All Sport Live

Christine Ohuruogu will today seek a place at the 2008 Beijing Olympics as she tries to overturn a lifetime ban from the Games at a personal hearing.

The world 400 metres champion, who in August completed a year’s suspension for missing three scheduled drug tests, has been given a personal hearing by the Sports Disputes Resolution Panel over whether the life ban the British Olympic Association gives to all who earn a significant doping suspension should be reversed.

Ohuruogu, 23, from Stratford, east London, who is likely to have to wait a fortnight for the decision, has the support of the outgoing chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Dick Pound. The BOA panel which imposed her punishment, and the Council of Arbitration for Sport, which turned down her appeal, said she was not suspected of deliberately cheating.

The question of how she missed three tests, however, particularly as she would have received a written warning after her second, remains unanswered. But the high number of tests she did undergo during that period appears to emphasise that this was a case of misjudgement.

The other British athletes to have missed three tests – the world triathlon champion Tim Don and judo player Peter Cousins – were cleared by the panel.

The fact that Ohuruogu was welcomed back into the British team by UK Athletics and became Britain’s first individual women’s world champion since Sally Gunnell in 1993 is also likely to count in her favour.

Interesting? Click here to explore further

Source: Athletics: Beijing place at stake as Ohuruogu seeks to overturn ban

Toronto FC

CHICAGO - Toronto FC midfielder Maurice Edu and defender Marvell Wynne were named Wednesday to the U.S. squad that will travel to China in preparation for Olympic qualifiers.

This will be the first time the U.S. under-23 team has gathered since Peter Nowak took over as coach in August.

"I’m excited for both players to gain some more experience at the international level," said Toronto FC head coach Mo Johnston. "Both of them have worked very hard this past season, and they deserve it. I’m sure it will be a great trip to China, something they’ll always remember."

New York Red Bulls forward Jozy Altidore and six other players from the American team that reached the under-20 World Cup quarter-finals are on the squad. The team will assemble Saturday in Carson, Calif., and train for a week before leaving for games in Changsha on Dec. 13 and in Guangzhou three days later.

Altidore will be joined by former U-20 teammates Robbie Rogers and Tim Ward of the Columbus Crew, Nathin Sturgis and Chris Seitz of Real Salt Lake, Dax McCarty of FC Dallas and Sal Zizzo of Hannover 96 in Germany.

Freddy Adu, Michael Bradley and Danny Szetela, also members of the U-20 quarter-finalists, were not laced on the 22-player roster because of scheduling conflicts with their European clubs.

Altidore made his international debut with the United States in a 1-0 victory over South Africa on Nov. 17. He is one of seven members of the side who have played for the senior American team.

Olympic qualifying from the Central and North American and Caribbean region will take place March 11-23 in Los Angeles; Tampa, Fla.; and Nashville, Tenn.

Source: Toronto FC’s Edu, Wynne named to US team

Marshall Faulk

St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) - Marshall Faulk, who spent the last seven years of his 12-year NFL career with the St. Louis Rams, will have his jersey retired by the team.

The club announced Wednesday that the ceremony will take place at halftime of the Rams’ December 20 contest against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Bob Costas will lead the proceedings, which will feature a video tribute after Faulk’s number 28 is raised to the rafters.

"We wanted to honor Marshall as he returns to the Edward Jones Dome for the first time since his retirement last year," said Rams president John Shaw. "Marshall has given so much to this organization and was one of the key ingredients that elevated the Rams from the team that won four games in 1998 to a world championship in 1999. This is a wonderful opportunity for the Rams organization and our great fans to say ‘thank you.’"

The end of Faulk’s career was hastened by knee problems, and after rushing for just 292 yards in 16 games in 2005, he missed the entire 2006 season due to surgery. The 34-year-old joined the NFL Network as an analyst and will be part of the broadcast crew for the Thursday night game.

