Armstrong’s Discovery team will disperse
The Lance Armstrong era in cycling is over.
Citing fractious leadership in the sport, constant doping allegations and the struggles of finding a new sponsor, Armstrong and the owners of his former Discovery Channel team said Friday the squad will disband after this season.
Armstrong said it was the perfect time to go out on top: Discovery’s Alberto Contador of Spain won the team’s eighth Tour de France title in nine years last month.
The decision shuts down the sport’s only elite professional team based in the United States. Armstrong retired from riding in 2005 but remained a visible co-owner of the team operated by Tailwind Sports.
“Tour de France winner Contador said he has always competed clean, rejecting doping accusations stemming from his alleged links to a Spanish drug investigation.
In a public statement read to the media, Contador said he intends to do all he can to aid investigators in the fight against doping.
“I am available to all competent authorities in the matter of doping, and will answer any questions, including providing my DNA,” he said.
Basketball
NBA robbers charged
Authorities charged four men in connection with the armed robberies of two NBA players in their Chicago area homes last month.
Police said they found nothing to indicate other athletes had been targeted.
New York Knicks forward Eddy Curry was tied up and robbed in his suburban Chicago mansion a few weeks after Miami forward Antoine Walker had been similarly robbed at his $4 million Chicago town house.
The suspects were identified as Phillip Allison, 28; Antoine Larkins, 28; Demorris Hill, 25; and Gregory Reedfields, 23, all of Chicago.
“Associate head coach Brett Reed was promoted to take over the program at Lehigh, three days after Billy Taylor left the Mountain Hawks for Ball State.
Miscellany
Beckham ups ratings
David Beckham’s presence in D.C. United’s 1-0 victory over the Los Angeles Galaxy immediately doubled the television rating for his Major League Soccer debut on ESPN2.
Beckham, who has been bothered by a bad ankle since joining the Galaxy last month, entered in the game’s 72nd minute. From 8:15 p.m. to 8:30 p.m EDT, the game had a 0.5 rating. For the next 15 minutes, when Beckham came on as a second-half substitute, the rating increased to 0.6. It then jumped to 0.8 from 8:45 p.m. to 9 p.m.
“Amanda Blumenherst, who led Duke to its third straight NCAA golf championship in May, beat her college and Curtis Cup teammate Jennie Lee 5 and 4 in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur in Carmel, Ind.
Blumenherst, the Division I player of the year, advanced to today’s semifinals against 15-year-old defending champion Kimberly Kim of Hilo, Hawaii, who beat South Korea’s Jennifer Song in 21 holes.
“After consulting with a fellow Big 12 Conference school, the University of Oklahoma wants the NCAA to strike a self-reported secondary rules violation from its record.