The feud between Sergio Garcia and Tiger Woods escalated through The Players Championship. (Getty Images)Just for a while there, Sergio Garcia actually had it pretty good; back in form, contending on Sundays and holding the sympathetic vote in an edgy little rivalry with the best player in the business. And then, with a pair of ill-chosen words, it all changed.

Garcia took his ongoing verbal joust with Tiger Woods way out of bounds at an awards dinner for the European Tour on Tuesday, foolishly joking that he would invite the world No.1 around for dinner during the U.S. Open and saying, "We will serve fried chicken." An immediate and seemingly genuine apology was issued but not in time to prevent everything from having shifted.

The Spaniard's words took a soap opera founded on mutual dislike, but one that was amusing, entertaining and occasionally childish, down a thorny path littered with racist undertones that golf wants no part of.

In a split second he ensured that his part in the pantomime is now most certainly that of villain, and those who sympathized with him in his dispute with Woods

Chelsea FC and Paris Saint-Germain played at Yankee Stadium on July 22, 2012. (Getty Images)The New York Yankees paired up with the world's richest soccer club on Tuesday in a dramatic move that will see the iconic baseball franchise acquire Major League Soccer's newest team and potentially stage games at Yankee Stadium.

MLS chiefs revealed that the Yankees and Manchester City, the 2012 English Premier League champion backed by the endless wealth of the Abu Dhabi royal family, will combine to own New York City Football Club, which is expected to begin MLS play in 2015.

The intriguing prospect of the team sharing Yankee Stadium is a likely one, at least until the new organization finds or builds a stadium of its own.

''Yankee Stadium is an option, as are many places,'' Yankees president Randy Levine said.

City's owners shelled out a record $100 million "franchise fee" to MLS for the rights to operate a team and will own a majority share, with the Yankees' stake amounting to around 25 percent.

"We are pleased to be associated with this major move by MLS to increase its presence in

Soccer's self-proclaimed Special One is just days away from returning to the place where he coined the nickname.

Jose Mourinho announced Monday that his three-year stint in charge of Real Madrid will come to an end following a season in which his relationship with the club collapsed irretrievably.

The eternal merry-go-round of the beautiful game is such that leading lights never stay unemployed for long however, and according to multiple reports in the United Kingdom and independent inquiries by Yahoo! Sports, Mourinho will return to former club Chelsea long before the start of next season.

And so the soap opera, one that ran for three remarkable years between 2004 and 2007, can recommence.

Mourinho does indeed have "special" coaching abilities, but his relationship with Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich became so fractured towards the end of his first tenure there that even having won the club's first two league titles in half a century could not spare him the sack.

Yet Abramovich has learned

LOS ANGELES – Being subjected to public ridicule is fun for no one, least of all a professional athlete. Especially when it involves a girlfriend who, you know, wasn't.

But as Manti Te'o begins his NFL adventure, his fellow rookie underclassmen are united in sharing an intriguing theory: that the new San Diego Chargers linebacker's hoaxing heartbreak could actually turn out to be a positive.

It is a concept that flies in the face of popular logic that Te'o will experience a torrid time in the NFL – at the hands of rival fans, opposition players and locker room pranksters alike.

Yet a selection of rookies interviewed by Yahoo! Sports in Los Angeles on Thursday expressed the view that Te'o will be emboldened by his gantlet of media and public scrutiny.

[Photos: Manti Te'o's 'girlfriend' makes Maxim Hot 100 list]

"I don't think it is going to hurt him at all," said Buffalo Bills wide receiver Marquise Goodwin. "I don't think it is going to make it more difficult for him as a rookie

LOS ANGELES – Rookie Geno Smith hopes to be mentored to NFL success by the same man whose likely retirement took him one step closer to the New York Jets' starting quarterback job.

Despite competing for the same position, Smith and seasoned vet David Garrard established a close friendship in the few weeks since the former West Virginia standout was taken with the 39th pick of last month's NFL draft.

Smith heard the news that injury was forcing Garrard to walk away from the game when he landed in Los Angeles on Wednesday for an NFL Players Association rookie gathering. Smith then reached out to Garrard to offer his condolences.

Garrard responded immediately with his thanks – and an offer to assist Smith in any way possible as he battles Mark Sanchez for the right to lead the Jets' offense in Week 1.

Geno Smith talks to the media after his first NFL practice. (AP)

"David is a guy I got to know once I got drafted. He always handled himself as a professional and I look forward to learning from him," Smith told Yahoo! Sports on Thursday. "He has already

David Beckham announced his soccer retirement on Thursday, bringing down the curtain on a unique career that cannot be defined by any usual standards.

The past 20 years of the Beckham show cannot be measured in simple statistics, although nearly 800 games, 10 league championships and participation in three World Cups tell a compelling story of a man who operated at the top of his profession in a career largely spent with some of the biggest clubs in the world.

Beckham's reach was greater than that though, transcending even the most globally popular of all sports. His looks, good naturedness and marriage to Spice Girl Victoria created a fascination with the now 38-year-old that saw his face adorn billboards in over 100 countries and represent charities and leading brands alike.

England's David Beckham celebrates his goal against Azerbaijan in 2005. (REUTERS)That level of attention lavished upon an athlete is always going to bring some suspicion about their commitment to the game, but Beckham remained a fierce competitor, and for all the celebrity shoulder-rubbing and

A sign announces a German pub's loyalty to Bitcoins, where they are  accepted for payment. (Getty Images)The emergence of controversial virtual currency Bitcoin has given high-stakes American sports gamblers the chance to circumnavigate federal anti-betting laws and wager vast sums on major sporting events.

With full-scale betting on sports legal only in Nevada, options have been somewhat limited for those seeking a piece of the action during big games in both college and the pros.

Until now.

"Bitcoin is the new thing, the new rage," one New York-based poker player and sports bettor told Yahoo! Sports. "There are great options out there and new Bitcoin betting sites springing up all the time. Often they offer better odds or bonuses for signing with them. I personally know of around 15 big money guys who are using it, so in total there must be hundreds."

The complete anonymity afforded by Bitcoin, which technology experts expect to be the first of many similar digital currencies, allows legal restrictions to be avoided. Government jurisdictions have no way of tracking or tracing the source of

Former NFL lineman Ray Edwards (right) is 4-0 in his professional boxing career. (Minnesotaboxing.com)The colorful characters that occupy boxing's heavyweight division have a wide range of reasons for entering the harsh world of the fight game. Ray Edwards might be the only one to do so because he thought it would reduce his chances of getting injured.

Edwards, who spent seven seasons in the NFL playing defensive end with the Minnesota Vikings and Atlanta Falcons, now makes his living squaring off against huge men intent on punching him in the head as frequently as possible.

Yet Edwards is adamant that the brutal and unpredictable nature of pro football makes his new career choice a safer option with a bigger long-term upside than putting himself on the line inside the gridiron.

"It might sound crazy to some people but for sure I believe boxing is a safer sport than football now," Edwards told Yahoo! Sports. "Football is the only sport that is 100-percent injury prone.

"[In football], you don't know what is coming, where you are going to get hit, how you are going to get hit," he