Baseball

Left hander Dontrelle Willis to start opening day for Florida Marlins

JUPITER, Fla. (AP) _ New Florida Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez knew long ago Dontrelle Willis would likely be his first opening day starter. And throughout spr

Roger Clemens no closer to decision about future

HUMBLE, Texas (AP) _ Roger Clemens was greeted by a group of autograph-seeking fans as he walked off the 18th green during a pro-am event at Redstone Golf Club

Bonds' pursuit of Aaron, implications for baseball top thing to watch in 2007

Don't expect too many cheers this season as Barry Bonds pursues Hank Aaron's home run mark of 755, perhaps baseball's most important record. But expect controve

Los Angeles Dodgers will all wear No. 42 on Jackie Robinson Day News by

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Every player on the Dodgers will be No. 42 for a day. Los Angeles will honour the late Jackie Robinson by having all of its players wear his

Carlos Delgado returns to New York Mets following birth of first son

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (AP) _ Carlos Delgado returned to the New York Mets on Thursday, five days after the birth of his son, Carlos Antonio. Delgado, who had gon

See All Baseball »

NBA

NBA ref Crawford reinstated five months after suspension for improper conduct Ne

NBA ref Crawford reinstated five months after suspension for improper conduct Ne

NEW YORK (AP) _ NBA referee Joey Crawford was reinstated by commissioner David Stern on Monday, five months after he was suspended indefinitely for improper on-

Seattle files lawsuit Monday against SuperSonics' attempt to move News by

Seattle files lawsuit Monday against SuperSonics attempt to move News by

SEATTLE (AP) _ Seattle city officials filed a lawsuit Monday to keep the SuperSonics from leaving town. The lawsuit filed in King County Superior Court was a co

MSG executive suing Thomas frequently used profanities News by

MSG executive suing Thomas frequently used profanities News by

NEW YORK (AP) _ A Madison Square Garden executive who says New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas showered her with profanities was unsparing in her own foul langua

Minnesota Timberwolves sign forward Chris Richard to contract News by

Minnesota Timberwolves sign forward Chris Richard to contract News by

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ The Minnesota Timberwolves have signed second-round draft pick Chris Richard. Terms of the contract were not disclosed Saturday. The six-foot

FBI investigating whether veteran NBA referee bet on games

FBI investigating whether veteran NBA referee bet on games

NEW YORK (AP) _ The FBI is investigating allegations that a veteran NBA referee bet on basketball games over the past two seasons, including ones in which he of

Disgraced cyclist Landis goes public with defence in doping case News

Floyd Landis rolled out key elements of his defence against doping charges in an online presentation Thursday, several months before the cyclist is to present his case to an arbitration panel in hopes of keeping his Tour de France title.

Early Thursday, Landis posted a PowerPoint presentation prepared by Arnie Baker, a retired doctor and longtime coach and adviser, as well as several hundred pages of documents related to the charges on his website, .

The presentation highlights what are said to be a number of inconsistencies in both the paperwork and the results provided by the French lab that reported elevated ratios of testosterone to epitestosterone in Landis' ``A'' and ``B'' samples, as well as the presence of synthetic testosterone.

``We have no reason to question the conclusions of the Chatenay-Malabry lab,'' Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme said Thursday, referring to the town where the French lab is located.

The alleged inconsistencies were part of a motion that the cyclist's lawyer, Howard Jacobs, submitted to a U.S. Anti-Doping Agency review board seeking to have the case dismissed. That request was denied last month.

Landis is scheduled to present his formal appeal to a panel from the American Arbitration Society in late January or early February. He also could appeal to the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Tour de France organizers already have said they no longer consider Landis the champion, elevating runner-up Oscar Pereiro instead. They also planned to begin proceedings to formally strip Landis' title when the appeals process is exhausted.

Landis' positive test results were reported less than a week after his triumphant July 23 ride into Paris. In the days following the report, Landis contended a number of factors could have triggered the result _ thyroid medication, cortisone injections for a damaged hip, his tendency to produce too much testosterone, even some whisky he drank the night before his stirring win in Stage 17.

In the online presentation, Landis' experts now contend the French lab erred in its analysis, incorrectly labelled samples and ignored the World Anti-Doping Agency testing standards and chain-of-custody protocol, among numerous other mistakes.

``The whole process has been full of errors,'' Baker concludes at one point in the presentation.

USADA rules prohibit the agency from commenting on an active case.



Read More...

UCI chief says Spain is by far cycling's major doping problem News

STUTTGART, Germany (AP) _ Spain's government and the nationalfederation are not doing enough to contain cycling's drug culture,the leader of the sport's world g

Daniele Bennati wins 17th stage of doping tainted Tour de France News

CASTELSARRASIN, France (AP) _ Daniele Bennati of Italy won the17th stage of the Tour de France and Alberto Contador of Spainbecame the new overall leader Thursd

Vinokourov tests positive for banned blood transfusion, team quits Tour News

PAU, France (AP) _ Tour de France rider Alexandre Vinokourovtested positive for a banned blood transfusion after winning lastweekend's time trial, prompting his

Alessandro Petacchi cleared of doping by Italian cycling federation News

ROME (AP) _ Italian cyclist Alessandro Petacchi was cleared ofdoping charges Tuesday by his national federation, which ruled thathe used an asthma drug for legi

Vinokourov wins 15th stage of Tour de France in second day in Pyrenees News

LOUDENVIELLE-LE LOURON, France (AP) _ Alexandre Vinokourov turnedin a determined ride to win the 15th stage of the Tour de France onMonday as Michael Rasmussen

Tour leader admits error in drug testing rules after expulsion from team News

MONTPELLIER, France (AP) _ Tour de France leader MichaelRasmussen acknowledged Friday that he made an ``administrativeerror'' involving drug-testing rules that

German chancellor turns down request to meet cyclist Jan Ullrich News

BERLIN (AP) _ German Chancellor Angela Merkel has turned down arequest to meet with disgraced cyclist Jan Ullrich, who retired fromthe sport earlier this year a

Two more former Telekom riders admit to doping during the 1990s News

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) _ Eric Zabel and Rolf Aldag, formerteammates of two Tour de France winners, admitted Thursday that theytook performance-enhancing drugs

Cricket

Former Indian Test cricketer Maninder Singh arrested with cocaine

Former Indian Test cricketer Maninder Singh arrested with cocaine

NEW DELHI (AP) _ Former Indian Test cricketer Maninder Singh will face a New Delhi court Wednesday after he was arrested in his home for allegedly possessing 1. ...

World Cup: Pointless match gets interest boost from retirements

World Cup: Pointless match gets interest boost from retirements

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (AP) _ The world gets its last chance to see Brian Lara play international cricket on Saturday when the West Indies plays England in a Worl ...

Ricky Ponting says Australia will improve with more challenging contests

Ricky Ponting says Australia will improve with more challenging contests

ST JOHN'S, Antigua (AP) _ Australian skipper Ricky Ponting feels the defending World Cup champion team will improve further by playing challenging games like Su ...

More Cricket »