He went to the hotel and asked for the suite room which is called as the Federer suite as an honor for his talent and sporting achievements.

And guess what reply this world celebrated player got from the hotel staff.

They requested him opt for some other suite as the opulent space named after him had been given to a celebrity couple from India.

Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwrya Rai were staying in Federer suite.

They had come to Toronto for the first show of the Unforgettable World Tour.

The hotel authorities were not very keen on giving the suite to Abhi and Ash as it was reserved exclusively for Roger Federer and till date he has only stayed there whenever he came to Toronto.

But the local promoter of the world tour Moe Jiyani insisted that the luxury suite should be given to the celebrities from India and finally the hotel staff had no other option than to give in.

Roger federer had no other option than to accept the other suite offered to him.

- India Glitz

That’s because Childress is no longer a Hawk. He said he agreed to terms Wednesday morning on a three-year contract with Olympiakos of Greece that is worth far more than $20 million initially reported.

“It’s official, I just signed,” Childress said by phone Wednesday morning from Athens, where he and agent Jim Tanner will be until Friday. “I think it was . . . a situation where I didn’t know who to expect coming in, coming over to Athens. But it’s a great city and a great organization. They do whatever they can to make you feel at home.”

The deal is the most lucrative current contract in European basketball and the biggest in Euroleague history. It’s also another step in the globalization of the game, a trend that got a huge boost recently when the top-rated U.S. high school player, California native Brandon Jennings, opted for a contract with an Italian team over playing at Arizona.

Childress’ move is a blow to the Hawks, who have no recourse to match an offer made to a restricted free agent by a non-NBA team. The Hawks are also in negotiations with their other restricted free agent, Josh Smith.

The Hawks retain Childress’s NBA rights for at least two years, but they lose one of the league’s best and most efficient sixth men without immediate compensation. The Hawks, per the rules of restricted free agency, had the right to match any competing offers from NBA teams.

Childress representatives and Hawks officials negotiated for weeks on a contract extension but could never come close to agreeing to terms. The Hawks offered Childress a five-year deal with a starting salary in excess of the mid-level exception of $5.5 million.

But Childress, 25, spurned the Hawks’ $33 million offer for a more lucrative deal with Olympiakos.

With no salary cap for European teams, Olympiakos could offer whatever they wanted to entice Childress to leave the NBA for the international game. Childress will, however, have the option of opting out his contract with Olympiakos at the end of each season, which gives Childress maximum flexibility were he to choose to return to the NBA after this season.

Childress’s playing time dipped last season by seven minutes, from 36.9 to 29.9 a night, from the previous season. He averaged 11.8 points on 57 percent shooting.

He was one of just six players in the league to average at least 10 points and 4 rebounds while also shooting better than 50 percent (.571) from the floor and making 20 or more 3-pointers. Shawn Marion, Lamar Odom, Mike Miller, Grant Hill and Andre Kirilenko were the others.

In four years with the Hawks, Childress averaged 11.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists as one of the league’s best sixth men, he finished sixth in the voting for the Sixth Man award last season.

Chosen by the Hawks with the sixth pick of the 2004 NBA draft, Childress was one of the cornerstone’s of a rebuilding effort that also included Smith, picked 17th in that same draft.

They both helped the Hawks end nearly a decade of struggles with the franchise’s first postseason bid in nine years, which ended in a Game 7 loss to the eventual NBA champion Boston Celtics in May.

- Sekou Smith, Atlanta Journal Constitution

But in one day, the dream may have come into much sharper focus, thanks to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

“Sometimes they need something tangible, something real, to tell them they’re not as far away as they think they are,” Angels outfielder Gary Matthews said after addressing the wide-eyed teens at Angel Stadium on Tuesday prior to the Angels game against the Indians. “Hopefully, I can come across as honest.”

Matthews told the group that “it’s a long road and it’s not going to be easy. It’s about progressing and knowing it’s going to take patience. Never stop believing in your ability, even when you’re failing.”

Matthews wasn’t the only one who visited with the group of teenagers from around the country looking to gain exposure from this first showcase run by Major League Baseball, the MLB Scouting Bureau, USA Baseball and the Atlanta-based organization Mentoring Viable Prospects (MVP). Angels owner Arte Moreno scaled a wall to greet the players up close and personal by the Angels dugout. General manager Tony Reagins also stopped by to say a few words, giving these youngsters some good advice and providing an example of how one could be in baseball and not be a player.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for you,” Reagins said. “Obviously, you have some talent, but you have to take advantage of the opportunity you have. Some of you have good skills. That’s what we’re looking for, good young men with heads on straight. That’s what’s important.”

