Nine year old...just nails Édith Piaf

I'm not into the reality TV shows at all, in fact I've never seen an entire show. My wife though, along with the rest of the country, stays home Saturday nights to watch "Star Academy", which is the French Version of "American Idol".

Last weekend they had a new show on France 1, basically a kids version of American Idol, that reminded me of the Arthur Godfrey show, which was a little before my time, but I've seen clips. The kids are really entertaining because it's all spontaneus, not the fifteen minutes of fame these attention whores are looking for on these adult shows.
The interviews after the their talent display are almost as funny. I couldn't find a video, but their was one six year old girl who did a great hula hoop display, and then couldn't stop moving her hips as she was being interviewed. Pretty soon the interviewer was moving his hips too, and it was better than the act.

Below is a video from the show of a nine year old who sings Édith Piaf......incredibly well. If you are not familiar with Édith Piaf's voice.......which I'm sure is most readers of this blog...... watch the commercial for the French Lotto above first. It's not only very funny, but you get a good idea of her voice as well.

Now watch Justine, a nine year old with a big future...........

Justine Heinen retires

The world's number one female tennis player, Belgian Justine Henin announced her retirement from professional tennis at a press conference this afternoon. Liège-born Henin has won no fewer than 41 singles titles and more than U.S. $19 million in prize money during her twelve-year career.

Three men ejected from Diamond Games over betting

For the majority of her yearly tournament appearances, 17-year-old Austrian tennis star Tamira Paszek manages to keep the twins indoors, as they say. Wait a minute....this and the picture above have nothing to do with this article, she's not even playing....my bad.

Three men were removed by organizers at the Diamond Games after they were found to be gambling via laptops from the stands, a spokeswoman for the event said on Tuesday.
"Three spectators were removed. The two Russians and one German were holding a laptop and logged on to a gambling Web site were gambling on ongoing matches," said spokeswoman Katia Stroobants.
Tennis has been dogged by allegations of match-fixing and illegal gambling in the past year. Several male players have said they were approached to fix matches while betting exchanges have noted irregular patterns.
The spokeswoman said those who were asked to leave the Sportpaleis in Antwerp late on Monday were allegedly "exploiting the delay between the time a point was won and the time it appeared on the official tournament Web site."

Justine Henin sent to outback at Australian Open

Just a blatant excuse to post a picture of Sharapova....you didn't think I actually cared about womens tennis....did you?

Russian Maria Sharapova produced a blistering performance to overpower world number one Justine Henin 6-4 6-0 in the Australian Open quarter-finals on Tuesday. "It's funny because I felt like I was in my own bubble today," Sharapova said in a courtside interview. ahhhhh yea.......