Semifinalists

Maybe Howard Stern hasn't turned himself into such a nice guy after all. During "America's Got Talent's" audition and Las Vegas rounds, which are taped and edited, the self-dubbed King of All Media seemed like a real prince, generally kind to children, old people and his fellow judges. But during the season's first week of live shows -- the first live results show, anointing four worthy semifinalists and featuring guest performances by Will.i.am and Cirque du Soleil, aired Tuesday night - he's come off as more self-aggrandizing and combative, unafraid to offer unapologetically harsh critiques to button-cute 6-year-olds, and yes, sometimes a little mean.

SOCHI, Russia -- Drew Doughty threw down the gauntlet as far as who wins bragging rights should he and Team Canada defeat his Kings teammates Jonathan Quick and Dustin Brown of Team USA in Friday's Olympic tournament semifinal, but Quick wasn't taking the bait. Though Doughty said he hoped to confront Quick in a shootout, the Kings and U.S. goalie said neither would have an advantage if it came down to that. “He's seen me go a lot of times in the shootout. I've seen him go a couple times,” Quick said Thursday after the U.S. team's practice.

The Emmy nominations could mark a breakthrough for shows as varied as "The Wire," "Mad Men" and "Family Guy." The programs are among the 10 drama series and 10 comedies that have emerged as the semifinalists in balloting by Academy of Television Arts & Sciences members. The final five nominees in each category will be determined with the help of blue-ribbon panels that are to screen submitted episodes for the top vote-getters this weekend. The results, based on both the academy vote and the panels' decisions, will be announced July 17. As posted by the TV academy on its website, the best drama semifinalists are "Boston Legal," "Damages," "Dexter," "Friday Night Lights," "Grey's Anatomy," "House," "Lost," "Mad Men," "The Tudors" and "The Wire."

Ed Orgeron is building a resume to convince USC Athletic Director Pat Haden that, once the season ends, he should drop the interim tag and make Orgeron the fulltime head coach. Along with support from fans, players and influential alums, Orgeron also could offer something else to make his case: A coach-of-the-year award. The Maxwell Football Club announced Wednesday that Orgeron was one of 16 semifinalists for its annual award, which will be announced Dec. 17. The semifinalist list includes Alabama's Nick Saban and Ohio State's Urban Meyer.

Violinist Pauline Kim, 19, of Duarte is one of 12 semifinalists in the Irving M. Klein International String Competition in San Francisco this weekend. The winner will receive $9,000, one of the largest string competition prizes in the world. Kim, who studies at The Juilliard School in New York, said playing the violin is a "very divine and spiritual thing. When I'm playing music, I feel like I am almost one with God. You're playing something that transcends what we see and live by."

The sixth Women's World Cup in Germany will know its two finalists by Wednesday night after the U.S. plays France in Moenchengladbach and Sweden plays Japan in Frankfurt. But whatever the outcome of the two semifinal games, one thing is certain: The losing teams will not be insulted by their coaches or ripped apart by their media. That's what happened to England and Germany when they were eliminated from the 16-team tournament in the quarterfinals. England Coach Hope Powell, in an extraordinary and unnecessary outburst after her team's 4-3 penalty-kick loss to France, accused her players of cowardly behavior in not volunteering to take the kicks.

Cuba's highly regarded boxing team placed six in the semifinals, but still came away disappointed Wednesday, losing four bouts. The first Cuban to lose was 6-foot-8 super-heavyweight Alexis Rubalcaba, who beat up Mukhtarkhan Dildabekov of Kazakhstan in the first round before Dildabekov turned the tables on him and won, 25-12, in the afternoon.

The second round in the selection process for the first journalist to travel in space wrapped up today with the announcement of 16 more national semifinalists. Finalists from the Western region and the North Central region were announced today. That brought the total of national semifinalists to 40, with eight from each of five regions. Among the previously announced semifinalists was Walter Cronkite, former CBS-TV anchorman.

Ed Orgeron is building a resume to convince USC Athletic Director Pat Haden that, once the season ends, he should drop the interim tag and make Orgeron the fulltime head coach. Along with support from fans, players and influential alums, Orgeron also could offer something else to make his case: A coach-of-the-year award. The Maxwell Football Club announced Wednesday that Orgeron was one of 16 semifinalists for its annual award, which will be announced Dec. 17. The semifinalist list includes Alabama's Nick Saban and Ohio State's Urban Meyer.

