Venus Williams was looking for a strong finish in the Porsche Grand Prix. No, she hasn’t taken up auto racing - the tennis star was competing in a tourney this week sponsored by the German car maker.

However, Venus’ dreams of Grand Prix glory came to an end Saturday, as Williams lost in the semifinals to soon-to-be #1 ranked Jelena Jankovic. But worse than the three-hour-long draining defeat, Venus lost out on a chance to drive home in some new stylin’ wheels.

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• The WALTHAM DAILY NEWS TRIBUNE vaults up news of Olympic gymnast Alicia Sacramone receiving a hero’s welcome from the proud citizens of her Massachusetts hometown.

• WITH LEATHER wants Redskins TE Chris Cooley to explain what he was doing at a Backstreet Boys concert.

• CAT CRAVE claws up a nice chat with Panthers RB Stephen Davis.

• YOU BEEN BLINDED knows not many tennis players have their own theme song, but Venus Williams now does, thanks to Wyclef Jean.

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• Anheuser-Busch is willing to dive into a marketing deal with Olympic star Michael Phelps, even though the swimmer has a DUI on his record.

• A quarter of USC’s football players are jumped by a jock itch epidemic.

• One sore Swede slams his bronze medal to the mat after feeling wronged in his wrestling match.

• Toledo gets ready to welcome the second coming of Emeka Okafor.

• Canada’s still medal-less this summer? What’s that all aboot?

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As we all try to get past the injustice suffered by Greco-Roman wrestler Ara Abrahamian, there are other, equally-compelling Olympic story lines worth following.

Apparently, world-class athletes like to have sex. Weird. Also, in terms of actual competition, there have been a slew of tennis upsets today. For starters, Harvard-trained James Blake beat Roger Federer.

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• The MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE takes it outside, as the Blackhawks and Red Wings will reportedly meet at Wrigley Field next season.

• HOLLYWOOD GRIND churns out a statement from Madonna denying that she’s been bedding or brainwashing A-Rod.

• Meanwhile, HOLLYWOOD ECSTASY spots Reggie Bush & Kim Kardashian spending their 4th of July shopping at her family’s store.

• The DETROIT FREE PRESS hears that Charlie Weis is privately positive that Notre Dame will win 9 to 12 games this year.

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Venus Williams won her fifth Wimbledon singles title today, beating flat-footed sister Serena in the process, 7-5, 6-4.

(Two guesses for Serena’s injuries and subsequent inconsistent play)

The dominance that once was Serena is now obviously gone. Venus hadn’t beat her since the 2001 U.S. Open, but today’s win was no fluke. Added weight (she was noticeably slow today), injuries and perhaps inconsistency coming from lack of a regular playing schedule has quite obviously caught up to Serena (who hasn’t won at Wimbledon in five years).

Though the media of course would never report such a thing. Read more…

This year’s Wimbledon women’s final should be labeled “Sister Act III”, as Venus & Serena Williams will face off for the third time in the tournament’s championship match.

The gals took care of business on Thursday when Serena outlasted Zheng Jie while Venus eased victory from Elena Dementieva.

After watching Serena’s semifinal triumph, Venus said that Saturday’s final was going to be “every Williams for themselves.” She’s probably also hoping to finally beat her little sister, as the younger Williams sibling has won the last two family final encounters. Read more…

The Big Three in women’s tennis turned out to be big busts in Wimbledon. Unfortunately, we’re not talking about upper torsos here.

Jelena Jankovic became the latest high-ranking racket girl to be bounced from the English tourney, as the #2 player in the world lost in a 4th-round matchup against 60th-ranked Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand.

At least Jelena’s competition that was a little tougher than that of #3 Maria Sharapova (beaten by 154th-ranked Alla Kudryavtseva) and #1 Ana Ivanovic (beaten by 133rd-ranked Zheng Jie).

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The third round? That’s it? That’s as far as Americans get to enjoy their countrywomen play in the French Open?

Both Williams sisters, ranked in the top ten, lost in the third round Friday morning. That’s only the second time they’ve gone down on the same day. With their losses every American female — Maria Sharapova, you must admit, doesn’t really count, for we must keep her exotic and mysterious — has been ousted from this year’s tournament at Roland-Garros, and unseeded Robby Ginepri is the only stateside male swinging away in the tournament. Read more…

When Venus & Serena Williams were recently in India for the Bangalore Open, papa Richard decided to tag along. And as usual, he had a lot to say - especially how much he hates white people.

(If it was a white photographer, Richard would have held up a different finger)

YOU BEEN BLINDED gets the scathing scoop from an interview the deranged dad did with the DECCAN HERALD: Read more…