Southern Illinoisan from Carbondale, Illinois • Page 18

2C HE OUTHERN I LLINOISAN EDNESDAY ULY 9, 2008 PORTS www.thesouthern.com Chicago moving ahead to buy land for Olympics CHICAGO The city is moving ahead to buy land that could be part of the Olympic Village if Chicago is awarded the 2016 Summer Games. The city intends to buy a soon-to-be-closed hospital campus for $85 million from medical supply giant Medline Industries of Mundelein. Planning Commissioner Arnold Randall said Medline will give the city $20 million for demolition and environmental cleanup, making the net purchase price $65 million. That price increases by $5 million if the city get the games. The city intends to sell the land to a developer.

Chicago 2016 chief Patrick Ryan said plans have not been completed for the Olympic Village. The village originally was to be built over truck parking lots near the hospital south of downtown. Michael Vick files for bankruptcy protection RICHMOND, Va. Imprisoned quarterback Michael Vick filed for bankruptcy protection while serving time for federal dogfighting charges, saying he owes between $10 million and $50 million to creditors. Vick filed Chapter 11 papers in U.S.

Bankruptcy Court in Newport News on Monday. The seven largest creditors listed in the court papers are owed a total of about $12.8 million. The suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback hopes he after the conclusion of the bankruptcy case, rebuild his life on a personal and spiritual level, resurrect his image as a public figure, and resolve matters with the NFL such that he can resume his according to the filings. Vick is serving a 23-month prison sentence at the U.S. Penitentiary in Leavenworth, after pleading guilty last year to bankrolling a dogfighting ring.

He was subsequently suspended indefinitely without pay and lost all his major sponsors, including Nike. He also faces state charges related to dogfighting. The debt includes part of a signing bonus that the Falcons are seeking to recover. FBI to investigate Celtics death BOSTON The FBI will investigate whether Boston police used excessive force while arresting a man who later stopped breathing during championship celebrations. David Woodman stopped breathing while in custody and died 11 days after police say they spotted him drinking from an open container of what they believed was alcohol.

An FBI spokeswoman said Monday that the investigation will not begin until Suffolk County prosecutors finish their own probe into the death of the 22-year-old Brookline man. Spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz said it is not unusual for the FBI to review possible civil rights violations, which can includes the use of excessive force by police. Safin rebounds at Swedish Open BASTAD, Sweden Wimbledon semifinalist Marat Safin rebounded from an early 3-0 deficit to beat Marc Lopez of Spain 7-6 (6), 7-5 in the first round of the clay-court Swedish Open on Tuesday. was tough because coming from grass it is a little bit different Safin said after his first match in Bastad in 10 years. has great hands and he is also a clay-court specialist.

If he had won the first set I think it would have been a tough one because he is the kind of person that goes with the Fifth-seeded Carlos Moya, the champion in 2002 and a semifinalist last year lost in the first round, squandered a match point in falling to Potito Starace 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6), 6-4 in his first match since a shoulder injury forced him to miss Wimbledon. Starace meets Safin next. Calleri advances at Mercedes Cup STUTTGART, Germany Sixth-seeded Agustin Calleri beat Jurgen Melzer of Austria 7-6 (3), 6-4 to advance to the second round of the rain-filled Mercedes Cup on Tuesday. Calleri was making his first appearance in Stuttgart since 1999, and will play fellow South American Pablo Cuevas next to try and reach his seventh quarterfinal of the season. Fellow Argentine, No.

8- seeded Eduardo Schwank rallied from a first-set blanking to beat 2003 champion and countryman Guillermo Coria 0-6, 6-1, 6-2. In a battle of qualifiers, Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic beat Martin Fischer of Austria 6-2, 6-4. Qualifier Yuri Schukin of Kazakhstan rallied to defeat Carlos Berlocq of Argentina 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. Rezai and Wickmayer lose to start Palermo PALERMO, Sicily Third-seeded Aravane Rezai and No. 6 Yanina Wickmayer were upset in the first round of the Palermo International on Tuesday.

