Clan-Members » theres worse to come. Thursdays Stage 18 not

OLYMPICSRyan Lochte lost three major sponsors when swimsuit company Speedo USA, clothing giant Ralph Lauren and skin-care firm Syneron-Candela announced in quick succession they were dumping the swimmer over a drunken incident during the Rio Olympics that he initially described as an armed robbery.Speedo USA also said it would donate $50,000 of Lochtes fee to Save The Children to benefit needy youngsters in Brazil.Initially, Lochte said he and three swimming teammates were robbed after their taxi was pulled over by armed men posing as police the night after the swimming competition ended in Rio de Janeiro.He has since apologized for embellishing his version of events.The financial costs of losing Speedo and Ralph Lauren are likely to be only the first sanctions that await Lochte, whose night of partying ended up tarnishing the reputation of the American team and dominating news away from the stadiums and arenas in the final days of the Rio Games that closed Sunday night.CARACAS, Venezuela -- None of Venezuelas 87 Olympic athletes won gold this year, but theyre getting another prize -- new homes from the government.Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced that all the countrys participants in the Olympics will get free housing upon their return from Rio de Janeiro. The apartments are part of the government housing program that is a cornerstone of the countrys socialist revolution.Maduro says this way the athletes will feel the love of their country.Venezuela won three medals at the Rio Olympics: silver in the triple jump, bronze in boxing and bronze in BMX cycling.MMALAS VEGAS -- Conor McGregor has received a medical suspension of up to six months following his five-round victory over Nate Diaz at UFC 202.McGregor outpointed Diaz in a bloody, tiring slugfest Saturday and came out with issues in his foot and ankle, including a possible fracture, and also said after the fight that his shin was sore from landing so many kicks. He hobbled into his post-fight press conference on crutches and needed assistance walking out.The medical suspensions arent uncommon. McGregor can have his waived if he is cleared by an orthopedic doctor. Otherwise, hes unable to train with contact until Oct. 5 and is suspended from fighting until Oct. 20, when he can be re-evaluated.Diaz came out of the fight with his face bloodied and swollen but was only issued a 30-day suspension.McGregor and Diaz both called for a third match between the pair, though UFC has insisted that McGregor first drop down to defend his featherweight title.BASEBALLNEW YORK -- Dwight Gooden has denied Darryl Strawberrys accusation that he is a complete junkie-addict, saying his former teammate is just taking it personally that Gooden couldnt make a scheduled public appearance with Strawberry last week.Strawberry told the New York Daily News that Gooden skipped an event organized by radio station WFAN and he worried Gooden has been using cocaine. Strawberry told the newspaper that Goodens son called him to beg him to help his father before he dies, adding that the condition Doc is in, its bad.Gooden says in a statement that he hasnt done cocaine in years. He apologized for Strawberrys inability to show more character and strength, saying he obviously was never there for me. Gooden claims he has always supported Strawberry, during his best and worst days.Gooden and Strawberry won back-to-back Rookie of the Year awards for the New York Mets in 1983 and `84. Drug abuse cut short both of their careers.OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Athletics fined Billy Butler and Danny Valencia after they were involved in a clubhouse fight last week that led to Butler being placed on the seven-day concussion list.The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Butler and Valencia began fighting over comments Butler made to an equipment representative prior to a game Friday at the Chicago White Sox. During the exchange, Valencia hit Butler in the temple before teammates stepped in to end the altercation.Butler sat out the series in Chicago with headaches and nausea.As general manager David Forst said Oakland -- among the worst teams in the American League -- would not suspend the players.FOOTBALLIRVINE, Calif. -- Former USC and Los Angeles Raiders quarterback Todd Marinovich has been arrested after being found naked with marijuana and possibly methamphetamine in a strangers backyard in Southern California.Irvine Police Cmdr. Mike Hallinan said that Marinovich was arrested Friday night after a call saying a naked man was on a hiking trail near homes. The officers found him in a backyard holding a brown bag containing marijuana and a substance that appeared to be meth but police are awaiting lab results.The 47-year-old Marinovich was a star quarterback at USC and the Raiders first-round draft pick in 1991, but drug problems drove him from the NFL after two seasons and he has had repeated run-ins with the law over drugs in the decades since.Contact information for Marinovich or an attorney who could comment for him could not immediately be found.Air Max 90 Saldi . SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. Air Max 95 Italia . The Celtics closed out their first preseason under Stevens on Wednesday night with a 101-97 victory over the Brooklyn Nets, who rested a lot of their lineup including former Celtics Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. http://www.outletscarpesaldi.it/air-max-270-prezzo-basso.html .ca! Kerry, Two nights after the Scott-Eriksson incident in Buffalo, the Bruins returned home to play San Jose. In that game, Zdeno Chara put a check on Tommy Wingels that clearly targeted