In high school, he didn’t do his class assignments or study for tests. Instead, he was focused on making money in the streets and hanging out with friends….

[As a result of some dramatic events] Irvin has… [been [en]during an improbable, nomadic journey that’s transformed him from a troubled teen into an undersized star defensive end for West Virginia and major college football’s top returning pass rusher entering the season

Last season, he finished second in the Football Bowl Subdivision with 14 sacks, despite not starting and primarily playing on third downs ”” about eight to 10 snaps per game.

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International soccer authorities and law enforcement officials are struggling to combat rampant game fixing by what they describe as sprawling networks of organized crime, a problem that has plagued the sport for decades but appears to have intensified recently.

Game-fixing scandals are engulfing men’s professional leagues around the world, from Turkey, whose top officials are meeting this week to determine whether the coming season will have to be delayed pending an investigation, to South Korea, where dozens of players have been indicted over the past several weeks. Authorities attribute the apparent burst of fixing cases to sophisticated criminal operations based in Singapore, Malaysia and elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

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They never gave up–congratulations to them.

Clarke, 42 years old, of Northern Ireland, was the clear local favorite. He has won 14 times on the European Tour and will almost certainly one day be the European Ryder Cup captain.

But he’d never won a major, despite playing in 53 of them before this week, including 19 previous British Opens, and there was a prevailing sense that this may be his last, best chance. After shooting opening rounds of 68, 68 and 69, he said Saturday that he was playing some of the best golf of his life.

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Her career trajectory shifted early in 2008, after Ryan’s contract was not renewed and Pia Sundhage became the United States coach. Sundhage made a simple calculation: nobody wins anything in soccer without a capable goalkeeper. And [Hope] Solo was ”” is ”” considered by many to be the best female keeper in the world.

“Whatever happened in 2007, I respectfully listened to the stories,” Sundhage said. “I asked them not to forget ”” because probably that’s impossible ”” but I wanted them to forgive going forward. This team is not about one player or an individual. It’s about the team.”

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The United States is in the World Cup final for the first time since it last won the title in 1999, and once again, it was Abby Wambach coming up big in a 3-1 victory over France.

Wambach broke a tense tie in the 79th minute Wednesday with a monstrous header ”” what else? ”” off of a Lauren Cheney corner kick. Cheney delivered the ball perfectly to the far post, and the 5-foot-11 forward soared over the scrum and pushed the ball past French goalkeeper Berangere Sapowicz. Wambach let out a scream and did a sliding sprint into the corner, where she was mobbed by her teammates.

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Wow.

Japan have recorded a famous 1-0 extra-time win to eliminate reigning champions and host nation Germany from the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cupâ„¢ and reach the semi-finals for the first time.

Substitute Karina Maruyama scored the decisive goal on 108 minutes as Germany suffered a first defeat for 16 matches, dating back to the quarter-final stage at USA 1999. Japan will now face the winner of Sunday’s semi-final between Sweden and Australia.

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With so many players struggling, the fact that England were still in the game was a testament to their battling qualities and team spirit. The second period of extra time was almost exclusively played inside their half, but despite a header from substitute Eugenie Le Sommer going over the bar, few chances were created.

And so to penalties. Camille Abily saw her spot kick saved by Bardsley, while Kelly Smith blasted hers home despite limping to the spot. Bussaglia and Carney traded successful spot kicks, as did Thiney and Stoney. Bompastor made no mistake, but Claire Rafferty screwed her chance wide. With one penalty to go, it was sudden death. Le Sommer scored but Faye White’s penalty clipped the top of the crossbar. The skipper’s miss sent France through to a semi-final against Brazil or USA ”“ and England home without having lost a game in the competition.

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The Yankees have won 27 championships with a diverse collection of baseball’s greatest players. From the groundbreaking power of Babe Ruth to the unmatched hitting streak of Joe DiMaggio to a trio of perfect-game pitchers, the Yankees’ starry constellation outshines all others.

But one thing the Yankees never had, until now, was a player with 3,000 hits. A few have passed through on their way to the milestone, but only one has collected 3,000 as a Yankee. He is Derek Jeter, the team captain, who got there in a most improbable way on Saturday at Yankee Stadium.

He hit a home run….

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Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal for his first Wimbledon championship, crowning his rise to the No. 1 ranking in tennis.

Djokovic won 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 on Centre Court of the All England Club in London to push his record for the year to 48-1.

The Serb will take over the top spot on the ATP World Tour tomorrow. Nadal, a 10-time major champion, had been No. 1 since beating Roger Federer of Switzerland for last year’s French Open title.

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Petra Kvitova won her first Grand Slam title Saturday by beating Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-4 in the Wimbledon final.

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The costs of a lockout could be enormous, particularly if the entire season were lost. In that case, the league’s most valuable franchises, including the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers, stand to lose more than $200 million each in revenue, according to estimates by Forbes.

Beyond owners and players, however, a lockout would be no less painful to countless restaurants, bars, and retail stores that depend on the NBA for foot traffic and sales. Many are only beginning to recover from the recession.

