Race-Walking Marred By Scandal!

Blood doping is assaulting our sports landscape as brutally as any other rule-bending plague out there.

The latest sport to fall victim - race walking, on the World Class scale of...

MOSCOW -- Five Russian race walkers, including world record-holder Sergei Morozov, have been suspended for two years for doping. Morozov, Viktor Burayev, Vladimir Kanaikin, Igor Yerokhin and Alexei Voevodin were sanctioned by the national federation for testing positive for the endurance-enhancing hormone EPO, the All Sport news agency said Tuesday. (AP)

Enhancement drug scandals in race walking. Is cheating officially everywhere?

Link:

5 Russian race walkers banned for doping (MiamiHerald.com)

London Olympics to Include Toilets Not Facing Mecca

The Olympic brass is already hard at work with the logistics of the London 2012 Games.

London - Olympic organizers issued detailed design rules for the 2012 London games Wednesday, including a mandate that at least some toilets in the Olympic park do not face the holy Islamic city of Mecca. (The Seattle Times)

The committee - deemed the Olympic Delivery Authority - says they're dedicated to creating an atmosphere that appeals to as many people from different cultures as possible.

More details like this to be flushed out I'm sure.

Links:

2012 Olympics rule: Toilets that don't face Mecca (Seattle Times)
Olympic Delivery Authority

U.S. Wins Ryder Cup, Again!

Little did we know that United States' victory last week in the Ryder Cup would not only mark the U.S.'s first victory in competition since 1999, but also a two-for-two in International team golf events in the past month.

I'm not sure what's more impressive, ending that near-decade long drought, or this...

On Aug. 22, Team USA capped off an impressive 14 1/2 to 9 1/2 victory over an International squad, in the annual College Park Cup, which is basically the Ryder Cup for amputee golfers.


The College Park Cup, first held in 1998, was founded by College Park Industries, a company that specializes in the manufacturing prosthetic limbs for athlete amputees. CPI also hosts the Extremity Games, an extreme sports competition for those who've lost limbs that was inaugurated last year.

Check out this amazing clip of a man demonstrating amputee golf...



Links:

Amputee golfers do well at international tourney (St. Petersburg Times)
NAGAgolf.org

Eight Belles Trainer Puts Himself Out To Pasture

Eight Belles, with Trainer Larry Jones

Larry Jones, who trained this year's Kentucky Derby runner-up Eight Belles, says he will retire after the 2009 Breeders Cup.

"I'm just physically tired, and it seems like I have a hard time keeping everybody happy," Jones said. (Kentucky.com)

Jones fell under intense scrutiny after Eight Belles' tragic collapse and death at this year's 2008 Kentucky Derby, criticism that he told the AP, "took a toll on his life."

This coming year's run for the roses will be Jones' last shot at the Kentucky Derby victory that has eluded him throughout his career. Along with Eight Belles, Jones trained Kentucky Oaks winner Proud Spell and Derby runner-up Hard Spun.

Links:

Eight Belles' trainer Jones to retire (Associated Press)

TOSS THE BURNER: Sep. 24, 2008

photo credit

Kings of Leon rocked Webster Hall last night. And Rolling Stone has deemed their newly released album Epic.

NAME THAT FALL TV STAR (The World or Isaac)
The Office: Sports Edition (NE Patriots Draft)
Rising NHLer KO’d By Evil Golf Cart (Sports By Brooks)
Keith Olbermann: The Goof That Changed The Game (via The Big Lead)
Diagnosing Chuck Klosterman (via Pop Candy)

...and here's KOL at Webster Hall back in 2005.

GOLFERS RESCUE PASSENGERS FROM PLANE CRASH!

Heroic linksmen ran to the aid of two passengers of a single engine Cessna that crashed shortly after a failed landing yesterday afternoon in Carlsbad, CA.

CARLSBAD – Golfers pulled two injured men from their two-seat plane that crashed into a ravine late yesterday afternoon after a touch-and-go takeoff from McClellan-Palomar Airport, authorities said.

