Sports

The news that Art Modell died earlier today in Baltimore at the age of 87 has produced very different ledes from newspapers in the two cities where the former NFL owner was a major presence.

The Baltimore Sun writes that:

The NFL starts its regular season tonight with replacement referees. A labor dispute has sidelined the regular refs. Some players and fans say the game is suffering.

Alex Zanardi, who was a star racecar driver when he lost his legs in a 2001 crash, has won a gold medal in the London Paralympics. The Italian, 45, beat Germany's Nobert Mosandl by more than 27 seconds to win the men's handcycle time trial. The race took place at Brands Hatch, a track that Zanardi has previously tackled behind the wheel of high-powered racecars.

"Last time I was here I was going about five times faster but I still love this circuit," he said this week.

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

You know what this means.

(SOUNDBITE OF "MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL" THEME MUSIC)

GREENE: Yes, to some like me, the sound of the fall. To others, a signal that you're not going to see your spouse or good friend on Sunday afternoons, because they've disappeared into the bar or man cave. Yes, NFL football begins tonight with the New York Giants battling the Dallas Cowboys and then much more action this weekend.

Well, the Southeastern Conference season has begun. I have it on good authority that other college football teams around the country will also be playing games this fall.

I don't know when exactly the SEC took over America. I know this is hard to believe, but the epicenter of college football used to be in the Midwest. I'm so old, I can remember when Notre Dame actually mattered, and the real tough players were supposed to come from Western Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Melissa Block talks with BBC correspondent Emma Tracey, who is at the Paralympic Games in London. Yesterday the so-called "Blade Runner" — South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius — complained immediately following the 200m race that a Brazilian competitor who won the gold had cheated. Pistorius' initial reaction was to criticize the design of his competitor's prostheses as having given him an unfair advantage. Pistorius has since apologized for those remarks.

Melissa Block talks to Jon Wertheim of Sports Illustrated about the U.S. Open.