Meet Liu Qi. Liu has many hobbies, not the least of which is being the current president of Beijing’s Olympic Organizing Committee, being the former Chinese Minister of Commerce and torturing people (from Truthdig): In an extensive legal opinion, the U.S. District Court in San Francisco determined that Liu was responsible for the illegal detention and torture of two Chinese nationals and a sexual assault against a French woman in China. The two Chinese women later sought refuge in the Unitedhttp://www.dejuiced.com/sports/the-chinese...

One quick draft tidbit to report: We hear the Bucs were among the more than 10 teams with representatives at a workout earlier today for Clemson defensive end Phillip Merling. The Tigers standout had been physically limited until recently because of a sports hernia surgery. Today's workout was part of an effort by the player to eliminate any concerns about his health. Merling is expected to be a first-round pick selected somewhere just before or just after the Bucs' No. 20 selection. It's a phttp://blogs.tampabay.com/bucs/2008/04/buc...

Washington attorney Mark Levinstein suffered a frustrating setback Wednesday in his effort to keep seven of the eight women who ran with admitted steroid user Marion Jones from losing their Olympic medals. On April 23, the U.S. Olympic Committee declined to fund their appeal because a letter Levinstein sent the committee used “threatening†language. According to a Los Angeles Times article Thursday, the language in the letter, sent to the USOC in December, spurred them to decline funding for thttp://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2008/04/...