Rodriguez accepts Rangers' captaincy

Oakland Tribune, Jan 26, 2004 by ASSOCIATED PRESS

Wearing their finest evening clothes, Alex Rodriguez and the Texas Rangers tried to put a formal end to their troubled off-season filled with trade talk and tension.

At an unusual news conference in which everyone wore tuxedos, the Rangers appointed Rodriguez their captain on Sunday night.

Rodriguez, in New York to collect the American League MVP trophy, met for five hours with Rangers owner Tom Hicks, with general manager John Hart and manager Buck Showalter joining in. Afterward, the quartet proclaimed the start of a new era that they hoped would culminate in Texas' first World Series title.

"I definitely think I'm going to be here for a long time," Rodriguez said. "I'm probably pretty sure it will work out for the best."

FOOTBALL

Baltimore Ravens assistant Donnie Henderson is expected to become the New York Jets defensive coordinator.

An announcement was planned for today.

Coach Herman Edwards has gone nearly a month searching for someone to replace Ted Cottrell, who was fired just after the regular season ended.

SUPERCROSS

A motorcycle rider was killed during a qualifying race, flying over the handlebars and crashing while his parents watched from the stands at San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium.

Jason Ciarletta, 19, died Saturday night at the AMA Supercross. He was pronounced dead at a hospital. There will be an autopsy today, the medical examiner's office said.

Ciarletta landed headfirst in the dirt and did not move as paramedics worked on him for more than 15 minutes.

The death is the first in Supercross, a more compact and technically demanding hybrid of the off-road sport known as motocross. The last recorded death in American motocross was in 1975.

WINTER SPORTS

Kalle Palander of Finland won a slalom, and Thomas Grandi was second in Kitzbuehel, Austria, for the best result ever in a World Cup technical event by a Canadian man.

Palander, the defending World Cup slalom champion, covered the two runs on the Ganslernhang course in 1 minute, 30.63 seconds, giving him the lead in the slalom standings.

Bode Miller made a strong second run to finish fourth.

Anja Paerson of Sweden won her third straight World Cup slalom in Maribor, Slovenia, to strengthen her lead in the overall standings.

Paerson, who captured the giant slalom Saturday, has won all but one of the six slaloms this season.

Raphael Poiree of France won a World Cup biathlon event in Anterselva, Italy, and moved within 18 points of five-time Olympic champion Ole Einar Bjorndalen in the overall standings.

Poiree hit all of his targets and won the 15-kilometer, mass- start race in 39 minutes, 40.1 seconds.

World Cup champions Patrick Leitner and Alexander Resch won a luge doubles race in Igls, Austria, for their first victory this season, moving to the top of the overall standings.

Germany's Sylke Otto captured the women's singles and is on her way to a successful defense of her 2003 title.

Leitner and Resch posted a combined time of 1 minute, 20.234 seconds. Austrians Tobias and Markus Schiegl came second in 1:20.434, ahead of Germans Andre Florschuetz and Torsten Wustlich in 1:20.954.

Germany's Andre Lange guided his four-man bobsled team to victory in St. Moritz, Switzerland, giving him the European championship and extending his lead in the overall World Cup standings.

Lange had a combined time of 2 minutes, 10.46 seconds -- 0.20 ahead of Todd Hays of the United States. Ivo Rueegg was third at 2:10.71 for Switzerland's first top-three finish of the World Cup season.

Norway's Anders Aukland and Italy's Gabriella Paruzzi won a 70- kilometer classical race in Cavalese, Italy, in World Cup cross- country skiing.

Auckland's winning time was 3 hours, 9 minutes, 3.5 seconds. Paruzzi, alone in the lead for much of the mass-start race, finished in 3:33.07.

The Dutch dominated World Cup speedskating for the second straight day, with Gerard van Velde winning at1,000 meters and Marianne Timmer taking the 500 and1,000 women's races in China.

Canada's Mike Ireland won the 500 in 35.31 seconds. Canada's Jeremy Wotherspoon and China's Yu Fengtong tied for second in 35.46 on the final day of competition in the northeastern city of Harbin.

Australia's Alisa Camplin won her fourth straight women's freestyle World Cup aerials event in Fernie, British Columbia.

The Czech Republic's Ales Valenta won the men's event.

TRACK

Fanny Blankers-Koen, who won a record four gold medals in track and field for the Netherlands at the 1948 Olympics, died Sunday. She was 85.

The International Association of Athletics Federations, which in 1999 honored her as the best female athlete of the 20th century, announced her death on its Web site.

SOCCER

A striker from Hungary's national team died after collapsing on the field during a Portuguese league match in Guimaraes, Portugal.

Miklos Feher, 24, had just been shown a yellow card in injury time and smiled at the referee. He then leaned forward with his hands on his thighs and suddenly fell backward.

UEFA, the governing body of European soccer, said on its Web site that Feher died of cardiac arrest. An autopsy was planned for today.