Shearer, Holmes in Sport Relief fundraiser

he celebrated British sports stars, Alan Shearer and Kelly Holmes, will be in Cape Town over the weekend as guests of UK fundraising giant Comic Relief and BBC Sport.

Shearer was one of the finest strikers of his generation and was capped 63 times for England's national football side.

He still holds the record as the all-time top scorer in the English Premier League with 260 goals, which he accumulated while playing for Southampton, Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United.

In 2001 he received his Order of the British Empire from the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

Holmes is a double Olympic gold medallist after her all-conquering 800m and 1500m performances in 2004 at the Athens Olympics.

The retired middle distance athlete still holds numerous British records and her achievements were recognised the Queen who appointed her as a dame in 2005.

Comic Relief will be staging the Sport Relief Mile in Cape Town on Sunday and all the funds raised will go to Child Welfare South Africa for their many child protection and HIV & AIDS programmes, which takes in over two million children.

The race will start and finish at the V&A Waterfront and the route will take athletes past the magnificent new Cape Town Stadium.

The BBC will be filming the event and will flight a special two-hour BBC Entertainment Sport Relief TV Show that will be broadcast across Africa later on Sunday at 7.30pm.

Shearer and Holmes will be the television presenters.

The show will feature all the highlights from the day's event including interviews with celebrities, sports stars and other participants.

Comic Relief UK's Director of Global Strategy, Amanda Horton-Mastin, said the two stars have offered to lend their support to a worthy cause at a time when football fever was hotting up ahead of the World Cup in South Africa.

"Sport Relief wants to capture the excitement of the World Cup in South Africa and establish the Sport Relief Mile model of fundraising to raise money for disadvantaged children in South Africa," said Horton-Mastin. - Sapa

US-SPORTS Summary

Stingy Cavaliers defense clips Hawks wings

ATLANTA - The Cleveland Cavaliers used stingy defense and a fourth quarter burst to beat the Atlanta Hawks 95-84 on Tuesday and post their fifth straight win. Mo Williams shot a team-high 20 points and LeBron James 14 with 10 assists and eight rebounds for the Cavaliers, who scored 10 unanswered points early in the fourth quarter and then choked the Hawks offense to coast to victory.

Coyotes beat Canucks for 10th straight home win

PHOENIX - The Phoenix Coyotes maintained their hot streak on home ice after a 3-2 shootout win over the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday earned them a 10th successive home triumph. Lauri Korpikoski scored the only goal in the shootout to beat the Canucks and improve the Coyotes' home record to 16-5-0 on the year.

Nadal feels in better shape for 2010 season

MADRID - World number two Rafael Nadal believes he is in better shape for the start of the 2010 tennis season than he was this year despite having a relatively short time to prepare. Nadal, who was plagued by knee and stomach injuries during 2009, helped Spain to a crushing victory over Czech Republic in this month's Davis Cup final and has had only three weeks to train for the new season.

Usain Bolt reminds the world why sport means so much to so many

LONDON - Amid the soaring triumphs and tawdry scandals underscoring the first decade of the new millennium, Usain Bolt reminded the world why sport captivates and exalts so many people. A roar of disbelief greeted the tall Jamaican in Beijing's Bird's Nest stadium last year after he shattered the world 100 record and became the first person to run under 9.7 seconds.

Tiger Woods scandal cost shareholders up to $12 billion

MIAMI - The sex scandal that engulfed Tiger Woods may have cost shareholders of companies endorsed by the world's No. 1 golfer up to $12 billion in losses, according to a study by two economics professors from the University of California, Davis. The study, released on Monday by researchers Victor Stango and Christopher Knittel, gave an estimate for damage to the market value of Woods' main sponsors caused by revelations of alleged extramarital affairs that surfaced after he was involved in a minor car accident outside his Florida home on November 27.

Seven teams, two AFC wildcard slots

MIAMI - Seven teams remain in contention for the AFC's two wild card places before Sunday's final round of regular season play in one of the most complex playoff run-ins for years. While all the NFC's playoff spots have been taken and only the positioning is at stake on Sunday, there are all manner of scenarios in the other conference.

Lions release FB Terrelle Smith

The Lions have released fullback Terrelle Smith and claimed guard Roy Schuening off waivers from Oakland.

mith started Sunday at Baltimore, playing for the first time in four games. His departure leaves Jerome Felton as the only fullback on the roster.

Schuening, listed at 6-foot-3, 315 pounds, has played only one NFL game. That was last year as a rookie in St. Louis, where Lions offensive coordinator Scott Linehan began the season as head coach. The Rams drafted him in the fifth round last year out of Oregon State.

People in Sports | Kevin Durant

Kevin Durant: He's just 21, but the Oklahoma City Thunder star sounds like a grizzled veteran when he notes that for all the potential his team has with himself, Jeff Green, Russell Westbrook and James Harden — all among the top five picks in the past three NBA drafts — there also comes peril.

"You're going to have highs and lows, especially with us growing as a team, us being young," he said. "But we've got to make up for that with working hard and playing hard in games. I think that'll limit that. It starts with me being a leader."

Durant averaged 25.3 points — sixth in the NBA in 2008-09 — but the Thunder led the league in turnovers.

The glimmer of hope comes from the end of last season, when the Thunder — in its first campaign since moving from Seattle — finished 20-30 after a horrid 3-29 start.

'Big Fan' captures the extreme of sports mania

We scream and howl at people we don't know – probably never will know – and we spend good money for the right to do so. Events that have absolutely nothing to do with our lives can send us into an emotional tailspin. Our passions are thoroughly irrational and we couldn't care less.

We are, of course, sports fans. We belong to the same worldwide tribe as Paul Aufiero (or "Paul from Staten Island," as he identifies himself on his favorite radio call-in show), the New York Giants fanatic who suffers a big breakdown over the course of Big Fan, which opens today.

How big a fan is Paul? He gets beaten to a pulp by his favorite player, a fictitious and ferocious defensive lineman named Quantrell Bishop. And once he comes out of his coma, he's the one who feels guilty.

Put yourself in Paul's shoes. You live and die with every Cowboys game. You approach Dallas linebacker DeMarcus Ware at a club and he pummels you within an inch of your life. Then you apologize for creating a Jessica Simpson-sized distraction to the team.

Big Fan writer-director Robert Siegel, a New Yorker who grew up cheering for the New York Mets and the Pittsburgh Steelers, conceived of the film as "a tale of unrequited love." It's a condition with which most sports fans are familiar. "Fandom in general is a one-way street," Siegel says by phone. "It's easy to think you have a relationship with players, but you don't. Players talk about fans in the abstract, as in 'the fans were great.' But it's not like they know you're alive."

That's the rub for Paul, played by Patton Oswalt. He lives his life as a regular caller on the airwaves of WFAN, where he wages verbal warfare with rabid Eagles fan Philadelphia Phil (Michael Rapaport), and in the parking lot of Giants Stadium. He never has tickets, so he watches the games on a rickety TV powered by his car. He worships fervently but from a distance.

Reality intrudes when that distance is brutally shortened by his idol's fists. Now what? How to continue the rituals of fandom? How to go back to the way life was? His sports fan's cognitive dissonance – that mental disconnect that allows us to invest overpowering feelings in millionaire strangers – is thrown for a violent loop. Paul's escapist fantasy has become an existential crisis.

Big Fan is hardly the first fictional attempt to explore the fan's psyche. In Tony Scott's The Fan (1996), a deranged loner and San Francisco Giants fan played by Robert De Niro terrorizes a spoiled, Barry Bonds-like superstar (Wesley Snipes) and his family. The slugger has nothing but contempt for the fans. The stalker takes personal offense. The Fan eventually becomes a rote, harebrained thriller, but until then it brings a vicarious jolt to viewers fed up with such easy scapegoats as astronomic salaries and aloof jocks.

But Big Fan's best antecedent comes from the world of literature, not film. Frederick Exley's autobiographical novel A Fan's Notes (1968) is, like Big Fan, about a New York Giants partisan with an otherwise empty life. He lives with "a feeling that football was an island of directness in a world of circumspection. In football a man was asked to do a difficult and brutal job, and either he did it or got out." He finds himself "relying on the Giants as a life-giving, exalting force." Exley's protagonist has demons far stronger than Paul's: He drinks with a sense of perpetual desperation, and he spends much of the book checking in and out of mental hospitals. His self-aware streak also sets him apart from his Big Fan counterpart, and makes him a captivating, and devastating, first-person narrator.

For the sake of disclosure, let me point out that I'm hardly above the fray of sports obsession. I stayed in bed the day after the Giants (baseball, not football) choked away the World Series in 2002. More recently, the sight of the Mavericks coughing up the 2006 NBA Finals put my stomach in Windsor knots for days on end. I consider myself a fairly well-adjusted person. Unlike Paul from Staten Island, I don't live with my mom. I have a life and a career. Doesn't matter. I caught the fan bug early, and I imagine I'll carry it to my deathbed.

Yes, Paul and Exley are extreme examples of a common breed. They use fandom to fill a gaping void. And, as Siegel points out, the salve doesn't always have to be sports. "It's no different to me than people who live through their favorite band or rapper or actor," he says. "I don't think everybody is obsessed, but on some level it's relatable to anybody who lives through things that have nothing to do with their daily lives."

Just don't tell that to Paul. Not after he went and took one for the team. As the song says, love hurts.

Big East, Champs Sports Bowl agree

he Big East announced a four-year agreement Tuesday that will give the Champs Sports Bowl the choice of any conference team not headed to a Bowl Championship Series game.

But under the deal, the conference runner-up may have to step aside in favor of Notre Dame once during those four years.

The Big East's No. 2 had gone to the Gator or Sun Bowls under an arrangement that also involved Notre Dame as well as the Big 12. That agreement ends after this season.

The new deal allows the Champs Sports Bowl to pick Notre Dame over a Big East team once, if the Fighting Irish's record is at least 7-5 and within two wins of the Big East's No. 2 school, said Steve Hogan, the chief executive of Florida Citrus Sports, which runs the bowl.

