BOSTON (AP & Staff) — Ben Cherington will have plenty to do if, as expected, he follows Theo Epstein as the general manager of the Boston Red Sox. He’ll also have plenty to work with. Cherington is expected to be promoted on Tuesday, when the Red Sox have scheduled a news conference to introduce Epstein’s replacement. Epstein resigned from Boston to take over as president of baseball operations for the Chicago Cubs on Friday, and the teams said they would hold off on more announcements out of respect for the teams in the World Series; Tuesday is the next off-day. Cherington’s first job will be to find a manager to replace Terry Francona, a two-time World Series winner who admitted he lost the clubhouse in his eighth season and was let go after the team’s unprecedented September collapse. The coaching staff also will need to be rebuilt as pitching coach Curt Young left for the Oakland Athletics earlier Friday. Cherington also will have to deal with the fallout from the team’s 7-20 September that left it one game short of the playoffs. The pitching staff disintegrated over the final month, followed by news reports that several starters were drinking beer and eating fast-food fried chicken in the clubhouse during games. Among them was John Lackey, who was 12-12 with a 6.41 ERA in the second year of a five-year, $82.5 million deal. The Red Sox are unlikely to find a taker unless they eat most of Lackey’s remaining salary. Cherington also will be saddled with six more years of Carl Crawford’s contract, a seven-year, $142 million deal signed by Epstein. But the Red Sox have reason to be hopeful with the core of the team that went 81-43 over a 4½-month stretch of the season and a payroll that is among the biggest in baseball. All-Star Adrian Gonzalez just finished the first year of a seven-year, $154 million deal, Jacoby Ellsbury developed into an MVP candidate, and Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis are locked up long term. Josh Beckett was an ace for most of the year and Jon Lester remains one of the top lefties in the AL, but their performance in September was a key reason for the collapse. Clay Buchholz is expected to return from a stress fracture. J.D. Drew’s contract is up, giving the Red Sox some payroll flexibility, and Daisuke Matsuzaka is at the end [...]
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ARLINGTON, Texas (AP & Staff) — Strolling behind the batting cage, Matt Holliday watched his St. Louis teammates hit away Friday and offered a simple tip. “Get a good swing!” he hollered. Great advice for anyone with a Louisville Slugger in hand at this World Series. Despite the presence of Josh Hamilton, Albert Pujols, Nelson Cruz and other top boppers, the Cardinals and Texas Rangers have hardly dented the scoreboard while splitting the first two games. So far, a total of just eight runs. The last time there were fewer through the opening two games at a Series? Try 1950, when Joe DiMaggio and the New York Yankees combined with Philadelphia for four. “A lot of people thought this was going to be an offensive World Series,” Texas shortstop Elvis Andrus observed before an off-day workout. Blame the drought on a few factors: raw weather at Busch Stadium, good pitching and, perhaps most significantly, hitters facing arms they’ve never seen before. Both teams have flailed away at the plate, chasing sliders and curves that bounced, shattering bats and seeming to guess wrong on what pitches were coming next. “We need to give good at-bats and get deeper and quit swinging at balls out of the strike zone,” Mike Napoli said. Napoli has hit the lone home run of the Series. He connected off Chris Carpenter, but maybe he had an edge — Napoli had been 3 for 3 lifetime against the Cardinals ace going into Game 1. Fresh off their two-run rally in the ninth inning and a 2-1 win in Game 2, the Rangers start Matt Harrison on Saturday night at Rangers Ballpark. Kyle Lohse will pitch for the Cardinals. “It’s a tough place to pitch, especially when you see those flags blowing in. It usually means that jet stream is going to right-center,” Lohse said. “I think everyone in the league knows that.” Each team adds a designated hitter, with the AL rule in effect at Texas. Cardinals manager Tony La Russa will make Lance Berkman the DH and put Allen Craig — already with a pair of key pinch-hit RBI singles — in right field. The Rangers will likely use Michael Young at DH, move Napoli to first base and put Yorvit Torrealba at catcher. At this point, it might take more than a wind tunnel to help the hitters. Texas is batting only .186, St. Louis [...]
