Sports

Public subsidies could attract college football playoffs to Texas.

A public hearing will be held Thursday on a bill that would modify the language of the major event trust fund to include the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) football post-season playoff or championship game.

The Justice Department has joined a civil lawsuit against cyclist Lance Armstrong, his Tailwind Sports team and its longtime manager, alleging their pervasive doping campaign defrauded the U.S. Postal Service out of more than $31 million in sponsorship fees.

The decision ratchets up the legal pressure on Armstrong, who's lost his seven Tour de France titles, enormous advertising and sponsorship deals, and a large part of his reputation.

Lance Armstrong will not cooperate with a United States Anti-Doping Agency probe into doping in the cycling world.

Bloomberg reports Armstrong missed a deadline set by USADA today. Armstrong's lawyer said he would not cooperate because the probe was too narrow.

Bloomberg adds:

Update: Seven sports figures—including two former University of Texas at Austin Longhorns and a Central Texas native will be inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame this evening.

The inductees will be at tonight's banquet at Baylor University's Ferrell Center in Waco.

Seven is the final count of inductees for the Class of 2012—originally, an eighth inductee was to be announced but plans apparently did not work out (see below).

The International Olympic Committee's decision to cut wrestling from the 2020 summer games came as a surprise to the quarter of a million high school wrestlers around the country.

At Montgomery Blair High School in Maryland, the Blair Blazers, ranked 7th in the county, are hoping for a good showing in one of the last big matchups of the season. But as they worked out this week, many of them were thinking beyond the tournament and to their wrestling future.

"South African 'Blade Runner' Oscar Pistorius broke down in tears on Friday after he was charged in court with shooting dead his girlfriend in his Pretoria house," Reuters reports from Pretoria.

According to the wire service: "The 26-year-old Olympic and Paralympic superstar stood with head bowed in front of magistrate Desmond Nair to hear the murder charge read out, then started sobbing, covering his face with his hands."

Dallas-based sports insurance and promotion company SCA Promotions is suing former cyclist Lance Armstrong for more than $12 million.

The damages, the company says, are for prize money paid to Armstrong for his 2002, 2003 and 2004 Tour de France wins, and for legal costs accrued during a previous lawsuit.