Will game live up to hype in BCS championship?

MIAMI (AP) — Sometimes, the buildup to a game can overwhelm what actually happens on the field.Certainly, No. 1 Notre Dame and No. 2 Alabama would have to play nothing less than a classic to live up to all the hype for Monday night's BCS championship.Before either team stepped on the field in balmy South Florida, this was shaping up as one of the most anticipated games in years, a throwback to the...

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Riddick, Wood interchanging for Notre Dame

MIAMI (AP) — Notre Dame tailbacks Theo Riddick and Cierre Wood showed how interchangeable they are in the final two games of the regular season for the Fighting Irish.Game 11 against Wake Forest, Wood ran for 150 yards, while Riddick had 20.Game 12 against USC, it was Riddick running for 146 yards, and Wood for 20.And so has been the theme for the Irish this season: Two running backs — and sometimes...

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Alabama AD made a brief stop at Notre Dame

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Mal Moore's career was adrift.A quarter century of winning games and titles as an Alabama player and assistant to Bear Bryant had ended, and Moore was passed over to succeed the famed coach.He was thinking about getting out of the profession altogether before Notre Dame's Gerry Faust called one Sunday morning to gauge his interest in a job."At the time, I kind of felt...

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Lakers guard Bryant finally joins Twitter world

(Reuters) - Los Angeles Lakers All-Star guard Kobe Bryant finally succumbed to the social network Twitter when he opened his own verified account on Friday."The antisocial has become social #mambatweets," Bryant, who is nicknamed "Black Mamba", said in his first tweet.Within five hours of his account being open, the 14-time All-Star and five-time NBA champion had attracted nearly 300,000 followers.One...

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Kobe Bryant: I'm on Twitter now

against the Los Angeles Clippers, Friday, Jan. 4, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP …more LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kobe Bryant is no longer a holdout. He's on Twitter.With five words — "The antisocial has become social" — the Los Angeles Lakers guard sent the first tweet from his account Friday. About 270,000 people followed his verified account, (at)kobebryant, within a few hours and he was up to 365,000 late...

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Monti, in Twitter Q&A, says new voting law priority for Italy

ROME (Reuters) - Outgoing Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said on Saturday if he wins February's parliamentary election one of his first acts would be to overhaul the voting law to improve democracy and government stability.Monti, 69, who last week confirmed he would lead a centrist coalition in the February 24-25 vote, called himself a "bit of a pioneer" in politics during nearly 2 hours of #MontiLive...

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Kobe Bryant joins Twitter, 100s of thousands immediately follow him

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Kobe Bryant is no longer a holdout. He's on Twitter.With five words — "The antisocial has become social" — the Los Angeles Lakers guard sent the first tweet from his account Friday. About 250,000 people followed his verified account, (at)kobebryant, within a few hours and he was up to 365,000 late Friday night as the Lakers played the Los Angeles Clippers.Bryant tiptoed into...

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Tax filing season starts Jan. 30 for most filers

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Internal Revenue Service says late changes to federal tax laws should mean only a short delay for most taxpayers to file their 2012 returns.The agency said Tuesday that more than 120 million taxpayers — about 80 percent of all filers — should be able to start filing their federal returns on Jan. 30. Others will have to wait until late February or March to file because the agency...

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New York governor wants casinos to spur upstate economy

(Reuters) - New York Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed on Wednesday dozens of new initiatives for the state, including new casinos and other measures aimed at helping upstate areas regain their financial footing after decades of economic decline.Cuomo, in his annual State of the State address, proposed locating up to three casinos upstate to increase tourism and provide some local property tax relief...

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US tax code longer than Bible _ without good news

WASHINGTON (AP) — Too intimidated to fill out your tax return without help? Join the club.At nearly 4 million words, the U.S. tax law is so thick and complicated that businesses and individuals spend more than 6 billion hours a year complying with filing requirements, according to a report Wednesday by an independent government watchdog.That's the equivalent of 3 million people working full-time,...

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Golson hopes Notre Dame's season ends on BCS note

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — When Everett Golson sees a piano, he usually sits down and starts entertaining. He plays several instruments, keeps a keyboard in his room and loves to sing.Music is a huge part of his life, perhaps only topped by basketball.And in Golson's spare time, he plays quarterback for Notre Dame."He's pretty good at his hobby," Notre Dame offensive coordinator Chuck Martin said....

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Will coming playoff finally take down the SEC?

