Regeln » d a shocking 5-4 win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday

RIO DE JANEIRO -- For decades, race walking and all its straight-legged, hip-swaying awkwardness has largely been ignored, derided and sometimes ridiculed by those unfamiliar with the inner workings of the sport.To the Russians, it was never a joke.Aware of the nine Olympic medals available -- the first three of the Rio Games are up for grabs Friday in the 20K mens walk -- Russia ramped up a doping machine that produced champion race walkers, year after year. That machine won 11 medals in the past five games. It worked so well, in fact, that race walking became the epicenter of the doping scandal that engulfed the countrys entire sports program and led to the ouster of the track team from this years Olympics.I wasnt surprised, retired American race walker Curt Clausen said of the revelations about Russian race walking that have surfaced over the past two years. I was more glad somebody is finally shining some light on the issue.Clausen is 48 now and keeps his hand in the game as a member of the USA Track and Field board of directors. At his house in Wisconsin is a replica of the bronze medal he won at the 1999 world championships. The duplicate medal -- he never got the original -- was awarded to him two years after the race, when the Russian winner, German Skurygin, was disqualified for doping. Clausen calls it my big penny, the validation for my career.He received it during a break at a national meet in 2001.It was like a 38-second ceremony, and people didnt understand why I was getting the medal, Clausen said.Much to his shock, Skurygin had served his ban and was back out on the course two years later, dominating races again. Two years after that, Skurygin died of a heart attack at age 45.It came as no surprise to Clausen, then, when Russian race walkers started being kicked out of the sport at an alarming rate. There have been at least 33 doping cases involving Russian walkers in recent years, with 26 of them serving bans. They trained out of a small city in central Russia called Saransk. Many were coached by Viktor Chegin, who resigned last year.I once told Curt I didnt know if all the doping (in the sport) affected me much, said American John Nunn, a member of this years team whose best finish at his previous two Olympics is 26th. Curt smiled. He said, `John, when you finish fourth and miss the podium because the person in front of you doped, it takes on a whole new meaning.It takes on even greater meeting to Jared Tallent, the Australian who finished second to Russian Sergey Kirdyapkin at the London Olympics but received the gold medal earlier this year after Kirdyapkin got nailed for doping. The IOC website posting the results of that race says they are not final, because retests of samples from both Beijing and London are still being analyzed.Earlier this year, Tallent finished second to Italian Alex Schwarzer at the World Race Walking Team Championships in Rome. Schwarzer had a four-year doping ban reduced by three months, which made him eligible for the major race in his home country. About a month after the event, it was revealed he had another positive. He has been banned from the Olympics and is appealing, with a decision expected this week from the Court of Arbitration for Sport.The case involving Schwarzer, who also beat Tallent at the Beijing Olympics, illustrates how far race walking still has to go to clean up its act, even with the Russians out of the mix. The woman who won the 20K in Rome and is a favorite at the Olympics, Chinas Liu Hong, got stripped of the Rome title and served an almost-unheard-of one-month ban. Liu is coached by the same Italian who used to coach Schwarzer.Im still leery about whats going to happen, Nunn said.Tallent is trying to stay upbeat, and said that Friday -- along with Aug. 19, when the womens 20K and mens 50K walks take place -- should be good days for his sport.They have been the main culprits in our sport, Tallent said of the Russians, in an interview with Australian media last week. A lot of the top guys will think they have got a chance for a medal, whereas in the past, when you had the three Russians there, you always thought it was going to be pretty tough to get a medal.Of course, none of that can erase the past -- or give Clausen the turn on the medals podium that was denied him all those years ago.Still, hell be in Rio for the races -- rooting for his American buddy, Nunn, along with others he knows have done things the right way over the years.It seems theres been a failure at many different levels, Clausen said. Now that thats been brought to light, Im optimistic some of those gaps can be closed.Shoes Canada Shop . On Saturday night, the normally free throw-challenged centre did just that. Howard scored 18 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, including 13 of 19 free throws in a 2 1/2-minute stretch, and the Houston Rockets beat the Denver Nuggets 122-111. Shoes Canada From China . Its sharpness matched my mind. This was no night to go to sleep. https://www.shoescanadaonline.com/ . While hell be dialed in to that tournament on a course he loves, you can forgive him if his eyes glance down the calendar just a bit, towards April. Shoes Canada Sale . The showiest items on Calgarys lot were forwards Mike Cammalleri and Lee Stempniak. Both will be unrestricted free agents this summer. Wholesale Shoes Canada . "It doesnt get any better than that," Giambi said. "Im speechless." The Indians are roaring toward October. Giambi belted a two-run, pinch-hit homer with two outs in the ninth inning to give Cleveland a shocking 5-4 win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night, keeping the Indians up with the lead pack in the AL wild-card race.Its a slap in the face to the Big Ten (and every other conference), but the College Football Playoff committee doesnt respect the leagues champion, and the oddsmakers know it. Either Wisconsin or Penn State will be crowned the Big Tens best team via a time-honored process that every school in the league has approved and endorsed, yet the oddsmakers are telling us that the playoff committee will step in and overrule it.Thats the message the committee has delivered, and the oddsmakers have heard it loud and clear. Read on to see what the Westgates numbers say about the Big Ten champions chances of making the College Foootball Playoff compared with that of also-rans Ohio State and Michigan.dddddddddddd Well also provide some betting notes for all eight of Week 14s league title games.Conference title game betting notesWestern Michigan Broncos (-18.5) vs. Ohio BobcatsMAC Championship, DetroitWestern was outgained for the first time all year, but downed Toledo 55-35 and became the first MAC team to beat the Rockets by three scores since 2010. The Broncos are a robust 9-3 ATS this year and have beaten Ohio by ' ' '