Sports News

[lawyerlee]

I thought it might be nice to have a central place to post sports news. :)


Huggins told to resign at Cincy or he'll be fired (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/basketball/ncaa/08/23/huggins/index.html)
SI.com


CINCINNATI (AP) -- Bob Huggins' days as Bearcats basketball coach are down to one.

The volcanic coach who won more games than anyone else in Cincinnati history has been shown the door by an academically-minded school president who doesn't like his history or his philosophy.

The university sent Huggins an ultimatum on Tuesday, ordering him to resign as coach or be fired at 2 p.m. on Wednesday. Huggins was out of town when the ultimatum was faxed to his lawyer, giving him a 24-hour window to choose his exit.

Huggins returned to town Tuesday night, but didn't immediately make a decision.

School president Nancy Zimpher pointed to the history of poor graduation rates and player arrests during Huggins' 16-year stay at Cincinnati. Also, Huggins was convicted of drunken driving last year.

"We expect to recruit very strong students, both on the court and in the classroom," Zimpher said emphatically. "We expect our coaches to be role models, and we expect our students to be role models. I will not apologize for setting high standards."

[lawyerlee]

Armstrong 'fooled' us, Tour boss says (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9050722/)
Leblanc says it's 'proven fact' that cyclist took EPO to win 1999 race
NBCSports.com news services
Updated: 11:09 a.m. ET Aug. 24, 2005


PARIS - The director of the Tour de France claims Lance Armstrong has “fooled” the sports world and that the seven-time champion owes fans an explanation over new allegations he used a performance-boosting drug.

Tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc’s comments appeared in the French sports daily L’Equipe on Wednesday, a day after the newspaper reported that six urine samples provided by Armstrong during the ’99 Tour tested positive for the red blood cell-booster EPO.

“For the first time — and these are no longer rumors, or insinuations, these are proven scientific facts — someone has shown me that in 1999, Armstrong had a banned substance called EPO in his body,” Leblanc told L’Equipe.

“The ball is now in his court. Why, how, by whom? He owes explanations to us and to everyone who follows the tour. Today, what L’Equipe revealed shows me that I was fooled. We were all fooled.”

On Tuesday, Leblanc called the latest accusations against Armstrong shocking and troubling.

Armstrong, a frequent target of L’Equipe, vehemently denied the allegations Tuesday on his Web site:

"Yet again, a European newspaper has reported that I have tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. Tomorrow’s L’Equipe, a French sports daily, is reporting that my 1999 samples were positive. Unfortunately, the witch hunt continues and tomorrow’s article is nothing short of tabloid journalism.

"The paper even admits in its own article that the science in question here is faulty and that I have no way to defend myself. They state: “There will therefore be no counter-exam nor regulatory prosecutions, in a strict sense, since defendant’s rights cannot be respected.

"I will simply restate what I have said many times: I have never taken performance enhancing drugs."

There was nothing new on the Web site Wednesday.

EPO, formally known as erythropoietin, was on the list of banned substances at the time Armstrong won the first of his seven Tours, but there was no effective test then to detect it.

The allegations surfaced six years later because EPO tests on the 1999 samples were carried out only last year — when scientists at a lab outside Paris used them for research to perfect EPO testing. The national anti-doping laboratory in Chatenay-Malabry said it promised to hand its finding to the World Anti-Doping Agency, provided it was never used to penalize riders.

Five-time Tour de France champion Miguel Indurain said he couldn’t understand why scientists would use samples from the 1999 Tour for their tests.

“That seems bizarre, and I don’t know who would have the authorization to do it,” he told L’Equipe. “I don’t even know if it’s legal to keep these samples.”

[lawyerlee]

NCAA allowing Florida State to use its Seminole mascot (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/2005-08-23-fsu-mascot-approved_x.htm)
USA Today

By Steve Wieberg, USA TODAY


TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida State's fierce defense of its Seminoles nickname and mascot proved successful Tuesday.

The NCAA granted a waiver in the first challenge to a new policy, removing FSU from a list of colleges whose sports teams, it said, use "hostile or abusive" Native American names and imagery.

"The staff review committee noted the unique relationship between the university and the Seminole Tribe of Florida as a significant factor," NCAA senior vice president Bernard Franklin said in a statement released Tuesday. "The decision of a namesake sovereign tribe, regarding when and how its name and imagery can be used, must be respected even when others may not agree."

The Executive Committee, which unveiled restrictions on such symbols this month, "continues to believe the stereotyping of Native Americans is wrong," senior vice president Bernard Franklin said in a statement. "However, in its review of the particular circumstances regarding Florida State, the staff review committee noted the unique relationship between the university and the Seminole Tribe of Florida as a significant factor."

