Sports briefs 2/17/03

Miscellaneous

Michael Jordan won't get the chance to play today on his 40th birthday and a basketball showdown between defending national champion Maryland and Wake Forest was postponed Sunday after a snow storm blanketed the mid-Atlantic area.

Today's game between Jordan's Washington Wizards and the Toronto Raptors was rescheduled for March 4. Snow fell Sunday from Missouri to New Jersey, and flakes fell at a rate of up to 4 inches an hour in parts of Maryland.

The two basketball games were among dozens of sports events disrupted. Several race tracks canceled cards for Sunday and today, as snow was expected to fall well past the weekend with accumulation of up to 2 feet.

Several minor league hockey games and women's college basketball games also were called off.

Driving conditions around the Washington area were especially dangerous, prompting a postponement of Sunday night's key Atlantic Coast Conference game between Wake Forest and Maryland at the new Comcast Center.

The Demon Deacons beat the snow by arriving in College Park on Friday, but officials called off the game because of concerns about the safety of fans, game officials and arena employees.

The game was tentatively rescheduled for this afternoon, although it's unlikely travel conditions in the Washington area will improve dramatically by then. A final decision will be made this morning.

n Ed Martin, who admitted giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to former University of Michigan basketball players while they were in high school and college, has died at the age of 69.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Convertino, whose office has been investigating Martin for nearly four years, confirmed Martin's death Saturday.

Elana Chrisman, a spokeswoman for Henry Ford Hospital, said Martin died there Friday evening of a suspected pulmonary embolism.

Tennis

Andre Agassi won 12 of the last 14 games to beat Davide Sanguinetti 6-3, 6-1 Sunday and capture the Siebel Open in San Jose, Calif., for the fifth time.

After losing the first two games of the match, Agassi lost just one more game in the first set. He won the first three games of the second set before Sanguinetti held serve, then Agassi won three straight games to claim his 56th career title.

n Venus Williams beat Kim Clijsters 6-2, 6-4 Sunday in the final of the Diamond Games in Antwerp, Belgium, for her first victory of the season.

Williams, who did not lose a set in the tournament, used an overpowering serve and near-flawless backcourt game to defend her title.

-- From wire reports