Federer, Murray could have rematch in Open semis

ADVANCE FOR WEEKEND EDITIONS, AUG. 25-26 - FILE - This Aug. 10, 2012 file photo shows Novak Djokovic of Serbia making against Sam Querrey at the Rogers Cup men's tennis tournament in Toronto. The men's and women's first round of the U.S. Open tennis tournament begins Monday, Aug. 27, 2012 in New York. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Nathan Denette, File)

ADVANCE FOR WEEKEND EDITIONS, AUG. 25-26 - FILE - This Aug. 10, 2012 file photo shows Novak Djokovic of Serbia making against Sam Querrey at the Rogers Cup men's tennis tournament in Toronto. The men's and women's first round of the U.S. Open tennis tournament begins Monday, Aug. 27, 2012 in New York. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Nathan Denette, File)

ADVANCE FOR WEEKEND EDITIONS, AUG. 25-26 - FILE - This July 13, 2012 file photo shows Serena Williams watching her return against Chanelle Scheepers, of South Africa, during a quarterfinal of the Bank of the West tennis tournament, in Stanford, Calif. The men's and women's first round of the U.S. Open tennis tournament begins Monday, Aug. 27, 2012 in New York.(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

Jonathan Walmach, right, and Jonathan White of Brodheadsville, Pa. watch qualifying play at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York on Thursday, Aug. 23, 2012. The U.S. Open Tennis Championships start at the tennis center on Monday. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

ADVANCE FOR WEEKEND EDITIONS, AUG. 25-26 - FILE - This July 8, 2012, file photo shows Roger Federer of Switzerland kissing the Wimbledon singles championship trophy after defeating Andy Murray of Britain at Wimbledon, England. Wimbledon champion, once again. Ranked No. 1, once again. And, heading to the U.S. Open, title favorite, once again. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Though no player would admit to looking so far ahead, Novak Djokovic may have been the biggest winner when the U.S. Open bracket was set Thursday.

The defending champion and No. 2 seed can reach his third straight final at Flushing Meadows without having to face either Roger Federer or Andy Murray. Those two, meanwhile, wound up on the same side of the draw and could meet in the semifinals for a rematch of their recent finals at Wimbledon and the London Olympics.

"It's a question of luck," Djokovic said when asked about the only true drama in the unveiling of Thursday's bracket ? whether third-seeded Murray would end up on his or top-seeded Federer's side of the draw. "You try to focus on what's in your hands, what's in your power. Thinking about the semifinal at this moment, I don't think it's the best thing."

In the women's bracket, third-seeded Maria Sharapova drew a possible semifinal matchup against top-seeded Victoria Azarenka and fourth-seeded Serena Williams could play No. 2 Agnieszka Radwanska in the semifinals.

Rafael Nadal, ranked third, is out of this year's tournament with a knee injury, marking the first time since 2008 that the quartet of Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray haven't been seeded 1 through 4 in some order at the U.S. Open.

Taking the fourth seed this year is David Ferrer, who has never made a Grand Slam final, and could face Djokovic in the semifinals.

Of the 16 semifinal spots over the last four Grand Slam tournaments, 14 have been occupied by one of the big four. Only Ferrer, at the French Open, and Jo Wilfried-Tsonga, at Wimbledon, have managed to break the stranglehold.

Djokovic has an 8-5 record against Ferrer, including a straight-set win in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open this year.

Top-seeded Federer is 8-9 against third-seeded Murray and the two have split their last two matches, both on Centre Court at the All England Club; Federer won the Wimbledon final and Murray took the gold-medal match at the London Olympics.

The potential men's quarterfinals are Federer vs. No. 6 Tomas Berdych, who upset him in the 2010 Wimbledon quarterfinals; Djokovic vs. 2009 U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro, seeded seventh; Murray vs. No. 5 Tsonga; Ferrer vs. No. 8 Janko Tipsarevic.

Sharapova completed the career Grand Slam at the French Open earlier this year, while Williams has 14 Grand Slam titles and is coming off wins at Wimbledon and the Olympics. Azarenka has one Grand Slam title ? in Australia this year ? while Radwanska's best finish in a major was her three-set loss to Williams in this year's Wimbledon final.

