Spurs guard Ginobili out 10-14 days with injury

(Reuters) - San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili is expected to miss 10-14 days due to a strained left hamstring, the National Basketball Association team said on Monday.
The third-leading scorer on the Southwest division-leading Spurs was injured in the final minute of the first half of San Antonio's 106-88 victory over Minnesota on Sunday.
Ginobili, 35, who has already dealt with back spasms, a left quadriceps bruise and a thigh bruise this season, is second on the Spurs with an average of 4.6 assists per game.
(Reporting by Larry Fine in New York; Editing by Frank Pingue)

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Golden era for QBs, with great stories around NFL

NEW YORK (AP) — The two kids from Northern California burst from NFL afterthought to championship contender in eerily similar fashion a decade apart.
Tom Brady and Colin Kaepernick, each playing in a conference title game this weekend, are bookends to a fortuitous moment in quarterback history. On one side are the likes of Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, still scintillating in their mid-30s.
On the other are Kaepernick, a second-year player, and the brilliant class of rookies with Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III and Russell Wilson leading their teams to the playoffs.
Young, old and in between, the current crop of NFL quarterbacks is not only deep but dynamic and diverse.
"We're in a little bit of a boom right now. We're flowing a little bit, especially young players," Hall of Famer Steve Young said last week. "If those guys continue to develop, we'll have a period of time here, kind of a Camelot of quarterbacking."
The depth of the position shows in the other two guys joining the Patriots' Brady and the 49ers' Kaepernick in the conference championship games. Atlanta's Matt Ryan and Baltimore's Joe Flacco were first-round draft picks in 2008, and for all their successes, they're probably low on the list when fans think of the most dominant NFL quarterbacks.
Yet here they are a win away from the Super Bowl after leading stirring comebacks that answered many doubts about each.
Quarterback has long been the glamour position of all of sports, but it seems even a bit more glamorous right now. Rule changes favor a wide-open passing game, which makes a superior quarterback more valuable. Colleges and high schools run more sophisticated offenses, and the best athletes gravitate to quarterback then develop into polished passers who happen to be able to scramble.
"I can't remember — even though this is a quarterback-driven league — as many remarkable and compelling stories on the quarterback side as you're seeing this year," CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus said.
There was that brief stretch less than 15 years ago when Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson won Super Bowls, and it seemed perhaps championship teams didn't need a star at the position. Since then, here's the roll call of victorious quarterbacks: Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, both Manning brothers, Brees and Aaron Rodgers.
Twenty-five of the 46 Super Bowl MVPs have been quarterbacks, but now it's five of the last six. In the half-dozen years before that, four were non-QBs, including two defensive players.
"It ebbs and flows, no question. There's some dark times where you have two or three guys that can truly do it," said Young, Kaepernick's forerunner as a dual-threat San Francisco QB and now an ESPN analyst.
Jimmy Johnson, who won two Super Bowls with future Hall of Famer Troy Aikman as his quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, was talking to Bill Belichick last summer about the recent shift. Belichick has won three championships with Brady, but even as of a few years ago, both coaches believed a title was possible behind a strong defense and running game.
Not anymore, they agreed.
"Now, the only thing that matters is if you get a great quarterback," said Johnson, now a Fox commentator.
Of this year's playoff teams, the only one without great stability at quarterback was Minnesota. And the Vikings had a guy named Adrian Peterson.
The bottom of the standings is full of clubs with uncertainty at the position: from the Chiefs and Jaguars to the Eagles, Cardinals and Jets.
This year, 20 quarterbacks started every regular-season game, nearly two-thirds of the league. That's by far the most since the NFL went to a 16-game season in 1978, according to STATS, four more than the previous high.
That record partly reflects a lack of injuries, in which all those rules protecting the QB may be a factor — along with, of course, sheer luck. But it also reflects how few teams benched their quarterbacks. Most clubs are quite happy with their current situation.
For all the quarterback intrigue in the playoffs, consider the big names who didn't qualify for the postseason: Brees, Eli Manning, Roethlisberger, Tony Romo, Cam Newton. And then there's Tim Tebow, who may never start again as an NFL QB but is still one of the most recognizable and polarizing athletes in all of sports.
This quarterback Camelot is about more than the deep field of effective starters. The playoffs oozed with stars popular not just for their performances but their personalities and pizazz.
"I marvel at how prepared these guys are — not only on the field, but the exposure they get off it," said Aikman, who will call the NFC title game for Fox. "Whether it's through social networks or different platforms, they are given the opportunity to talk to the press and are much more well-rounded and prepared for all that comes with the scrutiny of the position than ever before.
"If you're on Park Avenue in New York (at league headquarters), you're pretty happy with the new representatives that will be the ambassadors for the league for the years to come."
The quarterbacks in the postseason undoubtedly fascinate fans, but they do so in different ways.
"All with incredibly different kinds of stories, all with incredibly different ways of getting to the playoffs," said McManus, whose network airs next month's Super Bowl.
Nielsen/E-Poll calculates an "N-Score" to measure the endorsement potential of athletes. Peyton Manning has the top score of current QBs, but other players come out ahead in specific categories in the surveys.
In this high school yearbook of NFL quarterbacks, Brees is voted most appealing. Rodgers is the most confident, Newton the most dynamic, Griffin the most talented. Luck is considered the most intelligent and Brady the most attractive.
Their back stories sizzle. This season saw Manning return from neck surgery to lead the Broncos to the AFC's top seed and earn All-Pro honors. Brees was dealing with the fallout of the Saints' bounty scandal.
Unlike past rookie quarterbacks who reached the playoffs, Luck and Griffin were anything but caretakers riding a strong defense; both were vibrant leaders turning around franchises. And Wilson advanced deeper into the postseason than either of them.
Kaepernick is for the moment the best story of them all. The 2011 second-round draft pick opened the season as a backup to Alex Smith, who led the 49ers to the NFC championship game last year. Kaepernick played so well after Smith was injured that coach Jim Harbaugh took the gamble to stick with him — just as Belichick did with Brady 11 years earlier.
Now Brady is the grizzled veteran, though fans won't get that expected matchup with his longtime rival, Manning, after Baltimore stunned Denver.
"They're not going to last forever," Young said of the old guard, "but you've got a feeling that there's some guys around that we're in pretty good shape in the next generation. Right now, as we speak, there's compelling stories all over the playoffs at the quarterback spot, which is kind of fun.

