Morning Briefing Feb. 12, 2010
Skiing
Lindsey Vonn tested her badly bruised right shin Thursday by skiing for the first time since getting injured last week — and she came away encouraged about her Olympic prospects.
The opening women’s Olympic downhill training session at Whistler, British Columbia, was called off after only two racers because of thick fog and low visibility, but Vonn did get in a free run on the mountain.
“My shin was still very painful, but I feel like the injury is progressing a bit,” Vonn said.
The first women’s race of the Olympics is scheduled for Sunday.
Dustin Johnson overpowered the par 5s at Pebble Beach, Calif., and closed with five consecutive birdies to tie the tournament record with a 30 on the back nine. He finished with an 8-under 64 and was atop the leaderboard at the PGA’s Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
Basketball
Fred Schaus, a former Los Angeles Lakers coach and general manager who mentored Jerry West and Hot Rod Hundley at West Virginia, died. He was 84.
Born in Newark, Ohio, the former West Virginia coach and athletic director became the first Mountaineers player to score 1,000 career points. He was the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft and played five seasons with the Fort Wayne Pistons and New York Knicks.
n Connecticut’s Jim Calhoun returned to his coaching duties after a medical leave of more than three weeks forced him to miss seven games. He has no restrictions on what he can do and will be on the bench for Saturday’s game against Cincinnati.
Calhoun returns to a team that needs a winning streak to sniff the NCAA tournament. The Huskies (14-10, 4-7 Big East) have sunk to the bottom half of the conference standings a year after a No. 1 seed and a Final Four berth.
Baseball
Tom Glavine rejoined the Atlanta Braves as special assistant to team president John Schuerholz.
The 43-year-old former pitcher will work with Schuerholz on baseball and business projects and will occasionally assist general manager Frank Wren and manager Bobby Cox.
n Ernie Harwell will receive the Vin Scully Lifetime Achievement Award in Sports Broadcasting.
The Hall of Fame broadcaster for the Detroit Tigers will receive the award on May 5 in New York. The 92-year-old Harwell was the voice of the Tigers from 1960-02.
Football
The majority owners of the St. Louis Rams agreed to sell the team to an Illinois businessman who doesn’t want to move the team.
The Rams confirmed the pending sale to Shahid Khan of Urbana, Ill. A sale must be approved by a 75 percent vote of NFL owners.
Horse Racing
Rachel vs. Zenyatta. The race is on!
One day after a matchup of racing’s leading ladies fell apart, Charles Cella, the owner of Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., worked out a compromise to match the champion females for the first time — in the $5 million Apple Blossom Invitational on April 9.
Boxing
Evander Holyfield’s wife claims the boxing great hit her several times after an argument about her payments to their church, and she has received a temporary protective order against him.
Candi Holyfield, the boxer’s third wife, said her 47-year-old husband hit her in the face, the back of the head and her back on the night of Feb. 1 after she refused to show him check stubs of her giving to the church, according to Fayette County (Ga.) court records. He was concerned she was not giving to the church.
— The Associated Press