That means a 9-3 Big East team could lose its spot in the bowl to a 7-5 Notre Dame squad.

Big East Commissioner John Marinatto defended the arrangement as good for both the conference and Notre Dame, which is a Big East member in other sports.

"We provide them with the opportunity to get to a bowl like the Champs Sports Bowl and they provide us with the opportunity to upgrade to a bowl like the Champs Sports Bowl," he said.

Hogan said the bowl did not require that the Big East include Notre Dame in the deal.

"You could fairly say that a Big East deal would have been done if Notre Dame wasn't part of the package, but the fact that they are makes it that much more attractive," he said

Notre Dame has been part of the Big East bowl package since 1998, when it became clear that all the bowls were making conference tie-ins, said John Heisler, Notre Dame's senior associate athletic director. The Irish have taken the Gator Bowl spot just twice since then, he said.

"As this evolved, for us it was a BCS-or-bust type situation," he said. "So this kind of became something that seemed to make sense based on our relationship with the Big East, and it's now been added to by some scheduling opportunities between us and Big East schools."

The Big East champion goes to a BCS Bowl. The runner-up this season will head to the Gator Bowl. The league also has tie-ins this season to the Meineke Bowl, International Bowl, Papajohns.com Bowl and St. Petersburg Bowl.

The league has not announced any other deals for next season, but Marinatto said talks with the Sun Bowl and others are ongoing, and he expects more announcements soon.

The Champs Sports Bowl will be played either Dec. 27, 28 or 29, 2010, and will pay each participant about $2.5 million.

Hogan said the Big East's opponent has not been determined, but the bowl remains in talks with the ACC, which had previously played a Big 10 opponent in the game.

"We remain in discussions on that side of the ball, along with several other conferences," he said. "I'm hopeful that we can close out that side of our game in the next week to 10 days."

Sports fans getting last tours of Texas Stadium

Jon Henderson stood in a suite at Texas Stadium, spouting off player statistics in a rhythmic staccato.

A father and his son listened as their tour guide's fast facts turned to the stadium itself. Among other things, Mr. Henderson explained that the mammoth scoreboard and video screens weigh 20 tons and are held up by four large bolts.

"I try to make a point of never sitting under them," Mr. Henderson quipped before ushering tourgoers through the hall, down an elevator and into the Dallas Cowboys' locker room.

For Jerry and Ben Brown, this tour was a last chance to catch firsthand glimpses of the legendary structure before the Cowboys vacate it for a new stadium next year. For Mr. Henderson, it was among the last times he'll guide sports fans on an inside look at Irving's most well-known landmark.

Tours are set to end Dec. 22, and the city plans to tear down the stadium after the team moves to Arlington.

"I never thought I'd see this place go," said Mr. Henderson, 41, the stadium's main tour guide, who once played on the famed field as an Irving MacArthur High School football player. "I caught myself choking up about it the other day."

Dallas Cowboys officials said they've seen a spike in the number of people touring the structure this season as fans clamor for final looks at the home of America's Team.

On Wednesday, Ben Brown drove from Edmond, Okla., to pick up his father in Sherman and head to Irving for one last look at their favorite team's home for more than 37 years.

"Just being big fans, we wanted to see parts of it before it was gone," Jerry Brown said.

One of the best moments? Walking down the tunnel and onto the field.

"It's a special feeling if you've always been a fan," said Ben Brown, who was a kid the last time he set foot on Texas Stadium's field during an open practice in the early 1970s.

And what did they think of their tour guide?

"He was full of information," Ben Brown said. "Of course, I'm a big fan, so most of the stats he rattled off I'm familiar with."

It took Mr. Henderson two weeks to learn many of those stats. A longtime Cowboys fan, he knew plenty about the team's most renowned players. But the stadium facts took more time to memorize.

Mr. Henderson estimates he's given more than 10,000 stadium tours since his first in 2003. These days, he effortlessly walks backward through curved hallways and around corners as he guides Cowboys fans throughout the stadium. Unnoticeable tricks such as tracking the lights in the center of the ceiling keep him from backing into anything.

It's a job that's given him access to some of his favorite football players. And introduced him to countless kids named Dallas, Troy and Emmitt.

Mr. Henderson has witnessed plenty of proposals from men who bent down on one knee on the star in the center of the field. He even saw one woman flash her husband from the star.

"You try to remember this is somebody else's vacation, and it puts a smile on your face," he said.

He admits he's going to have trouble walking backward when he first starts tours at the new stadium next year. And there's going to be a bevy of new statistics to learn about the new place. Still, he said, he's landed a pretty good gig for a kid who grew up in Irving loving the Dallas Cowboys.

He said: "I bleed blue and silver."

Top Volunteers Line up For Awards - UK Athletics Annual Awards

Volunteers are set to take pride of place at the UK Athletics Annual Awards Dinner supported by Heidsieck & Co Monopole Champagne with the Volunteer of the Year to be announced at the event on Saturday 29 November.

