Who Cares?!!?

The weekly "Who Cares?!!?"segment is back again to chronicle the least-cared about stories in sports.  So here we go.  As always, please vote at the bottom to tell me which story you care least about this week.

1) Apparently, ESPN's Tony Kornheiser thinks it would be a good idea to run cyclists in DC off the road.  Responding on his radio show to news that the District may implement some new bicycle lanes, Kornheiser said the following:

"I think this is a terrible, terrible idea...and I swear to you it's all you can do to not run them down, like Wile E. Coyotes, run them over...I don't take my car and ride on the sidewalk because I understand that's not for my car.  Why do these people think that these roads were built for bicycles...They dare you to run them down...I'm not saying you kill them.  I'm saying you tap them.  Tap them once.  If you're not rubbing you're not racing, right?  So you pop them a little bit and see what happens."

Unsurprisingly, the audio has been removed from his ESPN radio website.  Thanks to the magic of the interwebs, however, you can catch it on YouTube.

Those comments, which aired on March 11th, eventually caught the ire of the world's most popular cyclist: none other than Lance Armstrong himself.  The Texan responded on Twitter yesterday to Kornheiser's comments: "Run 'em down, really?  Big mistake, Tony."

From Armstrong's Twitter account yesterday

Yet, as the Tweets suggest, the story does not end there.  As a means of discussing their oppositional viewpoints, Kornheiser will have the 7-time Tour de France champion on his show tomorrow morning to discuss the issue.

What team does he race for, again?

And just so Kornheiser knows, Armstrong knows how to deal with reporters and contentious issues with zeal.  As he did during a press conference last year when he coolly reprimanded a British reporter who referred to his 2009 comeback as a return of the "cancer."  

2) Should it be noteworthy when, just this week, the man who stole the show in a European soccer competition by scoring a game-winner - and one of his club's biggest goals ever - is an American?  Eh.  Maybe.  If you're concerned about the US men's soccer team's chances in Africa this summer, however, you should be interested to know that the supremely talented Clint Dempsey scored the winning goal for his London-based club, Fulham, last evening in a Europa League match against Juventus FC.  As a result, the Cottagers are now into the quarterfinals of the tournament.

Dempsey, with teammate Paul Konchesky, has a knack for rising to 

the occasion.  He is also supremely talented.

Dempsey, one of the US' team's most talented players and a true standout at last summer's Confederations Cup (when the US ended European champion Spain's 35-match unbeaten streak and nearly topped Brazil for the title), suffered a knee injury this past January that many feared would jeopardize his chances to play for the US this summer.  Luckily, he was able to avoid surgery and, after several months of rehabilitation, is back playing for Fulham.  

Dempsey came into the game during the second half and helped to complete a 3-goal comeback for the home side when he hit an ambitious - but perfectly weighted - shot over the helpless Juve goalkeeper with just 8 minutes left in the game.  The effort capped what London-based newspaper The Guardian called the greatest day in the history of Fulham, as the team knocked off the Italian super-club by a score of 5-4 on aggregate.

Dempsey talked about the goal and his team's effort on the field immediately afterwards.  All I know is that this is exactly the kind of talent that the US will need if they want to make noise in Africa in June.

3) Finally, this week the Vancouver Olympic Committee opened an auction site on eBay in order to sell off a bonanza of Olympic souvenirs and game-used memorabilia.  As a result of the sale, VANOC hopes to recuperate $10 million.  After just a few days of live auctions, they're well on the way.  A game-used puck from the overtime period of the men's gold medal hockey game between the US and Canada is currently listed at $8100.

Sadly, these characters are not auctioneers.

Other high-priced items include a game-worn Sidney Crosby jersey, replica tickets, and various pieces of Olympic art.  If you are more interested in a slice of team USA, there are plenty of game-used hockey jerseys being sold online through NHL Auctions.

So which sports story do you care least about this week?