Williams' older sister Venus, who is ranked 47th this week and not seeded, plays American wild-card entry Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the first round and could face sixth-seeded Angelique Kerber in the second. Venus Williams, the 2000 and 2001 champion, pulled out of last year's U.S. Open hours before she was scheduled to play in the second round, revealing that she had been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease.

Four-time major champion Kim Clijsters will begin what she says will be the last tournament of her career against American wild-card recipient Victoria Duval. Clijsters, a 29-year-old Belgian who is seeded 23rd, might face the defending champion, seventh-seeded Sam Stosur, in the fourth round.

Clijsters won the U.S. Open the last three times she entered the hard-court tournament, in 2005, 2009 and 2010. She missed it last year because of a stomach muscle injury.

Stosur, meanwhile, has struggled since defeating Serena Williams in the final last year for her first Grand Slam title. She lost in the first round of the Australian Open and the Olympics and the second round of Wimbledon. Her only big run in a major this year came at the French Open, where she fell in a mistake-filled, three-set semifinal to Sara Errani.

"It's been a year of a few ups and downs, but a lot of players go through that," Stosur said. "In the last few weeks, being on hard court, I feel a lot better and a lot more comfortable on this surface. It's conditions that suits my game, so I'm glad to be back here."

No American man hasn won the U.S. Open since Andy Roddick in 2003. There are four seeded U.S. men trying to halt that streak: No. 9 John Isner, No. 23 Mardy Fish, No. 27 Sam Querrey and Roddick, who is seeded 20th. Roddick won a hard-court tournament in Atlanta in July, but has since fallen to Djokovic in the second round of the Olympics, then to 38th-ranked Jeremy Chardy in the first round in Cincinnati.

James Blake and Ryan Harrison are among the unseeded Americans in the draw. Roddick could face del Potro in the fourth round, while Isner is in the same quarter of the draw as Ferrer.

Federer, who has a record 17 Grand Slam titles, opens against another American, Donald Young, who is 2-20 this year.

Djokovic's first match is against 69th-ranked Paolo Lorenzi of Italy.

Serena Williams opens against another American, Coco Vandeweghe, the 2008 girls champion.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-08-23-US%20Open-Draw/id-8c2f1c09b2694a9384db6e8628da3d9c

Colorado Springs pga tour Nora Ephron mario balotelli mario balotelli jenny mccarthy michael jackson

Calling all Dogs! Celebrate National Dog Day in White Plains Saturday

To celebrate National Dog Day 2012,?Best Friends Pet Care at 114 S. Kensico Avenue in White Plains?will give away a free doggy ice cream treat to every dog who visits on Saturday, August 25. ?

The treats are dog-safe, made of yogurt or soy with dog-preferred flavors like peanut butter and honey.?

?National Dog Day is a day to honor the dogs in our lives,? says Best Friends manager Tara Manganiello.? ?So we?re inviting all dogs? whether Best Friends clients or not ? to stop in between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. for a free doggy ice cream.??

Canine guests must be on leash and accompanied by a human companion. ??

Founded in 2004,?National Dog Day is observed annually on August 26.?It honors dogs of all breeds -- from working dogs to family pets -- and encourage pet owners to do something special for their dog.

This is the second year that Best Friends has run the ice cream giveaway. The company is expanding its?National Dog Day celebration this?year, starting its?observance on Friday, August 24 with streats for dogs participating in its doggy day camp program that day.

Best Friends Pet Care offers boarding, daycare, grooming and training. For information, call?914-997-0600?or visit?www.bestfriendspetcare.com. ?

Source: http://whiteplains.patch.com/announcements/calling-all-dogs-celebrate-national-dog-day-with-free-ice-cream-in-white-plains-this-saturday

bcs bowl games phoebe prince jose reyes college football bowl schedule college football bowl schedule double mastectomy 2011 bowl schedule

Footprints of cretaceous dinosaur found at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

ScienceDaily (Aug. 21, 2012) ? About 110 million light years away, the bright, barred spiral galaxy NGC 3259 was just forming stars in dark bands of dust and gas. Here on the part of the Earth where NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center would eventually be built, a plant-eating dinosaur sensed predators nearby and quickened its pace, leaving a deep imprint in the Cretaceous mud.

On Friday, Aug. 17, 2012, noted dinosaur hunter Ray Stanford shared the location of that footprint with Goddard's facility management and the Washington Post newspaper.

