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UPI NewsTrack Sports

Milwaukee pitcher Rick Helling retires

FARGO, N.D., Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Rick Helling, who was 0-2 in 20 games with the Brewers in 2006, is retiring after 12 years in the majors.

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Helling, a right-hander with a career 93-81 record, missed most of the last three months of the season with an elbow injury and underwent knee surgery in September.

His best season was with the Texas Rangers in 1998, when he went 20-17 with a 4.41 earned run average in 33 starts. He threw two shutouts.

Helling missed all of the 2004 season with a broken leg.

He was a member of the Florida Marlins' World Series championship teams in 1997 and 2003 and also pitched for Arizona and Baltimore.

Helling said he had declined offers to go to spring training from the Marlins and the Cincinnati Reds, the Fargo (N.D.) Forum said.


Staudacher wins world skiing super-G

AARE, Sweden, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Italian Patrick Staudacher, a virtual unknown in alpine skiing, Tuesday won the men's super-G at the world championships in Aare, Sweden.

Staudacher, 26, finished in 1 minute 41:30, ahead of favorites Austrian Fritz Strobl and Switzerland's Bruno Kernen, with Bode Miller of the United States in 24th place, 1.34 seconds behind the leader.

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"I can't believe it. I have to get my head around this," Staudacher, a part-time rock musician, told the Italian news agency ANSA.

He is the first Italian ever to win gold in the super-G. Former Italian ski great Alberto Tomba finished fifth in the 1989 world championship in Vail, Colo.


U.S. tycoons buy Liverpool soccer club

LIVERPOOL, England, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Two U.S. sports team owners are buying the Liverpool soccer club of the English Premiership for $340 million.

Texas Rangers baseball team owner George Gillett and Tom Hicks, owner of the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League, will become co-chairmen of the soccer team and each will have one son on Liverpool's board.

Liverpool is currently third in the Premiership standings behind Manchester United and Chelsea, and is about to break ground on a new 60,000-seat stadium.

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez was expected to be retained and the new ownership was considering selling naming rights to the stadium to provide additional funding for team operations.


Phoenix Coyotes recall defenseman Jones

GLENDALE, Ariz., Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Phoenix Coyotes defenseman Matt Jones Tuesday was recalled from the NHL team's American Hockey League affiliate, the San Antonio Rampage.

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Jones appeared in 24 games with the Rampage and had two assists.

The 6-foot, 215-pound University of North Dakota product has a goal and two assists in 23 games with the Coyotes this season. He scored his first NHL goal on Oct. 28 against the New York Rangers.

Jones was selected third by Phoenix in the 2002 NHL entry draft.

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