FanFare 10/5/02

Briefly

Basketball

76ers guard Allen Iverson hurt his finger during practice and was taken to the hospital for tests to determine the severity of the injury. Coach Larry Brown said Iverson jammed the middle finger on his right hand.

Reggie Miller's sprained right ankle has not fully healed, and he might sit out the first half of the Pacers' preseason schedule. Miller injured his ankle last month in a World Championships exhibition game. The Pacers open the exhibition season Wednesday against New Orleans.

Grant Hill's left ankle is completely healed and the Magic can't wait to see how much havoc he can cause, teamed with Tracy McGrady, in the east.

Colleges

University of Cincinnati basketball coach Bob Huggins was upgraded to fair condition. Huggins, 49, remains at Christ Hospital. He underwent tests to determine how much damage his heart suffered from a Sept. 28 heart attack.

Football

Oakland kicker Sebastian Janikowski has been cited for suspicion of driving under the influence, adding another chapter in his history of run-ins with the law. Janikowski was stopped for speeding in Oakland early Wednesday, police said. The officer smelled alcohol on Janikowski, and he failed a sobriety test.

Motorsports

The remnants of Tropical Storm Lili made an appearance at Talledega Superspeedway long enough to cancel qualifying for Sunday's EA sports 500. Once the track had dried, there wasn't enough daylight to qualify. The 43-car starting lineup will be set by current Winston Cup owner points, giving rookie Jimmie Johnson the pole.

Sailing

Seattle's OneWorld Challenge beat Alinghi by 10 seconds on the second day of the America's Cup and gave the Swiss syndicate's braintrust of Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth their first loss in Cup races since April 12, 1995. Australian Peter Gilmour, sailing in his fifth America's Cup, skippered the OneWorld yacht. Aussie compatriot James Spithill, 23, was at the helm.

Tennis

Top-ranked Lleyton Hewitt lost to Paradorn Srichaphan 6-4, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the Japan Open. Hewitt, the tournament's defending champion, served nine aces but made a number of errors and was never in the match. Paradorn, ranked No. 31 in the world, is the lone seeded player left in the draw. The top women's seed also lost when Silvija Talaja upset top-seeded Ai Sugiyama 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3.

People

He teases, but it's only because he loves

Among David Letterman's "Top Ten New York Mets Promises For Next Season:"

"We'll win more games than the New York Jets -- and that's a promise."

"2-for-1 tickets for shirtless father and son lunatics."

"Good news -- we just signed Ty Cobb."

"Every 100th ticketholder gets to kick Mr. Mets in the nuts."

Verbatim

Jerry Greene of the Orlando Sentinel: "How come the player who commits a foul in college basketball is identified by the announcer and on the scoreboard, but the guy who gets flagged for holding in college football is immediately sent to the witness-relocation program?"

Correction

The new boys basketball coach at Perryville High School was misidentified in Thursday's edition. Paul Taylor will be the Pirates' new coach. The Southeast Missourian regrets the error.

-- From staff, wire reports