Sports - Page 31

Alexander Ovechkin didn't do much offensively, a commonplace event lately. Instead, it was the runner-up Russian who created a goal out of nothing, keeping the Pittsburgh Penguins' most successful stretch in 14 years going. Evgeni Malkin scored a bad-angle goal to give Pittsburgh the lead in another tightly played game against Washington and the streaking Penguins won their sixth in a row, beating... More Info...  

Brett Favre will have ankle surgery in the next few weeks, and Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy says the three-time MVP will have plenty of time to recover for minicamps. The 37-year-old quarterback was supposed to have surgery on his left ankle the day after the season, but skipped it and had yet to reschedule. More Info...  

Amelie Mauresmo won enough diamonds to last a lifetime. Kim Clijsters will have to do with golden memories. Mauresmo won a $1.3 million diamond-studded racket trophy Sunday, beating Kim Clijsters 6-4, 7-6 (4) in the final of the Diamond Games tournament. The victory spoiled Clijsters' farewell home match before a frenetic crowd of 14,500 at the Sports Palace. More Info...  

Latest news and information from the world of sports. Adrian Peterson and Marshawn Lynch are a step ahead of this year's class of top running backs. More Info...  

Even a city that spares no expense for a good time has never seen anything like this. The NBA All-Star game on Sunday may be meaningless, and after three nights of parties might be sloppy. But try telling that to people paying top dollar for a chance to see it. "This is the biggest event that ever hit Las Vegas," said Gavin Maloof, whose family owns the Sacramento Kings and the Palms, where the... More Info...  

David Lee still sports the remnants of a black eye, sustained in a recent game while trying to prevent a dunk. He found things much easier Friday night. The NBA's leading shooter had a field day in a game with no defense, going 14-for-14 from the field and scoring 30 points to lead the sophomores to a 155-114 victory over the rookies in the rookie challenge. More Info...  

Phil Jackson, Chris Mullin and Dick Vitale led the list of 15 finalists for induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame announced during the NBA's All-Star weekend Friday. They were joined by former players Adrian Dantley and Richie Guerin; coaches Roy Williams, Eddie Sutton and Bob Hurley Sr.; owner Bill Davidson; and the 1966 Texas Western NCAA championship team. More Info...  

Jeff Gordon came to Daytona with a solid shot at tying Dale Earnhardt's mark of 76 career victories. More Info...  

Before he got a chance to finish another game, Keith Foulke closed his career. Foulke, whose toss to first base for the final out ended an 86-year World Series title drought for the Boston Red Sox, retired Friday just as he was about to begin a two-man competition with Joe Borowski to be Cleveland's closer. More Info...  

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady testified Friday that he watched his mentor Charlie Weis move in and out of consciousness after the Notre Dame coach's gastric bypass surgery. Brady testified during Weis' medical malpractice lawsuit against two Massachusetts General surgeons. "At that moment I wasn't sure what was happening, if that was normal or not normal," Brady said in Suffolk... More Info...  

Jarkko Ruutu scored two goals Friday night to lead the surging Pittsburgh Penguins to a 5-4 victory over the New Jersey Devils. Rob Scuderi, Jordan Staal and Sidney Crosby also scored for Pittsburgh, which pulled within five points of the Atlantic Division-leading Devils with a game in hand. The Penguins have won five in a row. More Info...  

Another guy with a Super Bowl ring dropped by San Diego Chargers headquarters looking for a head coaching job, and this one knows the drill pretty well. Ron Rivera, Chicago's third-year defensive coordinator who played linebacker for the Bears' 1985 Super Bowl champion team, was the fourth candidate to interview for the job vacated by Marty Schottenheimer's sudden firing. More Info...  

In an attempt to keep together their Super Bowl defense, the Chicago Bears designated linebacker Lance Briggs their franchise player Friday. Briggs would have become an unrestricted free agent March 2 if he didn't reach a contract agreement with the Bears before then. The franchise tag means Chicago can keep Briggs by matching any offer sheet he might sign with another team. More Info...  

Scottie Pippen is tired of retirement. He wants to return to the NBA for a chance to win his seventh championship ring. With most of the league's stars and decision-makers gathering at the All-Star weekend festivities in Las Vegas, the 41-year-old Pippen announced he's hoping for a late-season return to a contending team -- preferably in a warm-weather city -- nearly 2 1/2 years after he left the... More Info...  

Since their expansion start in 1998, the Nashville Predators have been hearing that they needed to spend money on some quality talent to win. They took their biggest gamble yet Thursday, swapping two young players and two top draft picks to Philadelphia for star center Peter Forsberg, a former NHL MVP. More Info...  

Padraig Harrington was on his way to Tiger Woods' year-end tournament in 2005 when he stopped by Riviera Country Club for a social game of golf. He liked it so much, he made a mental note to return one year for the Nissan Open. His love for the classic course off Sunset Boulevard only got stronger Thursday. More Info...  

Jeff Gordon was relaxed, smiling and enjoying a postrace news conference when someone dropped a bomb: More Info...  

After a couple of mediocre shooting games, LeBron James was at his All-Star best Thursday night. The key was being aggressive. James scored 38 points, six teammates reached double figures, and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat Los Angeles 114-108 to extend the Lakers' losing streak to five games, matching the longest of coach Phil Jackson's career. More Info...  

Joe Sakic's 600th goal came with little drama. That's OK, by Sakic. As long as it came with a victory. Sakic scored twice, his second -- and No. 600 in his career -- into an empty net, and added three assists to lead the Colorado Avalanche to a 7-5 win over the Calgary Flames on Thursday night. Sakic became the 17th player in NHL history to score 600 goals. More Info...  

When Oregon erased California's eight-point halftime lead in the opening minutes of the second half Thursday night and built a lead of its own, the game looked like a repeat of the first meeting between the teams. Then Ryan Anderson delivered the big plays Cal has lacked in recent weeks. Anderson's three-point play with 1:01 remaining helped the Golden Bears snap a six-game losing with a 63-61... More Info...