Times wires
Thursday, May 19, 2011
broadcasting
book about ESPN: 'partying is a varsity sport'
NEW YORK — A book about ESPN due for publication Tuesday mixes a detailed corporate history of the 24-hour-a-day sports network with off-camera gossip and after-hours tales about the personalities there.
Some copies of Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN were distributed Thursday.
Weighing in at well over 700 pages, the tome is an oral history, with co-authors James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales saying in the introduction that they interviewed more than 550 people for it.
Miller and Shales also say that, at ESPN, "partying is a varsity sport."
cycling
Armstrong used drugs, cyclist says
NEW YORK — Tyler Hamilton, a former teammate of Lance Armstrong, told 60 Minutes that he used performance-enhancing drugs with the seven-time Tour de France winner to cheat in cycling races, including the tour.
Hamilton said Armstrong took the blood-booster EPO in the 1999 Tour and before the race in 2000 and 2001. Armstrong won the race every year from 1999-2005.
The interview was broadcast Thursday.
Armstrong has denied doping and has never failed a drug test. His attorney, Mark Fabiani, said Hamilton is seeking to make money by writing a book: "Greed and a hunger for publicity cannot change the facts: Lance Armstrong is the most tested athlete in the history of sports: He has passed nearly 500 tests over 20 years of competition."
Et cetera
nfl: Tim Tebow joined a dozen Broncos teammates for an informal offseason workout in Centennial, Colo. The second-year quarterback from UF said he looks forward to a competition with Kyle Orton to start: "You hope he does good, because the better he does, hopefully the better I'll do, and vice versa. I've always relished the opportunity to compete." … The Browns, concerned about the labor dispute, asked for a $25,000 break on their $225,000 rent on about 5,000 parking spaces on docks near their lakeside stadium. The team also wants a $20,000 discount for each home game lost.
tennis: Andy Roddick and Juan Carlos Ferrero withdrew from the French Open after failing to recover from right shoulder injuries. … Mardy Fish and John Isner, both Tampa residents, lost their matches as the United States fell to Argentina in the semifinals of the World Team Cup in Duesseldorf, Germany. Juan Monaco edged Fish 7-6 (7-4), 7-5. Juan Ignacio Chela beat Isner 6-1, 7-6 (7-1). The other finalist will be decided today among Germany, Serbia, Russia and Spain.
boxing: Nathan Cleverly will defend his WBO light heavyweight title against Aleksy Kuziemski on Saturday in London after Tony Bellew failed to make weight. On a bizarre day, Cleverly was declared champion after Juergen Braehmer was stripped of the title when he pulled out of the bout with an eye injury. Bellew became the challenger but failed to make weight and was replaced by Kuziemski.
Times wires