Baseball
TOWERS EXTENDS WITH PADRES: San Diego Padres general manager Kevin Towers agreed to a contract extension through the 2007 season, with a team option for an additional year.
GALARRAGA AN EXPO: Andres Galarraga is returning to Montreal, signing a one-year contract with the Expos. Galarraga played the first seven of his 16 years of his career with Montreal.
Golf
DUBAI DESERT CLASSIC: Defending champion Thomas Bjorn shot a 5-under 67 for a share of the first-round lead with Robert Karlsson in the Dubai Desert Classic. South African star Ernie Els was a stroke back along with Niclas Fasth and Olle Karlsson, Sam Torrance and Charlie Wi.
JACOB'S CREEK OPEN: Peter O'Malley, the Australian who beat Tiger Woods in the Match Play Championship, shot a 4-under 68 for a share of the lead in the Jacob's Creek Open. Australia's Ed Stedman and Sweden's Richard Johnson also opened with 68s.
Tennis
FRANKLIN TEMPLETON CLASSIC: Pete Sampras faced a double whammy — his history at the Franklin Templeton Classic and his record against Wayne Ferreira — that he couldn't overcome. Ferreira beat the 13-time Grand Slam champion — who has never advanced past the second round at Scottsdale, 7-5, 7-5 — for his sixth win over Sampras in 12 meetings.
INTERNATIONAL TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS: Fifth-seeded Davide Sanguinetti beat Kristian Pless 6-3, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals of the International Tennis Championships. Michael Llodra eliminated eighth-seeded Markus Hipfl.
INDIAN WELLS: Monica Seles, the 1992 champion at Indian Wells, began her bid for another title with a 6-0, 6-2 victory over 14-year-old Russian Maria Sharapova. Sixth-seeded Meghann Shaughnessy beat Martina Muller 6-2, 6-4.
Basketball
KIDD FINED: New Jersey guard Jason Kidd was fined $5,000 by the NBA for making an obscene gesture toward fans Wednesday night in the Nets' loss to Phoenix.
Skiing
SUPER-G: Stephan Eberharter collected his third overall title of the year and fellow Austrian Michaela Dorfmeister won her second race in 24 hours as the world's best Alpine skiers wrapped up the super-G World Cup season.
Battling tricky weather conditions and a softening course, the 32-year-old Eberharter, who had clinched the overall and downhill titles on Wednesday, knew he only had to finish in the points to win the super-G title.
Iditarod: Linwood Fiedler was feeding his dogs and Martin Buser was playing with his team as a brisk wind blew through the Cripple checkpoint.
Buser, the three-time Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race champion from Big Lake, arrived at the race's halfway mark about an hour and a half in front of Fiedler, the Willow musher finished second last year to four-time champion Doug Swingley of Lincoln, Mont.