Fast Break

Cycling

May be banned, Armstrong says

Lance Armstrong believes French doping officials may ban him from riding in this summer’s Tour de France over a report that he violated protocols during a recent drug test.

“There’s a very high likelihood that they prohibit me from riding in the Tour,” a somber Armstrong said Friday in a video statement posted on his Web site.

“It’s too bad. The tour is something I love dearly.”

France’s anti-doping agency, known as AFLD, has said the American did not fully cooperate with a drug tester when he showed up at Armstrong’s home in France to collect blood, urine and hair samples from the cyclist on March 17.

Although no banned substances were found, the dispute revolves around a 20-minute delay when Armstrong went inside the house and took a shower while his assistants checked the tester’s credentials.

College basketball

NCAA gets in student’s face

College sports fans, be careful of the company you keep on Facebook.

You might get yourself – and the program you support – in trouble.

That was the lesson this week for Taylor Moseley, a North Carolina State freshman who expressed a common- enough opinion on campus when he started the Facebook group called “John Wall PLEASE come to NC STATE!!!!”

More than 700 people signed up for the group encouraging Wall – a local standout and the nation’s No. 1 basketball recruit – to pick the Wolfpack by national signing day next week.

But the NCAA says such sites, and dozens more like them wooing Wall and other top recruits, violate its rules.

More than just cheerleading boards, the NCAA says the sites are an attempt to influence the college choice of a recruit.

Moseley got a cease and desist letter from N.C. State’s compliance director, Michelle Lee, warning of “further action” if he failed to comply.

Baseball

Driver charged in pitcher’s death

A 22-year-old man was charged with three murder counts and drunken driving Friday in the crash that killed Los Angeles Angels rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart and two others in Fullerton, Calif.

Andrew Thomas Gallo ran a red light in his minivan early Thursday and broadsided a car carrying Adenhart and three friends, police said.

“At the time of the crash, Mr. Gallo’s blood-alcohol content is estimated to be almost three times the legal limit,” Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said.

Gallo could receive almost 55 years to life in prison if convicted of all charges, Rackauckas said.