THE MORNING ACCORDING TO US

Crippling Language
Organizers of the Beijing Paralympic Games have apologized and scrapped a training manual for volunteers that was deemed offensive to disabled athletes. The manual had inappropriate language which included depictions of some physically disabled athletes as "isolated, unsocial and introspective". Wait, the Chinese believed the Mag.com staff to be crippled? Not. Cool.

Supreme Fantasy
Today is a big day in the halls of justice. And we mean Dave. The Supreme Court will consider whether to hear a case from Major League Baseball about for-profit fantasy sports leagues using the names and statistics of MLB without, of course, the express, written consent of MLB. The big question is whether stats are public knowledge, and therefore free, or are owned by MLB. Another case of old folks ruling on the internet. Could be interesting.

Another Ballgame Butcher
Ron Zook was in Chicago yesterday to sing the fabled anthem, and though he didn't pull an outright Ozzie or even a Jeff Gordon, the results were, well, listen for yourself. Intensity is important in most things, such as recruiting, but we think he grippeth the mic just a bit too firmly.

Afghan Cricket Delegation
It's pretty impressive, actually, to consider Afghanistan's win yesterday at the World Cricket League in London. They only picked it up when war caused the natives to flee en masse for Pakistan. When they returned, they couldn't play it for years because of the Taliban's rule. But since 2001, the country's sported a national team, and they should qualify for cricket's World Cup. Also, we knew the Taliban sucked, but seriously: no cricket? No peace!

Hook Master
A British angler is being called the worlds best, achieving fishing's holy grail. Zyg Gregorek, 65, is the first recreational fisherman anywhere to catch all 27 species in the three so-called "royal slams" set by the International Game Fish Association (IGFA), hooking nine species of shark, including the great white, ten billfish and eight tuna. Steve Zissou was too miffed to comment.

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