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Chiefs player legally drunk when he killed girlfriend: autopsy

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher was legally drunk when he killed his girlfriend Kasandra Perkins and then took his own life last month, according to an autopsy released on Monday.
The report showed Belcher had a blood alcohol content of .17 - more than double the .08 level that by Missouri law makes a driver drunk.
Belcher, 25, killed Perkins, 22, in the bedroom of their home during an argument on the morning of December 1. He then drove to Arrowhead stadium, where the Chiefs play, and shot himself in the head.
The autopsy by the Jackson County Medical Examiner found that Belcher shot Perkins nine times, inflicting wounds to her neck, chest, stomach, legs and hands. She had negligible blood alcohol content, the autopsy showed.
Head coach Romeo Crennell and General Manager Scott Piolo, who have since left the Chiefs, tried to talk Belcher out of shooting himself. But he put a handgun to his temple and pulled the trigger. He was pronounced dead shortly after reaching the hospital.
Belcher and Perkins, parents of a three-month-old girl, had a stormy relationship, according to a recent police report.
Belcher had been visiting another girlfriend the night before the shooting, witnesses told police.
Police questioned Belcher about five hours before the shooting when he was spotted sleeping in his Bentley automobile on a street near the second girlfriend's apartment.
A video shows officers questioning Belcher outside his car. But he showed no outward sign of being drunk and was not given a blood alcohol test.
Belcher assured officers he was not getting back in the car and instead went into the apartment building after calling one of its occupants, according to police records.
He asked to be awakened at 6:45 a.m. so he could go to a team practice, police reports said.

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Cowboys hire Monte Kiffin to replace Rob Ryan

IRVING, Texas (AP) — The Dallas Cowboys have hired former Tampa Bay defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin as the replacement for Rob Ryan.
The team announced the move on its website Friday, a day after the 72-year-old Kiffin was at team headquarters to interview with coach Jason Garrett and owner Jerry Jones.
The hiring of Kiffin means the Cowboys will switch back to the 4-3 defense after going to the 3-4 under Bill Parcells in 2005.
Kiffin hasn't coached in the NFL since ending a 13-year run in Tampa in 2008. He spent the past few years coaching in college with his son, Lane Kiffin, at Tennessee and Southern California.
At Tampa, Kiffin's defenses frequently were among the league's best, and the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl with him after the 2002 season.

