Nigeria Coach Keshi Talked Into Withdrawing Resignation

ABUJA: Nigeria's Africa Cup of Nations winning coach Stephen Keshi has withdrawn his resignation after talking to the country's sports minister.

Keshi had initially stepped down from his role on Monday having just secured the Africa Cup Of Nation trophy less than 24 hours earlier, but the former Nigeria captain has now said he will remain in the role.

"My attention has been drawn to reports in the media that I have resigned my appointment as the head coach of the Super Eagles of Nigeria," he said in a statement.

?While I have had cause to express my displeasure over some issues that happened in the course of our participation in the Afcon 2013, which my team won by the grace of God, especially concerning my relationship with the Nigerian Football Federation, I have since had opportunity to discuss the various issues with all concerned.

?I am therefore pleased to say that I have reconsidered my position and have decided to continue with my job. I want to thank the honorable minister of sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, for his swift and kind intervention."

Keshi guided Nigeria to their first Africa Cup Of Nations victory in 19 years on Sunday, and became just the second footballer to have won the trophy as a player and coach.

But earlier on Monday evening, he announced his resignation as coach of the national team.

Keshi claimed on radio station Metro FM that before the quarter-final clash against Ivory Coast, the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) had already decided they would sack him as soon as the Super Eagles were knocked out.

He also said the NFF booked a plane ticket back to Nigeria as soon as they found out that they would play the Ivorians.

- mD

Source: http://www.malaysiandigest.com/sports/253731-nigeria-coach-keshi-talked-into-withdrawing-resignation.html

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Tipsheet: Chemistry still critical to baseball success

Despite all of Bud Selig's chest-thumping, many baseball players still rely on drugs to enhance their performance.

Some players are still willing to explore the use of banned substances, as the Biogenesis hoo-ha with Alex Rodriguez suggests.

Some players are using legal drugs in ways that are well outside the boundaries of standard medical practice. Such is the case of Toradol, a nonsteroidal, anti-inflammatory drug meant for injury treatment.

Phillies reliever Jonathan Papelbon told ESPN.com that Red Sox players used the drug regularly as a pick-me-up during his time in Boston.

?It was kind of a word-of-mouth thing,? he said. ?You got in the clubhouse and said, 'Man, I feel like (bleep),' and somebody would say, 'Oh, you should get a Toradol shot.' All players talk about what gets you through a 162-game season.?

So what is the big deal here? Well, players were abusing a drug to boost performance.

Major League Baseball?s only stipulation on Toradol is that a doctor must administer it. When Papelbon got to the Phillies, team doctors told him they don?t use the drug, period.

Toradol abuse is cited in litigation filed by former NFL players against the league. Last September, ESPN.com noted, an NFL physicians society task force made a series of recommendations regarding the limitation of Toradol use.

The drug presents serious risks, including the potential of gastrointestinal bleeding. Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz ended up in intensive care with an extreme case of esophagitis.

The Digestive Health Institute website noted that England restricts the use of Toradol to hospitals and that other countries ban the drug entirely.

The Red Sox broke no laws. They broke no MLB rules. But they abused a drug meant to treat injuries.

?It made me feel better,? Papelbon told ESPN. ?You had to get it about 30 minutes before a game, and it made me feel pretty (darn) good. It only lasted about four hours maximum.?

Many fans believe there are two distinct groups of baseball players: One set that is totally clean and one that abuses performance-enhancing drugs.

In reality, science plays a major role in athletic training and maintenance. Some of that science gets pretty murky.

Defining whether a player is ?dirty? or ?clean? can become a matter of semantics.

MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE

Questions to ponder while the Blues wonder if goaltender Jaroslav Halak can save their day:

Will the Washington Capitals fight their way into the playoff bracket so they can bow out early again?

Is there anything wrong with Johnny Manziel having a little fun?

How do athletic departments get away with wholesale academic fraud?

POINTED OBSERVATIONS

Some thoughts on the wonderful world of sports:

?

• Ladies and gentlemen, here come the Illini. They validated their upset of No. 1 Indiana by grinding out a 57-53 victory at No. 18 Minnesota to boost their NCAA Tournament profile. Our Town?s Tyler Griffey struck again, leading the long-range shooting attack with 16 points. Illinois (17-8, 4-7 in the Big Ten) has favorable home games remaining against Purdue, Penn State and Nebraska. If they keep shooting like this, they could break through at Iowa and/or Northwestern, too.
• Their remaining games at Michigan and Ohio State are less promising. But then the Big Ten Tournament will provide the Illini additional opportunities. The NCAA selection committee pays particular attention to how teams finish. They also reward teams that play tough non-conference schedules and earn quality victories ??like those Illinois banked against Butler and Gonzaga earlier this season.
• Illinois is just one team mucking up the tournament selection process. Upsets abounded over the weekend, with California winning at No. 7 Arizona, Wisconsin beating No. 3 Michigan, Oklahoma edging No. 5 Kansas, Notre Dame outlasting No. 11 Louisville in an all-night war, UNLV topping No. 15 New Mexico and Illinois State winning at No. 16 Creighton. Whew!
• The Billikens are rolling too. Yes, a big portion of their Atlantic 10 road schedule features weaker teams. But winning away from home can still be problematic, as previous SLU teams proved. Travel in the A-10 during the winter can be challenging. So it?s notable that the Billikens have conquered many foreign courts this season. They prevailed in Saturday?s defensive struggle at Richmond, limiting the Spiders to 23.3 shooting from the floor.
• Once again their 10-man depth proved handy as Cory Remekun fouled out and fellow big men Rob Loe and Cody Ellis dealt with foul trouble. John Manning provided seven sturdy minutes, helping Dwayne Evans (11 points, 11 rebounds in 34 minutes) and Ellis (nine points, five rebounds) maintain order in the paint. But as SLU?s No. 56 ranking in the CBSSports.comRPI indicates, this team still has work to do.
• Mississippi was the perfect opponent to get Missouri moving again. The running Rebels did the Tigers a favor by dictating a fast pace at Mizzou Arena. Phil Pressey shook off his miserable performance at Texas A&M and spurred his team to a 98-point outburst. He was feeling it early, so he ended up launching 23 shots in the game. That was excessive, of course, but Pressey hit timely jumpers and made several electrifying plays in the open court.
• Emotional Alex Oriakhi made the most of the home-court officiating with his 22-point, 18-rebound domination of the paint. That same, um, robust effort on the road might have earned him five fouls and an early seat on the bench. As it was, he triggered an unfortunate fracas that led to the ejection of Ole Miss forward Reginald Buckner. That was just Alex being Alex.
• Frank Haith trimmed his rotation to seven players and the Tigers managed to sustain their scoring pace for 39 minutes. Another explosive performance by Keion Bell (21 points, 3-for-3 on three-pointers from the corner) offset a sluggish game from Laurence Bowers, who is still trying to regain his legs after spraining his ?good? knee earlier this season.
• But, yes, the Tigers remain on the NCAA Tournament bubble. They must either win some SEC road games or win the SEC Tournament to get there.

QUIPS ?R US

Here is what some of America?s leading sports pundits have been writing:

Johnette Howard, ESPN.com: ?He's flown his freak flag for six seasons in San Francisco, a free-spirited place where being eccentric may actually help him blend in, not stand out. He and the city and the Giants always seemed like a perfect fit. ?It's like Halloween in the stands there every night,? Giants closer Brian Wilson once said with a laugh in 2010, back when the ?Fear the Beard? rally cry first rose up around him and the Giants' team of ?misfits? stormed all the way to a surprising World Series title over the Texas Rangers. But now, with days to go before pitchers and catchers report to spring training, Wilson is 10 months removed from his second Tommy John surgery and the Giants didn't tender him a contract. He's still trying to get a job. And if you know anything about Wilson, that process is a bit odd to imagine, is it not??

Andy Glockner, SI.com: ?For the first 39 minutes of regulation, Louisville-Notre Dame was as unremarkable a February league game you could find. Both offenses had struggled to the point where, when Russ Smith dunked to give the Cardinals a 55-48 lead, the contest seemed over. The only certainties looked to be the Under and that the viewing audience would forget about it about 10 seconds after it ended. Then, it elevated to legend, and the only certainty now is it will be the game of the 2012-13 season. Jerian Grant, who had gone without a field goal until that final minute of regulation, made a three-pointer. Then another three. Then a ridiculous three with a defender draped all over him. Then he got frisky and went to the tin, drawing the harm to go with the hoop and suddenly the game was level at 60. Twelve points in a 23-second span and a game that was basically over now headed to overtime. Then it kept going . . . and going . . . and going. All that was missing by the middle of the fifth overtime was the Energizer Bunny thumping its way across the clover at midcourt. Irish players kept fouling out. Louisville kept clanking game-winning shots. By the end of the madness, Grant's final-minute heroics were about the 27th craziest thing that happened. It was so nuts, so comical, so incredible, and generated so many questions, both for the game and potentially where these teams are now headed.?

David Whitley, Sporting News: ?The BCS is looking for a few good men and women. Football expertise is a must, and it would help if they didn?t mind being referred to as a ?corpse.? The job is selecting four teams for college football?s playoff system. It will begin after next season, and BCS commissioners laid out the framework this week . . . Picking four playoff finalists will be the best and worst job in America. It offers the prestige and influence of the U.S. Supreme Court, and you don't have write all those boring opinions. The downside is your opinion will be sliced and diced by millions of Americans. And you may be, too. I don?t want to overstate things, since 99.94 percent of college football fans are not certifiably insane. They may want to be buried in official Ohio State or Notre Dame caskets. But who among us doesn?t? It?s that special sliver of lunacy I worry about. Like Harvey Updike, the Alabama fan who poisoned Auburn?s famed Toomer?s Corner oak trees. If committee members get it wrong, they may look out their front window one morning and see their yards have turned into the Mojave Desert.?

Patrick Hruby, Sports on Earth: ?With apologies to the NFL communications intern charged with faxing and/or emailing the same brain trauma statement over and over again, allegations that the league sought to mislead players, cover up the problem and generally keep the football universe's collective head stuck in the sand do have merit. Lots of merit, actually. Maybe not in a legal sense, inside a courtroom, where culpability is determined by billable hours and the fate of the free world can hang on the semantics of what "is" is. But definitely in a moral sense. And definitely in a common sense sense. Consider the facts. Not the facts that may be uncovered during a future discovery process, assuming the concussion lawsuits progress to that point. Just the facts we know right now. The stuff already in the public domain.?

MEGAPHONE

?Better coaches than me have been fired. Just not many.?

??Ever confident Rob Ryan, after becoming defensive coordinator in New Orleans.

Source: http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/jeff-gordon/tipsheet-chemistry-still-critical-to-baseball-success/article_7fa8bdf9-e1fb-5bd7-aff0-ac62c0c86928.html

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These Ladies Aren't Shy! Celebrity Sex Quotes

Valentine's Day is just around the corner -- and that means it's time for candy hearts, champagne and getting busy in the bedroom! If you need a little inspiration to get in the right frame of mind, take a cue from these famous ladies who aren't afraid to speak their minds.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/celebrity-sex-quotes/1-a-521327?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Acelebrity-sex-quotes-521327

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Video: Health Reasons Cited For Pope's Resignation

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Senator vows to delay Obama's nominees over Libya

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A leading Republican senator said Sunday he would hold up Senate confirmation of President Barack Obama's nominees to head the Pentagon and the CIA until the White House provided more answers about the Sept. 11 attack against a U.S. installation in Benghazi, Libya.

The White House took aim at South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a persistent critic of Obama's response to the terrorist assault, by urging quick approval of the president's second-term national security team and scolding any lawmakers trying to "play politics" with critical nominations.

Graham accused the White House of "stonewalling" requests to release more information about the attack that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya. "We're going to get to the bottom of Benghazi," he told CBS' "Face the Nation."

A Democratic colleague branded Graham's threat to stall the nominations of former Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., to be defense secretary and John Brennan, Obama's top counterterrorism adviser, to be CIA director as "unprecedented and unwarranted." Senators should have the chance to vote on the fate of those nominees, said Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island.

The White House did not address Graham's demand for more information, but did note that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified Thursday before Congress about the chaotic day of the Sept. 11 attack.

In January Graham had signaled he would delay Brennan's pick and told Fox News he would "absolutely" block Hagel unless Panetta and Dempsey testified about the Benghazi attack. The senator said he was "happy as a clam" when he learned the hearing with Panetta and Dempsey had been scheduled.

Republicans have accused the Obama administration of an election-year cover-up of the attack and at the hearing several suggested the commander in chief was disengaged as Americans died.

"We know nothing about what the president did on the night of September 11th during a time of national crisis, and the American people need to know what their commander in chief did, if anything, during this eight-hour attack," Graham said on CBS.

Graham contended that a six-person rescue team was delayed from leaving the Benghazi airport because of problems "with the militias releasing them and a lot of bureaucratic snafus," and he said he wants to know whether Obama called any Libyan officials to expedite their mission.

"I don't think we should allow Brennan to go forward for the CIA directorship, Hagel to be confirmed to secretary of defense until the White House gives us an accounting," Graham said, adding, "What did he do that night? That's not unfair. The families need to know, the American people need to know."

Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the White House's National Security Council, said, "We believe the Senate should act swiftly to confirm John Brennan and Sen. Hagel. These are critical national security positions and individual members shouldn't play politics with their nominations."

Reed said that "to dwell on a tragic incident and use that to block people is not appropriate. To try to find information, to ask legitimate questions, as Senator Graham is doing is completely appropriate. But then to turn around and say, 'I'm going to disrupt, essentially, the nomination of two key members of the President's Cabinet,' I don't think that's appropriate, I don't think it's warranted, I think it is an overreaction that is not going to serve the best interest going forward of the national security of the United States."

Graham would have none of it.

"In a constitutional democracy, we need to know what our commander in chief was doing at a time of great crisis, and this White House has been stonewalling the Congress, and I'm going to do everything I can to get to the bottom of this so we'll learn from our mistakes and hold this president accountable for what I think is tremendous disengagement at a time of national security crisis," he said.

At the Senate hearing, Panetta testified that he and Dempsey were meeting with Obama when they first learned of the Libya assault. He said the president told them to deploy forces as quickly as possible. Graham asked whether Panetta spoke again to Obama after that first meeting. Panetta said no, but that the White House was in touch with military officials and aware of what was happening. At one point, Graham asked Panetta if he knew what time Obama went to sleep that night. The Pentagon chief said he did not.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/senator-vows-delay-obamas-nominees-over-libya-160555227--politics.html

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1 dead in Indian Kashmir protests after man hanged

Kashmiri passengers rest on luggage as they wait for the Jammu-Srinagar bus services, temporarily suspended due to curfew in Srinagar, at a bus stand in Jammu, India, Saturday, Feb. 9,2013. A Kashmiri man Mohammed Afzal Guru, convicted in the 2001 attack on India's Parliament, has been hanged in an Indian prison, a senior Indian Home Ministry official said Saturday. On Saturday morning thousands of police and paramilitary troops had fanned out across Indian Kashmir anticipating that protests and violence might follow news of the execution. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)

Kashmiri passengers rest on luggage as they wait for the Jammu-Srinagar bus services, temporarily suspended due to curfew in Srinagar, at a bus stand in Jammu, India, Saturday, Feb. 9,2013. A Kashmiri man Mohammed Afzal Guru, convicted in the 2001 attack on India's Parliament, has been hanged in an Indian prison, a senior Indian Home Ministry official said Saturday. On Saturday morning thousands of police and paramilitary troops had fanned out across Indian Kashmir anticipating that protests and violence might follow news of the execution. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)

Indian paramilitary soldiers stand guard at a market area during curfew in Srinagar, India, Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013. A Kashmiri man Mohammed Afzal Guru, convicted in the 2001 attack on India's Parliament, has been hanged in an Indian prison, a senior Indian Home Ministry official said Saturday. On Saturday morning thousands of police and paramilitary troops had fanned out across Indian Kashmir anticipating that protests and violence might follow news of the execution. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

A Kashmiri civilian walks past an Indian policeman standing near a barbed wire during curfew in Srinagar, India, Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013. A Kashmiri man Mohammed Afzal Guru, convicted in the 2001 attack on India's Parliament, has been hanged in an Indian prison, a senior Indian Home Ministry official said Saturday. On Saturday morning thousands of police and paramilitary troops had fanned out across Indian Kashmir anticipating that protests and violence might follow news of the execution. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

A Kashmiri civilian carries a child and walks past an Indian paramilitary soldier during curfew in Srinagar, India, Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013. A Kashmiri man Mohammed Afzal Guru, convicted in the 2001 attack on India's Parliament, has been hanged in an Indian prison, a senior Indian Home Ministry official said Saturday. On Saturday morning thousands of police and paramilitary troops had fanned out across Indian Kashmir anticipating that protests and violence might follow news of the execution. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

SRINAGAR, India (AP) ? One person was killed as protests broke out in at least two parts of Indian-controlled Kashmir on Sunday despite a strict curfew to prevent violence after the execution of a Kashmiri man convicted in a deadly 2001 attack on India's Parliament.

Mohammed Afzal Guru was hanged in New Delhi early Saturday. Ahead of the execution, authorities ordered people in most of the Indian-held part of the disputed Kashmir region to remain indoors indefinitely in anticipation of anti-India protests.

On Sunday, scores of people defied the curfew and clashed with troops who fired tear gas shells to disperse the crowds, a police officer said on customary condition of anonymity. Police said a man died in Sumbal village in northern Kashmir after he jumped into a frigid river while trying to run away from troops who were firing tear gas and using batons to disperse the mob.

In Watergam, a village near the town of Sopore, which was Guru's home, at least four people were wounded, one critically, as police and paramilitary troops fired tear gas shells and bullets to disperse an angry crowd, police said. Four policemen were injured in separate clashes. Police said 23 troops and 13 protesters were injured in demonstrations on Saturday.

Tens of thousands of security troops were fanned out across the Himalayan region, and metal barricades and razor wire blocked all major roads in the area.

Cable television and mobile Internet services were shut down in most parts of the region, and most local newspapers were not available Sunday.

Greater Kashmir, an English language newspaper, said on its website that police went to the printing presses of most local newspapers and asked managers not to publish Sunday editions.

Showkat Ahmed Motta, the editor of another English daily, Kashmir Reader, said that his paper published Sunday's edition, but that police seized the copies.

A top local police official denied that any newspapers were stopped from publishing, but said the strict curfew may have prevented copies of the papers from reaching readers.

Guru's execution is an extremely sensitive matter in the Himalayan region, where most people believe his trial was not fair. Several rights groups across India and political groups in Indian Kashmir have also questioned the fairness of his trial.

Anti-India sentiment runs deep in Muslim-majority Kashmir, which is divided between Hindu-dominated India and Muslim-majority Pakistan but is claimed by both nations.

Since 1989, an armed uprising in the region and an ensuing crackdown have killed an estimated 68,000 people, mostly civilians.

Guru confessed in TV interviews that he helped plot the attack on India's Parliament that killed 14 people, including the five gunmen, but later denied any involvement and said he had been tortured into confessing.

Government prosecutors said that Guru was a member of the Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed, a charge Guru denied.

Guru had been on death row since first being convicted in 2002. Subsequent appeals in higher courts were also rejected, and India's Supreme Court set an execution date for October 2006. But his execution was delayed after his wife filed a mercy petition with India's president. That petition, the last step in the judicial process, was turned down last week.

While Indian government officials said that Guru's family had been informed of his imminent execution by express mail, the family said it learned of it only through television news.

"I wish we were the ones authorized to give the news to the family ? we owed him that much," Omar Abdullah, Indian Kashmir's top elected official, told CNN-IBN news channel on Sunday.

After the execution, Guru was buried in the prison compound.

The secrecy with which Guru's execution was carried out was similar to the execution in November of Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving gunman of the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Kasab was buried in the western Indian prison where he was hanged.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-02-10-India-Kashmir/id-c209c6fbb93a45a2b0b37ff1f93b656b

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