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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP & Staff) — Justin Leonard described his round Friday at Disney as a “fun, easy day,” and it was every bit of that. He had a 9-under 63 for his lowest round of the year, putting him in a tie for the lead with Henrik Stenson and Bio Kim at the Children’s Miracle Network Classic. It was only after his round that he felt as though he was on Thunder Mountain without ever leaving the golf course. Leonard is at No. 144 on the PGA Tour money list and not the least bit worried about keeping his card because he already is exempt through 2012. Because of a misprint in the media guide, reporters didn’t understand how he was exempt, leading to confusion — and a brief spell of panic for Leonard — while tour officials researched the regulations to confirm the answer. By the time he headed for the Magic Kingdom for the parade with his four children, all was well. The leaders were at 12-under 132, two shots clear of Nick O’Hern. Gary Woodland was in the group at 9-under 135. The money list is magic at Disney. Webb Simpson and Luke Donald are battling for the money title, and they both played the opening two rounds at 7-under 137, meaning they will be paired again Saturday. Simpson has a $363,029 lead, so the third round looms large for Donald. The stress is at the bottom. The players at Nos. 123, 124 and 125 — D.J. Trahan, Bobby Gates and James Driscoll — all made the cut. Kim is at No. 168 and will have to finish no worse than second to avoid Q-school. Stenson, who had a 64 on the Palm Course, is at No. 180 but is exempt through 2014 from winning The Players Championship. Leonard also has no concern about next year. “I did call the tour a couple months ago and asked about my status. I’m exempt for next year, so I’m not playing with that kind of pressure,” Leonard said in his press conference. “I don’t know how, I just am. I gave the same look to the telephone. ‘How is this guy still exempt?’” It was a reasonable question, for his exempt status on his biography page showed him exempt through his position on the money list in 2010. In the exempt ranking at the front of [...]
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ZURICH (AP & Staff) — FIFA cashed in on a $1.2 billion bonanza from United States broadcasters Friday, striking World Cup deals with Fox, Telemundo and Spanish language radio. Fox won the English-language U.S. television rights for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments, outbidding incumbent ESPN and NBC for soccer’s showpiece tournament. Fox agreed to pay around $425 million for the two-tournament package, a person familiar with the bidding told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because the figure was not made public. It also secured English-language radio rights. ESPN paid $100 million to show the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and the 2014 event in Brazil. The World Cup will be held in Russia in 2018 and in Qatar in 2022. Telemundo paid around $600 million for the Spanish-language deal, the person said. Telemundo, which is owned by NBC Universal, also defeated a rights holder, Univision, which had paid $325 million for the 2010-2014 package. Spanish-language radio rights went to Futbol de Primera Radio for more than $100 million. The deals were agreed to on an important day for FIFA President Sepp Blatter. He revealed the first steps in a wide-ranging reform program he initiated after a troubled year that was peppered with scandals implicating some of his most senior colleagues within world soccer’s ruling body. “We are happy because we are moving forward,” Blatter said, after signing off on the U.S. deals during a meeting of his executive committee. “Before the end of the year a big chunk of the concerns we had in the past … will be set behind us.” The American contracts cover tournament finals in all FIFA competitions from 2015-22, also giving Fox the Women’s World Cup in 2015 and ’19. “The FIFA World Cup and Women’s World Cup are two of the world’s biggest competitions,” Fox chairman David Hill said in a statement. “It is our privilege to be entrusted with these rights in the United States.” The deal was welcome news on a day when News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch was criticized by disgruntled shareholders Friday at the company’s annual shareholders meeting. News Corp. is the parent company of the Fox networks. Fox adds soccer’s biggest event to a portfolio of rights that includes the UEFA Champions League, the English Premier League and Italy’s Serie A. The network is expected to televise the final and some top matches on its [...]
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NEW YORK (AP & Staff) — NBA owners have their priorities, and playing games isn’t first on that list. Instead, the league is looking beyond this month — and maybe beyond this season, if that’s what it takes — to implement an extreme financial makeover after years of sizeable losses. The goal, in the words of Spurs owner Peter Holt, “an opportunity to make a few bucks.” Owners are determined to reshape the league by creating a system like the NFL or NHL, where spending is capped and small-market teams truly can compete with the big boys. But reforming the NHL’s financial structure required a lengthy lockout, wiping out the entire 2004-05 season. And the NFL is making money, not losing it. After NBA labor talks broke down Thursday night, Holt was asked if owners might be willing to sit out a year to get the changes they crave. “The competitive issues and the economic issues, certainly we don’t want to lose the season, I don’t think the NHL did either. It ended up happening,” said Holt, chairman of the owners’ labor relations committee. “There are certain things that we feel we must have.” And that makes a lost NBA season a possibility. That comes as no surprise to players’ association executive director Billy Hunter. He started to believe two or three years ago that owners intended to lock out the players so they could force through the changes they wanted. Now he doesn’t see enough owners who can stop it from happening. He identified big-market owners Jerry Buss of the Lakers, the Knicks’ Jim Dolan, Miami’s Micky Arison and Dallas’ Mark Cuban as owners he believed were open to anything that could lead to games, but there were many more from the small markets “that were dug in, and I think they’re carrying the day.” “And unfortunately. I think what we have to do is we have to miss more games for it to really set in,” Hunter said. “And that’s what I kept trying to tell them is that this thing is on a slippery slope and we’re already losing games, the first two weeks, and if we continue to go in that decline, it may become intractable to get people to move from their respective positions.” The first two weeks of the season — 100 games in all — already have been canceled. And it won’t be [...]