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Falcons get chance to end playoff misery

(Reuters) - The Atlanta Falcons earned the top seed in the National Football Conference (NFC) with a 13-3 regular season record but it is a miserable run of form in the playoffs they will try to end against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.
Three times in the era of head coach Mike Smith and quarterback Matt Ryan the Falcons have impressed in the regular season but have stumbled in their first games of the post-season.
Last year, the Falcons lost to the New York Giants in the wild-card round after having gone out to the Green Bay Packers in the previous year.
In fairness, both those losses came to teams who went on to win the Super Bowl that season while in 2008, the Falcons fell to the Arizona Cardinals who were so close to winning the whole thing that season.
But the inability of a team, which has looked to have quality in every area on both sides of the ball, to perform on the biggest stage has afflicted Ryan in particular.
In his three losses, the Falcons quarterback has thrown three touchdown passes and four interceptions and his best yardage was the 199 he threw for against the Giants last year - well below his career yards per game average of 243.
Ryan says he has learned from his mistakes and that this year he has been trying to keep to the same routine he has used throughout the regular season.
"The biggest thing is to get settled into your routine. Prepare the way that you normally prepare," he told reporters this week.
"My preparation this year in the regular season has been different than in the last four. I'll be consistent with that I've done this year."
The Seahawks are the biggest surprise package in the playoffs this year, having enjoyed an 11-5 season in the NFC West and then defeating the much-hyped Washington Redskins last week.
Rookie quarterback Russell Wilson has inevitably grabbed the headlines but Sunday's divisional round game could well come down to the match-up between Seattle's cornerback duo of Richard Sherman and Brandon Browner against Atlanta's impressive receivers Roddy White and Julio Jones.
"It is going to be a fun match-up," said Sherman, "They've got two of the best receivers in football. It is going to be fun."
Falcons coach Smith repaid the compliment: "I think it is arguably the best duo at the cornerback position in the NFL this year. They are big, long physical football players," he said.
With two quarterbacks in fine form, the outcome could well come down to who triumphs in that receiver-corner match-up.

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It's official: Shafer takes over at Syracuse

