So there's Jeff Garcia and Bruce Gradkowski in Tampa Bay right? After I saw this picture, I'm not sure that there's not just another Garcia in Tampa and he is going with the more confusing name to avoid having to share the same jersey with his namesake Jeff...

Yeah, that was a stupid way of saying that in this pic, Gradkowski looks like SERGIO!

Well this is a weird one. Martina Hingis tested positive for cocaine during Wimbledon in 2007. She claims innocence (and I'm a believer), saying she's never taken drugs.

She is retiring for a couple of reasons now. One is to avoid all the mess that would be sure to come with the positive drug test. The other is for health problems and age. She's young, at 27 years old, but that's what forced her out of the game before.

It's a strange way to go out, but she had her day. I'm a Hingis fan and hope to see her around the tennis world in the future. The clips I've seen of her out of competition gives me the idea that she's a happy, cheerful person. I do wonder how in the world she could've tested positive for coke though. What is it with drug/disease tests? Is she today's Tommy Morrison?

This week the FIA World Motor Sport Council finally had the hearing about McLaren's alleged possession of confidential data of team Ferrari. The team was handed a stiff penalty, but both drivers are still in the running for the season championship.

McLaren is disqualified from the 2007 constructor's championship and fined $100 million. Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, respectively first and second in the series championship, did not get penalized. They may still receive points for races as well as an untainted season championship, if either of them are in that position at the end of the season.

I like the ruling. Unlike the NFL's Patriots situation, in Formula One, the team can be fined separately from the individual. True, the team's fine may hurt the individual's performance, but the drivers were not to blame, so they don't get punished. As a fan, I'm more interested in seeing the drivers succeed than the constructors, so I think this is a great move to save the fan base of this exciting season dominated by McLaren and Ferrari.

Dana White is the president of the UFC, and arguably the most fan-friendly president/commissioner of any big sport. UFC 75 takes place Saturday, September 8th in London and instead of airing on Pay Per View, the event will be shown for free in the US on Spike TV.

If you've wondered what all this UFC or MMA (mixed martial arts) hype is about, this is a great opportunity to give it a go. The fight card is incredible, and includes the first fight between a current UFC Champ and a current Pride Champ. Quinton Jackson will fight Dan Henderson in the main event to see which champ can finish the other.

Also on the card is a pair of undefeated fighters in Matt Hamill vs. Michael Bisping. Hamill comes in at 5-0-0 and Bisping at 14-0-0. Bisping is the light heavyweight winner of the third season of The Ultimate Fighter. He is fighting in his home country against the top deaf fighter in MMA. Matt Hamill is a bulldozer of a fighter. This will be a great fight.

Two other fights I'm excited about are Mirko Cro Cop vs. Cheick Kongo. Cro Cop is trying to rebound from a devastating knock out delivered by a head kick from Gabriel Gonzaga, and Kongo is a physical specimen who has great potential. Another interesting fight is Houston Alexander vs. Alessio Sakara. Sakara has a 2-2 UFC record, but Alexander shocked the UFC world when he was an unknown fighter who destroyed one of the top ranked light heavyweight fighters in Keith Jardine.

And since the people love predictions, here are mine:

Jackson over Henderson

Bisping over Hamill

Cro Cop over Kongo

Alexander over Sakara

I don't know enough of the other fighters to pick em, but that doesn't mean they won't be good fights. Look forward to another great show.

Apparently Brandon Roy got on the phone, made some calls, and now the Blazers are hard at practice, over a month before scheduled. This is great news as a Blazer fan! Roy and the other young Blazers are getting a jump start on their team chemistry. With such a young talented roster, this is a huge move toward their inevitable success.

If you don't read the article, here are a couple highlights. No press is allowed in the practice facility, which must be a nice break for the players. Martell Webster, the great shooter, is now in much better shape than last year, 15 pounds lighter, and cutting to the hoop with serious aggression. And finally, believe it or not, Darius Miles is even showing up! He hasn't been cleared to scrimmage yet, but he's still showing up to work out twice a day.

Go Blazers go!

What a great start to a Saturday! Maria Sharapova, ranked 2nd in the world, and defending US Open champion has lost to Agnieszka Radwanska in the third round of the 2007 US Open.

Sharapova had the "easy half of the draw" and was a heavy favorite to make it to the finals. Radwanska showed no fear of Sharapova and played very aggressive tennis to put a quick stop to Maria in the third set. At only 18 years old, Radwanska is the 30th ranked player in the world and on her way to the top.

