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5688. alistairConnor - 7/28/2007 10:46:43 PM Not a bad call... Leipheimer won the stage, Evans was second, and Contador is still in front overall... with 23 seconds on Evans and 31 on Leipheimer, he's assured of overall victory tomorrow barring accidents. It will apparently be the closest Tour in history.
And that's fitting. Incredibly, a week into the race, there were still 10 riders who could have won it... it's been a real sporting competition, a rare thing in the 20 years I've been following the Tour. Most years, it's been dominated by a Boss (Indurain, then Armstrong). I like it more like this. I may be wrong, but I don't think we'll see those days again soon. 5689. alistairConnor - 7/28/2007 10:59:27 PM The Rasmussen thing is interesting because he was inadvertently ratted by a TV commentator.
When he did his big number in the Alps last week, this Italian commentator threw in an anecdote about how he saw Rasmussen training in Italy in June in very tough conditions, and had talked to him briefly. He was just doing his job, trying to build up the myth. But as it happens, Rasmussen, who missed drug tests during that period, had claimed he was in Mexico at the time... It all unravelled after that.
Moral of the story? You can't run, you can't hide, the drugbusters will get you. Well, that's my optimistic version. 5690. jexster - 7/29/2007 3:37:56 PM FINAL: Iraq 1, Saudi Arabia 0 5691. wabbit - 7/29/2007 4:53:25 PM  Skipper Younis Mahmoud's thumping headed goal crowned Iraq as the Asian Cup champions for the first time with a stirring 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia in the final here Sunday. Mahmoud powered home the 71st-minute header off a Hawar Mohammed corner for the only goal in the fiercely-contested all-Arab final over the three-time champion Saudis in a seething Gelora Bung Karno Stadium. The huge roar inside the stadium was no doubt bettered by wildly celebrating supporters back in their war-ravaged homeland where Iraqis risked death to rejoice the unifying triumph of their national football team.
Iraq blunted the resistance of the Saudis, who could not counter the determination and steel of their Gulf rivals in the crackling decider to the three-week continental tournament.
Saudi Arabia, which has appeared in five of the last six finals, is a three-time champion. Iraq had never been to the finals and last played in the semifinals 31 years ago.
5692. wabbit - 7/29/2007 4:54:03 PM  The verdict was never in doubt when Lawyer Ron hit the top of the stretch in the $750,000 Whitney Handicap. The chestnut colt came roaring around the final turn and pulled away for a 4 3-4-length victory over Wanderin Boy on Saturday at Saratoga Race Course, breaking a 33-year-old track record in the process. Ridden by John Velazquez, Lawyer Ron charged to the front and took the lead from Wanderin Boy, then the 4-year-old colt turned on the afterburners and covered 1 1-8 miles in 1:46.64, bettering the track record of 1:47 set by Tri Jet on Aug. 3, 1974. The victory earned Lawyer Ron an automatic berth in the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Monmouth Park on Oct. 27, thanks to a new "Win and You're In" qualifying format created this year.
In other races that carried automatic Breeders' Cup berths:
- My Typhoon ($8.10) surged to the lead on the far turn and won the $500,000 Diana Handicap by three-quarters of a length over Argentina, clinching a spot in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf.
- -- Diabolical ($7) moved past Attila's Storm in the final strides and captured the $250,000 Albert G. Vanderbilt Handicap by a half-length. Trained by Steve Klesaris, the 4-year-old colt clinched a berth in the Breeders' Cup Sprint with his second win in four starts this year. Diabolical covered the six furlongs in 1:08.67.
- -- Ginger Punch ($4.50) took charge in the stretch and pulled away for an easy victory in the $250,000 Go for Wand Handicap, earning a spot in the Breeders' Cup Distaff.
5693. wabbit - 7/29/2007 4:54:25 PM  Rookie Brian Burres took a two-hit shutout into the seventh inning, Miguel Tejada had four RBIs and the Baltimore Orioles beat Roger Clemens and the New York Yankees 7-5 Saturday night for their sixth straight victory. New York's Alex Rodriguez, needing a home run to reach 500 for his career, struck out three times and went 0-for-4. He also made an error, botching a grounder to third that led to an unearned run. Brian Roberts scored three runs for the Orioles, whose six-game run matches its best of the season. Baltimore has won eight in a row at home, its longest such streak since 2003, and improved to 6-2 against New York. Tejada hit two-run doubles in the first and seventh innings. The last time he had as many as four RBIs in a game was on Aug. 23, 2005, against the Los Angeles Angels. Burres (5-4) allowed one run and four hits in six-plus innings. He struck out the side in first and finished with seven strikeouts.
