Will he or won't he? Italy awaits Monti's decision

ROME (AP) — Italy's president dissolved parliament Saturday, setting the stage for general elections in February and leaving only one lingering question from Premier Mario Monti's 13-month term trying to fix Italy's troubled finances: whether he will run. Monti will announce his decision Sunday, ending weeks of speculation and jockeying that have dominated Italy's political discourse and preoccupied much of Europe, which is eager to see Monti's financial reforms continue in the continent's third-largest economy. With polls showing a Monti-led list would only garner about 15 percent of the vote, all signs indicated he would refrain from campaigning or even allowing his name to be used on a political ticket grouping a handful of small centrist parties. "Monti leaning towards a 'no'," the Turin daily La Stampa headlined Sunday. "Monti pulls back on running," Corriere della Sera said on its front page. Whether he might endorse a centrist movement is another matter. "It's clear that Monti's candidacy would give authority to our political platform, but we'll respect his choices, whatever they may be," said Pier Ferdinando Casini, one of the centrist leaders who have been actively courting Monti in recent weeks. Monti resigned Friday after ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's party withdrew its support from his technical government, forcing a crisis that brought a premature and chaotic end to the legislature's five-year term. Monti was tapped by Italy's president to lead the country in late November 2011 after Berlusconi was forced to resign, having lost the confidence of international markets in his ability to save the country from a Greek-style debt crisis. The respected economist and former European Union commissioner won back a degree of international credibility for the country through a series of tax hikes and fiscal reforms that were deeply unpopular at home. Italy's borrowing rates have come down significantly, thanks also to the European Central Bank's bond-buying program. Monti's resignation set in motion a series of procedures that culminated with President Giorgio Napolitano signing a decree Saturday to dissolve parliament. Polls indicate the center-left Democratic Party will win the vote, with the upstart populist movement of comic Bepe Grillo coming in second and Berlusconi's People of Freedom party coming in third. Berlusconi's party has been in disarray ever since he resigned, with defections of top party leaders and chaos over whether the billionaire media mogul will run himself. He has flip-flopped several times about his intentions, with his latest that he would run but would step aside if Monti runs. Berlusconi's party has also been discredited by a series of party funding scandals that have seen dozens of local politicians placed under investigation for allegedly misusing public funds for personal use. He also was convicted of tax fraud in October and is on trial on charges he paid for sex with an underage woman. He has denied the charges and is appealing the conviction. He also recently announced he was dating a woman nearly 50 years his junior.

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World Series Goes to Game 7 After an Epic Win by St. Louis

After being one strike away from elimination in back-to-back innings, the St. Louis Cardinals twice rallied from two runs down towin an 11-inning classic and force Game 7 of the World Series. RELATED: The Texas Rangers' Campaign Against 'The Wave' The Cards trailed Texas by two runs in both the ninth and tenth innings, but got multiple clutch hits from the likes of Albert Pujolsand Lance Berkman to the tie the game both times. Then David Freese — who tied the game with a triple in the ninth — led off the bottom of the 11th inning with a monster home run to center field,leaving baseball fans giddy at the prospect of a seventh game, the first in the World Series since 2002. RELATED: Red Sox-Yankees Games Are Unbearably Long The epic, four-hour-plus contest was a sloppy affair (the teams combined for five errors), but is already being compared to some of the best games in Series history. Particularly other great Game Sixes, like the ones in 1975, 1986, 1991, and 1993. RELATED: Tebow Booed in New York; Yachtsmen Mourned in San Francisco The game featured 15 pitchers (not counting one who had to pinch hit in the 10th), 5 home runs and 5 errors. One of the home runs came from St. Louis' Allen Craig, who was only in the game because outfielder Matt Holiday hurt his finger getting picked off first by Texas catcher Mike Napoli. RELATED: An Embarrassing Ending: Manny Ramirez Retires Game 7 will be tomorrow night at 8 p.m., in St. Louis. The starting pitchers are expected to be Matt Harrison, who lost Game 4 for Texas and Chris Carpenter, who (thanks to yesterday's rain delay) will start his third game of the series on just three days rest.

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Baseball Had A Really Good Night on Friday

So much for the risk of major media-market teams missing the World Series. Twenty-five million people watched Game Seven between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers.
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It's a truism of sports journalism — at least of the shouty AM radio call-in show variety — that no one's really going to care about the World Series if a marquee team doesn't make it to October. Think of the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox, the Los Angeles Dodgers, or (somehow?) the Chicago Cubs.
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That myth was demolished Friday night by Game 7 of the Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers, which was watched by 25 million people, the largest audience for a baseball game since 2004, the year of the historic Red Sox comeback against the Yankees and their first Series win since Russia had a tsar.
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The ratings were big, Sports Illustrated reports, and the game was the best-watched Friday TV event since the 2010 Olympics.
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Some caveats: St. Louis has long thought of itself as a preeminent baseball town, and the Rangers' local fan base, in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan sprawl-plex, isn't exactly a small market. But the results would seem to suggest that the best way to get a lot of people watching a World Series is to make it a really great series. And to go a full seven games.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers Are for Sale

