Sports in 2 mintues

From The Associated Press

Yearlong Duke rape case collapses
RALEIGH, N.C.—Nearly a year after calling the rape accusations he and two Duke lacrosse teammates faced nothing but “fantastic lies,” David Evans again stood before the cameras and proclaimed his innocence.

This time, there was no room for doubt.

North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper didn’t just dismiss all the remaining criminal charges against Evans, Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty. He took the extra step of declaring the players innocent—the victims of a “tragic rush to accuse” by a rogue prosecutor who could be disbarred for his actions.

“This case shows the enormous consequences of overreaching by a prosecutor,” Cooper said.

The attorney general took over the case in January from Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong after the state bar charged Nifong with ethics violations over his handling of the case. On Wednesday, Cooper said the state’s investigation into a stripper’s claim that she was sexually assaulted at a team party last spring found nothing to corroborate her story.

The investigation, he said, “led us to the conclusion that no attack occurred.”

Imus holds fundraiser at MSNBC studios
NEW YORK—Don Imus raised nearly $1 million in the first five hours of his annual radio charity fundraiser Thursday, but it was only by voice—MSNBC pulled the plug on his talk show’s television simulcast amid the uproar over his racial slur.

“This may be our last Radiothon, so we need to raise about $100 million,” Imus said at the start of the event, which has raised more than $40 million since 1990.

Imus acknowledged again that his remarks a week ago about the Rutgers women’s basketball team had been “really stupid.”

“There’s a difference between premeditated murder and the gun going off,” but the end result is the same, he said: “Somebody’s still dead.”

Several major advertisers dropped the show, and pressure from politicians and the public has mounted since the radio host referred to the Rutgers basketball players as “nappy-headed hos” shortly after they lost the NCAA women’s national championship game.

MSNBC dropped its simulcast of the “Imus in the Morning” radio program and aired news instead on Thursday, though Imus still broadcast the show from an MSNBC studio.

‘King Felix’ steals the show at Fenway
BOSTON—There were no Venezuelan flags fluttering at Fenway Park, no doughnut signs in Spanish, no concession stands selling coconut rice for reporters or fans who had flown in from South America to see their countryman pitch.

This was supposed to be the coming out party for Daisuke Matsuzaka, not Felix Hernandez.

“Dice-K” Matsuzaka made his Fenway debut—and against Ichiro Suzuki, no less—but Hernandez held Boston hitless for seven innings and finished with a one-hitter on Wednesday night to lead the Seattle Mariners to a 3-0 victory over the Red Sox.

“With all the hype going into this game with Matsuzaka and Ichiro, I kept in the back of my mind that people better not overlook our guy,” Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said. “I think this guy is ultra special, and we’re sure glad he’s on our side.”

Three days past his 21st birthday, Hernandez (2-0) didn’t allow a hit until J.D. Drew singled on the first pitch of the bottom of the eighth. The burly right-hander struck out six and walked two, allowing just three baserunners—none past first base.

Hernandez, who fanned 12 in his other start, hasn’t allowed a run in 17 innings this season.

Bledsoe ends 14-season career by retiring
Drew Bledsoe retired Wednesday, ending a 14-season career in which he made two Super Bowls.

The top overall pick by New England in the 1993 draft out of Washington State, the four-time Pro Bowl quarterback played for the Patriots, Buffalo Bills and Dallas Cowboys. He was a starter for all three teams, but ended up as a backup with the Cowboys.

Bledsoe threw for 44,611 yards and 251 touchdown passes in his career.

“I feel so fortunate, so honored, to have played this game that I love for so long, with so many great players, and in front of so many wonderful fans,” he said. “I fulfilled a childhood dream the first time I stepped on an NFL field, and the league did not let me down one time. I retire with a smile on my face, in good health, and ready to spend autumns at my kids’ games instead of my own. I’m excited to start the next chapter of my life.”

The 35-year-old Bledsoe lost his starting job to Tom Brady in New England in 2001 when Bledsoe got hurt in the second game of the season, and to Tony Romo in Dallas after Game 6 of last season.

He also asked for his release from the Bills after the 2004 season, when the team informed him it was going with J.P. Losman as the starter the next year. Bledsoe didn’t want to be a backup there after he led the Bills to the brink of the playoffs.

He then signed with the Cowboys and was their starter for all of 2005 and part of ‘06.

In 1996, Bledsoe guided the Patriots to the AFC championship. They lost to Green Bay in the Super Bowl.

Valuev will tower over Chagaev in WBA title fight
BERLIN—Ruslan Chagaev’s camp has gone to great lengths to prepare him to face Nikolai Valuev, the tallest heavyweight champion of all time, in an WBA title fight Saturday.

The challenger’s camp used an 89-inch wide plasma television to give 6-foot-1, 225-pound Chagaev a sense of what it will be like to face the 7-foot, 326-pound Valuev. Basketball player-sized sparring partners have also been brought to Uzbekistan.

“Sometimes I will stand on a box for Ruslan to hit and get a feel for his size,” Chagaev trainer Michael Timm said.

Chagaev (22-0-1, 17 KOs) likes to point out that as an amateur he was one of the few fighters to defeat Felix Savon, the 6-5 Cuban legend.

“I can beat Valuev,” said Chagaev, who has patterned his fighting style after Mike Tyson’s. “I’ve beaten big favored opponents before.”

Valuev is making his fourth title defense and first mandatory against Chagaev, who is the No. 1 challenger but isn’t expected to stop Valuev from reaching his two main goals.

Valuev is 46-0 and chasing Rocky Marciano’s record (49-0) for an unbeaten heavyweight champion. He would risk that shot, however, for a unification fight against IBF champion Wladimir Klitschko.

“I’m ready. I’m waiting in the ring with raised fists,” Valuev said.

Back injury to sideline Sorenstam for a month
REUNION, Florida—Annika Sorenstam withdrew Thursday from the Ginn Open because of a ruptured disk in her back that will keep her from playing on the LPGA Tour for at least a month.

“I’ve been playing with quite a bit of pain for the past several weeks,” Sorenstam said in a statement. “I couldn’t take it much more and decided it was time to see someone after the pro-am yesterday. I withdraw with deep regret.”

The 36-year-old Sorenstam said doctors in south Florida discovered a ruptured disk and a bulging disk. She said she would see a neurosurgeon in Miami later Thursday to figure out what to do next.

She still plans to open her Annika Academy at Ginn Reunion Resort on Monday.