■ Basketball
Timberwolves fire coach
The Minnesota Timberwolves fired head coach Dwane Casey on Tuesday and named assistant coach Randy Wittman as coach of the NBA team for the rest of the season. The Timberwolves have lost four straight games to slip back to the .500 mark at 20-20, and the club was underachieving in the mind of vice president of Basketball Operations Kevin McHale. "We started the season with certain goals and expectations that have not been met," McHale told reporters. "We've struggled with being consistent throughout the year and ultimately that's the head coach's responsibility. I want to thank Dwane for his hard work and commitment to this team, and wish him well." Casey posted a record of 53-69 in less than two full seasons as head coach of the T-Wolves. He spent 11 seasons as an assistant with the Seattle SuperSonics prior to taking the job in Minnesota.
■ Football
Tank Johnson can play
Chicago Bears defensive tackle Tank Johnson will play in the Super Bowl -- with court approval and a warning from a judge to stay out of trouble. Cook County Judge John Moran granted a defense request on Tuesday to allow Johnson to leave the state as he awaits trial on gun possession charges. The Bears will play the Indianapolis Colts in the Super Bowl in Miami on Feb. 4. Moran set no special restrictions on Johnson but said he must obey the law "or dire consequences will result." Johnson was arrested on Dec. 14 after police raided his home in Gurnee, about 65km northwest of Chicago. Prosecutors say officers found three rifles, three handguns and ammunition in Johnson's home. He faces 10 counts of possession of firearms without a state gun-owner identification card.
■ Soccer
Haiti wins Caribbean Cup
Haiti won the Caribbean Cup by defeating Trinidad and Tobago 2-1 in Tuesday's soccer final in Port-of-Spain, and Cuba claimed third place after downing Guadeloupe 2-1. First-time winner Haiti, contesting only its second final in the Cup's 18-year history, emerged triumphant after a competition lasting 73 matches and involving 25 teams. Eight-time winner Trinidad, fielding a fledgling side because of club commitments for many star players, fell behind in the 22nd minute when Alexandre Boucicaut scored off a rebound. The strength and pace of Eliphene Cadet took him round the Trinidad defense on the right flank, and his cross found Fucien Brunel, whose shot was saved by Jan Michael Williams but Boucicaut followed up. Brunel profited from confusion in the penalty area to double the advantage in the 51st.
■ Ice Hockey
East defeats West
New Jersey Devils forward Zach Parise had two goals and four assists to lead the Eastern Conference over the Western Conference 9-8 in the NHL YoungStars game on Tuesday. Parise, a first-round pick by the Devils in 2003, was selected the MVP. Boston's Phil Kessel scored his third goal four minutes into the third period, assisted by Pittsburgh's Jordan Staal and Parise to give the East a 9-4 lead. The West scored the last four goals in the game, and had a chance to tie in the final 30 seconds when Finland's Jussi Jokinen of the hometown Dallas Stars -- the lowest draft pick in the game, picked 192nd overall in the sixth round in 2001 -- missed from the front of the net. Jokinen had a goal in the first period and another was disallowed.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
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