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — As he addressed the media at his first press conference as coach, Syracuse's Scott Shafer briefly fumbled for words as he looked over at his wife and two children and thought about his father.
"(Being a head coach) has been a goal of mine since I was 10 years old because I was influenced by my dad. I just have so many vivid memories of the influence that he had on so many young men and young women," Shafer said Friday as he remembered his father, Ron, a high school coach who died in 1994. "I came home for the funeral and I can remember as a couple of thousand people lined up outside waiting to see my dad. He touched everyone, and that's always been a goal of mine.
"It's hard not to be emotional about this sort of thing, but at a very young age I just knew it was something great."
Defensive coordinator the past four years for the Orange, Shafer succeeds Doug Marrone, who resigned and was named coach of the Buffalo Bills on Monday.
Marrone preached discipline, accountability, character, and integrity, in rejuvenating a team that went 10-37 under his predecessor, Greg Robinson, and transformed it into a two-time bowl winner. Syracuse finished 2012 at 8-5 after beating West Virginia 38-14 in the Pinstripe Bowl and earned a share of the Big East regular-season title with a 5-2 conference mark, its best since Paul Pasqualoni's 2001 team went 6-1.
Shafer promised to follow that lead with a foundation based on attitude, effort, and enthusiasm as the Orange prepare to leave the Big East and join the Atlantic Coast Conference in July.
"It's those three pillars that we will always point back to as we try to progress forward and make this community proud about the product that we put on that football field," Shafer said. "The thing that I like about Syracuse the city is that the people that live here and embrace it are tough people. They're hard-nosed people and they expect a hard-nosed football team.
"It's our job to put a product on the field that the community can say, 'That is us. That is our team. They're physical, and they're going to get after you when you come to the (Carrier) Dome.' We're going to storm that conference and do better than people think we can."
Shafer said he planned to meet with the players on Sunday when they return from semester break and Marrone is expected to address the team as well.
As for his staff, Shafer tabbed Chuck Bullough as defensive coordinator. Bullough was a two-time All-Big Ten linebacker at Michigan State and joins the Syracuse staff after two seasons as a defensive assistant with the Cleveland Browns. He was linebackers coach at Western Michigan in 2005 when Shafer was defensive coordinator and also spent five years at UCLA, the last two as defensive coordinator.
A big hole remains on Shafer's staff, though. Offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, architect of a record-setting, uptempo offense this past season with fifth-year senior quarterback Ryan Nassib at the helm, has joined Marrone and the Bills in the same role.
"I want an offense that's fast, that's fun, and invested. I think Coach Hackett did a great job putting that on display, and we want to continue that," said Shafer, who was a quarterback in college. "What we're looking for is the right fit, that fit for Syracuse, and I'm not in a hurry to do that.
"We don't want to go about this taking the first guy that sounds exciting. We'll get the best guy in here that gives us a chance to put on a show on offense. It's unbelievable how many people want to be here."
With national signing day looming in early February, Shafer said one of his first priorities will be to reach out to recruits.
"We have to do a great job of tending to our prospects, the recruits that we're going after and trying to hold onto. You never know until signing day," he said. "I want guys that want to go to the Dome and say this is my home. All those other guys that are wavering, they'd just better make a decision that they're not going to play us if they decide to go elsewhere."
According to Rivals.com, Syracuse has received 14 commitments, nine of them three-star athletes, including quarterbacks Zach Allen of Texas and Austin Wilson of Pennsylvania. Scout.com listed 15 recruits, including five three-star athletes, and both websites had the class ranked No. 71 on Friday.
Prior to Syracuse, Shafer was an assistant at Michigan, Stanford, Western Michigan, Illinois, Northern Illinois, and Rhode Island. A 1990 graduate of Baldwin Wallace University, Shafer was one of Marrone's first hires.
Shafer's defenses have ranked among the nation's best in various categories during his four-year tenure with the Orange. In 2010, the Orange defense was No. 7 in the nation and he was nominated for the Broyles Award as the nation's top assistant.
Even though he won't be running the defense next season, Shafer doesn't expect the Orange to skip a beat.
"I envision an Orange crush defense that makes the opponents' families cringe when their child is about to get hit," he said with a smile. "I want to put the fear of God in the opposing football player that happens to have the ball underneath his arm. That's what we want to do, play an aggressive style of defense that people love to watch.

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Bryant says Lakers suffering from of old age

 Kobe Bryant said the Los Angeles Lakers are suffering from old age, but still believed he and his team mates can right the ship in time for a playoffs run.
"The problem is we've dug ourselves such a deep hole we got to do a lot of fighting just to catch up and get in that conversation," Bryant told ESPN Radio on Wednesday following the Lakers' 103-99 loss to Philadelphia (15-17) on New Year's Day.
"We firmly believe it's going to happen but we have to do a lot of fighting just to get there."
After losing to a young 76ers team, the Lakers (15-16) stood 9.5 games behind the 25-7 Los Angeles Clippers in the Pacific Division and 10th in the Western Conference where only the top eight teams advance to the playoffs.
"You just saw an old damn team. I don't know how else to put it to you," Bryant told reporters after the Lakers' latest loss.
Philadelphia got high-spirited contributions from 22-year-old Jrue Holiday (26 points, 10 assists) and 24-year-old Evan Turner (22 points, 13 rebounds).
"We're just slow," bemoaned Bryant. "You saw a team over there that was just younger and just had fresher legs and just played with more energy, and we were just stuck in the mud."
Bryant has not appeared to be slowing down as the 34-year-old guard, in his 17th season with the Lakers after joining them straight from high school, is leading the league in scoring at a rate of more than 30 points a game.
A slow start to the season led to the firing of coach Mike Brown after five games and the hiring of Mike D'Antoni, who favors running a fast-paced offense.
Besides such key veterans as Pau Gasol, 32, Mette World Peace, 33, and point guard Steve Nash, 38, center Dwight Howard, 27, has been struggling to get up to speed after back surgery abruptly ended his season last year.
"That's a big thing when you're starting to age, is figuring out how to get yourself ready game in and game out," he said. "It's tough. It takes a lot, a lot of commitment."
Having an older roster has not hampered the New York Knicks, who have started the season with a 21-10 record, second-best in the Eastern Conference behind the reigning champion Miami Heat despite an average age over 32.

