Spain has record hold on top soccer spot
NYON, Switzerland, April 8 (UPI) -- Spain, which has been rated No. 1 since last June, has opened a record lead over second-ranked Germany in the FIFA men's soccer rankings released Wednesday.
The Spanish team has a 31-match unbeaten string and picked up 63 ratings points in the last month with a pair of victories over Turkey in World Cup qualifying. Spain has 1,729 points. Germany, which lost 4 points last month, has 1,362.
The 367-point differential is the largest between the top two teams since FIFA began its rankings in 1993.
Also of concern to the Germans' was the 43-point gain by No. 3 Netherlands, which is 2 points out of second place with 1,360 points.
Brazil improved its latest ranking one place to fourth, dropping Italy to fifth.
Argentina remained sixth but England, which collected a Top 10-best 90 points in the last month, was up two spots to seventh, bumping Croatia and Russia each down one spot to eighth and ninth, respectively. France, which collected 70 points last month, went from 12th to 10th.
The FIFA world rankings are determined by points received from match results over a three-year period, with more recent matches given greater weight. Teams also get more points for playing relatively strong opponents.
Senators give Clouston two-year contract
OTTAWA, April 8 (UPI) -- Cory Clouston, who took over as coach of the Ottawa Senators on Feb. 2, has been given a two-year contract by the NHL team.
Team officials, including owner Eugene Melnyk, announced the deal Wednesday, saying the contract was valid through the 2010-11 season.
Clouston took over the Senators from Craig Hartsburg, who was fired when the team was 17-24-7 this season. Ottawa is 19-10-3 under Clouston but has been eliminated from playoff consideration.
The Ottawa position was the first NHL head coaching job for Clouston, 39, who was behind the bench of Ottawa's American Hockey League affiliate in Binghamton prior to being called to Ottawa.
He was 59-48-12 in parts of two seasons at Binghamton. He was the coach of the Western Hockey League's Kootenay Ice for five seasons, piling up a franchise record 209 wins.
Diversity lacking on U.S. Olympic boards
WASHINGTON, April 8 (UPI) -- More than half of the 38 sports federation boards of the U.S. Olympic movement have no African-American members, an analysis indicates.
In addition, Asians are represented on only eight of the boards while just five of the federations have any Hispanic members, USA Today reported Wednesday.
The newspaper says a study of the gender and ethnic breakdown of USA Olympics indicates diversity is missing on federation boards in the wake of reforms intended to strengthen leadership of the movement.
No African-Americans hold the highest salaried position on the sports federation boards.
"How can we have an African-American president in the White House unifying the nation and yet have such an exclusive club in the Olympics," says Richard Lapchick, director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida.
Lapchick says he was supposed to meet with the USA Olympic officials last fall to discuss diversity but the meeting was canceled and has not been rescheduled.
Bengals sign tackle Tank Johnson
CINCINNATI, April 8 (UPI) -- Defensive tackle Tank Johnson has signed a one-year contract with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Last season, the five-year NFL veteran struggled when he was made a nose tackle in the Dallas Cowboys' 3-4 defensive scheme and was not re-signed. In 16 games last season in a backup role he made 22 tackles with one sack.
"In the 3-4, nose tackle wasn't really his thing," Bengals' defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer told The Cincinnati Enquirer. "Playing in a three technique gives him greater flexibility to play both sides."
The five-year veteran, a second-round draft pick by the Chicago Bears out of the University of Washington in 2004, was released by Chicago following his arrest for violating probation on a gun charge. The violation carried an eight-game NFL suspension.
In 70 NFL games, Johnson, 27, has 96 tackles and 12 sacks.
"The addition of Tank will increase our ability to apply pressure on the football," Cincinnati Coach Marvin Lewis said in a statement.
