(Armstrong’s Barry Bonds-esque prickly personality fueling investigation?)

In order to nail Armstrong to the floorboards as a PEDs user, Novitzky is following the money trail to Armstrong’s alleged PED operations over the years. Novitzky’s case against the cyclist centers on two key accusations:

1) Armstrong assisted in secretly diverting money from former cycling team sponsor U.S. Postal Service to fund a PEDs operation for himself and teammates.
2) Armstrong assisted in secretly selling professional cycles made by the Trek company that were intended for his teammates to fund a PEDs operation for himself and teammates. (Floyd Landis accusation.)

Armstrong has already repeatedly denied involvement of such activity, but recently was caught in a lie about his role on the U.S. Postal Service team by the NEW YORK TIMES.

Armstrong claimed last week that he had zero role in the management of the U.S.P.S. team, that he was a mere employee who only followed orders. But the NYT turned up evidence to the contrary, revealing that Armstrong had been given a significant equity stake in the company that owned the U.S.P.S. team and that the cyclist was also partners with a company called Capital Sports Management.

Capital Sports & Entertainment’s Web site says it had direct dealings with the Postal Service when it sponsored the team. “In its role as manager, C.S.E. handled all aspects of this legendary professional cycling team,” including an $18 million annual budget, the Web site said.

If Armstrong has nothing to hide, why did he misrepresent his business interest in the U.S.P.S. team? The U.S.P.S. contradiction looks very bad for Armstrong, and that wasn’t what Floyd Landis recently accused him of!

Worse yet is another defense Armstrong rolled out against the investigation last week to reporters in France.

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Take 2: Lance Armstrong isn’t too happy with his cover photoshop for the latest edition of OUTSIDE magazine. (more…)

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Think that’s bad? You haven’t seen Floyd.

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First Tweet: “I got 2 arms, 2 legs, a nickname, and i’m 2 inches long. See y’all in October..“

Jack/Olivia hasn’t been born yet. (more…)

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So what did Kornheiser say to make Armstrong so upset? The cyclist referenced the ESPN host’s March 11, 2009, show on ESPN 980 in DC. A show in which Kornheiser said this about cyclists: (more…)

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(NERRRRRRRRRRDS! AND BIRRRRRRRRRDS!)

But now that he’s going after TWITTER, well, we’re kicking ourselves that we didn’t diagnose the COMS earlier. It’s so obvious, in retrospect. He doesn’t hate authority because they tell him not to do things, he’s just not used to the culture of responsibility. And the kids, with their Twitter Tweet Twoodles or whatever they’re called? Well, Charles Barkley doesn’t much cotton to these computers today.

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Vanderbilt head basketball coach Kevin Stallings had been planning a 10-day trip for his basketball team to Australia for well over a year when he learned that school wide budget cuts threatened to nix the trip. So what did Stallings do? He decided to decline the $100,000 raise he was owed by the school in order to pay for the journey. The team played OK - going 3-2 in five games - but I would imagine that the benefits go much further than that. Plus, how do you not play hard for a guy who gave up $100,000 so you could go to Australia?

“Jermaine, remember when you got to feed that kangaroo straight from your hand? Then how about screening out your man?”

This comes on the heels of Mississippi State’s star basketball player Jarvis Varnado giving up his scholarship so the team could sign more players. That’s two totally selfless acts involving SEC basketball in the space of less than a week, which is probably more than we saw all of last season. Sometimes its good to be reminded that sports are supposed to be, you know, uplifting.

Meanwhile, just to cut the legs out from under you as you’re actually starting to feel good about sports again: look, British football hooligans are back! I guess if The Specials are touring again, then it really is like 1982 in London, which apparently means it’s time for pitch invasions, fights in the stands and undoing 25 years of progress toward making soccer in England respectable again.

The trouble came in a Carling Cup match between rivals West Ham and Millwall. West Ham won the game in extra time, 3-1, but the story was the “fans” of the two teams. One man was stabbed and at least 10 people were arrested in what appeared to be planned brawls outside of the stadium before and after the game. Plus, West Ham fans staged a “pitch invasion,” storming the field after West Ham scored the go-ahead goal early in extra time, forcing the match to be delayed for several minutes and riot squads to escort the visiting Millwall players off the field for their own safety.