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ZURICH (AP & Staff) — FIFA President Sepp Blatter promised Friday to release the files from a 10-year-old corruption scandal that could name senior officials who took millions of dollars in kickbacks. FIFA has previously stopped a Swiss court from releasing documents identifying who received payments from the former ISL marketing agency, which collapsed in 2001. On Friday, Blatter said his executive committee — including members implicated in the case — will reopen the ISL dossier at a Dec. 16-17 meeting in Tokyo. “We will give this file to an independent organization outside of FIFA so they can delve into this file and extract its conclusions and present them to us,” Blatter said after a two-day session of his executive panel. Dealing with the ISL allegations became a test of Blatter’s promised willingness to reform FIFA and world soccer after a slew of scandals involving bribery, vote-rigging and ticket scams. Blatter announced an overhaul Friday of FIFA’s investigative and legal structures that he expects will take two years to complete — defining his fourth and final presidential term. Three new task forces will report to Blatter’s previously announced “solutions committee,” which aims to promote good governance. Up to 18 members, drawn from politics and soccer, will be announced in Tokyo, but will not include former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger as previously suggested by Blatter. “I think we have been ambitious in our road map,” Blatter said, insisting FIFA as an institution is “not corrupt.” Pressure to act built after four members of Blatter’s high command, including three continental presidents, were implicated in corruption scandals and banned or resigned in the past year. FIFA banned his former election rival Mohamed bin Hammam for life for allegedly bribing voters. One task force announced Friday will create a two-chamber ethics court with separate, independent investigation and prosecution units. It will be led by Swiss ethics committee chairman Claudio Sulser. German executive committee member Theo Zwanziger will steer proposed reforms of FIFA’s statute book. A transparency task force will examine how FIFA should run the bidding for future World Cups after 2018 host Russia and 2022 host Qatar won contests last year that were surrounded by recriminations. The panel, chaired by Frank van Hattum of New Zealand and Paraguay’s Juan Angel Napout, will write a code of conduct for officials, consider how FIFA vets committee members and include clubs, leagues and players [...]
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LONDON (AP & Staff) — A bleary-eyed Jay Cutler rubbed his face as he stepped up on the podium for his first news conference in London, hours after stepping off an overnight flight across six time zones. He’ll have two days to get over that jet lag before the Chicago Bears run onto the field at Wembley on Sunday to play a Tampa Bay Buccaneers team that has spent the whole week in London to get used to the time difference. According to Cutler and the rest of the Bears, that won’t be a problem. “I feel all right. I think the guys are little bit tired,” the quarterback said. “I’m sure everyone is going to get a good night’s rest and we’ll be ready to roll.” This is the fifth year in a row the NFL stages a regular-season game at Wembley, and the second time the Bucs have come over. In 2009, Tampa Bay also arrived on the Friday before the game and then looked sluggish when it was routed by the New England Patriots — one of the reasons Bucs coach Raheem Morris changed the team’s setup this time. Bears coach Lovie Smith, however, said he was confident his team would not be at a disadvantage. “I felt like it was important for us to have a regular work week in Chicago,” Smith said. “There’s 48 hours before we play, so we have plenty of time. We’ll be rested and ready to go. The best football team will win the game.” The shorter time spent in London also means there’s less time taking in the local sights and culture, although that’s not what the team came over for anyway, Smith said. “It’s a business trip. We sight-see when we’re vacationing in the summer,” he said. “We will have a little bit of time tomorrow, but that’s not our purpose.” There was still time for some fun and games before their first practice Friday. The Bears are practicing at The Oval, one of England’s most famous cricket grounds located in south London. That meant some of the players got some help with their batting and bowling techniques from local cricketers — with mixed success. Cutler looked quite handy with the bat, hitting what would have counted as a couple of boundaries (similar to runs) off deliveries (or pitches) from Brian Urlacher. However, the wayward bowling of linebacker Lance [...]
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GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP & Staff) — Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame guard Gale Gillingham died at his home in Minnesota while lifting weights, his son said Friday. He was 67. Wade Gillingham said the former Pro Bowler appeared to have had a heart attack Thursday at his home in Little Falls, but his family doesn’t have confirmation on a cause of death. Gillingham, inducted in the Packers Hall of Fame in 1982, was Green Bay’s first-round draft choice and 13th overall in 1966 from the University of Minnesota. He played off the bench as a rookie and took veteran Fuzzy Thurston’s spot during the 1967 season opposite All-Pro Jerry Kramer during the Vince Lombardi era. He blocked for Bart Starr when the quarterback was leading the Packers to the first two Super Bowl victories in 1967 and 1968 and after leaving the team in 1974, returned to play for Starr when he was coach in 1976. Gillingham was a five-time Pro Bowler, six-time All Pro and played in 128 regular-season games for the Packers. Wade Gillingham, 40, said his father retired last fall after operating Goedker Realty in Minnesota following his professional football career. “He was a great Dad, a humble man and simple,” his son said. Gillingham, born in Madison, moved to Little Falls, Minn., with his family when he was in high school. He was divorced with three sons and a daughter and traveled the world watching two of his sons compete in strongman and power-lifting contests.