[lawyerlee]

Niners remember Herrion at memorial service (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/niners/2005-08-24-herrion-memorial_x.htm)
USA Today

By Greg Beacham, Associated Press


MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Thomas Herrion was remembered as a wonderful friend and teammate Tuesday night at a memorial service for the San Francisco 49ers' offensive lineman who collapsed and died after a preseason game last week.

About 500 people attended the service, including NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue, union head Gene Upshaw and all of Herrion's teammates and coaches in San Francisco. Herrion's mother and brother sat near the front along with his fellow offensive linemen.

"He was a good kid," said his mother, Janice. "I'm proud of the man he became. It was short-lived, but I'm proud."

Framed pictures of Herrion and copies of his white 49ers jersey decorated the room. The short program featured songs composed by teammates Eric Heitmann and Fred Amey, along with impromptu remembrances from former Utah coach Ron McBride, defensive lineman Bryant Young and Herrion's brother, Savior, who shook with grief while he spoke.

"Thomas lived a life we can all aspire to and learn from," said Mike Singletary, the 49ers' assistant head coach.

[lawyerlee]

Redskins, Arrington Reach Deal on Contract Dispute (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/25/AR2005082500789_pf.html)

By Nunyo Demasio
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 25, 2005; 11:42 AM


LaVar Arrington and the Washington Redskins have reached a settlement, ending a contract dispute that lasted 17 months, according to several sources involved in the negotiations.

The resolution follows several postponed hearings for binding arbitration after Arrington filed a grievance in March 2004 contending that the Redskins omitted $6.5 million in virtual guarantees that he said were agreed upon in an eight-year, $68 million extension.

Under the settlement, Arrington's contract extension, signed in December 2003, will not be reworked. However, an amendment, called a contingency, has been inserted that gives Arrington an opportunity to void his deal-- making him a free agent-- as soon as 2007, or receive performance incentives worth $3.25 million, and possibly $1.6 million more.

The resolution is expected to become official by early tonight when pertinent documents are signed by all parties involved -- including Arrington -- at Redskins Park.

[msnicolea]

If the Lance Armstrong stuff turns out to be true, I think it will be the biggest fall from grace of an athlete EVER (murderers like OJ, aside, since that wasn't within their sport). I hate to say it, because I know people adore him, but I think he's guilty.

That's two Bush pals under investigation for steriod abuse--what was that he said in his State of the Union again. . . .

[msnicolea]

"And because he believes that steroid use in sports is dangerous, he declared, "Tonight I call on team owners, union representatives, coaches and players to take the lead, to get tough and to get rid of steroids now."

[lawyerlee]

Hear Lance's Side of the Story

Larry King will be joined by Bob Costas as they interview Lance Armstrong, who will respond to the accusations made in France that have accused him of a tainted Tour de France title in 1999.
Watch it live at 9 p.m. ET on CNN!

Firing back (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/more/08/24/bc.cyc.armstrong.doping.ap/index.html)
Lance calls Tour director's remarks "preposterous"
SI.com
Posted: Wednesday August 24, 2005 11:37AM; Updated: Thursday August 25, 2005 10:10AM


NEW YORK (AP) -- -- Lance Armstrong went on the offensive Wednesday, saying it was "preposterous" for the Tour de France director to suggest the legendary cyclist "fooled" race officials and the sporting world by doping.

Comments by Tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc appeared in the French sports daily L'Equipe on Wednesday, a day after the newspaper reported that six urine samples provided by Armstrong during the first of his seven Tour championships in 1999 tested positive for the red blood cell-booster EPO.

"I actually spoke to him for about 30 minutes and he didn't say any of that stuff to me personally," Armstrong said, referring to Leblanc.

"But to say that I've fooled the fans is preposterous. I've been doing this a long time. We have not just one year of only 'B' samples; we have seven years of 'A' and 'B' samples. They've all been negative," he said during a conference call from Washington.

In his comments to L'Equipe, Leblanc sounded convinced that Armstrong was guilty of doping, saying the onus was on him to explain the newspaper's findings.

"For the first time -- and these are no longer rumors, or insinuations, these are proven scientific facts -- someone has shown me that in 1999, Armstrong had a banned substance called EPO in his body," Leblanc told the newspaper.

"The ball is now in his court. Why, how, by whom? He owes explanations to us and to everyone who follows the tour. Today, what L'Equipe revealed shows me that I was fooled. We were all fooled."

The Tour did not respond Wednesday to a request by The Associated Press to interview Leblanc.

The tour director was hardly the only target of Armstrong's ire Wednesday. He also questioned the validity of the science involved in testing samples that were frozen seven years ago and how those samples were handled since. He also charged officials at the suburban Paris laboratory that processed them with violating the World Anti-Doping Agency code by releasing the results to the newspaper.

"It doesn't surprise me at all that they have samples. Clearly they've tested all of my samples since then to the highest degree. But when I gave those samples," he said, referring to 1999, "there was not EPO in those samples. I guarantee that."