With the panel agreeing that this shortlist was one of the hardest to decide, the runners and riders vying for the national award are:


Alex Donald – Wales

Alex Donald joined Cardiff AAC in the early nineties at the age of 11 and since then has built up an impressive range of duties within the club to include coaching the middle distance group, officiating, and his work on the Welsh Athletics Road Running Committee

Andrea Heslip – Northern Ireland

Andrea Heslip coaches at Dromore AC, but her role in many other parts of the sport alongside Athletics Northern Ireland made her nomination all the more impressive. Her work with local schools has helped recruit new youngsters to the club, and her assistance in running schemes as well as her boundless enthusiasm has made an impact in her area.


Ted Toft – East Midlands

Ted was nominated in recognition of more than 40 years service during which he has spent time volunteering as a coach for hurdles and endurance, organising track and cross country leagues, road races and as working as a founder member of Leicester Coritainians. An official at County, Midland and National level, he also organised the Leicester Marathon and the Leicester Road Running League.


Steve Winfield – East Midlands

The Belper Harriers Secretary is recognised for his significant contributions to the club, during the last decade he has clocked an immense level of club related duties from competition organising, kit and logo design, developing mentoring schemes, hosting events, running the website and membership, funding applications and general work that benefits his club.


Jim Young – Scotland

Jim Young has been an active member of Kilmarnock Harriers for more than 50 years as an athlete, coach and committee member. He has been instrumental in the club’s development using his skills from his career as a manager in a global company to ensure the club has a clear structure for athletes, coaches and all other members.

India play Pak in ICL 20s World Series opener

ICL India will take on defending champions ICL Pakistan, led by Inzamam-ul-Haq, in the opening match of the ICL 20s World Series at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad on November 23.

The young Indian side, to be captained by R Satish, will play their next round-robin league match against ICL Bangladesh, to be led by former skipper Habibur Bashar, on November 26.

The fourth team in fray, ICL World under Kiwi Chris Harris, will play their first match in the four-team tournament against ICL Bangladesh on November 24.

The top two teams will qualify for the summit clash on November 29.

The tournament offers a prize purse of Rs 2.74 crore. The winners stand to gain Rs 1.25 crore and runners-up Rs 75 lakh. Winners of each match will get Rs 10 lakh while the Man of the Match will be richer by Rs 2 lakh.

Schedule:

Nov 23: ICL India vs ICL Pakistan
Nov 24: ICL World vs ICL Bangladesh
Nov 25: ICL World vs ICL Pakistan
Nov 26: ICL Bangladesh vs ICL India
Nov 27: ICL Bangladesh vs ICL Pakistan
Nov 28: ICL World vs ICL India
Nov 29: Final.

Indian eves crush Germany; men beaten

Asian champion Tania Sachdev continued her superb form to beat Ketino Kachiani-Gersinka, while Mary Ann Gomes accounted for Sarah Hoolt to help the Indian women's team beat Germany '1' 3-1 in the fourth round of the 32nd Chess Olympiad here.

However, the Indian men lost narrowly to top seed Russia in the open section after P Harikrishna's heroic efforts that netted him a victory over Peter Svidler went in vain.

The 1.5-2.5 loss at the hands of the best team in the Olympiad saw the Indians slip to joint 10th spot on six points out of a possible eight while Russia maintained a clean slate.

The lead is now shared by Russia and Germany '1' on eight points each and there are seven teams following them with 7 points in their kitty. The Indian men will meet Austria in the next round.

In the women's section, China outclassed Armenia by a huge 3.5-0.5 margin to share the lead with Polish ladies who downed Serbia 2.5-1.5.

With two teams on 8 points, the Indian women are now joint third on seven points and share it with Russia, Georgia and Hungary whom they meet in the next outing here.

It all summed up well for the Indian eves as Tania came up with another fine performance on the second board to beat Ketino, a former Georgian who now plays for Germany.

Playing black, Tania employed a setup akin to the Benoni and was duly rewarded when Ketino went for insipid play in the ensuing middle game.

Declaring her intentions to fight for a bloody battle, Tania marched her king side pawns early to gain control and Ketino's counter-play did not materilise. The game lasted 41 moves.

Jharkhand expects Dhoni to grace National Games

Jharkhand Olympic Association on Monday said they expect India cricket captain MS Dhoni to attend either the opening or closing ceremony of the 34th National Games to be held in the state.

"If Dhoni is available, we will certainly invite him as one of the guests on the inaugural or closing day of the National Games," said Games organising secretary SM Hashmi.

Originally the Games were slated to start on November 30, but the Indian Olympic Association accepted a request by Jharkhand Olympic Association (JOA) for extension and could announce fresh dates soon.

"We don't know when the dates will be announced. But will be ready with infrastructure when the IOA announces new dates," Hashmi, also the Secretary-General of JOA, said.

He dismissed apprehensions that the IOA might slap the Rs one crore mandatory fine for failing to hold the Games in this calender year.

"It is not our fault because the previous Games in Assam had been delayed," contended Hashmi.

The IOA had last year resolved to impose a fine to the tune of Rs one crore if a state fails to host the Games on time.