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For two superb sets Wednesday, everything looked so routine for Roger Federer, precisely the way it did for so many years at Wimbledon — and nearly everywhere else, too.

Little comes easily for Federer anymore, even at the All England Club, where he’s won six of his record 16 major championships.

Before Wednesday, Federer was 178-0 when taking the first two sets of a Grand Slam match.

Now he’s 178-1.

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The South Carolina baseball program permanently etched its name into the College World Series history book Tuesday night.

With a 5-2 victory over Florida behind the stellar pitching of junior left-hander Michael Roth, the Gamecocks won their second consecutive NCAA championship, becoming the sixth program to repeat as national title holders along with Texas, Southern Cal, Stanford, LSU and Oregon State.

“Like the (CWS) motto says, ”˜History happens here,’ and that’s what we did. We made some history,” Roth said.

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South Carolina’s incredible baseball season continued Monday with a game so unlikely that it made the Disney movie “Angels in the Outfield” seem plausible.

The Gamecocks won 2-1 in 11 innings over SEC rival Florida in Game 1 of the CWS championship series at TD Ameritrade Park to put themselves one victory from a second consecutive NCAA championship.

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…of all Wimbledon’s more-iconic quirks and traditions””the tennis whites, strawberries and umbrellas””there’s one that receives slightly less recognition but deserves a lot more: Second Monday, the most gluttonously glorious day in tennis.

After a day of rest on middle Sunday (another Wimbledon eccentricity), all 32 men and women remaining in the singles draws clamber back to the lawns, anxious and refreshed, to fight for a spot in the quarterfinals. No other major tournament trots out everyone at once.

Read it all but before you do, guess the answer to this question–in what year did this tradition start?.

The South Carolina baseball team keeps finding improbable ways to win games in the College World Series.

Thanks to two throwing errors by Virginia pitcher Cody Winiarski on consecutive bunts in the 13th inning, the Gamecocks won a dramatic 3-2 victory over top seed Virginia Friday night at TD Ameritrade Park to advance to the national championship series.

One season after defeating UCLA to win the NCAA title, the Gamecocks (53-14) will attempt to repeat against SEC rival Florida (53-17) in a best-of-three series that begins Monday at 8 p.m.

I went to bed after the bottom of the 11th–ugh. Read it all.

Found here:

“These people have lived their lives with borrowed money,” [Attorney Sorrell] Trope said. “They have to stop spending. This isn’t the federal government.”

The international basketball federation has decided to permit an Orthodox Jewish basketball player to cover her arms during competitions in accordance with her religious beliefs.

FIBA made the decision several weeks after point guard Naama Shafir, a member of the Israeli national women’s basketball team, said she would be unable to play in the sleeveless regulation jerseys worn by all players

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How About that University of South Carolina Baseball Team?

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ESPN’s Between the Lines at its best–watch it all.

…McIlroy definitely put an exclamation point on the topic when he strode to the No. 10 tee at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md. He had a nine-shot lead, disaster long left in his wake, but this marked the same spot in the tournament where McIlroy came unglued in the Masters last April. That 10th hole featured a drive McIlroy hooked so far left it landed in somebody’s yard. This No. 10 is a devilish par-3 that has swallowed unsuspecting players.

McIlroy stepped up and dropped his tee shot so gently uphill from the hole that it rolled teasingly toward the cup. It came to rest only inches from a hole in one, McIlroy grinning at it all the way…

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“Last in pitching, last in defense, not much power or speed.”

–The scouting report on the Chicago Cubs on the MLB Network this afternoon during their game with the Yankees

ROFL!

More than $470 million in new money poured into major-college athletics programs last year, boosting spending on sports even as many of the parent universities struggled with budget reductions during tough economic times, a USA TODAY analysis has found.

Much of the rise in athletics revenue came from an escalation in money generated through multimedia rights deals, donations and ticket receipts, but schools also continued increasing their subsidies from student fees and institutional funds.

Altogether in 2010, about $2 billion in subsidies went to athletics at the 218 public schools that have been in the NCAA’s Division I over the past five years. Those subsidies grew by an inflation-adjusted 3% in 2010. They have grown by 28% since 2006 and account for $1 of every $3 spent on athletics.

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The real story is Dallas and its two veteran stars, Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki. Nowitzki and Kidd can finally exhale and remove their names from a list of infamy: longtime N.B.A. vets who never won a championship.

In Kidd’s 17th season and Nowitzki’s 13th, they are finally part of the championship club.

“If I would have won one early in my career, maybe I would have never put all the work and the time in that I have over the last 13 years,” Nowitzki said. “So this feels amazing.”

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Ultimately, Nadal wore down Federer 7-5, 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-1. It was not a great match, running 3 hours, 48 minutes, but it was solid and satisfying.

And then he thanked life itself for giving him the opportunity to make this sterling piece of history.

“A big personal satisfaction, especially when you started [the tournament] without playing your best,” Nadal said. “Finally, I was able to play my best when I needed my best….”

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Congratulations to them.