The single-engine Cessna 152, rented in Long Beach, hit a brushy slope near the 16th hole of The Crossings at Carlsbad golf course, about half a mile northwest of the runway. (via SignOnSanDiego.com)

The golfers heard the plane sputtering overhead, before it went down falling 30-feet into a ravine! The two passengers, 19 and 22, suffered only fractures and cuts, and were said to be "alert but confused" as they were taken from the scene.

LINK:

Plane crashes into ravine; pilot, passenger hurt (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Doyle Brunson's Chips Fall with McCain...

He doesn't sound all in, but a recent blog post by Doyle Brunson, poker's most legendary maverick , on Doyle's Room makes him seem to be leaning towards McCain:

"It's hard to believe, but McCain has taken the lead in the Presidential race. They rolled the dice when they chose Governor Palin to run for Vice-President and they threw a seven, because she really turned things around for the Republicans."

Brunson then continued: "It's hard not to be in McCain's camp after listening to his life story. He really is an American hero. I'm not sure either Presidential candidate is the right person to lead our country over the next few years." (via 911gambling.com)

Brunson had initially said he'd be voting Democrat for the first time in his life this election.

In a survey of 1639 American Poker players, Yahoo! Sports UK reports that 64% support Obama over McCain, who both are apparently proficient poker players in their own right. Sarah Palin has also been known to play a few hands. However, the trump card (not to mix bad gambling puns, or nothing) goes to Joe Biden, whose son, according to 911Gambling, was a lobbyist for online gambling site PartyGaming.

If the most recently proposed $700 billion bailout goes through, if and when Obama gets elected it sounds like he might be playing short stacked, concerning his spending programs.

TOSS THE BURNER: Sep. 23, 2008

Kings of Leon celebrate today's release of their new album Only By The Night with a show at Webster Hall in NYC tonight. I'll be there, it should be pretty rockin'.

British Media Happily Teeing Off on Nick Faldo (FANHOUSE)
Four Major Labels Make Deal To Release Memory Card Albums (Rolling Stone ROCK N' ROLL DAILY)
Warren Sapp Sets Miami Football Back 25 Years (Hugging Harold Reynolds)
Even Ronnie Lott Knows The SEC Is Awesome (MoonDog Sports)
Magnetic Fields' Merritt Inspires Line of Footwear (Pitchfork Media)

The Mooks of Kickball, Part Six

Welcome to part six of my seemingly infinite discourse on the wacky (sometimes wackness) from the wide world of kickball.



Though we're not exactly sure what this edition's transgressor is up to, some guy who calls himself Kickball Jesus is pumping some kind of kickball meets desolation art exhibit in the Mojave Desert on his blog P.I.M.P.S (People Making Psychogeography Sexy)

Coming November 7th, 2008...

...Only at High Desert Test Sites (HDTS) The Worlds of Kickball and "Sub Fine" Art Collide in The Mojave Desert like Never Before!!

Stay Tuned for more info!!!

~Kickball Jesus (KJ)

Kickball's Second Coming also affiliates himself with an organization dubbed 'Kickball Jesus Speculative Ocean Front Property Development Corporation', which he owns the copyright on.

Whatever this is (probably just a guy whose government name is now kickball jesus), it will be the inaugural exhibit of the Wonder Valley Institute of Art, located in the cultural mecca of Mojave.

Links:

Wonder Valley International C(K)ickball Association (P.I.M.P.S)
Wonder Valley Institute of Contemporary Art

TOSS THE BURNER: Sep. 22, 2008

Travis Barker and DJ AM are expected to make a full recovery after sustaining second and third degree burns when their plane exploded during take-off over the weekend. My thoughts and prayers are with their family and friends. (via Pop Candy)

David Eggers Interviews Chris Elliot (The Sound of Young America)
Who do you want on your couch today? Obama or McCain? (The Shutdown Corner)
10 wild card players in the NBA this season (Cuzoogle)
Joey Porter, Anthony Smith: Tale of the Tape (NE Patriots Draft)
Jim Zorn To Steve Largent, Top Pass Combo, Video (NESW Sports)