"This was a large, armored dinosaur," Stanford said. "Think of it as a four-footed tank. It was quite heavy, there's a quite a ridge or push-up here. ? Subsequently the sand was bound together by iron-oxide or hematite, so it gave us a nice preservation, almost like concrete."

Stanford, a "proud amateur dinosaur tracker" has had several papers published, including the discovery of a new species of nodosaur from a fossilized hatchling found near the University of Maryland in College Park. He previously confirmed the authenticity of this track with David Weishampel of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, author of the book "Dinosaurs of the East Coast."

He had material from the same Cretaceous-era sedimentary rock dated, with help from the US Geological Survey, to approximately 110- to 112-million years old, by analyzing pollen grains sealed in the stone. The Cretaceous Period ran between 145.5 and 65.5 million years ago, and was the last period of the Mesozoic Era.

Goddard Facilities Manager Alan Binstock said the agency considers the footprint and its location "sensitive but unclassified."

The footprint is on federal land, so improperly removing it could potentially violate three laws: the Antiquities Act, the Archaeological Resources Protection Act and the Paleontological Resources Preservation Act.

NASA officials will next consult with the State of Maryland and paleontologists to form a plan for documenting and preserving the find, Binstock said.

Stanford also identified and presented several smaller footprints -- three-toed, flesh-eating therapods -- to Goddard officials from the same site.

He called the location of the find "poetic."

"Space scientists may walk along here, and they're walking exactly where this big, bungling heavy armored dinosaur walked, maybe 110 to 112-million years ago," Stanford said.

Read the Washington Post story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/dinosaur-age-meet-the-space-age/2012/08/17/76c176f4-e89a-11e1-8487-64e4b2a79ba8_story.html

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/4jTIzNzd6ww/120821120324.htm

mark martin cleveland news daytona race the cutting edge fox 8 news indy 500 angelina jolie leg

Box Office Guru Wrapup: Expendables Seizes #1 spot

Elderly adrenaline ruled the North American box office as the bullet-filled action sequel The Expendables 2 opened at number one although with less muscle than its predecessor. Three other new films, each targeting a specific segment of the moviegoing public, also debuted and attracted respectable but not stellar grosses. But the variety of content from new and holdover pictures worked together to deliver a strong overall performance as the marketplace was substantially larger than normal for the middle of August with seven different movies breaking double-digit millions over the weekend.

Sylvester Stallone rounded up his boys and packed the guns for his latest action offering The Expendables 2 which captured the top spot with an estimated $28.8M opening weekend. The R-rated mega-pack of testosterone and lead averaged a good $8,670 from 3,316 theaters and played to the same older male fan base that powered its 2010 predecessor to a beefier $34.8M bow in mid-August of that summer. The new Lionsgate release tried to add more to the table. Joining returning stars like Jason Statham, Jet Li, and Dolph Lundgren were action heroes from yesteryear like Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme along with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis who took on bigger roles and more screen time. Stallone did not direct this $90M production as the chair was given to Simon West (Con Air, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider).

The original Expendables was the first of its kind to combine so many macho action heroes under one roof. But that novelty was gone with the sequel which essentially followed the same formula adding some new faces to the mix for action fans that loved the machine gun flicks of the 1980s. Recent audience sensitivity to guns in the wake of several shootings around the country, and bomb scares at Carmike Cinemas on opening day, may have had some contribution to the 17% drop in opening weekend sales for the latest Expendables installment. But it is impossible to tell how much. Overall marketplace conditions may also have had an impact as every action movie over the past two months has opened either at or below expectations.

Demographics were about the same this second time around with males making up 63% of the audience, compared to 61% for the first flick. 65% were 25 or older. For a Stallone action sequel, reviews were actually quite good. And those that paid to see Expendables 2 did like it as the film earned an encouraging A- grade from CinemaScore. The first all-star combo pack went on to gross an impressive $103.1M domestically and $274M worldwide. This one too should rely on overseas audiences to kick in the bulk of the cash.

Rival August action pic The Bourne Legacy settled for second place and took a sequel-like fall of 55% to an estimated $17M. Universal has banked $69.6M in its first ten days for the new Jeremy Renner installment in the spy series. The last two Matt Damon films did slightly better in their second weekends with declines of 53% for 2007's The Bourne Ultimatum and 54% for 2004's The Bourne Supremacy although those were at or above the $100M mark by the sophomore session. Look for Legacy to end its run with roughly $115M as it joins this summer's latest chapters for Spider-Man, Ice Age, Step Up, and Men in Black as the lowest-grossing installment domestically of its franchise.