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Pettersson: Golf on 'witch hunt' of long putters

KAPALUA, Hawaii (AP) — Carl Pettersson says the proposed rule to ban the anchored stroke for long putters feels like a "witch hunt," and that golf's governing bodies were only reacting to three of the last five major champions using a belly putter.
"It seems silly to ban something that's been around for 40 years," Pettersson said in his first comments since the U.S. Golf Association and Royal & Ancient Golf Club announced plans Nov. 28 to outlaw anchored strokes. "It's unfortunate. I feel like I'm 16 years behind because I haven't putted with anything else for 16 years."
Pettersson, who qualified for the Tournament of Champions by winning at Hilton Head, began using a broom-handle putter that he anchors to his chest between his sophomore and junior year at North Carolina State.
Keegan Bradley (PGA Championship), Webb Simpson (U.S. Open) and Ernie Els (British Open) used a belly putter to win their majors.
Two more months of comment period remain before the rule becomes official, and then it does not take effect until the next Rules of Golf is published Jan. 1, 2016.
Even as the long putters were getting more attention, Pettersson made one of the most compelling cases to keep them. It is the only putting stroke he has used during his 10 years on the PGA Tour.
Pettersson long has argued that he has spent thousands of hours practicing the stroke, which did not come naturally to him, and that to start over would put him at an unfair disadvantage. He was said to be among those who might consider a lawsuit if the rule is adopted, though the easygoing Swede said he would see how this year unfolded.
"I don't know," he said when asked if he would challenge the rule. "I haven't made up my mind yet. I'm just going to sit back and see what happens."
In the meantime, he has no plans to change putters.
Simpson said he had been practicing on occasion with a short putter in case of a ban, and Bradley had some fun at the World Challenge last month when he grabbed a short putter on the practice green at Sherwood and made a 20-foot putt.
Both showed up at Kapalua with their belly putters.
"I'm not going to change," Bradley said. "I'm not even thinking about it, to be honest. I'm going to wait for the rule to pass first, and then I'll think about what to do."
Pettersson said he tinkered with a few grips during his month at home in North Carolina, though not to the point that he practiced on a real green. He also said he was not surprised by the decision, saying it became clear in the last few months that the USGA and R&A were leaning toward a ban.
"It feels a bit like a witch hunt to me," Pettersson said. "It was a pure reaction to Keegan and Ernie and Webb. They keep harping on the younger generation using them, but I think they're going to ban it because it looks bad. But you have strong arguments from other players, too."
Tiger Woods, Steve Stricker and Graeme McDowell are on a long list of players who use conventional putters and believe an anchored stroke should go away, saying it takes the skill out of putting because the top part of the club is anchored to the body.
What concerned golf's top officials is that players no longer were using an anchored stroke out of desperation to improve their putting, but as a way to putt better.
"There's no argument that it's a better way to putt because then everybody would be using it," Pettersson said. "If it was easy, everybody on the PGA Tour would be using it. So I don't know where they got that from. It's just a different way of putting."
The PGA Tour can set its own rules, and there has been speculation that when the rule passes, the tour would adopt it before 2016 to avoid the long putters getting too much attention over the next few years.
Bradley said a fan called him a cheater at the World Challenge, which prompted a statement from the USGA that reminded fans the putting stroke remains legal.
A spokesman said PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem would not comment until a players' meeting in two weeks at Torrey Pines. Pettersson won't be at the meeting because he does not plan to play the Farmers Insurance Open.
"There's so much speculation. I just wish people would say what's going on," Bradley said. "From what I've heard, the rule is not going in for three years. I haven't heard what the tour is going to do. I know it's a touchy subjection. I would prefer for it to go three years so we aren't rushed into it. I think that would be the fair way to do it."
Pettersson said he was surprised not to have heard from Finchem, and that his hope was that golf officials weren't talking only to those opposed to long putters. He did say, however, that USGA executive director Mike Davis tried to call him a few weeks ago.
"I didn't know it was him, so it went right to my voicemail," Pettersson said.
Did he call him back?
"No," Pettersson said. "I just didn't want to talk about it. And there's nothing I could do."
Davis said he has tried to call a number of players who use long putters before and after the announcement of the proposed rule.
"I've just reached out and said, 'If you want to talk about it, I'm happy to, but don't feel you need to call back,'" Davis said. "We realize there are two sides — many sides — to this issue and we just wanted to reach out. It's not so much to try to convince them of our point of view, it was more listening to theirs.

