For the Record
Diagnosed
With cancer of a salivary gland, Hall of Fame Padres outfielder Tony Gwynn. The 50-year-old Gwynn (above), who has been coaching baseball at his alma mater, San Diego State, since 2003, has thrice undergone procedures to remove noncancerous tumors in his parotid gland. The latest operation revealed a malignant tumor, and Gwynn last week said that he would undergo two months of radiation and chemotherapy treatments. "[Doctors] say this is a slow-moving but aggressive form of cancer," said Gwynn, who blames the illness on his longtime habit of chewing tobacco and who plans to return to his coaching position. "I'm going to be aggressive and not slow-moving in treating this."
Marred
By incidents, the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. The multisport international competition, the largest in India's history, faced health and safety concerns even before its Oct. 3 opening ceremony: A bridge to the track and field stadium collapsed; a ceiling at the weightlifting venue tumbled; and athlete villages were reported to be in disarray. Last week things got worse, first when more than a dozen swimmers fell sick with a stomach ailment that was thought to be caused by bad water in a warmup pool, and later when a scoreboard at the rugby venue fell. Commonwealth Games Federation president Mike Fennell promised to address the pool problems, while others pointed to the positive aspects of the Games, which end on Oct. 14. The focus, said Indian boxer Akhil Kumar, "has been on the one percent of things that are going wrong, rather than the 99 percent that are going right."
Investigated
By the NFL, allegations that Vikings quarterback Brett Favre sent sexually explicit text messages to multiple women employed by the New York Jets during Favre's tenure there. Last Thursday the website Deadspin reported that in 2008 Favre, who turned 41 on Sunday and who has been married for 14 years, used a Jets media relations employee to connect with 26-year-old Jenn Sterger, then a game-day reporter for the team. According to the claim, Favre left voice mails with Sterger inviting her to his hotel room and sent her digital photographs of his genitals. After Deadspin followed with claims from two massage therapists who say Favre acted similarly during training camp in '08, commissioner Roger Goodell announced that the NFL was investigating the matter. On Monday, Favre reportedly apologized to his teammates for "being a distraction."
Prevailed
In an epic late-race duel on Sunday with Tsegaye Kebede of Ethiopia, 23-year-old Kenyan Sammy Wanjiru (above), who pulled away in the last quarter mile to win his second straight Bank of America Chicago Marathon. Wanjiru, the 2008 Olympic marathon champion, finished in 2:06:24 to beat Kebede by 19 seconds and earn $115,000 in prize money and time bonuses. After the race, which one TV commentator described as "like Ali-Frazier," Wanjiru—who had dropped out of the London Marathon in April with a knee injury and missed several days of training last month with a stomach virus—said, "I was losing hope. I thought I was going to finish second. But ... when we got closer to the finish line, I knew my final kick would favor me."
Apologized
For an incident in which he kneed a political rival in the groin during a soccer game, Bolivian president Evo Morales. The 50-year-old second-termer, who plays soccer in his country's second division, participated in an Oct. 3 game in La Paz between members of his Movement for Socialism party and a team representing his political rivals, Movement Without Fear. According to witnesses, the game saw several reckless challenges early on, including a tackle that left marks and a bruise on the president's right leg. Morales charged the offender, Gustavo Daniel Cartagena; pointed at his own injury; and then delivered a knee to Cartagena's groin. Morales later explained that he had been lured into a "trap" (he says he was fouled and insulted first) before offering a half-apology. "I ask forgiveness to the sportsmen, to the players, to the player," he said. "But after kicking me, it was another insult, a reaction."
Cited
In France for driving 125 miles per hour almost exactly one year after he was involved in a northern Virginia car crash that left him hospitalized, costing him a spot on the 2010 World Cup roster, U.S. soccer striker Charlie Davies. The 24-year-old was traveling from Sochaux, France, where he plays in Ligue 1, to Paris early on Oct. 3 when his vehicle was pulled over for speeding. Davies, who was in the driver's seat, had his license suspended. But he did a 180 when French papers reported the incident, claiming that he had in fact been in the passenger seat while a French-born Sochaux teammate, Jacques Faty, drove the speeding Audi Q7. According to Davies and Faty, who corroborated the claim, the Frenchman was driving with what he believed to be a suspended license and, thinking that he might be jailed, had asked Davies to take the wheel of the car (which had tinted windows) upon being pulled over. On Monday, Davies was fined $1,040.
THEY SAID IT
Carlos Boozer
Injury-prone Bulls forward, explaining how he'll prevent future mishaps like the broken right pinkie he sustained when he tripped over a gym bag while answering a knock at his home's front door:
"I'll have someone else answer the door."
Go Figure
5
Co-head varsity football coaches employed by Emerald Ridge (Wash.) High.
19
Consecutive losses by the Emerald Ridge Jaguars, before they won last Friday.
12
Hours, roughly, after the Dolphins allowed the Patriots to score on a kickoff return and a blocked field goal on Oct. 4 that Miami fired its special teams coordinator, John Bonamego.
46.2
Percent of employers who don't mind if their workers play fantasy football during business hours, according to a recent study.
214
Hits through 144 games by Matt Murton of the Hanshin Tigers, breaking by four Ichiro Suzuki's single-season Japanese league record, set in 14 fewer games in 1994.
272
Hits by Murton over 346 games with the Cubs, A's and Rockies from 2005 through '09.
$324.34
Las Vegas winnings by Greg Mercer, a Pirates fan who bet an average of $20 against Pittsburgh in every game of the '10 season.
PHOTO
SAMUEL MADAMBA/SOUTHCREEK SPORTS (GWYNN)
PHOTO
JIM PRISCHING/GETTY IMAGES (WANJIRU)
PHOTO
DENNIS WIERZBICKI/US PRESSWIRE (BOOZER)