Sports - Page 11

Kansas State moved quickly to replace Bob Huggins as men's basketball coach, promoting assistant Frank Martin to the top job Friday. The Wildcats also retained Dalonte Hill, another Huggins assistant, as associate head coach. The two were to be introduced at a news conference Monday. "I'm elated," Martin said in a statement. More Info...  

Sammy Sosa was laughing when he got to first base after giving the Texas Rangers their first lead of the season. "Sometimes you don't have swing hard to get a hit," Sosa said. Or even swing at all like Sosa in the 38-year-old slugger's first home game for Texas since his rookie season in 1989. Sosa was actually trying to check his swing and was pulling his bat back when he made contact in his first... More Info...  

Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch believes his team addressed its top priority by signing center Pavel Datsyuk to a 7-year contract extension. "Everyone in the organization wanted him to stay with us," Ilitch said. The move Friday underscored the team's time-honored tradition of doggedly scouting far-flung talent -- in Datsyuk's case, Russia's Siberia region -- and reinvesting in proven performers. More Info...  

The membership of Congressional Country Club voted to host Tiger Woods' new tournament for the next two years. Club president Stuart Long said Friday that more than 90 percent of the members said yes to the AT&T National, scheduled this year for July 5-8. About 1,300 members voted using mail-in ballots over the past three weeks. More Info...  

Ricky Williams, the former NFL star who played in Canada last season after being suspended for a year for substance abuse, has applied for reinstatement. Williams' agent, Leigh Steinberg, said the running back, who will turn 30 in May, had sent a letter asking that he be allowed to return to the Miami Dolphins. More Info...  

Billy Gillispie peeked at the seven national championship banners and didn't flinch. He welcomes the pressure of coaching at college basketball's winningest school. "You want to be at a place that expects to win every single game," said Gillispie, the former Texas A&M coach who was hired Friday to replace Tubby Smith. More Info...  

A month after he was released by the Houston Texans, David Carr agreed Friday to a two-year deal to play for the Carolina Panthers. Carr, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2002 draft, will serve as Jake Delhomme's backup. "It's a case where we were obviously looking for someone to come in back up Jake and the opportunity to get a quarterback the caliber of David in free agency is unique," Panthers... More Info...  

Latest news and information from the world of sports. SAN FRANCISCO – Rookie third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff is being asked to ignite the San Diego offense. More Info...  

The cheers broke the morning calm at Augusta National when Arnold Palmer took a mighty swing at his ceremonial tee shot. For the next 11 hours Thursday, the Masters went mute. Throw together a course that has grown 500 yards with brittle conditions, and there wasn't much to cheer. Justin Rose was as proud of his 15 pars as his three birdies in a round of 69, which left him atop the leaderboard with... More Info...  

Darryl Stingley spent more than half his life in a wheelchair, a symbol of the violence of the NFL, where large bodies collide at high speeds on every play. He was only 26 when he clashed head-on with the Raiders' Jack Tatum during an exhibition at the Oakland Coliseum as they leaped for a pass. That play has haunted the NFL for nearly three decades. More Info...  

A Rice University basketball player was stabbed to death early Thursday outside a bar in College Station, Jonathan Bailey and his twin brother, Janson, were involved in a fight inside the bar, located about 100 miles northwest of Houston, College Station police said. Those involved in the fight were asked to leave the bar but the altercation continued outside. More Info...  

Put the Hibachi in storage. Gilbert Arenas is essentially done for the season. The Washington Wizards point guard had surgery Thursday for a left knee injury that will sideline him for two to three months. Even the most optimistic scenario has him coming back only if his team manages to make the NBA finals without him. More Info...  

Bob Huggins is going home to West Virginia. After one season at Kansas State, Huggins resigned Thursday to become the men's basketball coach at West Virginia. Although the Wildcats appreciate what Huggins accomplished in that single season, they clearly weren't happy with his decision to bolt so soon. More Info...  

After striking out three times, Ryan Shealy sounded amazed. "I didn't know he threw that hard," he said. Dice-K was more than OK in his major league debut. With millions of early rising viewers keeping track on Japanese television, Daisuke Matsuzaka struck out 10 in seven innings in his major league debut Thursday to lead the Boston Red Sox over the Kansas City Royals 4-1. More Info...  

Johnny Damon has a mild strain in his right calf and was not in the New York Yankees' lineup Thursday night against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The speedy center fielder had an MRI exam earlier in the day, but the Yankees were waiting to try and determine whether it would be best to put him on the 15-day disabled list. More Info...  

With A.J. Pierzynski at the plate, anything can happen and often does. The White Sox catcher was hit by a pitch from Roberto Hernandez with the bases loaded in the ninth inning Thursday, sending Chicago to a 4-3 victory over the Cleveland Indians. "I'm lucky I didn't swing at it. I almost did," Pierzynski said. More Info...  

Florida coach Billy Donovan wanted to stay. His star players knew it was time to go. Donovan spurned a chance to return to Kentucky and take over the tradition-rich program, saying Thursday he hopes to build the same in Gainesville. He'll have to do it without Corey Brewer, Taurean Green, Al Horford and Joakim Noah. More Info...  

Andy Roddick isn't looking to avoid the Davis Cup, despite a strained hamstring. U.S. captain Patrick McEnroe made Roddick the No. 1 player Thursday for the quarterfinal match with Spain. Several days of treatment helped Roddick recover. "It feels all right," Roddick said of his left hamstring. "I'm going to play and I'm excited about it." He'll face Fernando Verdasco, chosen as Spain's No. More Info...  

Latest news and information from the world of sports. Winning the NBA draft lottery doesn't guarantee you a franchise player, but this year, it just might with a center like Greg Oden. More Info...  

To his very last day, Eddie Robinson was always battling something. There was the institutional racism that surrounded him, the piddling football budget he and his coaching staff subsisted on at predominantly black Grambling State and, ultimately, the Alzheimer's disease that took his life at age 88. More Info...