Sports News

NEW YORK - George Mitchell insisted naming names was the right decision and said he was prepared for Roger Clemens and others to deny they used performance-enhancing drugs.

MIAMI (Reuters) - The Texas Rangers have signed Japanese pitcher Kazuo Fukumori on two-year, $3 million contract, the Major League Baseball team said on Friday.

The Arizona Diamondbacks acquired All-Star pitcher Dan Haren from Oakland and traded major league saves leader Jose Valverde to Houston in separate swaps involving 12 players Friday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The report exposing widespread use of steroids in Major League Baseball raised more questions about the depth of the problem in America's pastime and aroused concerns on Friday about the credibility of its evidence.

MIAMI (Reuters) - A report chronicling widespread steroid use in U.S. Major League Baseball has saddened longtime fans but left them hopeful firm action will be taken now that the scale of the problem is out in the open.

RICHMOND, Va. - If federal prosecutors had their way, the man who gave them most of the gruesome details about Michael Vick's dogfighting enterprise wouldn't go to prison for killing dogs and helping create "Bad Newz Kennels."

HOUSTON - Mario Williams helped Gary Kubiak look more like the mentor than the protege against the Denver Broncos. Last year's No. 1 pick had a career-high 3 1/2 sacks Thursday night to lead the Houston Texans to a 31-13 victory over the Broncos in Kubiak's first regular-season matchup with his former boss, Mike Shanahan.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The NFL players' union Friday appealed the seasonlong suspension of Titans cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones, calling the punishment excessive.

HOUSTON - Mario Williams helped Gary Kubiak look more like the mentor than the protege against the Denver Broncos.

PITTSBURGH - Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger missed practice again Thursday because of a sore right shoulder, with Charlie Batch running the starting offense in his place.

NEW YORK - A 23-year-old model has filed a lawsuit accusing New Jersey Nets star Jason Kidd of groping and threatening her at a Manhattan nightclub two months ago.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Chicago Bulls forward Tyrus Thomas has been suspended for one game for fighting during the game against the Indiana Pacers, the NBA said on Friday.

What's going on: A five-game winning streak by the Blazers? A four-game winning streak by the Sixers? The heretofore darling Magic lose three in a row, all against mediocre teams in the East? The Jazz lose five in row? The Mavericks are held to 76 points by the Raptors? The Heat wins at Phoenix, then goes home and loses to the Wizards?

MIAMI - DeShawn Stevenson scored a season-high 26 points and the Washington Wizards added to Miami's misery at home, beating the Heat 104-91 on Thursday night.

LOS ANGELES - Kobe Bryant scored 30 points and the Los Angeles Lakers broke open a tight game in the late going to beat the short-handed San Antonio Spurs 102-97 on Thursday night for their fourth straight victory.

NEWCASTLE, England (AFP) - Michael Owen will not be allowed to leave Newcastle in January, manager Sam Allardyce insisted on Friday amid continued speculaton about a potential bid from Manchester City.

LONDON (AFP) - Fabio Capello's appointment as the new England manager was finalised on Friday with the Italian taking charge on a four and a half year contract reportedly worth 6.5 million pounds a year.

LONDON (AFP) - Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has been banned from the touchline for two matches and fined 5,000 pounds for verbally abusing a referee.

MANCHESTER (AFP) - Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that he made several attempts to sign Fernando Torres, the Spanish striker who will spearhead Liverpool's attack against Manchester United at Anfield on Sunday.

PARIS (AFP) - New England coach Fabio Capello has an iron philosophy for success - never be a player's friend.

PITTSBURGH - Dany Heatley scored two goals for the second night in a row and Jason Spezza also scored twice as the Ottawa Senators wrapped up a productive road trip, winning their fourth in a row by beating the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1 Thursday night.

Tomas Vokoun kept up his unbeatable play against the St. Louis Blues, and the Dallas Stars extended their domination of the Los Angeles Kings.

DALLAS - Mike Ribeiro had two goals and two assists and the Dallas Stars maintained their dominance over the Los Angeles Kings with a 4-1 victory Thursday night.

PHILADELPHIA - Mark Streit scored two goals and rookie goalie Carey Price made 29 saves in the Montreal Canadiens' 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night.

DETROIT - Ales Hemsky scored the only goal of the shootout to lift the Edmonton Oilers to a 4-3 win over Detroit on Thursday night, snapping the Red Wings' seven-game winning streak.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Broadway Joe was back on campus, finally getting a diploma to go with his football accolades.

NEW YORK - Danny Woodhead ran for more yards than any player in the history of college football and was selected to The Associated Press Little All-America teams each season he played at Chadron State.

HOUSTON - Oklahoma assistant coach Kevin Sumlin will be hired by as Houston's football coach, a newspaper reported Thursday.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Georgia Southern quarterback Jayson Foster won the Walter Payton Award on Thursday night as the top offensive player in the Football Championship Subdivision.