I’m guessing this isn’t exactly what ESPN was hoping for when they paid for the partial rights to cover EPL games this season. Although I’d like to see the “ESPN Axis” technology be used to highlight some hooligan taking a dart to the eye - let’s see Tommy Smyth put that one in the old onion bag. (Also, it should be noted that the Carling Cup is about as important as winning the Cactus League title - I shudder to think what things will be like by the end of the season.)

Speaking of awful people, we have a Floyd Landis sighting. Even though he’s was stripped of his Tour de France title for doping offenses, he’s got at least one cycling team who would consider hiring him. And of course it’s with Lance Armstrong’s new team. Really, were you expecting anything else? Armstrong had been out of the headlines for a whole three or four weeks, and we can’t have that. P.S.: Have fun with that sponsorship, Radio Shack.

• As you probably know, Senator Ted Kennedy died late last night at the age of 77. Regardless of where you stand in the political spectrum, it’s hard not to think that an era in American politics died along with him. But did you know that he was also a fair football player in his day? In fact, he was good enough to be the starting end on the Harvard Crimson football team and be offered a shot at the NFL by the head coach of the Green Bay Packers.



• The head football coach at Ogden High in Utah has been suspended after allegedly getting into a confrontation with the band director over the use of the field for practice. Sounds like someone wound up getting a piccolo stuck somewhere it shouldn’t be.
• Apparently in Canada, stomping on a goalie and breaking his neck during a soccer match can get you arrested, but only earn you a yellow card on the field. I think that using hockey refs as soccer officials might not be working out.
• Jerry Stone, one of California’s top high school running backs, has been arrested and charged with attempted murder for his alleged role in a drive-by shooting on Friday in Compton.
• The half-brother of former Dallas Cowboys defensive lineman Leonardo Carson rolls on him during a federal drug trafficking trial, saying that Carson supplied him with cocaine and other drugs to sell.
• A drunk city official in Snohomish, WA offers to show a female employee of the group sponsoring a golf tournament “the size of his tee” and whips off his…ahem…head cover. That’s one way to lose your job.
• The woman who was accused by Michael Vick of ripping him off of more than $2 million has been charged in a Ponzi scheme involving an investment firm co-founded by NFL players Demorrio Williams and brothers Josh and Daniel Bullocks.
• The attorney for Mark Becker, the former Aplington-Parkersburg High School player accused of shooting and killing legendary coach Ed Thomas, claims that his client “has difficulty distinguishing reality from fantasy” and is therefore not competent to stand trial.
• Martina Hingis has been named to the cast of the British version of “Dancing with the Stars.” No word on if she’ll be allowed to perform an intricate dance routine while Hoovering a suspicious white powder up her nose.
• Finally, to repeat our top story for the deaf and hard of hearing: Brad Lidge is still bad at saving games.

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• Tour de France teammate Alberto Contador has some strong words for Livestrong leader Lance Armstrong.

• Florida Panthers exec Uri Man is the man for making moves on Fox News anchor Ainsley Earhardt during an on-air interview.

• Zorn has scorn for porn: The Redskins coach says he’s never seen any sexually explicit sites.

• The WNBA’s Washington Mystics won’t use a Kiss Cam at games because they’re afraid of locating lesbians locking lips.

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Contador finished first, Luxembourg’s Andy Schleck second and Armstrong — returning to the Tour de France after a three-year layoff — was third. But the Astana teammates were frequently at odds, although Contador wouldn’t give specifics. (more…)

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(Given all this, who’s the real kid in this picture? He can’t be happy about his likeness being used like this, right?)

White’s prominence and medical condition led many to lend their support to his predicament. A fund was set up to help pay for his treatment, he received gifts like a signed guitar from Kenny Chesney & a skateboard from Tony Hawk, and the Livestrong foundation even took up the cause. When White was supposed to undergo surgery, however, the bizarre truth came out: he didn’t exist.

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