Soderling Follows Nadal Victory by Hammering Djokovic 
Filed at 11:51 a.m. ET
LONDON (Reuters) - Swede Robin Soderling claimed his second major upset at the ATP World Tour Finals on Wednesday when he beat world number three Novak Djokovic 7-6 6-1.
Soderling, only competing in the elite year-end showpiece at London's O2 Arena because of the withdrawal of Andy Roddick, backed up his opening Group B victory over Rafael Nadal with another magnificent display to all but seal a semi-final spot.
Remembering Abe Pollin
Abe Pollin was the bravest man I ever met. A man of courage and compassion, with high levels of personal empathy and integrity.
He showed passion and commitment to our city when no one else would. He consistently showed his love to the fan base and to his extended family -- his employees. And you could take his handshake to the bank.
He was a man of conviction and principles, of strong views and great accomplishment. He was the only world championship holder among the major team ownership groups around town today.
Albert Pujols unanimous NL MVP pick
ST. LOUIS — Albert Pujols matched Stan Musial and did him one better, too.
Stan the Man never won any of his three MVP awards unanimously.
Pujols received all 32 first-place votes in balloting announced by the Baseball Writers' Association of America on Tuesday, taking the NL prize for the second straight year and third overall.
Abe Pollin's Legacy
In a random collision of events, the tales of two N.B.A. owners intersected Tuesday and broadcast a clear message about owning sports teams: above all else, fans really want you to care. If you knew anything about Abe Pollin, it was that he cared about the Washington Wizards. When he died Tuesday at the age of 85, that’s what people talked about. No, the Bullets-turned-Wizards didn’t win all that much, but Pollin tried and he cared and he built an arena that rejuvenated a D.C. neighborhood because he cared about that too.
On the same day, the Nets’ owner, Bruce C. Ratner, won a court battle in his attempt to move his sad-sack team from its dreadful and hated home in the Meadowlands, potentially rejuvenating a Brooklyn neighborhood, and everyone still seemed to hate him. The former Net Kenyon Martin used the occasion to blame all of the team’s woes on his bad decisions, and Ian O’Connor of The Record wrote that Ratner’s failing is caring far more about real estate than basketball. Fittingly, the Nets fell to 0-14 Tuesday night.
Pollin, in contrast, left a far more positive legacy, particularly in the area of the city transformed by the Verizon Center, writes Michael Wilbon of The Washington Post. He helped turn the District of Columbia into a major league sports town, writes Kevin Blackistone of Fanhouse.com. In other circles, he will be remembered for firing Michael Jordan as president of basketball operations, ending his first disastrous attempt at a nonplaying basketball role, but ESPN.com’s J.A. Adande believes that’s a short-sighted view of Pollin’s career.
Knicks Arrive Late, and Leave Disappointed
LOS ANGELES — Mike D’Antoni entered Staples Center at a jogger’s pace Tuesday evening, hurrying into the locker room. He preached calmness and readiness to his players, but his gallop and arrival time hinted otherwise to reporters.
“Guys been here awhile?” D’Antoni said.
The assembled members of the news media, in fact, had. The Knicks had not. Their second bus, including all their starters except David Lee and Danilo Gallinari, arrived about 55 minutes before tip-off against the Los Angeles Lakers, having been snagged in gridlock on the way from their Santa Monica hotel.
The DC sports foundation
Decades ago, Abe Pollin showed up at Wes Unseld's wedding. Years later, he showed up at Unseld's father's funeral. Fill in the blanks for all the moments in between, "too many to even mention," said Unseld, a man who worked for Pollin as a player, a coach and an executive.
More than 30 years ago, Pollin met young lawyers who were just showing up in a business in which he had already toiled for decades. "He couldn't have been nicer to me, a kid lawyer," said Gary Bettman, now the commissioner of the NHL. "Just extraordinarily kind, when he didn't need to be," said Stan Kasten, now the president of the Washington Nationals.
