THE HEADLINES ebb and flow but this last week in American sport gushed in an entertaining torrent of confusion. It didn’t matter if the moment was glorious, seedy, violent or downright miraculous, skill and common sense ranked low and we, the humble onlookers, were all the better for it.

Michael Phelps debuted a new stroke as he placed second in his 50metres freestyle heat on day two of the Charlotte Ultraswim meet in North Carolina today.

Colombia did not win a gold medal at the recent Beijing Olympics, but the South American country has a PGA Tour winner at last.

Padraig Harrington, feeling refreshed again after a draining summer, carded a respectable one-under-par-69 in the opening round at the BMW Championship on Friday.

TAY Zonday morphed from an unknown musician to an internet superstar who got booked on national TV shows after his song Chocolate Rain — an amateur clip of his baritone crooning — went viral last year.

West Waterford’s Seamus Power maintained his successful run at the PING-Arizona Intercollegiate tournament in Arizona last week as he completed his second straight top-five finish in the event.

AFTERNOON naps taken by young children may give parents a welcome rest but could be harmful, say researchers.

Danny Rolling, Florida’s most notorious serial killer since Ted Bundy, was executed by lethal injection last night for the 1990 murders of five college students.

Danny Harold Rolling, Florida’s most notorious serial killer since Ted Bundy, was ”remarkably calm” as he awaited his execution for the grisly 1990 slayings of five college students in Gainesville, his attorney said today.