Another upset on the day is 7 seed Nadia Petrova losing to Agnes Szavay. As a typical male, I am happy to see Szavay move on in the tournament, she has great...assets.

Now that Maria's gone, I can turn the volume back up on my TV for week 2 of the US Open, nice.

At least according to Sherdog.com, the top 10 MMA fighters, regardless of weight class are as follows:

1 - Fedor Emelianenko

2 - Mauricio Rua

3 - Gilbert Melendez

4 - Dan Henderson

5 - Anderson Silva

6 - Quinton Jackson

7 - Takanori Gomi

8 - Shinya Aoki

9 - Sean Sherk

10 - Norifumi Yamamoto

Now, I've only seen 3 of these guys in action, being primarily a viewer of UFC fights. Some of these guys are headed to the UFC, and that will clear some of this up. I'm sure though, that I'm not alone in my shock to see Randy Couture missing the list. I guess if you look at it as him losing to Liddell, who lost to Jackson, he could drop from the list. It's tough to say. There are a lot of good fighters out there, hopefully more of these guys will show up on more US television soon.

Well, the time has come. Sebastien Bourdais will join the Scuderia Toro Rosso team for the 2008 Formula One season. Bourdais has certainly shown that he is a consistently great driver over the past four years in Champ Car. It's a bit unfortunate that he is going to a young team that has only earned one constructor's point in its first two seasons. I'm hoping he'll either bring the kind of knowledge and skill it takes to win in F1 or work his way over to a more successful team in years to come.

Bourdais has been criticized for his domination in the Champ Car series, with critics claiming his wins have come only because of a field of drivers with unproven racing careers. With success in a number of different types of cars, I'm a believer in his skill to drive. Sebastien will succeed in Formula One, I have no doubt. He is a winner and will find a way to continue to lead the pack before his career is complete.

Novak Djokovic prevented Roger Federer from earning his 50th career tournament title on Sunday, beating the world #1 ranked player in two tiebreakers in a best of three set format. Prior to defeating Federer, Djokovic also took out Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick, who finish out the top three ranked players in tennis.

A commentator (I forget which) at Wimbledon predicted that Djokovic could become the next player to reach the world #1 ranking. This is a huge step toward making that a reality. However, much like Nadal losing a clay tournament to Federer before the French Open, I suspect the US Open will see Roger Federer come out with a new will and determination to take the US Open title and prove, once again, that he is the best tennis player in the world.

Shane Bonifay landed a toeside backside 720! That's ridiculous! Only a handful of riders can do a toeside backside 540. Incredible.

Congratulations to Shane, a great rider with some crazy style all his own.

I'm sure the title makes no sense to many other than the wakeboarders out there, but the link contains a link to a video of the move.

For some reason, EXPN.com decided to make it very tricky to find where the webcast is located. I searched for a few minutes straight, and finally found a link to it through one of the 5 stories on the front page. The link was within a paragraph with the text "Thursdays Picks."

There is a great schedule which is easy to find, but the link in this story will actually take you to the live webcast. Enjoy!

Over the course of the past 24 hours, ESPN.com's main content has gone from the left side of our web browsers to the...[drum roll]...CENTER!

Simply incredible technology. Bravo ESPN, bravo.

Today was an exciting day for open wheel race fans like myself. F1 raced in Germany, Champ Car in Edmonton, and Indy Car in Ohio.

The Formula One race was very exciting with rain and all kinds of chaos. Fernando Alonso came out on top.

Sebastien Bourdais reclaimed his series lead by winning in Edmonton on the airport course.

Marco Andretti landed upside down in the first lap of a strategic race in Ohio that saw Scott Dixon capture his third straight victory.

ESPN.com's Ryan Hockensmith interviewed UFC President Dana White. Topics covered include the growth to the present state of the UFC, Frank Shamrock, Wanderlei Silva, feeder leagues, and negotiating to bring top fighters into the UFC.

The web page also includes a short video interview that took place after Quinton Jackson became the Light Heavyweight Champion.

Joey Chestnut has done it! In the annual Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, favorite, and six time defending champion, Takeru Kobayashi has been upset by American Joey Chestnut. In defeating Kobayashi, Chestnut set a new world record by eating 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes.

The title is back in the US. Great job Joey!