Sports News

GRANBY, Colo. - The death of the mother of New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees has been ruled a suicide.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Giants middle linebacker Antonio Pierce will be sidelined indefinitely with a bulging disc in his neck, the team said on Friday.

GREEN BAY, Wis. - Green Bay Packers tight end Spencer Havner has been fined $5,000 for a late hit out of bounds during last week's 17-7 victory over the Dallas Cowboys.

LOS ANGELES - Clippers longtime play-by-play announcer Ralph Lawler and color analyst Michael Smith were suspended one game by the Fox Sports Prime Ticket cable network for their comments about Memphis center Hamed Haddadi.

LOS ANGELES - Reserve forward Rasual Butler scored 27 points, Al Thornton added 18 and the Los Angeles Clippers withstood an early scoring spree from Carmelo Anthony to beat the Denver Nuggets 106-99 on Friday night.

OAKLAND, Calif. - Monta Ellis scored a season-high 34 points and had eight assists, Anthony Morrow added 23 points, and the Golden State Warriors beat the Portland Trail Blazers 108-94 on Friday night to snap a three-game losing streak.

SUNDERLAND (AFP) - Arsene Wenger has shrugged off claims that the loss of Robin van Persie will fundamentally undermine Arsenal chances of closing the gap on Premier League leaders Chelsea.

LONDON (AFP) - Liverpool's ability to resurrect a campaign that is in danger of collapsing around them goes under the microscope when Manchester City visit Anfield on Saturday.

BERLIN (AFP) - European football was reeling on Saturday from what one UEFA official called the continent's worst ever match-fixing scandal, with 200 games under suspicion of having been rigged in nine countries.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Dany Heatley scored three times, Joe Thornton recorded his 600th NHL assist, and the San Jose Sharks beat the Philadelphia Flyers 6-3 on Friday night.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Christian Ehrhoff's second goal got Vancouver even in the third period, and Henrik Sedin then netted the go-ahead tally as the Canucks rallied to beat the Colorado Avalanche 5-2 on Friday night.

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Owen Nolan's goal with 67 seconds remaining, his second of the game, sent the struggling Minnesota Wild to a 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders on Friday night.

NEW YORK - Jim Boeheim has always made a point of telling the media not to get too caught up in runs because basketball, especially on the college level, is a game of runs.

LOGAN, Utah - Kellen Moore didn't need to throw his usual three touchdown passes.

SEATTLE - Quincy Pondexter set a career high for the second consecutive game with 30 points, including 13 in a row to begin the second half, and had a career-best 15 rebounds in No. 14 Washington's 80-70 victory over San Jose State on Friday night.

LONDON (AFP) - Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will stage the last chapter of their battle to finish the year as world number one when the ATP Tour Finals get under way in London on Sunday.

LONDON (AFP) - Roger Federer admits the prospect of finishing the year as world number one ahead of Rafael Nadal will fuel his bid to win the ATP World Tour Finals in London.

LONDON (AFP) - Wimbledon champion Roger Federer insists his friend Thierry Henry shouldn't be blamed for the controversial goal that sent France to the World Cup at the Republic of Ireland's expense.

RICHMOND, Texas - Sophie Gustafson moved within two shots of leader Lorena Ochoa at the LPGA Tour Championship on Friday before second-round play was suspended because of bad weather.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Lee Westwood shot a 3-under 69 Friday to take a two-stroke lead after the second round of the Dubai World Championship, strengthening his chance of winning the European money title.

RICHMOND, Texas - Michelle Wie withdrew from the LPGA Tour Championship on Thursday after hobbling through her first round on a sprained left ankle.

HOMESTEAD, Fla. - Kevin and Delana Harvick were an extremely happy couple Friday night.

HOMESTEAD, Fla. - Jimmie Johnson's run for his fourth straight Cup title starts from the pole.

CATAWBA, N.C. - Jeremy Mayfield sat in the back of his large barn Friday morning about 800 miles from where NASCAR's season-ending weekend was kicking off. Several hundred people surrounded him, listening intently as a fast-speaking auctioneer sold dozens of items.

KITCHENER, Ontario - Listening to her coach paid off for Joannie Rochette.

VAIL, Colo. - U.S. skier Resi Stiegler is out for the season after breaking two bones in her left leg in a crash during giant slalom training.

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. - The home-ice advantage for the U.S. skeleton team vanished for the second straight week in World Cup competition and Canada and Germany took advantage in the snowless Adirondack Mountains.

It's painfully clear to everyone but the management of the New York Knicks that there's only one question to which Allen Iverson remains "The Answer."

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. - Firing coach Dick Jauron was merely the start of a major overhaul Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson is prepared to conduct this offseason in order to make his team a contender again.

SAN FRANCISCO - Tim Lincecum has been so dominant in his first two full major league seasons that even his top bosses don't know how he can get much better.