The experience of the day’s activities was clearly important for the players involved. It began with a clinic at the Youth Academy, as the players got to interact with Angels catcher Ryan Budde and infielder Macier Izturis, as well as former Angels great Bobby Grich, bullpen catcher Steve Soliz and former catcher Ike Hampton. At the same time, there were dozens of younger kids, ages 5 and up, at the clinic to help these teens learn quickly that wherever they are in life, there are others they can help.

“It was an honor [to be a part of the clinic],” said Princeton Jackson, a first baseman from Houston, Texas, who will be a part of the Major League Scouting Bureau team when games commence on Wednesday morning. “With all of those kids around, you could see a lot of yourself in them. They look up to you and that was great.”

Urban Youth Academy director Darrell Miller spends much of his time telling kids who come to the Academy about what it takes to play at the next level. He was quick to point out that he could shout until he’s blue in the face and not have the same impact a big leaguer would when trying to impart wisdom to young players.

“It will be everlasting,” Miller said of the day’s experience. “The credibility from guys doing it today … that’s what we’ve been trying to communicate to Major League Baseball players, that they have to give back to the community. It sounds different coming from them. The [kids] will really listen to guys who are playing.

“Will it make a difference? Absolutely. They’re sponges and they soak up everything. The Angels are making a big difference to them.”

“I think it’s huge,” Budde said of the clinic and the Breakthrough Series in general. “If I didn’t have the summer camps and things like that I went to, to have the opportunity to come here and do this would be great. I’m from Oklahoma and there’s no Major League team there, so those kinds of things were important. [It's great] to be a part of it. The kids really took in everything we had to say.”

That might seem like something easy for the powers that be to say, but something that would ring hollow when it came to the actual impact it had on the Series attendees. After all, today’s teenagers are notorious for short attention spans and lack of respect for their elders, right?

One look into the earnest eyes of everyone in attendance at Angel Stadium, however, would make even the greatest cynic throw that theory out of the window.

“It’s a dream,” Jackson said. “It feels like it’s not even really happening. It makes you strive even harder to get to this place. To see my teammates and their eyes lighting up, it’s amazing.

“I’ll remember the first day and what the Breakthrough Series did for me forever. It’s a life-changing thing.”

- Jonathan Mayo, MLB.com

But the Chicago Bears middle linebacker was all smiles Tuesday night when he rolled into training camp a couple of hours after signing his one-year, $18 million extension at Halas Hall.

”I would definitely caution anyone signing a deal that long,” Urlacher said of the nine-year, $56.65 million contract he signed in 2003. ”It’s very enticing at the time because it’s a lot of guaranteed money up front, and you want to get that security. But at the same time, you don’t know how you are going to play, either. You may outplay it.

”I’m glad it’s done now. It feels good because they didn’t have to do anything. That was a nice deal they offered me, and we ended up getting it worked out.”

Urlacher, who now will earn $40.6 million over the next five seasons, said he wasn’t sure if the matter would be resolved before camp but said it would not have affected him on the field if it still were lingering.

Now the attention turns to his body. The 30-year-old looked as fit as ever and will be able to test out his arthritic back today, as well as his neck on which he had minor surgery in January.

”Not excited,” he replied when asked how he felt about contact. ”I’m like anyone else. I’m excited to play the game, but it’s still training camp, so as little contact as possible is great.

”If you’re asking about my neck, I feel fine. I feel great. I’m not worried about that. Our doctors cleared me. I trust them, and I feel fine. I haven’t had any effects from my neck, my back. I feel great. Let’s get out there and start playing.”

- Brad Biggs, Chicago Sun Times

France did not return a phone call last night, but two NFL sources confirmed Westbrook’s decision. One league source said the move probably would not become official until today because France must file paperwork with the NFL players union.

Westbrook fired agent Fletcher Smith last week after revealing that nine-month contract talks with the Eagles had reached a stalemate. Westbrook had spent the last few days talking with both France and JR Rickert, a 1988 graduate of Holy Cross High School in Delran.

France also represents Eagles linebacker Omar Gaither, a player likely to be targeted by the team for a long-term deal at some point this season. Rickert represents a number of Eagles, including running back Correll Buckhalter and center Jamaal Jackson.

One league source said that several agents shied away from taking on Westbrook as a client because they thought it would be too difficult to successfully meet his contract demands with the Eagles.

It is believed that Westbrook, who is in the third year of a five-year deal worth $24.9 million, is seeking a guaranteed $30 million over three seasons. The running back told The Inquirer that he deserves to be paid as well as San Diego’s LaDainian Tomlinson.

“If LaDainian got paid $25 million guaranteed in 2003 and now it’s 2008, the next person needs to be paid $30 million guaranteed,” Westbrook said. “It works its way up. You can’t sit here and say, ‘I’m as good as LaDainian right now and I’m getting paid five years after him . . . so I’ll take $15 million. That doesn’t make any sense.”

