Cyclists collide with armadillo during Tour of Missouri (AP/SI.com)

Two cyclists competing in the Tour of Missouri were injured after their bicycles collided with a wayward armadillo while on the peloton.

Dan Schmatz, 33, of Ballwin, was riding in the peloton at about 20 mph when he and teammate Jonathan Garcia of Boulder, Colo., met with the wayward animal.

Schmatz, who lives in Longmont, Colo., was taken to a local hospital. The extent of his injuries was not known Tuesday afternoon.

Garcia returned to the second stage, when a field of 115 cyclists from 15 teams were to pedal 125.6 miles to Springfield.

No tear in main triceps muscle for Raven’s Lewis (ESPN News Services)

An MRI on the right triceps of Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis revealed no tear to the main muscle, ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio reported Wednesday.

Lewis hurt his upper right arm on his first tackle of Monday’s season opener at Cincinnati. He got up after tackling receiver T.J. Houshmandazeh holding his arm in pain.

Rams’ Zygmunt hospitalized (STL Today)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Jim Thomas reports that the St. Louis Rams’ president of football operations-general manager Jay Zymunt was rushed to a local St. Louis hospital on Wednesday morning.

According to Rams employees, Zygmunt wasn’t feeling well, prompting the emergency call.

***UPDATED at 4:05 PM EDT***

Jim Thomas’ Post-Dispatch colleague Bernie Miklasz that the illness isn’t heart related  and the doctors have ruled out anything serious. He is currently under observation.

News and notes while eagerly anticipating Deion Sanders’ new reality show…

Bucs dump Boston (AP/ESPN) Two days after police released information that David Boston had the drug GHB in his system, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers released the veteran wide receiver.

Coughlin ‘encouraged with Eli; QB throws softly (ESPN News Services) How is throwing softly any different than normal?

Tank Johnson on Cowboys’ radar (Dallas Morning News) With the loss of nose tackle Jason Ferguson, the Dallas Cowboys are kicking the tires on Tank Johnson. (TIp o’the cap to Hashmarks)

NHL suspends Bell for 15 games (TSN.ca) The suspension stems from a driving under the influence of alcohol incident in California on September 1st, 2006. Bell has yet to serve a six-month sentence related to this case, which he’s expected to serve at season’s end.

Colorado is high, Braun is rookie of the year (Bugs & Cranks) A look at who should win the National League rookie of the year: Colorado’s Troy Tulowitzki or Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun.

Is the NHL back in Fashion? (The FanHouse)

Greg Wyshynski of NHL FanHouse writes that the NHL’s uniform revolution has arrived and we better be prepared for it.

Wyshynski interviewed a prominent licensing expert of his take on the RBK-designed Rbk Edge sweaters that have been in development for 30 months, with claims that they’ll make players faster and more elusive (kind of sounds like those shoes that you bought as a kid that would make you jump higher or run faster, eh?).

In his interview with Martin Brochstein of The Licensing Letter, Wyshynski explored a variety of licensing-related topics, but this particularly exchange (after the jump) stood out.

More after the jump »

The New England Patriots are expected to have a press conference at the top of the hour that where it’s anticipated that head coach Bill Belichick will address the cheating accusations levied their way by the New York Jets.

If you haven’t heard, the Patriots stand accused of stealing defensive signals by using a video camera on the sidelines of their game Sunday against the Jets.

We’ll do our best to update this post as events warrant.

***UPDATED at 10:50 AM EDT***

***UPDATED at 11:04 AM EDT***

The FanHouse has the accurate, complete statement issued by Belichick on Wednesday morning.

“Earlier this week, I spoke with Commissioner Goodell about a videotaping procedure during last Sunday’s game and my interpretation of the rules. At this point, we have not been notified of the league’s ruling. Although it remains a league matter, I want to apologize to everyone who has been affected, most of all ownership, staff and players. Following the league’s decision, I will have further comment.”

Steinbrenner: The Final Countdown: Day 28 (Bugs & Cranks)

New York Post media writer Phil Mushnick conducted a phone interview with the blog Bugs & Cranks and noted that New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner “sleeps twenty hours a day” and suffers from “profound dementia.”

