"Is This The Year?" – Headline on the cover of the New Hampshire Motor Speedway program featuring Dale Earnhardt Jr., who is sitting out today's NASCAR race with concussion symptoms. The header references Earnhardt contending for his first Sprint Cup (USATODAY.com, 7/15). Meanwhile, the possibility that Jeff Gordon could fill in for Earnhardt at the Brickyard 400 "brings a flood of emotion for NASCAR fans" (USATODAY.com, 7/15).
"I’m not a GM or a team owner or whatever, you know, I mean if I say tomorrow that I want to play with LeBron James, am I tampering?" – Red Sox DH David Ortiz, on speculation that his comments on fellow players at the MLB All-Star Game could be considered tampering (BOSTON HERALD, 7/17).
"Most of the questions I get are comparing to last year and therefore negative because it’s not to the same standard, and then it’s tough to convince yourself that you’re having a good year when no one else; even if you guys think I’m having a good year, the questions I get makes me feel like I’m not" – Golfer Jordan Spieth, on questions he receives from the media (USATODAY.com, 7/16).
"I know that the window for playing is closing. But if my window closes, I'm going to make sure I open up a thousand more opportunities for kids, to give them an opportunity to pick up where I left off" – NFL free agent Ray Rice, on his future, or lack there of, in the NFL (AP, 7/16).
"It’s not easy to identify riders now that they’re all wearing helmets. On the bike, they all look pretty much the same. So maybe that takes a little bit of the romanticism out of the cycling, but that’s how it is" – Cyclist Sean Yates, on how most riders at the Tour de France are indistinguishable from one another (N.Y. TIMES, 7/17).
"Honestly, it’s kind of a ridiculous sport in general. You have a bunch of emaciated Transformer characters out there, grown men who shave their legs and wear colorful spandex. So you’ve got to do something just to remind yourself and the rest of the world that it is kind of silly" – Cyclist Alex Howes, on why competitors are beginning to break conformity in their race-day attire (N.Y. TIMES, 7/17).
