Brett Favre's highly anticipated return to the playing field with the Vikings spanned four plays and one series, and Minnesota lost its preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers by a 15-10 score.

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The Titans and Chris Johnson have agreed to a revised deal that will pay him $2.5 million this season. That's not exactly the $30 million in guaranteed coin he once demanded, but at least it's a raise.

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Florio: For 2010, let’s look at the job security of the 32 NFL head coaches, ranking the seats they occupy on a curve, from the hottest to the coldest.

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Who knew there was a code of ethics in cycling? After passing race-leader Andy Schleck during Monday's Stage 15 of the Tour de France to become the overall leader, defending champion Alberto Contador took to YouTube to apologize for his action:

"Hello everyone. Today I made the podium and I am happy about that. But there's a problem with the circumstances. Just when I attacked, Andy had a mechanical problem, on the last climb. The race was on, and maybe I made a mistake. I'm sorry."

Contador is specifically apologizing for taking advantage of Schleck's mechanical problem by blowing past him while his bike wasn't working properly. Per The Telegraph:

Schleck started the day 31 seconds ahead of Contador and needing to extend that lead ahead of Saturday’s time-trial. After biding his time on another sweltering day … he attacked with a savage burst 4km short of the summit of the mighty Port de Balès 24km from the finish.

In no time Schleck had put 45 yards on Contador and was stretching that lead when his chain slipped and tangled and he came to grinding halt.
Contador, chasing hard by now, had to swerve as he passed the stationary Schleck on the inside and narrowly avoided colliding with a parked car as he attacked the yellow jersey.

Afterwards, however, he insisted he did not realise Schleck had stopped and encountered a problem. Replays clearly show Contador constantly looking back over his shoulder to check the progress of his rival as he accelerated hard to ram home his advantage.

Per the report, Schleck and Contador are friends, but the defending champ not only left his challenger in the proverbial dust, but also in a fit of rage. Schleck told reporters, "[m]y stomach is full of anger. The race is not finished and I will take my revenge. I can end it like a champion. I would never have raced like that and taken advantage of that situation. For sure these guys don’t get the fair-play prize today.”

Excuse me if I take an American point of view in this situation. First, cycling has more reports of cheating – yes it's mostly doping – than any sport in the world, so it's somewhat hilarious to the outsider to read about a moral and ethical code within a race. Second, it's a bike race! Men…riding bikes. There are only two things in that equation. The men, and the bikes. If something happens to the man – a knee injury or a back problem – does the race stop so he can grab a massage and an ice pack? Why, then, if something happens to the bike, should the other competitors hold up the rest of the race until one rider can fix his problem?

If a NASCAR driver got a flat tire or had a belt snap, would the rest of the drivers wait for him to fix it in the pits before getting back to full speed? If a marathon runners shoe falls off, does everyone wait until he can secure a proper double knot?

You can make the case that it's understandable for other riders to slow down after a competitor crashes – if for nothing else, like car racing, to not add to the carnage – and there's probably some karmic value to making sure you don’t benefit from another racer's injury. But bike malfunction?

Contador shouldn’t be apologizing to Schleck, he should be telling him to get a better bike. Alas, this is what happens in the Tour de France. With a race that's completed in stages, there is ample time for a racer to let the press, and the sentiment of the fans, get into his head. Contador wants to win, but he clearly doesn't want to be the villain in the process.

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The Jets and Giants played the first NFL football game Monday at their new $1.6 billion stadium that is co-owned by the NFL teams and is the most expensive stadium in the country.

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Safe or out? By the looks of the replay, it sure looks like Travis Ishikawa was safe.

With one out in the bottom of the ninth inning of a tie game on Sunday, Ishikawa was called out at home by umpire Phil Cuzzi on what would have been – and replays indicated should have been – a Giants walk-off winner.

Instead, the Mets survived the ninth inning, eventually scoring in the next frame to win the game in extras.

The call not only changed the outcome of the game, but also completely changed the course of two division races, and the wild card, in the National League. After the game, even the Mets agreed it was a terrible call. Per the New York Daily News:

The missed call was egregious, and even Blanco admitted that the Mets should have lost the game. With the score tied 3-3 in the bottom of the ninth, Freddy Sanchez hit a chopper to third, and David Wright made a high throw home. Travis Ishikawa slid under Blanco's tag, but Cuzzi called the runner out.

"He was safe all the way," Blanco said.

Minutes after the game, Cuzzi said that he had not yet seen the replay. "I'll look at it, but I figured I'd eat first," he said. "(Blanco) made a decent attempt to put the tag on him. That's what it looked to me, and that's why I called him out."

Sure, why not grab a sandwich before taking a look at how you ruined the outcome of a game you were employed to officiate? Maybe grab some pie, too.

It is an interesting look at how umpires officiate games. How many times do you see a bang-bang play called an out because it looked like the tag was made in time when, upon replay review, it's evident that the runner actually avoided the tag? That's always been a part of baseball, only now we have the ability to show exactly when the umpires were wrong. In some cases, the replay is so close it's understandable how an ump could get it wrong at full speed. In this case … yeesh that looked pretty obvious.

It wasn't just the one call that had both teams complaining, either. Blanco told reporters he hoped MLB would punish Cuzzi for taking off his mask and yelling at Franscisco Rodriguez, who was visibly upset on the mound over a ball/strike call. Cuzzi told reporters he was yelling at the Mets bench, and not the pitcher, but Blanco was pretty certain it was Rodriguez who was catching the brunt of Cuzzi's ire.

The Daily News reported that MLB is likely to meet with Cuzzi to discuss his conduct, which could lead to disciplinary action for the veteran umpire.

The report does not indicate how long the meeting will be. To be safe, Cuzzi should probably get something to eat first.

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The only thing clear after two days of fog-induced havoc at the PGA Championship is that Matt Kuchar is playing very, very well, and Tiger Woods has a lot of ground to make up.

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Rangers reliever Dustin Nippert took a screaming line drive off the side of his head in the 6th inning of last night's game in Detroit. While the impact brought the game action to a temporary standstill, and rightfully so given how severe an injury it might have been, it turned out to be a thankful close-call.

Nippert was able to laugh it off exiting the mound after the ball deflected off his cranium. Of course, that wouldn't necessarily mean he didn't still suffer a concussion, but fortunately CT scans conducted after the game were negative. Nevertheless, Rangers manager Ron Washington said he would give Nippert a few days off as a necessary precaution. If it weren't for his laugh, you could argue it may take a lesser man that long just to gather his wits about him.

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