Bears Fan's $27,000 Game

I just saw this story and thought I'd share it.

Blade Runner Making Recovery

Double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius, known by many as the 'Blade Runner', is soon expected to be moved out of the Intensive Care Unit in a Johannesburg, South Africa hospital after he sustained injuries to his head and face during a boating accident Saturday.

Pistorius is still hoping to compete in the 100-m and 400-m events at the Paralympic World Championships in Manchester, England in May, pending his full recovery and medical clearance, according to his manager, Peet van Zyl.   

The sprinter missed qualifying for the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the 400 m sprint by .7 seconds. 

Here's a cool Nike commercial I found on YouTube of Pistorius from before the Beijing Olympics:

Tour of California Wrap Up

Levi Leipheimer of Team Astana won his third straight Tour of California Sunday, with a final time of 31 hours, 28 minutes and 21 seconds. Leipheimer led the pack in overall time during the nine-day tour from last Monday on. 

"It's the sweetest victory of the three," said Leipheimer in an interview with the Canadian Associated Press. 

The win solidified the cycling world's view of Leipheimer as a confident leader of a team with a lot of depth, according to ESPN.com's Bonnie D. Ford.  

Leipheimer is now looking to race in the Tour de France and the Tour of Italy.

Lance Armstrong, returning from retirement and playing the supporting role to Leipheimer, placed seventh overall. Not too shabby.

The Tour of California's coordinating board will be looking to lengthen the race and elevate it to the Pro Tour level in the coming years, giving America her first prestigious Pro Tour cycling race. 

"We think there should be a great race in the United States, and we don't see any reason why it shouldn't be us,"Andrew Massick, President of AEG Sports, said. 

photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Swedes Threatened after Russian Doping

After the drama over the Russian doping scandal, the International Biathlon Union is dealing with threats received by the Swedish biathlon team.

According to the Swedish team's coach Staffan Eklund, the threats may be coming from Russia. (The domain name in the addresses which the e-mails were sent from is the Russian '.ru'.)

Eklund said that the threats are probably coming in response to Sweden's anti-doping stance.

Mattias Nilsson and Bjorn Ferry began receiving threats via e-mail around the time the Russians tested at the World Cup event in January, Eklund told the Associated Press.

The e-mails, which Eklund believes were from angry Russian fans, did not specifically mention the doping, but contained phrases like "We're going to kick your a--," and "I hope you die of cancer", according to the Associated Press.

The biathlon season ends with a race at the Russian resort Khanty-Mansiysk. While the Swedish team still plans to attend, Eklund said that he wants security guarantees for his athletes.

The Swedish team is currently gathering the e-mails to present to the IBU executive board.

Three American Riders Crash and Abandon Tour's Third-Stage

Tour of California competitors were cursed with bad weather for the third consecutive day as they passed through the tour's third-stage yesterday.

Tour organizers shortened the stage for safety reasons, but three American riders, Ted King, Omer Kim and Ian Macgregor, crashed individually during the third-stage and abandoned the race.

Favorite Levi Leipheimer and other riders crashed after Leipheimer bumped wheels with Lance Armstrong.

"It was my fault," Leipheimer told the Associated Press. "I landed on my butt. It hurts, but nothing's broken."

Leipheimer recovered from the crash, and got back in the race to maintain his overall lead.

Thor Hushovd won the 101 mile stage from San Jose to Modesto with a time of 4 hours, 28 minutes and 12 seconds.

The Tour continues today with a 115.4 mile road race from Merced to Clovis.

Lance vs. Motorcycle

Lance Armstrong returned to cycling after a 3 1/2 year retirement for the Tour of California, and met his match when he collided with a crashed motorcycle Monday 80-miles into the tour's second stage.

Somehow, he still moved up a spot in the rankings, from fifth place to fourth.

Lance told the Associated Press: "A motorcycle for the photographer from the race crashed right in front of me. Unfortunate, but it could have been worse. I don't feel too bad, hip is a little banged up but overall a great day." 

You go get 'em, Lance. Leave it to a seven time Tour de France winner to get up from a crash like that and pull himself up in the rankings.

With the help of Spanish teammate Jose Luis Rubiera and quick access to a new bike from a team car, Lance got back in the race, and finished 30 seconds behind first-place Thomas Peterson.

Levi Leipheimer, defending Tour of California champ, finished a close second to Peterson, according to the AP.  

Besides Armstrong's crash, a group of 15 riders also crashed, probably due to the weather and road conditions Monday.

The tour continues through the week, and concludes Sunday in Escondido, CA.

*photo: Associated Press

Another Doper Outed

Believe it or not, doping is not limited to pro baseball players.

Three Russian biathletes, including world champion Yekaterina Iourieva, recently tested positive for banned substances, according to International Biathlon Union (IBU) President Anders Besseberg.

The athletes are barred from competing in the World Championships in Pyeongchang, South Korea and will face the IBU disciplinary panel once full lab results have been gathered.  

The testing was done before a World Cup event in Ostersund, Sweden in December, according to the Associated Press. 

Iourieva, Albina Akhatova and Dmitri Yaroshenko could each face a two-year ban, which would prevent them from competing in the 2010 Olympics.

"There is no, absolutely no excuse for what the three athletes and the people behind them have done," Besseberg said in a press-conference today. "We are here facing systematic doping by some athletes of one of the strongest teams. We have to ask ourselves if we caught them all now or if we have only seen the tip of the iceberg."

By testing and outing cheating athletes, the IBU aims to change their attitudes and those of their federations. 

"We try to establish a sound and continuous anti-doping program. Just punishing athletes is not enough to change the underlying attitudes," Besseberg said.

As of January 1, the IBU has legal rights to retest athletes, which is something they could not do before.

With all the recent news of illegal drug use going on in the world of sports, my question is this: Have athletics gone past the point of no return? 

Call me overdramatic and idealistic, but it seems that the purity of sport is being killed. 

*photo from Wikipedia