Fanfare 10/22

Baseball

Baseball Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett declared he is innocent of charges he dragged a woman into a restaurant bathroom and groped her.

"Let the process play its course. I know I'm innocent of these charges," Puckett said Monday as he left the county jail.

Puckett spent less than a half hour at the jail for a booking procedure and appearance before a judge. Puckett remains free on his own recognizance.

"Hopefully no one rushes to judgment," said Todd Jones, an attorney for Puckett.

Prosecutors charged the 41-year-old former Minnesota Twins' star with with a felony count of false imprisonment and a gross misdemeanor count of criminal sexual conduct.

Basketball

The Orlando Miracle will move to a different city next season as part of the WNBA's restructuring plan.

San Antonio has applied for a WNBA franchise in 2003 and is nearing its goal of 6,000 season ticket deposits. The WBNA is also talking with several people in other cities who are interested in acquiring a team, the league said in a release.

"We believe strongly in the WNBA product and think it will continue to succeed in other markets," said John Weisbrod, Chief Operating Officer of RDV Sports, which owns the Orlando Magic.

The company said it would concentrate on its NBA franchise.

"Unfortunately, we were not able to make it work financially in Orlando."

The WNBA is owned collectively by the 29 NBA owners, and all of its teams have been in cities where an NBA franchise is located.

Latrell Sprewell was suspended by the New York Knicks on Monday for not following the team's instructions for rehabilitating his broken right hand.

The disciplinary move came on the same day that Sprewell's agent announced a $40 million lawsuit against the New York Post for its account of how he was injured.

Knicks president Scott Layden announced the suspension, which will cost Sprewell $140,000 in lost salary.

Sprewell's lawsuit, filed in New York State Supreme Court, seeks an additional $250,000 from the Post for the amount Sprewell was fined by the team for not reporting his injury promptly.

Named in the suit was Post staff writer Marc Berman, who quoted two anonymous sources in an Oct. 4 story that said Sprewell was injured when he hit a wall while throwing a punch at a man whose girlfriend vomited aboard Sprewell's yacht.

Colleges

UTEP basketball coach Jason Rabedeaux resigned Monday, saying he has lost the motivation to coach.

Rabedeaux succeeded Hall of Fame coach Don Haskins in 1999 and led the Miners to a 46-46 record in three seasons.

UTEP went 23-9 in 2000-01, their best record in nine years, but slipped to 10-22 last season.

The decision comes just more than a month before the start of the season, but Rabedeaux said it was in the best interest of UTEP, himself and his family. He declined to elaborate on specific reasons.

Texas Tech quarterback Kliff Kingsbury, who passed for a Big 12-record 500 yards and five touchdowns this weekend, was named the conference's offensive player of the week Monday.

Oklahoma safety Brandon Everage and Oklahoma State defensive tackle Kevin Williams were co-defensive players of the week, and Texas kicker Dusty Mangum was special teams player of the week.

Kingsbury completed 49 of 70 passes in Texas Tech's 52-38 win over Missouri on Saturday. Kingsbury passed the 10,000-yard mark in career passing yardage (10,328) and total offense (10,253) and established a NCAA Division I-A record for career completions (1,038).

Everage had two interceptions, broke up four passes, had one sack and a quarterback hurry in No. 2 Oklahoma's 49-3 win over Iowa State. He keyed a defensive effort that held the Cyclones to just 60 yards of offense.

Williams had nine solo tackles and an assist, two tackles for losses of 13 yards and a sack for an eight-yard loss as Oklahoma State defeated Nebraska 24-21 -- the Cowboys' first win over the Cornhuskers since 1961.

Mangum kicked a game-winning 27-yard field goal with 1:32 left in No. 7 Texas' 17-14 victory at No. 20 Kansas State.

Skating

Three-time Olympic pairs figure skater Kyoko Ina is facing a possible lifetime suspension from the sport and a $1 million fine for refusing to take a drug test. Ina says she merely asked to have the urine test delayed a few hours.

The American Arbitration Association rejected Ina's appeal of the ruling, which could lead to the International Skating Union banning her from its events. The suspension could last anywhere from four years to life.

Ina and partner John Zimmerman already have announced that they won't compete in ISU events this season and will tour with Stars on Ice instead.

-- From wire reports