Faulk finished with 12,279 yards on the ground after starting his career in 1994 with Indianapolis. He retires with the standing NFL record of 2,429 yards from scrimmage in 1999, an average of 151.8 yards a game. His 19,154 combined yards from scrimmage are the fourth-most in league history.

The 2000 NFL MVP, Faulk was a first-round pick of the Indianapolis Colts. The San Diego State product went to seven Pro Bowls, had seven 1,000-yard rushing seasons and was the first player in NFL history to gain 2,000 yards from scrimmage in four consecutive seasons from 1998-2001.

Source: Rams to retire Faulk’s No. 28 jersey

The Samaritans were collecting at Pride Park – mindful, perhaps, of poor Billy Davies and his sieve of a defence, which big teams like Arsenal (five goals) and Liverpool (six) have been so partial to this season. But by the time the Derby faithful drifted away, Davies was rattling a tin of his own. It was one which, by his own reckoning, will need all the loose change in the land – and more – if Derby are not to give up the ghost before January is out.

However, the board may have already decided that more drastic action is needed and if they are to inject some fresh money in a bid to keep Derby in the Premier League, Davies may not be around to spend it as it was reported last night that the former Preston manager could be leaving Pride Park for good today.

Still, he was worth listening to on Saturday night, though, as he revealed his view that Derby are doomed if they do not get £30m in the transfer window. “In my opinion we have spent just over £10m,” he said. “In my opinion this club had to spend a minimum £40m to compete, over the two transfer windows. The team we’ve got at the moment aren’t good enough to stay in the Premier League.”

This is a strange way to motivate arguably the division’s all-time weakest side, but Davies is driven by his unvarnished irritation with Adam Pearson, his new chairman, who has granted him just two mobile phone conversations and a single meeting at a team hotel since arriving here. “He’s a busy man,” Davies said, and you could almost hear the teeth grinding. ” I’ve not been to a board meeting for such a long time. In an ideal world it would be nice to go to a board meeting,” he added.

Yet who on earth might Pearson’s money lure to this place? Davies says he has identified three of the six players he needs and cites Nicolas Anelka ” who is saving Bolton on his own” as the calibre of player required by Derby. But the way things are shaping up – Liverpool, Manchester United and Blackburn lie ahead in a horrible December for Derby – all hope will have gone before the money gets here and anyone signing on will need his head examining.

If that is how it is destined to be, it is a shame, not least because football needs managers like Davies. The Scot demonstrated more pace in his dashes to the technical area than anything on offer from a languid Chelsea side, whose fluorescence on a murky night was limited to their strip. Chelsea’s lack of flamboyance belonged to Mourinho’s days and so did Avram Grant’s reasoning as to why Michael Essien should not have been dismissed for a flagrant strike at Kenny Miller’s face in the closing stages.

“When you have the uniform [kit] today there are no pockets. Nobody can put their hands in their pockets and sometimes you put your hand like this,” he said, waving an arm about.

Chelsea’s second goal seemed to flow from a retaliatory foul by Andrei Shevchenko which dispossessed Giles Barnes – but there was a league’s difference between the sides. Frank Lampard, who bore the brunt of the anti-England chants, brushed the ball into Salomon Kalou’s path for Chelsea’s first and later rattled the post, Shaun Wright-Phillips netting the rebound.

The home crowd roused Derby into resistance, only to see Kenny Miller’s effort unworthily ruled offside. Fleeting moments of hope: that’s as good as it is going to get at Pride Park.

Goals: Kalou (17) 0-1; Wright-Phillips (73) 0-2.

Derby County (4-4-2): Bywater; Griffin, Davis, Moore, Leacock; McEveley, Fagan (Earnshaw, 86), Oakley (Feilhaber, 84), Jones; Miller, Barnes (Howard, 75). Substitutes not used: Price (gk), Mears.

Chelsea (4-4-2): Cudicini; Belletti, Terry, Ben-Haim, A Cole; Mikel, Lampard (Pizarro, 90), Sidwell (Essien, 75), Wright-Phillips; Shevchenko, Kalou. Substitutes not used: Hilario (gk), J Cole, Alex.

