Chris Simms to start at QB for Tampa Bay
TAMPA, Fla., Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Chris Simms will start as quarterback for the winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers against New Orleans Sunday.
Simms, a second-year pro, will be making his first NFL start. He takes over at quarterback from Brad Johnson.
"I just want to get in there and maybe give a little spark, change things up and give us a new attitude," Simms said Wednesday. "I played a lot in the pre-season and I know how to play quarterback. I'm not going to make too many mistakes."
The quarterbacks were told of the switch Tuesday by Coach Jon Gruden.
The Buccaneers have averaged just 12.3 points a game this season. Johnson has thrown for 674 yards and three touchdowns. He has been intercepted three times and sacked eight times.
Tampa Bay is 0-4.
Simms made his NFL debut Sept. 19, playing most of the last three quarters in Tampa Bay's 10-6 loss to Seattle.
Tiger Woods marries in Barbados
ST. JAMES, Barbados, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Golf star Tiger Woods has married Swedish girlfriend Elin Nordegren in a $1.78 million ceremony in Barbados, it was reported Wednesday.
The Caribbean Broadcasting Corp. reported the couple exchanged vows at sunset Tuesday under an arch of flowers at the Sandy Lane Hotel in St. James.
Woods rented the hotel's entire 112 rooms for his guests for several days. The rooms at the hotel go for $700 to $8,000 per night, according to the hotel's Web site.
The guests included former U.S. basketball stars Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley, American talk-show host and media entrepreneur Oprah Winfrey and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
Accordingly, local media said there was a large presence of private security personnel keeping everyone at a distance.
The couple are believed to be spending their honeymoon aboard a yacht Woods rented for two weeks.
Before the marriage, Woods came to a prenuptial agreement with his fiancee to regulate financial claims in the case of a breakup, the British newspaper The Sun reported.
Woods is one of the world's wealthiest athletes with an estimated worth of $370 million.
S.C.'s Pinkins may miss Ole Miss game
COLUMBIA, S.C., Oct. 6 (UPI) -- South Carolina quarterback Dondrial Pinkins may not play against Mississippi Saturday because of a bruised right shoulder.
Coach Lou Holtz said after practice Tuesday that Pinkins' status is doubtbul. The 6-2, 245-pound senior did not participate in the practice session.
"If Dondrial isn't able to play, we will really miss him," Holtz said."It's very reassuring to have him over there on the sidelines, even if he's not in the game. He has done a very good job of protecting the football thus far this year. We don't want to rush him along. Let's get the thing (shoulder) healthy."
Holtz said starting wide receiver Matthew Thomas has been suspended for a minimum of three weeks for "class attendance and other academic reasons." Also, red-shirt freshman defensive back Ty Erving is not with the team for "personal reasons."
The Gamecocks are 4-1, 3-1 SEC.
Al Michaels gets star on Walk of Fame
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Longtime ABC sportscaster Al Michaels Wednesday became the 2,266th person to be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The versatile Michaels, who has been the No. 1 anchor on Monday Night Football for nearly two decades, has won four Emmy Awards and the National Sportscasters Sportswriters Association Award three times.
In 1989, Michaels got a news Emmy award for his coverage of the San Francisco earthquake during the World Series between Oakland and San Francisco.
Michaels, a New York City native, began his career in 1968.
