| Groban Gets Oprah Bounce, Jordin Sparks Doesn't Fly
The Grinch might be stealing Christmas from music retailers, but thanks to Josh Groban and Oprah, there's still some singing in Whoville. For the sales week kicked off by Super Tuesday—the release date before Thanksgiving when record labels typically schedule their big guns—the figures were abnormally bad, with only one Top 10 bow and a seven-week-old album topping the charts. Still, that album, Groban's Noël, can thank last week's performance on The Oprah Winfrey Show for driving it past Alicia Keys and into the number one spot. Noël crowned the Billboard 200 by selling 405,000 copies for the week ended Sunday, according to SoundScan numbers released today. The holiday disc, featuring Groban's take on "Silent Night," "O Come All Ye Faithful" and other wintery classics, originally debuted in the 10 spot in mid-October.
Hockey Fix: The week in the NHL
There are scoring streaks, and then there's what Tampa Bay's Vincent Lecavalier (right) did the last few weeks. Lecavalier had an eight-game streak during which he scored multiple points in every game. That run came to an end in a 2-1 loss to the Rangers on Wednesday. During the streak, Lecavalier scored seven goals and 14 assists, including a five-point night against division-rival Carolina, while the Lightning went 5-2-1. He also vaulted into the league lead in points. Lecavalier had more points in those eight games than players like Markus Naslund, Jason Spezza and Marian Hossa have tallied this season. After being kept off the score sheet on Wednesday, Lecavalier tallied two points Friday at Carolina. .
Comedy and war help in novices’ pursuit of sporting excellence
Hang in here with the idea, but if Great Britain does indeed achieve its stated goal of finishing fourth in the Olympic medals table in 2012, we may have to attribute much of the success to a Gulf War military leader. The man in question is Major-General Patrick Cordingley, who led the Desert Rats into Iraq in 1991 – and it is not a case of him leading our troops into Olympic battle. But if you ask a group of the best young sports coaches in the country, they will tell you that they have learnt as much about their trade from this man as any other. That said, they will also tell you about having to learn to be a stand-up comedian and how going house-hunting is important, too. The eight-strong group of coaches officially graduated last night. At a ceremony at The Belfry, in the West Midlands, they were presented with their certificates by Gerry Sutcliffe, the Sports Minister.
Madison left in the dark for big game
You've fumed at the NFL Network. You've vented about Charter. So now what, Green Bay Packers fan? If you're a Madison cable subscriber, you're not going to be able to watch Thursday night's game -- quite possibly your team's biggest game of the regular season -- from your living room. But you've exhausted your rage on the involved parties, so what's left to do besides go out and find a place to watch the game? Maybe while you're doing that, you can think of people in the Green Bay, Appleton and Milwaukee areas that aren't going to be so inconvenienced. That's because NFL broadcasting rules give those markets the right to show the game on over-the-air television stations. WFRV/Ch. 5 bought the rights in the Green Bay/Fox Valley market; WISN/Ch. 12 was the highest bidder in Milwaukee.
US fans were misled over David Beckham, Pele says
Pele believes US fans were misled about what David Beckham could bring to Major League Soccer. Amid great fanfare, the former England captain was presented by the Los Angeles Galaxy in July, but his greatest impact has been on ticket sales and merchandise. Pele believes Beckham's introduction was "very, very bad" as it raised expectations about what the former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder could produce on the pitch. "They announced him as a scorer of goals," Pele said. "He isn't a goal scorer. That was a mistake." After playing an exhibition match in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Wednesday night, Beckham said "everybody in the world knows I'm not a goal scorer." "The Galaxy wouldn't have come out and said that," Beckham said. "Like I said, everyone has got their own opinions.
TV-RADIO NOTEBOOK: NFL is very fortunate how schedule plays out
In the spirit of this holiday season, let us resolve to take NFL commissioner Roger Goodell at his word regarding the eight-game NFL Network schedule that began Thursday night with the Colts-Falcons. That means we will stipulate to Goodell's assurances that the NFL did not rig the schedule to ensure the league-owned network would have attractive matchups and, more importantly, games it could employ to apply maximum pressure on cable carriers that don't carry the service, such as Time Warner, Charter and Cablevision. And so, given that assumption, we are left to conclude that the NFL this season is not conniving, merely fortunate. Next Thursday, NFL Network will air Packers-Cowboys, a potential preview of the NFC title game. The game will air on over-the-air TV in the teams' home cities but not in some of their most important secondary markets � among them Waco, Austin and San Antonio, all serviced by Time Warner Cable, and Madison, Wis., a Charter Cable market.
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