In case you missed it, here is a look at some of the big, and not so big, stories that happened last week:
Family first
Despite the big money he could earn competing for the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup, Masters and British Open runner-up Lee Westwood says he will not be a regular on the PGA Tour next year. The 37-year-old Englishman will be based on the European Tour, which allows him to put his family first. "The FedEx Cup sits right in the middle of the kids' summer holidays, and I like going on holiday with them for a couple of weeks," Westwood said. U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland, meanwhile, says he will take up a PGA Tour card for 2011 and compete in the FedEx Cup.
Global expansion
New England Sports Ventures, the company that owns the Boston Red Sox, has seen its team win the World Series twice in six years and hopes to engineer a similar turnaround for Liverpool of the English Premier League. NESV reached an agreement to buy the financially strapped soccer club, off to its worst start in more than 50 years. "Our objective is to stabilize the club and ultimately return Liverpool FC to its rightful place in English and European football," a statement from the group read. They'll have to overcome a bit of anti-American sentiment (the current owners are Americans Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr.), but a winning season or two would likely take care of that.
Vanishing Venus
Venus Williams, who has not played since losing to Kim Clijsters in last month's U.S. Open semifinals, announced this week that she would miss the rest of the 2010 tennis season with a left knee injury. Williams says she has been receiving treatment for the nagging injury and has been using crutches to avoid putting weight on the knee. Williams and sister Serena, who has not played since Wimbledon because of a foot injury, were scheduled to play for America in the Fed Cup final Nov. 6-7 in San Diego against Italy. The U.S. has not won a Fed Cup title since 2000.
Sensational start
It may have been his first postseason start, but Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay did something only one other player has done by pitching a no-hitter in Philadelphia's National League Division Series opener Wednesday against Cincinnati. Don Larsen of the New York Yankees is the only other pitcher with a postseason no-hitter, a perfect game in the 1956 World Series against Brooklyn. "I just wanted to pitch here, to pitch in the postseason. To go out and have a game like that, it's a dream come true," said Halladay, who also threw a perfect game at Florida on May 29. It was the first no-hitter against the Reds since 1971, when Cincinnati was no-hit by Philadelphia's Rick Wise.
LT on the move
New York Jets running back LaDainian Tomlinson moved up one spot on the NFL's all-time rushing-yards list after his 133-yard performance against the Buffalo Bills last week. Tomlinson moved into seventh place, passing Tony Dorsett with 12,831 career yards to Dorsett's 12,739. The only other active player in the top 20 is New England's Fred Taylor, who is 15th all-time with 11,638 yards. Emmitt Smith is the all-time leader with 18,355 yards.
