It was hardly a withdrawal, since Iraq remains very much occupied. A residual force of roughly 56,000 US troops will not leave the country until the end of 2011.

Called “advise-and-assist brigades,” they will train and conduct joint missions with the Iraqi security forces. But they are fully armed and authorised to defend themselves — “combat troops” in all but name. [Read More]

“The OC has wrongfully, viciously, abruptly and publicly terminated SMAM’s agreement in a manner that is not only counter to the agreement and inconsistent with the interests of staging successful Commonwealth Games in India, but also detrimental to the goodwill and reputation of the Commonwealth Games Movement,” SMAM said in a statement.

“SMAM believes that the OC’s allegations and grounds for termination are imaginary and concocted and an attempt to deviate attention from the more serious issues and charges related to the upcoming Delhi Games. We also believe that the OC has served the alleged termination to SMAM as it does not intend to honour its financial commitments to SMAM,” it added.

The company was roped in to bring sponsorship for the Games but its contract was terminated by OC on grounds of “non-performance” after a corruption furore rocked the October 3 to 14 Games.

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The Pacers also dealt former Warriors forward Troy Murphy to the Nets, who sent guard Courtney Lee to Houston. To complete the trade, the Rockets shipped swingman Trevor Ariza to New Orleans. Indiana also got James Posey from New Orleans.

The 6-foot-8 Ariza is due to make about $6.3 million this season. Ariza was an active contributor for the Los Angeles Lakers 2008-09 title team before signing a five-year deal with Houston.

# Eric Musselman, 45, the former Warriors and Sacramento Kings head coach, is set to be formally introduced today as the coach of the Reno Bighorns in the NBA’s Development League. The Reno team is affiliated with both the Kings and Warriors. [Read More]

The offer from Ryan Moats, though, was too good to refuse.

Moats has started his sixth year in the NFL, now with Minnesota after previously playing for Philadelphia and Houston. The backup running back is just trying to pick up the playbook and make enough of an impression to stick on the regular season roster. He knows there’s nothing guaranteed in this game.

Well, Moats already has a promising start on his life-after-football plan. As a summer intern of sorts with EA Sports, working on the popular Madden football game, Moats has gained valuable experience in the world of video game graphic design.

“It’s a second passion of mine, after football,” Moats said. “Hopefully one day once I get old and gray in football, I’ll have an opportunity to do something in the field.”

EA Sports was impressed.[Read More]

Under a plan filed in federal court on Wednesday, the university also proposes adding women’s golf and rugby teams to provide more athletic opportunities for female students.

“Quinnipiac University plans to increase its investment in women’s athletics in the years ahead,” the school’s vice president for public affairs, Lynn Bushnell, said in a prepared statement.

Several volleyball players and their coach sued Quinnipiac last year after the school announced it would eliminate volleyball for budgetary reasons and replace it with a competitive cheer squad.

The school contended the cheer squad and other moves kept it in compliance with Title IX, the 1972 federal law that mandates equal opportunities for men and women in athletics.

But U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill in a ruling last month disagreed, saying competitive cheerleading had not developed enough to be considered a college sport for Title IX purposes. He ordered the school to keep the volleyball team and come up with a compliance plan.

During the trial, school officials hinted they might be forced to drop competitive cheerleading if it was not found to be a sport.[Read More]

A member of the House of Representatives Committee on Sports, Hon. Abdul Ningi said this at the first day of a three-day Stakeholders Forum in Abuja on the dismal performance of the Super Eagles at the just-concluded World Cup.

Ningi spoke after the presentations of former ministers of sports and that of FIFA and CAF Executive member, Dr. Amos Adamu and former Chairman of the Nigeria Football Association (NFA), Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima.

“The presentations by Dr. Amos Adamu and the past ministers of sports have proved that the elite have failed the country. They are the administrators and yet they have nothing to tell us about the dwindling fortunes of our football in particular and sports in general,” he said.

He queried Dr. Adamu on how many younger officers he sent on courses in preparations to have those that would take over from them on retirement or was that not possible because of the attitude of self centeredness that has blind folded the administrators.

Ningi argued that the budgetary allocation of every ministry and parastatals include funds for such training adding, “if such trainings did not and is still not taking place, the money should be accounted for so that Nigerians will know what is happening.”[Read More]

Palace Sports and Entertainment says in a statement Wednesday that it is “pleased at the level” of interest in the NBA team and its related Detroit-area entertainment venues.

Mike Ilitch, the Little Caesars pizza mogul who already owns the Detroit Tigers and Detroit Red Wings, said this week he is interested in buying the Pistons.

Pistons owner Karen Davidson has said she’s considering a sale of the team by itself or as part of a package with Palace Sports and Entertainment, which includes The Palace of Auburn Hills, DTE Energy Music Theatre and Meadow Brook Music Festival.[Read More]

‘One of the agenda of the meeting is to finalise the merger with IHF and consequent amendments in the constitution,’ IWHF secretary Amrit Bose said.

IWHF has asked the sports ministry to nominate a government observer to oversee the merger that will happen as per the government guidelines.

The sports ministry has derecognised Hockey India (HI) and granted recognition to IHF as the sole body to run the sport in the country.

The ministry has also asked the International Hockey Federation (FIH) not to have any dealings with HI because they no longer enjoy government recognition.

The sports ministry said till the time IHF completes the formalities of merging with IWHF, the Indian Olympic Association or the Sports Authority of India be allowed to field the Indian team for international events. [Read More]

The three soldiers — veterans of Afghanistan, Iraq and Vietnam — scrambled, clawed and plodded to the top of Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro, hiking up the domed mountain’s scree-filled paths on one human leg and five prosthetics made of titanium and carbon fiber.

They skidded. They fell. They removed their legs to adjust their shoes. And after six days of climbing they stood at 19,340 feet (5,895 meters) — Africa’s highest point.

“The message we’re trying to send back to the USA is no matter what disability you have you can be active,” said Kirk Bauer, the executive director of Disabled Sports USA and a 62-year-old Vietnam veteran who lost his leg in 1969. Bauer, of Ellicott City, Maryland, was one of the triumphant climbers.

“If three amputees from three different wars and two different generations with literally one good leg can climb Kilimanjaro, our other disabled friends can get out and go hiking or go biking or swim a mile, can get out and lead a healthy life,” he said.

The youngest of the veterans, 26-year-old Neil Duncan, lost both legs to a roadside bomb in Afghanistan in 2005. The Denver, Colorado, resident tried to summit Kilimanjaro last year, but poor planning and a fast ascent schedule doomed the trip.[Read More]

This year’s game, released Tuesday, has a new GameFlow feature that lets you play a full game in less than half the time. “You can play it in a half hour now if you so desire,” says former NFL coach and TV analyst John Madden. “Sometimes people wanted to play a quicker game and not devote over an hour. Now you can play it in 30 minutes.”

The timesaver is a new GameFlow mode, which makes play-calling “a little simpler,” Madden says, by basically having an offensive or defensive coordinator chose the play. You, as the player, have to execute it.

Players who prefer to choose plays from a team’s entire playbook can still do that, he says. “You can still call your own play. So, you could be a quarterback calling his own plays, you could be the offensive coordinator calling the play and then you can be the quarterback executing it.”

In the real world of football, Madden hopes there is a collective bargaining agreement between the owners and players associations soon. “The last thing we need is a work stoppage. Football is at its heights right now and we just can’t foul it up,” he says.[Read More]