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venmore questions and answers aboutD.C. sports. Q:What color jerseys do
you suppose theRedskinswill wear at their home opener on Sept. 12? A:Well, itwon’t bemaroon,
anyhow. Speculation has been bubbling
formonths that theRedskinswill go back to the burgundy tops and yellowish pants the teamused whenGeneralManager Bruce Allen’s fatherwas in control. This week ratcheted up the alert level from“gold” to “really, really gold.” ADallas official confirmed to
me that the Cowboyswill be wearingwhite for the season’s opening game,which leaves the Redskins in a darker hue.WJLA’s TimBrant,meantime, reported that theRedskinswillwear
D.C. SPORTS BOG Dan Steinberg
burgundy jerseys for all their home games this season.And with the FedEx Field store already selling T-shirts featuring gold pants, it doesn’t takeRobin Givhan towrite up this fashion tale. For the record, aRedskins
spokesman declined to provide any uniformupdates. Q:Howmany pieces of gum doesRedskins special teams
Soccer Insider Excerpts from
voices.washingtonpost.com/soccerinsider
United’s Boskovic to miss U.S. Open Cup semifinal Branko Boskovic,D.C.
United’s high-priced summer signing, will missWednesday’s U.S. Open Cup semifinal against the Columbus Crewat RFK Stadium because of commitments to theMontenegro national team. Boskovic, the starting central
midfielder, will be available for Sunday’s MLS match at Chivas USA in California before traveling home forMontenegro’s 2012 European Championship qualifiers againstWales on Sept. 3 at home and at Bulgaria four days later. (England and Switzerland are also in Group G.)
TAILGATEZONE
Will Donovan McNabb stay healthy for 16 games this year? Discuss at
washingtonpost.com/groups.
ANGELOS TZORTZINIS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES TELEVISIONANDRADIO
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 7 p.m.
7 p.m. 10 p.m.
St. Louis atWashington » MASN, WXTR (730 AM), WFED (820 AM, 1500 AM) Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati » WGN
Baltimore at Los Angeles Angels » MASN2,WTNT (570 AM)
PRESEASON NFL 7 p.m.
8 p.m.
Washington at NewYork Jets » WRC (Channel 4), Comcast SportsNet, WWXT (92.7 FM),WWXX (94.3 FM),WTEM (980 AM)
San Diego at NewOrleans » WUSA (Channel 9),WJZ (Channel 13)
WOMEN’S COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL 5 p.m.
7 p.m.
With many top players electing to stay at home, Americans are vulnerable
BY BRIANMAHONEY
Georgetown vs. GeorgeWashington » RCN TV George Mason at American » RCN TV
WNBA PLAYOFFS 7:30 p.m. Washington at Atlanta » NBATV
GOLF 3 p.m.
6:30 p.m.
TENNIS Noon
7 p.m.
istanbul— Kobe Bryant towers over a city street as he dribbles a basketball in the cover photo of a pamphlet distributed earlier this year to promote the world championships. After offseason knee surgery, Bryant
PGA Tour, the Barclays » Golf Channel Champions Tour, Boeing Classic » Golf Channel©
isn’t doing much dribbling at all this summer. Even before announcing he was leaving
Cleveland for South Beach, it was obvious LeBron James wouldn’t be going to Turkey. Nor did any other players who helped
Pilot Pen » ESPN2 Pilot Pen » ESPN2
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL 7 p.m.
10 p.m.
Plant (Fla.) vs. Manatee (Fla.) » ESPN Grant (Calif.) vs. Folsom (Calif.) » ESPN2
only from Comcast. COURTS
Clemens arraignment scheduled for Monday A federal judge inWashington
has setbaseballpitcherRogerCle- mens’s arraignment for 2 p.m. Monday, when he will face the court for the first time on charges ofperjury andobstructionofCon- gress in connectionwith his testi- mony that he never used steroids orperformance-enhancingdrugs. Clemens, indicted last Thurs-
day by a federal grand jury on six counts related to his appearance before aHouse panel in February 2008, has maintained that his statements were truthful and is expectedtoenteranot-guiltyplea. U.S. District Judge Reggie B.
Walton of theDistrict,who is pre- siding over thematter,has saidhe hopes that the casewill go to trial bynext spring.
