Former NBA player LAMAR ODOM "agreed to a two-month contract" with Spanish basketball team Baskonia. Baskonia said on its website "it has an option to extend the agreement until the end of the season" (BLOOMBERG, 2/18). ... National Rugby League South Sydney co-Owner RUSSELL CROWE has backed English rugby player SAM BURGESS to succeed in rugby, but suggested that Burgess "may not have been tempted to switch codes if he had been allowed to play State of Origin for NSW." Crowe: ‘‘In rugby league the pinnacle of the game is not a Test jersey, it is State of Origin. Sam, by his birthplace, is prevented from competing at that level. A passionate Blues supporter he would have loved to have that opportunity’’ (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 2/18). ... British racecar driver JANN MARDENBOROUGH, 22, has just been tabbed by Red Bull Team Principal CHRISTIAN HORNER as a potential F1 star of the future, "signing him up to the prestigious Red Bull Junior Team," the same squad that produced SEBASTIAN VETTEL and DANIEL RICCIARDO. The difference is he learned his trade "with a PlayStation controller" (FOX SPORTS, 2/18). ... Man City CEO FERRAN SORIANO, a former VP with Barcelona, met with Barça President JOSEP MARIA BARTOMEU, club VPs CARLES VILARRUBI and JORDI MESTRE, Sporting Dir ANDONI ZUBIZARRETA and Sponorship Dir JORDI MOIX in Manchester on Monday before the Man City-Barcelona Champions League clash on Tuesday. Man City Sporting Dir TXIKI BEGIRISTAIN, "another former Barcelona exec, also attended the meeting" (SPORT, 2/17).