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Pennsylvania suit against NCAA a long shot: experts

 Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett faces serious obstacles to winning his antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA over the harsh sanctions it imposed on Penn State in the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse scandal, legal experts said on Wednesday.
While targeting the National Collegiate Athletic Association may be popular politically in a state where Penn State football is widely loved, the federal court handling the case might rule that the state lacks standing to bring the lawsuit in the first place, experts said.
Moreover, the state of Pennsylvania must demonstrate the NCAA penalties harmed consumers and constituted a breakdown in the competitive marketplace.
"It's not a frivolous lawsuit - there are real arguments to make - but, boy, is it weak," said Max Kennerly, a lawyer with the Beasley Firm in Philadelphia who has been following the case closely.
The sanctions the NCAA imposed on Penn State in July included an unprecedented $60 million fine and the voiding of all of the football team's victories over the past 14 seasons.
Corbett's lawsuit was distinct in that, unlike the university, the state of Pennsylvania was not a party directly affected by the sanctions. Instead, Corbett brought the suit on behalf of third parties such as stadium workers, shopkeepers, hoteliers and others whose businesses were disturbed because of the NCAA's penalties.
The obstacle Corbett faced was "converting what may be real and perhaps significant harm" to Penn State students and athletes and local businesses into an antitrust violation, said Gabriel Feldman, a professor at Tulane University Law School.
"This is an extremely uphill battle for Pennsylvania," Feldman said.
The NCAA has been sued on antitrust grounds fewer than 10 times over the past five years, estimated Matt Millen, a professor at Marquette University Law School and director of the National Sports Law Institute. Most of those cases were settled or dismissed because courts often defer to the NCAA when it comes to matters of rules and enforcement actions, Millen said.
Past antitrust suits against the NCAA that have been successful tend to involve operations such as marketing and licensing because the body has "a stranglehold" over those spheres, Kennerly said.
The Supreme Court ruled in the 1984 case of NCAA v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma that the NCAA's policies on television broadcast rights to college football games violated federal antitrust laws. Former UCLA basketball player Ed O'Bannon led a class-action suit against the NCAA in 2009 that is still pending over the use of student-athletes' images and likenesses without compensation.
In contrast, antitrust lawsuits over NCAA sanctions have been less successful in court. In the 1988 case of NCAA v. Tarkanian, the Supreme Court ruled the NCAA was a private entity not obligated to abide by due process considerations when it hands down sanctions, Kennerly said.

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Pistons' Villanueva fined $25,000 for flagrant foul

 Detroit Pistons forward Charlie Villanueva has been fined $25,000 for a flagrant foul on Sacramento Kings guard Isaiah Thomas, the National Basketball Association said on Wednesday.
Villanueva was ejected for the foul, which occurred with four seconds left in the second quarter of Detroit's 103-97 home win over Sacramento on Tuesday.

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Governor sues NCAA over Penn State sex scandal

