FanFare 5/22/03

Briefly

Baseball

White Sox right-hander Bartolo Colon was suspended for five games Wednesday for hitting Baltimore's Jerry Hairston with a pitch earlier this month. Chicago manager Jerry Manuel was suspended one game by Bob Watson, baseball's vice president in charge of discipline.

Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa is eligible to come off the disabled list Sunday, but if you listen to manager Dusty Baker, his return to the lineup likely will not occur anytime soon. "Sunday? Shoot," Baker told The Chicago Sun-Times on Tuesday after the Cubs' game against Pittsburgh was postponed by rain. "This Sunday? Unless he's going to play barefoot. To my knowledge, he hasn't even been able to put his shoe on yet." Sosa has been on the DL since having his right big toenail removed on May 10. Baker said he does not know when Sosa will be able to return.

Astros pitcher Brian Moehler has a partially torn ligament in his right elbow, an MRI exam revealed. Moehler started the season in Houston's rotation, but had been on the disabled list since April 17. He now has the option of an extended rehabilitation treatment or "Tommy John" surgery.

Reds shortstop Barry Larkin strained his other calf, forcing him from a game against the Braves. Larkin, 39, was on the disabled list from April 14 to May 5 with a strained left calf, and had played sparingly after aggravating the injury after a few games.

The Royals, already forced to skip a start for one pitcher, placed right-hander Miguel Asencio on the 15-day disabled list because of swelling in his throwing elbow. The move is retroactive to last Thursday, when Asencio (2-1, 5.21 ERA) started but didn't get a decision at Minnesota.

Basketball

Jim O'Brien agreed to a two-year contract extension with the Celtics after coaching them to two straight playoff berths following a six-year drought. Danny Ainge, Boston's new executive director of basketball operations, announced the deal. O'Brien's contract, which had been set to expire at the end of next season, will be extended through the 2005-06 season.

LeBron James has made his first million. James signed a multiyear contract with Upper Deck trading cards, the first of many endorsement deals the 18-year-old high school basketball star and projected No. 1 pick in next month's NBA draft will soon get.

Colleges

Former Georgia assistant basketball coach Jim Harrick Jr. was solely responsible for the academic fraud that left two players ineligible, the school said in a letter to the NCAA. Starters Chris Daniels and Rashad Wright were declared academically ineligible in March after an investigation showed they were given preferential treatment in a class taught by Harrick. In the letter dated April 14, university director of compliance Amy Chisholm requested the "immediate reinstatement" of Daniels and Wright because Harrick's actions "led to the ineligibility of these two student-athletes, through no fault of their own."

Football

The idea of expanding the NFL playoffs fizzled Wednesday after Kansas City withdrew the proposal because it lacked enough support. The league's competition committee unanimously rejected the plan to add two more wild-card teams this year, and commissioner Paul Tagliabue also opposed it.

Golf

In the sports books along the Las Vegas Strip they list Annika Sorenstam's chances of winning the Colonial at 500-1. They're being generous. Closer to reality, perhaps, are the odds that Sorenstam will make the 36-hole cut. So far, she's about a 4-1 underdog to play on the weekend.

Hockey

The Senators were short on cash in the regular season. Now they're rich with momentum in the Eastern Conference finals. Defenseman Chris Phillips scored 15:51 into overtime to lift the Senators to a 2-1 victory and force a deciding Game 7 on Friday back in Ottawa. It was the second straight game the Senators fought off elimination.

Obituaries

Frank "Pop" Ivy, the only coach to direct teams in the NFL, AFL and Canadian Football League, has died. He was 87. The Arizona Cardinals, his NFL team, said Wednesday that Ivy had been in poor health for a long period before he passed away Saturday in Norman, Okla. He will be eulogized May 28 in a funeral service at St. John's Episcopal Church in Norman.

Tennis

Top-seeded Andy Roddick beat German qualifier Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the quarterfinals of the Raiffeisen Grand Prix.

Top-seeded Jelena Dokic of Yugoslavia lost to qualifier Karolina Sprem of Croatia 5-7, 6-1, 3-6 in the second round of the $170,000 Strasbourg Open.

Germany's Tommy Haas pulled out of the French Open after not having played a match this season because of a shoulder injury.

On the air

Boxing

Junior middleweights, Kuvanych Toygonbayev (21-0) vs. Andrey Tsurkan (19-1-0); heavyweights, Ruslan Chagaev (5-0-1) vs. Zakeem Graham (9-0-1), 10 p.m., SHO

College baseball

Southeast vs. Austin Peay, 10:45 a.m., KGIR-1220

College Softball World Series

Arizona vs. Alabama, 10 a.m., ESPN2

Oklahoma vs. Washington, 1 p.m., ESPN

Texas vs. Louisiana-Lafayette, 6:30 p.m., ESPN2

UCLA vs. California, 9 p.m., ESPN2

Golf

Volvo PGA Championship, 9 a.m., TGC

LPGA Corning Classic, 1 p.m., TGC

The Colonial, 3 p.m., USA

High school baseball

Central vs. Fox, 2:45 p.m., KGIR-1220

MLB

Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m., WGN

St. Louis at Houston, 7:05 p.m., Fox-Midwest, KZIM-960, KBXB-97.9

Motorsports

Pit Stop Competition, 2:30 p.m., ESPN2

Qualifying for Coca-Cola 600, 6 p.m., SPEED

ARCA ADG 100, 8 p.m., SPEED

NBA playoffs

Draft Lottery, 7 p.m., WSIL

Detroit at New Jersey, 7:30 p.m., WSIL

Area events

College baseball

Southeast vs. Austin Peay, OVC Tournament, Paducah, Ky., 11 a.m.

High school baseball

Class 1, District 2 Tournament, Oran: (championship) Oran vs. Bell City, 4:30 p.m.

Class 1, District 3 Tournament, Leopold: (semifinals) Zalma vs. Bismarck, noon; Leopold vs. Caledonia Valley, 2 p.m.; championship, 4:30 p.m.

Class 2, District 2 Tournament, Valle: (championship) 4:30 p.m.

Class 3, District 1 Tournament, Dexter: (semifinals) 4 p.m., 6 p.m.

Class 4, District 1 Tournament, Fox: (championship) Central vs. Fox, 3 p.m.