New faces in the top 25
The tumultuous times in the men’s college basketball season continued this week as a few unfamiliar teams crept into the Associated Press’ top 25 poll, including one team that hasn’t been ranked in over two decades. According to FoxSports.com, the University of Richmond is ranked twenty-fifth in this week’s poll, marking the first time the school has been nationally-ranked since 1986. Also making some serious noise is Kansas State University, which is ranked seventh in the nation, the highest the school has been ranked since 1962. At the top of the poll for the third-straight week is Kansas, which received 62 of the 65 first-place votes. Kentucky, which got the other three first-place votes, is ranked second. Rounding out the top five are Villanova, Purdue and Syracuse.
Luger expressed fear over track
Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili’s death in a training run crash last Friday cast a pall over the Opening Ceremonies and the entire Vancouver Olympic games, but it appears that the luger was concerned about the track before his final run. According to an interview with ABC News, the luger’s father, David, said Nodar expressed concerns about one of the turns on the track. David said that Nodar had trained there before and had raced on the track, and that he told his son to use his brakes when going into the turn if it worried him. However, Nodar told his father, who was also a luger, “No Dad, I will risk it, what will be will be.” Alterations were made to the track following the death of the 21-year-old Olympian, but the International Luge Federation seemed to place the blame on Kumaritashvili, as ESPN.com quoted a spokesman as saying he “did not compensate properly to make correct entrance into Curve 16.” A funeral for Kumaritashvili was held on Monday in Vancouver.
More lurid details emerge for Woods
Though it appears that the number of alleged mistresses isn’t going to climb anymore, more scandalous details about Tiger Woods’ numerous extramarital romps continue to emerge. According to a report in the New York Daily News, Woods made several payments to two women to keep them from releasing compromising photos or video footage of the golfer. A source told the News that Woods was involved in a threesome with both of the women when one took out a cell phone or a video camera, a move that caused Woods to go “ballistic,” chased the woman down and confiscate the recording device. The same source then said that Woods’ handlers made regular payments to keep the women quiet. Also, in an interview with Inside Edition, one of Woods’ mistresses, adult film star Joslyn James, alleged that Woods impregnated her twice over the course of their affair, with one pregnancy ending in miscarriage and the other ending in an abortion.
Warrant issued for cyclist Landis
American cyclist Floyd Landis, who won the 2006 Tour de France only to have the title stripped when he failed a drug test, has a warrant out for his arrest in France. According to TSN, a judge in Nanterre, a suburb of Paris, wants to question Landis about a data hacking incident at the laboratory where Landis’ doping samples were tested. Pierre Bordry, the head of France’s anti-doping agency, said that Landis had a hand in stealing the files, and used the hacked files for his defense. His appeal was rejected and Landis was banned from the sport for two years. TSN said that the warrant is only enforceable on French soil, but that “it is possible…to issue an international warrant at a later date if needed.” Landis’ 2006 win featured an amazing comeback during the mountain stages of the famed cycling race, but it was revealed in a drug test after the race that his testosterone levels were nearly three times the legal limit.