Focus gave a big launch to its 3D toon ParaNorman and scored a third place debut with an estimated $14M from a very wide 3,429 locations for a mild $4,085 average. The PG-rated stop-motion flick about a young boy who sees ghosts won rave reviews from film critics and had to compete with multiple other choices for kids from Disney and Fox. The CinemaScore was a respectable B+. With nothing new for youngsters next weekend, ParaNorman hopes to keep playing to its target audience until schools reopen for the new academic year.

Will Ferrell's political comedy The Campaign dropped 50% in the polls and collected an estimated $13.4M in its second term boosting the ten-day tally to $51.7M. The Warner Bros. release should end its run with about $85M which would be a solid result for an R-rated comedy.

Sony's summer recycling program of sequels, reboots, and remakes continued with the musical drama Sparkle which debuted in fifth with an estimated $12M from 2,244 theaters for a decent $5,348 average. Starring American Idol champ Jordin Sparks and the late Whitney Houston in her final role, the PG-13 film played overwhelmingly to an older female crowd as studio research showed that the audience was 74% female and 62% over the age of 35. A remake of the classic film from 1976, Sparkle earned mixed reviews from critics but truly won over paying audiences. Its CinemaScore grade was a solid A. But despite that high score, sales slipped on Saturday and the overall weekend average was not as high as those for many other films aimed at mature African-American women. Direct competition is minimal over the next couple of weeks so it may have a chance to hold up giving the low cost $14M production a profitable run.

Super hero juggernaut The Dark Knight Rises fell out of the top five in its fifth frame with an estimated $11.1M, off a respectable 41%. The Warner Bros. threequel smashed the $400M mark on Friday in its 29th day of release and has upped its domestic total to $409.9M allowing Bane and his goons to climb up to number 12 on the list of all-time domestic blockbusters passing the $407.7M of last spring's blockbuster The Hunger Games. A sensational $58.8M of the Batgross has come from IMAX locations. Overseas, Rises rose up to $487.8M surpassing the $469.7M lifetime international gross of The Dark Knight while stabilizing its decline to 42%. The worldwide haul now stands at $897.7M with Greece, Italy, and the key Chinese market still to open over the next two weeks.

Opening in seventh place was the tween dramedy The Odd Life of Timothy Green with an estimated $10.9M over the weekend and $15.2M over the five days since its Wednesday launch. The PG-rated film averaged a lukewarm $4,199 from 2,598 sites over three days and played mostly to moms and kids. Families made up 53% of the crowd while females were 68%. Reviews were not too good but moviegoers were satisfied with their experience as the Disney pic earned an A- from CinemaScore. Opening head-to-head against ParaNorman certainly split some of the family crowd which already had other brand-based options to choose from.

Sony's older-skewing comedy Hope Springs with Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones held up well in its second weekend as expected slipping 38% to an estimated $9.1M for a ten-day total of $35.1M. A final of $60-70M could result. Fox's kid sequel Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days tumbled 52% to an estimated $3.9M while Sony's remake Total Recall rounded out the top ten with an estimated $3.5M falling a steep 56%. Cumes stand at $38.8M and $51.8M, respectively.

The top ten films grossed an estimated $123.7M which was up 27% from last year when The Help climbed into the number one spot in its second weekend with $20M; and up 21% from 2010 when The Expendables remained on top with $17M.

Follow Gitesh on Twitter.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1925746/news/1925746/

dalai lama tamera mowry slow jam the news madden cover obama slow jams the news metta world peace ron artest

Data mining the classics makes for beautiful science

16 hrs.

Devin Coldewey

Statistics and data mining aren't typically associated with literary analysis, but new research suggests that such objective methods may be both powerful and relevant. Not everyone is impressed, including scholars who don't care to be replaced by supercomputers.

Matthew Jockers, assistant professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has devised a method of comparing thousands of books to one another in order to find systems of influence, schools of thought?and other groupings that may not be obvious to literary theorists. He calls it macroanalysis.

"We need to?go beyond our traditional practice of close reading and go out to a different scale," Jockers told NBC News. "The traditional practice of close reading allows us to look at the bark on the trees, while the macroanalytic allows us to see the whole forest." Modern programming and data mining tools, combined with widely available digital texts, make this approach possible.