Jharkhand, however, would not attract the fine as the IOA itself had announced the postponement of the Games in New Delhi recently, said another JOA official.

Australia assists Solomon Islands local sports orgs

AUSTRALIA has been supporting sports in Solomon Islands for a very long time.

The Australian High Commission, through the Australian Sports Outreach Program, has supported the Curriculum Development Centre (CDC) Physical Education (PE) Syllabus Project.

This was highlighted in a speech by the Australian Deputy High Commissioner, Alison Duncan, at the opening of the CDC PE workshop at King George VI School on Monday.

This is through the purchase and supply of about SBD$60,000 worth of sports equipment to be distributed to ten secondary schools, one in each province.

In total, seven Solomon Islands sporting organisations had received funding for sports projects under the 2007-2008 Australian Sports Outreach Programme (ASOP).

Australia has supported Triathlon, AvuAvu Sports Association, Futsal, Rugby Union Federation, Athletics Association and the West Makira Sports apart from CDC.

Three additional organisations have also received funding for 2008-2009.

In December they will also be supporting To'abaita Authority for Research and Development student volunteers.

This is to organise the North Malaita Christmas Games, as part of the North Malaita School and Community Sports Development Initiative.

“The assistance demonstrates just one way in which Australia works in partnership with the Solomon Islands Government...” said the Deputy Commissioner.

2008 Caulfield Cup Preview

This year’s Caulfield Cup is a wide open affair although the build-up to the big race has been all about one horse – Weekend Hussler – just as it was about Maldivian prior to last year’s race.

The Hussler was right on track and a raging favourite for the Caulfield classic until his last start failure in the Turnbull Stakes where he ran eighth at his first try at 2000m. The gelding failed to quicken in the straight but enjoyed little luck after drawing a wide gate and racing wide, so the performance proved an inconclusive picture of whether he’ll stay the Cup distance of 2400m.

Sydney Ratings expert Dominic Beirne thinks the picture is a littler clearer though, saying in the Melbourne press this week that there’s ‘zero evidence that Weekend Hussler can stay’.

He also points out that even at his last victory, over 1800m in the Underwood Stakes two starts back; the four-year-old ran the equal slowest last 600m and 200m of the day’s winners.

Under the topweight of 57kg in the time-honoured handicap, the horse will need to be at his absolute best although his trainer Ross McDonald knows how to train a Cup winner, having won the race in 1981 with 50-1 shot Imposera.

Only one four-year-old – Gay Icarus with 58kg in 1971 – has carried more weight to win the cup although Weekend Hussler returns to his home track Caulfield where he has an imposing record of four wins and a second from five starts.

To avoid trouble in running, Hussler may go forward after jumping from barrier 11 and, if so, is likely to contend with last year’s heartbreak story Maldivian for the early lead.

The Mark Kavanagh trained gelding was near even money favourite for the race before he opened up a deep cut on his neck in a pre-race barrier mishap and had to be sensationally scratched.

The horse carries 56.5kg – 3.5kg more than he would have last year – and has yet to win this campaign although he hasn’t been far away at last three starts before fading late. Last year may have been his year but he’ll be a sentimental favourite of many.

Weekend Hussler’s last start-conqueror was Littorio. The four-year old may have won just one race, a Sale maiden, before his win in the Turnbull Stakes, but he ran 3rd in both the VRC and the AJC Derbies last season, proving his liking for the Cup distance. Indeed these defeats may prove a blessing in disguise as Littorio carries 1.5kg less than AJC Derby winner Nom de Jeu on Saturday.

Historically the Nigel Blackiston trained gelding has plenty going for it. Four-year olds have won eight out of the last twelve Caulfield Cups and the age group has been the most successful of all ages in the history of the race.

Sky Heights, Northerly and Elvstroem have all won the Cup in the last decade after taking out the Turnbull at their previous start. While his reputation may not yet rival the horse they called ‘Elvis’, Littorio has won or been placed in all three of his lead-up races – the Turnbull, Underwood and Makybe Diva Stakes races – just as Elvstroem was in the same three races en route to victory in 2004.

Trainer Danny O’Brien has three runners in the race, including last year’s runner-up, Douro Valley and winner Master O’Reilly. The trainer can’t split them so Douro Valley looks better value given he meets his stablemate 4kg better off for last year and is backing up from a win in the Group One WFA Yalumba Stakes (2000m) last weekend.

Master O’Reilly is also weighted right up to his best in attempting to become the first horse since the great Rising Fast in 1954-55 to win two straight cups. He will no doubt run the trip but is having just his third start this campaign, suggesting he may targeting the Melbourne Cup and not be as forward in his preparation as last year.

A trio of New Zealand horses – Red Ruler, Nom du Jeu and Boundless – are also well in the market after finishing second, third and fourth last start behind Cox Plate favourite Princess Coup New Zealand’s richest race, the Group One Kelt Capital Stakes (2000m).

Four-year-old mare Boundless looks the pick of the bunch with this year’s AJC Derby winner Nom du Jeu having drawn barrier 20 amid continuing reports that the horse has failed to settle well in Melbourne.