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ST. LOUIS (AP & Staff) — A little bloop, a daring steal and a couple of fly balls. May not sound like much. It was enough, though, for the Texas Rangers to inch their way back into this World Series. Looking lost at the plate all game, Josh Hamilton and the Rangers suddenly resembled the team that bashed its way to Busch Stadium. They rallied for two runs in the ninth inning against the nearly spotless St. Louis bullpen, beat the Cardinals 2-1 Thursday night and evened things at 1-all. “It wasn’t a Series-saving rally, but it was huge,” said Ian Kinsler, whose single and safe-by-a-hand steal set up the comeback. Hamilton and Michael Young did their jobs, hitting consecutive sacrifice flies that completed the comeback. For eight innings, this was looking a lot like last year, when Texas dropped the first two games at San Francisco and quickly got wiped out. Down to their last three outs in Game 2, the Rangers kept things interesting — for themselves, and for baseball fans all over yearning for some October drama. “It was almost a great story for us, turned out to be a greater one for them,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. Now, after a travel day, Texas will host Game 3 on Saturday night. Matt Harrison is set to start for the Rangers against Kyle Lohse. “It would have been hard,” Hamilton said of possibly facing an 0-2 deficit. “We would have been comfortable going back to our place, having three games. They’re just like we are, never say die, till the last out is made. It makes it fun.” In a city excited by a Rally Squirrel, it almost looked like “Groundhog Day.” For the second straight night, Cardinals pinch-hitter Allen Craig greeted reliever Alexi Ogando with a go-ahead single. This time, Craig did it the seventh to break a scoreless tie. In Game 1, his hit in the sixth sent the Cards to a 3-2 win. Rather than an instant replay, the Rangers recovered. The Rangers have not lost two straight games since Aug. 23-25. They sure waited a while to save themselves on this night that began as duel between starters Colby Lewis and the Cardinals’ Jaime Garcia. Texas gained a split in St. Louis despite hitting a combined .186. Kinsler opened the ninth with a bloop single against closer Jason Motte. Next up was [...]
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(AP & Staff) — Neftali Feliz closed it out, and Rangers win 2-1 thanks to a two-run rally in the ninth inning against the St. Louis bullpen. World Series tied at one game apiece, with Game 3 on Saturday night in Texas. ___ The Rangers used aggressive baserunning by Ian Kinsler and Elvis Andrus to set up their rally against closer Jason Motte in the ninth. Josh Hamilton tied it with a sacrifice fly against Arthur Rhodes. Michael Young put Texas ahead with a sac fly against Lance Lynn. Feliz is on in the bottom of the ninth to try to close it out for the Rangers and tie the Series at one game apiece. ___ The hitters coming off the bench for Texas look really rusty. Most of them haven’t had much action lately, and that’s hurting the Rangers so far in the World Series. Craig Gentry and Esteban German in Game 1. Yorvit Torrealba and German in Game 2. Swinging at balls in the dirt, taking pitches down the middle — their at-bats have been pretty ugly. Rangers manager Ron Washington has sent four pinch hitters to the plate against Cardinals lefty Marc Rzepczynski. All right-handed batters. Rzepczynski has retired each one, three on strikeouts. Heading to the ninth, Cardinals lead 1-0. Top of the lineup due up for Texas against Motte. ___ We’ve seen this before. Allen Craig came through against Alexi Ogando again, delivering a pinch-hit single in the seventh inning that gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead in Game 2 on Thursday night. Jaime Garcia pitched a brilliant game for the Cardinals, striking out seven through seven innings in a scoreless duel with Texas starter Colby Lewis. But when Garcia’s spot came up in the bottom of the seventh, the Cardinals had runners at first and third with two outs. So manager Tony La Russa pulled Garcia for Craig, and Washington went to Ogando. Same matchup as Game 1, when Craig’s pinch-hit single to right off Ogando broke a tie and sent the Cardinals to a 3-2 victory. It was practically a replay in Game 2. Craig took a low-outside fastball and served it into right field for the go-ahead hit. ___ Garcia was 0-2 with a 5.74 ERA in three postseason starts before Thursday night. But the Rangers had never faced him before, and he had them off balance all night. ___ David Freese [...]
