rd company Mastercard -- are rivals of official Olym

Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in second practice at the Italian Grand Prix as Mercedes held a half second advantage over rivals Ferrari at Monza on Friday.Hamilton set a 1:22.801 on the super-softs to go 0.193s clear of teammate Nico Rosberg, who failed to improve on his soft tyre time in first practice despite using the faster super-soft compound. Sebastian Vettel was third fastest, 0.453s off Hamiltons best effort, but set his time later in the session when conditions should have been marginally better. Kimi Raikkonen was fourth fastest, 0.173s off Vettel, but had his first attempt to set a time on the super-soft interrupted by a Virtual Safety Car for Esteban Ocons broken down Manor.Red Bull finished the best part of a second off Mercedes, with Max Verstappen 0.931s off Hamilton after setting a super-soft time late in the session due to a rear wing issue. Daniel Ricciardo was sixth fastest 0.271s off his teammate, but was able to complete a longer heavy-fuel run than Verstappen thanks to a problem-free session.McLarens Fernando Alonso impressed with the seventh fastest time, hinting at the progress Honda has made with its power unit since its upgrade at the Belgian Grand Prix. The time came relatively late in the session after a hydraulic issue in FP1 spilled into the afternoon session and limited Alonso to just 24 laps in FP2.Valtteri Bottas was eighth fastest in the Williams ahead of Romain Grosjeans Haas and Jenson Button in the second, more reliable, McLaren in tenth. Felipe Massa finished 11th after a brake-by-wire problem ate into his track time and limited him to 20 laps.After showing promising pace in first practice, the two Force Indias appeared to focus on long runs in FP2 and finished the session in 12th and 13th ahead of Esteban Gutierrez. Marcus Ericsson was 15th fastest ahead of Pascal Wehrleins Manor, Carlos Sainz in the Toro Rosso and Ocons best time from a limited session of just 13 laps.Kevin Magnussen hauled his Renault from the bottom of the timesheets to 19th ahead of Daniil Kvyat, Felipe Nasr and teammate Jolyon Palmer in last. Javier Baez Jersey . -- PGA TOUR Canada member Steve Saunders took a three-stroke lead Saturday in the Web. Ron Santo Cubs Jersey . According the Toronto Star, a knee injury will keep Sundin out of the lineup, which includes former teammates Gary Roberts, Darcy Tucker, Tie Domi and Curtis Joseph. http://www.thecubsteamshop.com/Cubs-Ernie-Banks-Kids-Jersey/ . And when it opened, every player was at his stall. Thats a sure sign that a team is in a slump and is searching for answers. "Its embarrassing to be at home and play the way we did," said defenceman Josh Gorges. Albert Almora Jr Jersey .Y. -- The Buffalo Sabres have recalled forward Kevin Porter and defenceman Chad Ruhwedel from the minors as part of a five-player roster shuffle made by the NHLs worst team. Ben Zobrist Jersey . -- About a third of the way through the regular season, the Washington Wizards are at . RIO DE JANEIRO -- Hows this for last-minute notice?After Pele relinquished his starring role in the opening ceremony in slightly mysterious circumstances, marathon runner Vanderlei de Lima only had an hours notice that he would carry the flame to light the Olympic cauldron on Friday.The 46-year-old de Lima told the story to a group of Brazilian sports journalists who accidentally ran into him buying beer at a gas station after the show ended in Rio de Janeiro. He was still wearing his Rio 2016 outfit.I never thought that I could be that person to light the cauldron, he said.It came 12 years after his hopes of winning Olympic gold were ended by an Irish spectator wearing a kilt, knee-socks and a beret tackling him while leading the Athens marathon. Instead of gold, he fell back to take bronze.Long since retired from top-level running, De Lima wasnt destined to be the focal point of the first Olympics in his homeland.Brazil soccer great Pele was the preferred choice of organizers to light the cauldron but left them in the lurch.Pele, 75, said Wednesday he was already committed to working for an unnamed sponsor on the day of the opening ceremony. Several of his commercial backers -- sandwich chain Subway, watchmaker Hublot aand credit card company Mastercard -- are rivals of official Olympic sponsors McDonalds, Omega and Visa.ddddddddddddStill, Pele announced he would try to adjust his travel plans to make the Maracana Stadium ceremony.And yet by Friday, the three-time World Cup winner was citing illness as the reason to relinquish the lighting honor.We had, obviously as you do on these occasions, Plan A, B, C, D, E, Rio organizing committee spokesman Mario Andrada said Saturday. Pele, when we invited him, informed us that he was coming out of surgery and he needed medical approval to do that.We prepared special help for him if he needed it during the ceremony. We also decided to wait until the last moment to decide which the plan was, allowing him more time to improve his condition and to get medical authorization.But Andrada said doctors advised Pele against putting his body through the long ceremony.Pele did hold the Olympic flame two weeks ago when the torch relay traveled through Santos, the city in the outskirts of Sao Paulo where he started his football career. He never took part in the Olympics as a player. ' ' '