Bryant enjoys another MVP-type season

Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant didn't score 81 points in a game, like he did once in 2006.
Bryant probably isn't the MVP frontrunner, an award he won last year. Bryant had another monster season in 2008-09, however, and it was highlighted by a record-breaking performance on the NBA's most famous stage -- Madison Square Garden. On Feb. 2, Bryant scored 61 points to lead the Lakers to a 126-117 victory over the Knicks. In the process, he broke Bernard King's record for single-game scoring in the new Garden. King scored 60 points in 1984. "It's a blessing to do what you love to do and have moments like this," Bryant said after the game. A sold-out crowd started the game booing Bryant, but by the time he broke King's record with 2:33 remaining, even the Knicks fans were chanting, "M-V-P, M-V-P." Among those in attendance was filmmaker Spike Lee, who is working on a project with Bryant and was going to meet him after the game. "I didn't feel like sitting next to him and hearing him talking trash about the Knicks," Bryant joked. "So that was added incentive [to do] well." Playing for the first time without center Andrew Bynum, who injured his knee two nights earlier against Memphis and wouldn't play again until April, Bryant was unstoppable from the opening tip. He scored 18 points in the first quarter and had 34 by halftime. "He wouldn't speak to anyone on the court," New York's David Lee said. "He was very quiet. By the time he hit his first two threes, you could see what he was attempting to do. ... "It was very obvious by the middle of the first quarter that he wasn't in a distributing-type of mode or in a get-10-rebounds mode. He was going to try and score the basketball tonight."

Branson mothership bottom smacked in 'touch & go' incident

Rumoured control issues in Richard Branson's WhiteKnightTwo rocketplane-piggyback "mothership" craft appear to be persisting. Reports have it that the innovative aircraft smacked one or both of its tails against the runway during a recent test flight.

The WhiteKnightTwo is a development of the White Knight high-altitude jet which carried the famous SpaceShipOne rocket plane up to launch altitude to win the Ansari X-Prize in 2004. A new SpaceShipTwo is intended to carry wealthy thrillseekers on ballistic jaunts outside the atmosphere for beardy biz kingpin Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic spaceline venture.
Wraps have yet to come off the new SpaceShipTwo rocketbird, but builder Scaled Composites is already test-flying the WhiteKnightTwo "mothership" carrier. Reports have circulated since January that the big plane lacks rudder authority.
Now both Flight International and Space.com report that the latest WhiteKnightTwo test flight saw the aircraft's tail hit the ground during a "touch and go"* rolling landing at the Mojave Air and Space Port. The mothership was thought to have been affected by relatively mild 15 knot crosswinds as it took off. The four-engined plane appeared difficult to control at slow speed above the runway, and the pilot was also said to have found steering difficult on the ground.
But Virgin Galactic chief Will Whitehorn characterised the flight as a great success. He told Space.com that the first WhiteKnightTwo - referred to by Virgin as VMS ("Virgin Mother Ship") Eve, after Richard Branson's actual mother - had now flown to 20,000 feet, demonstrated four-hour endurance and made trouble-free trials of its landing gear.
"We are delighted with the program so far and are meeting every milestone we are setting," Whitehorn told the space-news service. "Sir Richard Branson is looking forward to flying in Eve this summer and then seeing SpaceShipTwo attached later in the year."However Flight journalist and former engineer Rob Coppinger notes that Eve has already seen several minor tailfin alterations in recent months, apparently without resolving the control issues. He suspects that substantial changes to the fin design will be necessary, commenting on his own blog:Its further evidence that Scaled Composites, for all its expertise, did not realise the degree that a two fuselage aircraft with a Boeing 757 scale wing would require larger vertical fins ... The big question is, can this WK2 prototype carry SpaceShipTwo (SS2)? ... While landing in a 15kt crosswind presents such a challenge the carriage of SS2 is not going to occur any time soon.

