Vancouver needs 2010 Olympic bailout
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- The western Canadian city of Vancouver is seeking a $458 million bailout loan to complete building Olympic Village for the 2010 Winter Games.
Mayor Gregor Robertson e-mailed British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell last week saying construction money will dry up next month, the Vancouver Sun reported Tuesday.
Robertson said the last of a $100 million civic loan to the project developer will be exhausted by Feb. 14, and the project's principal lenders, Fortress Investment Group, has cut off construction funding for undetermined reasons.
In correspondence seen by the Sun, provincial officials seemed open to providing loan funds, but with strict contractual terms in place. The provincial legislature is scheduled to reconvene Feb. 10.
Monday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in nearby Surrey, and was adamant federal funds would only be used for security measures.
"The federal government will not be financing cost overruns with the Olympic village," Harper said.
Ravens' ailing Brigance gets game ball
BALTIMORE, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- The game ball from the Baltimore Ravens' AFC playoff win over Tennessee last weekend when to its ailing director of player development, players said.
The Ravens' O.J. Brigance, who is wheelchair-bound and stricken with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease, was given the game ball by Pro Bowl safety Ed Reed after Baltimore's 13-10 win in the AFC divisional playoff in Nashville, The Sun newspaper in Baltimore reported Tuesday.
Brigance, 39, will be on the field when the Ravens face the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday for the AFC championship and a trip to the Super Bowl on the line despite experiencing difficulties in recent weeks in speaking clearly and loudly enough for normal conversation.
"You can hear a pin drop" whenever Brigance speaks, tight end Todd Heap told The Sun. "Everybody's talking, then everybody's listening, and all of us take it to heart when he talks."
"It's such an honor to be part of what they are," said Brigance, a former player who won a Super Bowl championship as a Raven in 2000. "It's very rare for a man to allow another man to impart words to him, to open themselves up to another's life, and it's very impressive to me."
Boston signs Smoltz to one-year deal
BOSTON, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- The Boston Red Sox Tuesday signed veteran right-handed pitcher John Smoltz to a one-year contract.
Smoltz, the 1996 Cy Young winner and the only Major League pitcher with at least 200 wins and 150 saves, underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair a shoulder injury last June after posting a 3-2 record with a 2.57 ERA in just five starts for the Atlanta Braves.
Terms of the contract were not announced but MLB.com indicated Smoltz would earn $5.5 million next season plus incentives.
"I'm doing great and I have, over the last five surgeries, been, I guess you could say, a quick healer and very determined to rehab," said Smoltz, who likely will not get his first start for the Red Sox until June.
Smoltz, 41, has a career regular-season record of 210-147, and helped the Braves to National League pennants in 1992, 1992, 1996 and 1999 and a World Series championship in 1995.
Braves sign RH pitcher Derek Lowe
ATLANTA, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Right-handed pitcher Derek Lowe has reached a four-year contract with the Atlanta Braves in a pact worth a reported $60 million.
The deal is contingent on Lowe, 35, passing a physical Wednesday, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Last season, Lowe posted a record of 14-11 with a 3.24 ERA for the NL West Champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
He went 1-1 in three post-season starts with 12 strikeouts and three walks.
Lowe has a career record of 126-107 with a 3.75 ERA in 255 starts for the Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox and Dodgers.
The Braves signed right-hander Javier Vazquez earlier in the off-season.
