Alberto Contador: Guilty Until Proven Innocent?

Spain's ace cyclist Alberto Contador is once again in the spotlight. Earlier this year he won his third Tour de France, the Holy Grail of road cycling. However, this time he is in media headlines for something less palatable... he has been found with a banned substance in his bloodstream. The tested samples were taken during the actual race. Unfortunately some people are calling for his blood, literally, before the full facts are known. Trial by innuendo, privately or in the press, is not justice and never has been. If proven to be a dope cheat, by an appropriate body, then and only then, should the floggings and lynchings begin! Until then, Contador continues to vigorously maintain his innocence and hide in his grandmother's garage.

The Current Facts:

1. Alberto Contador was declared winner of the the 2010 Tour de France.
2. He tested positive for clenbuterol.
   
3. This substance is banned by the International Cycling Union.
   
4. This has been confirmed by both the A and B tests.
5. The samples were taken in Pau, on July 21 2010, a rest day.
6. Traces of plastic were also found in the samples, suggesting that Contador had received a banned blood transfusion.

The Anomalies:

1. Contador was tested rigorously throughout the entire Tour.
2. This positive test is apparently the only one displaying any blood abnormality.
3. The trace element of the drug found was the extraordinarily low amount of 0.000 000 000 05 grams per millimeter (50 picograms).
   
4. This 400 times less than the minimum volume a World Anti-Doping Agency or UCI accredited tester must be able to detect to formulate a sound analysis.
5. Contador has blamed tainted meat, flown in from Spain for his Astana team, for the trace of clenbuterol.

Because of the delicate nature of this controversy we all need to be patient and wait until all the testing is complete and results in. I truly hope that Contador is innocent because neither he or the Tour need this bad publicity right now. Of course, like Floyd Landis, Contador will be stripped of his Tour win if found guilty. Cycling, and especially the Tour de France, has also been surrounded by dope scandals, with some suggesting that the Tour cannot be won without doping. This, of course, is ridiculous; if nobody doped, then the winner would be clean.

Australia's Big Day Out In Cycling

Australia has won 10 out of 11 cycling medals contested so far at the 2010 Commonwealth games in India. A lot countries would be happy with a single gold medal at a major games competition. Totally amazing! Here is how they did it:

• Shane Perkins won Australia’s 10th gold medal with victory in his pet event - the men’s sprint.
• Anna Meares won her third gold medal of the meet in the women’s sprint final.
• Teenager Megan Dunn grabbed her second in the women’s scratch race.
  
• The Australian men’s pursuit team shattered the Commonwealth record in taking gold.
• Then it was the men’s pursuit team’s turn to become gold medallists - Jack Bobridge, Michael Hepburn, Cameron Meyer and Dale Parker clocking a new Games record of 3min 55.476sec to beat New Zealand, who took the silver medal.
  
• It was the second gold medal of the Games for both South Australian Bobridge and West Australian Meyer.
• Bobridge, 21, won gold on Tuesday in the 4000m individual pursuit, while Meyer backed up from his men’s points race gold medal on Wednesday.
• Hepburn, 19, of Brisbane, added gold to his bronze medal won in the individual pursuit.

Rewarded for hard work, just like it should be!

Stephen Kearney, the Kiwi Rugby League coach who engineered the imposing but unexpected (to the Australian public) triumph over the Kangaroos in the 2008 World Cup has been rewarded for his efforts and innovation, by being selected as the Parramatta Eels new head coach in the NRL. An imposing player and character Kearney has been the assistant coach at the Melbourne Storm for the last five years.

Kearney is such a respected individual in league circles I am sure he will make an immediate impact on a club that surprisingly struggled under the leadership of Daniel Anderson. He was an inspirational and talismanic captain, who always led from the front. I know the Eels players will respect that and that he will stamp his authority and structure on the club, which they sorely need. It is almost enough to make a longtime Canberra supporter switch allegiances, as times definitely change, but unfortunately, Parramatta was always the league team I could not stand. So we shall see. Whatever the outcome, I wish big Steve all the best in his new role.