Referee: A Marriner (West Midlands).

Booked: Chelsea A Cole.

Sent off: Essien (90).

Man of the match: Lampard.

Attendance: 32,789.

Lion Cub?

Giles Barnes (Derby)

Hinted at potential in the second half but much will depend on where the 19-year-old might be plying his skills in the future.

Interesting? Click here to explore further

Source: Derby County 0 Chelsea 2: Defeat leaves Davies feeling short-changed as Derby hope drains

Great news for Boca Juniors as Juan Roman Riquelme is set for a return from Villareal. They really need the services of Riquelme who led them to the Copa Libertadores title last year. Boca has looked like a shadow of a club this season. With Riquelme in their ranks they can look forward to the Clausura.

Riquelme fell out of favour with Villareal manager Manuel Pellegrini last December and has not played with the club since his return.

Source: Riquelme set on Boca return

Duke figured out how to make up for its size disadvantage against Wisconsin: Turn up the tempo.

Greg Paulus scored 13 of his 18 points during the decisive first half, and No. 7 Duke ran No. 20 Wisconsin right out of Cameron Indoor Stadium in an 82-58 rout Tuesday night.

Filed under Duke

Source: No. 7 Duke 82, No. 20 Wisconsin 58

Indian world No.31 Sania Mirza gave a lengthy interview for IBN Live, and although the whole interview is worth reading, there are two parts that are exceptionally interesting.

Firstly, the interviewer’s lack of knowledge, which can surely irritate some people, but hahaha, I’m still laughing. Please read this:

Anuradha SenGupta: You are currently on an injury break?

Sania Mirza: No, it’s off season now.

Anuradha SenGupta: We have been reading that you were recovering from an injury.

Sania Mirza: Yes, but I am fine now.

Anuradha SenGupta: So, you okay then.

Sania Mirza: Yes, it doesn’t hurt me when I am talking.

OMG, this is fantastic. Hahaha.

Furthermore, the following statement of Sania Mirza confused me, I’ve never heard that theory.

"Injuries happen to everyone. I mean Sharapova has struggled with so many injuries this year. Also Indians are not genetically as tough as the Europeans are. We are not cut out to be in a totally physical sport. That’s a fact. A lot of people may disagree with me but I still believe that. And because of that we have to push our bodies a lot more. And hence if you are going to punish your bodies everyday I don’t think then it’s humanly possible to remain injury free. I lost three months this year because of my knee but that is something which happened when I was the fittest."

Thanks to Diane of the Women Who Serve and Erwin of the Tennis Served Fresh who drew my attention to these parts of the interview.

Share This

Source: Scrutinizing an interview with Sania Mirza

After the upstaging, the opting-out and all of the one-upsmanship, posturing and the circuitous route travelled toward an upcoming 10 year marriage, 3rd baseman Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees finally seem to be walking the isle in easily the most mutually lucrative deal in all of organized professional sports history.

The deal; $275 million for 10 years, plus another $30 million if he cracks  Barry Bonds’ all-time home run record.  But that is just the simple take on the depth and breadth of this deal.

Vince Gennaro, noted MLB consultant, author of “Diamond Dollars: The Economics of Winning in Baseball” and former billion-dollar CEO  provides insightful glimpses behind this deal and it’s structuring.

Gennaro writes;

The true economic value of A-Rod is based on the Yankees’ revenue growth and asset appreciation that we can attribute to him. Economists call this a player’s marginal revenue product, but I’ve expanded it beyond revenue to include the marginal value of the Yankees’ assets – their ownership stake in the YES Network and the value of the franchise.

Rodriguez has two sources of value: performance and marquee. Performance value is determined by the impact of his playing performance on the Yankees’ win total and the resulting financial gains from the team being more successful because of his contribution We derive marquee value from A-Rod’s persona, image and even the more tangible value of drawing fans to watch him chase future personal milestones.

