BIRMINGHAM, England -- Former England midfielder Joe Cole signed a two-year deal with Aston Villa on Tuesday, giving him a chance to prolong his career with another Premier League club. MENS NIKE AIR MAX 90 ESSENTIAL TRAINING SHOES YELLOW/WHITE/ROYAL BLUE . The 32-year-old Cole joined the Birmingham club on a free transfer after being released by West Ham at the end of the season. "Im as excited now as I was as a 16-year-old lad going into my first season with West Ham," said Cole, who won three Premier League titles with Chelsea and earned 56 caps for England. Cole played a small part for the Hammers during his 18-month stint at the east London club. His last Premier League start was in a 3-3 draw against West Bromwich Albion in December. Prior to his return to West Ham, he had a successful loan spell at Lille after struggling to reignite his career with Liverpool in 2010. "Ive been lucky enough to have a really good career but theres still a lot more I want to achieve," Cole said. "This is a massive club and theres a massive opportunity for the club to push on. That was the main factor." Cole is the second major signing this summer for manager Paul Lambert, who is trying to bolster a squad that has been on the verge of relegation the past two seasons. Former Arsenal defender Philippe Senderos joined Villa last week. Cole expects to play in central midfield for Villa, where he hopes help strikers Christian Benteke and Andreas Weimann boost their production. "Having those fast players in attack and around me, I feel like I can supply them with the bullets and get them the ball in the final third," he said. MENS NIKE AIR MAX 95 SHOES WHITE/SILVER/RED . -- Free agent running back Tim Hightower has re-signed with the Washington Redskins. AIR MAX 95 WOMENS NIKE SHOES GREY/PINK/WHITE . The incident happened during Barcelonas 3-2 win at Villarreal on April 27th when Alves, who is black, picked up the banana thrown by 26-year-old David Campayo Lleo, bit off a piece and then discarded it.SOCHI, Russia -- Canada is appealing the final results of the mens skicross at the Sochi Olympics in an effort to get fourth-place finisher Brady Leman of Calgary bumped up to gold. The French team swept the podium in the event. The Canadian Olympic Committee, along with the Slovenian Olympic Committee, are alleging that French team staffers changed the shaping of the athletes ski pants for better aerodynamics. The ad hoc division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport is scheduled to hear the case Saturday night. Leman finished fourth in the final to Jean-Frederic Chapuis, Arnaud Bovolenta and Jonathan Midol of France in Thursdays competition. Slovenias Filip Flisar placed second in the small final and would be bumped to bronze if the appeal is won. Russia would win the silver. The Canadians and Slovenians initially requested that the world governing body of skiing disqualify the French competitors. But the FIS competition jury decided the protests couldnt be heard because they werent filed on time after the race. A decision by the CAS is expected Sunday. The Canadian Olympic Committee didnt immediately respond to an email request for comment. Leman reached Thursdays final after dominating the two previous rounds, but got off to a slow start in the medal round and then fell while trying furiously to catch up. WOMENS NIKE AIR MAX 2015 SHOES ORANGE/FLUORESCENT GREEN. "I was in disbelief, almost, when I was lying there," he said after the race. "But its part of skicross." It was a second Olympics in a row to end in disappointment for Leman. At the Vancouver Games, he didnt get to compete after fracturing a leg during a practice run. "I just feel slightly better, right now, than I did in Vancouver," he said. "It sucked watching my teammates from the stands, and all I wanted here is a chance. "I gave myself a really good chance today, and that Im really proud of that, but it sucks to be so close to the podium." Leman shrugged off talk he may have been intentionally shut out by the French skiers. He fell too far behind from the start and only briefly had a one-on-one battle with the last of the three leaders. "No, they were all trying for it, they were going for it," he said. "They skied the same as if it had been three different nations." "Everyone was trying to pass and thats in part why I ended up getting stuck on the outside. I probably should have tried going inside, but we have to make split-second decisions. You cant get them all (right) over a day of skicross. At some point you run out of luck -- like I did a couple of hundred metres short." cheap nfl jerseys cheap jerseys ' ' '