We’re only on the second day of freedom in the Michael Vick melodrama and it’s clear that figurative lines are being drawn on the turf. Following his release from federal custody, many fans and journalists have expressed their strong feelings in opposition of Vick’s potential return to the NFL.

But there is another side, one which includes some prominent former and current NFL stars, that believes Vick is worthy of a second chance.

Michael Irvin, Jamal Anderson and Michael Strahan are a few of the former players who voiced support for Vick, while Shawne Merriman and Chad Ochocinco made their stances crystal clear on Twitter.

Speaking to the AP, Irvin stated: “The law has spoken and spoken severely … If the commissioner says he’s not allowed back in, then how is that fair?” He went on to compare the NFL’s indefinite suspension of Vick and wide receiver Donte’ Stallworth. It was only a month ago that Stallworth was released from jail after serving 24 days of his 30-day sentence for pleading guilty to DUI manslaughter.

“The law spoke with Donte’, but he’s already been in and out of jail,” Irvin said. “There still has to be a penalty with Donte’ when it comes to the NFL. … Michael Vick has already served his penalty.”

Irvin also mentioned that he doesn’t think a Vick reinstatement should happen right away because Roger Goodell wouldn’t want to “taint” the beginning of the football season with his comeback.

Anderson and Strahan’s messages of approval were even more emotional. Here’s what Strahan said on his Twitter page:

When he was informed by another Twitter user that “no team” would be interested in Vick, Strahan replied: “somebody’s interested in Vick but they’re not gonna say it right now! He’s too talented and they let guys who’ve done worse back.”

Jamal Anderson, the former Pro Bowler and current ESPN analyst, spent time to reflect and empathize with Vick. If you recall, Anderson was arrested in February on suspicion of cocaine possession.

Anderson proceeded to tweet a bunch of consecutive messages on how much he’s learned from his mistake and grown from it, then thanked every single Twitter user who cared enough to reach out.

At one point, he was asked: “If a child molester serves his sentence, do we forgive and forget that he abused children?”

Anderson’s reply: “You cant even compare his case to a child molester… we will not agree on this, which is fine … and I own a dog too [...] Vick went to jail. served his time, apologized for his actions/involvement prior to jail … what more do you want?”

It was fascinating to see the debate points fly back and forth on a social media landscape, and it wasn’t just limited to former stars-turned-analysts. Merriman, the Chargers’ defensive standout, proclaimed Vick should be allowed back in the league. His defense was that “everybody makes mistakes in life and should be given another chance.”

And of course I’ve saved the best comment for last.

Ochocinco, who’s never afraid of stirring things up, offered the following prediction:

As you could have guessed, that wasn’t all we heard from one of the most controversial athletes on Twitter.

He also said: “They say Vick ain’t accurate, I got homeboys that can throw, they can run and scramble right now, why they ain’t in the league? Vick is special that’s why!”

And then … “Teams game plan around certain skill players week to week, when you play Vick the plan is to stop him, no other QB has that presence!!!!”

If you’re already sick of the Vick talk, I’d advise you to keep your thumb close to the mute button. This has the makings of a seemingly never-ending topic of discussion, and at times it’s undoubtedly going to appear very ugly. Strahan advised people to “move on,” but I don’t foresee that happening any time soon.

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Ben Roethlisberger is facing accusations of sexual assault from a Nevada woman, Andrea McNulty, who filed a civil lawsuit claiming the Steelers quarterback raped her in July 2008 in a penthouse room at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe Casino.

Roethlisberger’s attorney, David Cornwell, denied the allegations on Tuesday, and NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said there is not yet enough information for Commissioner Roger Goodell to act upon in regard to the league’s strict Personal Conduct Policy.

“The facts are not clear; it’s a civil matter, and it’s premature to comment on how the personal conduct policy applies, if at all,” Aiello told FanHouse.

Cornwell released a statement denying the accusation: “Ben has never sexually assaulted anyone. The timing of the lawsuit and the absence of a criminal complaint and a criminal investigation are the most compelling evidence of the absence of any criminal conduct. If an investigation is commenced, Ben will cooperate fully and Ben will be fully exonerated.”

Steelers communications coordinator Dave Lockett said the team did not have any comment at this time, but that the club is aware of the complaint and may issue a statement in the near future.