Others in the race are the lightweight David Hayes trained duo Zagreb and Guillotine, although the latter will have to overcome a horror outside barrier which clearly disappointed his trainer and the former will need some luck coming from the back of the field.

Last year’s fifth place-getter in the Melbourne Cup, Dolphin Jo is also a chance at odds after clinching his spot in the race by winning the Winning Edge Stakes – the same race which Master O’Reilly won last year – over the Cup distance last Saturday.

The only international runners – All the Good and Mad Rush – have attracted little fanfare and found few supporters since arriving in Australia. Champion hoop and four-time race winner Damien Oliver will ride Mad Rush so he must be respected, particularly coming out of the Luca Cumani stable who trained Purple Moon to second in last year’s Melbourne Cup.

Olympic and Paralympic Heroes Parade

Thousands of fans gathered in London on Thursday to greet Britain's Olympians and Paralympians for a parade to celebrate their Beijing success.

After the 12-float procession travelled from Mansion House to Trafalgar Square, the Olympians ended their day by meeting the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

Cycling star Chris Hoy called the day "very special", while swimmer Rebecca Adlington said it had been "brilliant".

A Palace reception for the Paralympic stars will be held early in 2009.

Hoy, winner of three gold Olympic medals in the velodrome, added: "It's unbelievable and great to see so much positivity. It's the stuff of dreams."

Hoy and his fellow cyclists Victoria Pendleton, Rebecca Romero and Paralympic champions Sarah and Barney Storey, Rachel Morris and Simon Richardson were the first to arrive by Nelson's Column and were welcomed by the cheering fans.

With all the athletes gathered in Trafalgar Square at the end of the procession, mayor of London Boris Johnson responded to criticism of the timing of the parade.

Johnson said: "There's never a wrong time to celebrate the greatest achievement by an Olympic and Paralympic team since 1908."

He added: "I hope there are kids watching today, saying 'that could be me in 2012'."

Olympics minister Tessa Jowell called the parade a "fitting tribute."

British Olympic Association chief executive Simon Clegg said: "To have this reception is fantastic. We have recognised that bringing all the athletes together has been very challenging."

Mark Hunter, gold medallist with Zac Purchase in the lightweight double sculls, was joined by 21 of his 24 team-mates who won medals in China, as well as 400m Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu and 400m hurdles bronze medallist Natasha Danvers.

Hunter said: "I wouldn't miss this for the world. Our success is everybody's success."

Lee Pearson, Paralympic dressage gold medallist, was on the sixth float with the rest of the equestrian teams, along with Sarah Stevenson, who won Britain's first taekwondo medal, and modern pentathlon silver medallist Heather Fell.

The successful sailing teams, including three-time Olympic winner Ben Ainslie, were on float seven, and boxing champion James DeGale following behind.

The ninth float held two of the Paralympic gold-medal winning boccia team, with Tim Brabants celebrating his canoeing gold and bronze on float 10.

Next up was Dave Roberts, who won four Paralympic swimming gold medals taking his tally to 11, along with 14-year-old diver Tom Daley.

Daley said: "I've had one day off since coming back from China and gone back to school. But today's just amazing."

The final float contained swimming sensations Adlington and Britain's youngest Paralympic champion, 13-year-old Eleanor Simmonds, whose tearful celebrations in Beijing captured the nation's imagination.

Double gold medallist Adlington, Mansfield's most famous swimmer, is one of the favourites for the BBC Sport Personality award and joked that her two medals had been chipped because of all the attention.

She said: "All of the support is just brilliant. Everybody says swimming is boring, but hopefully the sport can be put right on the map now."

Following the activities in Trafalgar Square, over 500 Olympians, including those medallists in the procession and their support staff, spent just under three hours at Buckingham Palace.

The reception was held with the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Princess Royal, who is president of the British Olympic Association.

Hoy said meeting the Queen for the third time was "fantastic", while Adlington admitted to being very nervous but said: "At least I can say that I have spoken to her and I will always remember it for the rest of my life."

Athletics star Ohuruogu said: "She is the most iconic figure in the UK and to have her spend a couple of minutes talking to you is fantastic. It is something that I will be able to tell my grandchildren."

London 2012 chief Lord Coe said the athletes' efforts in Beijing had been "herculean".

"It's been a great day for them and I'm sure many of the athletes are starting to realise just how excited we were back home," Coe told

He added the mood in the Palace had been "very upbeat". "It's been a long day, but it's everything they deserve and has ended just as spectacularly for them."

Reflecting on London hosting the next Olympics and Paralympics, he added: "It will be a Games for everyone. The real challenge is getting all the kids here today into sport on a regular basis.

"Beijing gave us the most extraordinary platform for the next four years."

Team GB returned from China in August after their best Olympic medal haul in 100 years, finishing fourth in the medal table with 19 golds, 13 silvers and 15 bronze.

The ParalympicsGB team were Britain's most successful for two decades, winning 102 medals, including 42 golds, to finish second in the table behind the Chinese.

