Chicago’s Olympic details unveiled

Plans for Chicago’s Olympic Stadium project as part of its bid for the 2016 Olympics were slightly adjusted downward in scale, according to committee officials.

Details of the south side stadium proposal were unveiled, in addition to other aspects of the bid, at a news conference Tuesday in Chicago. Los Angeles and Chicago have submitted bid books to the USOC, in another step for the two cities vying to become the U.S. candidate, to be decided April 14.

The Olympic Stadium will be a temporary structure in Washington Park, seating 80,000. Following the Games, the facility will be dismantled and a 5,000-seat amphitheater will be built. Total cost for those two projects has hit $366 million, and the Olympic Village will be a $1.1-billion venture.

Previously, the temporary stadium was to have seated 95,000 and the permanent amphitheater, 10,000.

Chicago bid Chairman Patrick Ryan said they were putting down the blueprint for future Olympic cities, that there won’t be a White Elephant left behind afterward. He also said the necessary hurdles of the city approval process will be met in short order.

“We’re leaving nothing to the imagination,” Ryan said. “We’ll have it documented by March 31.... We will have it all nailed down.”

-- Lisa Dillman

**

BASEBALL

Dodgers sign Tatis to minor league deal

The Dodgers signed journeyman Fernando Tatis to a minor league contract and invited him to spring training.

Tatis has played third base most of his career but reinvented himself as a utility player last season, playing five positions in 28 games for the Baltimore Orioles.

Tatis, an eight-year veteran who sat out the 2004 and 2005 seasons, is best remembered by Dodgers followers for the two grand slams he hit in one inning against Chan Ho Park on April 23, 1999. He is the only player in major league history to accomplish the feat.

Tatis, 32, hit 34 home runs and drove in 107 runs that season for the St. Louis Cardinals but never came close to those numbers again. He hit 18 homers in 2000 before suffering a groin injury and it appeared he was out of baseball for good when the Tampa Bay Devil Rays cut him during spring training in 2004.

But last season Tatis batted .250 with two home runs after being promoted in July from triple-A. He played first base, second base, third base, left field and right field.

The annual Dodgers Community Caravan will be held Feb. 6-7 and make stops in Pasadena, Industry, Whittier, Compton and Long Beach.

Tom Lasorda, General Manager Ned Colletti, Manager Grady Little and players Nomar Garciaparra, Juan Pierre, Luis Gonzalez, Randy Wolf and Mike Lieberthal will participate, as will former Dodgers Steve Garvey and Lou Johnson.

-- Steve Henson

The Cincinnati Reds acquired right-hander Kirk Saarloos in a trade that sent minor league reliever David Shafer to the Oakland Athletics. Each team will get a player to be named as well.

The 27-year-old Saarloos went 7-7 with two saves and a 4.75 earned-run average last season for the American League West champions.

Right-hander Tomo Ohka and the Toronto Blue Jays reached a preliminary agreement on a one-year, $1.5-million contract.

The Boston Red Sox avoided arbitration with right-hander Brendan Donnelly by agreeing to a one-year, $1.4-million contract.

Baseball is set to announce Yankee Stadium as site of the 2008 All-Star game. Commissioner Bud Selig will hold a news conference at New York’s City Hall with Mayor Michael Bloomberg next Tuesday, according to Newsday.

**

MOTOR RACING

NASCAR expands field for All-Star Challenge

NASCAR made another slight adjustment, revamping the format of its annual All-Star event to add at least one more driver.

The Nextel All-Star Challenge, scheduled for May 19 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in North Carolina, will now be run in four 20-lap segments with an expanded field.

The announcement came one day after NASCAR tinkered with its title-deciding Chase for the championship system.

“The changes to the Chase, as well as the All-Star event, were a collaborative effort that we put forth to make it easier for the fans to understand,” said Steve O’Donnell, vice president of NASCAR’s racing operations.

Two-time NASCAR Busch Series champion Martin Truex Jr. apologized for being charged last week with disorderly intoxication in Daytona Beach, Fla.

A Volusia County Beach Patrol officer saw Truex urinating on his car in a parking garage early last Friday, according to a police report. Capt. Rich Gardner, who said he smelled alcohol on Truex’s breath, repeatedly asked Truex to place his hands behind his back so he could handcuff him before Truex agreed, the report said.

The officer approached Truex, according to the report, and said, “I hope that’s worth 100 bucks.”

According to Gardner, Truex responded with, “It is worth 100 bucks” and held out a $100 bill.

Petty Enterprises, which has fielded stock cars from its headquarters in Level Cross, N.C., since NASCAR was formed in 1949, might move to Charlotte to better meet technical and personnel changes.

The company needs to be closer to Charlotte, 89 miles away, where many other NASCAR teams are based and the sanctioning body has facilities to test and approve cars, Richard Petty told reporters.

**

COLLEGES

NCAA rejects extended ban on postseason sites

An NCAA committee decided it will not expand its ban on postseason championships in South Carolina and Mississippi, where Confederate emblems are displayed on Statehouse grounds.

The Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee said the NCAA should continue its moratorium on bringing predetermined events, such as NCAA basketball regionals, to the two states. The ban will not be expanded, however, to sites awarded on merit, such as baseball tournament regionals or football playoff games.

The committee was acting on a request from the Black Coaches Assn. to stiffen sanctions in South Carolina and Mississippi. South Carolina flies the flag on Statehouse grounds, and Mississippi’s state flag contains the Confederate emblem.

Committee Chairman Robert Vowels Jr. said in a statement expanding the ban would not be fair “since institutions do not have control over the placement of the Confederate flag.”

The NCAA put its ban in place in 2001.

Notre Dame point guard Kyle McAlarney was suspended from school for his arrest last month on a marijuana possession charge, his mother said.

Janice McAlarney said her son was told Monday that he could not continue to attend classes this semester.

McAlarney, a sophomore, started the first 12 games this season for the Irish (16-3) and averaged 10.3 points. Notre Dame has gone 5-2 since McAlarney was suspended from playing after his arrest on Dec. 29.