FanFare 3/15/03

Briefly

Baseball

The widow of Baltimore pitcher Steve Bechler will be paid $450,000 in life insurance, major league baseball's pension committee decided Tuesday. Bechler died on Feb. 17 from heatstroke a day after collapsing during a workout at training camp. In his preliminary autopsy report, Broward County chief medical examiner Dr. Joshua Perper linked Bechler's death to a diet supplement that contains ephedra. Perper is expected to hold a news conference Thursday to disclose the findings of the autopsy performed on the pitcher.

Sixteen members of the Chicago White Sox were ready to refuse a drug test in hopes of making steroid testing mandatory. The players ultimately decided to take the test after consulting with Gene Orza, the No. 2 official of the players' union.

Padres slugger Phil Nevin had arthroscopic surgery to repair his dislocated left shoulder and likely will miss the entire season. Team doctors Dan Fronek and Heinz Hoenecke performed the 1 1/2-hour procedure at Scripps Clinic in San Diego.

Jose Rijo, who overcame five elbow operations to resume his pitching career with the Reds in August 2001, was scheduled for surgery to remove bone spurs from his elbow. Rijo, 37, reported pain after pitching Tuesday morning in a minor league game in the Reds' spring training camp.

The Orioles sent outfielder-first baseman Chris Richard and cash to the Rockies for power-hitting outfield prospect Jack Cust.

Basketball

Trail Blazers forward Bonzi Wells was suspended for a game by coach Maurice Cheeks for "conduct considered detrimental to the team." Wells was suspended for Tuesday night's game against the SuperSonics in Seattle. The team did not specify the reasons for the suspension.

Allen Iverson and Larry Brown were fined $7,500 each by the NBA for criticizing referee Derrick Stafford after the 76ers' loss to the Lakers this weekend. Iverson, Philadelphia's All-Star guard, got two technical fouls and Tyrone Hill received one from Stafford in the third quarter. Kobe Bryant made all three free throws to give the Lakers an 11-point lead in a game they won 106-92 Sunday.

Colleges

Damian Costantino's NCAA-record hitting streak ended at 60 games, one day after he broke New York Yankees third baseman Robin Ventura's 16-year-old mark. Costantino, an outfielder for Division III Salve Regina of Newport, R.I., failed to get a hit in the first game of a doubleheader against Baldwin-Wallace. It was the first time he finished a game hitless since March 25, 2001.

Star guard Jarvis Hayes will enter the NBA Draft, a decision he announced the day after Georgia suspended his coach and abruptly ended its season. Hayes, the Bulldogs' leading scorer for the past two years, will not sign with an agent, meaning the junior could return to the team next season.

Football

The Patriots signed free agent linebacker Rosevelt Colvin, adding one of the most attractive players available on the free-agent market. Colvin, 25, spent all four of his NFL seasons with the Bears, who drafted him in 1999 in the fourth round out of Purdue. Last season, he was fifth on the Bears with 72 tackles and had 10.5 sacks.

Golf

Martha Burk is ready to sue city officials who haven't answered her request for permission to protest Augusta National Golf Club's all-male membership during the Masters. Burk, the head of National Council of Women's Organizations, flew to Atlanta to sign paperwork for the lawsuit, which would be filed by the Georgia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Tennis

Top-ranked Lleyton Hewitt fought off three match points in the second set to escape with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory over Younes El Aynaoui and avenge a loss to the Moroccan at the Australian Open this year.

On the air

College baseballSt. Louis at Southeast, 3:45 p.m., KGIR-1220

College men's basketballBig East Conference, St. John's vs. Notre Dame, 11 a.m., ESPN

Conference USA, first round, South Florida vs. DePaul, at Louisville, Ky., noon, ESPN2

Big East Conference, Providence vs. West Virginia, 1 p.m., ESPN

Conference USA, Houston vs. Tulane, 2:30 p.m., ESPN2

Big East Conference, Villanova vs. Georgetown, 6 p.m.

Northeast Conference championship, St. Francis, N.Y. at Wagner, 6 p.m., ESPN2

Big East Conference, Seton Hall vs. Miami, 8 p.m., ESPN

Big Sky Conference championship, 8 p.m., ESPN2

Tennis

Pacific Life Open, 10 p.m., ESPN2

College women's basketballBig 12 Conference quarterfinal, 1 a.m., FOX-Midwest

Big 12 Conference quarterfinal, 3 a.m., FOX-Midwest

n CHARTER CABLE SPORTS KEY --CNBC (ch. 53), ESPN (42), ESPN2 (43), Lifetime (49)Fox-Midwest (45), Fox-Central (352), Fox-Pacific (353), Fox-Sunshine (351), Fox-World (350), FX(50), Golf Channel (46), MSNBC (55), Outdoors (38), Outdoor Life Network (74), Oxygen (75), Speed Channel (44), TNT (48). Listings and times are provided by the networks and individual stations and are subject to change.

Area events

College baseballSt. Louis at Southeast, 4 p.m.

High school boys' basketballClass 3 sectional, Three Rivers Community College: Charleston vs. Doniphan, 6:30 p.m.

High school girls' basketball

Class 3 sectional, Three Rivers Community College: Twin Rivers vs. Kelly, 8:15 p.m.