Prep sports
Culver boys fall — Gerson Gonzalez and Clay Gibson both scored 15 points as Culver wrapped up its season on Monday night with a 67-55 loss to host Waldport in a Class 2A Tri-River Conference playoff game. Ryan Fritz and John Slaght added eight points apiece for Culver. Gibson and Slaght both grabbed nine rebounds for the Bulldogs. Culver hit eight three-pointers in the game, led by three from Gonzalez. “We’re obviously a lot different team than the last time around," Culver coach Brennan Whitaker said, referring to a lopsided league loss at Waldport in early January. “It was the first playoff game for a lot of these guys, we hadn’t been here for a few years." Culver finished with an overall record of 10-15.
CHEERLEADING
Summit competes at state meet — Summit High, the lone Central Oregon cheerleading team to qualify for state, placed 12th among 12 teams in its division Saturday at the 2013 Oregon School Activities Association cheer championships at Portland’s Memorial Coliseum. The Storm, competing in the Class 5A Small Division (12 members or fewer), posted a score of 45.48 points. Springfield placed first in the division, with 69.55 points. Summit qualified for the state championships by placing second in its division at the Crusader Classic last month at Jesuit High School in Portland and third earlier this month at the Tualatin Last Chance Cheer Competition at Tualatin High.
Baseball
Indians get Bourn — Free agent outfielder Michael Bourn has agreed to a four-year, $48 million contract with the Cleveland Indians. Bourn, an All-Star with Atlanta last season, must pass a physical later this week in Goodyear, Ariz., before the deal can be completed. Bourn batted .274 with nine homers, 57 RBIs and 42 steals last season for the Braves. As long as there isn’t a hangup, the 30-year-old Bourn, who has remained on the market all winter, will move into the Indians’ starting lineup.
M’s, Felix close — An announcement on a Felix Hernandez contract extension with the Seattle Mariners could come as early as today as both sides continued the final stages of negotiations. The talks on a contract, nearly completed last week, hit a snag when an “elbow issue" surfaced as part of a physical the pitcher took. Sources have said the issue dealt more with wear and tear noticed during an MRI and could signal a possible problem at some point during the length of the deal, though nothing immediate.
Papelbon discusses use of Toradol — Philadelphia Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon said he and many of his former Boston Red Sox teammates were regularly injected with a legal painkiller called Toradol, according to an ESPNBoston.com report. The drug is not illegal. Phillies team doctors told Papelbon to stop using Toradol upon joining the team before the 2012 season. He estimated that the injections started in 2007. Boston’s medical staff has come under scrutiny amid accusations by Curt Schilling that he was advised to use performance-enhancing drugs.Toradol is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug; basically, a more potent Advil. Its usage in baseball is widespread.
Basketball
Warriors with short sleeves? — The Golden State Warriors have unveiled plans to wear the NBA’s “first modern short-sleeve jersey" for three of their remaining home games this season. The Warriors announced Monday that they will debut the alternate uniforms at home against the San Antonio Spurs on Feb. 22. The team will also wear the jerseys for home games against Houston on March 8 and Chicago on March 15. Adidas, the uniform-provider of the NBA, says the jerseys feature “the first-ever super lightweight stretch woven short with maximum ventilation for player comfort. The jersey includes armhole insets with 360-degree stretch fabric that facilitates free range of motion for the arms and shoulders." Adidas hopes to unveil similar short-sleeve jerseys for other NBA teams next season.
Skiing
Vonn mending — The swelling around Lindsey Vonn’s repaired right knee has gone way down a day after surgery and her spirits way up. Back in time for the 2014 Sochi Games? Try possibly back in time for the beginning of the World Cup season in late November. The doctor who operated on Vonn’s injured right knee thinks the four-time overall World Cup champion just might return that soon. That’s the goal, anyway. And it’s looking more promising following the procedure by Dr. Bill Sterett on Sunday to fix Vonn’s knee after she shredded two ligaments during a crash last week at the world championships in Schladming, Austria.
Football
New deal for Vick — Michael Vick took a significant pay cut to stay with the Philadelphia Eagles and compete for a starting job. The four-time Pro Bowl quarterback agreed Monday to a restructured three-year contract with the Eagles, just two seasons after signing a $100 million extension that included $35.5 million in guaranteed money. The new deal is essentially for one-year, however. A source familiar with the contract said Vick could earn up to $10 million in 2013 if he meets all his performance incentives.
Erickson to Utah — The Utah Utes have hired Dennis Erickson as co-offensive coordinator. The team announced the move Monday. The 65-year-old Erickson will share the coordinator title with 26-year-old Brian Johnson, a former Utah quarterback. Erickson won national titles in 1989 and 1991 as coach at Miami. He has been a head coach at six universities — three of them Pac-12 Conference schools, including Oregon State.
Golf
Public Links gets axe — The U.S. Golf Association is adding its first championship in more than 25 years, getting rid of the U.S. Amateur Public Links in favor of a U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship to meet what it says is a trend at the state and regional level. The Four-Ball Championship — one tournament for men, one for women — will start in 2015. Adding these two tournaments means the end of two others, however. That includes the U.S. Amateur Public Links, which dates to 1922 and has a list of winners that includes Trevor Immelman, Tim Clark and Brandt Snedeker. Also being abandoned is the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links, where Michelle Wie made history in 2003 at age 13 as the youngest winner of a USGA championship for adults.
Cycling
Operation Puerto case— Two-time Giro d’Italia champion Ivan Basso told a Spanish court Monday he paid the doctor at the center of the Operation Puerto doping scandal for treatment because he thought it would help him win the Tour de France. Basso told Judge Julia Santamaria that he agreed to a complex treatment with Eufemiano Fuentes that cost $94,000 for one year in 2005, adding he knew it was “not a good thing to do." Basso, who drew a two-year doping suspension in 2007, said he paid Fuentes $20,000 in cash but was unable to finish the treatment because the police investigation interrupted it. Basso won the Giro in 2006 and then again in 2010 after his serving his doping ban. Fuentes is the key figure and one of five defendants in the case, which stems from a police raid in 2006 that uncovered blood bags and other doping equipment and implicated many of the world’s top cyclists.
Wiggins struggles — Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins finished in a tie for last in the opening leg of the Tour of Oman on Monday, narrowly avoiding a crash to end up more than 80 seconds behind stage winner Marcel Kittel. Alberto Contador finished in the main peloton with the same time as Kittel.
—From wire and staff reports
