But Steam online pre-sells? Gamers who've long since preloaded Modern Warfare 2, where the game code's literally ready and waiting on their hard drives? They're able to play today as well, right?
Ready... Set... Wait!
Yes, wait. Sadly, inexplicably, maddeningly, Valve's elected to exacerbate the Modern Warfare 2 launch kerfuffle by delaying availability of the online-bought Steam version until Thursday, November 12th. This, despite the fact that the retail versions available today, November 10th, are also the Steam versions of Modern Warfare 2.
Even PC retail pre-sells who managed to get their mitts on the game from street-breaking stores were told they'd have to wait until Tuesday to play, despite the fact that nothing prevented console buyers from doing so.
All courtesy Valve's digital rights management technology, which allows Valve to decide on its own demonstrably mercurial terms who gets to play, and when.
You've probably read that Activision elected to slip Valve's Steamworks technology into both retail and digitally downloadable PC versions of Modern Warfare 2. If you've bought a retail copy of the PC version of the game, you're playing through the same intermediary access technology as someone who bought their copy online.
I learned about the online-version delay in roundabout fashion this morning. I fired up my PC and the Steam client over breakfast, expecting Modern Warfare's status to blink up "Available," only to discover it locked tight, still, with a 'November 12' release offering cold comfort. Kotaku Australia confirmed the news this morning.
The breaking response on Steam's Modern Warfare 2 boards has so far been scathing.
"I will NEVER pre-order through Steam again," wrote one user. "The idea that I can play it sooner by buying the retail version just breaks the last straw for me. I don't care if it is or isn't Steam's fault, the point remains the same: I am punished for pre-purchasing and pre-downloading the game. Fact."
"Unfortunately these issues seem to be setting Steam up to remain the backseat driver when it comes to PC gaming sales," wrote another.
"[Y]ou can't generate...big media hype around the game, entice gamers...build up expectations...and then go like meh, whatever, i'll allow them to play when I feel like it," wrote a third. "I don't know about you, but that sucks hard."
Valve's not offering a "why" (yet--email inquiries dispatched per usual) but Kotaku speculates it might have something to do with capacity load. That's probably part of it, though I'd wager Valve and Activision did some back-room dealing with retailers to help bolster retail sales--sales that benefit both retailers and Valve in this case.
Modern Warfare 2 is the gaming event of 2009. Anyone disagree? Analysts estimate it'll annihilate revenue records held in any other entertainment medium. Valve can't afford to have Steam choking off the block due to server overflow. Yes, Steam's morphed from a simple online storefront into a nosy, contentious digital rights management tool whose benefits are debatable, but if that DRM tool suddenly comes between "playing" and "not-playing," the backlash could snap the service's back.
That won't placate online pre-purchasers, who'll surely seethe over the sudden delay.
Can you blame them?
After all, what's the difference between Steam crashing repeatedly during the game's inaugural moments, and not being able to play the game at all?
Zilch.
Update: If you're thinking about canceling your Steam pre-purchase and buying a retail PC copy today, reports on Steam's MW2 boards are that you'll have to create a new Steam account to get the game running, as the old one's tethered to your pre-purchase. Gamers who pre-purchased, then grabbed a retail copy at the launch parties last night and cancelled the pre-purchase, are reporting it won't run.

In the BetUS NFL football betting odds, the Steelers are listed as a three-point favorite, with a posted total of 40 points.
 

Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup:
PITT has covered two of its last eight games
PITT has won 14 of its last 17 games SU
PITT has played four of its last five games OVER the total
PITT is 0-5 ATS in its last five road games
PITT has won seven of its last ten road games SU
PITT has played four of its last five road games OVER the total
DEN has won and covered six of its last seven games
DEN has played six of its last seven games UNDER the total
DEN has covered three of its last 11 home games
DEN has won four of its last five home games SU
DEN has played eight of its last nine home games UNDER the total
Also…
DEN has won four of the last five meetings SU
Six of the last seven meetings have gone OVER the total
DEN has won four of the last five meetings SU as the home team
Five of the last seven meetings in Denver have gone OVER the total

The Steelers are on a hot streak. After dropping two straight three-point decisions (to the Bears and Bengals), Pittsburgh has come roaring back with four consecutive wins (both SU and in the NFL betting odds), all by eight points or more, and in the latest one they knocked off the previously-undefeated Minnesota Vikings. They were building some nice momentum.
Then they went into the bye week.
Sometimes that’s not the best thing in the world for that to happen. Sure, you get to heal your wounds and get ready for the next opponent, but at the same time it breaks up that momentum that helps teams go on streaks. We’re going to see what happens as they face a Denver team that is certainly licking its wounds from a sound beating at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens.
Rashard Mendenhall has given the Steelers some pretty steady work at the running back spot. Mendenhall doesn’t have huge numbers, but he’s contributed 208 yards in the last three games and is averaging 5.4 yards a carry (418 yards total). Since Willie Parker’s been in and out of the lineup, and Mewelde Moore’s value is best defined by his pass receiving skills, it’s important to get something out of the running game.
I’m confident about Denver’s ability to put some pressure on Ben Roethlisberger, who is plagued both by a tendency to hold the ball too long and the inability of some of his linemen to hold blocks.
There would normally be a point in a piece like this where, in the process of evaluating this for NFL betting odds, I would talk about how the Broncos were “exposed,” etc. I am holding off on that, and for good reason. With only a couple of exceptions, all these undefeated runs have had to come to an end, but by no means has Denver not beaten anyone. They had to take on Dallas, New England and San Diego in consecutive weeks, and remained unscathed.
What I’m saying is, it’s not there is some secret on film that is going to hold the key to victory for the Steelers just because the Broncos lost. Their defense still stops people (3.4 ypc, 14 ppg). Kyle Orton has still thrown only one interception. They can still run it a little. They have given up 33 points in three games at home. They allow just 33% on third down. They wuill give Pittsburgh all it can handle, and that makes them an ideal home underdog. We’re taking with Denver, the three-point dog in the BetUS NFL betting odds.

Tonight’s pivotal matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers (-3) and Denver Broncos is just the second Monday Night Football Game of the 2009 NFL season between non-divisional opponents.
In the first such contest, the home team Dallas Cowboys had little trouble disposing of the winless Carolina Panthers, 27-7 in Week 3.
Aside from tonight’s game being between two non-divisional Conference foes, there are very few similarities to compare with that Panthers-Cowboys matchup, including the popular vote amongst bettors. Late money seems to be moving the betting line at online sportsbooks away from the Super Bowl champs and onto the home town Broncos.

Eddie White, of Kravitz & Eddie on 1070 The Fan, is right more than he's wrong, but in saying that Liz Lam should be banned from playing women's soccer at the University of New Mexico; he's completely missed the point.

While it's easy to paint Liz as some hysterical loose cannon hell-bent on wrecking havoc on all who cross her path, she deserves to be seen as a fierce competitor looking for an advantage.

I missed Liz on the Today Show, but hope she didn't apologize or capitulate in any way. She hasn't asked me for advice in dealing with the media, but I'm in a giving mood.

No doubt, she will be asked to appear on any number of shows or participate in hundreds of interviews. Liz should accept all requests, and then take total ownership of her behavior. Here is a sample of the tack she should take in every interview:

Interviewer: Have you apologized to the Brigham Young players you attacked?

EL: First, let's be clear about this - I attacked no one. I competed. Second - whatever conversations I may have had with anyone from BYU are none of your business.

Int: Would you care to apologize to the millions who were appalled by your performance in the MWC semifinals?

