Michael Vick's mansion to be auctioned
ATLANTA, March 3 (UPI) -- Imprisoned football player Michael Vick's eight-bedroom mansion is going on the auction block, say bankruptcy officials in Gwinett County, Ga.
Vick's 20,000-square-foot home in the Sugarloaf Country Club is to be sold March 10 to settle his bankruptcy case, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Tuesday.
The minimum bid must be $3.2 million with subsequent bids to be made in $25,000 increments until a bid of $3.3 million is reached. Bids then may be made in $10,000 increments.
Vick is serving a 23-month sentence in federal prison for felony convictions related to dogfighting. He is to be released to home confinement in May, the Journal-Constitution reported.
AC Milan: No Beckham deal reached
MILAN, Italy, March 3 (UPI) -- AC Milan officials said Tuesday they hadn't reached a deal yet to keep superstar David Beckham on the Italian soccer club's roster past this week.
Beckham's loan from the Los Angeles Galaxy of the U.S. Major League Soccer to the Italian club expires Sunday. Recent media reports indicated the Galaxy and AC Milan had reached a deal allowing Beckham to stay with Milan until June 30, but that's not the case, Milan Chief Executive Officer Adriano Galliani told the Italian news agency ANSA.
"The affair isn't resolved," Galliani said. "We are working on the hypothesis of a loan until June 30 but no deal has been reached."
A Los Angeles television station reported this week that the two clubs had agreed Beckham would stay in Italy until the end of the Serie A season and return to the United States in July. Beckham has repeatedly said he wants to stay in Milan past Sunday, ANSA reported.
Avery returning to New York Rangers
NEW YORK, March 3 (UPI) -- Left wing Sean Avery, who was suspended for six games by the NHL and later cut by the Dallas Stars, has re-joined the New York Rangers, the team said Tuesday.
The Rangers claimed Avery off re-entry waivers. Avery had been playing with the Rangers' American Hockey League affiliate in Hartford, Conn., but is expected to join New York for its game Thursday.
It is his second stint with the Rangers. He joined the team via trade on Feb. 5, 2007, and had 23 goals, 30 assists and 154 penalty minutes in 86 games during two seasons. Dallas signed Avery over the summer but he appeared in only 23 games for the Stars.
He was suspended by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman in December after he made insensitive comments about a former girlfriend and the NHL player who was dating her. He was reinstated in February after he attended anger-management classes but was waived by the Stars on Feb. 7. He joined Hartford on Feb. 10.
Avery has played 402 NHL games over seven seasons, having played with the Rangers, Stars, Los Angeles Kings and Detroit Red Wings. He has 68 goals, 109 assists and 1,144 penalty minutes over his career.
Oden expected to miss another week
PORTLAND, Ore., March 3 (UPI) -- The knee injury that has sidelined Portland Trail Blazers center Greg Oden for seven games could keep him out for another week, the team said.
Oden suffered a chipped left patella during a game Feb. 12 and he hasn't played since. The Oregonian newspaper in Portland, Ore., said Oden could be out of action until mid-March. The report said team officials, after an evaluation of the injury Monday, said Oden could miss 7-10 days.
Oden was the first overall choice in the 2007 draft but missed all of last season after surgery on his right knee. He also missed six games this season because of a foot injury suffered in the season opener.
In 46 games this season, Oden is averaging 9 points and 7.2 rebounds a game.
Boomer makes mark on race bourbon label
LOUISVILLE, Ky., March 3 (UPI) -- The makers of Kentucky's Maker's Mark bourbon announced former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason would be on the label of the special Lane's End Stakes bottle.
The Lane's End Stakes is a $500,000 Kentucky Derby prep horse race at Turfway Park near Cincinnati that has been honored for the past six years with a commemorative bottle.
Esiason led the Cincinnati Bengals to the 1988 Super Bowl and created the Boomer Esiason Foundation, which will be the beneficiary of the sales of the bottles graced by his image.
The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal said Tuesday another Cincinnati sports hero, Reds catcher Johnny Bench, was on last year's Lane's End Stakes bottle.
Maker's Mark will produce 6,000 Boomer bottles to go on sale at retailers in the Cincinnati area on March 13 at a price of around $23.
The 38th running of the Grade II Lane's End Stakes will be March 21.
