Fast Break
Cycling
Armstrong may race if welcomed
Lance Armstrong still could race in the 2009 Tour de France, as long as race organizers make him feel welcome, Astana team director Johan Bruyneel said Tuesday.
“For the moment, we are going to determine his program based on where he is really welcome and invited … and we will see about the rest,” Bruyneel said.
The seven-time Tour champ expressed doubts last week over whether he would try for another Tour title because of the problems he might encounter with “the organizers, journalists and fans.”
Boxing
Title on line at Northern Quest
It’s Cristobal Cruz vs. Orlando Salido for the vacant IBF world featherweight championship Thursday night at Northern Quest Casino – and Salido isn’t shy about picking a winner in the nationally televised fight.
“The audience,” he laughed. “They’re going to be the winner watching two Mexicans out there just whooping each other’s butt.”
They do have some whoop. Cruz, from Tijuana, is a 31-year-old former IBO featherweight champ with a 36-11-1 record and 23 knockouts – and set a CompuBox record by throwing 1,580 punches in a decision over Thomas Mashaba last March. Salido, 27, from Ciudad Obregon, is 31-9-2 and won the IBF title in 2006 over Roberto Guerrero. He surrendered it after a positive test for Nandrolone.
They’re the 12-round main event in six-match card that starts at 5 p.m. and will be televised live on the Versus channel. Two undercard fights will also air – U.S. Olympian Demetrius Andrade’s junior middleweight pro debut against Patrick Cape (3-1), and a super-middleweight bout between Maxim Vlasov (13-0) and Don Mouton (7-2).
NFL
Vick may benefit from guilty plea
Former NFL quarterback Michael Vick plans to plead guilty to Virginia state dogfighting charges, a step that could allow him to qualify for an early release from federal prison and into a halfway house, court papers show.
In a motion filed Oct. 15 in Surry County Circuit Court, Vick’s attorneys asked to have him enter his plea by video teleconference. A hearing on the motion is scheduled for Oct. 30, Surry County Circuit Court administrator Sally Neblett said.
The court papers note that allowing Vick to appear on two-way video would save the government the considerable expense of transporting him from prison in Leavenworth, Kan., to Surry County. His guilty plea would also allow him to pursue a halfway house program.
Vick pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges tied to the dogfighting operation last summer and is serving a 23-month term.
The U.S. Bureau of Prisons lists Vick’s projected release date as July 20, 2009.