Football
LEWIS CASE: Pro Bowl linebacker Ray Lewis was unaware two men had been killed in a brawl when he and others left a Super Bowl party in a limousine, according to his lawyer.The Baltimore Ravens star didn't know about the stabbings until he heard news reports hours later, lawyer Ed Garland said.
WWF FOOTBALL? World Wrestling Federation mastermind Vince McMahon took time out from promoting WWF merchandise to unveil his latest creation: the XFL, a new pro football league set to open in February 2001.
The football league, McMahon promised a crowded news conference, will be real. McMahon said the startup costs for the eight-team league will run him "somewhere south of $100 million." There are already teams in New York, Miami, Orlando, Washington, Los Angeles and San Francisco, with two more teams to be announced.
Ex-Dallas Cowboys star Drew Pearson is on the league's football advisory committee, and 15-time Emmy-winning broadcast executive Michael Weisman is working on its television team.
NFL IN L.A. UPDATE: Developer and hockey team owner Ed Roski Jr., who backed one of last year's failed efforts to bring an NFL expansion team to Los Angeles, has come up with another proposal to return a league franchise to Memorial Coliseum.
Roski has told the league that he would like to buy a minority stake in an existing franchise and relocate it in Los Angeles.
SAINTS HIRE HASLETT: Jim Haslett, once a New Orleans Saints assistant, is back with the team as its head coach. Haslett received a three-year contract. Financial terms weren't disclosed but it was believed to be less than $1 million per year but more than $600,000.
PANTHER ARRESTED: Fred Lane of the Carolina Panthers was arrested on drugs and weapons charges, yet another NFL player to get in trouble with the law.
Baseball
JETER TO SIGN WITH YANKS: With Derek Jeter's seven-year, $118.5 million contract on hold, the New York Yankees instead agreed to a one-year, $10 million deal with their star shortstop.
New York and Jeter's agent, Casey Close, have been talking about a long-term deal. Both the total and the average of $16,928,571 would top the current salary records, set by pitcher Kevin Brown and the Los Angeles Dodgers in December 1998, a seven-year $105 million contract that averages $15 million per season.
Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, sometimes reluctant to set salary marks, is reportedly hoping that Juan Gonzalez and the Detroit Tigers go first with the eight-year, $140 million, eight-year contract they've been negotiating.
ROCKER APPEAL: John Rocker's appeal of his suspension will start next Wednesday. Lawyers for the players' association and the commissioner's office met and set the timetable for the hearing before arbitrator Shyam Das.
The union claims baseball doesn't have "just cause" to punish Rocker for his remarks published in Sports Illustrated in December.
Basketball
RODMAN A MAV: The Dallas Mavericks wrapped up their courtship of Dennis Rodman, signing the controversial power forward to a contract for the remainder of the season.
CLIPS FIRE FORD: Chris Ford was fired as coach of the Los Angeles Clippers, following humiliating losses to Golden State and Phoenix by a total of 77 points.
Ford was in the second year of a three-year contract with the Clippers, who are 11-34 record with 16 losses in last 18 games. The 51-year-old Ford was replaced by assistant Jim Todd, who will coach the team on an interim basis.
AMERICA'S CUP: AmericaOne's beat Prada by 1-minute, 6-seconds today, its third straight victory, as it took a 4-3 lead in the best-of-9 America's Cup challenger finals.
The Italians never were in the race after making the mistake of starting on the left side. Now they must win Saturday or be eliminated.