Sports briefs for January 30, 2004

Friday, Jan. 30, 2004 | 10:08 a.m.

Sale of Dodgers gets approval of owners

Six years after going corporate, the Dodgers are back to being family owned.

Hall of Famer Tom Lasorda approves wholeheartedly.

"I'm happy about this. I see big things out of this man," Lasorda said Thursday after the $430 million sale of the Dodgers from News Corp. to Frank McCourt was unanimously approved by baseball owners.

"Having a family own it again is great. That's what we need," said Lasorda, who managed the Dodgers from 1977-96 and is now a senior vice president. The O'Malley family controlled the Dodgers for nearly 48 years before selling to News Corp. in March 1998.

McCourt, whose grandfather was part owner of the Boston Braves, announced Oct. 10 he agreed to buy the team along with Dodger Stadium and adjoining real estate, plus training facilities in Vero Beach, Fla., and the Dominican Republic.

He had lengthy talks with officials of the commissioner's office and other owners, who were concerned about the amount of debt in the deal. News Corp. will retain a minority stake.

Regents OK UNR's Ault

Chris Ault will serve as UNR's interim athletic director through March, after an 11-1 vote at Thursday's Nevada Board of Regents Meeting at the Community College of Southern Nevada. The board also approved a 3 1/2-year contract for Ault to serve as the Wolf Pack football coach. This will be Ault's third tenure as the UNR football coach, with previous stints from 1976 to 1992 and 1994 to 1995.

U.S. defeats Sweden

The United States beat Sweden 3-0 in the Four Nations soccer tournament today in Shenzhen, China, getting two goals from Lindsay Tarpley and another from Shannon Boxx. The American team was without star forward Mia Hamm and defender Brandi Chastain, who are expected to return to the team for Olympic qualifying beginning Feb. 25 in Costa Rica.

Rios has back surgery

Former No. 1 player Marcelo Rios of Chile had back surgery and will begin training in a month. The operation was similar to the one he had in August in Miami. But the pain did not subside, sidelining him for several months.

Iraqi committee picked

A new Iraqi national Olympic committee was elected to replace one headed by Saddam Hussein's brutal son Odai, a first step toward letting its athletes compete in the Athens Olympics. The U.S. Olympic Committee has given USA Track & Field a month to cooperate in the Jerome Young doping case. USOC president Bill Martin told USATF president Bill Roe and executive director Craig Masback in a letter that they must provide the IOC and IAAF with documents in the Young case by Feb. 24 or the USOC will begin decertification proceedings.

Bryant chosen to start

Kobe Bryant was selected by fans to start in the NBA All-Star game. The Los Angeles Lakers star led Western Conference guards with 1,759,717 votes in final results, fourth among all players. He was picked to start in front of his hometown fans on Feb. 15.