Tomlinson’s guaranteed money was actually $21 million, and he signed his eight-year, $60 million deal with the Chargers when he was 25. Westbrook will be 29 on Sept. 2, and age typically has not worked to the advantage of a running back in contract negotiations.

Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb tried to stay out of the potential firestorm yesterday after the team’s morning workout at Lehigh University.

“I didn’t hear about the whole situation until pretty much the day before I got here,” McNabb said. “That part is none of my business.”

The question now, of course, is whether Westbrook will report to training camp on time tomorrow with the remaining veterans. McNabb said he thought Westbrook would be here, and several sources who have been in contact with the running back also believed he would report.

- Bob Brookover, Philly Inquirer

Parker was at the center of a bench-clearing brawl against the Detroit Shock at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

The incident occurred with 4.5 seconds left in an 84-81 victory by the Sparks, which ended a five-game road losing streak.

The skirmish began when Parker and Shock forward Plenette Pierson tangled arms as they headed up the floor following a successful free throw by Sparks guard Marie Ferdinand-Harris, causing both players to tumble to the floor. Pierson quickly rose to her feet and stood over Parker, who then pulled Pierson to the ground.

As both benches emptied, the Sparks’ Lisa Leslie came to Parker’s aid but was pushed away by Shock assistant coach Rick Mahorn, causing her to fall to the hardwood floor. Sparks forward DeLisha Milton-Jones then slapped Mahorn in the back.

“I was trying to protect the whole game, the integrity of the game,” Mahorn told the Associated Press.

At the same time, Shock forward Cheryl Ford appeared to injure her knee while pulling Pierson away from the fracas and had to be taken away in a wheelchair.

“When I looked back, I saw Candace was on the floor and [Pierson] was on top of her and my thought was just to run over and try to get her off of her,” Leslie said in a television interview immediately after the game. “Then, on my way running back, the coach just stepped in and he pushed me down and I have no idea why he did that.”

After the referees huddled in front of a video replay screen for several minutes, they ejected Parker, Milton-Jones, Mahorn and Pierson.

“It’s just really sad that happened,” said an obviously upset Leslie after the game. “This is not the way we want to represent ourselves.”

WNBA President Donna Orender watched the fight unfold on television and shared Leslie’s disappointment.

“It was clear emotions were running high,” she said. “It’s unfortunate that when emotions run over the top, something like this had to happen.”

Orender, who has been in the league office since 2005, said she doesn’t recall any on-court violence “to this degree.”

“We’ll spend a lot of time evaluating the tape and reviewing it,” she said.

The game was physical from the start but tensions didn’t escalate until Parker grabbed a defensive rebound with 8.3 seconds left and the Sparks leading by two points.

Parker was immediately fouled and Ford then reached in and tore the ball from Parker’s grip. Parker walked toward Ford and both players had to be separated.

Parker then missed both free throws, but the second miss was batted out to Ferdinand-Harris, who went to the line with 5.2 seconds left. Ferdinand-Harris made both free throws to seemingly seal the game, but that’s when Parker and Pierson became entangled.

Leslie was also critical of the officials for letting the game get out of hand.

“It was a very physical game from start to finish and it escalated,” she said. “This is the type of game to see if we’re doing our best job to really control the physicality of the game.”

- Dan Arritt, LA Times

It became clear to those watching that the policeman had no idea who Ramirez was. He didn’t ask for an autograph or anything, but did ask Ramirez if he’d attended the game. After the brief lecture, and no argument from Ramirez, the police officer let him go with no further trouble.

- Geoff Baker, Seattle Times

If any group has a reason to be superstitious, it’s professional athletes.

Your livelihood relies on your ability to consistently replicate physical motions. It’s hardly surprising that you don’t want to change anything about your routines once you find success. However, some pro athletes take these rituals beyond logical extremes.

A ritual is a certain behavior or action that an athlete performs with the belief that these behaviors have a specific purpose, or power, to influence your performance. Many athletes believe that performing a specific ritual before competition improves your performance. These rituals range from the clothes you wear to the foods you eat or drink; the warm up you perform or even the music you listen to.

Superstition is generally something that is initially developed in hindsight, almost by accident and then required in future events. A superstition arises when you have a particularly good (or bad) performance and then try to establish “cause and effect” by reviewing the facts of the day. If you have a great performance you attribute your success to that unusual circumstance and attempt to recreate it before every competition.

We’ve all seen fellow athletes performing ritual movements before competition and have heard stories about the baseball player with his lucky socks or the hockey player with his favorite stick. As you know, in pro sports, superstition and ritual is widespread and considered normal. To the outsider, it may seem silly and strange, but if they consider how athletes use these rituals, they might see that many rituals are strategies that are used in the world of sports psychology. In fact, for some athletes these patterns may actually influence success on the field.

Perhaps the real value in superstition and ritual is the boost of confidence and the sense of control that they provide an athlete. If you believe that doing a specific action or behavior will make you perform better, then you probably will perform better. This is the foundation of sports psychology.

