Giantskeep starcoordinatorSpagnuoloCombined wire services

New York Giants’ defensive co-ordinator Steve Spagnuolo with-drew his name from considerationfor the Redskins’ head-coachingposition Thursday morning andsigned a three-year deal worthmore than $6 million, making himone of the highest-paid defensivecoordinators in the NFL.

Spagnuolo spent Tuesday nightand most of Wednesday meetingwith Redskins owner Daniel Sny-der, but he left Snyder’s suburbanWashington, D.C., estate earlyThursday morning without a con-tract offer. After consulting hiswife, Maria, Spagnuolo informedthe Redskins he wasn’t interestedin receiving an offer and told theGiants he was staying on.

‘‘His heart is in New York City,’’Bob LaMonte, Spagnuolo’s agent,said. ‘‘He loves the ownership. Heloves the players. He feels he has tostay there.’’

LaMonte said Spagnuolo’s over-whelming reception during theGiants’ victory parade and stadiumrally Tuesday played a role. So didthe Giants’ willingness to tear upthe remaining year on Spagnuolo’scontract and reward him.

The Redskins now may look toformer Giants coach Jim Fassel or

former 49ers and Lions coachSteve Mariucci to fill their coach-ing spot.

49ers: Quarterback Shaun Hill re-signed with San Francisco on Thursday,affirming his plan to compete with AlexSmith for the starting job next fall.

Hill, asix-yearNFL veteranwhohadn’tthrown a pass until December, led the49ers to victories over Cincinnati andTampa Bay after taking over for Smithand Trent Dilfer, who were both out withinjuries. In 2½ games, Hill was 54-for-79 with 501 yards and five touchdownpasses and one interception.

Eagles:Tight end L.J. Smith, who wasscheduled tobecomea freeagentat theend of the month, was given thefranchise tag by Philadelphia. Thursdaymarked the first day of the off-seasonthat teams could use the tag.

Autopsy: The bullet that killed Wash-ington Redskins safety Sean Taylorripped first through his right leg and thenthe left, and possibly came from a 9mmhandgun, an autopsy released Thursdaysaid. The report notes a bullet perforat-ed the soft tissues and muscles of theright groin and the right femoral artery, acrucial pathway for blood.

T R A N S A C T I O N S

BASEBALLAmerican League

BALTIMORE ORIOLES:Agreed to terms with RHPDaniel Cabrera, RHP JimHoey and LHP Troy Patton onone-year contracts. NamedFelipe Alou Jr. Dominican op-erations assistant.

LOS ANGELES ANGELS:Agreed to terms with INFMatt Brown, C Ryan Budde,RHP Jason Bulger, OF TerryEvans and RHP Jeff Kennard.

NEW YORK YANKEES:Agreed to terms with 2B Rob-inson Cano on a four-yearcontract.

TAMPA BAY RAYS:Agreed to terms with INF EricHinske on a minor-leaguecontract.

National LeagueFLORIDA MARLINS:

Agreed to terms with OF LuisGonzalez on a one-year con-tract. Designated RHP Mar-cos Carvajal for assignment.

PITTSBURGH PIRATES:Sent LHP Sean Burnett out-right to Indianapolis (IL).

FOOTBALLNFL

TAMPA BAY BUCCA-NEERS: Named Greg Olsonquarterbacks coach.

HOCKEYNHL

DALLAS STARS: Placed DSergei Zubov on injured re-serve. Recalled G TobiasStephan from Iowa (AHL).

LOS ANGELES KINGS: Re-called G Dan Cloutier fromManchester (AHL). Placed DRob Blake on injured re-serve, retroactive to Feb. 1.

NEW YORK RANGERS: As-signed F Greg Moore to Hart-ford (AHL).

SAN JOSE SHARKS: Ac-quired J.D. Forrest from Car-olina for future consider-

ations and assigned him toWorcester (AHL).

VANCOUVER CANUCKS:Assigned D Zack FitzGeraldto Manitoba (AHL).

AHLQUAD CITY FLAMES:

Named Neil Bossola chiefexecutive officer.

WORCESTER SHARKS:Released C Josh Prudden.

COLLEGENational

GEORGIA: Suspendedbasketball G Billy Humphreyfor three games for violatingteam rules.

NEW MEXICO: PromotedTroy Reffett to defensive co-ordinator.

