Dollar 'bribe' nets Ochocinco fine

CINCINNATI (AP) — Chad Ochocinco's pretend $1 bribe is going to cost him a lot more.

The Cincinnati Bengals receiver was fined $20,000 and reprimanded by the NFL for taking a dollar bill onto the field during an officials' review of one of his catches last Sunday. Ochocinco held the dollar in his right hand at his side but didn't give it to the official, who motioned for him to stay away.

Ochocinco said he was just having fun, but the league didn't like it.

BC looking for first road win

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Virginia and Boston College have been virtual strangers since the Eagles entered the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2005, meeting only during that season.

That was also two head coaches ago for the northernmost team in the ACC, but Cavaliers coach Al Groh said the schemes seem to be the same as the ones he faced four years ago.

Johnson says he blamed Hornish a little too much

AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Upon further review, Jimmie Johnson believes he probably blamed Sam Hornish Jr. a little too much for their costly accident last week at Texas Motor Speedway.

Johnson wrecked three laps into the race after contact with Hornish, forcing a total rebuild of his car. He finished 38th and saw his lead in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship trimmed to 73 points over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin.

Mark Martin says 2009 best year of his life

AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Mark Martin won't judge this season on whether or not he can catch teammate Jimmie Johnson for the Sprint Cup title.

No matter where Martin finishes in the final standings, the 50-year-old driver said 2009 has been the best year of his life.

Martin has had a resurgence this season, his first with Hendrick Motorsports. He's won five races and is second in the standings, 73 points behind Johnson with two races remaining.

Drivers still have incentive for final 2 races

AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Jimmie Johnson has such a stranglehold on the championship that it's out of reach for every driver besides Mark Martin. And his only chance would likely require a major stumble by the points leader.

So what incentive does that leave for the rest of the drivers over the final two races of the season?

Quite a lot.

49ers beat Bears 10-6, end 4-game skid

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Mike Singletary didn't exactly hand it to his old team. That didn't matter - Jay Cutler handed the desperate San Francisco 49ers a much-needed win.

Frank Gore ran for 104 yards and a touchdown, Cutler threw a career-high five interceptions with his last coming in the end zone on the game's final play and San Francisco snapped a four-game losing streak by beating the Chicago Bears 10-6 on Thursday night.

Devils near road streak record, beat Pens 4-1

PITTSBURGH — Niclas Bergfors had a goal and two assists and the New Jersey Devils closed within a victory of tying the NHL record of 10 consecutive road victories to start a season, beating the slumping Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1 on Thursday night.

Zach Parise added a goal and an assist, Travis Zajac had three assists and Martin Brodeur made 25 saves as New Jersey improved to 9-0 on the road. The Devils can tie the road streak record Monday in Philadelphia.

Panthers one-up Bruins

BOSTON (AP) — Tomas Vokoun stopped 40 shots for his third shutout of the season, and Cory Stillman scored in a shootout to give the Florida Panthers a 1-0 victory over the Boston Bruins on Thursday night.

Boston's Tim Thomas made 23 saves in regulation and overtime to extend his shutout streak to 172 minutes, 28 seconds. He stopped the first three Florida attempts in the shootout, but Stillman beat him on the glove side to end it.

The Bruins have not lost in regulation on their four-game homestand.

Florida snapped a two-game losing streak.

Riggleman gets Nationals managing job for 2010

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jim Riggleman opened his first news conference in 10 years as a full-fledged, full-time, full-titled major league manager — no "interim" tag to be found — by saying he didn't want to list the people he needs to thank, lest he forget someone.

Dufner leads Australian Masters

MELBOURNE, Australia — American Jason Dufner topped the Australian Masters leaderboard halfway through the second round Friday, shooting a 5-under 67 for a one-stroke advantage over late-starting Tiger Woods and five others.

Dufner bogeyed his final hole to finish at 7-under 137 at Kingston Heath. The former Auburn star is winless in three seasons on the PGA Tour.

Woods had a late tee time after opening with a 66 on Thursday.

Cardinals' Morey says he played with concussion

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Arizona Cardinals wide receiver and special teams player Sean Morey says he played with a concussion against the Chicago Bears last Sunday even though he has taken a lead role in raising awareness of head injuries.

"I just downplayed my symptoms and didn't communicate well enough with my training staff so they weren't able to do their job effectively," Morey said on Thursday.

Longhorn seniors learned a lot from 2005 team

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — As their undefeated season rolls on, the Texas Longhorns are hearing a lot of comparisons to the 2005 championship season when Colt McCoy and a handful of other fifth-year seniors were redshirt freshmen.

McCoy and the others watched a team that had come off an 12-1 season and BCS bowl win in 2004 return with a hunger for a title.

"They knew how good they became," coach Mack Brown said of the transition from 2004 to 2005. "They knew they got in the mix, they kind of smelled it and felt it."

Rice gone, BC ready to spread the shots around

BOSTON (AP) — Boston College coach Al Skinner doesn't need to remind his players that they were a little inconsistent last year.

"It's part of our history," the BC coach said as he prepared for his 13th season in Chestnut Hill. "If you mention North Carolina, people will turn around and say, 'Yeah, but you also lost to Harvard.' That loss will always be a reminder of who you are."

Brady-Moss connection working well for Pats

 FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Tom Brady lofted a perfect pass down the right sideline. Randy Moss reached up and made a remarkable one-handed catch at the 1-yard line.

Just four offensive plays earlier, that same New England connection failed when Brady threw deep down the middle and Miami's Vontae Davis intercepted — Davis would be burned by Moss's acrobatic 36-yard reception just short of the goal line.

3 Tennessee players named in armed robbery attempt

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Three freshmen Tennessee football players, including highly touted wide receiver recruit Nu'Keese Richardson and starting safety Janzen Jackson, were charged with attempted armed robbery Thursday morning.

Richardson, 18, and Jackson, 18, along with defensive back Mike Edwards, 18, and companion Marie Montmarquet, 22, were each charged with three counts of attempted armed robbery in connection with an incident at a gas station in an area known as "The Strip" at the edge of Tennessee's campus.

Americans falter in World Cup skeleton openers

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — Zach Lund had a bad leg. Eric Bernotas had a bad run. Noelle Pikus-Pace had some bad luck.

For some of America's Olympic skeleton hopefuls, there was no margin for error in Thursday's World Cup season openers.

Latvia's Martins Dukurs won the men's World Cup start to this Olympic season, finishing in 1 minute, 39.75 seconds on the 2002 Salt Lake City Games track. He was 0.52 seconds — an eternity in skeleton — better than Germany's Sandro Stielicke, and 0.62 seconds ahead of Great Britain's Kristan Bromley in third.

Women jumpers take case to Canada's courts

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — A British Columbia Court of Appeal heard arguments Thursday about why female ski jumpers should have the right to compete at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Fourteen women are appealing a British Columbia Supreme Court ruling that found the Vancouver Olympic organizing committee does not have the power to change a decision made by the International Olympic Committee.

Hornets fire coach; GM takes over

WESTWEGO, La. (AP) — The New Orleans Hornets fired Byron Scott only nine games into the season on Thursday and replaced him with general manager Jeff Bower, hoping the man who put the current roster together can get more out of it on the court.

"I told Jeff, 'The genie's out of the bottle,'" Hornets chief operating officer Hugh Weber said. "Nobody can say he doesn't have the right players. ... Jeff has hand-selected this team, and we like the idea that now he'll be held accountable for the results.

Celtics tune out the Jazz

BOSTON (AP) — Rajon Rondo had 14 points and 11 assists and the Boston Celtics beat the Utah Jazz 105-86 on Wednesday night to match their 8-1 start from their title-winning season two years ago.

Boston has won two in a row since its only loss, to Phoenix on Friday.

Kevin Garnett scored 18 points, Paul Pierce had 13 and Ray Allen 15 for the Celtics.

Tiger opens with a 66 in Australia

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Tiger Woods lived up to eight months of anticipation in Australia on Thursday by running off three straight birdies late in his round of a 6-under 66 that put him atop the leaderboard in the Australian Masters.

Playing for the first time Down Under in 11 years, before an enormous gallery only seen at major championships, Woods putted for birdie on every hole until the last one. He pulled his drive into a tea tree, chopped out into the rough and took two putts from 40 feet for his lone bogey.

Johnson's Chase challengers can't keep pace

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — This season was supposed to have the most competitive title race since the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship format began six years ago.

Instead, it's once again been the Jimmie Johnson show.

With only two races remaining to crown NASCAR's 2009 champion, Mark Martin is the only driver with a realistic shot of dethroning Johnson. But with a 73-point cushion, Johnson only needs to hold steady the next two weeks to win a record fourth consecutive championship.

So what went wrong?

Cavs make Magic vanish

ORLANDO, Fla. — LeBron James scored 36 points, Shaquille O'Neal provided an inside presence and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Orlando Magic 102-93 on Wednesday night in a rematch of the Eastern Conference finals.

Only this one had a different look.

NHL GMs form committee to study headshots

TORONTO (AP) — The NHL is getting closer to making a recommendation about how to reduce hits to the head.

The league's 30 GMs and their assistants wrapped up meetings with a discussion of the issue Wednesday and decided to formulate a small committee to take a closer look at it before they get together again in March.

At that time, the group could make a recommendation to the competition committee about a possible rule change. The GMs have discussed headshots in the past, but there was a change in the tone of conversation this time.

Rollins, Victorino repeat as NL Gold Glove winners

NEW YORK (AP) — Shortstop Jimmy Rollins won his third consecutive National League Gold Glove and Philadelphia Phillies teammate Shane Victorino won for the second straight time in the outfield on Wednesday.

Rollins became the Phillies fifth three-time winner, joining Mike Schmidt (10), Garry Maddox (eight), Manny Trillo and Scott Rolen (three each).

St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina and San Diego first baseman Adrian Gonzalez also were second-time winners announced on Wednesday.

McGowan set for tough test against Dallas Clark

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Brandon McGowan helped shut down two of the NFL's top tight ends for the New England Patriots. On Sunday night, he'll try to stop another.

Controlling Dallas Clark, the AFC's leading receiver, seems to be a major challenge for a player who made the league as a rookie free agent in 2005 out of Maine and missed all but two games last season with an ankle injury.

Yet McGowan has played quite well against top tight ends in his first year with New England.