Sports briefs 12/7/05

Baseball

• First baseman John Olerud, a soft-spoken former batting champion and two-time All-Star, has retired after 16 seasons, the Boston Red Sox said on Tuesday.

Olerud, 37, was an All-Star in 1993 and 2001 and a .295 career hitter with 255 home runs and 1,230 RBIs in 2,234 games. He won Gold Gloves in 2000, 2002 and 2003. He won the AL batting title in 1993 with a .363 average.

Basketball

• Boston Celtics guard Tony Allen pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to aggravated battery charges stemming from a fight over the summer that escalated into a shooting outside a diner near downtown.

The 6-foot-4 Allen, who was drafted by the Celtics 25th overall in the 2004 draft, averaged 6.4 points and 2.9 rebounds as a rookie .

Colleges

• Nebraska basketball player Joe McCray has a Jan. 5 court date after being cited on suspicion of assault last week.

McCray was involved in an incident at about 2:10 a.m Friday.

* Virginia defensive coordinator Al Golden was hired by Temple on Tuesday to lead its forlorn football program, ending a search that began two months ago when head coach Bobby Wallace said he wouldn't return to the school.

Temple went 0-11 this year, its first winless season on the field since 1959. Temple was 19-71 during Wallace's eight years as coach, and was booted out of the Big East Conference.

Soccer

• The United States came within a point Tuesday of being one of the seeded teams for next year's World Cup.

Defending champion Brazil was first with 64 points, followed by England (51), Spain (50), Germany (48), Mexico (47), France (46) and Argentina and Italy (44 apiece).

Those eight seeded teams will be placed together in Pot One for Friday's draw, and they can't meet each other in the first round.

-- From wire reports