Sports in 2 Minutes

Mannings first QB brothers to make Pro Bowl

NEW YORK—Peyton and Eli Manning were voted to the Pro Bowl on Tuesday, the first time quarterback-playing brothers have been chosen for the same all-star game.

The Indianapolis Colts’ Peyton will make his ninth appearance in 11 seasons and will start for the AFC. It will be the first appearance for Eli, who was the MVP for the New York Giants in last February’s Super Bowl. He will be on the NFC team.

The Giants also landed the oldest Pro Bowler ever, 44-year-old kicker John Carney, who was signed at the start of the season as a short-term fill-in for the injured Lawrence Tynes. He has made 27 of 29 field goals — the two he missed were blocked — and has kept the now-recovered Tynes inactive for all but two games.

The New York Jets led all teams with seven Pro Bowlers, including quarterback Brett Favre, who will be in his 10th Pro Bowl, but his first representing the AFC. There will be six each from the Giants, Minnesota Vikings and Tennessee Titans in the game, to be played on Feb. 8 in Honolulu.

While Peyton Manning will start for the AFC, the starting quarterback for the NFC will be Kurt Warner, who led the Arizona Cardinals to the NFC West title. It will be the 37-year-old Warner’s fourth Pro Bowl but his first since 2001, when he was with St. Louis and made it for the third straight season.

With Warner on the NFC squad are the Cardinals’ two starting wide receivers, Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald, both voted in as starters. But Warner and the 39-year-old Favre, who leads the NFL in interceptions with 17, are far from the oldest Pro Bowlers this year.

All-America Laurinaitis heads AP team

NEW YORK—James Laurinaitis idolized A.J. Hawk, Chris Spielman and the other great linebackers who played for Ohio State before him.

Now, in at least one area, he has surpassed them.

Laurinaitis became the second college football player to be a three-time AP All-American, joining Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford and star receiver Michael Crabtree on the first team released Tuesday.

Ohio State has a history of great linebackers from Hawk to Spielman and Tom Cousineau to Randy Gradishar. Hawk and Spielman were both two-time AP All-Americans.

“When people throw my name in that group of players, I just laugh,” Laurinaitis said. “It’s extremely complimentary to be thought of in the same category.”

The only other player to make the AP first-team three times was Pittsburgh offensive lineman Bill Fralic (1982-84), according to STATS LLC.

Bradford beat out Texas’ Colt McCoy and Florida’s Tim Tebow in All-America voting that broke the same way as the Heisman balloting. McCoy, the Heisman runner-up, was the second-team quarterback. Tebow made the third team, a year after winning the Heisman and being a first-team AP All-American.

The defense featured Laurinaitis’ teammate, cornerback Malcolm Jenkins, and two players from Southern California’s top-ranked unit: linebacker Rey Maualuga and safety Taylor Mays.

Harrington voted PGA Tour player of the year

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif.—Padraig Harrington was voted PGA Tour player of the year by his peers Tuesday, becoming the first European player to win the award since it began in 1990.

Harrington only won twice this year, but they were majors — the British Open and the PGA Championship — making him the first European to win successive majors in the same season, and joining Tiger Woods as the only player to do that in the last 20 years.

Woods won four times before season-ending knee surgery in June, including the U.S. Open for the his 14th major, and he was second on the money list despite playing only six times. Woods was among the candidates, along with Vijay Singh, Kenny Perry and Camilo Villegas.

Unlike other sports organizations, the PGA Tour does not disclose the vote totals.

In other tour awards, Bernhard Langer was voted player of the year on the Champions Tour, while Brendan de Jonge won the award on the Nationwide Tour.

Andres Romero was voted PGA Tour rookie of the year, while Dudley Hart was voted comeback player of the year.

Oklahoma RB Murray to miss title game with injury

NORMAN, Okla.—Oklahoma running back DeMarco Murray will have surgery to repair a hamstring injury and miss the BCS national championship game against Florida.

Murray will undergo surgery on Dec. 22 to repair the tendon in his left leg, Sooners’ coach Bob Stoops said Tuesday. The championship game is Jan. 8.

“Obviously, we’re very disappointed for DeMarco,” Stoops said in a statement. “He has been an important part of our success this year and we will miss his contributions.”

Murray was Oklahoma’s leading rusher before he was injured in the Big 12 championship game against Missouri on Dec. 6. The injury was first diagnosed as a bruise but an MRI exam revealed the damage.

Hoke takes over sad-sack Aztecs

SAN DIEGO—Brady Hoke was introduced Tuesday as the new coach at San Diego State, promising to build a program “that expects to win.”

Hoke was hired away from Ball State, where he was 34-38 in six seasons but led the Cardinals to a 12-1 record this season. Their only loss was against Buffalo in the Mid-American Conference championship game.

Hoke said he won’t coach Ball State in the GMAC bowl on Jan. 6.

Hoke replaces Chuck Long, who was fired in late November. Long was 9-27 in three seasons at San Diego State, which hasn’t had a winning record since 1998. The Aztecs were 2-10 this year, the school’s first 10-loss season.

Hoke received a five-year contract worth $3,525,000.

Furcal close to $30M deal with Atlanta

ATLANTA—Shortstop Rafael Furcal is close to accepting a $30 million, three-year offer to return to the Atlanta Braves.

The 31-year-old began his major league career with Atlanta, playing for the Braves from 2000-05. He spent the last three seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“He liked the idea of coming back to Atlanta, but there hasn’t been any formal agreement,” Furcal’s agent, Paul Kinzer, said Tuesday. “Everything is preliminary. The whole thing with coming back home intrigued him. He still has a house here in Atlanta.”

His deal would contain an option for 2012 that could become guaranteed.

Furcal hit .357 last season with five homers and 16 RBIs but had back surgery July 3 and was limited to 36 games and 143 at-bats. He returned to the lineup Sept. 24 and played in four games during the final week of the season.