Sunday FanFare 6/15/03

Briefly

Baseball

The Indians on Saturday signed 21-year-old outfielder Brad Snyder, their first-round pick in last week's draft. Snyder, the 18th overall pick in the draft, recently completed his junior season at Ball State, batting .405 with 14 homers and 61 RBI in 55 games.

Basketball

The Raptors reportedly have found a replacement for Lenny Wilkens. The Toronto Sun reported that the Raptors will name Pistons assistant Kevin O'Neill as their new coach and an announcement could come as soon as Monday.

Cycling

Lance Armstrong mastered the mountain-specialists in the sixth stage of the Dauphine Libere to retain his overall lead. Juan Miguel Mercado of Spain won the 95-mile stage, but the American, who won the race for the first time last year, finished just 24 seconds behind and only three seconds off his main rival, Iban Mayo of Spain.

Football

Jonas Lewis ran for a World Bowl record 126 yards and added a touchdown as the Frankfurt Galaxy beat the Rhein Fire 35-16 in NFL Europe's championship game. The Galaxy won the championship for a record third time, while the Fire lost in the title game for the second straight season. Lewis, a former 49er, was the game's MVP. He had 87 yards on eight carries in the first half, when the Galaxy took a 25-9 lead.

Golf

Rachel Teske and Jean Bartholomew shared the second-round lead in the Giant Eagle LPGA Classic, with Annika Sorenstam a stroke behind. Bartholomew tied the course record with an 8-under 64 to match Teske (65) at 9-under 135. Sorenstam, who also had a 65, was a shot back along with Joanne Mills and Jennifer Rosales.

Miscellaneous

Russia's Dmitry Komornikov set a world record in the 200 meter breaststroke with a time of 2:09.52. Komornikov's swim at the Mare Nostrum event in Barcelona beat the old mark of 2:09.97, set by Kosuke Kitajima of Japan in the Asian Games in Pusan in October 2002.

Motorsports

Brett Bodine broke his collarbone during a crash in practice and will miss today's NASCAR race. He will be replaced by brother Geoffrey Bodine for the Sirius Satellite 400 at Michigan International Speedway. Bodine was briefly unconscious, said brother Todd Bodine, who was on the track and saw the accident.

Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya put Williams-BMW on the front row for the Canadian Grand Prix. Schumacher ran a clean lap around Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, posting a time of 1 minute, 15.529 seconds on the 2.709.-mile, 15-turn track. Montoya, who started from the pole here last year and won two weeks ago in Monaco, was second with a lap of 1:15.923.

According to sources, NASCAR has completed negotiations with Nextel to be the next series sponsor, replacing R.J. Reynolds. An announcement is expected in early July, probably during the week of the Pepsi 400 at Daytona.

Torrential rain washed out qualifying Saturday, giving IRL points leader Tony Kanaan the pole for today's Honda Indy 225. The starting order for the race was determined by combined practice speeds at Pikes Peak International Raceway. Helio Castroneves will start second.

Michel Jourdain won the second pole of both his CART career and the season with a fast lap of 115.876 mph in qualifying at Laguna Seca. Bruno Junqueira, the fourth-fastest at 115.437 mph, will start alongside Jourdain today in the Grand Prix of Monterey because he took the provisional pole Friday.

Tennis

Andy Roddick served at 149 mph to equal the world record and beat Andre Agassi for the first time, winning 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (8-6) to reach the final at Queen's Club. His victory came a day after the second-seeded Agassi took over the No. 1 ranking on the ATP Tour. Roddick, seeded third, faces Sebastien Grosjean in today's final. The sixth-seeded Frenchman defeated Tim Henman of England 6-3, 6-4 in the other semifinal.