Rezai was beaten by Rossana de los Rios of Paraguay 6-4, 6-1 and Wickmayer wasted three match points in the second set before falling to Georgian qualifier Margalita Chaknashvili 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4. Seventh-seeded Mariya Koryttseva of Ukraine also faced a challenge before overcoming Czech opponent Renata Voracova 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 on the red clay at the Country Time Club. Meffert gets first victory of year GSTAAD, Switzerland Dominik Meffert won his first ATP Tour match of the year with an upset victory over fifth-seeded Andreas Seppi of Italy at the Swiss Open on Tuesday. The 27-year-old German, whose ranking of 162 is the highest of his career, beat 27th-ranked Seppi 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 in their first-round match on the red clay of Gstaad. Meffert had to win two qualifying matches to reach the main draw of the $625,000 event.

Arn upsets Benesova at Budapest Grand Prix BUDAPEST, Hungary Greta Arn of Hungary upset fourth-seeded Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of the Gaz de France Budapest Grand Prix on Tuesday. Arn, avenging her loss to Benesova in the qualifying stage of this French Open, jumped out to a 5-1 lead before the Czech won three games in a row. The second set was decided by single break. Dierdorf wins Rozelle Award CANTON, Ohio Dan Dierdorf is the winner of the Pro Football Hall of Pete Rozelle Radio- Television Award. The award, announced Tuesday, is given annually by the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Dierdorf will receive the honor for exceptional contributions to radio and television in professional on Aug. 1. Dierdorf, who played 13 seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals (1971-1983), was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1996. The former NFL All-Pro tackle had been a play-by-play announcer for CBS NFL broadcasts in 1985 before switching to color analysis in 1986.

Press NASCAR PORTSIN WO INUTES A QUICK READ ON HEADLINES BY JENNA FRYER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CHARLOTTE, N.C. Martin bid to make the Chase for the championship took a severe hit Tuesday when NASCAR penalized his Dale Earnhardt Inc. team 150 points for bringing an illegal car to Daytona. car failed its initial inspection last week at Daytona because the No. 1 Chevrolet failed to fit roof template.

NASCAR officials seized the car and sent it to their Research and Development Center in Concord for further inspection. made a big said Truex, who missed the only practice session before Saturday race because of the illegal car. happen in this level of auto racing, but people make mistakes. go But it will be an uphill battle from here for the star driver at DEI, who is in a contract negotiation year. The 150-point penalty drops Truex from 14th in the standings to 18th.

The top 12 drivers make the Chase, and Truex has just eight races to get back into contention. In addition, crew chief Kevin Manion and car chief Gary Putnam were suspended from the next six races and placed on probation until the end of the year. Manion was also fined $100,000. John Story, vice president of motorsports operations at DEI, said the team will use its 10-day window to decide if it will appeal the penalty. are still trying to understand how the car fit our templates multiple times at the shop, but we respect determination that one of our cars did not exactly conform to their template at the Story said.

Truex, who won his only career Sprint Cup Series race last year at Dover, was only driver in championship contention. He made the Chase last season, but finished 11th in the final standings. This year has not been as solid for Truex, who has just five top-10 finishes through 18 races. He went into Saturday race just 71 points out of Chase contention, but had to drive a backup car that got no practice and just two qualifying laps before the race. While teammates Paul Menard and Mark Martin qualified first and second, and rookie Regan Smith was eighth, Truex qualified 35th.

He rallied somewhat to finish 17th in the race, but it enough to close the gap on 12th-place driver Tony Stewart. Now 238 points out of 12th place, with 2004 Chase winner Kurt Busch and Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman among the drivers got to pass to move back into contention. The penalty comes at a tumultuous time for DEI. Truex, the star of the team since Dale Earnhardt Jr. left this year, is also in a contract negotiation that has yet to be resolved.

2009 is an option year for both the team and the driver, but Truex has not yet agreed to return. In addition, Martin said last week leaving at the end of the season to drive for Hendrick Motorsports. DEI plans to promote Aric Almirola into that seat full time, but sponsorship is in question as the U.S. Army has been shopping its funding across the garage. Also, team has had just partial sponsorship all season and DEI has acknowledged it may have to cut down to just three teams if funding for car found.

Also Tuesday, multiple Internet reports suggested team owner Teresa Earnhardt is trying to sell all or part of the race team that was founded by her late husband, seven-time Cup champion Dale Earnhardt. Max Siegel, president of DEI, denied Earnhardt is trying to sell. Truex fined 150 points for failing inspection at Daytona AP NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Martin Truex was fined 150 points Tuesday, dropping him from 14th to 18th in the points standings. AP Juan Pablo Montoya waits by his car before the start of the Coke Zero 400 auto race at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday. BY JENNA FRYER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CHARLOTTE, N.C.

Juan Pablo Montoya supported owner Chip decision to shutter Dario race team, believing it was for the betterment of the organization. think the big picture people need to understand is we did this to make ourselves Montoya said. term, people might think the team is crazy. But if we do this, we were never going to get any Ganassi pulled the plug on the No. 40 team last week because been unable to secure sponsorship for Franchitti, who was struggling through his first season in NASCAR.

The 2007 Indianapolis 500 winner and IndyCar Series champion missed five races with a broken ankle, failed to qualify for two others and was 41st in the standings when Ganassi pulled the plug. Because he was funding the car out of his own pocket, Ganassi said he had to stop running the team or risk damaging Montoya and teammate Reed seasons. Montoya is 21st in the standings and Sorenson is 32nd. Had he continued running the No. 40, Montoya said he worried about the long-term affects it would have on entire NASCAR operation.

rough because, the way I looked at it, was keep it running and two years down the line shut down the whole Montoya said. do something about it now and make sure running better. I am sure once we start running good again, find money to run a third car. today, not running the way we need to be running and it never helped running a car with no As long as Franchitti was outside the top-35 the point where cars are not ensured a spot in the field Montoya felt Ganassi would not be able to land a sponsor. were never 100 percent certain the car was going to make the race, so I think that was really Montoya said.

always the question of how much longer can you actually go before you make the decision, and I think Chip did the best he could to try to run that car all year. they be able to find a full-time sponsor for that car, that was the thing that did it Montoya sure what Franchitti will do next. He tried to call his teammate once last week, leaving him a voice mail, but had not spoken to Franchitti since the decision. Franchitti and Ganassi are supposed to talk this week about his future with the organization, and Franchitti was previously scheduled to drive this Nationwide Series race in Chicago. all about what Dario wants to do from Montoya said.

he want to keep going? Does he want to race some Nationwide and try to get into Cup again? Those are all questions he has to In the meantime, Montoya is hopeful the team morale will improve. Because 71 people lost their jobs in the closure, Montoya said been an emotional time. think right now everybody is frustrated because they had to let go of a lot of really good he said. you have to look at the bigger picture, and right now the bigger picture is if we running better, the whole team would be in trouble. hard on Dario on everybody, but with AP Auto Racing Writer Jenna Fryer: You intentionally spun Kyle Busch two weeks ago in New Hampshire.

What was the reaction to that? JPM: Well, you know, when you do stuff like that you never think about if people are going to like you are not. the heat of the moment, he hit me, I hit him back harder. what went down. The weird thing is people were really happy about it. I was surprised by that, but people were really happy and excited about it.

I seen Kyle yet. I saw his spotter (Jeff Dickerson) and we were talking about it and laughing about it, and we were cool. So I am sure Kyle is cool, too. In NASCAR, when things like that happen, the culture is for drivers to call each other and talk it out and make it up. You have not talked to Kyle JPM: Am I supposed to call him? I know.

JPM: Well I know either. In any other series, is that the way it works? JPM: In any other series been in, you talk to anybody else. And you set me up with that question. But the difference here is got to be beside him and race beside him all the time and got to respect that. But I felt he broke that with me, and I retaliated.

In hindsight, would you do it again? JPM: Yeah. OK. Was the penalty fair? JPM: I said yes. NASCAR told me we are going to give you a two-lap penalty for what you did and I thought it was completely fair. I know what I did was wrong, but I had to defend myself.

Montoya supports decision to close team.