College football
FIESTA ACQUIRES COPPER: In a move unprecedented among college football's competitive bowl organizers, the foundation behind the Fiesta Bowl acquired Tucson's Copper Bowl.
The Copper Bowl offered Utah and Wisconsin a total of just $2 million to play last Dec. 27, and still needed a $73,683 infusion from the Tucson City Council to pay bills.
By contrast, the Fiesta paid a record $27.2 million to Nebraska and Florida to play in its Jan. 2, 1996, national championship game.
Baseball
CARDS REWARD JOCKETTY: St. Louis general manager Walt Jocketty, who helped the Cardinals end a nine-year postseason drought last season, signed a three-year contract extension.
Jocketty, hired October 1994, was instrumental in getting manager Tony La Russa and played a lead role in adding Mark McGwire, Andy Benes, Dennis Eckersley, Ron Gant, Todd Stottlemyre and Gary Gaetti to the roster.
Jocketty, 46, has been a baseball executive for 23 seasons, including a decade with Oakland as director of baseball administration. He was assistant general manager of the Rockies in 1993.
NFL
CARTER COULD MISS SEASON: Cincinnati Bengals running back Ki-Jana Carter has a torn rotator cuff in his left shoulder and could miss the rest of the season.
Carter, the top overall pick in the 1995 NFL draft, was examined by doctors at Christ Hospital in Cincinnati, who confirmed the injury.
SALAAM ON INJURED RESERVE: The Chicago Bears placed running back Rashaan Salaam on injured reserve, meaning he will miss the rest of the season.
Salaam, the 1994 Heisman Trophy winner at Colorado, broke a bone in his left leg and sustained torn ligaments in his left ankle Sept. 14 against Detroit. He had surgery on his ankle last week, but the Bears decided he would not be fully healed before the end of the season.
BALL, MURRAY JOIN VIKINGS: Nose tackle Jerry Ball and kicker Eddie Murray, two former Pro Bowl players, joined the Minnesota Vikings.
The Vikings signed Ball to help solidify one of the NFL's worst run-defenses and Murray to stabilize a shaky kicking situation. Minnesota also released kicker Greg Davis, who missed twice at Chicago and from 22 yards in Sunday's loss at Green Bay.
Media
MARV ALBERT TRIAL: Marv Albert's accuser testified that the sportscaster was a tender, if kinky, lover for years before he erupted in a rage of biting, hair pulling and taunting.
In a voice often cracking with emotion, the woman said Albert liked to wear women's underwear and sought threesomes with men but emphasized that violent sex was never part of their 10-year relationship.
Albert's attorney, Roy Black, contended rough-and-tumble sex became commonplace between them and tried to show the woman sought to entrap Albert. Black introduced an audiotape in which the woman seemed to be asking a cab driver to divulge damaging information in exchange for money and a car.
The 42-year-old woman denied she had ever coached anyone and said talk of money and a car was just a joke.
The woman described her last meeting with Albert, a night in a luxury hotel room on Feb. 12 that led to sodomy and assault and battery charges against the NBC sportscaster that could put him behind bars for life.
Basketball
FILA INKS HILL TO BIG DEAL: Grant Hill of the Detroit Pistons signed a new seven-year endorsement contract worth at least $80 million with Fila, the sportswear and sneaker manufacturer.
The new contract replaces a five-year deal that had two years left between Hill and Fila, which trails only No. 1 Nike Inc. and Reebok International Inc., in the U.S. athletic shoe and apparel market.
BLAZERS SIGN CATO: Kelvin Cato, a former Iowa State center selected 15th overall in the NBA draft, signed a three-year contract with the Portland Trail Blazers.
Cato, 6-foot-11, averaged 11.3 points and 8.4 rebounds last season and broke the Iowa State record with 189 career blocked shots in two seasons.
The Blazers also signed free agent John Crotty to back up Kenny Anderson at point guard. Crotty played for Bologna in the Italian League last year.
Track and field
SLANEY'S ULTIMATUM: Mary Slaney is giving USA Track and Field a month to change its drug-testing procedures and pay her for a wrongful suspension or she will sue.
Slaney, the nation's greatest women's distance runner, said at a news conference that the 18-month ordeal she has gone through since testing positive for excessive testosterone has been the worst of her career.
Slaney said she never heard an apology from anyone. She did not say how much money she might seek, but her husband Richard said it would be well into six figures or more.
The comments were her first since a USA Track and Field panel cleared her a week ago of drug allegations. The international governing body for the sport still has not cleared her but could do so at a meeting in late November.
Tennis
GRAND SLAM CUP: At Munich, Germany, Britain's Greg Rusedski had 20 aces in a 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 victory over Australian Todd Woodbridge in the first round, worth $250,000 at the $6 million Grand Slam Cup.
The Grand Slam Cup, sponsored by Compaq, features 16 players with the best record in this year's major tournaments. The winner earns $1.5 million, with first-round losers getting $100,000.
Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov beat Spain's Sergi Bruguera 6-4, 6-3 in a match between former French Open champions. France's Cedric Pioline won when Belgium's Filip DeWulf withdrew in the second set with a twisted ankle.
Chile's Marcelo Rios outlasted Australia's Mark Woodforde 6-7 (2-7), 6-3, 6-1.
TOULOUSE OPEN: At Toulouse, France, Vince Spadea downed Italy's Renzo Furlan, and Justin Gimelstob eliminated German Martin Sinner 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-4) at the $400,000 Toulouse Open.
In other first-round matches, Paul Haarhuis of the Netherlands defeated top-seeded Albert Costa of Spain 7-6 (14-12), 6-2, and fifth-seeded Magnus Larsson of Sweden topped Italy's Gianluca Pozzi 6-3, 6-4.
ROMANIAN OPEN: At Bucharest, Romania, top-seeded Carlos Moya of Spain beat Germany's Hendrik Dreekmann 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, while second-seeded Alex Corretja routed Jeff Tarango 6-4, 6-1 in the first round of the Romanian Open.
German Tomas Behrend defeated Romania Andrei Pavel 6-2, 6-2; Spain's Carlos Costa downed Romanian Ion Moldovan 7-6 (7-4), 6-3; Italian Andrea Gaudenzi beat Julian Alonso of Spain 6-1, 6-4, and Christian Ruud of Norway ousted Spaniard Fernando Vicente 7-6 (7-3), 7-5.
LEIPZIG GRAND PRIX: At Leipzig, Germany, third-seeded Iva Majoli of Croatia became the first player to reach the quarterfinals of the Leipzig Grand Prix, beating Austrian Barbara Schett 6-4, 6-2.