One can argue about auto racing being a sport I suppose, although it seems fairly well settled, at least among the western industrialized world. In India, however, it has proved to be a different matter altogether. It seems that Formula One racing, the world’s most popular form of auto racing, is not considered to be a sport, at least by the Indian government. I’ve never been a big of car racing myself, but I certainly think there is more to F1 racing, as both a spectator and a driver, than there is to Nascar with its endless left turns around an oval. There is no doubt, that there is skill involved in both forms of racing, but I guess in India, where 3-5 day cricket matches are king, it just qualifies as entertainment.

The long and winding story of the Phoenix Coyotes just got more interesting. While the group led by White Sox and Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf dropped its bid for the ‘Yotes, saying it couldn’t reach a satisfactory agreement with the City of Glendale over a lease of Jobing,com Arena, the NHL jumped in before the bankruptcy court imposed deadline to offer a bid of its own. That bad blood between Gary Bettman and Jim Balsillie must really be something awful, because Bettman is just not going to let Balsillie have this team if there is any way under the sun to prevent it.

There is one other group now bidding for the team, a collection of Canadian-American investors. Both their bid and the NHL’s is projected to be some $60 million below Balsillie’s which puts the Bankruptcy Court judge in a bit of quandary. Does he go with a lower bid that the league will obviously approve or with the bid that produces the highest return for the creditors but which the league has already disapproved? In short, does the Bankruptcy Court have the power to void that section of the league bylaws? If so, that would be precedent setting across the major professional leagues landscape and wreck havoc on the ability of any league to control the relocation of franchises.

Bankruptcy courts have a great deal of leeway in setting aside contract provisions that are detrimental to maximizing the return to creditors, especially where, as here, those provisions could be seen as favoring one bidder over another to the harm of the bankruptcy estate. While that by no means should be interpreted as saying he will overrule the NHL bylaws, it does give Balsillie an argument.

Maccabi Haifa took care of business today, defeating Red Bull Salzburg, the sister club to Red Bull New York, 3-0 at the National Stadium in Ramat Gan, Israel to advance to the group stage of the UEFA Champions League for only the second time in the club’s history. By advancing, Maccabi Haifa becomes the first Israeli club ever to reach the group stage for a second time, first reaching it in the 2003-03 season. Maccabi Tel Aviv is the only other Israeli club to advance – in the 2004-05 season.

Maccabi Haifa will be seeded fourth in its group and should expect to see some of Europe’s heavyweights pay a visit to Ramat Gan. While getting out of the group will be an enormous undertaking, the opportunity to see these clubs up close and personal will be something most Israeli fans will treasure, plus the financial impact advancing this far will have on the club is immeasurable.

A federal appeals court ruling today most likely ended Delaware’s foray into single game betting on college and professional sports.  The appeals court, hearing an appeal filed by the NFL, found that the single game betting proposed  by Delaware violated the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992.  The Court found that the exemption which Delaware enjoyed as a state which had sports gambling in place prior to passage of the statute applied only to the extent it conducted wagering in 1976, which in  Delaware’s case consisted of only multi-game parley bets.  Whether that means Delaware is also restricted just to football is not yet clear.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one already.  It’s getting to be old hat for Memphis and John Calipari; another trip to the Final Four, another investigation by the NCAA and another visit to the Final Four wiped off the record books.  Oh, the other thing that yesterday’s announcement had in common with the last time Calipari took a team to the Final Four only to see its record wiped out, nothing was pinned out Coach Cal.

Also while I was gone, a US District Judge in Kentucky pronounced sentences for the two Kentucky lawyers who formerly owned Curlin and who were convicted of defrauding their clients out of millions of dollars in the fen-phen case.  Judge Danny Reeves sentenced William Gallion to 25 years in prison and Shirley Cunningham Jr. to 20 years.  He also ordered them to more than $127 million in restitution and forfeit $30 million to the government.  Jess Jackson, owner of wonder filly Rachel Alexandra, is now the owner of Curlin.  He plans to eventually breed the two for what is hoped to be a “freak” offspring.

I’m back from travels into the land of the Wahoos, helping my daughter settle into her new apartment.  Seems like it was a weekend that was memorable in the sports world only for the epic collapse Tiger experienced on Sunday.  I guess we can expect to see a new putter in his bag the next time he steps onto a course.  Congratulations to Y.E. Yang, who played extraordinarily well for his first major win, especially in a final round pairing with Tiger.  CBS should send Yang a bonus check as it drew a 7.7/17 overnight rating, the highest for the PGA since 2002.  Don’t expect Tiger’s mini slump in the majors to last more than one year, as the US Open returns to Pebble Beach and the British Open returns to St. Andrews, both courses which Tiger has mastered in the past.

POsting will probably be light to nonexistent over the weekend and on into next week as I’ll be traveling with limited time and access, so you’ll just have to carry on without me. Fortunately you have Tiger trying for a PGA win, Mike Vick searching for a contract and Rick Pitino saying who knows how many Hail Marys to keep occupied til I get back. In the meantime, see if you get help the Chicago PD track down the Cubs fan who beaned Vitorino, or better yet, get the names of the Mexican fans who assaulted Lando when he took a corner late in the Azteca yesterday.

In an admission that I’m sure came as no surprise to anyone, Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitio had admitted to police investigators that he had consensual sex with Linda Sypher, the woman now indicted for extorting money from him. In addition, Pitino told police that he paid her $3,000 to have an abortion. His account, as related by the Courier-Journal, which obtained the Louisville Metro police records under an Open Records Act request, is consistent with the facts that had previously been made public, sketchy has they might have been.

Too much about Sypher’s claims of rape and sexual assault rang false from the beginning and as the details of Pitino’s account are unveiled, Sypher’s story is even more inconsistent and unbelievable. You can see for yourself at the C-J’s story here. What is perhaps most surprising is the casual nature of the original sexual encounter and the choice of partner Pitino made. Make your own judgement about that from the pictures accompanying this post. While I would not have thought the revelations would affect Pitino’s status at the University, and ultimately I don’t think it will, UofL President, Dr. James Ramsey, a long-time Pitino supporter, issued a carefully worded and not totally supportive statement:

“Several months ago Coach Pitino informed me about the alleged extortion attempt. I’ve now been informed that there may be other details which, if true, I find surprising. My thoughts are with Coach Pitino and his family.”

The door has clearly been left open to further action by UofL against Pitino either disciplinary or worse. AD Tom Jurich was unavailable for comment but issued a statement that said: “Coach Pitino has been truthful with us about this matter all along and we stand by him and his family during this process.”

Clearly this bizarre story will continue to be with us well into the opening of basketball season, much to Pitino’s chagrin.