—Spencer S.Hsu
PROBASKETBALL Danny Ferry is returning to the
SanAntonio Spurs. The former general manager for theCavalierswill be vicepresi-
theUnited States win the gold medal in the 2008 Olympics. In their place is what’s been called the “B Team,” a group of second choices who are here only because the guys with bigger names had better things to do. And they’re aware of what’s being said
about them. “We love to compete.We’re professionals,” forward Lamar Odom said. “One of the best things about playing
sports is being competitive. When someone says you can’t, it makes you more motivated.” Now the B Team will try to do what the
A-listers couldn’t four years ago: win the world’s biggest basketball tournament. The Americans dominate the Olympics
but can’t seem to get the world championships right. They’ve won the tournament just three times, none since 1994, and left Japan in 2006 with a bronze medal despite a team that was loaded with stars such as James, DwyaneWade, DwightHoward, Chris Paul, Chris Bosh and Carmelo Anthony. The team that remains may still be good
enough to be considered the favorite, but it is vulnerable enough to make this event more wide-open than the Olympics two years ago. Spain and Greece, who met in the championship game in 2006, plus Argentina head the list of other contenders for theNaismith trophy and the automatic berth into the 2012 Olympics in London. The tournament starts Saturday in four
cities in Turkey. Group A is in Kayseri, Group B in Istanbul, Group C in the capital city of Ankara, where the hosts will play, and GroupDin Izmir. Six teams are in each group, and four will survive pool play to advance to the single-elimination round
starting Sept. 4 in Istanbul. The championship game is scheduled
for Sept. 12, and the Americans expect to be playing in it for the first time in 16 years. “We just want to go out there and win,”
forward Andre Iguodala said. “I think we’re really hungry and we’re really excited to have the opportunity to play for theUSA and we want to bring back home the gold.” So does Spain, a veteran team that
returns much of its core as it goes for a repeat. Greece, which stunned theU.S. four years ago in the semifinals, has a deep collection of physical players— and will need to rely on them after Antonis Fotsis and Sofoklis Schortsanitis were each suspended two games by FIBA on Thursday for their part in last week’s brawl in an exhibition game against Serbia. The Americans beat both the Spaniards
and Greeks on the road in warm-up games, sending them to Turkey with confidence soaring after some struggles in their first two outings. “We passed the other tests and now we
are just ready to get into it,” forward Rudy Gay said.
—Associated Press Lamar Odom meets the media after a training session at the Olympic Stadium in Athens on the eve of a friendlymatch against Greece. The U.S. is no heavy favorite While away, he will also miss
United’s league game against the Crewon Sept. 4.He’ll return in time for the Sept. 11 match at Toronto FC. Because the Euros are an
official competition,United cannot prevent Boskovic from reporting to his national team. With a 4-14-3 record and
almost no hope of reaching the MLS playoffs,United has turned to the Open Cup to salvage its disappointing year. Boskovic has had only a modest impact since his arrival last month but distributes the ball from a center position and allows the team to play in a traditional, diamond- shaped formation.
—Steven Goff
KLMNO 6
3
coachDanny Smith go through in a typicalwork day? A: “I don’t knowa number, but
it’s triple digits,” he said. “Easy. Easy.” “He’s got a box of gumin his
office,” kickerGrahamGano told me. “You could probably fit an elephant in it, and he’s probably gone through about half of it already.” Smith said he’s had the
chewing habit as long as he’s been in coaching.He uses just two varieties—Dubble Bubble and Bazooka—and said he’d decline anyminty flavors if offered.He goes through three or four separatewads perworkday, working up the gumuntil it has the consistency of a piece of rope and the size, he said, of a softball. That seems improbable, but I
FRIDAY, AUGUST 27, 2010
WASHINGTONPOST.COM/SPORTS First Things First: Join columnist Tracee Hamil- ton weekday mornings at 9:30 to discuss the hottest topics from the world of sports.
WASHINGTONPOST LIVEWITH IVAN CARTER 5 P.M. ON COMCAST SPORTSNET Jerome Bettis and live guests from the Redskins-Jets game join The Post’s Barry Svrluga and Mark Maske.
Gumming up the works with the Redskins’ special teams coach
havemore experience reporting on uniformfashion than bubble gumquantity, so I’mnot gonna be a stickler here. I askedGanowhether he has
trouble understanding the instructions of amanwith 40 pieces of gumin hismouth. “He just yells at usmost of the
time anyways,”Gano joked. “He’s a great coach, but he loves his bubble gum.” Q:Whatwould be an even
more embarrassing topic to be covered in the sports section than teamuniforms? A:Howabout cheerleader
hotness?Hey, itworks on the Internet, right? I usually try to stay away from
cheerleading coverage, but this week’s issue of ESPNThe Magazine includes an “NFL
Confidential” poll involving 65 NFL players,whowere asked about a variety of on and off the field issues.And in at least one category, theRedskins ended up first:Hottest cheerleaders! Washington led thewaywith
17.6 percent of the vote, followed by theDolphins (16.7) and Cowboys (14 percent). TheMag reported thatmost players didn’t want to comment, but one veteran gave a choice quote. “Everybody has really, really
good things to say about the Redskins cheerleaders,” he said. “Not that I ever look. I better leave it at that.” You’ll recall that two years ago,
BenRoethlisberger said that the Redskinsmade their cheerleaders stretch in the visiting team’s tunnel as a
distraction, and that the commissioner banned the practice (what some dubbed “the RedskinsRule”).Quite a body of work they’re amassing. Q:Having tackled uniform
colors, chewing gum consumption and cheerleader hotness, care to provide any actual news? A: Sure, howabout this: The
XinhuaNewsAgency reported thisweek thatmore than 10 people inNanjing contracted a raremedical condition by eating crayfish contaminatedwith excessive chemical-detergent residue. The condition’s name? RHABDOMYOLYSIS! Someone better tell the
Redskins’ catering staff.
steinbergd@washpost.com
Hot Topic World Basketball Championships
DIGEST
COLLEGES TheinvestigationofNorthCar-
dent of basketball operations for the Spurs. He will be reunited with Coach Gregg Popovich and General Manager R.C. Buford af- ter leaving for Cleveland in 2005. . . .
Cappie Pondexter scored 23 of
her 28 points in the first half, Essence Carson scored nine of her 17 in a big fourth-quarter run andtheNewYorkLiberty beat the visiting Indiana Fever, 85-73, in the opening game of their best-of- three WNBA Eastern Conference semifinals series. Game 2 is Sunday at Indianap-
olis. . . . Liberty point guard Leilani
Mitchell has been voted the WNBA’smost improvedplayer, re- ceiving29of39votes fromapanel of sportswriters and broadcast- ers. She beat out Atlanta’s Angel McCoughtry, Indiana’s Jessica Davenport and Washington’s Crystal Langhorne and Monique Currie.
olina’s football program has ex- panded into possible academic misconduct involving players and awomanwhohasalsoworkedasa tutor forCoachButchDavis’s son. AthleticdirectorDickBaddour
declined to identify the players or how many may be involved, but said the review likely “would ex- tend beyond the start of the sea- son.” . . . Texas Tech Athletic Director
Gerald Myers, 74, who brought Hall of Famer Bob Knight to the West Texas campus and got caught up in the contentious final year of football coach Mike Leach’s tenure, will retire inMay. . . .
Texas andSouthernCalifornia,
who last met in the Rose Bowl in 2006, have scheduled football games in2017and2018.TheLong- hornswill travel to LosAngeles in 2017 with the Trojans going to Austinin2018. . . . Missouri has suspended start-
ing tailback and team captain Derrick Washington indefinitely without explanation.
SOCCER The head of European soccer
insists referees do not need help fromvideo technology. UEFA PresidentMichel Platini
contends that five officials should be enough to spot a penalty, hand ball or whether the ball crosses the line. “I will always defend it and
with a lot of rigor as I believe it is the only solution,” he said. “In terms of technology, I’m
verymeasuredbecause I goonthe basis that if you have an addition- al referee he can see it just aswell as technology.” Disputed plays during this
year’sWorldCupledtoworldwide criticism, strengthening calls to bring high-tech methods to soc- cer.
The five-official format started
during last season’s Europa League and will be used during this season’s Champions League. The system features an assistant behindeachgoalaswellas thetwo linesmenand referee.
MISC. Mason Van Noort highlighted
a four-run rally in the sixthwith a tiebreaking homer to help Pearl- and, Texas, beat Auburn, Wash., 7-5, to advance to the U.S. final of the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa. Texas overcame an early 4-0
deficitwithsevenruns inthe final three innings. Hawaii stayed alive after a 7-4
win over Columbus, Ga. Justice Nakagawa hit a pinch-hit, three- run homer in the third and Noah Shackles struck out nine to lead the teamfromWaipahu,Hawaii. The victory forces a rematch
Friday afternoon,withthewinner taking on Texas Saturday for the U.S. title. . . . Former welterweight champi-
on Antonio Margarito has been approved to fight in Texas, clear- ing theway for his proposed bout against Manny Pacquiao at Cow- boys Stadium. The Texas Department of Li-
censingandRegulationreceiveda license application fromMargari- to on Monday and granted the
request. He’s expected to face Pacquiao
for a vacant junior middleweight title onNov. 13. Margarito hasn’t fought in the
United States since January 2009, whenaplaster-like substancewas found in his handwraps before a fight against ShaneMosley in Los Angeles. Margarito’s license was revoked by the California State AthleticCommission. . . . In New Haven, Conn., three
Russianwomen have played their way into the Pilot Pen semifinals, while top-seeded CarolineWozni- acki advancedwithout taking the court. Wozniacki’s opponent in the quarterfinals, Flavia Pennet- ta,withdrewwith aninjury to her right foot. The Danish star will play ElenaDementieva on Friday. The fourth-seeded Russian need- edalmost threehours tobeatMar- ionBartoli of France, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. In an all-Russian quarterfinal,
Maria Kirilenko beat Dinara Safi- na in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3. Nadia Petrova also advancedwith a 6-2, 6-1 win over Samantha Stosur of Australia. —News services and staff reports
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