After Jonathan Papelbon blew a win for Jon Lester, the Red Sox bounced back. Boston scored six runs in the 12th inning to beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 12-6 on Saturday night, moving the Red Sox nine games in front of the New York Yankees in the AL East. Jonny Gomes spoiled Lester's bid for his second straight win since rejoining the team with a two-run homer in the ninth, Papelbon's second blown save in 25 chances. But Julio Lugo drew his second bases-loaded walk and Kevin Youkilis followed with a three-run double in Boston's big 12th inning.
Barry Bonds went hitless a night after connecting for his 754th home run, leaving the San Francisco star one shy of tying Hank Aaron's record in the Giants' 4-3 win over the Florida Marlins. With his mom in the stands, Dontrelle Willis overmatched the slugger he admired growing up in the Bay Area. In the end, Bonds could only stand at home plate -- right in the way of the catcher, actually -- and watch a popup on his final swing. Sunday will be Barry Bonds' last shot at breaking the record at home until Aug. 6 against the Nationals.
MLB scores
5694. jexster - 7/29/2007 5:17:05 PM Lions of the Two Rivers
 5695. jexster - 7/29/2007 5:25:43 PM 
5696. jexster - 7/29/2007 11:15:26 PM 
5697. jexster - 7/31/2007 1:04:57 AM Bill Walsh
RIP 5698. jexster - 7/31/2007 2:58:06 AM San Francisco's in mourning...Keith Olbermann ran the stats
8 Walsh assistants became NFL head coaches
8 of their assistants 5699. wabbit - 8/4/2007 9:41:19 PM  Alex Rodriguez became the youngest player in major league history to hit 500 home runs, sending the first pitch he saw Saturday just past the foul pole in left field. Rodriguez stood at home plate for a second, waiting to see if his first-inning drive off Kansas City's Kyle Davies would stay fair. He threw his hands in the air after the ball landed in the seats and began trotting around the bases with a wide grin on his face as the Yankee Stadium crowd cheered wildly. When he reached the plate, he hugged Derek Jeter and Bobby Abreu, who both scored on the landmark home run...
Detroit Tigers' infielder Neifi Perez was suspended for 80 games Friday after testing positive for a third time for a banned stimulant, a penalty that finishes his season. Perez was suspended for 25 games on July 6 when he tested positive for a second time. Under baseball's labor contract, a player who tests positive for the first time is sent for counseling. Perez has been the only player suspended by baseball for stimulants since they were banned before the 2006 season.
Barry Bonds once called Petco Park "baseball proof." Greg Maddux made sure it was homer proof, too. Playing in perhaps his least-favorite ballpark, Bonds extended his homerless streak to one week and remained at No. 754, one shy of tying Hank Aaron's record. The San Francisco slugger was hitless in three tries against the wily Maddux in a classic matchup Friday night, and finished 0-for-4 overall. Both stars were long gone when Scott Hairston homered for the second time, a solo shot with one out in the 10th inning that gave the San Diego Padres a 4-3 win over the Giants.
MLB scores
5700. wabbit - 8/4/2007 9:54:15 PM
The slam of the skateboarder's body against the ramp caused a collective shudder among X Games spectators and had Web video watchers gasping Friday morning. Jake Brown fell flailing and helpless for about 40 feet on the skateboard big air mega ramp during his fifth and final run Thursday night. Brown was recovering in the intensive care unit at California Hospital Medical Center on Friday night, said hospital spokeswoman Katreena Salgado.
Equestrian rider Tina Richter-Vietor died Saturday after falling from her horse at the German Championships. The 32-year-old German, who won one gold and three bronze medals at the military European championships, was thrown from her horse Paulchen Panther. The event was canceled, except for one jump competition on Sunday. A South Korea rider competing in the individual cross country competition at the Asian Games died on Thursday after his horse hit a fence and he fell off, organisers said. The 47-year-old man, believed to be a Seoul resident, was rushed to hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival. It is the eighth death linked to the Asian Games, although the first of an athlete.
Two-time Olympian Michael Phelps came within a whisker of setting a world record in the 100 backstroke Friday night, winning twice in about an hour at the U.S. National Championships. His time of 53.01 seconds was the second-fastest ever, just three-hundreths of a second off Aaron Peirsol's mark set in March at the world championships. Perhaps a more ominous message to the swimming world is this: Phelps thinks he can go faster. Phelps set a meet record in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:44.98, then regrouped and still had enough energy to swim what Bowman called his best closing 50 ever in the 100 back. The two wins were his third and fourth of the week and put him within one victory of becoming the first American man to win five titles in back-to-back summer nationals. He had also won five events in 2003 and 2006. No other American man has even done it once.
5701. jexster - 8/5/2007 4:58:27 AM 
5702. wabbit - 8/6/2007 3:41:04 PM  Andy Roddick wasn't about to let John Isner have another chance at a third-set tiebreaker, much less let the unseeded American win the first title of his career. Instead, Roddick put a stop to Isner's dream week, beating him 6-4, 7-6 (4) Sunday to win his third Legg Mason Tennis Classic title. Roddick, who also won here in 2001 and 2005, earned his 23rd ATP title by solving Isner's serve, which had carried him to five straight wins in third-set tiebreakers.
Top-seeded Maria Sharapova earned her first title in 10 months with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-0 victory Sunday over Patty Schnyder in the final Acura Classic tournament. Sharapova used sharp groundstrokes in the first and third sets to capture her first championship since winning a WTA title at Linz, Austria, in October. The No. 2 ranked player, who was the defending champion, dropped her first set of the tournament that had a 24-year run in the San Diego-area. Promoters sold the tournament rights back to the WTA Tour, which plans to relocate the event.
Underlining the importance of protecting tennis' "appeal and integrity," the head of the men's professional tour promised Saturday to use "all means available" for an investigation into suspicious betting on a match involving No. 4-ranked Nikolay Davydenko. Etienne de Villiers, the ATP's executive chairman, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that "independent, external resources" would be used to look into why a British online gambling company received about $7 million in wagers on the match, 10 times the usual amount. Most of the money was on No. 87 Martin Vassallo Arguello of Argentina to win -- and some of those bets were placed after he lost the first set to Davydenko, a semifinalist at the French Open twice and at the U.S. Open last year.
SI Tennis
5703. wabbit - 8/6/2007 3:41:21 PM  Tiger Woods erased a one-shot deficit in two holes, then buried Rory Sabbatini and the rest of the field to win the Bridgestone Invitational for the third straight year and send him to the PGA Championship with his game in good shape. Woods made a 12-foot par putt on the final hole that kept him bogey-free on a rainy afternoon at Firestone. He closed with a 5-under 65 for an eight-shot victory over Sabbatini and Justin Rose, tying a PGA Tour record for most victories at one golf course. It was the second time Woods has strung together three straight victories at this World Golf Championship, and he continued his dominance in these WGC events by winning for the 14th time in 25 tries. Sabbatini shot 74 and was left in his wake again.
Lorena Ochoa completed a runaway four-stroke victory in the Women's British Open following a 1-over-par 74. After hugging her caddie and getting doused with bubbly by her father, the top-ranked Mexican reflected on what she had done. Ochoa, who tied for second at the U.S. Women's Open a month ago, had been banging on the door of a major victory for a while. This was her fourth victory of the year to go with the six she collected last year. During those 24 months, she was runner-up 10 times. Ochoa passed $2 million in earnings this year and has a million more than anyone else. She won the first women's professional tournament to be staged at St. Andrews, home of the exclusively male Royal & Ancient Club. And she became the first player to win her first major at St. Andrews since Tony Lema's triumph in the men's British Open in 1964. Ochoa finished with a 5-under 287 total, four strokes better than Jee Young Lee (71) and Maria Hjorth (71). Reilley Rankin (71) was another stroke back at par. Annika Sorenstam, who shared third entering the final round, finished at 296 after a 76 that included a 7 at the 17th Road Hole. In teeming rain that made scoring difficult from mid-afternoon, Sorenstam felt her foot slip on the grass and she sliced her tee shot so far right it almost struck the Old Course Hotel.