Wednesday demanding that sanctions imposed on Penn State University over the Jerry Sandusky sex scandal be thrown out, saying they threatened to devastate the state's economy.
Corbett called the sanctions imposed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA, which include an unprecedented $60 million fine, "overreaching and unlawful."
"I cannot and will not stand by and let it happen without a fight," the Republican governor, who was accused of dragging his feet on the Penn State scandal when he was state attorney general, told a news conference.
A lawsuit Corbett filed with U.S. District Court in Harrisburg called for all Sandusky-related sanctions imposed on Penn State to be thrown out.
Sandusky, Penn State's former defensive coordinator, was convicted in June of 45 counts of sexually abusing 10 boys over 15 years, some in the football team's showers. The scandal implicated top university officials in a cover-up, including the late Joe Paterno, its longtime head football coach.
The NCAA, the governing body of U.S. collegiate sports, fined Penn State $60 million for failing to stop abuse by Sandusky. It also voided its football victories for the past 14 seasons and banned its football team from bowl games for four years.
Corbett's suit charged the NCAA and "competing colleges and universities represented on its governing boards" had "cynically and hypocritically exploited" the case "to impose crippling and unprecedented sanctions on an already weakened competitor."
The suit said stigma from the case would diminish recruitment of students and student athletes and the value of a Penn State education for decades.
According to Corbett's office, Penn State football was the second most profitable collegiate athletic program in the United States in 2010-11, when it brought in $50 million, generating more than $5 million in tax revenue.
Corbett, who spoke at State College, where Penn State University is located, said the NCAA had overstepped its bounds and the case was "a criminal matter, not a violation of NCAA rules."
Penn State University released a statement saying it was not party to Corbett's lawsuit and reiterated its commitment to comply with the NCAA sanctions. The university recently made the first payment of $12 million of the fine to a national fund to support victims of child abuse.
'WEAK CASE'
A Philadelphia-based attorney who has followed the case closely questioned its chances of success and said it was unclear if Corbett had the legal authority to file such a suit.
"It's not a frivolous lawsuit - there are real arguments to make - but, boy is it weak," said Max Kennerly, adding that courts had generally sided with the NCAA on sanctions issues.
James Schultz, general counsel for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, said the governor had a legal right to sue, as he was acting on behalf of residents and businesses "collaterally damaged" by the NCAA sanctions.
He said the sanctions harmed the state's tax revenue base and those relying on revenue from Penn State's football program.
NCAA General Counsel Donald Remy said the lawsuit appeared to be without merit and was "an affront to all of the victims" whose lives were destroyed by Sandusky.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a group that takes aim at sex abuse in the Catholic Church, but has also been vocal in other cases, criticized Corbett's action.
"At best, his lawsuit is frivolous," the group said in a statement. "At worst, it threatens to delay or derail millions of dollars that would otherwise be devoted to protecting children."
The Sandusky scandal was revealed by a grand jury Corbett convened in 2009 when he was Pennsylvania's attorney general.
State Attorney General-elect Kathleen Kane, a Democrat, has pledged to probe Corbett's handling of the case. She said last year that by convening the grand jury, Corbett failed to protect children by delaying prosecution for more than two years.
Corbett has said he would welcome an investigation.
Pennsylvania voters have also expressed dissatisfaction with Corbett's handling of the case. A Franklin & Marshall College survey of registered voters in September found that nearly two-thirds thought he had done a fair or poor job.
But Terry Madonna, a professor of public affairs at Franklin & Marshall and director of the poll, said the lawsuit would be popular among Pennsylvanians, even though Corbett might be accused of trying to further his own political ends.
The Franklin & Marshall poll found more than half of the Pennsylvania residents surveyed considered the sanctions unfair.
On Wednesday, Corbett denied any political motivation.
Kathy Punt, manager of a State College motel used by football fans, said her business had dropped 30 to 40 percent this past autumn as fewer people attended games. "We didn't get the Penn State fans who usually come in," she said.

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Golf-Indonesian Open reverts back to Asian Tour

SINGAPORE, Dec 21 (Reuters) - The Indonesian Open will switch back to the Asian Tour from next season after three years on the OneAsia circuit, organisers said on Friday.
The Asian Tour did not give any details about the date of the tournament, how much prize money would be on offer, sponsors or a venue for the event which they first staged in 1974.
"This agreement marks a new dawn for our national championship," Indonesian Golf Association (PGI) president Arifin Panigoro said in a statement.
"We are convinced the staging of the Indonesian Open in 2013 and beyond will be hugely successful so that the entire golfing fraternity in Indonesia will be proud of our flagship tournament."
The Asian Tour have been wrestling for events in east Asia with rivals OneAsia, who formed in 2009.
Asian Tour chief executive Kyi Hla Han welcomed the news of the return of the Indonesian Open which will sit alongside their CIMB Niaga Indonesian Masters next year as one of nine confirmed events so far.
"We are excited to have this opportunity to work closely with the PGI and we believe the Indonesian Open is right up there amongst the best of national Opens in Asia," Han said.
"Our players enjoy visiting Indonesia as the golf courses, facilities and hospitality are first class and we look forward to returning for the 2013 Indonesian Open."
The Indonesia Open was the season opener on the OneAsia Tour this year and jointly sanctioned with the Japan Golf Tour Organisation. Australian Nick Cullen won the $1 million title at the Emeralda Golf Club in March.
OneAsia released a preliminary January-May schedule earlier this month with five events including the Indonesia PGA Championship in March.

