Baseball
IRABU NEGOTIATIONS: The New York Yankees will not begin to negotiate with Japanese pitcher Hideki Irabu until major league baseball approves the trade of his rights from San Diego, owner George Steinbrenner reiterated Friday.
Reacting to a published report that the Yankees already had proposed a deal worth $4 million per year, Steinbrenner said no offer had been made to Irabu.
"We will not negotiate until (acting commissioner) Bud Selig gives his permission, which should be forthcoming," Steinbrenner said.
HARNISCH HAS DEPRESSION: Pete Harnisch, who left the New York Mets this month under puzzling circumstances, is being treated for depression and is not sure when he will return to the team.
"I've been diagnosed with depression," the pitcher said Friday in his first public comment on his condition. "It's being treated medicinally and with therapy."
Harnisch, who started on opening day for the Mets, said doctors told him that his problem was caused by a chemical imbalance. He said there was "some family history" of depression, but declined to give details.
Harnisch said his withdrawal from using chewing tobacco "possibly precipitated it or brought it on."
As for when he would pitch again, Harnisch was uncertain.
SURGERY FOR WHITE: Florida Marlins center fielder Devon White will undergo surgery Saturday to repair torn cartilage in his right knee and is expected to be sidelined for about a month.
The 34-year-old White, who has been bothered by soreness in his knee for much of the season, was placed on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to Thursday.
GONZALEZ HEALING: Baseballs are once again zooming off the bat of Texas Rangers slugger Juan Gonzalez as he works his way back from surgery on his left thumb. It's catching them that's a problem.
Gonzalez can swing a bat with little pain, but he winces when squeezing his glove in the outfield - and that's just while he's shagging flies and picking up grounders. He's staying away from line drives.
Still, last year's AL MVP and his doctors are targeting May 2 - a Friday night home game against Boston - for his 1997 debut. Gonzalez will begin as a designated hitter and eventually work his way back to right field.
SANDERS ON DL: The Cincinnati Reds put outfielder Reggie Sanders on the 15-day disabled list Friday after a magnetic resonance imaging test found he had re-injured a disc in his lower back.
It is the same disc that Sanders tore last season, forcing him on the disabled list for five weeks. This injury is not considered to be as serious.
Boxing
FOREMAN STILL FIGHTING: George Foreman is looking forward to boxing in the 21st century.
Whether he does depends on whether he can continue to command purses such as the $4 million he's getting to fight Lou Savarese in a 12-round bout tonight at the Convention Center in Atlantic City, N.J.
"I want to fight into my 50s. I like what I'm doing at this age, I really like it," said the 48-year-old Foreman.
He was an undisputed heavyweight champion in 1973-74, and at 45 became the oldest heavyweight champion ever when he knocked out Michael Moorer for the IBF-WBA titles in 1994.
MCCALL MUST PAY: Oliver McCall has agreed to pay a $250,000 fine for crying and then refusing to fight during his heavyweight title bout with Lennox Lewis. But the payment is on hold while the battle over McCall's $3 million purse continues.
Nevada boxing officials on Friday delayed accepting a proposed settlement with McCall for his bizarre actions during the Feb. 8 fight, saying they would meet again in June to consider the offer.
Fight promoter Main Events Inc. asked for the delay while it asks a federal court to rule that McCall should not get his purse for the fight because he didn't fulfill his contract.
GOLOTA INJURED: Andrew Golota's back injury has caused the entire May 16 fight card at Madison Square Garden to be postponed.
Golota was to fight Ray Mercer in the main event of the show to be televised by HBO. But the heavyweight from Poland hurt his lower back in training last week, forcing that fight to be called off.
Colleges
COACHING TANDEM: Louisville's Lady Cardinals will have two head coaches next season, and if all goes as planned this summer, the coaches will be husband and wife.
Sara White and Martin Clapp have been Louisville assistant coaches, White for four years and Clapp for eight. They were named Friday as co-coaches to replace eight-year veteran Bud Childers, who is leaving for James Madison.
White and Clapp plan to be married August 9.
"Their unique qualifications combine to bring a total package that will help maintain stability and a high level of performance on the court," Louisville's athletic director Bill Olsen said.
Auto racing
SAN MARINO GRAND PRIX: At Imola, Italy, the "home factor" gave the Ferrari team an extra kick Friday as Eddie Irvine of Britain and Michael Schumacher of Germany led the free practice for the San Marino Formula One Grand Prix.
Thousands of partisan fans of the "Rosse" (Red Cars) waved Ferrari flags with the symbol of the prancing horse in a rehearsal of the celebrations which would erupt Sunday if the home team ends a 13-year drought at the Enzo and Dino Ferrari circuit.
WINSTON 500: The way this season has been going, the last thing John Andretti expected was to win the pole for Sunday's Winston 500 in Talladega, Ala.
That, however, is exactly what the nephew of longtime racing star Mario Andretti did on Friday, knocking Dale Earnhardt off the top spot late in the qualifying. Andretti then had to hold his breath as another upstart, Bobby Hillin Jr., narrowly missed taking the pole on the last qualifying lap of the session at Talladega Superspeedway.
Andretti, driving Cale Yarborough's RCA Ford, turned a lap of 193.627 mph, while Hillin took the outside front row position by turning a lap of 193.271 on the 2.66-mile, high-banked oval.
BOSCH GRAND PRIX: At Nazareth, Pa., Paul Tracy and Michael Andretti came to Nazareth Speedway as co-favorites in the Bosch Grand Prix, and the first practice for each only reinforced that scenario.
Tracy, whose qualifying speed of 190.737 mph last year is billed as the fastest mile in auto racing history, had the quickest practice lap Friday. He toured the one-mile oval in a Penske-Mercedes at 189.235.
Defending race champion Andretti, who one year ago arrived at the track on probation - a dilemma identical to that Tracy is now experiencing - was fourth-fastest in a Swift-Ford at 183.085. It gave him hope that he could join Emerson Fittipaldi as a three-time winner of the PPG CART World Series event.
Basketball
SIGNING BONUS? Former Idaho basketball coach Kermit Davis says the $20,000 he got was part of his salary and was not a signing bonus.
Davis left Idaho earlier this month after just one season to take a job as an assistant at Louisiana State. At last week's state Board of Education meeting, board members were surprised to learn that Davis had been paid an extra $20,000 above his contract base of about $75,000. Some board members referred to it as a signing bonus.
Board members say they did not authorize the extra $20,000.
In an interview Friday with a Moscow radio station, Davis said the $20,000 wasn't a signing bonus. He said the one-year agreement was for $95,000 and he did a year's work for it.
SIMON STAYING: University of Arizona junior guard Miles Simon, the Most Valuable Player of this year's NCAA basketball tournament Final Four, announced Friday that he would return for his senior season.
Tennis
U.S. CLAY COURTS: At Lake Buena Vista, Fla., Michael Chang advanced to the semifinals of the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships on Friday night, beating Zimbabwe's Byron Black 7-5, 6-3 in a mistake-filled match.
Chang, who will move up to No. 2 in the world when the ATP Tour releases its rankings next week, broke Black five times only to lose his own serve in the very next game. Finally after breaking Black for a 4-2 lead in the second set, the top-seeded American managed to put together a pair of solid service games to finish off the match.
Chang will face fifth-seeded Jason Stoltenberg of Australia, a 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-4 winner over Uruguay's Marcelo Filippini.
In the other quarterfinals, sixth-seeded Chris Woodruff beat fourth-seeded Alex O'Brien 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, and South Africa's Grant Stafford defeated Brazil's Fernando Meligeni 6-3, 6-4.