Samardzija opts to play for Cubs, not in the NFL

Jeff Samardzija has decided to give up football and stay with baseball.

The former Notre Dame receiver, projected as a first-round pick in the upcoming NFL draft, agreed to terms Friday on a $10-million, five-year contract to pitch for the Chicago Cubs.

“Baseball is my first love. I played it my whole life,” Samardzija said.

A 21-year-old right-hander, Samardzija was the Cubs’ fifth-round pick in last year’s amateur draft and had a 2.70 earned-run average in seven starts for their Class-A teams at Boise and Peoria.

He returned to Notre Dame for his senior season and caught 78 passes for 1,017 yards.

His deal includes a $2.5-million signing bonus and the Cubs hold options for the sixth and seventh seasons in 2012 and 2013. If the options are exercised, the deal would be worth $16.5 million over seven years.

Samardzija said there would be no returning to football, even though he’s headed for a stint in the minor leagues, probably starting at Class-A Daytona after spring training. The deal also includes a no-trade clause.

“He has offered at any time in the five-year period to give the [signing bonus] money back. He wanted to make everything clear that there wasn’t any turning back,” Cubs General Manager Jim Hendry said.

Samardzija’s fastball was clocked at 97 mph last summer and Hendry said the Cubs project him one day to a be a “high-end starter.”

Samardzija went 21-6 in 50 games for the Fighting Irish.

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Top pitching prospect Scott Elbert is one of five nonroster minor leaguers the Dodgers have invited to spring training, increasing the number of players who will report to Vero Beach, Fla., a month from now to 51. Elbert, a left-hander, was a first-round pick in 2004 who has climbed steadily through the farm system and could be ready for the major leagues by midseason. He split last season between Class-A Vero Beach and double-A Jacksonville, striking out 173 and giving up 97 hits in 146 innings.

Also invited to spring training are reliever Jonathan Meloan, infielders Tony Abreu and Chin-Lung Hu, and catcher A.J. Ellis.

Meloan, a reliever from the University of Arizona, has had two strong seasons since being taken in the fifth round of the 2005 draft and is a sleeper candidate to make the team. The right-hander had 91 strikeouts in 51 1/3 innings at three minor league stops last season, finishing the season at Jacksonville.

A surprise among players not invited to spring training is reliever Mark Alexander, who has 50 saves the last two seasons at Vero Beach, Jacksonville and triple-A Las Vegas.

-- Steve Henson

WINTER SPORTS

Mancuso wins second World Cup race in a row

Julia Mancuso of Olympic Valley, Calif., won a super-giant slalom at Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, after a 3 1/2 -hour rain delay, her second World Cup victory in a row.

It was the third victory this season for Mancuso, the gold medalist in giant slalom at last year’s Turin Olympics. She won a super-combined last Sunday in Altenmarkt, Austria, a day after finishing third in a downhill there.

Mancuso went down the Olympia delle Tofane course in 1 minute 16.25 seconds. Nicole Hosp was second, 0.33 of a second behind, and Renate Goetschl was third, 0.34 behind. Lindsey Kildow of Vail, Colo., tied for fourth with Andrea Fischbacher, 0.39 behind.

GOLF

Bryant shoots 63 for first-round lead

Brad Bryant shot a nine-under-par 63 at Kaupulehu-Kona, Hawaii, in the Champions Tour’s season-opening MasterCard Championship to take a two-stroke lead over defending champion Loren Roberts and Ben Crenshaw.

Bryant birdied six of the first seven holes to make the turn at 30. He capped his round by holing a dead-straight 58-foot birdie putt on No. 18.

The 63 matched a career low for Bryant. He shot a 63 in the 1995 Walt Disney World Classic, his only PGA Tour victory.

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Paraguay held a four-stroke lead after the first day of the Women’s World Cup of Golf at Sun City, South Africa. The U.S. team is 10 shots off the pace.

Pat Hurst shot a two-over 74 and Juli Inkster a 75 as the Americans struggled on a day when only five players in the 44-player field broke par at Gary Player Country Club.

Paraguay was at 139 behind Celeste Troche’s 69 and Julieta Granada’s 70. South Korea, with Ji Yai Shin shooting 71 and Young Kim 72, was second at 143.

The U.S. was at 149 and defending champion Sweden was at 157 after Helen Alfredsson shot a 78 and Carin Koch 79.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Reeves faces Shula in East-West game

Dan Reeves has the itch to coach again, so he’s treating today’s East-West Shrine Game at Houston as an audition.

Reeves, who is 63 and will direct the West team of college seniors, hasn’t been a head coach since 2003.

“At the time that I was fired in Atlanta, I needed a break,” Reeves said. “Twenty-three straight years as a head coach is very difficult.”

Don Shula will coach the East squad, and the 77-year-old Hall of Famer said he will slide back into retirement after the game.

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Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn will sit out the Jan. 27 Senior Bowl at Mobile, Ala., because of a minor knee injury.

MISCELLANY

Couch leads way into bowling finals

Jason Couch of Clermont, Fla., topped round-robin play at the Dick Weber Open at Fountain Bowl in Fountain Valley.

He will be joined in Sunday’s finals by Patrick Allen, Andrew Cain, Parker Bohn III and Walter Ray Williams.

Williams, the PBA Tour leader in victories, entered the final round of match play in 12th place.

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Carlos Sainz won the 13th stage of the Dakar Rally. Driving a Volkswagen, he finished the 160-mile route from Kayes, Mali, to Tambacounda, Senegal, in 2 hours 30 minutes 22 seconds -- 26 seconds ahead of Mitsubishi driver Stephane Peterhansel.

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The U.S. played to a 0-0 tie with Guatemala at Panama City, Panama, in CONCACAF qualifying for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Canada. The U.S. and Panama are tied for the group lead with four points. The top two teams advance.