Last year, Mushnick wrote an article that was buried within the depths of his paper that essentially stated the same thing

I asked Mushnick why he thought the story was receiving relatively little attention, but he didn’t have much of an explanation besides that there is a “concerted effort to protect” Steinbrenner and keep his condition as private as possible.

But he firmly stands by the story, saying that “If I had gotten this wrong, we’d have heard about it [from Steinbrenner’s people and the Yankees].” And his sources are people who interact with Steinbrenner daily.

The Bugs & Cranks piece also mentions the widely-read story that Steinbrenner once referred to Alex Rodriguez as “the third baseman,” which was portrayed by fans and media alike as a shot at the slugger but in reality, the once hands on owner simply forgot his name.

One would think in a media-mad market like New York that someone would try and break this story but instead, it just keeps getting buried.

The morning after the defending World Champions begin to realize that the season is slipping away…

The Yankees are now four games in front of Detroit in the AL wild-card standings after the Tigers split a doubleheader with Texas on Tuesday; the Padres extended their wild car lead over second-place Philadelphia to 2 1/2 games with the Phillies’ loss to Colorado; the Cleveland Indians won for the 15th time in 18 games and the Arizona DiamondBacks were on the rare side of a one-run margin for a change.

Texas 13, Tigers 6 (Game 1) — Lotsa, lotsa, losta dingers in game one of this day-night twinbill: Marlon Byrd homered twice and Hank Blalock, David Murphy, Freddy Guzman, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Ramon Vazquez also connected in the Rangers’ 13-6 victory.

Texas 1, Tigers 4 (Game 2) — Jair Jurrjens and three relievers combined on a seven-hitter in the Tigers’ 4-1 victory in the low-scoring nightcap.

Angels 10, O’s 5 — Vlad knows how to make a return: The right fielder clubbed two home runs, drove in four and helped cap a five-run third inning in a 10-5 win over the Orioles.

D’Rays 16, Red Sox 10 — Seven run deficits aren’t easy to overcome, but when you’re the Boston Red Sox going against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, anything is possible. Mike Lowell had four hits and Kevin Youkilis hit a bases-loaded triple during a six-run sixth inning to knock off the D’Rays 16-10.

Yanks 9, BlueJays 2 — Jason Giambi hit a grand slam, Jorge Posada added a solo homer and the New York Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays 8-2.

Indians 8, White Sox 3 — Paul Byrd is on a roll: Byrd allowed three runs and six hits in 6 1-3 innings, including two homers by Juan Uribe, but managed a victory thanks to Travis Hafner’s three RBIs.

A’s 7, M’s 4 — A three-run sixth inning for Oakland — keyed by Mike Piazza’s two-run single — proved to be the difference in the Athletics’ 7-4 win over Seattle.
More after the jump »

News and notes while the Pirates hire someone competent…

Rutgers’ Vaughn withdraws lawsuit against Imus (AP/ESPN) Kia Vaughn withdrew a slander and defamation lawsuit she had filed against Don Imus and CBS Radio.
La Russa: Players a key issue (STL Today) Perhaps a rebuttal to Bob Nightengale’s piece on his future, St. Louis manager Tony La Russa cryptically offers up what it would take for him to return.

Your college football announcing schedule: Week Three (Awful Announcing) Want to know who’s calling the action in games besides Michigan-Notre Dame? Click that link! (Note: Brad Nessler, Bob Griese, Paul Maguire are going to call that game.)

Baseball needs to lead this battle (FOX Sports) Ken Rosenthal writes that MLB needs to the leader in major professional sports’ fight against PEDs.

NFL’s scandalous summer (SportsBiz) Taping of defensive signals? Wiring up lineman for sound? Messing with radio frequencies? No, it’s not a plot line from an upcoming Mission: Impossible flick; it’s part of the intrigue in the NFL’s current image problem, the New England Patriots possible digital espionage, writes Darren Rovell.