Nearly two-thirds of this year's National Merit Scholarship semifinalists are boys, according to a report today that blamed sex bias in the standardized Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test on which the awards are based. An estimated 62.9% of the semifinalists in 1989 are boys, according to the third annual analysis of the national awards conducted by FairTest, a Cambridge, Mass.-based research group that has frequently criticized standardized testing. Thirty-one percent of this year's semifinalists are girls, according to the state-by-state analysis of first names.

WIMBLEDON, England - The abnormal has become the new normal at Wimbledon, where one of the women's semifinalists was playing too poorly a year ago to compete here and the lone remaining past champion was eliminated Tuesday in the quarterfinals "Tennis, it's kind of a crazy game," 15th-seeded Marion Bartoli said after defeating American Sloane Stephens, 6-4, 7-5, in a rain-delayed match to advance to Thursday's semifinals. "But that's also the magic of it. " There was far more craziness than magic Tuesday in the quarterfinals, producing a final four so unlikely one of them couldn't grasp it. Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium, who has one career tournament win to her credit at age 27, upset No. 8 seed and 2011 Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, on Centre Court to set up a semifinal against Bartoli on Thursday.

After the rip-roaring, talent-packed first set of the "America's Got Talent" semifinals last week, you might have expected this week's follow-up - the final 12 contenders for next week's finals -- to feel like the dregs. But I'll be darned if this second batch wasn't as just good -- in some cases, perhaps better - than last week's. At one point, Howie Mandel was moved to exclaim, "This show is exploding!" and then to declare, "This is the best semifinals ever in the history of 'America's Got Talent.'" Which is not to say there weren't a few relative clunkers.

The sixth Women's World Cup in Germany will know its two finalists by Wednesday night after the U.S. plays France in Moenchengladbach and Sweden plays Japan in Frankfurt. But whatever the outcome of the two semifinal games, one thing is certain: The losing teams will not be insulted by their coaches or ripped apart by their media. That's what happened to England and Germany when they were eliminated from the 16-team tournament in the quarterfinals. England Coach Hope Powell, in an extraordinary and unnecessary outburst after her team's 4-3 penalty-kick loss to France, accused her players of cowardly behavior in not volunteering to take the kicks.

Chelsea, the beaten finalist in 2008 and a losing semifinalist in 2009, crashed out of soccer's 2010 European Champions League on Tuesday when it was defeated, 1-0, by Inter Milan in London. The victory, achieved by a 3-1 aggregate score after Inter Milan had won the first leg, 2-1, in Italy, was bittersweet for Inter Coach Jose Mourinho. He had coached Chelsea to back-to-back English Premier League titles and this was his first competitive visit back to his old Stamford Bridge haunts since his 2007 dismissal.

Concerns about swine flu prompted CONCACAF to cancel the rest of its under-17 soccer championship in Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak. Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico and the U.S. had clinched spots in the semifinals of the tournament in Tijuana. All advanced to the U-17 World Cup, Oct. 24-Nov. 15 in Nigeria. The U.S. team, which had won its three group games, was headed to Bradenton, Fla., where the players and coaches are based.

Times staff writer Kevin Baxter looks at the World Baseball Classic as it moves to Dodger Stadium for the final rounds beginning today: On deck Venezuela vs. South Korea, today, 6 p.m. -- Carlos Silva, who will be Venezuela's starter, has been spectacular in the WBC, giving up one run in 11 innings over two starts. Those outings came against Italy and the Netherlands, so Silva will be taking a major step up in class against the Olympic champion.

An energy-saving program that strategically places trees on residential, school and church properties is one of 96 semifinalists for the national Innovations in American Government Awards competition. Anaheim Public Utilities TreePower program was picked from 1,300 entries and is now eligible for a $100,000 grand prize awarded to the top 10 programs or a $20,000 finalists' prize awarded to 15 other programs. Information: (714) 491-TREE, http://www.anaheimadvantage.com.

The Emmy nominations could mark a breakthrough for shows as varied as "The Wire," "Mad Men" and "Family Guy." The programs are among the 10 drama series and 10 comedies that have emerged as the semifinalists in balloting by Academy of Television Arts & Sciences members. The final five nominees in each category will be determined with the help of blue-ribbon panels that are to screen submitted episodes for the top vote-getters this weekend. The results, based on both the academy vote and the panels' decisions, will be announced July 17. As posted by the TV academy on its website, the best drama semifinalists are "Boston Legal," "Damages," "Dexter," "Friday Night Lights," "Grey's Anatomy," "House," "Lost," "Mad Men," "The Tudors" and "The Wire."