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McGehee to join fellow former Yankee Jones in Japan: report

(Reuters) - Infielder Casey McGehee is on the verge of joining another former New York Yankee Andruw Jones at the Rakuten Eagles in Japan's professional baseball league, according to a local media report on Friday.
Rakuten, who signed former All-Star outfielder Jones earlier this week, have agreed to a 130 million yen ($1.54 million) one-year contract with 30-year-old free-agent McGehee, Kyodo news agency reported.
The deal would be announced after a medical, the report added.
McGehee, who has also played for the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers, batted .217 with nine homers and 41 RBIs for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Yankees last season.
($1 = 84.39 yen)

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Golf: Missing Medina putt could have wrecked career, says Kaymer

(Reuters) - Europe's Ryder Cup hero Martin Kaymer has a nightmare in which the five-foot putt he sank to beat Steve Stricker on Medina's 18th green slides agonizingly past the hole and his career spirals into decline.
The German's victory over Stricker in September guaranteed Europe would retain the trophy after one of the most improbable comebacks in the history of the competition.
"Now I honestly feel like my whole career might have been on the line," the former world number one who suffered an otherwise disappointing 2012, told Friday's Daily Mail.
"I sometimes think about what would have happened if I had missed it. Would I have had the mental strength to recover from thinking I had let down a whole continent?
"I had a similar putt to win my first major, the U.S. PGA in 2010, but the feeling was completely different.
"If I had missed that one it would have been my own fault and I would have moved on to the next major.
"But letting down so many people? That doesn't bear thinking about."
Europe went into the final day trailing 10-6 and needed to win eight of the 12 points available in the singles matches to keep hold of the trophy.
Kaymer's victory ensured Europe reached 14 points before Italy's Francesco Molinari halved with Tiger Woods to give Europe an outright victory.
After being dogged by poor form throughout the year, Kaymer ended in style in Sun City, South Africa, where he won his first title of 2012 at the Nedbank Golf Challenge.
He said the Ryder Cup victory had helped to turn things round.
"Up to that point (my season) hadn't been good," he said. "I would have given it three or four at best out of ten.
"Then, all of a sudden, you feel a lot happier about matters. On paper you'd probably still only give the year a three or four but mentally it had suddenly gone up a few marks."

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'Very, very good chance' for Redskins' RG3

ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III is listed as probable for Sunday's game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Or, as coach Mike Shanahan put it: "There is a very, very good chance he is going to play."
Griffin went through a full practice Friday for the third straight day after missing last week's win over the Cleveland Browns with a sprained right knee.
Fellow rookie Kirk Cousins filled in, making his first career start in a 38-21 victory.
Less certain for Sunday's game are defensive end Stephen Bowen and right tackle Tyler Polumbus. Bowen has a torn upper biceps, and Polumbus is recovering from a concussion. Both are listed as questionable.

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Buffalo Bills reach deal to stay in western New York

Reuters) - The Buffalo Bills have reached an agreement that will keep the National Football League team in western New York for at least the next seven years, the team said on Friday.
The deal, which includes a 10-year lease for the Bills' current stadium and $130 million in upgrades to the facility, ends speculation that the team might be targeted for relocation because of its small market.
"This agreement ensures the Bills stay where they belong right here in New York, while also protecting tax payer dollars and putting in place a longer-term vision for the team's continued presence in Buffalo," said New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
The Bills, who play their home games at Ralph Wilson Stadium in a Buffalo suburb called Orchard Park, are committed to remain there for at least seven years regardless of ownership, the team said in a news release.
If after the seventh year, the Bills do not buy out the remaining three years of the lease, they would need to pay $400 million to break it, The Buffalo News reported.
The lease also allows the Bills to play one preseason game every other year and one regular-season game each year in Toronto, the newspaper reported.
To pay for the stadium improvements, the Bills will provide $35 million, New York state $54 million and Erie County, New York $41 million.

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