LONDON-- From smashing windows to breaking world records, soccer freestyler Dan Magness has enjoyed a bizarre career which has offered him the chance to travel and rub shoulders with big names.
The Englishman's latest exploit was to kick-start a ball relay that will end at the World Cup in South Africa in June.
After he was released at the age of 16 by ex-English league side and 1988 FA Cup winners Wimbledon, Magness's soccer career looked as doomed as his old club, who were dissolved in 2004.
"I was always the player in the team where the ball would come to me and no one else would get it back," he conceded rather proudly.
However, the ball-hogging skills that no doubt contributed to his Wimbledon downfall soon became an ally when he began performing soccer tricks to busk around Australia in 2001.
"I put my hat out, started busking and before I knew it I was making some good cash. I've been doing it ever since," Magness told Reuters.
Now 26, the bubbly man from the central town of Milton Keynes has a list of keepy-uppy world records and tales of kickabouts with England international Joe Cole and FIFA world player of 2009 Lionel Messi of Barcelona.
"I'm glad Messi is playing football as opposed to freestyling, otherwise I wouldn't have a job," said Magness, who filmed a commercial with the Argentine forward in Spain.
Among other world records, Magness has notched up the longest time controlling a ball (24 hours), set last year in London's Covent Garden, and the most consecutive touches on his shoulders.
His skills now provide a living, which he makes through corporate events that have taken him across Europe and beyond, including to Dubai and South Africa.
"My career has been amazing. I can't believe I am lucky enough to visit all these countries, meet so many people and do all these things," he said.
Training involves lots of running and walking and an apparent die-hard habit of practising risky kick-ups around the house.
"I have broken my mum and dad's window when I was little, I also broke the patio chair and blamed it on the dog," he said.
Last month, he walked 58 kms around London's Premier League soccer grounds to record the longest journey while continuously kicking or heading a ball.
His unusual journey was the first leg of "The Ball" -- soccer's equivalent to the Olympic torch, a relay set up by a not-for-profit company called Spirit of Football which invites organisations to promote their causes on a journey to South Africa's World Cup opening ceremony on June 11.
The relay involves one soccer ball being played with by as many people, as many times as possible, on a four-and-a-half-month trip through Europe and 17 African countries to the finals.
Thought up by three friends, the relay started in 2002. This year it is being used to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS in Africa.
"Football's such a universal language, it breaks barriers and that can help build on raising awareness of AIDS in Africa," Magness said.
The ball used in the relay is made by another non-profit organisation, Alive and Kicking (A&K), which employs 150 people in Kenya and Namibia to hand-stitch footballs which are then distributed to children's projects across Africa and used as visual aids for HIV/AIDS education.
The relay also promotes the Special Olympics (SO) which is involved in sports training and events for mentally disabled people in more than 180 countries.
After touring Europe, The Ball will head overland to West Africa, down the coast and through the Sahara before rejoining the coast in Ghana. From Cameroon it will cross to the east of the continent and head south to eventually arrive in Johannesburg on June 6.
During the trip, anywhere from big stadiums to backstreets will be used for kickabouts with everyone invited -- an ethos which provided a memorable experience in 2002.
On The Ball's journey that year to the South Korea and Japan World Cup, organisers were taken by minibus to a pitch in the mountains of China's Gansu province for an impromptu soccer match with Tibetan monks.
"Football had broken the barriers of distance and language, but we had yet to find a way to nutmeg a monk," The Ball co-founder Christian Wach told Reuters.
A&K want to distribute 100,000 balls to African children by the start of the World Cup and will also supply balls for the Special Olympics' 'Unified Sports', which pairs athletes without disabilities with SO athletes in training and competitions.
"Africa is unlikely to have the privilege of hosting the World Cup again in the near future so it is incumbent on Special Olympics Africa to ensure that we capitalise on this opportunity," SO soccer initiatives manager Ancilla Smith told Reuters.
VALENCIA, Spain-- The first race of the 33rd America's Cup between Swiss holders Alinghi and U.S. challengers BMW Oracle was abandoned on Monday because of unreliable wind, further delaying a bitterly fought event.
The race between the hi-tech, multi-hull boats was reset for Wednesday, the next scheduled sailing day in the best-of-three regatta off the Spanish port of Valencia.
Crew members aboard Alinghi and BMW Oracle had a frustrating, cold and wet wait of almost four hours more than 25 km (16 miles) off shore before heading back to port.
"We were convinced we were going to race. Yesterday looked good and this morning when we left it looked good but then around 10 o'clock (0900 GMT) the hopes started fading away with the rain and the wind died," said Alinghi owner Ernesto Bertarelli.
