World Series begins Saturday
PHOENIX, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- The Arizona Diamondbacks will rely on Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson to topple a dynasty. The New York Yankees will rely on a four-man rotation and baseball's premier closer.
The World Series between the tradition-rich Yankees, winners of three straight championships and four in the last five years under Joe Torre, and the Diamondbacks, the fastest expansion team to reach the Fall Classic, begins Saturday at Bank One Ballpark.
The Yankees are the first team to reach the World Series four straight seasons since the franchise did so from 1960-64. They won four consecutive World Series championships from 1936-39 and five straight from 1949-53.
Arizona manager Bob Brenly will give Schilling the first crack at the Yankees in Game 1. The hard-throwing righthander has recorded three complete game wins in Arizona's playoff run, allowing just two runs in 27 innings for a 0.67 ERA.
But the Yankees will counter with Mike Mussina, who is 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA in the postseason. With the Yankees facing elimination in the American League Division Series, Mussina tossed seven scoreless innings in a 1-0 victory over the Oakland Athletics and allowed two runs over six innings in a victory at Seattle in the AL Championship Series.
Johnson's turn for Arizona comes in Game 2 on Sunday. The three-time Cy Young Award winning lefthander is 2-1 with a 1.88 ERA in the postseason and won the National League Championship Series clincher over Atlanta last Sunday.
Lefthander Andy Pettitte, the ALCS Most Valuable Player, will start Game 2 for New York.
Oklahoma meets Nebraska in showdown
LINCOLN, Neb., Oct. 26 (UPI) -- Second-ranked Oklahoma takes a 20-game winning streak to Memorial Stadium to play third-ranked Nebraska Saturday, highlighting a huge weekend that includes six matchups between ranked teams.
The marquee encounters will help to reshape the Bowl Championship Series rankings, where the Sooners and Cornhuskers placed first and second in the initial poll for the second straight year.
Miami, ranked first in both the coaches' and media polls, is just fourth in the BCS, but has an excellent chance to move up next week since either Nebraska or Oklahoma will lose this weekend.
The Hurricanes (6-0) opened the weekend Thursday night by coasting to a 45-3 victory over Big East Conference foe West Virginia.
The Sooners (7-0) are in contention for a second straight national title, a feat last accomplished by Nebraska in 1994 and 1995.
But they will have to go through Nebraska (8-0, 4-0 North) and may even have to beat them twice. A loss by either team would drop them into no worse than a first-place tie in their respective divisions. The teams could meet again in the Big 12 title game on Dec. 1.
Other top attractions Saturday include No. 4 Virginia Tech at home against Syracuse, No. 5 UCLA visiting No. 22 Stanford, No. 6 Florida hosting No. 16 Georgia, No. 9 Tennessee entertaining No. 14 South Carolina and No. 12 Maryland at No. 18 Florida State.
American Olympic bid cities trimmed
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- The United States Olympic Committee Executive Committee today selected Houston, New York, San Francisco and Washington to continue their quests to be named the U.S. bid city for the 2012 Olympic Games.
The city that will ultimately represent the USA in an international bid to host the Games of the XXXth Olympiad will not be chosen by the USOC until late in 2002. The International Olympic Committee will name the host city for 2012 Games in 2005.
An unprecedented eight cities had sought the U.S. designation. Following a report by Olympian Charles Moore, chairman of the USOC's Bid Evaluation Task Force, the executive committee voted to reduce the candidate list to four and eliminated Cincinnati, Dallas, Los Angeles and Tampa from consideration for 2012.
Breeders' Cup races set for Saturday
ELMONT, N.Y. Oct. 26 (UPI) -- The 18th running of the Breeders' Cup, an eight-race program featuring many of the best horses in the world, will take place Saturday at Belmont Park.
Among those in the spotlight will be Bobby Frankel, a respected trainer with 13 Grade I stakes wins this season but whose record for futility in the Breeders' Cup is fast approaching the length of a Joe DiMaggio hitting streak.
Thirty-six times Frankel has taken a horse to the post, and 36 times he has come away empty.
But Frankel will saddle three favorites Saturday, including Aptitude, a 2-1 morning-line favorite in the $4 million Classic.
Frankel's day gets underway when he saddles Kentucky Oaks and Alabama Stakes winner Flute as the 5-to-2 favorite in the $2 million Distaff, breaking from the second post in the 1 1/8-mile race.
Frankel also will saddle You, which landed post 5 and was pegged as the 8-5 favorite in the $1 million Juvenille Fillies.
But the path to victory got a little tougher Wednesday when Aptitude drew the difficult 12th post.
Love leads Buick Challenge
PINE MOUNTAIN, Ga., Oct. 26 (UPI) -- Davis Love III overcame cool, windy conditions today to fire a 10-under 62 to take a one-shot lead over Vijay Singh and Chris DiMarco midway through the Buick Challenge.
Ranked fifth in the world, Love has one win and three runner-up finishes this season.