WEST VIRGINIA: Dismiss-ed LB John Holmes, DLJames Ingram and RB EdCollington from the footballteam for a violation of teamrules.

Sore shoulder maycost Schilling yearCombined wire services

BOSTON —CurtSchillinghas an injured right shoulder, andthe ballplayer and the Boston RedSox have been squabbling overwhether he should have surgerythat could cost him the season ortry something less drastic.

The team said Thursday nightthat Schilling was examined byRed Sox doctors in January and hasstarted a program of ‘‘rest, rehabil-itation and shoulder strengtheningin an attempt to return to pitch-ing.’’

The Boston Herald reported onits Web site that Schilling, 41, mayhave injured his rotator cuff or la-brum, which may require surgeryand keep him out for all of 2008.

A video of New York Mets acePedroMartinezand Hall of Fa-mer JuanMarichalat a cockfightin the Dominican Republic wasposted this week on YouTube and itshowed the two laughing before re-leasing the roosters. The two tookpart as honorary ‘‘soltadores,’’ orthe people who put the animals tofight.

Cockfighting is legal and popu-lar in the Dominican Republic. It isbanned in the United States.

Martinez told the Mets thecockfight occurred at least twoyears ago.

People for the Ethical Treat-

ment of Animals sent letters toboth pitchers Thursday, calling onthem to publicly apologize.

RobinsonCanoand theNew York Yankees completed their$30 million, four-year contract.

GOLFIt was a day for the unknowns

at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am.Kent Jonesbirdied the two

most famous par 3s at the PebbleBeach, Calif. event, and keptbogeys off his card for a 6-under 66and a one-shot lead.

Nationwide Tour gradRolandThatcherwas a shot back alongwith Q-school gradBradAdamonisand JohnMallinger,third at Pebble Beach last year.

Defending championPhilMickelsonwas on the verge ofshooting himself out of thetournament until abirdie-eagle-birdie-birdie burstenabled him to recover with a 71.

TENNISAmelieMauresmoof

France advanced to thequarterfinals of the Open Gaz deFrance in Paris, going on whenEleniDaniilidouquit the matchbecause of the f lu. The victory sentMauresmo into the final eightalong withAnnaChakvetadze,DanielaHantuchova,MarionBartoli,VirginieRazzanoandKaterynaBondarenko.

Shaq readyfor a runwith SunsCombined wire services

PHOENIX — ShaquilleO’Neal had strong words for thosewho doubt he can fit in with thePhoenix Suns.

‘‘I’m very upset,’’ he said Thurs-day at a news conference to intro-duce him as a member of his newteam. ‘‘You just don’t really want toget me upset. When I’m upset, I’mknown to do certain things — likewin championships.’’

O’Neal, 35, once the game’sdominant big man but now slowedby a hip injury, said he is motivatedby the negative talk. He said peopleare ‘‘going to be very surprised’’about his role in a Suns runninggame orchestrated by Steve Nash.

‘‘The last couple of years I was ina system that we really didn’t run,so you automatically think I can’trun,’’ he said. ‘‘But I love to run,especially if I’m playing with agreat guy like Steve Nash.’’

Around the NBA:Houston Rocketsguard Steve Francis will have season-ending surgery Feb. 25 to repair a tornquadriceps tendon in his right knee.

Francis has appeared in only 10games this season, averaging 5.5points and 3 assists.

The league will wait until the Feb.22 trade deadline passes to decide whocan play in the resumption of a protest-ed game involving the Miami Heat, whojust made a swap of former All-Stars.

On March 8, the Heat and the AtlantaHawks will replay the final 51.9secondsof their Dec. 19 game because of ascoring error.

Ex-Rat goes to SharksStaff reports

The Albany River Rats an-nounced that the Carolina Hurri-canes of the National HockeyLeague have traded defensemanJ.D. Forrest to the San Jose Sharksfor future considerations. TheSharks sent him to Worcester ofthe AHL.

Forrest posted 10 points (3goals, 7 assists) in 19 games for theRiver Rats this season.

Maloy wins awardElizabeth Maloy, a Holy Names

graduate and member of theGeorgetown University crosscountry and track and field teams,was selected as the 2007-08 BigEast/Aeropostale Institutional Fe-male Scholar-Athlete Award.

Autographs for causeDavid Holloway, a member of

the National Football League’sArizona Cardinals and a graduateof Albany Academy, will sell auto-graphed posters, gloves and foot-balls at 4 p.m. today at the AlbanyAcademy Field House at 135 Acad-emy Road in Albany.

