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lance hamiltonLance Armstrong and Tyler Hamilton had an awkward, unexpected run-in at an Aspen restaurant this weekend, according to The Outside Blog. It was the first time the former friends and teammates had seen each other since Hamilton went on "60 Minutes" and accused Armstrong of doping during his celebrated cycling career.

Outside Online details the encounter:

[Saturday] night, Hamilton went to dinner with friends at Cache Cache [pronounced cash cash], an Italian French restaurant that also happens to be one of Armstrong's favorite Aspen hangouts. (Armstrong has a home here, but Hamilton thought the seven-time Tour de France winner was out of town.) During dinner, Hamilton left his table to go to the bathroom. As he walked out of the bathroom, an arm blocked his path. It was Armstrong. The two hadn't spoken since Hamilton's 60 Minutes appearance.

"He wanted to get into it," Hamilton told me this morning. "I was like, 'Let's step outside and talk away from the crowd, but he wouldn't. He said,

israeli guardA point guard on the Israeli national basketball team could miss the European championships because of restrictions that ban her from wearing a T-shirt under her jersey.

As an Orthodox Jew, Naama Shafir wears a T-shirt on the court to follow Jewish modesty rules that require women to keep their shoulders covered. Because international basketball regulations require teams to wear the same uniform, Shafir has been informed that she will not be allowed to play with the T-shirt underneath her basketball tank-top.

Shafir plays at the University of Toledo and has been able to wear the shirt throughout her American career.

This is the second time this week that religious observances have gotten in the way of international sporting uniform code. The Iranian women's soccer team forfeited a match after soccer's governing body refused to let the women wear hjiabs during Olympic qualifying.

That rule, while equally misguided, was in place for a valid reason. Head scarves presented a choking issue

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The torch that will be used for next year's London Olympics was revealed Wednesday in the British capital.

Designed at a London-based studio, the torch features 8,000 holes representing each person who will run the relay during the flame's journey throughout the United Kingdom. The triangular shape is a nod to the three Olympics London will have hosted.

London's flame will be lit next May in Greece before embarking on a two-month relay before the opening ceremony on July 27, 2012. It will travel over 8,000 miles and be carried by more than 8,000 torchbearers.

The traditional design is an improvement over the more modern torches that have been used in recent Olympics. The lace-like pattern is reminiscent of the chain mail armor that could have been used by Beowulf or a member of King Arthur's court. And though the shape looks more like something that would be used by Michael Phelps at Bonnaroo, on the whole it's a winning design, which is a bigger deal than it sounds like seeing as how

nbc olympicsThe sale of the network, the departure of Dick Ebersol and a $223 million loss on the 2010 Games weren't enough to get NBC out of the Olympics business. It was announced Tuesday that the network won bidding for the American broadcast rights to the four Olympics between 2014 and 2020, beating out competing bids from ESPN and FOX.

NBC's deal, the first major sports package negotiated under new Comcast ownership, is reported to be in excess of $4 billion for the four events and includes a $200 million sponsorship from GE.

With details still trickling out about NBC's plans for those four Olympics, Fourth-Place Medal looks at the pros and cons of Tuesday's announcement for American viewers.

Pros

• NBC's sports coverage is better. "Sunday Night Football" is the best sports broadcast on television. The network's broadcasts of Wimbledon and golf's U.S. Open are the highlights of those sports' respective seasons. In terms of production, NBC is top-notch. There are plenty of legitimate

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The Iranian women's soccer team was in tears after being forced to forfeit a 2012 London Olympics qualifying match this past weekend because it showed up to play in hijabs. FIFA banned the Islamic head scarf in 2007, saying that it could cause choking injuries -- the same reason it gave for recently banning snoods (neck warmers). FIFA also has strict rules against any religious statements in team uniforms.

Since Iran refused to comply with these rules and didn't use the specially designed caps that its 2010 Youth Olympics team wore, Friday's match was abandoned by officials and a 3-0 win was awarded to Jordan as a result. The Football Federation of Iran said it will complain to FIFA about the ruling, but FIFA says assurances were made beforehand so that this situation would've been avoided. From the AP:

"Despite initial assurances that the Iranian delegation understood this, the players came out wearing the hijab, and the head and neck totally covered, which was an infringement of the

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There's going to be about 960,000 disappointed people in London next Aug. 5.

Organizers for next year's Olympics received over one million applications for tickets to the track and field session that will include the 100-meter men's final and, presumably, world record holder Usain Bolt. Only 40,000 seats will be made available to the public for the evening session, ensuring that hundreds of thousands of applicants will be left without a seat when the ticket lottery winners are announced next month.

The opening and closing ceremonies plus all events in track, cycling, rhythmic gymnastics, triathlon, modern pentathlon and equestrian are already sold out. The swimming and tennis programs are nearing capacity as well. Though over 60 percent of applicants have paid for tickets, they don't yet know which events or sessions they have.

Chances are it won't be for track and field on the middle Sunday of the Games. The demand for tickets to see Bolt race the 100 outpaced supply by a factor of

ebersolDick Ebersol, the longtime NBC sports chief who led the network's Olympic coverage, resigned Friday after he couldn't come to terms on a new contract. The New York Times first reported the news of Ebersol's dispute with Comcast, the new owners of NBC Universal.

The surprise resignation comes one month before bidding for broadcast rights for the 2014 and 2016 Olympics is set to begin in Switzerland. A source told the AP that Ebersol's departure did not involve the upcoming negotiations.

Ebersol was an assistant for legendary sports broadcasting pioneer Roone Arledge at ABC before taking a job at NBC in 1974. He was a producer on "Saturday Night Live," left the network briefly in the 1980s before returning to take over NBC Sports in 1989. Since then he has been a part of every Summer Olympics and brought the Winter Games to the network in 2002, outbidding rivals by hundreds of millions for the rights.

He was considered to be the heir to Arledge, particularly after bringing "Sunday Night