his head. Saucony Scarpe Scontate . Inter president Erick Thohir says in a club statement on Wednesday that Vidic is "one of the worlds best defenders and his qualities, international pedigree, and charisma will be an asset. Air Max 270 React Saldi . Olli Jokinen, Mark Scheifele, and Bryan Little each had a goal and an assist as Winnipeg won 5-2, handing Calgary its record-setting seventh consecutive loss on home ice. GAP, France -- Hurtling too fast for comfort down a twisty, turning foothill of the Alps, Tour de France leader Chris Froome faced a high-speed choice between risk and reward. The Briton knew that 10 years previously almost day for day on exactly the same descent, Joseba Beloki shattered his leg, elbow and wrist bones rounding a corner too fast and Lance Armstrong plowed into a field to avoid the prone Spaniard howling in pain. So Froome wanted to go easy. Trouble is, Alberto Contador didnt. Against his better instincts, Froome chased after his Spanish rival who rode hell for leather on the treacherous downhill with asphalt made gooey and slippery by the July heat. Just like Armstrong, flirting with disaster nearly cost Froome the Tour. Contador crashed as he rounded a right-hand corner, forcing Froome to swerve around him off the road, onto the grass and to put a foot down to stay upright. Unlike Contador, who bloodied his right knee, Froome escaped with just a fright. Still, this drama on Tuesdays Stage 16 proved a point that Froome and his Sky team have made time and again: despite his big lead, Froome wont savour victory until hes on the cobbles of the Champs-Elysees in Paris on Sunday. "One second you could be going for the finish and about to win a race and the next youre lying in a ditch somewhere, with a broken bone," Froome said. "I knew it was the descent where Beloki crashed so I was purposefully laying off a little bit and trying to take it easy but at the same time also trying to keep touch with the Saxobank guys who were really pushing the limits." By that, Froome meant Contador and his Saxo-Tinkoff teammate from the Czech Republic, Roman Kreuziger, who are third and fourth in the overall standings but more than four minutes off the lead. Opportunities for them to claw back time are fast running out. The finish line in Paris is now just 668 kilometres (415 miles) and five days away. To their credit, they arent simply accepting defeat but are harassing Froome all the way. If Froome wins, the way his rivals have repeatedly tested the British rider over the three weeks should give him the extra satisfaction of a victory hard-earned. Stage 16 wound from Provence past vineyards, lavender fields and villages clinging to hillsides to the town of Gap, a staging post for what promises to be a grand finale in the Alps for the 100th Tour. For a long while, it seemed that the 168-kilometre (104-mile) trek to Gap from Vaison-la-Romaine, a charming town with old ruins near the Mont Ventoux where Froome won on Sunday, would be one of those Tour stages that dont amount to much. Apparently keeping their powder dry for the Alps, Froome and other main protagonissts allowed 26 riders -- none of them a podium threat -- to escape far ahead.ddddddddddddThe stage winner, Rui Costa, later emerged from that group, riding away on the days last climb, a 9.5-kilometre (6-mile) long ascent to Col de Manse, and then zipping down to Gap. Although the Manse climb is less arduous and less steep than the Ventoux, where Froome blasted past Contador, the Spaniard and Kreuziger used to it test the Briton and his Australian wingman, Richie Porte. Several times, Contador tried accelerating away. Kreuziger did, too. But Porte and then Froome alone wouldnt let them get away. To cool the asphalt, authorities doused the top of the climb with water. But Porte said the road down from there was sticky and slippery -- just as it was in the heat wave of 2003, when Belokis back wheel slid away from him on a bend, hurling him to the ground. Armstrong went on to win that Tour -- only to have that and all six of his other victories in cyclings premier race stripped from him last year for doping. On Tuesday, touching their brakes caused wheels to slip, Porte said. "All of us had a bit of a moment coming down there, losing the front wheel, back wheel," he said. Yet Contador was flying, with Froome in his wake. Rounding a sharp right-hander, "the bike got away from me," Contador said. "It was really difficult. In normal conditions I wouldnt have slipped like that, but it was very difficult terrain," said the 2007 and 09 champion, who was stripped of his 10 title for a failed doping test. "Sometimes you have to go for it, whether its at the start or the end of a stage." Froome said Contador "was taking too many risks." "All teams are starting to get desperate now and theyre taking uncalculated risks," he said. "In my opinion it was a bit dangerous from Alberto to ride like that, its not good." Worryingly for Froome, theres worse to come. Thursdays Stage 18 not only includes a double ascent to the ski station of Alpe dHuez, with its 21 hairpin bends, but also a harrowing descent that several riders have voiced concerns about. Having seen that Froome wasnt completely comfortable chasing after Contador on Tuesday, the risk now is that his rivals could try to unsettle him again on Thursdays downhill from Col de Sarenne. "It is a very dangerous descent. The road surface is not great," Froome said. "And there arent any barriers on the corners, so if you go over the corner then you will fall down a long way. Its a dangerous descent and I hope the riders are aware of that, that they dont take risks like they did today." ------ AP Sports Writer Jerome Pugmire contributed. ' ' '