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Roy Kramer remembers all the fretting when the Southeastern Conference launched its own championship game two decades ago."Especially from the coaches," the former SEC commissioner said Friday, chuckling a bit at those long-ago discussions. "They were convinced that would be the end of everything and we would never win another national championship."It sure didn't work...

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BCS Championship: Tale of the tape

Everything about the BCS championship between No. 1 Notre Dame and No. 2 Alabama seems larger than life.Not only do these schools stand among the best ever in college football, they also lead the pack in celebrating that success and in investing for the future.If ever college football presented a heavyweight event it's the Fighting Irish against the Crimson Tide.So here, then, is a tale of the tape...

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Complete Auto Loans Announces 25 New Approvals for Consumers Needing Bad Credit Auto Loans Financing

Complete Auto Loans is happy to announce 25 new approvals for consumers needing bad credit auto loans financing.Seattle, Wa (PRWEB) January 08, 2013For most consumers, taking advantage of a great deal or opportunity is great anytime. With yearly specials and discounts in full bloom, Complete Auto Loans is happy to announce even more approvals for car owners needing financing for bad credit auto loans.Drivers...

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FAXAGE Online Fax Provider Now Has Office 2013 Support

Onlinefaxguide.com updates its FAXAGE info and pages to include Office 2013 Support, which was recently added to this value-leader in online faxing.(PRWEB) January 08, 2013Onlinefaxguide.com, a comprehensive online fax services comparison guide, recently updated its FAXAGE info and pages to include the addition of Microsoft Office 2013. FAXAGE, a value-leader among online fax providers, now integrates...

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Business Licenses, LLC Reaches 250th Software Client Milestone

Business Licenses, LLC, the leading end-to-end governmental business license compliance company in the U.S., announces the milestone of reaching 250 enterprise and large business software clients subscribed to their Business License Management Systems (BLMS®) and License And Permit Online Electronic Library (LAPEL®) cloud based software tools.Monsey, NY (PRWEB) January 08, 2013Business Licenses,...

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Award-season hopefuls stop in Palm Springs; Gere, Affleck, Field, Cooper among honorees

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. - Award-season hopefuls made their first stop of the new year in the middle of the desert a couple of hours east of Hollywood at the annual Palm Springs International Film Festival gala.A blast of Golden Globe nominees and Oscar hopefuls walked the press gauntlet Saturday night, including Naomi Watts ("The Impossible"), Helen Hunt and John Hawkes ("The Sessions"), Ben Affleck...

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Regulators ease key bank rule to spur credit

BASEL, Switzerland/LONDON (Reuters) - Global regulators gave banks four more years and greater flexibility on Sunday to build up cash buffers so they can use some of their reserves to help struggling economies grow.The pull-back from a draconian earlier draft of new global bank liquidity rule to help prevent another financial crisis went further than banks had expected by allowing them a broader range...

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NBC says it is conscious of violence, but isn't the 'shoot-'em-up' network

PASADENA, Calif. - NBC says it is conscious about the amount of violence it airs in the wake of real-life tragedies, but it isn't really an issue because NBC isn't the "shoot-'em-up" network.Network entertainment President Jennifer Salke said Sunday that NBC hasn't taken any specific steps to ask show creators to tone down violence. She said it would be different if NBC was perceived as a "shoot-'em-up"...

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Analysis: US irked by Google chief's NKorea plans

WASHINGTON (AP) — Google chief Eric Schmidt's plan to visit North Korea has put the Obama administration in the awkward position of opposing a champion of Internet freedom who's decided to engage with one of the most intensely censored countries.The administration is wary for a reason. It fears that Schmidt's trip could give a boost to North Korea's young leader, Kim Jong Un, just when Washington...

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10 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do With Your Smartphone

1. Match Paint ColorsWant to paint your walls the same color of green as your throw pillows? What about making your wainscoting the same color blue as yesterday afternoon's sky? With BEHR's ColorSmart mobile app, you can match the perfect paint color. The app is available for iOS and Android devices.Click here to view this gallery.[More from Mashable: The 5 Best Games You Should Play This Weekend]Studies...

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Iran building software to control networking sites

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's police chief says the Islamic Republic is developing new software to control social networking sites.Gen. Esmail Ahmadi Moghadam was quoted in Iranian newspapers Saturday as saying the new software will prevent Iranians from being exposed to malicious content online while allowing users to enjoy the benefits of the Internet. He did not say when the software would be introduced.Moghadam...

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