By adding his performance and marquee values for each year, we can assess the full 10-year value of A-Rod to the Yankees and prove why the $275 million salary with the potential for $30 million more in incentives negotiated by Rodriguez made a lot more sense than the $350 million his agent, Scott Boras, originally postulated.

Now, all A-Rod needs to do is to produce, both in the regular season and in the post-season; he’s not exactly been Mr. October, and avoid Bond’s alleged fix with steriods. 

To read the full piece on the dimensions of the A-Rod, Yankees deal, .

Source: A-Rod and Yankees: Unparalleled Money-Making Marriage

Just a day or so into the post-Doba era, and Crimson faithful are starting to basically endorse their guys. And Paul Wulff is getting a lot of buzz. Cougfan had a story yesterday that highlighted the early chatter as Wulff, Mike Price and Bobby Hauck as the most prominent names in the rumor mill thus far.

• One of the loudest endorsements thus far is coming from Jim Walden in the P-I, who 1) thinks Wulff is not only a perfect fit with his former Coug ties and success at EWU, but 2) even more prepared for the job than Dennis Erickson was in 1987, or even Tony Bennett was when he took the job (come on Jim! Comparing Paul Wulff to Tony Bennett? I love Walden but I doubt he knows if a basketball is stuffed or filled with air.).

It’s hard not to be impressed with Wulff. Strong run of success, WSU ties, 40 years old, regarded as a class act and was a really good player at WSU. He fits the bill, and he’s right there in Eastern WA already.

• The Go-2-Guy floats a trial balloon in the name of Rick Neuheisel. Uh, no. Sure, he’s a young-ish coach who’s played in the Pac-10, coached in the Pac-10, knows the northwest, etc. But he’s not what they are looking for. And besides, even if the money and all the other stuff could be worked out, AND he was interested enough to look at Pullman and he took the job? The guy would be looking to leave after his introductory press-conference. Look how hard he was looking around and mentioned in all the rumor mill columns when he as at UW. Why would he do anything other than use WSU as a place to show he can coach in college and then just bolt at the next opportunity? No thanks.

• Today’s Times says John L. Smith is definitely interested. I don’t know about you, but I’m decidedly split on Smith. I know he’s got a good career record, but he was run out of East Lansing after a 22-26 record in his last job. And his exit from Louisville was one of the ugliest things I’ve seen on live TV. Does anyone remember how, during Louisville’s bowl game, rumors leaked that Smith had taken the Michigan State job? TV crews asked him about it at halftime and he sort of stammered around the question, and then denied it. But suddenly players started getting word on the bench via friends and relatives. Talk about awkward. Smith doesn’t exactly have age on is side either, at 59 years old. And Michigan State had some terrible losses towards the end of his reign, including that famous come-from-ahead loss to Notre Dame when they lost a 16-pt 4th quarter lead.

• Bud Withers also writes about Mike Price and the overall situation there. As of yesterday Price isn’t confirming or denying anything, at least not yet. But Withers endorses the idea, yet there are fences that need to be mended over the divorce. Let’s face it, when a coach bails it’s not usually a back-slapping good time, and Price’s was pretty ugly. He burned some bridges and some will never forgive the Rose Bowl situation. But time has a way to heal wounds. Brinkhater is more dug in on Price than I am, but I would be OK with it if there was also some sort of succession plan behind him. I mean you usually don’t go out and hire a 61-year old coach thinking that it’s going to be the long-term answer, do you? Unless he brings Eric Price with him and grooms him to take over, or some other plan is in place, I don’t like it. I don’t want to see us in this same situation in 5 years, where everyone is killing us again in recruiting because it’s clear that Price is ready to retire.

• UW offensive coordinator Tim Lappano has been mentioned on some lists as well. He did spend some time in Pullman in the late 80’s under Erickson and then a few years under Price, plus he coached at Idaho and grew up in Spokane, so he knows the lay of the land. He’s really coached all over the place, from Ferris High School to the San Francisco 49ers, so his background is extremely dynamic. Oh yeah, he’s also regarded as one hell of an offensive coordinator. He said on KJR that he’s been wanting to be a head coach ever since he broke into the business. When asked about the WSU job, he said he “didn’t want to talk about that right now” and that he was focused on beating Hawaii. It wouldn’t be that big of a stretch to think he’s interested?

• The TNT floats the Bennett-style situation with Mike and Eric Price, including quotes from Eric himself. Not the first time we’ve heard this idea, and it won’t be the last. It could be the perfect exit strategy, first Mike and then hand it off to Eric when the time comes.

• Finally, Jack Thompson was on Elise and Ian last night on KJR, and gave a 10-minute out-pouring about how Mike Price IS the perfect fit. There is absolutely zero doubt who he believes should be the coach. He really gets into it, and you can hear Jack’s passion oozing out as he talks about Price. Give it a listen. (go to the bottom-right of the KJR page, under Elise and Ian, and click on Jack Thompson - 11/29).

Source: Coaching News Round-up; Jack Thompson Hearts Mike Price

Brad Fritsch

The Canadian golfers entered in the final stage of PGA Tour qualifying school offer a pretty good cross-section of the field as a whole.

You’ve got a veteran trying to get back to the top (Ian Leggatt), a Nationwide Tour player looking to take the next step (Brad Fritsch) and two unheralded pros hoping to win the equivalent of golf’s lottery (Lee Curry, Bryan DeCorso).

All four have just as good a shot as any of the other 150 or so players at Orange County National in Orlando, Fla., this week.

The first of six gruelling rounds goes Wednesday in what must be considered the toughest job interview imaginable. Golf can be a cruel game and it always seems to be at its cruellest during this event.

”Everything everybody says is pretty much right - it’s not a lot of fun,” Victoria golfer Jim Rutledge told The Canadian Press in a 2005 interview. ”You’ve just got to stay focused no matter what happens during the week and make a lot of putts.

”That’s what it always comes down to.”

Leggatt has been through it before. The 42-year-old from Cambridge, Ont., finished fifth at qualifying school in 2001 to regain the PGA Tour card he’d first earned after graduating from the Nationwide Tour.

He’s also got a PGA Tour victory and a place in a pretty good trivia question. Leggatt won the 2002 Tucson Open on the same day Canada’s men’s hockey team won Olympic gold in Salt Lake City.

His career hit a snag in 2004 when he had to undergo two separate wrist surgeries because of carpal tunnel syndrome. Leggatt spent 2007 on the Nationwide Tour and earned just over US$25,000 - leaving him 151st on the money list.

That was slightly better than how Fritsch fared. The 30-year-old from Manotick, Ont., was 172nd in his rookie year on golf’s minor-league circuit.

Of course, a season of struggles would be completely forgotten if he managed to be among the roughly 35 players that will earn a PGA Tour card this week.

Fritsch participated in the final stage of Q-school in 2006, which gave him his Nationwide Tour status for this year. Prior to that he’d been a Canadian Tour member for a number of years and even considered giving up the game in the summer of 2005.

He’s played in a couple Canadian Opens and qualified for the 2006 U.S. Open.

Curry, meanwhile, has been a Canadian Tour member since 2003 and has only played a handful of events at a higher level. He missed the cut in two Canadian Opens and the two Nationwide Tour events he’s participated in.

The 29-year-old from Kemptville, Ont., once represented Canada at the world team amateur and will receive at least some status on the Nationwide Tour in 2008. He was 29th on the Canadian Tour money list with $18,588 in earnings this year.

DeCorso, a native of Guelph, Ont., spent the summer on the Gateway Tour. He went through the final stage of PGA Tour Q-school in 2003 and played a handful of Nationwide Tour events the following year.

Those aren’t quite the qualifications a player like Leggatt can boast but that’s what Q-school is all about.

Source: Four Canucks head to PGA Tour ‘Q’ school