Dodger shortstop Mark Grudzielanek faces an assault...

Dodger shortstop Mark Grudzielanek faces an assault charge for allegedly punching a bar bouncer this week at Lahaina, Hawaii.

Grudzielanek was charged with misdemeanor third-degree assault and released early Wednesday after posting $200 bail. He is scheduled for a Dec. 22 hearing.

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The Cleveland Indians agreed to a two-year contract with Scott Kamieniecki, a deal worth about $3.8 million. . . . Reliever David Weathers decided to stay with the Milwaukee Brewers, agreeing to a $1.85-million, two-year contract. . . . Chicago White Sox outfielder Darrin Jackson, 36, said he is retiring to become a television broadcaster for the team.

Colleges

The chairman of a prominent Minneapolis law firm is expected to be hired as interim men’s athletic director at Minnesota, a published report says.

Tom Moe, chairman of the law firm Dorsey & Whitney, will replace Mark Dienhart, whose resignation is effective Monday, the Star Tribune of Minneapolis reported.

Moe met with university President Mark Yudof on Thursday, according to a university spokeswoman. She said the school would make no official announcement Thursday.

Moe did not immediately return a call from the Associated Press.

Wide receiver Danny Farmer and safety Joey Strycula were selected as the most valuable players on UCLA’s football team. . . . Mike DeBord, the offensive coordinator for Michigan during its national championship season of 1997, was named football coach at Central Michigan. . . . Utah State fired Coach Dave Arslanian midway through his four-year contract, with Montana Coach Mick Dennehy the apparent successor. . . . Colorado will play in the Insight.com Bowl in Tucson on Dec. 31, probably against Boston College.

Golf

Scotland’s Paul Lawrie shot a seven-under-par 65 to take a one-stroke lead over countryman Colin Montgomerie after the first round of the Million Dollar Challenge at Sun City, South Africa.

Lawrie, the British Open champion, had a round that included an eagle and six birdies over the 7,626-yard Gary Player Country Club course.

John Daly and Laura Davies combined for a best-ball round of eight-under 63 for a share of the lead in the JC Penney Classic at Palm Harbor, Fla.

Defending champions Steve Pate and Meg Mallon, and the team of Rory Sabbatini and Pat Hurst also opened with 63s.

Miscellany

New York’s Young America fell further behind in the America’s Cup challenger series, losing to Japan’s Nippon in the races off Auckland, New Zealand.

Bidding on the second Heisman Trophy ever offered to the public reached $153,000 late Thursday, with telephone bidding expected to continue into this morning. Larry Kelley, the former Yale star who won the trophy in 1936, put the cherished award up for auction after suffering a stroke. O.J. Simpson’s Heisman is the only other such trophy ever put up for sale.

The United States finished fourth at the men’s volleyball World Cup at Tokyo, missing an automatic berth for the 2000 Olympics. The team has two other chances to qualify for the Sydney Games.

Ascent Entertainment Group Inc. said it canceled a planned sale of its two sports teams and a sports arena to billionaire Donald Sturm after he couldn’t work out an agreement with the city of Denver.

Former major league infielder Gene Baker, who along with Ernie Banks broke the color barrier on the Chicago Cubs, has died of a heart attack in Davenport, Iowa. He was 74. . . . William “Pop” Gates, a former player-coach with the Harlem Globetrotters who was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame for his play in the pre-NBA days, died Thursday. He was 82. . . . Former Northwestern cornerback Gregory Gill was fined $5,000 and put on probation for committing perjury in a federal investigation of gambling by athletes at the school. . . . American Lance Armstrong is the first unanimous winner of the cyclist-of-the-year award in a poll of international sportswriters by the French cycling magazine Velo.