Tom Mantzouranis Posts

The Jaked J01 swimsuit was temporarily banned by FINA (the International Swimming Federation) earlier this year because it supposedly gave swimmers an unfair competitive advantage. Recently, it's been the subject of talk of an entirely different sort, as an ill-located tear in the suit forced Italian Olympic swimmer Flavia Zoccari to sit out of a championship race.

At the Mediterranean Games on Wednesday, Zoccari (right) was forced to stand down from competition after the back hinge of the bathing suit tore, leaving a large portion of Zoccari's backside exposed.

Jaked, the manufacturers of the suit, boast that the J01 is "more than skin," but in Zoccari's case all it did was show more skin.

Zoccari, who was flooded with tears of embarrassment after the mishap, later apologized for the incident.

It's officially the offseason, meaning the time is right to look into the future. We continue our division-by-division preview of the potential wheeling and dealing with the Southeast Division.

The Southeast is probably going to be the most boring division in hockey this offseason. Three of the teams don't have the financial capability to make the sort of splash they need, and the other two were good enough to mostly maintain the status quo.

Still, we've got two top-5 draft picks to look forward to, as well as the ongoing sagas surrounding the stars for both Florida franchises.

Nine years after they met and unofficially wed in a ceremony in New Hampshire, tennis legend Martina Navratilova is being sued by her former partner, Toni Layton, who is claiming "emotional, mental and physical trauma" after Navratilova suddenly left her.

Layton said: 'Martina has got a fight on her hands. Without any warning, my life came crashing down around me. I was kicked out on the streets with only the clothes on my back.'

According to the Daily Mail, Layton is demanding a share of the four multi-million dollar homes that the pair purchased while together, though she could be entitled to more if her allegation that the couple agreed to "evenly share" all funds and assets attained by either while they were together is true. The lawsuit claims that among these items are a classic Mercedes Benz, two Land Rovers, a Jeep, a speed boat, two scooters, and two all-terrain vehicles.

When Roger Federer opened his quest for another Wimbledon title on Monday morning under gray skies, long-time tennis fans likely had flashbacks to past tournaments and players sloshing around the court in the rain. The weather wound up holding for Federer's match, a win over Yen-hsun Lee, but it wouldn't have mattered even if rain was falling in buckets.

We're in a new, weather-proof era for Wimbledon, after all.

The NHL handed out its annual awards on Thursday, recognizing the best performances in the league this year. After the jump, the full list of winners from the ceremony in Las Vegas.

Today, our society is better at understanding and accepting mental disorders. Troubles that were once delegitimized are now seen as serious medical issues and are attended to as carefully as physical ailments; people who were once discredited for being different are now seen in a different light.

Yet again, it wasn't easy, but battles of titans never are. In the wake left behind by the Penguins and Red Wings, it's time to consider one thing: the Wings, with their tradition and history of excellence, have been unseated atop the hockey world.

While there's no shame in losing in seven games to a team as talented as the Penguins, especially when you've set the bar unreachably high for a decade-plus, this loss feels more significant, more grave for the Wings. It feels like the making of a new superpower. It feels like the Penguins are poised to occupy the spot the Red Wings have inhabited, and that they'll be there for a long time.

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Why not make it seven?

When there's hockey being played as urgently, breathlessly, and brilliantly as Tuesday night's Game 6, and you're given the gift of more, you don't ask why. You just accept it and offer gratitude to the two teams who made it possible. Forget Saturday's anti-climax, a 5-0 win for the Red Wings over the Penguins that again had Detroit looking epic and Pittsburgh embodying the lamb. Forget what you've known through six games.

These two teams deserve the most poignant of climaxes to the thrilling narrative they've written thus far.

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The Cup will be present at Mellon Arena Tuesday night, but will it make an appearance on the ice? The Red Wings have one more win to go for their 12th Stanley Cup championship and second in a row, but the Penguins won't go quietly into the night, especially in their own building. Can Pittsburgh force a Game 7? We're talking about that and many other topics now. Join us after the jump.

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Perhaps the Saints should stop looking at damaged goods to fix their weakside linebacker position?

In 2006, they brought in Anthony Simmons, a former Pro Bowler, to play there. It didn't matter that Simmons missed most of '04 and all of '05 with injury; he was supposedly healthy and low-risk/high-reward. He retired before his first game as a Saint ever came.

In '08, they brought in Dan Morgan, a former Pro Bowler. It didn't matter that Morgan had a list of concussions that would make Steve Young commiserate, as well as a partially torn Achilles tendon, the collaborative effects of which forced him to miss almost all of '06 and '07. He was supposedly healthy and low-risk/high-reward. He retired before his first game as a Saint ever came.

Morgan then unretired earlier this year and claimed that the Saints, who still had his rights, were getting a healthy and motivated player. On Monday, he retired. Again.