Michael Essien accidentally injures a young fan

From a pre-season friendly between Chelsea and Crystal Palace

The NBA finals are set-- it's Lakers vs. Celtics

Here are a few random images and videos from the Lakers-Suns series. (Above-- Ron Artest sinks the game winning shot in Game 5)

Above and below: Fellow Slovenians Goran Dragic (#2) and Sasha Vujacic (#18) right before and after Dragic was fouled. (See video below)

Also: Dragic scores on a nice lay-up earlier in the series--

Below: Kobe Bryant right after making a crucial shot at the end of Game 6.

And, finally, Big Baby Davis of the Boston Celtics gets knocked out by Dwight Howard

Photo I wished I could find #1

In a recent post, I stated that I wished I could find a photo of Bologna's Nicola Mingazzini playing with his head all bandaged up. This morning I searched Google Images again and found such a photo--

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The search terms I used were Mingazzini and head.

It wasn't all bad (4-29-08)

Ok, so Manchester United beat Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final second leg and the Red Wings beat the Avalanche in the NHL playoffs to go up 3-0 in the series, but there were, at least, a few positive developments:

• Manchester United keeper Edwin Van Der Sar was kneed in the head not once, but twice, by his own defender, the much-maligned Wes Brown. After the second blow to the head, Van Der Sar was so dizzy he was standing in goal looking all wobbly and raising his hand for help like a school kid who needs to go to the bathroom. The referee finally had to stop the match and the medics came out to check him for a concussion, etc. "Have some water...How many fingers am I holding up?" Van Der Sar did get to stay in, though. (In the picture: the one in red is Wes Brown - if you don't recognize a United jersey, it's pretty hopeless. The player kneeling is Gianluca Zambrotta - that's a great name! And the one in green, with his head almost touching the ground, is Van Der Sar.)

• The Red Wings got two too-many-men-on-the-ice penalties within three minutes in the third period. (The Av's got one earlier in the game.) How does this happen to trained professionals? I have no idea.