Rotoworld: Oregon RB LaMichael James and Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon among top 10 players who are being overhyped for the 2012 draft.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
The Detroit Red Wings equaled an NHL record with their 20th straight win at home, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 Sunday night on the strength of Johan Franzen's tiebreaking goal early in the third period.
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Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods both greeted Sunday with unbridled optimism. But the day would end happily only for Mickelson.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
AP file
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - As Churchill Downs goes, so goes Louisville, according to a circuit judge who struck down a citywide smoking ban citing an exemption for the famed horse track.
A Jefferson Circuit Judge ruled that because an exemption in the smoking ban crafted for Churchill Downs was unconstitutional, the entire law was illegal.
“Only after voting that Churchill Downs would keep its exemption did the Council pass the Smoke Free Law; the converse of this fact is that the Council would not have passed a Smoke Free Law devoid of said exemption,” Judge Steven Ryan wrote.
The decision hinged on a previous court ruling, from November, that struck down the exemption allowing smoking in some parts of the historic racetrack.
The ruling means the city cannot cite smokers, restaurants or bars for allowing patrons to light up inside.
Calls to Mayor Jerry Abramson’s office were not immediately returned.
E-mails sent to the a group of business owner called the Metro Louisville Hospitality Coalition, which sued to overturn the ban, were not immediately returned.
Louisville’s metro council passed the ban to keep smoking out of all public places except for Churchill Downs and any tobacco manufacturer that conducts research and development for tobacco products on site.
The council exempted facilities regulated by the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority. The Metro Louisville Hospitality Coalition filed a lawsuit challenging Churchill Downs’ exemption and asked that the ban be overturned as arbitrary and vague.
The smoking ban replaced a less-stringent ordinance that allowed smoking in bars and restaurants that receive less than 75 percent of their revenue from the sale of food.
Louisville is among several Kentucky cities to ban smoking in a state that has led the nation in the production of burley tobacco, an ingredient in cigarettes.
The first of three pools of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager begins its three-day run on Friday and the bet's opening scenario is very similar to each of its opening pools since the wager was created in 1999.
It's first time that Classic will be broadcast in primetime on Nov. 3.
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Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
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