Kearney played 264 first grade games in Australia over 13 seasons from 1992-2004 for Wests Tigers, Auckland Warriors and Melbourne Storm, before concluding his career at Hull in the English Super League. He is still New Zealand’s youngest ever captain at 21 and has played 44 Tests for the Kiwis, placing him fourth in the Kiwis appearance list behind Ruben Wiki’s 55. Stephen has also been awarded New Zealand’s Order of Merit Medal.

Everybody have fun tonight, everybody Pat Chung tonight!

Patrick Chung is the latest New England Patriots hero. A kick blocker extraordinaire! Last night Patrick block a field goal, then blocked a punt and finally intercepted a pass from Chad Chenne and returned it for a touchdown. Never in the history of all the crazy games and antics that have taken place in the NFL never has a team scored a touchdown on a kickoff return, a blocked field goal return and an interception return in the same game.

However wonderful all these records are, having your Monday Night Football interrupted by a Condo Association Meeting is not my idea of fun! In fact I was absolutely fuming when I found out I had to attend and I uttered a few classified four-letter words. It probably showed in my demeanor during the proceedings, but, too bad as they say. The score was 7-6 to Miami when I left for the meeting and blown out by the time I returned. Nothing should get in the way of football!

Europe Deliver With Everything Ryding On The Final Match

Sporting contests that are decided in the very last minute or come down to a final drive or play, are those that are the best remembered and provide the greatest entertainment. The also bestow the best opportunity for a new ulcer, nails bitten down to the quick, or the direst need for a quick cigarette to calm the troubled nerves. The 2010 Ryder Cup in Wales was no exception when Europe prevailed 14½ to 13½, the narrowest margin possible, in the final game of the series. It just doesn't get any better than this.

Super Saturday saw Europe, with home field advantage, surge ahead with a series of wins, taking both foursomes. This took the Europeans from 6-4 down, to being up by 9½ to 6½. The favoured Europe side (how they were preferred with the world's #1 and #2 players on the American team is beyond me) were then expected to comfortably walk away with the trophy. But the U.S. staged a valiant fightback with Steve Stricker, Dustin Johnson, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jeff Overton and Zach Johnson all victorious in their matches.

With the scores locked at 13½ each, there was only one match left to play, pitting the U.S. Open Champion Graeme McDowell against Hunter Mahan for the big prize. McDowell sank a crucial 15-footer on the 16th green to move two up with two holes to play. He then shot a sound approach on the 17th leaving Mahan with a tricky putt from the edge of the green to salvage the match. Unfortunately, the American didn't sink it and the miss sparked jubilant scenes of celebration as the European fans invaded the course to mob their heroes. McDowell admitted later that the pressure during his win at Pebble Beach earlier this year was nothing compared to the tension he felt while standing over the putt at the 16th.

Who expected humble golf to provide such fireworks? In a game where sometimes the grass grows quicker than the play unfolds, it was absolutely heart-stopping at times. I still think that my Scottish ancestors who invented the game were just sheep-stealing larrikins with too much free time on their hands, but this years Ryder Cup was everything a top-notch sporting event should be. Congratulations to Europe, but the United States will be gunning for you next time, for sure!

Nolan Ryan hasn't lost his fastball

Republished from ESPN MLB. There is a statue of the Texas Rangers owner at Arlington's ballpark. Of course, there is a statue of George Steinbrenner at the new Yankee Stadium as well, but the big difference is the Nolan Ryan statue was erected before he became the team's owner in August. And if ever the Rangers someday feel the need to add a plaque honoring Ryan, they would have to make it twice as big as any other, not because of his ego, but simply to provide ample space for all that he accomplished as a player.

Which explains why this owner receives a whole lot more autograph requests than his players. This is not the situation with, say, Boston's John Henry.

"It's not even close," Rangers third baseman Michael Young says of the owner-to-player autograph ratio. "Nolan is synonymous with Texas sports. You think about the icons in our area and Nolan is at the top of the list, maybe even ahead of some of the Cowboys, or all the Cowboys. Nolan is just on a different level. It's another reason for us to realize how lucky we are.

"I can't think of another scenario where a guy has had such a significant impact on the field and now is calling shots as an owner."

Ryan, who bought an unspecified share in the Rangers with majority owner Chuck Greenberg in August, is the first former major leaguer to become a big league owner since Haywood Sullivan (192 career hits), who had a minority stake in the Red Sox, and the first Hall of Famer since Hank Greenberg (who was a partner with White Sox owner Bill Veeck). He also is the first owner with 5,700 strikeouts and seven no-hitters.

Ryan retired 17 years ago as a player, but he has not retired. He's just turned his competitive juices into transforming the Rangers from a last-place team when he took over as team president in 2008 to American League West champions this season. In other words, Stuart Sternberg better not try charging the owners' suite or they may learn the same lesson Robin Ventura once did.

To read the complete article written by Jim Caple, please click on the link "Nolan Ryan Hasn't Lost His Fastball".

Red River Repercussions

What the fudgination is happening here? Three perennial powerhouses of college football all fell out of the Top 25 rankings today. For Texas, it was for the first time in 10 years. The Longhorns, from my wife's home state, lost their second straight game Saturday, 28-20 to Oklahoma, leaving them unranked for the first time since Oct. 15, 2000. Their streak of 162 consecutive weeks in the rankings was the longest active streak in the country. It's almost inconceivable not to have Texas there, so hook 'em Horns, let's win the rest of your games.

The Ruck of the Irish

There is no tougher, grittier or bruising rugby match in Europe than when fierce Irish rivals, Munster play Leinster. This is especially so when the game is the first being played at their new Hall of Heroes, the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. As you might expect, the match between the two heavyweights was a very tight one throughout most of the game. It was basically a straight shootout between the place-kickers, until captain Brian O'Driscoll shunted Leinster ahead with a try in the 70th minute.

In typically Gaelic color the Irish Times described the game was "hardly a classic, though wincingly compelling viewing, a demolition derby bristled with naked intent." But almost nothing is more mesmerizing than a good old-fashioned slug fest, featuring old enemies in a local derby. With the win, Leinster moves to safety in the table and Munster, who had been undefeated until the weekend, retain first place, with a much reduced advantage. Nothing less than you expect in the Republic.

4 of a kind is the worst hand of all!

If anyone can commiserate with the St. Helens Rugby League Club, it would have the be the NFL's Buffalo Bills. This might, on the face of it, be an unrealistic comparison, but I remember clearly the painful years from 1991-1994 when the Bills won 4 consecutive AFC Championships only to be beaten each time in the Superbowl by NFC opponents. It is a harsh and grating record, especially to the Bills fine quarterback and 2002 Hall of Fame selectee, Jim Kelly.

Like the Bills, St Helens' (above in blue) suffered their fourth straight grand final defeat after losing 22-10 to the Wigan Warriors yesterday; and three previous deciders on the trot to Leeds. It was a sad way for Super League great Keiron Cunningham to exit the game after 496 matches, and 18 seasons, for the Saints. The defeat was also a dispiriting end to Mick Potter's two-year reign at the club. He leaves for Bradford as the only St Helen's coach not to have lifted a trophy in the Super League era.

It is clearly debatable whether the bitter taste of four straight defeats in a championship could possibly be sweetened by the fact that a team deserved to be in the contest. Probably not. The Buffalo Bills have never won another championship and probably haven't even come close. It remains to be seen whether the Saints will follow suit. Hopefully both teams can engineer a comeback or two over the next few seasons.

Cahill in the Pink!

Australia's best soccer player, Tim Cahill, lifted Everton off the bottom of the English Premier League with a stooping header in the final minute of injury time. Not only did the goal give Everton their first win of the season, but it broke Birmingham City's, 12-month home win streak. It was also Cahill's 100th Premier League goal.

Everton, who were unfortunate not to gain that first win at Fulham last weekend, move out of the bottom three and have plenty of time to challenge for the top-six place which is their annual target. It also may be a sign of things to come that the team was able to win away from home in their new, bright pink, away strip, which causes most of their fans to wear sunglasses at each game it is used. If the strip is going to have that kind of effect, they should wear it everywhere... it's not as if anyone else has anything like it!