His system processed thousands of digital books from the 19th- and late 18th centuries ? a period?chosen because the works are free, plentiful and subject to a wealth of theory already. The books are examined on dozens of measures, from word choice to punctuation to overarching theme. The end result is a unique "book signal" that allows it to be compared to other books and eventually plotted in a sort of similarity space, where closely related books are near one another, and differing books are distant.

It makes for a striking graphical representation:

But it's not just about making a pretty picture. By looking at how books are distributed based on certain metrics, there are many trends and facts to be gleaned.

Some aren't particularly surprising, like the fact that Jane Austen and Sir Walter Scott are rated very highly for originality and influence.?But less obvious things emerge as well. Jockers' systematic approach helped illuminate the reasons for a decline in the visibility of Irish-American authors early in the 20th century, closing?a gap in knowledge that had been speculated about for years (for those interested, it turns out they temporarily changed the seat of their literary voice to more rural, western climes, away from the urban, eastern areas with which they are traditionally associated).

And other powerful patterns emerge: female authors, for instance, were grouped closely at one end of the book space, even though their gender was not part of how they were placed. You can see it in the rendering below;?the darker-colored areas represent groups of women authors. So female authorship?is indeed detectable, not just by well-honed human intuition but by objective measures.

Other themes and measures can also be shown to group or separate themselves, so certain styles, eras?and so on can be described not just anecdotally, but systematically, using nothing but the text as data.

Naturally, there are objections. Jockers is aware of them: "One of the?criticisms is that it succeeds in refinding what we already knew." In other words, why bother proving statistically what we already know from close reading?

But other sciences have different methods for obtaining the same result, such as measuring the diameter of the Earth or the pH of an acid. Why shouldn't literary theory have the same thing? "These are not competing methodologies, but complementary ones," explained Jockers. For instance, while the approach showed definite clustering of female authors, an interesting finding, this level of organization fails to show that many of the best-known works by women were in fact not in that group. Pointing that out and examining why it is so are jobs best done by humans. So as the high-level approach?presents a new perspective, it?may prompt new work in more?traditional fields as well.

Macroanalysis could be applied to modern literature as well, and of course other languages, but it's not just a box where you put in books and out comes theory. It takes critical thought to dissect the results and apply them to existing thought. But it's not hard to imagine new books coming out with a computer-determined thematic and stylistic analysis printed on the dust cover.

The work was presented as a paper and talk in Hamburg, but in its final form it will be the final chapter of a book Jockers is working on called "Macroanalysis: Digital Methods and Literary History," due to be published soon by University of Illinois Press. He's?trying not to make it too dry: "I want this to appeal to my literary?colleagues who aren't programmers. It's not laden with theoretical jargon."?Curious statisticians and literary theorists alike?should find it an interesting read.

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. His personal website is coldewey.cc.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/data-mining-classics-makes-beautiful-science-954577

nfl playoff picture rose bowl 2012 sat cheating scandal hangover cure lebron james engaged auld lang syne end of the world 2012

903 Stickney Ave. EXCLUSIVE | Sutton Harrison Real Estate ...

Large 3 bedroom townhouse style condo under construction for February possession dates. Open concept design 1450 square feet in total. Choose your paint colours, cabinets,?counter-tops and flooring to truly customize your home. Lower level features a deep single car garage and storage room, the main floor is very spacious with a large living and dining area open to the large kitchen. Stainless steel appliances included! A two piece bath is also located on the main floor. Upstairs has three good sized bedrooms with a full bathroom. The laundry area has space for lite storage and comes with a new stackable white washer and dryer.

Address: 903 Stickney Avenue, Brandon, Manitoba, Canada

Bedrooms: 3
Bathrooms: 1
Half Bathrooms: 1
Home sqft: 1450

Agent: Rob Lussier

Source: http://www.suttonbrandonrealestate.com/903-stickney-ave-exclusive

wilt chamberlain joe arpaio cat in the hat green eggs and ham wiz khalifa and amber rose oh the places you ll go blunt amendment

Barcelona thrashes Sociedad 5-1, Real Madrid draws

By JOSEPH WILSON

Associated Press

Associated Press Sports

updated 9:03 p.m. ET Aug. 19, 2012

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) -Barcelona thrashed Real Sociedad 5-1 with Lionel Messi scoring twice, striking first Sunday in the likely two-way fight for the Spanish league title after Real Madrid had drawn 1-1 against Valencia.

