Fanfare 3/2/03

Briefly

Baseball

David Wells disputed a claim in his autobiography that he was "half drunk" when he pitched his perfect game, maintained he gets along well with teammate Mike Mussina and hoped his book wouldn't be a distraction to the Yankees. Wells apologized to Mussina and general manager Brian Cashman on Saturday and also said he should have looked closer at the draft of "Perfect I'm Not! Boomer on Beer, Brawls, Backaches and Baseball" the book he wrote with Chris Kreski.

Blue Jays infielder Mike Moriarty was taken to a hospital Saturday after being hit in the left side of the head by a pitch from Tampa Bay right-hander Seth McClung. Moriarty was taken to Bayfront Medical Center for observation after walking off the field on his own power.

Figure skating

Sasha Cohen punctuated a demanding free skate with the last of her six triple jumps Saturday to win figure skating's Grand Prix Final. World champion Irina Slutskaya of Russia, who led after Friday's grueling day of a long and a short program, managed just five triple jumps in a flawed program and settled for second.

Football

Free-agent cornerback Dre' Bly signed a five-year contract with the Lions, helping the team fill a pressing need in the secondary. A source within the league said the deal was worth $24.5 million. Bly had 79 tackles and two interceptions for the Rams last season.

The Bears signed free-agent tight end Desmond Clark to a six-year contract. Clark played 11 games for the Dolphins last season after breaking his wrist.

The Texans signed free-agent offensive lineman Zach Wiegert. Wiegert was drafted by the Rams in 1995.

Golf

Pushed to the limit for the first time all week, Tiger Woods advanced to the final of the Match Play Championship on Saturday by making a clutch par putt on the 19th hole and then watching Adam Scott miss from 3 feet. Woods will play a 36-hole match against David Toms, who also survived a scare in another nail-biter against Peter Leonard after birdying the final hole.

Frank Lickliter II edged closer to his second PGA Tour victory, by widening his lead to four strokes after three rounds of the Chrysler Classic of Tucson. Lickliter shot an unspectacular 2-under-par 70 on Saturday, but his closest competitors when the day began all faltered badly. Chad Campbell and Steve Flesch had strong third rounds to move from far back into a second-place tie with Brenden Pappas at 12-under 204.

Motorsports

Tony Kanaan gave the new Andretti-Green Racing team the pole and a front-row sweep for the opening event of the IRL season when he knocked off Michael Andretti off the pole for today's Toyota Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Olympics

Lloyd Ward resigned as CEO of the U.S Olympic Committee, after months of accusations alleging a possible conflict of interest. During the months of controversy a Senate comittee was formed to look into the organization. The Senate hearings were coupled with the resignation of six other USOC top officials, including the recent resignation of Marty Mankamyer, the organizations highest ranking volunteer.

Tennis

Top-seeded Roger Federer, who is yet to drop a set, put away Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 6-2 in less than an hour to reach the final of the Dubai Open. Federer's opponent today will be third-seeded Jiri Novak, who beat Tommy Robredo 6-4, 6-1 in the other semifinal.

On the air

Arena footballRegional coverage, 2 p.m., WPSD

Bowling

Odor-Eaters Open, 11:30 a.m., ESPN

College baseballSoutheast at Memphis, 12:45 p.m., KGIR-1220

College men's basketballDuke at St. John's, 11 a.m., KFVS

Mississippi at Alabama, 1 p.m., KFVS

Kentucky at Georgia, 3 p.m., KFVS

Maryland at N.C. State, 7 p.m., FOX-Midwest

College women's basketballTexas at Texas Tech, 12:30 p.m., FOX-Midwest

North Carolina at Virginia, 1 p.m., ESPN2

Wichita St. at Southwest Missouri St., 2:309 p.m., FOX-Midwest

N.C. State at Duke, 4:30 p.m., FOX-Midwest

Golf

Accenture Match Play Championship, 2 p.m, WSIL

Chrysler Classic of Tucson, same-day tape, 10 p.m., USA

MLB

N.Y. Mets vs. Baltimore, 12:10 p.m., WPIX

Motorsports

Toyota Indy 300, noon, WSIL

UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400, 1:30, KBSI

NHL

Phoenix at Detroit, 5 p.m., ESPN2

Pittsburgh at Dallas, 7:30 p.m., ESPN

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 baseballSoutheast at Memphis, 1 p.m.

College gymnastics

Southeast at Missouri Corvette Classic, 2 p.m.