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GUADALAJARA, Mexico (AP & Staff) — Gold proved to be scarce for the United States on Thursday at the Pan American Games. After days of winning title after title, the Americans stalled a bit on Day 6, earning only two gold medals — one in swimming and one in shooting. “We had a meeting about winning the gold,” American swimmer Elizabeth Pelton said after finishing first in the women’s 200-meter backstroke, the final swimming event of the night. “Definitely was the goal for tonight.” Besides Pelton’s victory, the United States also earned its sixth shooting gold of the games and 12th medal in the sport when Glenn Eller won the men’s double trap. Although gold was tough to find in Mexico on Thursday, the medals still came. With 19 medal events on the program, Americans won 16 medals overall to increase their lead at the top of the table. The United States now has 34 gold and 98 overall, while Brazil remains in second place with 14 gold and 42 overall. Pelton avoided an American whitewash at the top of the swimming podium by winning the evening’s final gold. Her winning time of 2 minutes, 8.99 seconds bettered the previous Pan American Games record of 2:10.57, set by American swimmer Teresa Crippen four years ago in Rio de Janeiro. Teammate Bonnie Brandon earned silver. The American women have excelled in the swimming pool. Entering Thursday’s session they had won all but one of the gold medals, but Ashley McGregor of Canada took the women’s 200 breaststroke. “I don’t think we are lacking at all as far as energy goes, but it’s been a long meet,” said American swimmer Michelle McKeehan, who won bronze in that race behind teammate Haley Spencer. “And it’s a long meet at the Olympics, too, so hopefully we can just take this and learn from it to try to keep our energy very high.” Also, Olympic champion Cesar Cielo won another “splash and dash” gold medal, defending his title in the men’s 50-meter freestyle. The Brazilian won in a Pan American Games record 21.58 seconds. “I had a target to swim as close as I could or better than I did in the world championships,” said Cielo, who is a two-time world champion in the event and also won Olympic gold in Beijing. “I wasn’t thinking about the record, I just wanted to improve my time [...]
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NEW YORK (AP & Staff) — NBA labor talks turned nasty and broke off Thursday when three days of meetings failed to yield a deal to end a 112-day lockout, raising the likelihood that even more games will be canceled in an already fractured season. After 30 hours of negotiations before a federal mediator, the sides remained divided over two main issues — the division of revenues and the structure of the salary cap system. “Ultimately, we were unable to bridge the gap that separates the two parties,” NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver said. “We understand the ramifications of where we are. We’re saddened on behalf of the game.” Without a deal, NBA Commissioner David Stern, who missed Thursday’s session with the flu, almost certainly will decide more games must be dropped. The season was supposed to begin Nov. 1, but all games through Nov. 14 — 100 in total — already have been scrapped, costing players about $170 million in salaries. Stern said previously that games through Christmas were in jeopardy without a deal this week. Silver said the labor committee would speak with Stern on Friday about the future schedule. The union said owners essentially gave it an ultimatum to accept a 50-50 split of revenues, and president Derek Fisher accused management of lying to the media. “We’ve spent the last few days making our best effort to try and find a resolution here. Not one that was necessarily a win-win. It wouldn’t be a win for us. It wouldn’t be a win for them. But one that we felt like would get our game back … and get our guys back on the court, get our vendors back to work, get the arenas open, get these communities revitalized,” Fisher said. “And in our opinion, that’s not what the NBA and the league is interested in at this point. They’re interested in telling you one side of the stories that are not true and this is very serious to us. This is not in any way about ego. There are a lot of people’s livelihoods at stake separate from us.” Billy Hunter, executive director of the players’ association, said the union made “concession after concession after concession … and it’s just not enough.” “We’re not prepared to let them impose a system on us that eliminates guarantees, reduces contract lengths, diminishes all our increases,” he said. “We’re saying [...]
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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP & Staff) — Luke Donald got off to a strong start in his pursuit of Webb Simpson and the top spot on the PGA money list, shooting a 6-under 66 Thursday in the opening round of the Children’s Miracle Network Classic to share the lead with six other players. Donald, the world No. 1, is trying to become the first player to finish the season No. 1 on both the European and PGA Tour money lists. The Englishman was paired with Simpson, who was two strokes back after a 68. James Driscoll, Arjun Atwal, Nathan Green, Gary Woodland, Scott Stallings and Derek Lamely also shot 66 to share the lead in the season’s final event. Donald has made $5,837,214 this season, leaving him $363,029 behind Simpson, who has made $6,200,243 while playing in seven more PGA events. Tom Lehman is the only player since 1990 to win the money title on the final day of the season. He won the 1996 PGA Tour Championship to pass Phil Mickelson, who fished 12th — and second on the money list — that season. Donald got off to a hot start on the Palm course, birdieing three of his first five holes and going without a bogey the entire round. Simpson, who had four birdies, also played bogey free. The two will play together again Friday on the Magnolia Course in a group with amateurs Kevin Gallagher and Dennis Murphy.
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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP & Staff) — The PGA Tour is launching a developmental tour south of the border, hoping it can expand its presence in South America as golf prepares to become an Olympic sport again in 2016 in Brazil. The “PGA Tour Latinoamerica” will start next year, featuring 11 tournaments that will be played in seven countries, most of them in South America but including Mexico and Puerto Rico. The tournaments will have 144-man fields consisting primarily of players from the region, although there likely will be some access for Americans who now play the mini-tours. The top players on the Latin American tour then will have access to the Nationwide Tour. “This expansion into Latin America, when combined with what the Nationwide Tour has been able to accomplish in the region in recent years, is part of the natural progression for golf which continues to grow globally,” PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said. “We see this as an opportunity to help in the further development of elite players across the region.” Tournaments are to be played next year from September through December in Mexico, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Peru. The Nationwide Tour already has an event in Colombia, and will have one next year in Chile. The tour still has to determine how many players from Latin America could advance to the Nationwide Tour. A decision is expected before the Latin American tour starts play. Latin America already has produced players such as two-time major champion Angel Cabrera, Andres Romero and Jose Coceres of Argentina, Camilo Villegas of Colombia, Jhonattan Vegas of Venezuela and Carlos Franco of Paraguay, who has played in the Presidents Cup. Cabrera and Romero got their starts by going to Europe, while Franco first blossomed while playing in Japan. “This potential pathway to the higher levels of professional golf is something that is an improvement for the players in the region,” said Henrique Lavie, the commissioner of the Tour de las Americas. Lavie will become executive director of the new Latin American tour, which hopes to grow to 14 events by 2013.
