FanFare 11/11/02

Briefly

Baseball

Athletics general manager Billy Beane withdrew from consideration for the same job with the Red Sox on Sunday night, ending a whirlwind weekend in which he was widely expected to leave.

Former White Sox general manager Ron Schueler is seeking to land a similar job with the Orioles. Schueler confirmed that he met Friday with Orioles owner Peter Angelos, who's conducting a search to replace vice president for baseball operations Syd Thrift. Schueler has also interviewed for the GM vacancy in Boston.

After putting up another season of historic statistics, Barry Bonds is favored to win the National League Most Valuable Player Award for the fifth time when the Baseball Writers' Association of America announces its voting today.

Basketball

Hakeem Olajuwon relived a moment from his past, hearing the Rockets' fans chanting "MVP, MVP," just as they did when he won the honor in 1994. Olajuwon formally announced his retirement before an adoring audience Saturday night, during a ceremony at halftime of the Rockets' game against the Warriors. The home team retired his No. 34 jersey and hoisted it to the rafters of Compaq Center, where Olajuwon played 17 of his 18 seasons.

Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal may not return to the lineup Tuesday night, as the team originally hoped. O'Neal has been on the injured list all season while recovering from surgery on his right toe.

Football

49ers linebacker Derek Smith was fined $25,000 by the NFL for knocking down an umpire last month in a game at New Orleans.

Hockey

Hayley Wickenheiser snapped a tie with 54 seconds left, and Canada beat the United States 4-2 to win the Four Nations Cup women's hockey tournament.

Skating

Gianni Romme led a Dutch sweep of the top four places in the men's 5,000 meters in World Cup speedskating. Cindy Klassen of Canada won the women's 1,500 at the Viking Ship oval, the speedskating venue for the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics. Among the Americans, Jennifer Rodriguez was third in the 1,500 and Derek Parra was seventh in the 5,000.

Evgeny Plushenko won the Nations Cup title, skating to a free program that paid tribute to Russian history. Plushenko had little trouble in winning in Gelsenkirchen for the fourth straight year.

Tennis

There'll be only one Williams in the WTA Championships final. Top-seeded Serena Williams overcame her own uneven play to beat No. 3 Jennifer Capriati 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals. Older sister Venus was forced out by a leg injury trailing 5-0 in the first set of her semifinal against Kim Clijsters. Serena Williams will play Clijsters in tonight's final of the $3 million tournament. Williams won the title a year ago in Germany when Lindsay Davenport couldn't play because of injury.

Indonesian teenager Angelique Widjaja beat South Korea's Cho Yoon-jeong 6-2, 6-4 to win the Volvo Women's Open. The 17-year-old Widjaja, the 2001 Wimbledon junior champion, earned her second career title.

People

UK coach's motivation is a hit

Kentucky coach Guy Morriss insisted his outburst paid off, even if he broke his hand.

The usually mild-mannered Morriss hurt himself last Saturday punching a locker during a halftime tirade at Mississippi State.

Trailing 17-16 at the time, Kentucky erupted in the third quarter and went on to win 45-24.

"It was worth it. We played much better in the second half," Morriss said.

"There's nothing like winning. If it takes hitting a locker, or several of them, I'm going to do it," he said.

Morriss said he talked last week to his wife, Jackie, about how the Wildcats were having trouble putting together two well-played halves.

"She was deadly serious. She said, 'You've got to do something that gets their attention, gets them cranked up,'" he said. "It's not something you ever stage or plan, but then I thought maybe she was right."

Verbatim

Mike Rucker, Panthers defensive end, describing the play of rookie teammate Julius Peppers: "You can't tell how old he is by looking at his age."

Earl Hochman, quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle, offers this disclaimer on the debut of women's wrestling in the 2004 Olympics: "Already more than 300 candidates have expressed interest in trying out -- 295 from 'The Jerry Springer Show.'"

-- From wire reports