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Fantastic news, mates. Fears of Kratos getting the Australian banhammer (qjnet/playstation-3/god-of-war-iii-devs-concerned-about-game-getting-banned-in-australia.html) have now been put to rest the country’s Classification Board has now given God of War III the MA15+ rating, which basically clears the game

Forget the grisly effects of texting while driving for a moment, if you can. Instead, focus on a new epidemic, one that’s admittedly much sillier than the driving one, but no less dangerous. Ladies and gents, meet texting while walking:

Slightly more than 1,000 pedestrians visited emergency rooms in 2008 because they got distracted and tripped, fell or ran into something while using a cellphone to talk or text. That was twice the number from 2007, which had nearly doubled from 2006, according to a study conducted by Ohio State University, which says it is the first to estimate such accidents. [New York Times]

Yes, folks, the situation is so bad that there are now studies on it. There are reports of concussions, sprained ankles and broken appendages, not to mention the countless number of people who hurt nothing but their pride by walking into a parked car and never went to an ER (happens all the time, apparently). Darwin Award winners are not far behind.

Of course, there’s a larger trend here, of which walking while texting is but a small part. It goes by many names: multitasking, information overload, a Gizmodo weekday writer’s normal schedule. Whatever you call it, neuroscientists, cognitive researchers and other professionals are now actively studying its impact on our gray matter. So far, it’s bad. Basically, talking on a cellphone takes up so much of our attention it’s overwhelming ever-important things like, say, our survival instincts. Yes, say researchers, that conversation with your bro about the next Android OS is higher on the pecking order than keeping an eye out for that oncoming train or approaching light pole.

That said, a number of the people interviewed for this story were texting while walking, sure, but they were also flirting or talking with their significant other at the time of the accident. Seems to me the whole texting thing may be a boon to the species after all. Or not. [MSNBC]

Maybe a little rest was all Drew Brees and Reggie Bush needed to shift the Saints’ league-leading offense back into overdrive.

That, and a visit from Arizona’s porous defense.

Brees threw three touchdown passes, Bush scored on an 83-yard punt return and a spectacular 46-yard run, and New Orleans overwhelmed the defending NFC champion Cardinals 45-14 in their divisional playoff game Saturday.

“We came off a stretch where we had all the advantages of being rested,” New Orleans coach Sean Payton said. “We played with a lot of energy.”

One win from the Super Bowl, the Saints will host an NFC title game for the first time in franchise history next weekend when they play the winner of Sunday’s game between Dallas and Minnesota.

“There’s been a lot of firsts since Sean Payton has been here in the organization and we want to keep that going,” Brees said. “We want to bring this franchise a championship.”

Jeremy Shockey caught a touchdown pass in his return from a three-game absence. Devery Henderson and Marques Colston also had touchdown catches, and Lynell Hamilton had a short touchdown run for the Saints.

Coming off its 51-45 overtime win over Green Bay in the wild-card round, Arizona wound up yielding 90 points in the postseason, the most ever allowed in consecutive playoff games in one season.

Even the Saints’ sometimes soft defense played well, forcing two turnovers, harassing Warner often and knocking Arizona’s 38-year-old quarterback out of the game briefly when, during Will Smith’s interception return, he was blind-sided by Bobby McCray’s block.

Warner was 17 of 26 for 205 yards, but was unable to move Arizona consistently. The Cardinals punted twice and missed a long field goal in the first half before heading into halftime down 35-14. Arizona punted twice more in the third quarter, with Bush scoring on the second to make it 45-14.

The victory wound up being so easy for New Orleans that Payton began pulling his regulars early in the fourth quarter and going with basic run plays to chew up the clock.

It was more like what Saints fans had gotten used to in the first 12 weeks of the season, when New Orleans was blowing out opponents en route to a 13-0 start.

Tribune News Services

Read the original article from WGN Radio Chicago.

The White Sox have agreed to terms on one-year contracts with closer Bobby Jenks ($7.5 million) and outfielder Carlos Quentin ($3.2 million), avoiding arbitration with both players.

Jenks, 28, went 3-4 with a 3.71 ERA (22 ER/53.1 IP) and 29 saves. He fell one save shy of his fourth consecutive 30-save season.

Jenks ranks third in Sox history with 146 saves.