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SOELDEN, Austria (AP & Staff) — Bode Miller is accusing the international ski federation of “ruining” the sport with new equipment regulations that will take effect next year. The 34-year-old skier calls the FIS rule changes regarding minimum size and radius of skis “a complete joke” and “going backwards every time they do a regulation.” Miller says that longer skis with a wider radius will not make ski racing any safer but instead will wipe out all technical developments that have made the sport more appealing to racers and fans in recent years. The new equipment rules have been widely criticized by athletes and manufacturers since the governing body announced them in July.
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(AP & staff) -Tennis agent Ken Meyerson, who represented Andy Roddick, Chris Evert and Justine Henin, has died at 47. He passed away Wednesday night. The cause of death was not immediately known and messages left by The Associated Press with his agency, Lagardère Unlimited, were not immediately returned. Meyerson was president of Lagardère’s tennis division. Before that, he worked at the BEST agency. As news of his death spread, Meyerson was being honored by a number of agents and players, including Mardy Fish and John Isner. Roddick tweeted, “I love you and miss you. I will be forever grateful for your faith & loyalty. You will forever be my brother. As always ‘thanks Meyerson.’”
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NEW YORK (AP & staff) — The marathon NBA bargaining sessions have taken their toll on Commissioner David Stern. Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver says Stern was sent home Thursday by his doctor with the flu and will not be available for afternoon negotiations with players. Trying to end the lockout, owners and players met with federal mediator George Cohen for 16 hours Tuesday, ending around 2 a.m Wednesday, then returned eight hours later and spent another full day in discussions. Silver said the 69-year-old Stern would still be working from home and would be an “active participant.” Owners met Wednesday and Thursday and discussed their plans for expanded revenue sharing, which they plan to implement after they have completed the collective bargaining agreement.
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LONDON (AP & staff) — Here’s the scenario: Take a cramped, crowded, not-very-clean and none-too-modern subway system, add several hundred thousand tourists with the same destination in mind. Do what you can. Hope for the best. Olympic planners are taking steps to keep London’s creaking system from overloading during the 2012 Games. In some ways, this may prove harder than building the Olympic Park — with many who use the system daily expecting subterranean gridlock. “It’s hard enough today — and it’s just a normal day,” said Jenny Claydon, 67, from Essex, who paused last week at the cavernous Stratford station, the main transport link near the new park. “I think it’s going to be terrible.” Less than 10 months to go before the Olympics, focus is shifting from building to delivering the games. With structures nearing completion, people are trying to see how they can eke out more capacity from the rails, roads and skies moving hundreds of thousands of spectators as well as athletes, officials and journalists. The success or failure of the games will hang in part on whether the system can keep up with the increase in demand. If the plans fail, London will be remembered as the place where no one could get to the park, get to work or get home. No one wants another Atlanta. The 1996 Games provided a cautionary tale of Olympic travel woes — with bus drivers getting lost, athletes arriving moments before their events and overloaded trains that couldn’t get residents home. It prompted the International Olympic Committee to lay out demands to make sure it didn’t happen again. “Atlanta was an unmitigated transport disaster,” rail expert Christian Wolmar said. “All the other Olympics — Beijing and Sydney — have learned their lessons.” London set its goals high, aiming to have 100 percent of the spectators arrive by public transport, foot or bike. Day passes for the subway are included in the package for ticket holders. A special train — the “Javelin” — will take spectators directly from central London’s St. Pancras station to Stratford. But there is the challenge of having so many tourists on the system, known here as the Tube, at the same time. The Tube can be confusing. Londoners accustomed to it learn the shortcuts — that hidden stairway that impossibly leads down a dark passage to a platform. But tourists can be utterly perplexed, [...]
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NEW YORK (AP & staff) — Notre Dame is the favorite to win the Big East women’s basketball regular season title, marking the first time since 2005 that Connecticut wasn’t the preseason pick. The Irish, who lost in the NCAA championship game last season to Texas A&M, are led by preseason player of the year Skylar Diggins and received nine first-place votes. Connecticut was second with seven votes. The Huskies are followed by Louisville, Rutgers, Georgetown, DePaul, St. John’s, Syracuse, West Virginia, South Florida, Marquette, Pittsburgh, Villanova, Providence, Cincinnati, and Seton Hall. Huskies freshman Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis has been selected preseason rookie of the year.
