Sports briefs 1/12/05

Baseball

* The Chicago Cubs can manage the risk of concrete falling from the upper deck at Wrigley Field by using a protective barrier, such as netting, engineers hired by the team said.

The firm of Wiss, Janney, Elstner and Associates Inc. also recommended regular inspection and removal programs.

"There are thousands of potential sites from which spalling could occur and damage is continuing to develop," the report given to the city Monday by the Cubs stated. "It is therefore possible that one or more small pieces of concrete could become dislodged fairly soon after a thorough hands-on inspection is completed."

Safety was an issue at Wrigley for much of last season after three small chunks of concrete fell from the upper deck. No one was injured.

"Wiss, Janney is the fourth team of structural engineers to conclude Wrigley Field is safe for our fans," Cubs president Andy MacPhail said in a statement.

* Former Los Angeles Dodgers general manager Fred Claire donated the ball from the final out of the 1988 World Series to the Hall of Fame on Tuesday.

The donation came less than a week after Red Sox first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz caused a stir when he said he was keeping the ball that ended Boston's 86-year championship drought. The Red Sox want it for their archives.

Claire acknowledged that the tug-of-war played a small part in his decision to give up the ball.

"It pointed out the significance of the last out of the World Series," Claire said. "It's not a reflection on Doug or Boston or anybody else.

"But if it starts a trend, so much the better." A larger factor was Claire's discovery that the Hall of Fame owned just two "final out" baseballs - the 1903 ball thrown by Boston pitcher Bill Dinneen to strike out Pittsburgh's Honus Wagner and the 1889 ball New York Giants catcher Buck Ewing used to throw out Brooklyn's Darby O'Brien stealing.

"I was astounded to see that the last World Series ball that the Hall had was from 1903," Claire said.

Basketball

* New Jersey Nets leading scorer Richard Jefferson will miss the rest of the season with a ruptured ligament in his left wrist. Jefferson is expected to have surgery soon and he will be sidelined until at least late May, Nets president Rod Thorn said Tuesday.

The 24-year-old Jefferson hurt his wrist in a game against the Pistons in Detroit on Dec. 27. Jefferson aggravated the injury last week in Milwaukee during a game against the Bucks. An MRI on Monday revealed the tear.

Playing in all 33 games this year, Jefferson averaged 22.2 points and 41.1 minutes, both team highs.

Colleges

n Texas co-defensive coordinator Greg Robinson was hired as coach at Syracuse on Tuesday, his first head coaching job in a 30-year career.

Robinson, 53, spent last season with the Longhorns, but was an NFL assistant for 14 years, including stints as defensive coordinator with Kansas City and Denver. Robinson, a Californian, also was an assistant with the New York Jets from 1990-1994.

Robinson succeeds Paul Pasqualoni, who was fired Dec. 29, eight days after Syracuse lost to Georgia Tech 51-14 in the Champs Sports Bowl. Pasqualoni was 107-59-1 and 6-3 in bowl games at Syracuse, but the Orange struggled to break even the last three years after going 10-3 and finishing 14th in the nation in 2001.

Robinson made a big impact in his one year at Texas, which finished 11-1 and beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl. During the regular season, the Longhorns allowed 102 fewer points than they gave up in 12 games last season.

* Auburn defensive coordinator Gene Chizik won the Broyles Award on Tuesday as college football's top assistant coach.

The Tigers (13-0) finished No. 2 in the final rankings behind national champion Southern California, but Chizik's defense was No. 1 in fewest points allowed - 9.6 per game.

The Broyles Award is named for Frank Broyles, the former Arkansas coach and current athletic director known for turning out quality assistants. Final voting was conducted by Broyles and seven other former coaches.

Tennis

* Rackets used and autographed by Roger Federer, Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt are being auctioned off to raise money for UNICEF's tsunami relief efforts.

Bidding for the rackets, mounted together in a presentation case, began Tuesday on ATPtennis.com and will close Jan. 28.

The opening bid was for $7,560.

Federer, Roddick and Hewitt are the top three players in the current rankings and have shared the year-end No. 1 slot over the past four years.

* Major champions Jim Courier, Yannick Noah and Jana Novotna were elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame, along with tour administrator Butch Buchholz.

The 2005 class was announced Tuesday by hall president Tony Trabert.

Courier, 34, won the French Open in 1991-92 and the Australian Open in 1992-93, spent a total of 58 weeks ranked No. 1, and helped the United States win the Davis Cup in 1992 and 1995.

Noah, 44, won the 1983 French Open, the first Frenchman to succeed at Roland Garros in 37 years. Ranked as high as No. 3, he finished with 23 titles in singles and 16 in doubles.

Novotna, 36, was the Wimbledon singles champion in 1998 and the runner-up in 1993 and 1997.