To sweeten the debut of Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova, David Villa played his first competitive minutes since breaking his leg last December and capped the win with a goal.

While Cristiano Ronaldo was lackluster when Madrid opened its title defense, Messi picked up right where he left off after scoring a league-record 50 goals last season.

With the score level at 1-1 early on, the three-time Ballon d'Or winner scored two quick goals to decide the match at the Camp Nou.

"I like scoring, but I like Barca winning even more," said Messi. "I am just continuing to play the same way, trying to help the group and playing so our fans can enjoy it."

Earlier in the Spanish capital, Madrid appeared set to carry on its winning ways from last season when Gonzalo Higuain scored in the 10th minute. But Jonas leveled for Valencia in the 42nd to give coach Mauricio Pellegrino a hard-earned draw on his debut.

Ronaldo, who set a club record with 46 league goals last season, was uncharacteristically subdued and failed to manage a shot on goal.

The Portugal forward acknowledged that neither he nor the team played well.

"I am not 100 percent but I hope to get into shape as soon as possible," he said. "It wasn't a good game for us. We played poorly in the first half, better in the second. We had chance but we couldn't finish them off.

"We just have to keep our chins up and continue forward."

Barcelona hosts Madrid in the first leg of the Spanish Supercup on Thursday.

Also on Sunday, Real Betis defeated Athletic Bilbao in a 5-3 shootout at San Mames stadium after the Basques had fought back from a three-goal deficit to draw level. Atletico Madrid drew 1-1 at Levante.

Vilanova had a perfect debut for a coach called on to protect the legacy of Pep Guardiola, who led the team to 14 titles in four seasons with Vilanova as his assistant. Vilanova opted for Pedro Rodriguez and Cristian Tello in his starting 11, and both forwards had standout performances.

But it fell to defender Carles Puyol to get Barcelona started in the fourth minute. The defender showed no signs of his knee surgery that kept him out of the European championships when he rose up to head in Xavi Hernandez's corner kick.

Chori Castro leveled for Sociedad in the ninth, but Messi dashed any thoughts of an upset two minutes later when he received a pass from Pedro, went between two defenders and looped a left-footed shot while falling into the back of the net.

Messi struck again in the 16th. Tello returned Messi's rebound with a low cross for the scoring ace to poke by goalkeeper Claudio Bravo.

"On the first goal I had a little bit of luck. We like to combine close to the area and it worked out well, and Tello was great on the second," Messi said.

Tello then picked out Pedro unmarked on the right side to slice home his cross in the 41st.

With the result beyond doubt, Vilanova sent on Villa for the final 15 minutes.

Moments after receiving a standing ovation, Villa brought Barcelona's fans back to their feet when he fired in Andres Iniesta's pass in the 84th to seal the victory.

"I am very happy but this has only just begun," said Vilanova.

Madrid dictated the pace early on and Higuain soon put his team ahead.

Higuain scored on the third attempt after goalkeeper Diego Alves made back-to-back saves to deny the Argentina striker.

Just when Valencia appeared clueless in attack, Jonas leveled for the visitors with a header. Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas and defender Pepe collided in an attempt to reach the ball, with both lying prone on the pitch for a few moments before restarting play with both looking groggy. Pepe was replaced by Raul Albiol at halftime and was sent to hospital for observation.

The score level, Valencia regained its composure and succeeded in frustrating a Madrid attack that last season established a league scoring record with 121 goals.

Madrid coach Jose Mourinho downplayed the draw.

"We didn't play well but we played well enough to win," the Portuguese said. "We had enough occasions to score, but throughout the season you always draw some games."

---

Follow Joseph Wilson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/(at)JWilsonBCN

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

advertisement

More news

Chelsea rolls; Man City rallies

Roundup: Manchester City fought back after a second-half collapse against Southampton, while Chelsea had no problems with Wigan.

United battle Union to 1-1 tie

????D.C. United's Dwayne De Rosario misses a retaken penalty kick in an angry ending at RFK Stadium that included three red cards as nine-man D.C. United tied the 10-man Philadelphia Union 1-1 in the 71st minute.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/44298965/ns/sports-soccer/

sweet potato recipes the sound of music celebration church new york auto show 2012 tulsa easter eggs pineapple upside down cake