Associated Press
LONDON ó Big Ben and Buckingham Palace had to take a back seat to Stamford Bridge and Emirates Stadium when the Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz arrived in London.
The two NBA teams will play each other in a preseason game at the O2 Arena on Tuesday, but several players were still giddy about seeing Premier League soccer Sunday.
Bulls rookie Taj Gibson said of Arsenal’s 6-2 win over Blackburn: “Extremely exciting game to watch. We got a taste of overseas, how they love their football.”
The British public also has shown how they like basketball, with the arena expected to be sold out for the third straight year.
– INDEPENDENCE, Ohio ó First LeBron James swore his love to the Yankees and Cowboys. Now Shaquille O’Neal is siding with the Steelers.
Cleveland’s newest superstar crossed enemy lines when he tweeted “Let’s go Steelers let’s go” on his Twitter account after Pittsburgh’s 38-28 victory against San Diego Sunday night.
O’Neal acknowledged on Monday that he’s a “bandwagon football fan.”
He developed a relationship with Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger over the summer during the taping of his Shaq Vs. television show.
NFL
MIAMI ó Chad Pennington’s shoulder surgery was less extensive than feared, and the Miami Dolphins quarterback should be able to play next season if he so chooses, a person familiar with the results of the operation told The Associated Press on Sunday.
The arthroscopic procedure was encouraging because there was no damage to the rotator cuff, and Pennington should be able to start throwing in eight to 12 weeks.
Two operations on Pennington’s right shoulder in 2005 involved the rotator cuff.
– EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. ó New York Giants fans seemingly can exhale.Barring anything unexpected in an MRI, quarterback Eli Manning’s sore right heel is simply that.
“I don’t think it’s nothing to be worried about,” Manning said Monday. “It will be getting rid of the soreness.”
While the words were comforting for the Giants (4-0), so was the sight of Manning standing in front of his locker with neither a boot, a crutch or much evidence of heavy tape on his right foot.
The only obvious sign of an injury was a slight limp when he walked away.
“Yeah, that’s all positive stuff,” Manning said.
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ERIN ANDREWS VIDEO
WESTMONT, Ill. ó The man accused of stalking ESPN reporter Erin Andrews kept his yard manicured, played golf and enjoyed cooking on a gas grill on a patio behind his $300,000 suburban Chicago town house.
It’s the apparently normal life of Michael David Barrett, a 47-year-old insurance company employee, that made his arrest for allegedly secretly videotaping Andrews nude so upsetting, his neighbors said Sunday.
“I’m totally shocked,” said David Wayne, 72, a retired corporate executive who lives several doors down from Barrett. “He looked absolutely normal ó nothing distinguishing.”
Prosecutors say Barrett apparently also uploaded videos of other women to the Internet. Federal prosecutor Steve Grimes said Monday the videos were shot through hotel peepholes and uploaded under an online name “GOBLAZERS1.”
TENNIS
TOKYO (AP) ó Maria Sharapova won her first tournament since returning from a 10-month injury layoff when Jelena Jankovic retired because of an arm injury in the first set of the Toray Pan Pacific final.
It was Sharapova’s first win since Amelia Island in April 2008. She won her first tournament as a professional at the Japan Open in 2003 and won this tournament in 2005, defeating Lindsay Davenport in the final.
SOCCER
LONDON ó David Beckham is in talks with the Los Angeles Galaxy about going to AC Milan on another loan and then returning to Major League Soccer again.
The 34-year-old midfielder must join a European club on loan in January to be considered for England coach Fabio Capello’s squad for June’s World Cup.