Quentin, 27, hit .236 (83-351) with 21 home runs and 56 RBI in 99 games last season. He was on the DL from May 29-July 19 with plantar fasciitis in his left foot.

In 2008, Quentin batted .288 with 36 HRs and 100 RBI and was named to the AL All-Star Team and received his first Silver Slugger Award.

Left-handed pitcher John Danks and right-hander Tony Pena are the White Sox remaining arbitration-eligible players.

Photo: Bobby Jenks and Carlos Quentin. (Phil Velasquez / Tribune)

Read the original article from WGN Radio Chicago.

Northwestern finally found some relief in the Big Ten with a 72-64 victory against No. 6 Purdue on Saturday to prompt fans to storm the Welsh-Ryan Arena court.

It was first victory in four tries that the Wildcats beat a ranked opponent at home this season.

They did it with same late game heroics by Drew Crawford.

With a one-point lead and about two minutes remaining, Crawford hit a three-pointer and on his next trip down the court came up with a three-point play by drawing a foul to provide Northwestern with a 64-57 lead. He was playing with four fouls at the time.

Michael “Juice” Thompson led Northwestern with 20 points.

After winning 14 games in a row, Purdue is trying to figure out how they got off track with three straight losses.

Northwestern led by as many as eight points, but most of the second half became a one-possession battle between Purdue and Northwestern.

Purdue had to contend with center JaJuan Johnson’s and guard E’Twaun Moore’s foul trouble; Johnson picked up three before halftime and fouled out with less than four minute to play. Moore fouled out with about a minute remaining.

Photo: s Michael Thompson brings the ball up the court in celebration. (Chris Sweda / Tribune)

By Shannon Ryan

Read the original article on WGN Chicago.

OKBlitz.com reports: Defensive tackle Dusty Dvoracek was arrested early Saturday in Norman after an altercation at a bar on Campus Corner.

The altercation occurred at Seven47, and he was charged with public intoxication, assault and battery, and interfering with an official process.

The former Oklahoma Sooner was drafted by the Bears with the 73rd overall pick in 2006.

He did not play this season after tearing his ACL during the preseason, and has now finished all four years of his NFL career on injured reserve. He is not under contract for the Bears in 2010.

“Our security was simply just doing their job and Dusty just kind of freaked out,” Seven47 general manager Hunter Mankin said. “Our security would never provoke. I think Dusty’s temper got out of hand.”

Get the full story at okblitz.com.

Photo: Dusty Dvoracek after a defensive stop in 2008. (Tribune file photo)

Read the original article from WGN Radio Chicago.

The Miami Herald reports: Cardinals wide receiver Anquan Boldin said he will not request a trade this offseason.

Boldin is under contract to Arizona for the 2010 season at a scheduled pay of $3 million. It is the final year of his deal. In the past, Boldin asked through his agents for a new deal or to be traded. But no more.

“I can’t do anything one way or the other,” he said. “If I go to them and request a trade, it don’t matter. I’m under contract for another year. So no matter what I say or do, that won’t change anything. I’m under contract for another year. So whatever happens, it depends on what the Cardinals want to do. I’m not worried about it at all.”

Get the full story at miamiherald.com.

Read the original article from WGN Radio Chicago.

OKLAHOMA CITY — Dwyane Wade has become the Miami Heat’s career leader in assists, breaking the record set by Tim Hardaway.

Wade entered Saturday night’s game at Oklahoma City needing only four assists to match Hardaway with 2,867 in his career. He broke the record in spectacular fashion, with each of his first five assists of the game resulting in dunks for Miami.

Three of his first four assists were alley-oops that resulted in dunks for Michael Beasley, and the other was an alley-oop that Udonis Haslem finished with a jam.

Wade broke the record with 6:25 left in the third quarter, when he passed the ball to Jermaine O’Neal for a two-handed dunk.

Tribune News Services

Read the original article from WGN Radio Chicago.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — David Lighty helped Ohio State weather Evan Turner’s foul trouble, scoring 18 points to lead the Buckeyes to their second win over a ranked opponent this week, a 60-51 victory over No. 13 Wisconsin.

Turner had 15 points despite finishing with four fouls, and William Buford added 12 rebounds for the Buckeyes (13-5, 3-3 Big Ten), who have righted themselves after losing three of four while Turner was coming back from broken bones in his back.

