Some sports journalists fear that next year's Olympic Games will mark the termination of the Reuters' sporting operation in London.
The BBC's entire sporting operation, it might be said, is based on the notion that footballers, gymnasts and athletes have a fascination that extends beyond their particular specialism, when all the evidence suggests that the reverse is the case, and that all the interviews conducted at the trackside during major championships are so much wasted camera film.
Only if the RFU takes the turkey-voting-for-Christmas option of appointing someone with considerable experience and the political skills and intellect to puncture the corporate flam that continues to make Twickenham a bloated excuse for a lean, smart sporting operation.
Toto Wolff, the man in overall charge of the team and all Mercedes' sporting operation, said he, too, could understand Hamilton's refusal to obey the order.
He will be in charge of all programming and operations including sports, which David Hill took over in 1999 and built into one of the most successful sports operations in media.
BT closed 10.8p better at 387.6p after in-line full year profits of £6.1bn, unchanged despite hefty investment in its sports operations.
Jay Kornegay, the vice president of Race and Sports Operations for the Las Vegas Hilton, said in an e-mail message that oddsmakers consider a team's previous week when setting the betting line.
Some players thought Van Gundy simply wanted to clear the air about Friday's practice, but when they saw that Layden and Steve Mills, the president for sports operations at the Garden, were present, they thought a trade had been made.
Sprewell, however, may be looking for Layden, the team's president and general manager, and Steve Mills, the president of team sports operations at Madison Square Garden, to extend the olive branch.
Alan Bergstrom, Usana's vice president for customer service, said yesterday that the company had provided its products to 40 athletes at the Turin Olympics and that it worked with various sports operations, including the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.
