■ Baseball
Clemens ponders future
Roger Clemens is still deciding whether to pitch again next season. "I'm very close to retirement," Clemens said yesterday. "I haven't made the decision for the upcoming season yet." Clemens is in Japan for an eight-game tour with other major league stars. He was scheduled to start the opening game at Tokyo Dome on Friday. The 42-year-old Clemens won twice in the playoffs for Houston last month. He had a sixth-inning lead in Game 7 of the NL championship series at Busch Stadium but gave up a go-ahead homer to St. Louis' Scott Rolen and wound up with a season-ending loss.
■ Hockey
Lecavalier goes to Russia
Vincent Lecavalier signed with Russia's AK Bars Kazan on Thursday to play during the NHL lockout and said Tampa Bay Lightning teammate Brad Richards will be joining him. AK Bars Kazan already signed other NHL stars such as Atlanta's Ilya Kovalchuk, the Rangers' Darius Kasparaitis, Anaheim's Ruslan Salei, Columbus' Fred Brathwaite, and Pittsburgh's Alexei Morozov. "I've always wanted to play in Europe, and especially in Russia," Lecavalier told The Canadian Press. "It's a great opportunity to play with some great players like Ilya Kovalchuk, and with Brad coming too, it's even better."
■ Olympics
China nuts about eight
China is taking no chances as host of the summer Olympics in 2008 and has picked an auspicious 8pm start on Aug. 8, 2008 -- or 8/8/8/08 -- for the opening ceremony. Eight is a lucky number in China, because it sounds like the word for good fortune. The IOC, though, has inauspiciously turned down China's application to make wushu a medal sport in 2008.
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