The 36-page complaint filed last Friday in Washoe County, Nev., was made public on Tuesday and names eight defendants in addition to Roethlisberger, a two-time Super Bowl winner. McNulty, alleges that co-workers and supervisors at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe tried to cover up the incident, and that she did not file a criminal complaint because she feared she would be fired and that no one in her workplace would back her story.

The lawsuit seeks special and punitive damages in excess of $390,000.

According to the document, McNulty was working at her position of VIP guest shift manager and executive casino host during the 2008 American Century Celebrity Golf Tournament when Roethlisberger — a guest in one of the penthouse rooms — engaged her in friendly conversation.

The suit says McNulty was responsible for serving all guests on the VIP floor, among them Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley.

The next evening, July 11, the suit alleges that Roethlisberger called McNulty to his room on the 17th floor complaining that his television was broken. McNulty said in the complaint that she could not reach anyone in engineering to check on the problem and reported to the room herself because she had been instructed to make sure “that Roethlisberger had a good trip.”

It was then, the suit alleges, that the 6-foot-5, 249-pound quarterback blocked McNulty from leaving, grabbed her, kissed her and “began fondling plaintiff through her dress and between her legs.” McNulty protested and objected, the suit claims, but she feared the football player would physically harm her.

The suit then graphically describes how Roethlisberger “held her against her will and physically moved plaintiff and pushed her onto his bed,” where he allegedly raped her.

Afterward, the suit claims, Roethlisberger asked McNulty whether there were security cameras in the room. She told him there were cameras everywhere, and he ordered her, “If anybody asks you, you fixed my television. You fixed my television. Now go!” the suit says.

According to the complaint, McNulty told Harrah’s security chief Guy Hyder about the attack and was informed that the casino president, John Koster, was close friends with Roethlisberger. Hyder, the lawsuit said, told McNulty she was “overreacting,” and that, “most girls would feel lucky to get to have sex with someone like Ben Roethlisberger,” and that “Koster would love you even more if he knew about this.”

Both Hyder and Koster are named as defendants in the complaint.

The lawsuit, filed by attorney Calvin R. Dunlap of Reno, Nev., said McNulty required hospitalization for treatment for depression after the alleged attack.

Dunlap told the Associated Press in an e-mail, “Neither I nor my client will be making any comment. We believe the matter should be resolved in court rather than in the media.”

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CRISTIANO RONALDO will wear the Nº9 on his back. The Portuguese
Football star & new REAL MADRID player will be presented tomorrow
at 21.00 (Sp Time) in the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in front of an
expected +70.000 fans. The other number that he liked was Nº17 his
number at Sporting, but he accepted happily the Nº9.
The Nº9 is now vacant after SAVIOLA left it recently with his transfer
to Portuguese Football. The number has a historical significance at
Real as it was the number of their legendary Argentine goal scorer
ALFREDO DI STEFANO. The shirt Nº9 of Cristiano Ronaldo with the
Real Madrid logo is expected to break record sal

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Switzerland’s Olympic time-trial champion Fabian Cancellara won the first stage of the Tour de France on Saturday in a time of 19 minutes 32.14 seconds to claim the yellow jersey.

The 28-year-old showed his class with an impressive performance on the twisting and challenging 15.5km hilly course around the tiny Principality to claim his fourth stage victory on the Tour and was strong on the climb.

Outstanding on the descent, current Tour of Switzerland champion Cancellara wiped 19 seconds off the previous fastest time set by Bradley Wiggins, who eventually finished third with Astana’s Alberto Contador second.

“I am quite proud, I put in the maximum possible effort,” said the Swiss rider whose Saxo Bank team will now defend the yellow jersey at least until the next big rendezvous, the team time trial over 39km held on the fourth stage.

“I was one of the favorites to win here before the race and I knew if I got things right it would be very difficult for my rivals to beat me.

“That was special motivation.

“I knew to take it easy on the climb, to avoid too much lactic acid in the legs, and then go hard on the flat. It really paid off.

“To be back in the yellow jersey again is a great achievement both for me and my team, I am proud of it.

“Now everyone now knows Cancellara is back and he is stronger.

“We will now defend the jersey until the team time trial.”

The new yellow jersey holder also revealed he had been battling depression in April this year.

“I had a few problems in April, things weren’t going my way, but it makes me even prouder to know that I am strong in the head too to come back from that,” said Cancellara.

The Swiss star also paid tribute to his team’s mechanics, but revealed he had personally paid great attention to his bike.

“I take my hat off to the mechanics, they did a great job,” he said.

“But I checked every millimeter, every detail of that bike as I knew the small things would make the difference out here.”

