FOOTBALL
Bears switch quarterback
The Chicago Bears, clinging to fading hopes of reaching the playoffs, have made a switch at quarterback by naming Josh McCown as the starter in Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers instead of Caleb Hanie. “We just felt like we needed a boost,” Bears coach Lovie Smith told the league’s official Web site. Hanie, who stepped in after the Bears (7-7) lost regular quarterback Jay Cutler to a broken thumb, has thrown nine interceptions in four games (all losses) at the helm, including three in Sunday’s 38-14 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. McCown, who joined the Bears last month after the injury to Cutler, replaced Hanie for the last two drives against Seattle, completing one pass and tossing an interception. A third-round draft pick in 2002 by the Arizona Cardinals, McCown has attempted only eight passes and completed two since the 2007 season with Oakland. McCown was looking forward to the opportunity although he faces a difficult task stepping in against the 13-1 Packers at Green Bay’s Lambeau Field.
RUGBY UNION
Phelan signed for two years
Santiago Phelan was rewarded for Argentina reaching the rugby union World Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday when he was re-appointed to the job on a two-year contract. The 37-year-old former international center will lead the Pumas into their first ever Four Nations tournament next year where they will play the Southern hemisphere giants recently crowned World Cup winners All Blacks, the Springboks and the Wallabies. Phelan, who replaced Marcelo Loffreda after the 2007 World Cup when they reached the semi-finals, will prepare for the Four Nations with a home test against Italy on June 9 and two against World Cup finalists France on June 16 and 23. They open their Four Nations campaign against two-time world champions South Africa on Aug. 18 in Durban.
TENNIS
Kvitova wins award
Reigning Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, the world No. 2 in the WTA tennis rankings, won the Czech Athlete of the Year prize at a ceremony on Wednesday. Kvitova beat mountain biker Jaroslav Kulhavy, last year’s world and European champion and World Cup winner, and speed-skating world champion Martina Sablikova for the prize. The 21-year-old Kvitova also led the Czech women’s tennis team to the Team of the Year prize after clinching the Fed Cup trophy following a 3-2 win over Russia in Moscow last month.
RUGBY UNION
Ford, Wells to leave RFU
Former England assistant coaches Mike Ford and John Wells are to leave the Rugby Football Union (RFU) with immediate effect, the governing body announced on Wednesday. Defense coach Ford and forwards chief Wells reached an agreement with the RFU after they lost their roles with the England team following the side’s World Cup quarter-final defeat by France in New Zealand in October. Ford and Wells had held their posts since 2006, coaching England through two World Cup tournaments. England team manager Martin Johnson and attack coach Brian Smith had already resigned following a World Cup campaign marred by incidents of alcohol-fueled misbehavior off the pitch. Several leaked reports into England’s performance painted a damning picture of a divided squad containing greedy players who were led by a coaching staff unable to impose discipline and lacking rugby skills compared with their rivals.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB