Steelers' Foster sidelined for season
PITTSBURGH - Barry Foster, star running back of the Pittsburgh Steelers, is expected to be fully healed by June from an ankle operation the team did not want him to have.
Foster, who underwent 90 minutes of surgery to repair tissue in his left ankle, will miss the rest of the season but should be ready for training camp.
University of Pittsburgh orthopedist Dr. Freddie Fu, who performed the operation, said Foster risked further damage by not having surgery. Steelers doctors wanted him to rest the ankle, then, if necessary, immobilize it for a month. They did not think surgery was necessary.
Drugs ruled out in Hurley car crash
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Drugs apparently did not play a role in the car crash that seriously injured Sacramento Kings rookie Bobby Hurley.
Police said tests found only a trace of methamphetamine in the urine of the other driver, Daniel Wieland.
Police also said an examination of Wieland's vehicle could not determine if headlights were malfunctioning. The light switch worked, but headlights were destroyed in the crash.
Hurley and several witnesses said Wieland was driving without lights. Hurley, a two-time All-American at Duke, was thrown into a ditch and suffered broken ribs, bruised lungs and other injuries. The crash happened Dec. 12 after a game with the Los Angeles Clippers.
Wieland has denied using drugs or driving without lights.
Mills cleared to return to Cavs
RICHFIELD, Ohio - Cleveland Cavaliers rookie Chris Mills, hospitalized briefly following a dizzy spell during a game at Miami last Thursday, was cleared to resume full activity.
The dizziness was traced to atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat, whose cause has not been determined.
The condition is common in young athletes and entirely different from heart problems that killed basketball players Reggie Lewis and Hank Gathers, said Dr. Lon Castle, a Cleveland Clinic cardiologist.
Yankee pitcher injured in fight
BEAUFORT, N.C. - Brien Taylor, the top pitching prospect in the New York Yankees' organization, injured his pitching shoulder over the weekend trying to protect his brother in a fight.
He was arrested on a misdemeanor charge and released, and will be examined in New York on Wednesday by team physician Dr. Stuart Hershon.
The 21-year-old left-hander was injured Saturday night near his home in eastern Carolina. Taylor was treated at Carteret General Hospital, where his left arm was placed in a sling.
Agassi will miss Australian Open
NEW YORK - Tennis star Andre Agassi is expected to miss the opening Grand Slam event of 1994, the Australian Open, because of surgery on his right wrist.
Agassi, speaking from his home in Las Vegas, was quoted in The New York Times, saying he decided to have the operation because the tendinitis in his wrist "caused handicaps mentally and emotionally as well as hurting my game."
Agassi, 23, probably won't play again until February.
IBF won't sanction Holyfield-Lewis bout
NEW YORK - The International Boxing Federation will not sanction a proposed heavyweight championship unification bout between Evander Holyfield and World Boxing Council champ Lennox Lewis.
Holyfield regained the IBF and World Boxing Association titles in a 12-round decision over Riddick Bowe Nov. 6.
World Cup gets low TV ratings in U.S.
BRISTOL, Conn. - While the World Cup draw was estimated to have been watched by 500 million people around the globe, just 313,000 U.S. households tuned in, ESPN said Tuesday.
Sunday's draw received a 0.5 cable rating on ESPN, which is available in 62.7 million of the 94.2 million U.S. homes with televisions.
"It's hard to get good ratings opposite the NFL," ESPN spokesman Mike Mike Soltys said.
Sunday's draw began at 3 p.m. EST, opposite six NFL games.
Locally
Tight end says he'll sign with Utes
Rick Tucker, a tight end from Bakersfield (Calif.) College, told the Deseret News Tuesday that he has made a verbal commitment to sign a national letter of intent with the University of Utah.
Tucker, 6-foot-3,, 240 pounds, caught 29 passes last season and was a first-team all-conference selection. He will report to Utah in time for spring practice.
Drage awarded scholarship
Wide receiver Eric Drage, a senior from BYU, has been selected as a recipient of an NCAA post-graduate scholarship.
Drage, from Tucson, Ariz., has a 3.42 cumulative grade point average in secondary education. He receives a $5,000 scholarship for postgraduate study at the university of his choice.