NFL, MLS pioneer Hunt, 74, is battling for his life

American soccer and football pioneer Lamar Hunt was fighting for his life in a Dallas hospital Tuesday, and friends and family of the 74-year-old owner of Major League Soccer and NFL teams were hoping for “miracles.”

Hunt has battled cancer for several years and was hospitalized Nov. 22 with a partially collapsed lung. Doctors discovered that the cancer has since spread, and Hunt has been under sedation since last week.

“They’re trying to make him as comfortable as possible,” said Carl Peterson, president and general manager of Hunt’s Kansas City Chiefs. “He’s battling a very courageous fight. We’ll continue to hope that miracles will happen.”

A founding member of the old North American Soccer League as owner of the Dallas Tornado in 1967, Hunt also started the Columbus Crew and Kansas City Wizards as a charter investor in Major League Soccer. He later bought FC Dallas in 2003 before selling the Wizards earlier this year.

SOCCER

Adu says 2007 season could be his last in MLS

Freddy Adu says Real Salt Lake is the best place for him to play, and he’ll be there through the 2007 MLS season. Beyond that, it’s anybody’s guess.

“I don’t know what happens in June. I’m sitting back and waiting too,” the 17-year-old midfielder said. “The most important thing for me is to make sure this team makes it to the playoffs.”

He was traded to Real on Monday after three sometimes tumultuous years with D.C. United. The one-year contract has options through 2009, but Adu becomes eligible to play outside the U.S. when he turns 18 in June. MLS’ season runs from April to November.

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Brazil will declare its bid to host the 2014 World Cup today, hoping to return soccer’s showcase event to the country for the first time since 1950.

Brazilian Soccer Confederation President Ricardo Teixeira will present the bid to FIFA in Tokyo, where many officials from the ruling body are attending the Club World Cup. FIFA will announce the 2014 host in November. As part of FIFA’s continental rotation policy, the 2014 championship is set for South America. The 2010 Cup is scheduled for South Africa.

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Colombia has settled on Jorge Luis Pinto, coach of local club Cucuta Deportivo, to lead its struggling national team back to the World Cup for the first time since 1998.

MISCELLANY

Family thanks those who searched for daughter

The family of Canadian hockey great Bob Gainey thanked supportive fans and those who helped search for his daughter, who has been missing since a huge wave swept her overboard a ship in the Atlantic.

Laura Gainey was on the deck Friday night of the 180-foot tall ship Picton Castle when the wave hit the ship. She was wearing protective clothing but no lifejacket at the time. The U.S. Coast Guard called off the search for Gainey, 25, on Monday night.

In their first comments since the incident 475 miles off Cape Cod, the Montreal Canadiens general manager and his three other children thanked “all the people who have been involved in the search for our darling Laura.”

“Their extensive efforts and their tremendous support throughout this ordeal will never be forgotten,” the family said in a statement released by the Canadiens. “We would particularly like to thank the United States Coast Guard and the Canadian Forces’ Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Halifax for their extraordinary efforts.

“We are also very grateful to the entire crew of the Picton Castle and the merchant ships that graciously volunteered their time and resources.”

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Barbaro continues gaining strength in his right hind leg since having his cast removed last month, another encouraging sign for the Kentucky Derby winner.

Nearly seven months into his stay at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center, Barbaro’s veterinarians said the colt continues to recover gradually.

“Barbaro will need a special shoe on his right hind foot that will provide extra support for at least the next several months,” said Dean Richardson, chief surgeon at the New Bolton Center.

Barbaro’s laminitis-stricken left hind foot also continues to improve.

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China’s Communist Party has expelled the fired vice mayor of Beijing who oversaw Olympic construction projects and handed him over to prosecutors on bribery and other charges, state television reported.

Liu Zhihua, who was fired suddenly in June for unspecified corrupt acts, took the equivalent of millions of dollars in bribes and “helped his mistress to seek profit in projects,” state television said in an evening news report.

Although it did not elaborate, it was the first time any details have been released about Liu’s case, which has reverberated deeply within the government.

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In tennis, Zina Garrison will stay on as the United States’ Fed Cup captain under a one-year contract extension, the Associated Press reported. The official announcement is expected today. The U.S. team will host Belgium on April 21-22 in the first round of the 2007 tournament. The United States has won the Fed Cup 17 times, but not since 2000. Garrison was hired to replace Billie Jean King as captain in December 2003, after having worked as an assistant to King since 1999.

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The Chicago Sky of the WNBA hired Bo Overton as coach and general manager, replacing Dave Cowens.