Trevon Hughes had 18 points and Jason Bohannon 10 for the Badgers (14-4, 4-2), who struggled all night to find an inside presence on offense. They were playing their second game without second-leading scorer and leading rebounder Jon Leuer, who fractured his left wrist a week earlier.

The Buckeyes won at No. 6 Purdue 70-66 on Tuesday night.

Down 15 with just over 8 minutes left, the Badgers trimmed the lead to seven in the final minutes but couldn’t get closer.

The Buckeyes improved to 11-0 at home this season and 4-3 against ranked opponents — or 4-1 when Turner is in the lineup. He missed more than a month of the season, during which the Buckeyes went 3-3.

One of those losses was a humiliating 65-43 rout at Wisconsin on New Year’s Eve.

One of the keys to the rematch was that even with Turner sitting out the final 14 minutes of the first half with two fouls, the Buckeyes were able to turn a 10-9 deficit into a 12-point halftime lead.

The Buckeyes used a 15-4 run in the second half to take control.

They shot 52 percent from the field, made half of their six 3-point attempts and also outscored the Badgers — who only shot five free throws — by five points at the line.

Wisconsin made two charges, the first an 8-0 run to start the second half, but was never able to catch up.

The Buckeyes led 34-22 at the half, while shooting 59 percent from the field, but Turner was able to play only six minutes.

Ohio State built its lead with a late surge while Wisconsin had difficulty even getting the ball inside the 3-point arc at the offensive end.

With Wisconsin trailing 23-20 after Bohannon swished a 3 from the left corner with 5:17 left, the Buckeyes ran off 11 of the final 13 points
of the half. Buford hit a perimeter jumper to start the surge, with Lighty scoring the next nine points for the Buckeyes.

The largest — and loudest — Ohio State home crowd of the season was on hand, the number buoyed by the sale of $10 tickets two hours before the game.

Photo: Ohio State’s David Lighty goes up for a shot over Wisconsin’s Mike Bruesewitz. (AP / Paul Vernon)

Read the original article from Tribune News Services.

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Carlton Fay hit his last three 3-pointers and scored 15 points to help Southern Illinois break a four-game losing streak with a 65-57 victory over Evansville.

Tony Freeman added 13 points and Gene Teague came off the bench to hit 5 of 5 and score 12 points in 17 minutes for the Salukis (10-6, 3-4 Missouri Valley).

The Purple Aces (6-11, 0-7) got 22 points from freshman Colt Ryan, though he made only 6 of 18. Evansville lost its eighth in a row.

Southern Illinois shot only 40 percent (22 of 55), but Evansville could not take advantage, hitting just 41.3 percent (19 of 46).

Read the original article from Tribune News Services.

STORRS, Conn. — Tina Charles scored 23 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to help top-ranked Connecticut rout No. 3 Notre Dame 70-46 for its 56th straight victory.

Maya Moore added 20 points for the Huskies, who have the second longest winning streak in women’s basketball history. They are 14 short of the NCAA and school record set from 2001-03.

UConn (17-0, 5-0 Big East) has been at its best against top-10 teams during the streak. The Huskies are 10-0, winning those games by an eye-popping average of 27.1 points.

Devereaux Peters scored 12 to lead the Irish (15-1, 2-1), who had been off to the second best start in school history. Notre Dame started 23-0 en route to the 2001 national championship.

The Irish wore their alternate green road jerseys for a little extra luck, but they needed a lot more to beat UConn.

Photo: Connecticut’s Tiffany Hayes drives past Notre Dame’s Ashley Barlow. (AP / Bob Child)

Read the original article from Tribune News Services.

INDIANAPOLIS — Peyton Manning threw for two touchdowns in his first action since winning an unprecedented fourth NFL MVP award, leading the Indianapolis Colts into the AFC championship game with a 20-3 victory over the Baltimore Ravens.

The Colts (15-2), who had the league’s best record, will host San Diego or the New York Jets next Sunday for a spot in the Super Bowl.

Manning hit rookie Austin Collie for 10 yards and old standby Reggie Wayne for 3 in the second quarter, accounting for Indianapolis’ two touchdowns.

Indy’s defense held Baltimore (10-8), which had 234 yards rushing in a wild-card win at New England, to 87 on the ground.

Read the original article from Tribune News Services.