The unique boats finally took to the water to race after more than two years of sometimes bitter legal battles between Swiss biotechnology and banking billionaire Bertarelli's Alinghi and Oracle software mogul Larry Ellison's team.
The regatta had been scheduled for 2009 but was delayed by legal battles over hosting rights and technology which led to a three-race series without the usual challengers regatta.
On Saturday, Ellison, 65, refused to attend an owners' media conference over a perceived slight, denied by by race organisers, against his chief executive, New Zealander Russell Coutts.
Bertarelli, 44, took another shot on Monday, pointing out to reporters that Ellison was not on board the BMW Oracle boat USA.
"He didn't come to the press conference and he doesn't want to be on his boat," said Bertarelli, who helmed Alinghi. "It's unfortunate I guess. Winning the America's Cup for a sailor means being on board and any time I set foot on my boat I'm happy."
Wrangling over the rules resulted in two multi-hull boats sailing against each other for the first time in the event's 159-year history. In 1988, U.S. catamaran Stars & Stripes beat New Zealand monohull KZ-1 off San Diego.
Both boats are being raced for the first time and are capable of extraordinary speeds more than twice as fast as the wind but are more fragile than traditional craft in heavier conditions.
On Monday, the problem was inconsistent wind strength and direction rather than too much.
"It's the winter," Bertarelli said. "Ideal conditions in Valencia would have been May. That's what we asked for initially but we were forced into February so we're going to have to get used to the fact that the weather is a bit unsettled."
The problem was exacerbated by the vast size of the race area, measuring more than 600 sq km. The course for the first race is 40 km long, comprising an upwind and a downwind leg.
The course area was made necessary in part by the huge size of the boats, each 90 feet long with technology aboard previously unseen in yacht racing. Alinghi is a catamaran with a tilting mast 17 storeys high. BMW Oracle, a trimaran, has a unique wing-shaped mast much bigger than the wing of a commercial jetliner.
Strong winds are forecast on Tuesday, lingering into Wednesday, BMW Oracle meteorologist Chris Bedford said.
MIAMI—The New Orleans Saints stymied Peyton Manning , then intercepted him to seal the Super Bowl, rallying to beat the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 Sunday night.
There's a fine line between recklessness and brilliance. Saints coach Sean Payton walked it in Super Bowl XLIV.
Thirty minutes after his brazen decision to go for a goal-line fourth down at the end of the first half cost his team three points, Payton opened the second half with an onside kick. Indianapolis Colts special teams player Hank Baskett mishandled the ball twice and Chris Reis of the Saints came up with the ball in a wild scrum. It took officials a full minute to award New Orleans possession.
Six plays later, Drew Brees threw a short screeen to Pierre Thomas , who scampered into the end zone from 16 yards out. The touchdown gave the Saints a 13-10 lead, the team's first of the game.
It was one of the most gutsy calls in Super Bowl history. Indianapolis wasn't at all prepared for the kick and the Saints took advantage. Just plays after his brash play calling hurt the Saints, Payton's bold decision changed the tenor of the game.
Super Bowls are usually defined by conservative pay. It rarely pays for coaches to be risky in the game. Little good can come from it. Nobody criticizes the safe play, only the bold one that doesn't work. But when it works, it's the stuff from which Super Bowl legends are made.
Brees tied a Super Bowl record with 32 completions, the last a 2-yard slant to Jeremy Shockey for the winning points with 5:42 remaining. The Pro Bowl quarterback was chosen Super Bowl MVP.
Tracy Porter intercepted a pass from Manning—of all people—and sprinted 74 yards for a touchdown and a 31-17 lead with 3:12 left. Playing in the Super Bowl for the first time, the Saints went on a 31-7 run after falling behind 10-0 early.
Manning gave chase, but fell awkwardly as the cornerback raced by. The four-time NFL MVP forlornly walked to the sideline as the Big Easy celebrations began. Who would have thought the biggest mistake of the game would have come from Manning?
An NFL embarrassment for much of their 43 years, the Saints' football renaissance, led by Brees and coach Sean Payton, climaxed with Shockey's touchdown and Lance Moore's 2-point conversion catch. The conversion pass originally was ruled incomplete, but Payton challenged the call and won.
Porter's pick, just as dramatic as his interception of Brett Favre's pass to force overtime in the NFC title game, was the game's only turnover. It's one Manning will forever regret.
The Saints (16-3) won three postseason games this winter after winning only two in the previous 42 years. They beat Arizona, Minnesota and Indianapolis (16-3)—all division winners—for their first title, scoring 107 points and allowing only 59.
