FanFare 5/20/03

Briefly

Baseball

The floundering White Sox, struggling with their offense all season, have fired hitting coach Gary Ward and replaced him with Greg Walker. Ward's dismissal came late Sunday night after Chicago lost three straight games at Minnesota, scoring six runs in the series.

The Indians purchased the contract of righthander Jason Phillips from Class AAA Buffalo of the International League. Phillips has dominated the International League this season, going 6-0 with a 2.70 ERA in seven games.

Basketball

Cavaliers owner Gordon Gund will meet with former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy this week about Cleveland's coaching vacancy, a source said. Van Gundy, who took New York to the playoffs six times, has had several phone conversations with Gund, but has yet to sit down with the owner, a league source said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Pacers guard Reggie Miller underwent successful arthroscopic surgery on his right ankle. The surgery, performed by the Pacers' team doctor Sandy Kunkel, cleaned out loose cartilage and bone spurs from the ankle. Miller, 37, will begin rehabilitation immediately and is expected to make a full recovery.

Colleges

Georgia Tech introduced MaChelle Joseph as its new women's basketball coach. An assistant with the Yellow Jackets the last two seasons, Joseph received a four-year contract with a base salary of $120,000.

Cincinnati freshman Eric Hicks was suspended indefinitely from the basketball program Monday for conduct detrimental to the team. Athletic director Bob Goin declined to release details.

For the first time in Kentucky basketball history, the Wildcats will have two 7-footers on their roster. Kentucky announced the signings of Shagari Alleyne and Lukasz Obrzut. Both signed during the spring period that ended Thursday. According to Kentucky officials, Obrzut and Alleyne will be the fourth and fifth 7-footers to wear a Kentucky uniform. The others were Bill Spivey (1950-1952), Tom Payne (1970-1971) and Sam Bowie (1980-1984). Bowie, at 7-1, was the tallest of that trio.

Football

The 14-year-old son of Packers assistant coach Ray Sherman shot himself in the head with his father's gun, a death the medical examiner ruled a suicide. Ray Sherman Jr. was helping his family move from a rented home Sunday afternoon when he found his father's weapon while alone in the garage, police Lt. Jim Arts said. Ray Sherman found his son 10 minutes after the gun went off and called 911, Arts said.

A 2-14 record in the inaugural season just wasn't good enough, so co-owner John Elway fired the Colorado Crush's entire coaching staff. One day after the Crush's season-ending 59-48 loss in its first year in the Arena Football League, Elway dismissed coach Bob Beers and his assistants.

Korey Stringer's widow will ask an appeals court to reinstate her $100 million lawsuit against the Vikings now she has settled with the last defendants. Kelci Stringer reached a deal with the Vikings' training camp physician, Dr. David Knowles, and his Mankato Clinic for an undisclosed sum, Hennepin County District Judge Gary Larson said.

Packers running back Ahman Green has agreed to plead guilty to one of two traffic citations stemming from a one-vehicle accident as part of a settlement with the district attorney's office. Authorities said his sports utility vehicle left snow-covered Interstate 43 in Kohler and hit a right-of-way fence just north of Wisconsin 28 in January.

Tennis

Top-seeded Andy Roddick beat Alberto Martin 6-1, 7-6 (5) in the first round of the Raiffeisen Grand Prix. He next faces German qualifier Philipp Kohlschreiber, who beat Juergen Melzer 6-4, 0-6, 6-2. In other matches, seventh-seeded Karol Kucera lost to Martin Verkerk 6-2, 6-1, fourth-seeded American Taylor Dent lost to Mario Ancic 2-6, 7-6 (3).

Former U.S. Open champion Marat Safin withdrew from the French Open with a wrist injury. American Robby Ginepri also pulled out with a similar injury, tournament organizers said in a statement. The clay-court event starts at Roland Garros on May 26.

On the airHigh school baseball

Jackson vs. Fox, 1:45 p.m., KYRX-97.3

Central vs. Seckman, 4:45 p.m., KYRX-97.3

Chaffee vs. Bell City, 4:15 p.m., KAPE-1550

MLB

St. Louis at Houston, 7:10 p.m., Fox-Midwest, KZIM-960, KBXB-97.9NBA playoffs

New Jersey at Detroit, 7 p.m., ESPNCollege softball

NCAA Division I regionals, 2 p.m., ESPN2

CHARTER CABLE 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), KBSI (9), KFVS (7), MSNBC (55), Outdoors (38), Outdoor Life Network (74), Oxygen (75), Speed Channel (44), TBS (10), The Golf Channel (46), TNT (48), WDKA (17), WPSD (6), WQWQ (33), WSIL (3). Listings and times are provided by the networks and individual stations and are subject to change.

Area eventsHigh school baseball

Class 1, District 2 Tournament, Oran: (semifinals) Oran vs. Bernie, 2:30 p.m.; Chaffee vs. Bell City, 4:30 p.m.

Class 1, District 3 Tournament, Oak Ridge vs. Zalma, 2 p.m.; Caledonia Valley vs. Meadow Heights, 4 p.m.

Class 2, District 2 Tournament, Valle: (semifinals) TBD, 4:30 p.m; TBD, 7 p.m.

Class 3, District 1 Tournament, Dexter: Kennett vs. Doniphan, 4 p.m.; Notre Dame vs. Fredericktown, 6 p.m.

Class 4, District 1 Tournament, Fox: (semifinals) Fox vs. Jackson, 2 p.m.; Central vs. Seckman, 5 p.m.High school golf

Class 1, 2, 4 state tournaments, Springfield; Class 3 state tournament, Bolivar