Auto racing
HERTA RETURNS: Bryan Herta will return to Andretti Green Racing as the team's fourth driver for the 2004 IRL season. Herta started 11 races this year in place of the injured Dario Franchitti.
Herta made his Indy Racing League debut with Andretti Green Racing in June at Texas Motor Speedway. He won the Indy 300 in Kansas City, Kan., in July and recorded six top-five finishes. He is a veteran of the CART series, with wins at Laguna Seca in 1998 and 1999 and 22 top-five finishes.
DAYTONA MARSHAL: Ben Affleck will be the grand marshal at the Daytona 500. The actor and NASCAR fan will begin the Feb. 15 race with the traditional command to the 43-car field: "Gentlemen, start your engines." Affleck is the second movie star in a row to handle grand marshal duties for the famed race at Daytona International Speedway, following John Travolta last year.
Boxing
TITLE DEFENDED: Mahyar Monshipour of France stopped Jairo Tagliaffero of Venezuela to defend his WBA super bantamweight title Tuesday in Paris. Tagliaffero quit at the start of the eighth round.
It was Monshipour's first title defense since he knocked out countryman Salim Medjkoune in July to win the belt. Monshipour is 24-2-2.
Tennis
NOT GUILTY PLEA: The man accused of killing the sister of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams pleaded not guilty Tuesday.
A Jan. 15 pretrial hearing was scheduled for Aaron Michael Hammer. He could face life in prison if convicted of murdering Yetunde Price, 31, who was shot in September.
Price was a registered nurse and beauty shop owner. She also was a personal assistant to her sisters.
Cycling
LANCE IS TOPS: Lance Armstrong is the kids' choice. The cycling great was chosen by readers of Sports Illustrated For Kids as the athlete of the year, edging Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Armstrong, who won his fifth straight Tour de France title last summer, received 8,599 votes of more than 43,000 cast. Pujols was second, followed by LeBron James, Jason Kidd, Michael Vick and Roger Clemens. Last year's winner was Shaquille O'Neal.
Skiing
MAIER HONORED: Hermann Maier's hometown of Flachau, Austria, named a ski slope after the triple World Cup winner on Tuesday.
A challenging hill on the Griessenkar mountain was dubbed the "Hermann Maier World Cup Slope" leading toward World Cup races there in January. Maier has yet to win a race in his hometown, but the double Olympic champion is convinced he can do so this time.
"Nobody in the circuit has skied down here more often than I have," he told the Austria Press Agency.
Golf
WOODS HONORED: Tiger Woods picked up another Player of the Year award Tuesday, and this vote wasn't even close. Woods was honored by the Golf Writers Association of America for a record fifth straight year.
He also won player of the year from the PGA of America and the PGA Tour.