FanNation - The Republic of Sport

So Cleveland Browns owner Randy Lerner met this week with "Dawg Pound Mike" and his buddy, no doubt hoping to get the two fans to call off the kickoff protest planned for Monday night, Nov. 16, when the Baltimore Ravens visit Cleveland Browns Stadium. And here's the Browns' luck: Lerner chats with these guys for about two hours and, after all that blabbing, "Dawg Pound Mike" announces he's still going through with this demonstration that figures to embarrass the organization even more than some of its draft picks. The big scoop "Dawg Pound Mike" came away with is that Lerner seemed sincere in saying he actually wants to win (he saw it in his eyes) and that the Browns do not take a back seat to the billionaire's Premier League soccer team, as some have surmised.

Dayton Daily News

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Former baseball player and current celebrity boxer Jose Canseco said he would like to fight Yankees star Alex Rodriguez. Speaking Thursday at a weigh-in for his upcoming fight in Massachusetts, Canseco was asked which current player he most would like to box? His response: "Who I would love to fight the most, if I could pick a baseball player? Alex Rodriguez, get your [butt] in the ring, I'll beat you to a pulp. That lying little idiot, I'd like to get him in the ring."

New York Post

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CC Sabathia told The Post last night that he absolutely would like to see his friend LeBron James in New York, and said he would tell the future free agent that New York is a one-of-a-kind city to play in. Sabathia, the Yankees ace and former Cleveland Indians star, was honored with five of his Yankees teammates at a star-studded Knicks-Cavaliers game at Madison Square Garden. Sabathia just finished the first year of his seven-year, $161 million contract with the Yanks.

New York Post

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If Dion Phaneuf wants to go looking for Sean Avery on the ice tonight, he had better be alert, with the winger unaccountably banished by coach John Tortorella to the bottom of the food chain on the Rangers' three-game western tour that concludes against the Flames. "It's not just about Sean. Other guys are playing well," the coach said yesterday morning after giving Avery eight shifts for a total of 5:56 of ice in Thursday's 4-2 victory in Edmonton. "There's accountability involved here."

New York Post

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Michael Dyer, one of the top-ranked tailbacks in America, committed to Auburn on Friday. Dyer (5-foot-8, 200), from Little Rock Christian in Little Rock, Ark., is considered the No. 1 running back in the country by ESPN, and No. 3 by Scout.com and Rivals.com. He chose the Tigers over Arkansas, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Florida and Alabama.

Atlanta Journal Constitution

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Real Salt Lake showed the stunned Columbus Crew the door at Columbus Crew Stadium Thursday night after recording a 3-2 triumph. The win gave RSL a 4-2 aggregate victory and chance to make some more history. The loss gave the Crew and coach Robert Warzycha some explaining to do. What coach Warzycha did -- bench last year's MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto in the first game, which turned out to be a 1-0 RSL victory, is a fire-able offense in wake of the team's stunning ouster. It cost the Crew a chance to reach the Eastern Conference final against the winner of the New England Revolution-Chicago Fire series.

bigapplesoccer.com

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Sources close to Brock Lesnar's camp informed Heavy.com tonight that Lesnar will not be able to participate in the postponed main event of UFC 108 against Shane Carwin. Lesnar has battled an undisclosed illness for the past month that forced him to withdraw from a scheduled title defense against Carwin at UFC 106. The bout was rescheduled for UFC 108, but Heavy.com learned earlier this week that Lesnar has not recovered from the illness and cannot train at even a moderate page without quickly becoming exhausted.

mmanews.com

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Jeff Gordon on Friday admitted he was one of the Sprint Cup drivers who approached NASCAR officials last weekend and urged them to prohibit bump-drafting in the corners at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. "I was one of them," Gordon said at Texas Motor Speedway. "Bump-drafting through the corners is ridiculous. I don't think that had anything to do with the race you saw last week."

Charlotte Observer

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Because of the intense attention on Tiger Woods, the playing field is lop-sided and Steve Williams sees it as his job to level it up. "When you're in a job like mine you've got to control the situation and you can't be shy about it,'' Williams said. "You have to take things into your own hands." "Take a walk in my shoes and see what we've got to put up with and try to deal with. When you're caddying for Tiger, you have to deal with increased media attention, increased television attention - there's a lot of people that want a piece of him." "What I try to do with Tiger, I try to give him the same playing field as everyone else in the tournament and I'm not shy on doing that.'' So, you are part bodyguard, part caddie? "Exactly,'' Williams said. "That's probably it.''

Sydney Morning Herald

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Serena Williams spent a productive week in Doha -- seizing the season-ending World No. 1 ranking and emerging as tennis first six million dollar woman. By winning the year-end Sony Ericsson Championships -- Doha 2009, Williams has set a new single-season prize money record for the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour by earning $6,545,586. Williams has eclipsed the previous record set by Justine Henin in 2007 ($5,429,586). Prize money totals include Grand Slam prize money earned. "It's incredible how much women's tennis has grown in the last few years and that the Tour has increased our prize money so significantly," said Williams. "We are very fortunate to have an opportunity to be so well rewarded for doing something we love." Though Williams won only three titles this season, compared to the 10 championships Henin claimed in setting the previous prize-money record, each of the three -- the Australian Open, Wimbledon and Doha -- were among the most lucractive paydays in tennis.

Tennis Week

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