(Getty Images)

Novak Djokovic has ended his relationship with Sergio Tacchini, the Italian sportswear company that dressed him in clothes with tattooed wings, dragons and stripes ... lots and lots of stripes. CNBC's Darren Rovell reports that the company couldn't keep up with the success of the world No. 1 after signing him to an incentive-laden 10-year deal in 2009.

One insider tells CNBC that there were constant fights between the Tacchini reps in Italy and the United States. Those battles were centered around disagreements over money owed by distributors, priority given to European stores on shipments, and suggested prices that priced out much of the marketplace. Tacchini polo shirts often retailed for $80, $20 more than a Nike tennis shirt of a similar make.

The world No. 1 being dressed in Sergio Tacchini was the equivalent of 2001 Britney Spears signing a deal with RC Cola. It never felt right. Peyton Manning endorses Oreos, not Hydrox, you know?

In memory of their glorious three years together, Busted Racquet remembers some of our favorite Sergio kits. May you fly even higher with your new dragon wings, Nole:

(Getty Images)'

(Getty Images)

The Cincinnati-Xavier series will go on despite last year's brawl (AP)The ugly brawl in the final seconds of last year's Cincinnati-Xavier game won't force the Crosstown Shootout to take a hiatus, but it has led to a change of venue.

For at least the next two seasons, the site of the game will be off campus at the U.S. Bank Arena in downtown Cincinnati, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported Tuesday. Both sides will reevaluate the behavior of the players and fans after that two-year trial period and decide whether the series should continue.

The future of the Crosstown Shootout had been in doubt since last year's Dec. 10 matchup when players from both sides embarrassed themselves with their actions on the floor and their comments afterward.

Four players from both sides were suspended including Cincinnati's Yancy Gates, who missed six games as a result of his right cross that bloodied an unsuspecting Kenny Frease. Xavier guards Mark Lyons and Tu Holloway both received two-game suspensions in part for failing to express remorse in their postgame news conferences.

It's good news both for the city of Cincinnati and college basketball as a whole that school officials didn't overreact and cancel the series because of one hot-headed incident. The brawl was a black mark for both programs, but an isolated incident shouldn't terminate one of the most cherished non-conference rivalries in the sport.

While moving the game to a neutral site will drain some of the atmosphere from the matchup and make it more difficult for students to attend, it's an acceptable temporary compromise under the circumstances.

Getty ImagesThe New Jersey Devils' three Stanley Cup winners since 1995 have featured some constants: Goaltender Martin Brodeur, Grand Emperor Lou Lamoriello and the defensive foundation those champions where constructed on.

But their coaches have defined each of them. Jacques Lemaire's trapping Devils in 1995. Larry Robinson, the players' coach, whose stunning conference finals tirade sparked the Devils' 3-1 comeback over the Flyers and eventual Cup win in 2000. The late Pat Burns, the coaches' coach, who reined in their offensive stars and oversaw a return to defensive discipline in 2003.

Tied 2-2 with the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference Final, the Devils may still fall short of the Cup in 2012. But should they grab the Chalice, Coach Peter DeBoer has personalized this team in the same manner as his Hall of Fame (and should-damn-well-be-in the Hall of Fame, in Burns's case) predecessors had.

He's pushed the right buttons. Preached the right sermons. Earned his players' belief in an offensive system that attempts to re-chisel the cemented stereotypes about Devils hockey. His comportment is one of intellectual serenity — Dan Bylsma style — with a touch of rage. His communication with the players has been honest and non-political.

He couldn't have done this three years ago, when ego prevented him from fulfilling his potential as an NHL head coach. That he was the given the chance to do this at all tracks back to July 2011, when Lamoriello stunned the hockey world with an uncharacteristic choice behind the bench.

(Courtesy of the White House)

It's hard being President.

You have to lead, make unpopular decisions and no one thinks you're doing a good job. So, it was no surprise that while visiting Soldier Field for the NATO summit, President Barack Obama decided to channel his inner Jay Cutler, who feels many of those same feelings on a weekly basis.