And when Matt Williams, the Washington Wizards' chief of staff and executive vice president, spoke with Pollin, his boss, on Tuesday morning, the ailing owner had one message: "Make sure you let the staff out early tomorrow for Thanksgiving."
Pujols, a Unanimous Choice, Joins Select Company With Third MVP
Albert Pujols said he did not think about his place in history. He does not worry about how many home runs he will hit or individual awards he will win. When he is finished playing, there will be time for all that.
“Obviously, I want to be a Hall of Famer,” Pujols said. “There’s still a long way to go.”
For another two months, Pujols is 29 years old. As he begins his prime, Pujols is entering velvet-rope territory, a realm occupied by only the sport’s elite. Nine other players have won as many as three Most Valuable Player awards, and all but Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez, who will be eligible for consideration, are enshrined in Cooperstown. Only two — Bonds and Stan Musial, a fellow Cardinal — had captured three before turning 30.
Abe Pollin A public-spirited life
AS FAR AS Washingtonians are concerned, the most important thing about Abe Pollin is that he was one of us. By that we mean not that he was necessarily a man of the people, whatever that is these days, but simply that he was part of this community through and through. He did well here, and he did a lot of good in return. He made a fortune in construction but became better known as the owner of Washington's pro basketball team. And while he hadn't had a champion in a long time, he accomplished something far more important for Washington sports fans: Rather than taking teams out of this town, he brought them here. He built, first, an arena on the Beltway and then the one downtown that has contributed greatly to the renaissance of a neighborhood rich in history and tradition.
So, yes, Abe Pollin gave basketball and hockey to the nation's capital. And, yes, he built his teams a place to play that in turn helped revive the city. But all that tends to cast him in the role of sports owner as titan. That's not what he was, any more than he was the sports owner as meddler, tyrant or rootless fortune-seeker. He was a thoughtful and public-spirited man whose list of charitable and civic activities -- helping feed and educate the city's schoolchildren, aiding the homeless, establishing a prize for pediatric research, and much, much more -- was as impressive as his work for mutual understanding and respect among the people of this region. Much of his life was a sustained effort, with his wife, Irene, to better the community, and for the most part it was carried on without a great deal of public attention.
Six years ago, Mr. Pollin fired Michael Jordan, then perhaps the most famous man in the world. The experiment of having Mr. Jordan run the Washington Wizards (and even play for them) hadn't worked out. Mr. Pollin was vilified by some, but it was a mark of the reputation he had built over more than 40 years as the owner of a National Basketball Association franchise that he continued to be one of the most respected figures in the sporting world, especially among those who knew him best in this city and region. One of them, Caron Butler, a young, emerging leader of the Wizards, said of his boss that he wanted to win in the playoffs for him because "he's just a real genuine man." That probably pleased Abe Pollin as much as anything he'd heard in a good long time -- and his was a good long time in our city.
Atlantic Yards Project in Brooklyn Clears Legal Hurdle
The last major obstacle to a groundbreaking for the $4.9 billion Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn fell Tuesday when New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, dismissed a challenge to the state’s use of eminent domain on behalf of the developer, Bruce C. Ratner.
Mr. Ratner, whose 22-acre development has been delayed for three years by a flurry of lawsuits, the collapse of the credit and real estate markets and a glut of luxury housing, plans to begin selling tax-free bonds next month to finance the development’s cornerstone project: an 18,000-seat basketball arena for the New Jersey Nets at the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues near downtown.
The Court of Appeals ruled that the state could exercise eminent domain in seizing the 22 acres, much of which sits within an urban redevelopment area, for Atlantic Yards. Critics of the project had argued that eminent domain on behalf of a private developer was improper and a violation of the state’s Constitution.
Tennessee K Bironas Gets Titans Past Texans, 20-17
Filed at 4:44 a.m. ET
HOUSTON (AP) -- Rob Bironas kept the Titans' unlikely turnaround going with another winning kick against the Houston Texans.
Bironas booted a 53-yard field goal with 47 seconds left and the Titans won their fourth straight after starting the season with six losses, beating the Texans 20-17 on Monday night.