Having held the yellow jersey for a week in 2007 when he won the London prologue and then the stage three, Cancellara said he knew it was a good omen when he was given the same Number 33 to wear here.

And Cancellara backed compatriot Roger Federer to win the final of Wimbledon against Andy Roddick of the United States on Sunday.

“We might be from a small country, but we have talented sportsmen,” he said with a grin.
Seven-times Tour champion Lance Armstrong, who is back after nearly four years in retirement, showed he still has the potential to worry the leaders as he finished 10th in a time of 20min 12sec - 40 seconds behind the winner.

Armstrong’s Astana team-mate Contador, the 2007 Tour winner, was second and
18 seconds behind the winner to claim the polka-dot jersey while defending champion Carlos Sastre finished one minute and eight seconds off the pace.

Germany’s Andreas Kloeden finished fourth in a time of 19 minutes 54 seconds, 22 seconds off the winner’s pace, while Australia’s Cadel Evans claimed fifth after finishing just a second off the German.

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Three-and-a-half hours after the singles final of The Championships, the Williams sisters took Centre Court again on the same side of the net and defeated Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs of Australia 76(4) 64 to win their ninth Grand Slam doubles title.

“One out of two isn’t bad,” said Venus, who lost the singles final to Serena earlier in the day. “You definitely have to be focused and continue, because there’s still a championship match to play. I wanted my name on the trophy. I mean, I really wanted to win the singles, but they’re two separate events. If I won the singles and not the doubles it’s still not the same. I tried really hard in both.”

“I’m really excited to have doubles titles. I rack ‘em up,” Serena said. “Doubles really counts. You can see it out there. The team we played gave it their all, and we gave it our all. We wanted to win. It feels great to win the doubles. You can go home with two titles. And there’s nothing like winning a title with your sister.”

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The All-Star reserves are being announced, and the news is good for Tim Wakefield and a number of other Red Sox. The knuckleballer has been named a reserve on the American League team, alongside first baseman Kevin Youkilis, starter Josh Beckett, and closer Jonathan Papelbon. They join previously selected starters Jason Bay and Dustin Pedroia, giving the Red Sox six All-Stars total.

This news is particularly good for Wakefield, who becomes the second-oldest first-time All-Star in history, behind only Satchel Paige. The 42-year-old is 10-3, tying him for the American League lead in wins. Beyond the statistics, though, Wakefield held the rotation together in April when Beckett, Jon Lester and Daisuke Matsuzaka were struggling.

“He’s done everything he can,” Beckett said on Friday. “For six weeks, he kind of carried the staff as far as eating up innings. A couple of us were struggling to get deeper into games, myself included, and were giving up runs, forcing the back end of our deep bullpen to come in in the middle of games. He did a great job.”

It’s unclear when Wakefield received the news, but he was clearly in good spirits before the game, laughing it up with Mariners future Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. and ex-teammate Sean Casey at the batting cage.

Pedroia celebrated his berth, by the way, by blasting his third homer of the season in the first inning.

This is the second All-Star appearance for Beckett, Pedroia and Youkilis. Bay will be appearing for the third time, while this is the fourth straight honor for Papelbon.

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Andy Roddick will win the 2009 Wimbledon final 7-6 6-7 7-6 6-7 9-7, defeating Roger Federer in his bid to reclaim his All England Club crown and surpass Pete Sampras’ record of 14 Grand Slam titles. You heard it here first!

Actually, my predicted score line is the only chance Roddick has of taking Federer down this year. Fed is playing very, very well on the vaunted grass courts of England. His serve has been stupendous: When Roger Federer gets his first serve percentage into the low 80s, he’s virtually impossible to beat–or even take sets off of.

But Roddick is no slouch in the serve department, either. Among active pros, he owns one of the biggest first and second serves in the game, a deadly combination of terrifying velocity and insane spin. Since losing two Wimbledon finals to Federer, he’s modified his game and started to play up to his abilities on grass.

Still, he’ll struggle tomorrow to break Federer’s serve, as Fed will struggle to break his. So an effective strategy for Roddick would be to guard his own serve fanatically, ignore Federer’s, and save his best returns for tiebreakers. Tiebreakers are unpredictable, but Roddick is on a good tiebreak run. If he manages 3-4 aces and focuses on going after 2-3 returns, he can sprint to a quick lead and then try to hold on, edging out tiebreaks by scores of 8-6, 9-7, 10-8. With luck, he’ll then be able to eek out a single service break late on the tiebreaker-less fifth set.

Federer isn’t ultimately that worried about Roddick because he long ago cracked the American’s game. They’ve met three times in Slam finals (Fed also defeated Roddick to win the 2006 U.S. Open), and in each case, the Swiss has neutralized Roddick’s main weapon. This has typically frustrated Roddick, who’s accustomed to holding serve easily against most players. Roddick is intelligent and competitive, but against Federer he needs more metal toughness than usual.

He showed this in his semifinal victory against Andy Murray, the Scottish player who had become the best chance for a British Wimbledon champ since Fred Perry in 1936. When he needed the big serves, he came up with them. And when the match became a battle of who could overcome the tightness that a pressure-filled match induces, Roddick demonstrated that he could hit through the anxiety.

He probably has a game plan for Federer, so I don’t expect him to take my advice. Playing for breakers isn’t necessarily in the big server’s playbook; 6-4 6-4 6-4 is how they generally want to beat opponents. However, Roddick doesn’t have the game to break Fed’s serve even once of twice. So he should push for the breakers and roll the dice. This year’s All England final is a great chance for him to win a title he should probably have claimed at least once already. And he can do it if he does what he’s currently doing best, which is win tiebreakers.

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Steve McNair was shot twice in the head and twice in the chest.

His girlfriend, Sahel Kazemi, was shot in the side of the head. A semi-automatic pistol was found on the floor under her body. The police have not announced whether they think she was murdered or committed suicide.

The Nashville police spokesman Don Aaron said at a news conference this afternoon:

“While it is clear McNair’s death is a homicide, the police department is not classifying Kazemi’s death, pending further investigation and interviews with persons who knew her and McNair.

“We can’t be close-minded. All scenarios are on the table.”

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Tenn. (AP) - Police worked Sunday to unravel the relationship between slain former NFL quarterback Steve McNair and his friend, a 20-year-old woman who was found shot to death alongside him in his downtown condominium.

McNair, who led the famous Tennessee Titans’ drive that came a yard short of forcing overtime in the 2000 Super Bowl, was found dead on a sofa in the living room Saturday with multiple gunshot wounds, including one to the head. His friend, Sahel Kazemi, was very close to him on the floor, killed by a single gunshot. A pistol was discovered near her, but police said it took a while to find the firearm.

Authorities didn’t immediately say who was to blame for the killings, but they weren’t looking for any suspects.

Robert Gaddy called 911 after being alerted by a friend that something was wrong with McNair. Gaddy had been friends with McNair since they played at Alcorn State. Police asked him not to discuss what he saw in the condo or McNair’s relationship with Kazemi.

“I want people to know that Steve did not deserve this. A person as great as Steve McNair did not deserve to have his life ended in such a fashion,” Gaddy told The Associated Press on Sunday morning.

McNair, 36, and Kazemi were together just two days earlier, when she was pulled over driving a 2007 Escalade registered to her and McNair. She was arrested on a DUI charges, and he was allowed to leave in a taxi.

McNair and Kazemi apparently knew each other from a restaurant the quarterback and his family frequented, but workers there wouldn’t talk about their relationship. Police also refused to release any details about their relationship, simply calling Kazemi a “friend.”

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Maria Sharapova was defeated after two rounds of Wimbledon for the second year in a row after falling to Gisela Dulko 6-2 3-6 6-4 at this year’s event.

Sharapova is ranked only 60th in the world, lower than Dulko who is No.45, but the Russian was seeded 24th at Wimbledon, privileged because of her status of a former champion, while Dulko was unseeded, so the Argentinean’s victory is an upset.

Sharapova won seven consecutive games during one stretch, and saved four match points in a 14-point final game, but hit one easy forehand long and fell on Dulko’s fifth match point.

Dulko had won only three games against Sharapova in their previous two meetings, but today she improved that stat and made Sharapova fall to 6-1 this year in three-set matches.

Dulko now faces another Russian in her next match, tenth seed Nadia Petrova.

Other notable results of day three include the defeat of the 2008 Wimbledon sensational semifinalist Zheng Jie, who fell to Daniela Hantuchova 6-3 7-5. Second seed Serena Williams lost only three games in her second-round match with Jarmila Groth. Eighth seed Victoria Azarenka double bageled Ioana Raluca Olaru, while seed No.14 Dominika Cibulkova and seed No.26 Virginie Razzano also progressed.

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