Paralympics Games Beijing 2008

Sports also paying a price amid struggling economy

Count Kent Haines out when it comes to buying Boston Red Sox or New England Patriots tickets for the foreseeable future.
Those clubs have the highest average ticket prices in Major League Baseball and the National Football League. And because of the economic crisis, the Haines family of North Kingstown, R.I., is cutting spending.

"In this sky-is-falling economy, attending a pro sporting event is last on my list," says Haines, recalling that in May he dropped $250 for tickets, parking, food and a souvenir for himself and his 10-year-old son, Zach, at Fenway Park. "When you combine the cost of the tickets with the effort it takes to get our fannies in the seats, watching on TV with my wife and kids sounds pretty good right now."

Haines' story is echoed by a rising number of fans across the USA, a reflection of how the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression is stretching and even severing the bond between fans and sports teams.

At a time when many professional and college sports teams are expanding stadiums, adding expensive luxury suites and raising ticket prices to increase revenue, the economic crisis is exacerbating a disconnect between the teams and fans who are being priced out of live sports.

The sports industry remains relatively healthy: Fans shelled out a record $32.06 billion on tickets, parking, concessions, premium seats and on-site merchandise sales in 2007, a 4.8% increase from the year before, says David Broughton, research director at Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Journal.

Average ticket prices for the NFL, MLB and NHL all rose 5% to 10% this year, according to Jon Greenberg, executive editor of Team Marketing Report, which tracks ticket prices.

But even as wealthy teams such as the NFL's Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants and New York Jets are asking season ticketholders to pay thousands of dollars — or even hundreds of thousands — for seats in luxurious new stadiums, there are signs of economic stress throughout sports.

Cash-strapped fans nationwide tell USA TODAY they're buying fewer tickets to sporting events or trying to unload those they have to family, friends and strangers. Some are opting for cheaper seats and spending less on food, drinks and souvenirs. Others are giving up live sports for their high-definition TVs.

Meanwhile, after prosperous years in which teams routinely jacked up prices, some leagues and clubs are signaling to fans that they feel their pain.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced Thursday a price cut on some Super Bowl tickets. But 25% of the seats will be priced at an all-time-high $1,000, league spokesman Brian McCarthy said.

Teams in other sports are cutting prices, offering goodies and retail gimmicks such as "buy now, pay later" to get ticketholders to keep buying.

The specter of empty seats, unsold luxury boxes and bankrupt or vanishing sponsors is striking fear into industry players large and small. Leagues and teams are laying off staffers and taking a hard look at expenses:

•Anticipation of a slowing U.S. economy has led the NBA to lay off 80 employees, or 9% of its domestic work force, Commissioner David Stern said this week.

The Charlotte Bobcats laid off about 35 staff members Sept. 26. Bobcats President Fred Whitfield said the team must become "more efficient as a business in the current economic climate."

"Six months ago, we were saying sports was recession-resistant rather than recession-proof. But I don't think anything is recession-resistant," NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver says.

•The NFL's Goodell said Tuesday that the nation's richest professional sports league — one that receives $3.7 billion a year from TV networks alone — faces "some significant belt tightening."

Ticket prices "may be an issue we deal with coming into next season," Goodell added.

•Attendance at NASCAR races this season is down "in the single digits" percentage-wise, spokesman Andrew Giangola says.

Several tracks are trimming ticket prices for 2009 races. Michigan International Speedway is reducing prices on 23% of its seats for its two Sprint Cup races next year, spokeswoman Sammie Lukaskiewicz says.

"People are struggling, but they still want to see NASCAR racing," she says.

•After suffering a 13.4% attendance drop this season, baseball's Oakland Athletics will reduce average ticket prices by 5% for the 2009 season.

"The economy's hurting everyone's budget. We have to keep our product affordable," Athletics vice president Jim Leahey says.

•Other teams are stepping up "buy now, pay later" campaigns to try to make season-ticket packages more attractive.

The NBA's New Jersey Nets chief executive officer, Brett Yormark, is pushing a full season-ticket package that allows buyers to attend games this fall — but not pay in full until January. More than 100 customers have signed up, the team says.

In the NHL, the Los Angeles Kings allowed full-season-ticket buyers to stretch payments over an eight-month period ending in January, says Mike Altieri, vice president of broadcasting. In another twist, the St. Louis Blues took a cue from Priceline.com and invited fans to "name your price" for tickets.

•To urge season ticketholders to renew early, the NBA's Miami Heat offered prizes including $5,000 for property taxes and $4,000 for utility bills, spokeswoman Lorrie-Ann Diaz says.

"We at the league and our teams don't want to see our season ticketholders lose their location because of a short-term economic issue," Silver says.

Fans have complained for years that rising ticket prices — and new stadiums that emphasize boosting revenue through luxury suites and club seats — have been driving the middle class out of stadiums.

Many "old-time fans who aren't so well-to-do have been priced right out of the market," says Raymond Sauer, professor of economics at Clemson University and founder of The Sports Economist blog.

"They've created a set of disgruntled fans who used to go to games but now watch on TV," Sauer says. "They've (been replaced by) richer, corporate fans."