After a months-long battle over the fate of one of baseball's iconic franchises, beleaguered owner Frank McCourt has finally agreed to sell the Los Angeles Dodgers. Major League Baseball announced the deal late last night, ending a bitter dispute that sent the team into bankruptcy and caused loyal fans to revolt.
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According to the Los Angeles Times, the sale will supervised by the bankruptcy court and will include the team, Dodger Stadium, the surrounding parking lots, and all the other assets owned by McCourt. The league had seized control of the team's operations earlier this season, accusing McCourt of siphoning millions of dollars away from the Dodgers for his own personal use, including paying for his ongoing legal battle with ex-wife, Jamie.
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The sale will likely set a record for the highest price ever paid for an MLB franchise. Forbes estimates the team to be worth about $800 million, but McCourt was offered $1.2 billion for them earlier this year and if a bidding war develops (there are several suitors that have expressed interest) the price could go even higher. Before MLB attempted to take over the team, McCourt had negotiated a local TV rights deal with Fox worth $3 billion over 20 years, proving that the Dodgers are still one of the hottest commodities in sports.
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McCourt and his wife paid $421 million for the franchise in 2004, but is unlikely to realize much profit due to his massive  legal bills and tax debts. He and his wife recently agreed to a divorce settlement that requires him to pay her $130 million for her share of the team (among other things.)
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None of that matters any more to Dodger fans, however, who are simply glad to be rid of their hated owner. Attendance plummeted this year as fans protested McCourt's decimation of the team by staying away in droves.

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Major League Baseball Catcher Is Kidnapped in Venezuela

Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos has reportedly been kidnapped in his home country of Venezuela. Four gunman took him from his house on Wednesday, but no demands have been made yet.
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This is the not the first time that a Major League Baseball player has been targeted for kidnapping, although usually it is family members of stars who are the victims. The brother of Arizona catcher Henry Blanco was killed in 2008, and the infant son of Yorvit Torreabla (another Venezuelan catcher) was ransomed and returned unhurt in 2009. Venezuela reportedly has the highest kidnapping rate in the world, and athletes are obviously among the country's wealthiest and most high-profile citizens, even (or especially) if they stay in the United States while leaving family behind.
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Ramos played 113 games for the Nationals this year and had just returned south to play winter ball in his home town. Details of the kidnapping are still sketchy at this point, but obviously the hope is that the kidnappers simply want money and will return him unharmed.

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Warriors beat Hornets at home to stay hot

(Reuters) - The Golden State Warriors staved off a late fourth-quarter challenge to beat New Orleans Hornets 103-96 for a successful home return on Tuesday.
David Lee had 26 points and nine rebounds while Klay Thompson added 19 points as the Warriors triumphed in their first game at Oracle Arena since a recent seven-game road trip that saw them finish 6-1.
Despite the Golden State controlling the Hornets for most of the night, New Orleans made a furious run in the fourth to tie the game 92-92 with about four minutes remaining.
Jarrett Jack responded with six free throws during a game-deciding 9-2 stretch to help Golden State (17-8) continue their sparkling start to the season.
"We had a lot of confidence tonight, a lot more confidence than in the past," Lee told reporters after The Warriors were off to their best start since the 1991-1992 season when they started 21-8.
"It's no fun when a team's catching up on you like that, but I think we had confidence we could make plays down the stretch."
One of the younger teams in the league, few expected the Warriors to open the campaign this successfully and they are now just 1 1/2 games behind the Pacific Division lead.
The Hornets (5-19) have lost eight straight, despite getting 28 points off the bench from Ryan Anderson in their latest defeat.
Also a youthful group, New Orleans have endured a tough start and have now dropped 18 of their last 20 games.
Number one overall draft pick Anthony Davis recorded 15 points and 16 rebounds in his fifth game back since missing extensive time with a ankle injury. Greivis Vasquez added 20 and 11 assists.
Golden State grabbed a 10-point lead after the first quarter and were up 90-78 midway through the fourth before the visitors fought back by outscoring the Warriors 14-2 over a three-minute stint.

"It's just a tough loss for us, especially when you tie it up, you have a chance to win," said Hornets coach Monty Williams. "We just haven't found that closing mentality."

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TC to delay Google anti-trust probe decision: source

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which had been expected to wrap up an anti-trust probe into Google within days, will now delay its decision for weeks, a source said on Tuesday. Google has been accused of giving competitors in lucrative areas like travel a lower ranking in search results, thus making it harder for their customers to find them. Google has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz had hoped to wrap up the long-running investigation this month. Talk of a potential settlement in recent days had suggested Google would emerge from the more than two-year probe with little more than a slap on the wrist from the commission. The delay, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, came after the European Union took a hard line with the search engine giant on Tuesday in a parallel investigation. The EU's antitrust chief, Joaquin Almunia, gave Google a month to come up with detailed proposals to resolve a two-year investigation into complaints that it used its power to block rivals, including Microsoft. The European Commission has been examining informal settlement proposals from Google since July but has not sought feedback from the complainants, suggesting it is not convinced by what Google has put on the table so far. Google's critics have accused it of a long list of wrongdoing - everything from putting its own products high up in search results to bring them business to "scraping" reviews of hotels and restaurants from other sites for its own products. Google had reportedly been prepared to make some changes to its business practices to secure an end to the FTC investigation but had balked at allowing regulators to interfere with its search algorithm. The company was also apparently prepared to make concessions on certain patent infringement lawsuits.

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