Virgin Galactic has ordered five SpaceShipTwo rocketships and two WhiteKnightTwo VMSs, and plans to operate them from a custom-designed desert spaceport facility provided by the New Mexico state government.
Despite the $200,000 pricetag for a Virgin Galactic passenger seat, one may note that the rocketplanes won't carry their customers into orbit: they are only capable of achieving a brief ballistic arc outside the atmosphere before inevitably falling back in. However, there are also drawing-board plans to use WhiteKnightTwos as launch platforms for rockets which could lob small satellites into actual orbit. ®
*Where a plane lands, but doesn't come to a stop: simply increasing power and accelerating to take off again immediately. This is a common procedure when training pilots or testing out planes.

Arsenal’s Andrey Arshavin strikes four times as Liverpool plays Russian roulette

The Russia striker — the first player to score four league goals in a single league match at Anfield since Dennis Westcott for Wolves in 1946 — produced a quality display as Rafa Benitez’s side committed defensive suicide to leave Manchester United a firm favorite to clinch its third successive domestic title.
Liverpool is level on points with United at the top of the table, but Sir Alex Ferguson’s side now has two games in hand over its nearest title rival, the first of which is today when it hosts Portsmouth.
Liverpool will be kicking itself for failing to see off Arsenal in one of the most thrilling matches Anfield has witnessed in many a season.
Arshavin sent the visitors into the lead at half-time against the run of play before two goals in six minutes at the start of the second half from Fernando Torres and Yossi Benayoun put Liverpool in command.
But Arshavin capped a fine display with goals in the 66th and 69th minutes before Torres made it 3-3. Still the drama was not over. After Arshavin had bagged his fourth goal in the final minute, Benayoun levelled in the dying moments.
Both Liverpool and Arsenal were hampered by injuries to key players. The host was once again without 21-goal Steven Gerrard while Arsenal was also handicapped by the absence of Robin van Persie and Emmanuel Adebayor, who have scored 33 times between them this term.
With Theo Walcott also on the bench, there was a suggestion that the Premier League was no longer Wenger’s priority.
After all, Wenger and his players have a date with another team that plays in red in the Champions League semifinal next Wednesday.
Yet it is safe to assume the Arsenal manager will demand a better start from his team at Manchester United next week than it made at Anfield.
Its Champions League ambitions ended for another season a week earlier by Chelsea, Liverpool was entirely focused on the pursuit of its first title for 19 years.
Benitez had demanded six wins from the remaining six games and his players certainly looked up to the challenge as Lukasz Fabianski denied Torres and Albert Riera inside the opening 10 minutes.
Dirk Kuyt was next to capitalize on Arsenal’s dithering defense as he teed-up Benayoun only for Fabianksi to rush off his line and snuff out the danger.
In front of co-owner Tom Hicks, Liverpool continued to press with Torres looking particularly threatening. Javier Mascherano flashed a 14th-minute effort narrowly wide before Arsenal’s stand-in keeper produced the save of the half to deny Torres his 15th goal of the season, the Polish stopper using his fingertips to deflect the ball over the bar.
Liverpool was still in the ascendancy, Torres again frustrated by the magnificent Fabianski from long range before Daniel Agger had a glancing header cleared off the line by Samir Nasri.
Not since Tim Cahill scored back in January has an opposition player found the net in the Premier League at Anfield but that ended in the 36th minute after the usually reliable Mascherano conceded possession.
That allowed Nasri to provide a delightful pass for Cesc Fabregas and he cut the ball back for Arshavin to finish off the underside of the bar.
There was a chance for an immediate response after Kuyt played a through-ball to Benayoun as left-back Kieran Gibbs failed to intercept.
But the Israeli curled a left-foot shot towards goal only for Fabianski, having the game of his life, to palm the ball round the post.
But for all his brave efforts, Fabianski found himself fishing the ball out of his net in the 49th minute as Torres powered an unstoppable header in front of the Kop after leaping to connect with Kuyt’s cross.
Anfield was in full voice once again. But it was only the beginning of a second half full of twists and turns. Benayoun made it 2-1 when he connected with another inch-perfect cross by Kuyt only for Arshavin to make it 2-2 from 25 yards.
Arshavin then pounced on an error by Fabio Aurelio to complete a stunning hat trick before Torres made it 3-3. Arsenal thought it had won it when Arshavin slotted his fourth in the 90th minute only for Benayoun to have the last say in a match Anfield will not forget in a hurry.