As Russia is trying to come to grips with its disastrous performance in Vancouver, Russian athletes have to deal with their personal financial disappointments.

Do you know how Russian oligarchs buy NBA team? They read that they bought the team, which is not true, get aggravated and buy the damn team. At least, that's what happened to Mikhail Prokhorov a few weeks ago.

We were starting to worry that everyone will let the sale of the NJ Nets to Russia's richest man Mikhail Prokhorov pass without a considerable scandal. That's until we received a copy of the letter by NJ Congressman Pascrell to the NBA Comissioner:

The Russian invasion into the sports industry has finally crossed the Atlantic. After buying the famed Chelsea and Arsenal soccer clubs, the Russians are approaching the sacred American ground - the NBA. It has been reported that Mikhail Prokhorov, the 6-foot-9 Russia's richest man is buying the Nets.

Russian soccer player Andrei Arshavin, who is playing for London's Arsenal this season, scored four goals in a game against Liverpool (the game ended with 4-4 draw.) Arshavin's thrilling performance was greeted with joy and happiness in Moscow and St. Petersburg, the player's home city. The sports bars in Russia booked record profits that day as many of the Arshavin's fans came to cheer and got increasingly excited over the course of the game.

Remember when Putin told us, “Everything relating to the [Sochi 2014] Olympic project is safeguarded by the budget”? Not so much. Just yesterday, a government re-evaluation of the budget resulted in an $8.6 billion cut. Considering that we got that original quote from Kremlin propaganda dispenser Russia Today, it will be fascinating to see how they wriggle out of this one.

That at least three Russian biathletes recently tested positive for drugs isn’t really news, but damn if they weren't on DIY dope! Old. School. It’s called “Erythropoietin” (EPO), which increases red blood cell production, and is far from unheard of in performance-enhancing circles. The difference in the EPO detected in the lab work of Russia’s biathletes is that it’s “homemade, of Russian origin.” If the legit pharmaceutical stuff can wreak cardiovascular havoc on the human body, we can only imagine what the homegrown version is capable of doing — nor what a home EPO lab looks like (photos welcome!). But seriously, Russia. If you want to bring home the gold in Sochi, don’t skimp on your banned substances.

If you think Michael Phelps ripping the bong is an Olympic scandal, you are in for a treat. We couldn’t care less about Vancouver 2010, or London 2012, we’re talking Sochi 2014, baby. Russia’s Black Sea resort town has seen major upheaval — in every sense of the word — since its induction into the Olympic Hosts Club in 2007. But, even after a series of explosions left one person maimed, and a group of Greenpeace advocates and environmentalists went off about the environmental cost of hosting the Olympics there, not to mention that whole proximity-to-Georgia thing, Sochi 2014 is still a go. Let's take a look at some of the measures being implemented to ensure it will remain that way over the next five years.

Today, January 24, the world's premier mixed martial arts fighter Fedor Emelianenko squares off against Belarus’ rock-hard colossus Andrei Arlovski in a heavily publicized bout in Anaheim, CA. Emelianenko comes into the event, aptly titled “Day Of Reckoning,” with a 29-1 record.