Leipheimer clinches third title in California

By: AP Photo Levi Leipheimer celebrates his third consecutive overall title in California. By Associated Press ESCONDIDO, Calif. -- The climb up a snowcapped mountain during the final stage certainly gave the Tour of California a European feel, as well as the spectators dressed in an array of costumes from a devil to an overweight guy wearing only a lime-green thong. So did the presence of seven-time Tour de France Lance Armstrong, although his role this time was simply as a teammate. With a boost from Armstrong and a tough mountain to climb, Levi Leipheimer won his third straight Tour of California on Sunday. It was somewhat of an anticlimactic finish, considering that Leipheimer had taken over the lead in the nine-day race last Monday and never gave it up. “It’s the sweetest victory of the three,” Leipheimer said. “It’s hard to describe. I mean, to keep a streak going like that, it just becomes so difficult. I told Lance this week that I don’t know how the hell he won seven times in the Tour de France. I’ve got a lot of respect for that because the pressure builds, the expectations are higher and you can’t get second place because that’s losing." Leipheimer was ninth in the final stage and finished with an overall time of 31 hours, 28 minutes, 21 seconds. His winning margin was 36 seconds over David Zabriskie of Garmin-Slipstream. He came into Sunday’s eighth stage with the same margin over Zabriskie. Armstrong, who began a comeback last month, spent this race in support of Leipheimer, his Astana teammate. The seven-time Tour de France winner finished 31st in Sunday’s stage and seventh overall, 1 minute, 46 seconds behind Leipheimer. “It was a hell of a good time,” Armstrong said. Armstrong said he enjoyed the role of supporting his teammate. “Nobody came in here with any other expectation than riding for Levi,” he said. Armstrong has said the priority of his comeback is to spread the message of the fight against cancer more than to win his eighth Tour de France in June or his first Giro d’Italia. But two stage races into his comeback, he said he feels in pretty good shape. “I think overall we’re happy with where we are,” Armstrong said. “If you compare Feb. 22 to any other year, we’re well ahead of that. “Obviously to win the Tour you have to be as strong as possible and as light as possible. I don’t necessarily need to get that much stronger but I have to get lighter. Three and half years away of not watching every gram of food you put in your body and the amount of wine you consume takes its toll, so you’ve got to get back into it.” Third place overall went to Michael Rogers of Team Columbia-High Road, who was 45 seconds behind Leipheimer. The Tour of California visited San Diego County for the first time. The 96.8-mile final stage from Rancho Bernardo to Escondido featured a gut-busting ride up snowcapped Palomar Mountain, where the cyclists reached the 5,123-foot level on a two-lane highway with 21 switchbacks. Dozens of spectators tried to run alongside the riders near the top, including a man in a University of Montana jersey who wore a football helmet decorated with antlers. Leipheimer grew up in Butte, Mont. He and Armstrong said it was a tough climb. “With the speed we went up and the riders we were surrounded with, I had to remind myself it was California in February, because it felt like the Alps in July,” Leipheimer said. Frank Schleck of Team Saxo Bank won the eighth stage in 3:48:39. Vincenzo Nibali of Liquigas was second and George Hincapie of Team Columbia-High Road was third. Floyd Landis finished 29th in Sunday’s stage and 23rd overall in his first race back since being stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title after testing positive for synthetic testosterone. Landis won the inaugural Tour of California in 2006. Original here

Calcio Comedy: 20 Things To Expect From Italy v England

1) Cristiano Ronaldo says that he is better than Pele and Diego Maradona, and compares himself to God.

2) Jose Mourinho bangs on beforehand about how his Chelsea side were better than United, and that his record against Fergie is Won 6, Drawn 4, Lost 1.

3) Sir Alex Ferguson will use the words “No doubt about it” at least 100 times, while he will mention during an interview with SKY Italia about how good Luciano Spalletti’s wine is.

4) Wayne Rooney does a Zinedine Zidane and headbutts Marco Materazzi in the chest after the Italian snipes that he would “rather NOT have Rooney’s mum”.

5) Mourinho runs down the Old Trafford touchline to celebrate a last minute goal that puts Inter into the next round.

6) Ferguson engages in a furious touchline row with Mourinho over the award of a throw-in, and lobs his chewing gum onto the pitch in disgust.

7) Manchester United fans sing “same old I-Ti’s, always cheating”, even though Inter don’t have a single Italian in their team.

8) Claudio Ranieri laughs hysterically during both of his pre-match interviews in the tie against former club Chelsea.

9) Ranieri gets a better reception at Stamford Bridge from the Chelsea fans than Luiz Felipe Scolari.

10) English commentators tut-tut about Italian diving shortly before Didier Drogba goes down like he's caught the plague.

11) Momo Sissoko to have the best pass completion rate...for Chelsea. “Camoranesi... Nedved... Del Piero, back to Nedved, now Sissoko, oh he's played it straight to Deco!! Deco, Lampaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaard GOAL! Chelsea lead!"

12) Lampard is credited with the goal by UEFA, despite the fact the ball took eight deflections, and travelled to and from Timbuktu, on its way into the net.

13) Phil Thompson, Graeme Souness, and a number of other SKY Sports pundits bash the Italian league at every opportunity, and label it an “old, slow, retirement home”, while repeatedly championing the Premier League as the “best league in the world”.

14) Souness says he would never have the over-rated Francesco Totti or Zlatan Ibrahimovic in his team (if he was a manager).

15) Italian media pundits jealously declare that the only reason the Premier League is so strong is because of rich foreign owners, managers and players.

16) In the build-up to Arsenal-Roma, both will be described as attractive, passing sides who play good football, but whoever loses the tie will be condemned as being 'in crisis.'

17) There will be serious crowd trouble inside and outside the Stadio Olimpico. English fans smash up a number of local bars. Italian fans attack their adversaries while riding around on mopeds.

18) The English media blame 19th century Italian policing for the trouble.

19) The Italian media blame 19-times over-the-drink-limit English fans for the trouble.

And Finally…

20) Whichever country comes out on top in the three-round contest will declare that they have the best league in the world.

What are your views on this topic? What do you expect to happen before, during and after the England v Italy ties? Goal.com wants to know what YOU think.

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Leafs hike ticket prices

By SUN MEDIA

The apparently recession-proof Toronto Maple Leafs have hiked tickets prices by an average 3.5% for next season.

Not that they expect all their fans will weather the economic storm.

For the first time, the 20% renewal deposit for season tickets is "non-refundable".

The good news is Raptor ticket pricing remains the same next year, following an 8% increase in 2007-'08.

The Leafs, who will miss the playoffs for a fourth consecutive season, raised prices 5% in 2007 but there was no increase in '08. The '07 hike was the first since the 2004 lockout.

“Until this increase, we have basically been at 2003-04 pricing with only a 1% net increase since before the lockout,” explained Tom Anselmi, executive vice-president and COO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd, in an email.

“However, costs and inflation, such as NHL revenue sharing, hockey front office and operations costs, Air Canada Centre capital improvements, technology and greening investments and Canadian dollar (exchange costs) are up significantly in that same time period.”

Leaf seats now range from $37 to $182.

The increase comes amid anticipation that the NHL salary cap will start falling next season with the troubled global economy lowering league revenue.

“We’re very sensitive to pricing, especially in a tough economy,” Anselmi said. “We gave it careful consideration, however, not many businesses have only had inflation of 1% over the last four years.” The Leafs are consistently ranked as the National Hockey League’s most profitable franchise, worth more than $400 million US by Forbes Magazine, a claim often disputed by MLSEL.

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