Pirate Galaxy » after a 30-minute delay. But again it d

MINNEAPOLIS -- Seimone Augustus was a 13-year-old girl when she watched the Houston Comets win the first WNBA championship in 1997.The Comets would win the first four titles in the league, proving to basketball-loving girls across the country that there was a place for them to pursue their dreams. And Augustus couldnt get enough of them.Two decades later, Augustus and the Minnesota Lynx stand on the precipice of joining those trailblazing women. A victory over the Los Angeles Sparks in Game 5 of the WNBA Finals on Thursday night would give the Lynx their fourth title, tying them with the Comets for most in league history.Thats just mind-boggling to me, Augustus said. We grew up watching the Houston Comets and those wonderful women the kind of set the precedent for what WNBA basketball is all about. Theyve motivated and inspired us. Now we could be the new Houston Comets of this era if we do what we need to do.They know it will not be easy. Through the first four games of the series, the Sparks and Lynx have pushed each other as far as they can go, which is exactly what the league hoped would happen when it changed the playoff format to seed teams based on record and not geography. Los Angeles won Game 1 in Minnesota and Game 3 back home. The Lynx have responded to each loss with a victory of their own to find themselves right back where they were a year ago -- needing a win in Game 5 at Target Center to bring home a title.Last year the Lynx dispatched the Indiana Fever in front of 17,000 fans, then partied all night long at Princes house to celebrate title No. 3. Another raucous crowd is expected this time around in what would be the crowning achievement for the leagues model franchise, first back-to-back championships in the league since the Sparks repeated in 2002.You couldnt ask for anything more, said Lynx star Maya Moore, who scored 31 points in Game 4 to keep Minnesota alive. Its been definitely a dramatic series and one that will go down as one of the best, I think.The Lynx have been here five times in the last six years, but this has been their most difficult finals test. League MVP Nneka Oqwumike, Candace Parker and Kristi Toliver present a star-studded trio to rival Minnesotas, and they have been every bit their equal through four games.The Sparks are chasing ghosts of their own. A victory Thursday night would give them their first championship since Lisa Leslie led them to their second in a row in 2002, and that may have played into their defeat on Sunday. They were so eager to finish the series on their home floor that coach Brian Agler said they have turned their focus in the wrong direction, and it cost them.I think everyone out there was playing to win a championship and not to beat the team we were playing, Ogwumike said. I told coach yesterday in the airport thats exactly how I felt when he put it in that perspective. Having that with a good balance of focus and awareness and effort is exactly what we need.Afterward, Lakers legend Magic Johnson addressed the crestfallen players, telling them to put the loss behind them and be ready because the series was not over.You could hear a pin drop, Toliver said. Everybody was just really locked in to what he was saying. When hes talking, everybody listens and that was exactly what we needed to hear in that moment because in that moment, your emotions are all over the place. He kind of just brought everybody back in and refocused everyone.Ernie Banks Jersey Cubs . There are surprises among the Vezina candidates, but most of the others are standard top-tier performers, even if the two Hart Trophy runners-ups have never been quite as good as they have been through the first half of the season. 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The opponent, Croatia and all its football might and will. As opposites do attract we are set for a corker of an opener.SAO PAULO -- Lewis Hamilton won Sundays rain-delayed Brazil Grand Prix at Interlagos, and Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg again settled for second. Its the third straight race that Rosberg has been the runner-up behind Hamilton.Is Rosberg frustrated? Not likely.If he finishes second again to Hamilton in the season finale on Nov. 27 in Abu Dhabi -- or even third -it will be enough to bring him his first drivers title.I can live with second today, Rosberg said, ceding the stage again to the Englishman, whose victory was his first in Brazil after failing in nine other attempts. I was hoping for the win, but second is OK.The German, whose father Keke Rosberg won the title 34 years ago, still leads the overall season standings with 367 points to 355 for Hamilton.Drivers get 25 points for a victory, 18 for second, 15 for third, and 12 for fourth. The awards go all the way to 1 point for 10th place.Sundays race was stopped twice by crashes in driving rain during the first 28 of 71 laps. All but a half-dozen of the early laps were run behind a safety car with drivers struggling to see through tire spray and struggling to avoid hydroplaning in standing water.The second half was less eventful, but still was slowed by another crash and another spell under the safety car.Hamilton, the three-time series champion, said it looked tougher than it actually was.This was one of the easier ones, he said of his victory.Hamilton said he was in the zone for the entire race, despite the stops and starts.I was chilling up front, Hamilton said. When it rains, its usually a good day for me.Im hunting, he added. All I can do is what Im doing now. Abu Dhabi is usually a good track for me.The victory was the 52nd of Hamiltons career, pushing him to No. 2 ahead of Alain Prost with 51. Michael Schumacher leads with 91.The race was run behind a safety car for the first seven laps with raining pounding down and drivers trying to navigate through spray and puddles.It didnt take long for prooblems to arise as soon as the safety car pulled off.dddddddddddd.On the 13th lap Marcus Ericsson of Sauber went into a spin and crashed, forcing the safety car to come out again.The safety car stayed on until the 20th lap. But just seconds after it pulled off and racing resumed, Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari lost control in a spin. This time the race was stopped under a red flag.Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel, talking on his radio, said conditions were too dangerous. He suggested the crashes could have been worse under the treacherous conditions.We need to stop the race, he said. It doesnt work. How many people do you want to crash?Hamilton led through the first 20 laps, followed by Rosberg, Max Verstappen of Red Bull, which was the final finish.The race resumed after a 30-minute delay. But again it didnt last long. After eight laps, officials stopped the race under a red flag, seeming to anger Hamilton.Its not even that wet now, he said on the radio, adding these were normal wet conditions.Brazilian fans seemed to agree, with thousands in the stands giving the thumbs-down sign as the race was stopped again.The race resumed after another 20-minute stoppage, which Rosberg said he filled by eating some spaghetti.Compared to the first third, the second two-thirds was tense but smoother as the rain kept coming.The safety car appeared for the final time on the 48th lap in a crash by hometown hero Felipe Massa.Massa, who is leaving F1 at the end of the season, walked off the track with a Brazilian flag wrapped around his shoulders in his final race at home.Im leaving with my head up and my heart aching, Massa said afterward in the paddock, in tears and embraced by wife Anna Raffaela and young son Felipinho.---Stephen Wade on Twitter: http://twitter.com/StephenWadeAP . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/stephen-wade ' ' '