Defensive formation: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has filed a motion to dismiss defamation claims made against him by suspended Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma in connection with the league’s bounty investigation into the New Orleans Saints. The motion filed today comes in response to claims Vilma made in a lawsuit filed in May in federal court in New Orleans. Vilma claims his suspension is without merit and that Goodell has made false public comments damaging to his reputation and hurting his ability to continue to make a living. Goodell’s motion says Vilma’s claims are barred by dispute resolution procedures laid out by the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement—and would fail under a Louisiana law protecting statements about matters of public importance.
At the track: Evangeline Downs stewards have suspended two trainers for six months each after horses in their care tested positive for the powerful, pain-killing drug dermorphin, The Times-Picayune reports. Louisiana has been among a number states in which a nationwide dermorphin outbreak has resulted in horse deaths and trainer sanctions. A six-month suspension is the maximum penalty stewards can impose on trainers under Louisiana racing rules. In each case, the stewards deemed the penalty insufficient and referred each case to the Louisiana State Racing Commission for further action. Read the full story here.
Limb by limb: South African Oscar Pistorius—running on his J-shaped, carbon fiber, Flex-Foot Cheetah prosthetic legs—will become the first amputee in history to compete in an Olympic track event at the upcoming 2012 games in London. The debate surrounding his inclusion has garnered a lot of headlines, and in a new take on the discussion The New York Times talks to leading researchers in the prosthetics field about how technology may change the future of the Olympics. Check it out here.
