<table> </table> <strong><span class="subhead">Armstrong to enter Giro</span></strong></p><p>Cyclist <strong>Lance Armstrong </strong>agreed to ride in the Giro d&#8217;Italia on Monday and suggested the Italian race &#8212; not the Tour de France &#8212; will be the main target in his comeback season. He has never ridden in the three-week Giro, the most prestigious race after the Tour. The 2009 race is the 100th anniversary race of the Giro.</p><p>If Armstrong does, indeed, focus on the Giro, it could smooth over hard feelings with 2007 Tour de France winner <strong>Alberto Contador</strong>, who is on the Astana team. Contador had threatened to leave the team if he wasn&#8217;t selected as the team leader. Contador isn&#8217;t planning to ride the Giro. It may also reflect hard feelings toward Tour organizers, who recently said Armstrong had embarrassed the French race over the years.</p><p>&#8226;Third-place Tour de France finisher <strong>Bernhard Kohn </strong>tested positive for a banned blood booster when his race samples were checked for the new drug CERO, an advanced version of EPO.</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Oldest sports editor dies</span></strong></p><p><strong>Michael Strauss</strong>, sports editor of the <em>Palm Beach Daily News</em>, died on Saturday. He was 96 and the oldest working sports reporter in the world, according to daughter <strong>Ellen Boer </strong>of Alexandria, Va. He first began writing for the <em>New York Times </em>about 70 years ago. His last published article was last month in the <em>Daily News</em>. About two weeks ago he suffered a fall at his home and had been hospitalized since.</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">NBA cutting staff</span></strong></p><p>The NBA is eliminating about 80 jobs in the United States, the first major American sports league to announce layoffs because of the worldwide economic turmoil. Commissioner <strong>David Stern </strong>said the league was still hitting its business targets, but it made the decision some months ago to begin a &#8220;belt-tightening.&#8221;</p><p>&#8226;<strong>O.J. Mayo </strong>scored 26 for Memphis in the Grizzlies&#8217; 103-95 win over Indiana. Former KU forward <strong>Darrell Arthur </strong>scored five points for Memphis while his former teammate <strong>Brandon Rush </strong>scored seven for the Pacers.</p><p>&#8226;<strong>Kevin Durant </strong>scored 20 of his 26 points in an 8-minute stretch, leading Oklahoma City to its first win, a 110-104 beatdown of Houston.</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Last ball up for bid</span></strong></p><p>The last home-run ball at Yankee Stadium will be sold at auction this weekend in New York. <strong>Steve Harshman </strong>of Casper, Wyo., said he held a family discussion, and the decision was made to sell the ball and use the money to pay off debts and send his children to college. Estimates are the ball could fetch $200,000.</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Can&#8217;t win for winning</span></strong></p><p>The Estero (Fla.) High School football staff gathered in the head coach&#8217;s office last Friday, stunned by their loss to Naples High School by 13 &#8212; touchdowns. Yep, Naples 91, Estero 0, prompting one of the assistant coaches to offer up some gallows humor saying: &#8220;Hey, I didn&#8217;t even know 91 was a multiple of seven.&#8221;</p><p>Meanwhile at Naples, despite a decision to keep most of the best players on the sideline &#8212; and running a total of just 31 plays the entire game &#8212; the phone calls and e-mails began coming in to coach <strong>Bill Kramer. </strong> Angry e-mails from Estero parents wondered why so many points were necessary, and angry e-mails from Naples parents wondering why their children didn&#8217;t get to play more and pad their stats.</p><p>Estero coach <strong>Rich Dombrowski </strong>said: &#8220;It was <strong>David </strong>versus <strong>Goliath</strong>, and David didn&#8217;t have a stone to throw. Naples did absolutely nothing wrong. We just didn&#8217;t do anything right.&#8221;</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Elsewhere</span></strong></p><p>&#8226;<strong>Fredquinzo King</strong>, one of the defendants in the killing of former Villanova basketball star <strong>Howard Porter</strong>, has been sentenced to 45 years in prison.