The championship came 4 1/2 years after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, making the Saints nomads for the 2005 season. There even was some doubt they would return, but the NFL refused to abandon the Big Easy. The Superdome was rebuilt and the Saints won the NFC South in '06, their first season with Brees and Payton.
That was the season Manning won his only Super Bowl. He had the Colts in front for much of this one, but New Orleans' league-leading offense, which scored 510 points this season, outscored Indy 31-7 after falling behind 10-0.
NAGPUR, India-- South African Dale Steyn confirmed his status as the world's premier quick bowler with a career best seven for 51 on the third day of the first test against India on Monday.
Steyn took five wickets for just three runs in a post-tea display of top-class reverse swing after dismissing Murali Vijay for four and Sachin Tendulkar for seven with conventional swing swing bowling early in the first innings.
He then took his eighth wicket of the match when he dismissed Sehwag for 16 after India had followed on to leave the hosts at 66 for two at the close with Vijay (27) and Tendulkar (15) at the crease.
India, the world's number one side, were left struggling to save the match, still 259 runs behind South Africa's imposing first innings 558 for six declared, in the two-test series between the world's two top sides.
The 26-year-old Steyn attributed his magical spell to the change of ball just before tea and a chat with interim coach Corrie van Zyl at the break.
"Corrie sat us down at tea and said that the session after lunch wasn't good enough. We didn't get the wickets that we wanted," Steyn told reporters after recording his 13th five-wicket test haul.
Steyn fired out Subramaniam Badrinath (56), debutant Wriddhiman Saha (0), Zaheer Khan (2) Amit Mishra (0) and Harbhajan Singh for eight in a master-class display as India lost their last six wickets for the addition of just 12 runs.
"We had the ball changed because the one we were using had split open, and once it started to reverse and we got one or two lucky dismissals, it just started a roll," said Steyn, who is approaching 200 wickets in test cricket.
Steyn's awesome display overshadowed a fine innings by Sehwag, who batted with uncharacteristic patience for his 18th test century.
Sehwag put on 136 for the fourth wicket with Badrinath, one of two debutants in the middle order after injures ruled out the experienced Rahul Dravid, Vangipurappu Laxman and Yuvraj Singh before the match.
"Before the test started, we said that reverse swing was going to be key on these pitches," said Steyn whose five-wicket haul blew away India for 76 and set up a South African victory on their previous visit two years ago.
"You're not going to get a lot of sideways movement off the wicket. There's not a lot of grass on them. You've got to rely on getting the ball to do something through the air.
"I said before that a ball bowled at 145 kph, whether it's in Johannesburg or Nagpur, is still 145 kms in the air. The plan was to hit the deck hard, with pace."
South Africa, who will reclaim the number one ranking if they win the series, dominated the test entirely although their preparations for the difficult tour were disrupted by the resignation of long-serving coach Mickey Arthur.
Arthur quit and the entire selection committe were sacked following the drawn home test series against England.
TORONTO—Chris Bosh had 36 points and 11 rebounds, Andrea Bargnani scored 22 points and the Toronto Raptors beat the Kings 115-104 on Sunday afternoon, extending Sacramento's losing streak to six games.
Hedo Turkoglu and Antoine Wright each scored 16 points as Toronto topped 100 points for the 16th consecutive game and won its seventh straight home game.
Kevin Martin scored 24 points and Spencer Hawes had 14 for the Kings, who have won just three of their past 20 and are 3-22 on the road.
Donte Greene scored 13 points while Tyreke Evans and Andres Nocioni each had 11 for Sacramento.
Bosh made 14 of 18 field goal attempts and went 8 for 11 from the foul line as the Raptors won for the 13th time in 14 home games.
Sacramento's Sean May made two jumpers to open the fourth quarter, giving the Kings a 91-84 lead, but Toronto scored the next eight points, including a three-point play by Bosh and a breakaway dunk by Sonny Weems , to lead 92-91 with 10:04 remaining.
It stayed close until Bosh made a layup and a pair of free throws and Wright sandwiched a jumper and a corner 3 around a free throw by Greene, putting Toronto up 105-97 with 4:12 left.
Toronto welcomed Turkoglu and DeMar DeRozan back to the starting lineup after injuries. Turkoglu wore a mask to protect the fractured orbital bone that kept him out of the past two games, while DeRozan had missed five games with a sprained right ankle. Jose Calderon , who missed one game with a right ankle sprain, also returned, but Marco Belinelli was scratched with a sore left ankle.
Turkoglu had been reluctant to wear the mask but changed his mind Saturday. He was hot early, scoring nine points in the first as Toronto made nine of its first 11 field goal attempts.