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YANG MEI, Taiwan (AP & Staff) — Yani Tseng began her home event with a 4-under 68 to join Ai Miyazato of Japan with a one shot lead after the first round of the Taiwan Championship on Thursday. The 22-year-old Tseng overcame early nerves in front of home fans to finish strongly and match Miyazato after the Japanese player started with four birdies over the front nine. “I saw so many fans on the first hole and I was nervous. I asked my caddie, ‘What should I do?’” Tseng said. “I told myself to relax.” The seventh-ranked Miyato birdied the par-5 18th to rally from a bogey-4 at the 16th as gusting wind forced cautious play and low tee shots. “I grew up in a windy place so I really like to play in this wind,” Miyazato said. “Today it wasn’t too bad with the wind, but still just to make sure I’m trying to hit the fairways, hit the greens, trying to play really simple out there.” Americans Jennifer Song and Morgan Pressel and Anna Nordqvist of Sweden and all trailed following rounds of 69 in the gusty conditions. A further four players were two shots behind at the Sunrise Golf and Country Club where the winner will take home $300,000 from the total purse of $2 million. The LPGA’s “Asia Swing” was initially set to start in Guangzhou, China, but the China Golf Association canceled that event two weeks prior.
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ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan (AP & Staff) — The heat-scorched desert nation of Turkmenistan has opened a winter sports complex in a lavish ceremony overseen by the country’s authoritarian president. Some 10,000 people waving white and green balloons packed the arena to capacity Wednesday evening to watch an opening show of performers singing songs in praise of the president and a display by international figure skaters and circus artists. Turkmenistan, which gained independence amid the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, has never taken part in the Winter Olympics, but plans to send a team to participate in the Sochi 2014 Games in southern Russia. The weather in this largely desert nation varies between warm and blistering for most of the year. Snow is a rare sight. On the other hand, the NHL plays in Phoenix.
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NEW YORK (AP & Staff) — After another long day of negotiations, NBA players and owners left with nothing more than plans for another meeting. That’s not what Commissioner David Stern had in mind, but it’s better than the game cancellations that could have come if talks had fallen through. Both sides seemed to have plenty to say. An eight-hour meeting Wednesday brought the talk total to 24 hours over two days, and federal mediator George Cohen said bargaining would resume Thursday afternoon. “Everyone is extremely focused on the core issues, the difficult issues that confront them,” Cohen said. Talks broke for the night so owners could have separate meetings at another hotel. Stern left negotiations after seven hours to join the owners for a presentation on revenue sharing. The sides have been divided over two main issues — the division of revenues and the structure of the salary cap system. League officials originally said they wouldn’t be available for talks Wednesday or Thursday because of board meetings. Stern wanted to bring a deal to them, at one point saying that if an agreement wasn’t reached by Tuesday, Christmas games could be canceled. Instead, the talks continue. Owners will meet with players again Thursday after their board meeting, the first time during the 111-day lockout they will have bargained for three consecutive days. “The discussions have been direct and constructive, and as far as we are concerned, we are here to continue to help assist the parties to endeavor to reach an agreement,” Cohen said. Cohen said players and owners met in a variety of settings during mediation, sometimes in subcommittees, other times in groups as large as 40 people. Flanked by deputy mediator Scot Beckenbaugh, Cohen made his statement to reporters and did not take questions. Neither side commented, honoring Cohen’s request that the sides keep mum. Without a deal this week, Stern might have to decide when a next round of cancellations would be necessary. The season was supposed to begin Nov. 1, but all games through Nov. 14 — 100 in total — have been scrapped, costing players about $170 million in salaries. Talks resumed Wednesday morning, just eight hours after a 16-hour session. And they continued even after Stern left with Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck, the planning committee chairman, and NBA president of league and basketball operations Joel Litvin. Stern has said owners will have an [...]
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BATON ROUGE, La. (AP & Staff) — LSU has suspended star cornerback Tyrann Mathieu, defensive back Tharold Simon and running back Spencer Ware for this Saturday’s home game against Auburn because they’ve run afoul of the team’s drug policy, according to a person familiar with the decision. The person told The Associated Press about the suspensions on Wednesday on condition of anonymity because they have not been announced. But the person did not specify the drug for which the players tested positive. LSU coach Les Miles declined to confirm any punishment for members of his No. 1 Tigers after Wednesday’s practice. “I understand the interest which surrounds what seems to be news. There is internal discipline and internal news,” Miles said. “I have a process I go through. … It’s a procedure I’m true to. There is no real information about any player that I’ll address at this point.” Mathieu has been one of the stars of the first half of the college football season. He has forced four fumbles, recovering three and returning two for scores. He also has two interceptions and 42 tackles, including 1½ sacks. Mathieu has made so many big plays in nationally televised games that a grass-roots Heisman Trophy campaign has sprouted for the hard-hitting 5-foot-9 defensive back nicknamed “Honey Badger,” after the YouTube sensation about a small but fearless animal by the same name. Ware is the leading rusher for the unbeaten Tigers with 512 yards and six touchdowns. Simon has one interception and 29 tackles. LSU is deep at running back and should be able to cope with Ware’s absence. Michael Ford, who has rushed for 359 yards and six touchdowns, and Alfred Blue, who has 235 yards rushing and four TDs, likely will be LSU’s top two running backs against Auburn. In the defensive backfield, senior Ron Brooks would be the likely candidate to step in at cornerback for Mathieu, while fellow senior Derrick Bryant could play nickel back. When LSU fields six defensive backs, sophomore Craig Loston or redshirt freshman Ronnie Vinson could take the field. The Tigers have a week off after Saturday’s game, and play No. 2 Alabama on Nov. 5 in what could be the biggest game of the regular season. LSU (7-0, 4-0 Southeastern Conference) has already managed to stay unbeaten while dealing with early season suspensions. “This football team understands what distraction is,” Miles said. “I [...]