"I hit it the best I have hit it all year," said Love, who was at 14-under 130 after two rounds.
Love had five birdies in the first seven holes and five more in a seven-hole stretch on the back nine, using his length off the tee to set up several birdie opportunities on a windy day at Callaway Gardens.
Singh also used his length and iron game to conquer the wind and shoot a 67, getting him to 13-under 131. He has 13 top-10 finishes in 24 PGA Tour starts this season but has not won on the circuit since last year's Masters. He does have two European Tour victories this year.
DiMarco had a pair of bogeys Friday, but offset them with an eagle and eight birdies en route to a 64.
Neal Lancaster was alone in fourth at 132 while Joel Edwards and Jeff Maggert were at 133.
Atwood wins first NASCAR pole
PHOENIX, Ariz., Oct. 26 (UPI) -- Rookie Casey Atwood won his first career NASCAR Winston Cup pole today in qualifying for Sunday's Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.
Atwood became the 17th different driver to win a Winston Cup pole this season, driving his Dodge around the 1.0-mile track at 131.296 miles per hour.
Fellow Dodge driver John Andretti was second at 131.071 mph, followed by Jeff Burton in a Ford at 130.976 mph. Rusty Wallace was fourth in a Ford at 130.933 mph, with Ross Thompson fifth at 130.804 mph.
Leon Searcy out for the year
OWINGS MILLS, Md., Oct. 26 (UPI) -- Baltimore Ravens veteran tackle Leon Searcy suffered a partial re-rupture of his triceps tendon this week and will miss the rest of the season.
The Ravens today placed Searcy on injured reserve and signed kicker Danny Kight.
Kight will handle kickoff duties for Baltimore's game against Jacksonville on Sunday. Regular kicker Matt Stover has a strained quadriceps that has affected his distance on kickoffs.
Searcy signed as a free agent with the Ravens in the offseason and was expected to start at right tackle, but suffered a torn left triceps muscle during the club's first intrasquad scrimmage and underwent surgery.
NFL fines two players
NEW YORK, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- The NFL announced today that Denver Broncos tackle Matt Lepsis had been fined $15,000 for a block which caused a former teammate to suffer a broken ankle.
Lepsis rolled into the back of defensive tackle Maa Tanuvasa's leg in the third quarter of Denver's 27-10 loss to the San Diego Chargers last Sunday. No flag was thrown on the play.
Chargers coach Mike Riley complained to the NFL for what he thought was "an illegal cut" by Lepsis. After reviewing the videotape, the NFL fined Lepsis for unnecessary roughness.
Tanuvasa, a former Bronco, underwent surgery and was placed on injured reserve.
The NFL also fined Chargers safety Rodney Harrison $12,500 for using his forearm to hit Broncos receiver Eddie Kennison in the head on the game's first play from scrimmage. Kennison suffered a concussion.
Harrison was not penalized on the play.
Gatling part of three-team trade
CLEVELAND, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- Veteran big man Chris Gatling was included in a sign-and-trade deal today , going from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Miami Heat as part of a five-player, three-team transaction.
Gatling, who has played for eight teams in a 10-year career, was a member of the Heat during the 1995-96 season and averaged 15.2 points, 7.3 rebounds and 23.5 minutes in 24 contests.
As part of the deal, the Heat sent guard Ricky Davis to the Cavaliers and forward Don MacLean to the Toronto Raptors. The Cavs also acquired forward-center Brian Skinner from the Raptors.
The 6-10 Gatling became a free agent after averaging 11.4 points and 5.3 rebounds in 74 games for the Cavaliers last season. He joined Cleveland in a deal with Miami on Aug. 30 of last year.
This will be Gatling's eighth team change in seven seasons. He began his career with Golden State (1991-96) before making stops in Miami, Dallas, New Jersey, Milwaukee, Orlando, Denver and Cleveland.
Gatling's best season came in 1996-97. He averaged 19.1 points and 7.9 rebounds in 44 games for the Mavericks en route to his only All-Star Game, but was traded to the Nets shortly after the mid-season break.
Venus Williams withdraws again
MUNICH, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- Venus Williams, the No. 4 player in the world, has withdrawn from next week's season-ending Sanex Championships due to an irritated left wrist.
Williams also skipped this week's Generali Ladies Linz event in Austria to rest the wrist in hopes of playing in Munich.
"Especially in view of Venus' repeated confirmations to play in the Sanex Championships, this is very disappointing news for the Tour, our title sponser Sanex, the event's organizers and the people of Munich," WTA Tour CEO Bart McGuire said.
By withdrawing, Williams could cost herself $140,000 in year-end bonus money. Bonuses are awarded to top-ranked players who fulfill their commitments to play in a minimum number of 17 tournaments per year.
Venus and her sister, Serena, who played for the U.S. Open title in September, have both been criticized in recent years for their propensity to skip tournaments or pull out because of questionable ailments.