CINCINNATI - The ball was loose on the floor, and all 10 players went after it. The referees eventually untangled the pile of bodies and assessed two technical fouls for jawing and shoving. Vintage crosstown rivalry.

MELBOURNE (AFP) - The strongest field in the Australian Open's 103-year history was revealed Wednesday, with every one of the world's top 100 men taking part and 99 of the top 100 women competing in January's tournament.

PORTLAND, Oregon (AFP) - The United States have reasserted their Davis Cup dominance, earning their 32nd title with a 4-1 triumph over Russia in the 2007 World Group final.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Former World No. 4 Jelena Dokic says she is aiming to return to the top 50 next year and believes her climb back can begin with Australian Open qualification, a newspaper reported Sunday.

PORTLAND, Oregon (AFP) - The United States clinched their first Davis Cup title in 12 years on Saturday as a doubles win for Bob and Mike Bryan gave them an unbeatable 3-0 lead over Russia in the best-of-five match final.

PORTLAND, Oregon (AFP) - The Davis Cup nations tennis tournament is a venerable tradition, begun in 1900 as a means of fostering international understanding through sport.

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Tiger Woods is a gracious tournament host, at least until the tournament gets started.

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Tiger Woods said Wednesday that drug testing on the PGA Tour will start July 8, and he is about halfway through the tour's anti-doping manual sent to players earlier this month.

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - No one came close to matching Tiger Woods on the PGA Tour, which is becoming as predictable as Woods being voted the PGA Tour player of the year.

PERTH, Australia - South Koreans Jee Young Lee, Seon Hwa Lee and In-Kyung Kim won early matches Sunday to give Asia an insurmountable lead en route to its second straight Lexus Cup title, a 15-9 victory over the International team.

DUBLIN, Ireland - The wife of golfer Tiger Woods won $183,250 and an apology Friday from an Irish magazine that published an abusive article and a faked nude photo of her.

LAS VEGAS - Floyd Mayweather Jr. didn't need to dance to beat Ricky Hatton. His fists proved a lot more potent than his feet.

LAS VEGAS - Round-by-round action in Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s WBC welterweight title fight with England's Ricky Hatton:

NEW YORK - The fractured state of the heavyweight division has long been the scapegoat for the declining popularity of boxing.

LEDYARD, Conn. - Antonio Tarver stopped Danny Santiago in the fourth round Saturday night to retain his IBO light heavyweight title.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Ivan Calderon of Puerto Rico successfully defended his WBO junior flyweight title, unanimously outpointing Mexico's Juan Esquer on Saturday night.

MADRID, Spain - Two-time Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso is heading back to Renault. The 26-year-old Spaniard announced his return to the French team Monday after a turbulent season at McLaren.

MONTE CARLO, Monaco - Renault was not penalized Thursday, despite being found guilty of having confidential information about Formula One rival McLaren.

NEW YORK - The only time the smile has left Jimmie Johnson's face this week is when somebody mentioned his upcoming appearance on stage Friday night at NASCAR's annual awards ceremony.

PAARL, South Africa (Reuters) - Former tennis champion Chris Evert and ex-golf number one Greg Norman announced their engagement on Friday, during the South African Open golf tournament in the South-Western Cape.

SAN FRANCISCO - Barry Bonds and his supporters often pointed to the fact that the home run king never flunked a drug test administered by Major League Baseball. The Mitchell Report suggests why: it appears Bonds received advanced warning of two tests in 2003.

NEW YORK - George Mitchell insisted naming names was the right decision and said he was prepared for Roger Clemens and others to deny they used performance-enhancing drugs.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Broadway Joe was back on campus, finally getting a diploma to go with his football accolades.

NEW YORK - A 23-year-old model has filed a lawsuit accusing New Jersey Nets star Jason Kidd of groping and threatening her at a Manhattan nightclub two months ago.

LAUSANNE, Switzerland - The IOC formally stripped Marion Jones of her five Olympic medals Wednesday, wiping her name from the record books following her admission that she was a drug cheat.

BEIJING - Chinese traditional medicines do not contain banned substances, a Beijing Olympics medical official said Tuesday. However, as a precaution they will not be used to treat d athletes during the games.

GENEVA - China continues to evict 13,000 people each month in preparation for the Beijing Olympics, despite worldwide attention and increased scrutiny, a housing rights group said Wednesday.

CHICAGO - The Rev. Al Sharpton on Monday issued a series of recommendations for reforming the police department as he reiterated his threat to lobby against the city's Olympic bid if the mayor doesn't respond soon.

HAMBURG, Germany (AFP) - The German Olympic Committee (DOSB) unanimously agreed to support Munich's bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics, it was announced here on Saturday.