Many athletes use rituals such as visualization or guided imagery, to recreate a particularly successful play or event and experience the feelings you had then as though they are happening now. This recall and visualization prepares you both mentally and physically for competition.

Some Unique Sports Superstitions:

Jason Terry – While at the University of Arizona, Terry started sleeping in his uniform shorts the night before each Arizona game on the logic that it would make the game feel like it was starting sooner. When Terry broke into the NBA with the Atlanta Hawks, he decided to start wearing the shorts of the next day’s opponent, instead. This ritual is fairly tenuous, though, as it requires Terry to procure a pair of uniform shorts from each opposing NBA team. Although his network of connections with equipment managers and former teammates has helped him out, he had to wear Mavericks shorts before each game of the 2006 NBA Finals since he couldn’t find a pair of Miami Heat trunks.

John Henderson - He has Jacksonsonville Jaguars assistant team trainer Joe Sheehan slap him open-handed across the face as hard as Sheehan possibly can. Henderson and Sheehan began the ritual during the 2003 season as a way to get Henderson pumped up for the game by taking the day’s first hit in a controlled environment in the locker room. Apparently the strategy works, as Henderson has twice made the Pro Bowl since this ritual started.

Playoff Beards - Originally a hockey tradition, but since adopted by other sports, the theory holds that a team must put off shaving while still in the playoffs. This promotes a warrior mentality and single-minded focus.

Moises Alou - Most baseball players wear batting gloves to absorb some of the shock of making contact with the ball and to improve their grip on the bat. Alou does not wear gloves but has a system for avoiding calluses and hardening his skin: he urinates on his hands throughout the season. New York Yankees catcher Jorge Posada also employs this superstition to aid in his gloveless approach at the plate. Some have questioned the value of this superstition since urine contains urea, a key ingredient in moisturizers that actually soften the skin.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - Players form habits and routines that they repeat endlessly when playing, such as Nomar Garciaparra’s batting glove adjustments between pitches or basketball players’ patterns when at the free-throw line. Skill development is all about repetition, and such a repetitive nature seeps into an athlete’s confidence as much as it does his muscle memory.

Batty Behavior - There are all sorts of wacky superstitions related to the protection and pampering of baseball bats. Players can often be found touching their bat with various good luck charms, spitting in their hand before picking up their bat or even sleeping with their bats. Don’t even think about touching another player’s bat.

In the on deck circle, Wily Mo Peña sniffs the pine tar on the handle of his black, 35-inch model C43 Louisville Slugger. He starts at the handle and slowly moves toward the barrel. When he gets near the meat of the bat, he opens his mouth and grips the bat as if he’s being fitted for a mouthpiece.

Stepping On Lines – Some pros will not step on a field or court’s lines when entering the game or it will bring bad luck. Others think it is good luck.

Bruce Gardiner - Spent five years as a forward in the NHL, most notably with the Ottawa Senators. Gardiner would dip the blade of his stick in the locker room toilet. Gardiner’s strange superstition started in his rookie reason in Ottawa in 1996. After going several games without a point, he asked veteran Tom Chorske for advice. Chorske told Gardiner he was treating his stick too well and needed to teach the wood to respect him by dunking it in the toilet.

“It really hasn’t sunk in,” said Castillo, who will make $18 million in guaranteed money and could realize $43 million in new money over the life of the deal.

“It’s something you know is coming, something you work for. When you think I’m committed to a town and a team for 10 years of my career, it’s an unvbelievable feeling. It solidifies my place in this town and on the field. It’s also a huge sense of responsibility.”

Castillo has been plagued by ankle injuries the past two years, limiting him to 10 starts last season and nine in 2007. But those injuries are likely the only things to have stopped him from compiling Pro Bowl numbers.

At almost 300 pounds, Castillo possesses a rare quickness, and the Chargers see him as one of the league’s top ends for many years. He has 13 sacks in 34 starts in his three NFL seasons.

The Chargers will announce the signing at an afternoon press conference.

Castillo does not take lightly becoming one of the highest-paid defensive ends in the league.

“This is just the start,” he said. “There is so much I want to accomplish on a personal level and so much I want to help this team do.

“This takes a lot of pressure off in a certain sense. It’s not about going out there and having it in the back of your mind trying to stay healthy. It’s about having fun and playing at a high level.”

- Kevin Acee, San Diego Union Tribune

The development project was terminated because Credit Suisse Group sued to foreclose on a $260 million loan to Tamarack’s founders.

The Fairmont was to be the feature property at Tamarack, a ski and golf resort founded in 2004.

The resort is the biggest new public ski resort built in the US since Deer Valley, Utah opened in 1981.

Agassi Graf Development had not begun construction on its condominium hotel.