College Football
Penn State hires Pennsylvania native James Franklin
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Penn State hired James Franklin as its next head coach.
Franklin, 41, who led Vanderbilt to bowls in all three of his seasons there, replaced Bill O’Brien, who left the Nittany Lions after two years to coach the NFL’s Houston Texans.
The school’s compensation committee approved the hiring by a 6-0 vote Saturday morning.
Franklin won 24 games with the Commodores and is a Pennsylvania native with strong ties in-state.
Cycling
Spanish Vuelta is rerouted, and the 69th avoids Madrid
MADRID – Spanish Vuelta organizers announced the 69th edition will end in the pilgrim city of Santiago de Compostela instead of the traditional finish in Madrid.
The Spanish cycling classic will begin with a team time trial at Jerez on Aug. 23 and will finish over three weeks later with an individual time trial along the 1,000-year-old Camino de Santiago, or the Way of St. James.
The Vuelta will feature nine new finishes and punishing climbs to Camperona, the Lakes of Covadonga and Farrapona among 13 mid-to-high mountain stage finishes.
MLB
Arbitrator strikes out A-Rod’s entire 2014 season
NEW YORK – Alex Rodriguez was dealt the most severe punishment in the history of baseball’s drug agreement when an arbitrator ruled the New York Yankees third baseman is suspended for the entire 2014 season as a result of a drug investigation by Major League Baseball.
The decision by arbitrator Fredric Horowitz, announced Saturday, cut the suspension issued Aug. 5 by baseball Commissioner Bud Selig from 211 games to this year’s entire 162-game regular-season schedule plus any postseason games. The three-time American League Most Valuable Player will lose slightly more than $22 million of his $25-million salary.
Tennis
Del Potro defeats Tomic to win Sydney International
MELBOURNE, Australia – Top-seeded Juan Martin del Potro outclassed defending champion Bernard Tomic 6-3, 6-1 on Saturday in a 53-minute final of the Sydney International, securing his 18th career title and first in Sydney.
No. 27 seed Jamie Hampton withdraws from the Open
MELBOURNE, Australia – American Jamie Hampton withdrew from the Australian Open because of a hip injury.
Tournament officials said Saturday that Hampton, the No. 27 seed, will be replaced by another American, lucky loser Irini Falconi. Falconi will play Jana Cepelova of Slovakia in the first round at Melbourne Park.
World Cup Ski Racing
Ligety and Miller ski out; Neureuther wins a GS
ADELBODEN, Switzerland – Defending champion Ted Ligety and Bode Miller skied out of their runs on the bumpy course of the World Cup giant slalom race won by Felix Neureuther of Germany on Saturday.
Neureuther finished 0.10 seconds ahead of first-run leader Thomas Fanara of France.
Marcel Hirscher of Austria was third, 0.19 behind Neureuther’s combined time of 2 minutes, 34.60 seconds.
Austrians finish 1-2 in the women’s World Cup downhill
ALTENMARKT-ZAUCHENSEE, Austria – Elisabeth Goergl beat Anna Fenninger for an Austrian 1-2 finish at a women’s World Cup downhill Saturday, ending a two-year drought for the ski-mad nation in the sport’s fastest discipline.
Goergl finished the demanding 3-kilometer Kaelberloch course in 1 minute, 47.45 seconds to deny Fenninger her first career downhill win by 0.56 seconds.
Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany was 0.63 behind in third.
Associated Press
