Sports briefs 2/28/05

Baseball

* ose Canseco confirms in the upcoming issue of The New Yorker magazine that Steve Kettmann was the ghost writer for his best-selling book "Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits and How Baseball Got Big."

Kettmann, a former reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, has written on the steroids scandal in major league baseball in the past. Canseco, whose book debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times nonfiction chart, recently appeared at a book signing in New York.

Football

* Brian Griese agreed to restructure his contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, helping the team alleviate its salary-cap problems.

The Tampa Tribune and St. Petersburg Times reported the quarterback's deal is worth $32 million over five years.

"There is a long-term agreement, and it will be signed in the next few days," team spokesman Jeff Kamis said.

Griese earned $900,000 last season, when he took over for Chris Simms after the second-year quarterback was injured during his first pro start. Simms had replaced Brad Johnson after the Bucs lost their first four games.

Griese started 10 games and completed an NFL-best 69.3 percent of his passes for 2,632 yards, 20 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He also had a propensity for making game-altering mistakes, including four interceptions that were returned for TDs.

Tennis

* Top-ranked Roger Federer won his third straight Dubai Open on Sunday, defeating Ivan Ljubicic 6-1, 6-7 (6), 6-3. It was the third time this year Federer has beaten the Croat in a title match.

Federer extended his ATP record streak of finals wins to 16, including three this year. The Swiss star won last month in Doha, Qatar, and last weekend in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

The final was Ljubicic's fourth this year and third in three weeks.

* Unseeded Australian Wayne Arthurs became the oldest first-time winner since the ATP Tour was formed in 1990, beating third-seeded Mario Ancic of Croatia 7-5, 6-3 on Sunday in the Tennis Channel Open.

The 33-year-old left-hander, in his 128th ATP Tour-level tournament, dominated his 20-year-old opponent.

"It feels really, really good, really satisfying," Arthurs said. "Especially now that I'm older, it's probably even more satisfying to win a tournament this late in my career. I'm going to savor every moment of it, that's for sure."

Arthurs, who turns 34 on March 17, is the second-oldest player on the ATP Tour behind 34-year-old Andre Agassi. The Australian is the first 33-year-old to win an ATP-level event since Tom Gullikson did it in Newport, R.I., in 1985.

Track and field

* Angela Daigle matched the fastest 60-meter dash time of the year Sunday, winning the event in 7.09 seconds at the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships.

The 28-year-old Daigle, of Carson, Calif., easily beat her previous best of 7.24 and picked up a $25,000 bonus with the win.

Daigle got out of the blocks in 0.124 seconds and held off a strong finish by Muna Lee, who was second in 7.11.

Two-time Olympic gold medallist John Godina got the men's $25,000 bonus by winning the shot put Saturday with a meet-record throw of 71 feet, 7 1/2 inches. Nobody challenged that mark Sunday.