Moss Unlikely to Receive New Deal Before Season

Red McCombs, owner of the Minnesota Vikings, is no longer optimistic that all-pro receiver Randy Moss will agree to a new contract before next season.

McCombs told the St. Paul Pioneer Press on Wednesday that contract talks with Moss’ agent, Dante DiTrapano, have “died down.”

“I doubt a deal will get done before the season starts,” McCombs said. “If it doesn’t get done before then, we’re going to wait until the end of the season to get a deal done.”

DiTrapano said recently that Moss wants to become the highest-paid player in the NFL. Moss, who has 43 touchdowns and 4,163 yards in his first three seasons, is set to make a base salary of $3.5 million in 2001, the final season of a four-year contract.

Thursday night, Moss played 21 minutes for the Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs of the U.S. Basketball League and had seven points, four rebounds and two assists.

Wide receiver Irving Fryar said he plans to retire from the NFL again rather than play one more season with the Washington Redskins. . . . The Pittsburgh Steelers signed running back Ron Rivers. . . . The Philadelphia Eagles signed running back Correll Buckhalter, their fourth-round draft pick, to a three-year contract. . . . Safety Devin Bush of the St. Louis Rams restructured his contract at a lower salary to stay with the team, rather than test the crowded free-agent market for safeties, agent Scott Helfand said. . . . The Cleveland Browns signed former Pro Bowl offensive guard Tre Johnson to a one-year contract. . . . The Cincinnati Bengals said they reached an agreement in principle on a two-year contract with defensive lineman John Copeland, who was released by the team last month.

Tennis

Pete Sampras, eliminated in the first round of his previous clay-court tournaments, used a rare drop shot at a key point in a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Sebastien Grosjean of France in the World Team Cup at Duesseldorf, Germany.

The event is a final tuneup on clay for the French Open.

The United States was 2-1 in round-robin play in the Red Group, tied with Russia. But the Russians advanced to the final by virtue of defeating the Americans in head-to-head play.

Magnus Gustafsson of Sweden defeated defending champion Andrei Pavel of Romania, 7-6 (7), 6-3, to reach the semifinals in the Raiffeisen Grand Prix at St. Poelten, Austria. . . . Second-seeded Arantxa Sanchez Vicario defeated Lisa Raymond, 6-3, 6-4, to reach the semifinals of the Spanish Open at Madrid. . . . Nathalie Tauziat of France rallied to beat Meghann Shaughnessy, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 7-5, to reach the semifinals of the Strasbourg Open in France.

Prize money for the U.S. Open will increase by 5% this year to $15.8 million, keeping the purse for the national tennis championship the highest in all sports.

Oliver Maiberger of San Diego State defeated defending champion Alex Kim of Stanford, 7-5, 6-2, in the first round of the NCAA men’s championships at Athens, Ga. Top-seeded Marco Baron of Mississippi State advanced with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Ryan Moore of USC. Among the other winners was Jean-Noel Grinda of UCLA, who defeated sixth-seeded Oskar Johansson of Arkansas, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2.

Top-seeded Laura Granville of Stanford defeated Adria Engel of Arizona State, 6-4, 6-2, but second-seeded Ansley Cargill of Duke was upset by Bea Bielik of Wake Forest, 7-5, 6-4, in the quarterfinals of the NCAA women’s championships at Stone Mountain, Ga.

Corina Morariu, who teamed with Lindsay Davenport to win the Wimbledon women’s doubles championship in 1999, was in serious but stable condition in Miami after receiving heavy doses of chemotherapy to treat a rare form of leukemia.

Albin Morariu, Corina’s father and a neurologist, said his daughter became very sick the last few days after returning to her Boca Raton home from a match in Germany two weeks ago. She complained of fatigue and nosebleeds, he said.

Albin Morariu said his daughter has a “fighting chance” of sending the disease, known as Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia, into remission. She is being treated at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.

Corina Morariu, 23, won this year’s Australian Open mixed doubles title with Ellis Ferreira.

Basketball

The Sparks trimmed veterans Paige Sauer and E.C. Hill and rookie Kiesha Brown from their roster. They need to make one more cut to reach the required 11 players for their regular-season opener Monday against the Houston Comets at Houston.

The Chicago Bulls are interested in having a WNBA team in the city but want to gauge fan interest before applying for a franchise. The Bulls have started a waiting list for season tickets, requiring those interested to pay $100 per season ticket. Their goal is to receive commitments for 7,500 season tickets.

Andre Sweet, a Duke freshman forward who was suspended indefinitely last season for academic reasons, has decided to leave the school.

Former Oregon women’s coach Jody Runge will receive more than $520,000 in a settlement agreement with the school. Runge, who resigned April 30, will receive a $70,000 lump-sum payment, a $100,000 annuity and monthly payments of $11,667 for 2 1/2 years. Runge agreed to resign after more than two months of turmoil that began March 4 when eight players complained of verbal abuse and asked that she be fired.

Miscellany

Newly acquired forward Onandi Lowe scored a goal in injury time as the Kansas City Wizards defeated the New York-New Jersey MetroStars, 1-0, in Major League Soccer at Kansas City, Mo. . . . In the WUSA, Cindy Parlow scored on the first shot of the game and Briana Scurry had her fourth shutout of the season as the Atlanta Charge defeated the Philadelphia Beat, 2-0, at Villanova, Pa.

Former Oakland Raider quarterback Kenny Stabler was arrested early Saturday morning for driving under the influence, police in Orange Beach, Ala., said.

Stabler, who played at Alabama, was also charged with illegal possession of a prescription drug, Orange Beach assistant police chief Gregory Duck said. He wouldn’t say what kind of prescription drug, only that it was found in an unmarked container.

A Web site that posted graphic autopsy photos of a NASCAR racer killed in a crash at Daytona International Speedway in 1994 is being sued by the driver’s father.

The lawsuit filed in Flagler County Circuit Court in Bunnell, Fla., by Beacher Orr could eventually force Michael Uribe, the president of a DeLand-based Web site, to remove the photos and pay punitive damages to the family of Rodney Orr.

Ivan Quaranta of Italy edged countryman Mario Cipollini in a sprint to the finish of the fifth stage of the Giro d’Italia, while Dario Frigo retained the overall lead in the cycling race.