The anger of "real sports fans" was building before the economy turned sour, says Brian Blight, a Detroit Lions fan from Peoria, Ill. He says that for fans increasingly weary of rising ticket prices, $7 beers and $20 parking fees, the downturn has a silver lining.

"Sports has it coming," Blight says. "It's just been greed, greed, greed."

Blight vows not to spend another nickel on the Lions until they cut ticket prices and start winning. He says rising gas costs caused him and his wife, Edith, to eliminate several planned trips to Chicago, St. Louis and other Midwest cities to see games involving baseball's Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Cardinals.

Blight says he hopes the economic downturn transforms sports, as it did with real estate, from a seller's to a buyer's market — and gives fans the power to demand lower prices.

"Fans need to stand up — and speak out," he says.

Sports economist Andrew Zimbalist of Smith College in Northhampton, Mass., predicts the economic shakeout will drive down ticket prices, flatten spiraling player salaries in pro sports and force the sale of struggling franchises. A tight credit market, he adds, could delay some stadium construction projects.

Suite deals going sour?

The economic crisis coincides with a nationwide building boom in stadiums stuffed with pricey luxury suites. Such boxes can run from $200,000 to $1 million per year. Food and booze are extra.

The Dallas Cowboys and New York Yankees, Mets, Giants and Jets are getting top dollar for suites in their new buildings. The Giants and Jets will share a venue. But Bill Dorsey, executive director of the Association for Luxury Suite Directors, says teams across all sports in Seattle and Atlanta are struggling to fill boxes in their existing facilities.

The economic crunch has put a focus on personal seat license fees, or PSLs. These are one-time charges, often running thousands of dollars, that give fans the right to buy season tickets for an extended period of time.

The Cowboys, Giants and Jets are using PSLs to help finance their new stadiums opening in 2009 and 2010. The teams report their PSL sales are strong, but some of their fans are increasingly anxious about the cost.

Steve Thurman of Dallas says he has "buyer's remorse" after forking over $8,000 to the Cowboys this year for the right to buy two upper-deck seats in the team's new stadium for the next 30 years.He still has to shell out another $2,330 for his 2009 tickets and a parking pass.

"With the way the economy's going, I would not have made that deal," Thurman says. "I might be at the corner of Texas Stadium with a tin cup before this is all over."

The economy's downturn also has created havoc in what had been a lucrative arena for sports teams: naming rights.

During the boom years, many companies paid millions of dollars to plaster their corporate monikers across stadiums and golf and tennis tournaments. But the recent frenzy of bankruptcies and mergers on Wall Street has put some deals in limbo.

Take Philadelphia's Wachovia Center, home of the NBA's 76ers and the NHL's Flyers. The arena is poised for its fourth name change in 12 years because of Wells Fargo's proposed takeover of Wachovia. Julia Tunis Bernard, a spokeswoman for Wells Fargo, says "it's too early to tell" whether the company will rename the arena or the PGA Tour's Wachovia Championship.

With Wall Street reeling, the Giants and Jets are still searching for a company to buy naming rights to the $1.6 billion stadium the teams will share starting in 2010. Negotiations with the German firm Allianz fell apart after fans and Jewish groups criticized the insurance company's historical ties to Nazi Germany.

Teams that sell naming rights to unstable companies can get left holding the bag. Just ask the Houston Astros.

In 1999, Enron agreed to pay $100 million over 30 years to put its name on the new Enron Field. Within two years, Enron filed for bankruptcy. The team paid $2.1 million to buy back the rights. In 2002, Minute Maid stepped in with a 28-year, $100 million deal to rename the stadium Minute Maid Park.

The good news?

The NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and NASCAR are protected by multiyear TV and sponsorships deals, says Bill Daly, deputy commissioner of the NHL. He says "60% to 70% of our revenue is contractually committed already. It does provide a layer of security."

'People want entertainment'

For some fans, the rising cost of attending games is still worth the experience.

Rick Sanderson, a University of Tennessee graduate, says he'll pay whatever it costs to attend Volunteers football games. "People want entertainment. College football is entertainment," he says.

Mark Franklin of North Scottsdale, Ariz., says his season tickets to the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes "are the only positive thing" in his life right now.

"The economy's going to hell in a handbasket," he says. "I want to enjoy the game and take my mind off the financial pressure that's out there."

SPORTS CALENDAR

3rd Commonwealth Youth Games, Pune, India 12th - 18th October, 2008
1st Asian Beach Games, Bali, INDONESIA 18th - 26th October, 2008
34thNational Games, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India 01st - 13th December, 2008
25st South East Asian Games,LAOS 2009
5st East Asian Games,Hong Kong CHINA 2009
3rd Asian Indoor Games, Hanoi, VIETNAM 2009
1st Asian Youth Games, Singapore 2nd - 10th July, 2009
21st Olympic Winter Games, Vancouver 12th - 28thFebruary, 2010
19th Commonwealth Games, New Delhi 3rd - 14th October, 2010
16th Asian Games, Guangzhou 12th - 27th November 2010
1st Summer Youth Olympic Games,SINGAPORE 2010