EL: No. And you want to know why? Because that's the way I roll. (Looking into the camera) You want to try to score on the Lobos? Pack a lunch and grow a sack because you are going to have to come through me, and I'm going to be there all day. (Turn to the interviewer) You think all these lights and cameras are going to turn me into some repentant and whiny sack of tear-soaked, quivering blubber? Think again, Uncle Nimrod. This is who I am, and that video is what I do. You don't like it? Get over yourself.

Int: Are you really saying that you'll do that again if given the opportunity?

EL: Yes. That's exactly what I'm saying. I'm not fun to play against. If that scares the girls of the Mountain West Conference, that's too bad.

That's it. Take the microphone off and walk out. Done. Matt Lauer's win this morning on the Today Show was to make you cry. He wants to humanize you. Don't let that happen. Don't give him the satisfaction. Hold your inner bad-ass close and don't give her up for anyone - especially not a dithering boob like Lauer. He loves to take easy shots at people unsure of themselves in the media, so I hope you looked him in the eye and told him to get bent.

Lambert has a chance to carve a niche for herself in the American cultural landscape. Fame has been thrust upon her, and that can be uncomfortable. Battling through that discomfort is a challenge, but it can be lucrative and fun. She should embrace this opportunity and ride the wave as long as she can. Or at least be honest. Anyone who did what she did as many times as Lambert did it can't come out and say that it was a momentary lapse of judgment unless that moment lasted through damn near the whole game.

That noise Liz hears is opportunity knocking. To apologize would reveal her as normal. You don't make a name for yourself or any cash by being normal.

Be strong, Liz. You can teach all of us about how to use the media rather than be manipulated by it. If Oprah calls, tell her you're busy. If she can get Tom Cruise to jump up and down on a couch, she can reduce you to tears with a single critical glance.

The WSOP Main Event final table airs Tuesday, November 10th, at 9 PM on ESPN. The major change this year is that they'll have the freedom to run over two hours at the producers' discretion. This will hopefully eliminate the major criticism of last year, that they spent so little time on the heads-up battle.

Chip counts:
1 – Darvin Moon 58,930,000
2 – Eric Buchman 34,800,000
3 – Steven Begleiter 29,885,000
4 – Jeff Shulman 19,580,000
5 – Joe Cada 13,215,000
6 – Kevin Schaffel 12,390,000
7 – Phil Ivey 9,765,000
8 – Antoine Saout 9,500,000
9 – James Akenhead 6,800,000

• They'll play down to heads up on Saturday, November 7, starting at about noon (3 PM eastern).
• The heads-up match starts on Monday, November 9, at about 10 PM (1 AM eastern).

After almost four months of waiting, the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event resumes this weekend. The second edition of the November Nine will take to the felt at noon in Las Vegas on Saturday, November 7th and will likely compete until some time Sunday morning when two players remain. Those two will battle heads-up on Monday do determine the newest world champion.
And while people may debate on whether or not poker is gambling, most will agree that betting on sports is gambling. And what better sport to bet on this weekend than poker? For those who want to pick a horse at this weekend’s final table, PartyBets.com offers the opportunity. Full Tilt Poker pro Phil Ivey, despite being the third-shortest stack at the table, is the current favorite to win the whole thing at 7-2. Darvin Moon, the chip leader by a wide margin (24 million chips more than his nearest competitor) is the player bettors are picking next at 4-1 odds. Eric Buchman, the second largest stack, is not far behind at 9-2. Steven Begleiter and CardPlayer’s Jeff Shulman are coming in at 6-1. Kevin Schaffel and Joe Cada are 12-1, James Akenhead, the shortest stack, is 14-1, and Antoine Saout is 16-1.
A PartyBets.com spokesperson was amazed that Ivey is the favorite, saying, “Has the world gone mad? Ivey is a short stack and Moon is a massive chip leader with 30% of the chips in play. It just doesn’t make sense but the punters just keep coming for Ivey and we have had no choice but to make him favorite because of our large six figure liabilities and the consistent interest.”