Taurasi's backup sample reportedly tests positive

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Taurasi's backup sample reportedly tests positive for a banned stimulant: Superstar Diana Taurasi's backup doping sample came back positive and she faces a possible two-year ban, Turkish news reports said Monday.

The Turkish basketball federation did not immediately confirm reports by the Dogan News agency and private NTV news channel. Neither news outlet cited a source. The Phoenix Mercury player, a four-time WNBA scoring champion, tested positive for the banned stimulant modafinil while playing in Turkey's professional league. She was leading that league in scoring at 24.6 points per game.

"(We've) seen those reports, but there is no official report," Taurasi's lawyer, Howard Jacobs, said. "It's disconcerting that it would come out before they finished the process."

Taurasi, 28, was tested after a Nov. 13 game and the positive result was confirmed last month. If the positive "B" sample finding is confirmed by Turkey's basketball federation, it could lead to a ban of up to two years for Taurasi. It could also put Taurasi's 2012 Olympics standing with the U.S. national team in jeopardy.

The International Olympic Committee bars any athlete given a doping penalty of six months or more from competing in the next Games. Taurasi has helped the U.S. team win gold medals at the past two Olympics.

Media

ESPN announcer was pulled from Fiesta Bowl radio coverage: ESPN pulled announcer Ron Franklin from its radio coverage of Saturday's Fiesta Bowl after he reportedly berated a female colleague the previous day.

Sideline reporter Jeannine Edwards, seeking to clarify the situation, wrote in an e-mail to USA Today that Franklin called her "sweet baby" in a condescending tone. Edwards said Franklin made the comment during a production meeting before Friday's Chick-fil-A Bowl.

Edwards said she told Franklin not to address her in such a manner, adding Franklin responded to her objection by using a derogatory term.

Edwards and Franklin worked the Chick-fil-A Bowl. Afterward, a colleague reported the production-meeting incident to ESPN management, Edwards said.

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