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WASHINGTON (AP & Staff) — Senators and medical witnesses Wednesday criticized some sports equipment makers for touting products as reducing concussions, saying they were misleading consumers because the claims are not justified by scientific evidence. “Now that athletes, coaches and parents have a better understanding of concussions, some sports equipment makers appear to be a taking advantage,” Sen. Tom Udall, a New Mexico Democrat, said at a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing. “There are a number of so-called, quote, anti-concussion and concussion-reducing devices on the market. … We need to make sure advertisers play by the rules.” He singled out several companies, including Riddell, which claims its Revolution helmet helps reduce concussions, and Brain-Pad, which blares on packaging blown up for the hearing, “Reduces Risk of CONCUSSIONS!” from lower jaw impacts. The packaging says its equipment creates “BRAIN SAFETY SPACE!” Dr. Ann McKee, a professor of neurology and pathology at Boston University, said that there’s no evidence that mouth guards reduce the rate or severity of concussions. “So I would have great objection to this claim,” she said. Dr. Jeffrey Kutcher, an assistant professor of neurology at the University of Michigan and director of Michigan Neurosport, a clinic that diagnoses and treats concussions for athletes, testified that no piece of equipment can significantly prevent concussions. “The potential harm that I see being caused by products that claim to prevent concussion when they do not is far more than simply the financial harm of paying more for something that isn’t likely to work as claimed,” he said. “It is the harm that comes from having a false sense of security, from not understanding how the injury occurs and what can actually be done to prevent it.” Udall has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate what he calls “misleading safety claims and deceptive practices” in the marketing of football helmets. He has also introduced legislation giving the industry nine months to come up with new standards that address concussion risks and the specific needs of young players. The bill would make it a crime to sell any sporting equipment that makes false or misleading claims about safety benefits. In a statement Wednesday night, Riddell said that advances in technology have improved the ability of football helmets to reduce the incidence of concussions, although no helmet available today can claim to prevent concussions. But the company did point to a [...]
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(AP & Staff) — After 20 years in the majors and 900 games on the mound, Arthur Rhodes finally got his first chance to pitch in the World Series. He did his job, too. Brought in to face left-handed slugger Josh Hamilton, Rhodes retired last year’s AL MVP on a lazy fly to center for the final out of the eighth inning, keeping the Cardinals ahead by a run. St. Louis hung on for a 3-2 victory over the Texas Rangers in Game 1. What a wild journey it was for Rhodes. The 41-year-old lefty signed a $4.1 million, one-year contract before the season with the Rangers, of all teams. But they released him on Aug. 8 and he signed with St. Louis three days later. Texas remained responsible for almost all of his salary this year. So the Rangers really paid for that out — in more ways than one. Neat trivia answer on TV: John Franco was the only pitcher to appear in more regular-season games (940) than Rhodes before reaching the World Series. Franco finally made it in 2000 with the New York Mets. ___ The chess match has begun, and the Cardinals grabbed a lead with the first big move. With the score tied at 2 in the bottom of the sixth inning, David Freese doubled and went to third on a wild pitch by C.J. Wilson. Yadier Molina whiffed for the second out, and Wilson pitched around No. 8 batter Nick Punto, who walked. That forced the hand of St. Louis manager Tony La Russa. He lifted ace Chris Carpenter for pinch-hitter Allen Craig and Texas went to the bullpen, bringing in right-hander Alexi Ogando, who has been outstanding during the postseason. La Russa’s move paid off. Craig hit a sinking liner toward the right field line that dropped in front of a sliding Nelson Cruz for an RBI single. Fortunately for the Rangers, the ball hit Cruz’s foot and stayed in front of him, preventing another run from scoring. St. Louis nearly broke it open, but Cruz ran down Rafael Furcal’s drive to deep right-center, ending the inning. The Cardinals led 3-2 in the seventh when the Rangers put two on. With David Murphy coming up, La Russa pulled Fernando Salas in favor of lefty Marc Rzepczynski. So the Rangers sent up pinch-hitter Craig Gentry, who struck out looking against Rzepczynski. Pinch-hitter Esteban German [...]
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