Sports briefs for August 25, 2005

Thursday, Aug. 25, 2005 | 11:02 a.m.

Maris' family gets $120 million settlement

The family of former home run champion Roger Maris will receive at least $120 million in cash from Anheuser-Busch as part of a settlement that ended a defamation trial and other litigation, according to a government filing the brewer made Wednesday.

The Marises had won a $50 million jury award against the nation's largest brewer in 2001 for ending their beer distributorship contract in 1997. That award had been tied up on appeal.

Maris' relatives accused the St. Louis-based company of defamation after company officials publicly said the family's distributorship was deficient and sold repackaged, out-of-date beer. The family claimed in court that the brewer plotted to destroy their reputation as a part of a larger scheme to seize the best-performing distributors for Busch family relatives and friends. Anheuser-Busch denied the allegation.

Madame Tussauds unveils new attraction

The Madame Tussauds of wax statue fame unveiled its newest interactive attraction, called "Speed," at its facility in The Venetian hotel-casino.

The new attraction is dedicated to auto racing and features a meticulously created $200,000 wax figure of Dale Earnhardt, the legendary "Intimidator" of NASCAR and seven-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion.

Adrian Jones, general manager of Madame Tussauds Las Vegas, said, "The reason we chose Dale Earnhardt, Sr., who lost his life in an accident on the final lap of the 43rd Daytona 500 in February 2001, was because he was instrumental in introducing the sport of auto racing to millions and his presence best represents the country's fastest-growing spectator sport."

Lightning re-signs St. Louis for six years

The Tampa Bay Lightning took another step to keep the core of their Stanley Cup championship team together Wednesday, signing Martin St. Louis to a six-year contract worth more than $31 million.

The 30-year-old right wing had 38 goals and 56 assists for 94 points during the 2003-04 season to win the Hart Trophy as MVP, Art Ross Trophy (scoring leader) and Lester B. Pearson Award (MVP as chosen by the players) while leading the Lightning to its first league title.

Mauresmo cruises

At New Haven, Conn., Amelie Mauresmo breezed through her first match at the Pilot Pen tournament, beating Elena Likhovtseva 6-1, 6-3.

Juan Ignacio Chela overcame a big deficit in the tiebreaker and beat top-seeded men's player Nikolay Davydenko 6-1, 7-6 (5) in the second round.

-- Sun wire services