Sports briefs 7/25/05

Basketball

• Knicks owner James Dolan of Cablevision met Sunday night with prospective coach Larry Brown, who had wanted to speak first with interim coach Herb Williams.

Dolan's visit represented the next step in the Knicks' wooing of Brown, a pursuit that figures to draw to a conclusion in the next few days.

The Knicks had not formally offered the job to Brown as of Saturday, but the implied message from team president Isiah Thomas was clear: The job is Brown's if he wants it.

Football

Running back Ricky Williams reported to Miami Dolphins training camp on Sunday morning, nearly one year to the day after he told the team he was retiring from football.

Williams, driving a blue sport utility vehicle, arrived at the team's training facility around 8:45 a.m. He did not comment to reporters waiting outside the complex. The team's first formal training-camp media availability is scheduled for Monday.

The 2002 NFL rushing champion decided to seek reinstatement after sitting out last season, saying at the time he'd lost the urge to continue playing. Williams faces a four-game suspension at the start of the season for violating the league's substance abuse program, yet likely will be able to play in preseason games.

Williams acknowledged shortly after retiring that he failed drug tests and faced a suspension for testing positive three times for marijuana.

Williams rushed for 3,225 yards and 25 touchdowns in two seasons with the Dolphins. He informed former coach Dave Wannstedt of his retirement plans last July 23, one week before the start of training camp -- a move that stunned teammates, and played a role in Miami's downward spiral. The Dolphins were 4-12 last season.

A court later found the 1998 Heisman Trophy winner in breach of contract by retiring, and ordered him to repay the team $8.6 million. The team has not yet sought to collect the settlement, and new coach Nick Saban offered Williams another chance to play for the Dolphins.

Motorsports

* Indy Racing League rookie sensation Danica Patrick escaped injury after crashing into the wall during Sunday's A.J. Foyt 225 at the Milwaukee Mile.

The only woman racing in the IndyCar Series was running sixth on the 126th of 225 laps when it appeared the rear of her Rahal Letterman Racing entry slid out from under her, sending her car back end first into the wall at the second turn.

Patrick, who has caused considerable excitement with her performances this year, including a fourth-place finish in the Indianapolis 500, quickly scrambled from the car and walked to a waiting ambulance for a ride to the mandatory checkup at the infield at the infield medical center.

"It was just such a sudden snap. I don't know what happened," said Patrick, a native of Roscoe, Ill., after being released. "I was just pretty much where I had been running all the time, and I wasn't running any faster. Maybe it was my fault. I'll take the blame."

It was the first time Patrick has crashed since being part of a multicar accident in the season-opening race at Homestead. The 23-year-old driver came away from that one with a concussion.

Tennis

* Nadal beats Gaudio to keep streak alive and win Mercedes Cup title

Top-seeded Rafael Nadal ran his winning streak on clay to 34 matches Sunday, beating Gaston Gaudio 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 to claim the Mercedes Cup title.

Nadal's eighth title this year -- tying ATP leader Roger Federer -- came against last year's French Open champion. Gaudio has the second best mark on clay this year, behind only the Spanish teenager's 48-2 record.

The French Open champion picked up his 10th career title in 11 finals and kept alive a clay-court winning streak dating to April -- the sixth longest in history.

Nadal will pass Lleyton Hewitt for the No. 2 world ranking on Monday, and he also sealed his berth in the year-ending Tennis Masters in Shanghai. At 19, he is the youngest to qualify for the tour championships since Andrei Medvedev in 1993.

Track and field

* Olympic champion Shawn Crawford has withdrawn from the 200 meters at the world track and field championships because of a lingering foot injury, his agent said Sunday.

Crawford still plans to compete in the 100 and will be available for the 400-meter relay, agent Kimberly Trammell said.

Crawford's withdrawal clears the way for Wallace Spearmon to compete in the 200 at the worlds, scheduled for Aug. 6-14 in Helsinki, Finland. The 20-year-old Spearmon, the NCAA champion out of Arkansas, has the two fastest times in the world this year but was fourth at the U.S. championships. The top three finishers make the U.S. team.

Spearmon won the 200 in a world-leading 19.89 seconds at the Crystal Palace meet in London on Friday. He ran 19.91 into a headwind to capture the NCAA championship in Sacramento on June 11.

Crawford was the 200 gold medalist at the Athens Olympics.