During a working dinner, Obama and several other leaders decided to throw the football around to get a bit of a break from the monotony of solving the world's problems.

The White House posted the photo, but Obama also tweeted it while quoting the famous line from the hit TV show Friday Night Lights. I thought that was pretty awesome. I bet the President was a Tim Riggins fan.

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The daughter-in-law of Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman, who has served as a volunteer high school track and field coach in Oregon, was fired on Monday after an investigation proved that she escorted a 17-year-old member of her boys track squad to the school's prom.

Former Condon track & field coach Melissa Bowerman — AP via Portland Oregonian

As reported by the Associated Press, 41-year-old Melissa Bowerman, the daughter-in-law of waffle-sole inventor Bill Bowerman, escorted an unnamed 17-year-old on the Condon (Ore.) High track team to the school's prom after the runner told her he lacked a date for the prom. Bowerman, who is married to 73-year-old co-coach Jon Bowerman and also has a son on the same team, told the AP that she offered to take the student to prom in part to motivate him to improve his grades in his English class.

"If they go on [academic] probation and suspension, then they can't go to the track meets," Melissa Bowerman told the AP. "I said, 'OK, I will go with you, but we've got to talk about English first. You're going to do better in English.'"

Bowerman insisted that she and her date only danced to "a couple" of slow songs and spent the rest of the evening playing ping pong and foosball. The student's father also said he was ok with the coach escorting his son because, "Melissa has been like a surrogate mom to these kids for years."

The handling of Bowerman's dismissal wasn't done in the most tactful manner, either. With the Condon team preparing to load a bus for the state track and field meet, the Bowermans were told that Melissa could not ride on the team bus with the athletes, her husband and other parents.

Possibly the most warming, encouraging story of the maddening 2012 NBA postseason is the return to prominence of Boston Celtics center Kevin Garnett. Not only is the first-ballot Hall of Famer averaging 19.3 points (on 52 percent shooting) with 10.5 rebounds and three combined blocks/steals 17 years after being drafted into the NBA, the whippet-thin 7-footer's shift to the center position has anchored Boston's playoff-leading defensive turn. This team is, again, one win away from the conference finals; and it has Kevin Garnett to thank.

And now, fans of the Philadelphia 76ers have Kevin Garnett to boo. Especially after he called the lot "fair weather" in an interview following Boston's Game 5 win. Via Ben Rohrbach at WEEI, here's the mildly NSFW clip:

Sarah Simonds poses with her eBay auction item. (Getty Images)Two Olympic torchbearers listed their torches on eBay this week and vowed to donate proceeds to charities. When the winning bids came in around $250,000 for each, it sounded too good to be true. It was.

Both sellers admitted on Tuesday that the massive bids for their London 2012 torches were apparently a hoax. Neither woman has been contacted by their respective buyers, leading both to wonder if the suspicious bids were ever real.

Sarah Simonds, 38, put up her torch and relay uniform in order to benefit a local gardening group. When the winning bid came to around $242,000, it gained worldwide news. Yet in the 48 hours since the auction, Simonds has heard nothing from the buyer, who had a 100 percent feedback rating.

'This is incredibly disappointing not only because The People's Plot [the gardening group] will miss out on this wonderful funding, but because it could now leave me out-of-pocket too," she told The Daily Mail. "eBay has already been in contact asking me to pay the 10 per

Reds fan Caleb Lloyd visits with the team's broadcasters on Monday. (MLB.TV)

There's  no doubt about it: Caleb Lloyd is the man.

The 20-year-old Cincinnati Reds fan made hundreds of headlines on Monday night after catching home run balls from pitcher Mike Leake and shortstop Zack Cozart. Lloyd's dueling grabs occurred not only in the same game, but in consecutive at-bats during the Reds' 4-1 win over Atlanta Braves at Great American Ballpark. Not bad for someone who had just planned on playing the MLB 2K12 video game all night before his friend called him up with a last-minute offer of tickets in the left field bleachers.

[Related: Reds pitcher Aroldis Chapman arrested for driving 93 mph on suspended license]

Watch the unreal sequence play out here: