For the Record
| ADMITTED |
Last Friday that he sabotaged Canadian competitor Olivier Jean's skate during the 2011 speedskating world championships, '10 Olympic bronze medalist Simon Cho of the U.S. In what he called "the biggest mistake of [his] life," Cho (above), 21, said that at the request of U.S. national coach Jae Su Chun, he bent one of Jean's blades. Jean had to withdraw from the meet's final event, the 5,000-meter relay. Chun, who was suspended last month while U.S. Speedskating investigates allegations that he abused skaters, has denied those charges as well as Cho's. Jun Hyung Yeo, the interim head coach in Chun's absence, was suspended as well on Friday after investigators found that he and Chun knew of the tampering but did not report it; U.S. Speedskating has not announced a punishment for Cho. The national team will be headed by Pat Wentland and Stephan Gough at the World Cup, which begins on Oct. 19.
| REQUESTED |
By a group of Minnesota legislators, access to Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig's medical records, which are held at the Mayo Clinic. The lawmakers hope the information will help determine whether Gehrig (right) indeed died of ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, or whether head trauma was a factor, and their proposal asks that medical information be available 50 years after a person has died. (State law prohibits the release of medical records unless requested by the person in question or an immediate relative. Gehrig had no children, and his wife, Eleanor, died in 1984.) However, Ann McKee, a doctor at the Boston University center studying chronic traumatic encephalopathy and one of the people to suggest that Gehrig might have suffered from that disease, has said that she does not believe the records will be of use. "It really requires looking at the tissue," she says, "and he was cremated."
| ANNOUNCED |
By ESPN, that it will carry at least seven Kontinental Hockey League games on ESPN3 this season. (ESPN3 is the network's streaming Internet channel.) The slate will include the KHL All-Star Game. Since the NHL lockout began on Sept. 15, many of the league's stars have signed to play for European teams, including Capitals leftwinger Alex Ovechkin, with Dynamo Moscow; Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, with CSKA Moscow; and Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara, with Lev Praha.
| FILED |
By former Nittany Lions graduate assistant Mike McQueary, a whistle-blower lawsuit against Penn State. (McQueary witnessed former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky in a locker-room shower with a young boy in 2001 and reported it to then head coach Joe Paterno.) McQueary, who is seeking more than $4 million in damages, claims that former university president Graham Spanier's statements that he believed and supported then athletic director Tim Curley and then vice president Gary Schultz irreparably harmed McQueary's reputation. He also says that he was the only member of Paterno's staff not invited to interview for his job under new coach Bill O'Brien. McQueary says that his salary last year was $140,000 and that his future earnings would have totaled at least $4 million. The university has declined to comment.
| REQUESTED |
Permission to compete in the men's downhill race on Nov. 24 in Lake Louise, Alberta, by four-time women's World Cup overall winner Lindsey Vonn of the U.S. "I'd like to have one chance in my life to race against them," Vonn (above) said. "I'm not asking for World Cup points. I just want the chance to compete." She would forgo the women's races held in Aspen, Colo., at the same time, and might face the possibility of also missing the second women's event, held the following weekend at Lake Louise, because of a rule that prohibits training runs on competition mountains within five days of races. Vonn has offered to skip two of her practice runs before the competition to eliminate her advantage. The U.S. ski team has yet to make a formal request to the International Ski Federation.
| APOLOGIZED |
For posting a death threat directed at Roger Federer on a message board, Blue Cat Polytheistic Religion Founder 07. The user had written, "On October 6, I plan to assassinate Federer for the purpose of tennis extermination," and photoshopped a picture of a decapitated Federer next to an executioner. Last Saturday, Blue Cat contacted the organizers of the Shanghai Masters, where Federer is scheduled to compete this week and where security had been tightened due to the threat, and said, "I'm terribly sorry. I was arguing with Federer fans and then I wrote something stupid."
| WON |
By Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera (left), the American League's Triple Crown. Cabrera, 29, led the AL in batting average (.330), home runs (44) and RBIs (139) to become just the 13th Triple Crown winner in MLB history—and the first since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967. Here's how often some other once-in-a-lifetime feats have been turned in the 45 years since.
3
Horse racing Triple Crowns
13
100-meter world records
15
Perfect games
6
Manned moon landings
NFL PLAYERS POLL
Who is the most underrated player in the league?
Justin Smith, 49ers DE 6%
Maurice Jones-Drew, Jaguars RB 5%
Fred Jackson, Bills RB 5%
Andre Johnson, Texans WR 4%
Matt Forte, Bears RB 4%
FAST FACTS
A whopping 117 players received at least one vote, while only Smith, Jones-Drew and Jackson were named 10 or more times.... A fourth-overall draft pick now in his 12th season, Smith got 10 of his 12 nods from offensive players (nine of whom were linemen).... Only two quarterbacks—the Giants' Eli Manning (four votes) and the Bears' Jay Cutler (two)—were named more than once.
BASED ON 198 NFL PLAYERS WHO RESPONDED TO SI'S SURVEY
GO FIGURE
15
Strikeouts, with no walks, for Rays righthander James Shields, in a complete-game two-hitter against the Orioles—which he lost 1--0. Only five other pitchers since 1900 have had at least 15 K's, no walks and given up two hits or fewer in a complete game—and they all got a win.
159
Length, in feet, of a putt sunk by Olympic swimming legend and aspiring golfer Michael Phelps on the 6th hole of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship pro-am in Scotland.
4.5 million
Copies of EA Sports's FIFA Soccer 13 sold in the first five days after its release—the biggest sports-video-game launch ever.
533
Consecutive losses in the Presidents Race, held during every game at Nationals Park, by the Teddy Roosevelt mascot, before he finally outlegged George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln in the last game of the season.
$40.7 million
Debt listed by Arkansas football coach John L. Smith in an amended bankruptcy filing, up from $25.7 million last month.
PHOTO
MATT DUNHAM/AP (CHO)
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JOHN BIEVER (CABRERA)
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PHOTO COURTESY OF NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME/REUTERS (GEHRIG)
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JERRY COOKE (HORSE)
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BILL FRAKES (100 METERS)
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ROD MAR (PITCHER)
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NEIL A. ARMSTRONG/NASA/AP (MOON LANDING)
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JOHN PYLE/CAL SPORT MEDIA (SMITH)
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NANCIE BATTAGLIA (VONN)