National Digest
Kenseth wins
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Matt Kenseth has won the rain-shortened Daytona 500, taking over the lead two laps before NASCAR stopped the season-opening event.
As drivers climbed from their cars to await NASCAR’s decision on whether to restart the race, Kenseth sat patiently inside his parked Ford on pit road.
When NASCAR declared it over, the 2003 Cup champion tearfully climbed from his car to celebrate his first victory in NASCAR’s version of the Super Bowl. It was also the first Daytona 500 win for team owner Jack Roush.
Kenseth snaps a 36-race winless streak with the victory.
Co-MVPs
PHOENIX (AP) — Together again, Kobe and Shaq led the West to victory in the All-Star Game.
Kobe Bryant scored 27 points and Shaquille O’Neal had 17 for a West team that dominated the East 146-119 on Sunday night. Amare Stoudemire, rumored to be traded in the next few days by Phoenix, added 19 points in what might be his final game as a member of the Suns.
LeBron James scored 20 for the East. Paul Pierce and Dwyane Wade added 18 apiece.
Fired
PHOENIX (AP) — Terry Porter says he’s been dismissed as coach of the Phoenix Suns.
Porter told The Associated Press on Monday morning that he was informed of the decision in a Sunday night meeting with Suns general manager Steve Kerr.
“I’m going to wait a few days to gather my thoughts before I say anything,” Porter said.
Assistant coach Alvin Gentry replaces Porter.
The Suns have not yet made an announcement concerning their coaching situation.
Porter was four months into his first season of a three-year, $6 million contract he signed when he replaced Mike D’Antoni, who left after four highly successful seasons to coach the New York Knicks.
PHOENIX (AP) — David Stern realizes the financial crisis makes growth difficult, so he’ll settle for not losing much.
The NBA commissioner said Saturday that his league is holding steady and will continue to do so, even during a worldwide economic downturn that has put many big businesses in jeopardy.
“I always get into trouble saying this,” Stern said. “I have been concerned for 25 years, and so I always worry about everything. But all I can say is that in a difficult economic environment we are going to maintain our attendance and our revenues, even last year.”
Stern said the league was forecasting more robust growth in September before the markets collapsed. Instead, he predicted the NBA will “be even rather than up because of the overall economic situation.”
“The stock market is down 30 or 40 percent,” he said. “The fact that we may be flat or down a percent or 2, I’d sign up for it now in this environment for a long time because we just don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Overall, Stern was in good spirits during his annual state of the league remarks at All-Star weekend. The press conference was highlighted by an emotional moment when he announced the NBA finals MVP award would be named for Bill Russell — who never won one because the league didn’t start giving them out until the Boston Celtics great had already claimed almost all of his 11 NBA titles.
Also:
—Stern said the Sunday night games during the NBA finals would begin at 8 p.m. EST, an hour earlier than the other start times.
FOOTBALL
CULVER CITY, Calif. (AP) — Buffalo Bills running back Marshawn Lynch was arrested in Southern California on a weapons charge, police said Sunday.
Police said Lynch was arrested Wednesday night after officers approached him and two other men sitting in a 2006 Mercedes-Benz in this Los Angeles suburb and found a loaded firearm.
Lynch was arrested after officers determined the gun belonged to him. He was released that night on $35,000 bail.
Culver City police did not immediately return a phone message seeking information about why officers approached Lynch and his companions.
Lynch’s lawyer, M. Gerald Schwartzbach, said his client was not involved in a traffic incident. Schwartzbach said the player was in California to visit friends.
A Bills spokesman had no comment.
BASKETBALL
PHOENIX (AP) — Call him Krypto-Nate.
Nate Robinson tugged on Superman’s cape — and won.
The diminutive New York Knicks guard beat defending champion Dwight Howard of Orlando in an electrifying slam dunk contest on Saturday night, winning 52 percent of fans’ votes.
Clad in an all-green Knicks uniform with green shoes, the 5-foot-9 Robinson springboarded over the 6-foot-11 Howard to jam.
Robinson, who also won in 2006, pitched the idea to Orlando’s big man on Friday.
Howard seemed destined for another victory after scoring a perfect 50 on both of his first-round dunks.
The All-Star center performed the most theatrical dunk of the night in the opening round. He disappeared into a phone booth just off the court, emerging with a Superman cape, and waved his arms to the crowd as an 11-foot basket was wheeled onto the floor.
He then took a bounce pass from teammate Jameer Nelson and tomahawked a dunk as U.S. Airways Center exploded.
GOLF
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) — The Masters and British Open, two majors with the most global influence, announced Sunday night a new Asian Amateur Championship that they hope will stimulate growth in a market teeming with potential.
Augusta National chairman Billy Payne and Royal & Ancient chief executive Peter Dawson said their clubs will finance and operate the new tournament, to be played Oct. 29 at Mission Hills in China.
The winner will receive an invitation to the Masters and an exemption to the final stage of qualifying for the British Open.
It will be the first time since 1989 that Augusta National has expanded its invitations to amateurs. It now invites the U.S. Amateur champion and runner-up, and winners of the British Amateur, U.S. Mid-Amateur and U.S. Amateur Public Links.
CYCLING
SANTA ROSA, Calif. (AP) — Lance Armstrong’s time-trial bike was stolen from the Team Astana truck during the night before Stage 1 of the Tour of California.
Armstrong rode the bike to a 10th-place finish Saturday in Sacramento during the Tour prologue. The race is his first competitive appearance in his native country since the seven-time Tour de France winner began his cycling comeback last month.
A few hours after the time trial, someone removed four bikes from the Astana truck outside the team hotel in Sacramento. Armstrong’s time-trial bike, which was closest to the door because he was delayed by a post-race trip to doping control, was taken along with race bikes belonging to Astana teammates Steve Morabito, Yaroslav Popovych and Janez Brajkovic.
Astana spokesman Philippe Maertens confirmed the theft to The Associated Press after it was reported by Armstrong himself on his Twitter feed. Armstrong later posted a picture of the bike, which has distinctive yellow-and-black wheels and the logo of his Livestrong foundation.
HOCKEY
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Controversial forward Sean Avery appeared in his first competitive hockey game in two months with the American Hockey League’s Hartford Wolfpack on Saturday night.
Avery was involved in two minor scrapes in Hartford’s 2-1 loss to the Manitoba Moose in front of 5,899 fans.
Avery, who was suspended by the NHL for six games in December for making a crude remark about other hockey players dating his former girlfriends, did not start but played significant time and had two shots on goal.
After entering 1 minute, 43 seconds into the game, Avery soon found himself in a pile up behind the Manitoba net before a few teammates were quick to attract the attention of several Moose players away from the 28-year-old left winger.
With 2:23 remaining in the second period, Avery was quick to come to the defense of his new teammates, thrusting himself into the middle of another fracas behind the Moose net, and trading shoves with several Manitoba skaters.