Proceeds benefit Project Linus —a nonprofit organization that makesblankets for children in need.

On ice vs. breast cancerThe RPI women’s ice hockey

team is teaming up with ECACHockey and the American CancerSociety for the inaugural Coachesvs. Cancer ‘‘Pink at the Rink’’ in aneffort to bring awareness to thefight against breast cancer.

The event will take place thisweekend as the Engineers hostColgate at 7 p.m. today and Cornellat 4 p.m. Saturday. RPI will wearspecialized pink jerseys and socksand all game-worn jerseys will beauctioned online at http://www.e-cachockeycoachesvscancer.com.

Danes’ Lillis honoredUAlbany’s Brian Lillis has been

voted to the ESPN The MagazineAcademic All-District I UniversityDivision Men’s Basketball Team asselected by College Sports Infor-mation Directors of America.

Siena teams and pollsIn the Metro Atlantic Athletic

Conference coaches’ preseasonpolls, the Siena baseball team hasbeen picked to finish in a tie forfourth, the women’s lacrosse teamto finish tied for fifth and the waterpolo team to finish third.

GAMES/ CONTINUED FROM B1ed out that Olympics in LosAngeles and Athens were alsoprefaced by pollution fears.

‘‘I’m sure we will make everypossible effort to make a cleanerenvironment for all the athletes,’’added Deng, who was voted Chi-na’s top female athlete of the20th century.

Officials aren’t saying howthey’ll solve the problem whenthe games open Aug. 8. Factorieswill close, dust-spewing con-struction will slow and more thana million vehicles are sure to bebanned. The one-party state willsurely marshal its vast resourcesor risk a public relations disaster.

But not everybody is con-vinced, including the world’sgreatest distance runner.

‘‘If there are serious problems,of course ... it’s better not tocome,’’ Haile Gebrselassie saidon a visit this week to Beijing.‘‘My priority is just to live andkeep my health.’’

The marathon world recordholder said it’s possible he mayskip the Olympics. If he comes,he’s undecided whether he’ll runthe marathon or the 10,000 me-ters.

Olympic tennis champion Jus-tine Henin pulled out of a tour-nament in Beijing five monthsago because the pollution aggra-vates her asthma, and she mayavoid the games.

The International OlympicCommittee has pressed Chinafor months to solve the problem,and president Jacques Rogge haswarned that some enduranceevents would be postponed if theair is bad.

‘‘A number of contingencyplans have been outlined andsome air quality data reported tous,’’ IOC spokeswoman GiselleDavies said.

No one disputes the grandeurof the venues and Beijing’s as-tounding $40 billion face lift,which includes new roads, sub-way lines and skyscrapers. The$200 million National AquaticsCenter — the Water Cube —opened last week to rave reviews.

CLEMENS: Lobbies Congress as ex-trainer talks/ CONTINUED FROM B1Building, Clemens held his ownnews conference, during whichhis lawyers repeatedly attackedMcNamee’s character andscoffed at McNamee’s newly pre-sented evidence.

‘‘This man has a total historyof lying,’’ Clemens’ attorneyRusty Hardin said

The seven-time Cy Young

Award winner’s repeated denialsof McNamee’s allegations in theMitchell report about drug usedrew Congress’ attention. Clem-ens spoke under oath to thecommittee Tuesday — the firsttime he addressed the allegationsunder oath.

There is a public hearingscheduled for Wednesday, whenClemens, McNamee and otherwitnesses, including New York

Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte,are to testify. McNamee, also aformer personal trainer for Pet-titte, told Mitchell that he inject-ed Pettitte with HGH. Pettitteconfirmed in December that heused HGH for two days.

McNamee’s attorneys saidtheir client turned over physicalevidence to a federal prosecutorfor the Northern District of Cali-fornia last month.

One photo shows a crushedbeer can that Richard Emery,another of McNamee’s attor-neys, said was taken out of a trashcan in Clemens’ New York apart-ment in 2001.

Emery said the can containedneedles used to inject Clemens.That picture also shows whatEmery said was gauze used towipe blood off Clemens after ashot.

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AROUND THE NFL

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STEVE SPAGNUOLO signed a deal to stay with the New York Giantsand dropped out of consideration for Washington head coach.

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