PGA news
5704. wabbit - 8/6/2007 3:42:11 PM  Any Given Saturday, ridden by Garrett Gomez, gave trainer Todd Pletcher his second consecutive victory in Sunday's $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park. Last year Bluegrass Cat gave Pletcher the win with John Velazquez in the saddle. The 1 1/8 mile race for three-year-olds was expected to be a showdown between Preakness winner Curlin and Kentucky Derby runner-up Hard Spun. Curlin was sent off as the 4-5 favorite, while Hard Spun was the 9-2 third choice behind the eventual victor who was 9-5.
Local runner Cable Boy took the lead at the start followed by Hard Spun, Any Given Saturday and Xchanger in the seven horse field. Curlin and jockey Robby Albarado settled off the pace by about six lengths. Cable Boy, with Jose Velez, Jr., took the field up the backstretch and into the far turn. On the turn Hard Spun, reunited with Mario Pino, assumed the lead with Curlin on the outside. Any Given Saturday was running in third. Coming off the turn Hard Spun was in front with Curlin still to the outside. Any Given Saturday split the two colts and took the lead at the top of the stretch. Any Given Saturday continued on to post a 4 1/2 length win over Hard Spun with Curlin finishing third. Imawildandcrazyguy was fourth followed by Cable Boy, Xchanger and Reata's Shadow. Stormello was scratched with a case of colic.
The time for the 40th running of the Haskell was 1:48.35 on a fast track. The victory was worth $600,000 to move the colt to just under $1 million in his career. Owned by WinStar Farm and Padua Stable, Any Given Saturday has won five of eight career starts, including the Dwyer Stakes at Belmont Park early last month. WinStar Farm owned last year's winner Bluegrass Cat.
5705. wabbit - 8/6/2007 3:42:25 PM  Tom Glavine won his 300th game Sunday night -- the latest and perhaps the last to do so. It was vinatge Glavine, changing speeds and fooling hitters, all the things that over the years made him one of baseball's best pitchers. With nervous family and friends looking on, Glavine left with a five-run lead after 6 1-3 innings, and New York's bullpen held on for an 8-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs.
Hideki Matsui handled his 100th major league home run the way he usually handles success - staying mostly quiet and trying to deflect attention. Matsui connected for his 22nd of the season, Mike Mussina won his third straight start and the surging New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals 8-5 Sunday. Bobby Abreu went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and Melky Cabrera also went deep for the Yankees, who wrapped up a 5-1 homestand and improved to 18-7 since the All-Star break. They have scored 102 runs in their last eight games at Yankee Stadium and moving 11 games over .500 for the first time this year. New York, 9 1/2 games back in the wild-card race after play on July 7, pulled within a half-game of Detroit, the AL wild-card leader.
Coco Crisp doubled twice, scored twice, drove in a run and made a great running catch. But his best move of the game came while being run down by a moose in an all-terrain vehicle. Crisp escaped major damage when the ''Mariner Moose'' mascot clipped Boston's center fielder with an ATV, Manny Ramirez homered and drove in two and Josh Beckett struck out nine as the Red Sox beat the Seattle Mariners 9-2 on a bizarre Sunday. "Never really gotten hit by a moving vehicle before. That was the most athletic thing I did all day," Crisp said, grinning after the moose's ATV hit the back of his legs and knocked him to his knees on the infield warning track at the beginning of a stunt in front of Boston's dugout in the middle of the fifth inning. Crisp and the Red Sox could smile. They won for the fourth time in five games to remain seven games ahead of the New York Yankees atop the AL East.
MLB scores
5706. wabbit - 8/8/2007 2:19:54 PM  With a mighty swing of his black maple bat, in front of a raucous and all-forgiving home crowd at AT&T Park, San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds became baseball's home run king Tuesday night, crushing career homer No. 756 deep into the stands in right field to wrest the most hallowed record in sports from Hank Aaron.
Bonds, reviled by many around baseball for his role in the sport's ever-deepening steroids scandal, stood motionless for a few moments before slowly circling the bases as the crowd of more than 43,000 at AT&T Park cheered and fireworks exploded over McCovey Cove, the small inlet beyond the right field wall named for Giants great Willie McCovey. When Bonds reached home, he was greeted by his 17-year-old son, Nikolai, and swarmed by his Giants teammates.
5707. jexster - 8/8/2007 4:34:26 PM
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