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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Adrian Beltre, Texas Rangers reportedly are close to long-term deal | Baseball

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Ex-Mariner Beltre drove in 102 runs for Boston last year: All-Star third baseman Adrian Beltre and the American League champion Texas Rangers are nearing agreement on a contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The Dallas Morning News reported Beltre's contract "will be reported as a six-year deal worth $96 million, but the last year of the contract is voidable if Beltre doesn't reach certain plate-appearance thresholds ... The first five years of the deal will be worth $80 million."

Ex-Mariner Beltre, 31, played for the Boston Red Sox last season and hit .321 with 28 homers and drove in 102 runs. He is a two-time Gold Glove winner.

Beltre became a free agent after turning down a $10 million player option to stay with Boston.

Orioles, reliever Gregg reportedly agree on contract: The Baltimore Orioles reportedly have agreed to a $10 million, two-year contract with right-handed reliever Kevin Gregg, 32.

Gregg was 2-6 with a 3.51 earned-run average and 37 saves for Toronto last year.

Dotel to join Blue Jays: Reliever Octavio Dotel has agreed to a $3.5 million, one-year contract with the Toronto Blue Jays. Dotel, 37, was 3-4 with a 4.08 ERA last year for Pittsburgh, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Colorado.

The Blue Jays gave a minor-league contract to Chad Cordero, 28, who was 0-1 with a 6.52 ERA for the Mariners last year.

Buckner to manage in Massachusetts: Former Boston first baseman Bill Buckner, 61, has agreed to become manager of the independent-league Rox of Brockton, Mass. He is perhaps best known for a 10th-inning error in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series that gave the eventual champion New York Mets a series-tying victory.

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'Sunday Night Football' rules prime-time

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How's this for the power of NFL games? For the first time, a sports TV series, NBC's Sunday Night Football, is the most-watched TV show in prime-time, ahead of any reality, drama or comedy series this season. SNF averaged 21.8 million viewers, up 12% from last year. That gave the NFL's Sunday prime-time game a higher average viewership than No. 2 Dancing with the Stars (20.5 million), according to NBC. It's the first time a sports series has ranked as the most-watched show from the start of the TV season on Sept. 20 through the end of the NFL regular season.

Of course, SNF still has to beat Fox's American Idolwhich returns to the air Jan. 19-20. But Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Universal Sports and Olympics and executive producer of SNF, says its the first time in 40 years a sport series hit No. 1 in prime-time. Even ABC's original Monday Night Football, which he started working on with TV pioneer Roone Arledge in 1970, never made it, he says. SNF finished No. 3 behind Idol and Dancing during the last full TV season which ran from Sept. 20 through late May.

The achievement means "a lot," says Ebersol. "To finally see (the NFL) become TV's No. 1 program is unbelievable. It's never happened with any sports series."

Ebersol says 14 of NBC's 18 games this season were still in doubt at the two-minute warning. In a statement, Howard Katz, the NFL's senior vice president of media and operations, says the audience growth is a "testament to the great action on the field featuring close games with exciting and unpredictable finishes — coupled with the outstanding work and promotion by our partners."

So what's behind the growth? Ebersol says it started when Katz started building the "spine" of the league's TV schedule around CBS and Fox's heavily watched late afternoon Sunday games as well as NBC's SNF and ESPN's MNF prime-time games. The result? All five of the NFL TV partners — CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN and its own NFL Network — are posting big audience gains for the last three years

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Ron Franklin Fired! Was Reaction to Jeanne Edwards Comments Too Harsh?

In today's world, it seems that almost any topic is open for debate. While I was gathering facts for this article, I was quite surprised to find some of the issues I thought were settled are actually still being openly discussed.



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On Tuesday ESPN announcer Ron Franklin was fired in reaction to making not just making derogatory but sexist comments to fellow ESPN reporter Jeannine Edwards.

Initially he was just pulled from announcing the football game on Saturday, but after calling Jeanne Edwards not just “sweet cakes” but an “a-hole,” ESPN took the bold move to fire him. But was that a overreaction to his very questionable way of addressing a co-worker?

After the events took place, he did apologize for his remarks saying, “I said some things I shouldn’t have, and I’m sorry,” Franklin said in a statement issued by ESPN. “I deserved to be taken off the Fiesta Bowl.”

But it wasn’t just the Fiesta Bowl at stake, it was his entire career.

ESPN said about the events over the weekend, “We made a late play-by-play change to the Fiesta Bowl radio team. We’re not going to get into specifics other than to say adhering to our personal conduct policies and showing respect for colleagues are of the utmost importance to our company and we take them extremely seriously.”

Do you think he should have just been suspended or maybe demoted? Or do you think being fired was an appropriate action by ESPN? But at least it’s a good lesson for the kids! Make sure to treat everyone with respect!

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ESPN's Franklin apologizes for comments

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sportscaster Ron Franklin, yanked from calling Saturday's Fiesta Bowl, apologized Monday for alleged sexist comments made to a colleague.

Franklin was scheduled to do the play-by-play of the Fiesta Bowl on ESPN Radio but network officials told SI.com he had been pulled from the broadcast.

The move came after the Web site SportsbyBrooks reported Franklin had drawn the wrath of the broadcaster for allegedly referring to colleague Jeannine Edwards as "sweet cakes" and an "a--hole" before the start of a meeting with Florida State coaches Friday before the Chick-fil-A Bowl.

"I said some things I shouldn't have, and I'm sorry," Franklin said in a statement issued by ESPN. "I deserved to be taken off the Fiesta Bowl."

The network said it has replaced Franklin with Dave Lamont.

"We made a late play-by-play change to the Fiesta Bowl radio team," ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz told SI.com. "We're not going to get into specifics other than to say adhering to our personal conduct policies and showing respect for colleagues are of the utmost importance to our company and we take them extremely seriously."

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