RIO DE JANEIRO -- Justin Gatlin, Tyson Gay and Mike Rodgers were almost through parading the American flag around the track -- celebrating a bronze medal of all things -- when their names flashed on the big board, along with two letters: DQ.The smiles -- gone.Those medals -- might be gone, t.This nightmare -- it never ends for the U.S. men in sprint relays.Rodgers and Gatlin were ruled to have passed the baton before the start of the first passing zone in the mens 4x100 relay won Friday night by Usain Bolt and Jamaica. After the disqualification, the bronze went to Canada.Tyson Bromell ran the anchor leg and finished third behind Jamaica and surprising Japan. The American fell over the finish line and was nursing his injured ft while his teammates celebrated what they thought was a bronze medal, which would have been considered a debacle all of its own back in the day.At this point, theyd take it.The U.S. protested the call. A decision is expected later Saturday morning. If the disqualification holds up, it will mark the ninth time since 1995 that the U.S. men have somehow botched the relay at a world championship or Olympics.Its always something weird, stupid, simple mistakes that always cost us and I dont understand, said Gay, who cost the U.S. another medal, its silver from the London Olympics, because of a doping positive. We had great sticks in practice, great everything and something so simple -- I cant say anything but bad luck.Video replays show a clean handoff from Rodgers to Gatlin, but are less clear about whether Gatlin had taken possession of the stick before Rodgers got it inside the start of the 20-meter passing zone.Rule 170.07 in the track and field handbk reads: The baton shall be passed within the takeover zone. The passing of the baton commences when it is first touched by the receiving athlete and is completed the moment it is in the hand of only the receiving athlete. In relation to the takeover zone, it is only the position of the baton which is decisive. Passing of the baton outside the takeover zone shall result in disqualification.Hours earlier, down on the track, the runners huddled around a TV monitor and nodded their heads when they saw the replay.It was the twilight zone. It was a nightmare, said Gatlin, who won silver in the 100 sprint, but didnt make the final of the 200 and could go home empty in the relay, as well. You work so hard with your teammates, guys you compete against almost all year long. All that hard work just crumbles.All those miscues for the country with arguably the deepest pl of sprinting talent, even with Bolt in the mix, has cost them medals and sent the team back to the drawing board time and again.Dennis Mitchell, who won the relay gold at the Barcelona Games but also has a doping past, is the current coach. Whatever he was teaching didnt quite hold up.And this time, the way the Americans received the news was especially cruel.Hell, we already did a victory lap, Gay said. Right before we were about to talk to TV, they told us. Air Max Australia Cheap . - Blake Griffin had 30 points and 12 rebounds, J. Buy Air Max Australia . -- Catcher Brett Hayes has agreed to a $630,000, one-year contract with the Kansas City Royals, avoiding salary arbitration. http://www.cheapairmaxaustraliaonline.com/ . The catch: It needs a lot of money, and it needs it fast. Air Max Australia Online . The nimble-fted quarterback got his wish, dashing through the snow and a weary defence all the way into the NCAA record bk. Nike Air Max Australia Sale .05 million next season unless Graham and the Saints subsequently agree on a long-term deal. The designation was released Monday after the deadline passed for NFL teams to use franchise or transition tags on players becoming free agents. LONDON -- A former Chelsea player said he was paid 50,000 pounds ($77,500) by the Premier League club to keep a lid on sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of its former chief scout.Gary Johnson, who is now 57, told Britains Daily Mirror newspaper he was grmed and sexually assaulted repeatedly every week by Eddie Heath from the age of 13 until he was 16 or 17. Heath is now dead. The newspaper said Chelsea this week waived a clause in its settlement with Johnson in 2015 that banned him from speaking in public about the abuse.I felt shame, Johnson said, I felt my childhd had been taken away.Chelsea didnt immediately respond to a request for comment. On Tuesday, the club said in a statement it had appointed an external law firm to carry out a formal investigation into a former employee who worked at Chelsea in the 1970s and is now dead.Johnson was a member of the Chelsea team from 1978-81.It is the latest development in a fast-moving scandal sparked by former professionals going public over the last two weeks about the ordeals they went through as youngsters in youth soccer.About 350 people have reported incidents of child sexual abuse at soccer clubs to 17 British police forces investigating the scandal. A police force in Manchester said 10 people have been identified as suspects following reports from 35 people, and that its investigation is growing on a daily basis.ddddddddddddA hotline set up by a childrens charity in response to sex abuse claims has taken more than 860 calls in its first week.The English Ftball Association is funding the hotline and has started an internal review to re-examine its response to convictions of soccer coaches in the 1990s. That includes investigating whether clubs paid off victims of sexual abuse in return for their silence, reportedly as a result of the case at Chelsea.FA chief executive Martin Glenn said Thursday that action will be taken against any club found guilty of hushing up victims.There has to be a situation, Glenn said, where if there are restrictive contracts through employment law which prevent people from speaking out about a crime -- and we are talking about crimes here -- then it must be dealt with.Johnson said he notified the police in 2014 regarding the abuse he suffered, and was told to take the case to Chelsea. He also said the Professional Ftballers Association didnt return his calls.We need total transparency now, Johnson said, for the gd of the game. ' ' '