Baseball
Braun linked to clinic? — Milwaukee Brewers slugger Ryan Braun said the person who ran the Florida clinic under investigation by Major League Baseball only was used as a consultant on his drug suspension appeal last year. “I have nothing to hide," Braun said in a statement released by his representatives on Tuesday night. Earlier in the day, Yahoo Sports reported the 2011 NL MVP’s name showed up three times in records of the Biogenesis of America LLC clinic. Yahoo said no specific performance-enhancing drugs were listed next to his name. The Miami New Times recently released clinic documents that purportedly linked Alex Rodriguez, Gio Gonzalez, Melky Cabrera and other players to purchases of banned drugs from the now-closed anti-aging center. Rodriguez and Cabrera were on the list with Braun. Braun said his name was in the Biogenesis records because of an issue over payment to Anthony Bosch, who ran the clinic near Miami.
Football
Ravens’ parade — Baltimore celebrated with its Super Bowl champion Ravens on Tuesday, with thousands of fans in purple lining the streets and packing the team’s stadium for a celebration. Fans filled the square in front of City Hall and cheered when the team arrived and when players held the silver Lombardi trophy aloft. The Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management estimated that 200,000 people took part in the celebration in Charm City, including at City Hall, along the parade route and at the stadium. Retiring middle linebacker Ray Lewis, the only current player to have started with the team when it came to the city from Cleveland in 1996, told fans the team had fulfilled a promise to go to New Orleans and win. “The city of Baltimore — I love you for ever and ever and ever and ever," Lewis told fans in front of City Hall.
Record viewership online — CBS says 3 million people streamed the Super Bowl online, up from 2.1 million who watched the big game online last year. Sunday’s game was streamed for free by both CBSSports.com and NFL.com, as well as via Verizon on mobile. The 3 million unique viewers to CBSSports.com showed that while the televised broadcast is emphatically more desirable to viewers, increasing numbers are following the Super Bowl online.
Power worries before game? — Concerned the Superdome might not be able to handle the energy needed for its first Super Bowl since Hurricane Katrina, officials spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on upgrades to decayed utility lines, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. The improvements apparently weren’t enough, however, to prevent an embarrassing and puzzling 34-minute power outage during the third quarter of the game between the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. Two days later, officials still had not pinpointed the cause of the outage.
Tennis
Nadal returns — Rafael Nadal has won his first match after being away for more than seven months because of a knee injury. The former No. 1-ranked Nadal partnered with Juan Monaco to defeat the Czech pair of Frantisek Cermak and Lukas Dlouhy 6-3,6-2 on Tuesday in the VTR clay-court tournament in Vina del Mar, Chile. Nadal, whose left knee inflammation lingered despite on-going therapy, has not played since June 28, when he was upset in the second round of Wimbledon by qualifier Lukas Rosol.
Basketball
World Peace suspended — Los Angeles Lakers forward Metta World Peace has been suspended for one game because he hit Detroit’s Brandon Knight in the face. World Peace grabbed Knight around the neck and struck him in the jaw with the knuckles of his mostly open hand on Sunday with 1:43 left in the first half of the Lakers’ 98-97 win over the Pistons.
— From wire reports
