Goodell: Investigators to meet with Favre
SOUTH BEND, Ind., Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre will be interviewed soon about sexual harassment allegations, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Saturday.
Goodell, speaking to NBC Sports during its broadcast of the Notre Dame Western Michigan game in South Bend, Ind., said NFL investigators will meet with Favre Tuesday over accusations he sent inappropriate pictures and text messages to former New York Jets sideline reporter Jenn Sterger.
NBC reported Goodell has indicated he won't attend the meeting himself. Instead, Milt Ahlerich, the NFL's vice president of security, reportedly will meet with Favre in the Twin Cities.
"We want to make sure that we understand exactly what happened," Goodell told NBC's Today Show Friday. "We also want to make sure that everybody in the NFL, whether you're a player, coach, commissioner, recognize the responsibility that we all have to the public, to the people who follow our game."
Sterger, however, has not yet been willing to meet with investigators, the broadcaster reported.
Favre faces a suspension if he is found to have violated the league's personal conduct code.
Purdue's Hummel injures knee, out for year
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Purdue forward Robbie Hummel will miss the season after once again tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, team officials said Saturday.
Boilermakers basketball Coach Matt Painter said Hummel re-injured the knee during practice Saturday.
Hummel tore the same ACL last Feb. 24 and sat out the remainder of the 2009-10 campaign.
"This is obviously disappointing for Robbie, as well as our team, since he worked so hard to return from the tear he suffered in February," Painter said.
Hummel was averaging 15.7 points and 6.9 rebounds through 27 games last season when he was first injured. The Boilermakers finished the season 29-6, losing to eventual national champion Duke in the regional semifinals of the NCAA tournament.
Red Sox owner completes Liverpool FC buy
BOSTON, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Boston Red Sox owner John Henry says he and his company have completed their controversial purchase of the debt-laden British soccer club Liverpool FC.
Henry proceeded with the $476 million hostile takeover of the once-proud club Friday after its American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, dropped a restraining order and gave up a bitter legal battle to scuttle the sale, The Boston Globe reported.
Hicks, the former owner of the Texas Rangers baseball club, and Gillett faced a looming deadline to repay a massive loan to the Royal Bank of Scotland and fought Henry's bid as being too low.
The pair were able to delay the sale Wednesday after obtaining a restraining order from a Texas court but dropped the case Friday as the bank's deadline approached, the newspaper said.
Henry's company, New England Sports Ventures, issued a statement it is committed to restoring Liverpool's winning tradition.
"We have a history of winning, and today we want LFC supporters to know that this approach is what we intend to bring to this great club," the statement said.
Hicks, meanwhile, blasted the move, telling Sky Sports News it was an "epic swindle" and promising more legal action.
Foul crackdown puts damper on NBA antics
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Basketball players have to be on their toes more than usual this season, thanks to the NBA's new technical foul policy.
Under the crackdown ordered by CBA Commissioner David Stern, Lamar Odom of the Los Angeles Lakers received a technical foul Wednesday for briefly raising his arms in protest after being called for a foul against the Sacramento Kings, the Los Angeles Times reported. Coach Phil Jackson got a technical in the same game for arguing a delay-of-game call.
The NBA says the crackdown was prompted by informal research finding that fans are fed up with players' complaints.
The NBA has doubled fines for technical fouls across the board, assessing $2,000 for each of a player's first five technicals, $3,000 for fouls six through 10, and $4,000 for 11 through 15.
"It's an emotional game, no matter what," Lakers forward Pau Gasol told the Times. "You're going to react if you don't agree with a call. You just can't keep yourself cool all the time. It'll be tough. It'll be an adjustment. I don't know if there's much we can do about it. If you complain, you might get fined even more."
