• What’s the fuss? I think i.beat blaxx is an amazing name for a white supremacist MP3 player. [AR]

• Serena and Venus Williams both followed the star-studded US Open tribute to Althea Gibson with wins. [NYT]

• The ACLU (and everyone else with a brain) has found that the Gulf Coast’s Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts have been rife with racism and civil rights abuses. [NOCB]

• I always say that the only sensible thing to do when you crash your Lamborghini is to leave it on the freeway and go about your business. [ESPN]

• KFC is finally reaching out to its core customers. [LBJ]

Today, Venus and Serena Williams are two of the most recognized faces, not just in tennis, but in the entire sports world. But before 1950 — before Althea Gibson — black women weren’t even allowed to play the game alongside their white counterparts.

On August 22, 1950, Althea Gibson became the first black woman to compete on the U.S. Tennis Championships. She later became the first black person to win a Wimbledon title, and went on to win a number of U.S. and International titles. When her tennis career was over, she worked as the New Jersey State Commissioner of Athletics. She died in 2003 at the age of 76.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of her first U.S. Championship win, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Aretha Franklin, Carol Moseley Braun, and other boundary-breaking black women will honor Gibson on August 27, the first night of the U.S. Open.

I know little about tennis and even less about Althea Gibson (until now), and I’m kind of ashamed. If you watch the video — when they interview people on the street about the first black Wimbledon winner — you’ll know why.

Serena Williams doesn’t go down without a fight. In yesterday’s Wimbledon match against Daniela Hantuchova, Williams went from writhing in agony to handily beating her opponent, thanks to a two-hour rain delay in the middle of the match.

Late in the second set of her fourth-round match, Serena Williams could barely walk. Her left leg was cramping badly. She was writhing on the court, screaming, and in tears. The pain in her leg was excruciating. Yet she refused to quit — “I’m going to die trying,” she said — and prayed for rain. (That’s a prayer that is guaranteed to be answered here this year.)

Minutes later, standing in one place on the court, barely moving while swatting the ball as she soldiered on, facing certain defeat, Williams was rewarded by the tennis gods with a whopping two-hour rain delay.

None of this is hard to believe. I mean, look at Serena Williams. She looks pretty damn resilient to me.

[USAT]

• Sisters have got to really love each other to compete all the time and keep the peace. Venus is out of the French Open; Serena’s still in it to win it. [USAT]
• A contestant in the National Spelling Bee was named Jasmine Shaquielle O’Neal Willis. And that’s all I have to say about that. [CNBC]
• Tyra thinks wine is nasty, but it’s sexy to order it and hold the glass. Way to teach the little ones how to avoid peer pressure. [INO]
• Amerie tried to reorganize Destiny’s Child (and take Michelle’s place) using the Sims computer game. Surprisingly, she was unsuccessful.[Starpulse]
• It looks like Isaiah Washington was apologetic on the set of Grey’s Anatomy — not that it matters now. [QT]
• Speaking of Isaiah, let’s not invite him to this club any time soon. Baby steps. [Urb]