Rams Lose Anderson to Colts
Wide receiver Flipper Anderson got quite a 30th birthday present from the Indianapolis Colts on Tuesday--a five-year contract reportedly worth $8.5 million, including a $2 million signing bonus.
Anderson, had 259 receptions for 5,246 yards and 26 touchdowns in seven seasons with the Rams. He holds the NFL record for receiving yardage in a game, 336.
“The (Rams) didn’t really make any effort to retain me,” he said.
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Defensive end Charles Haley, who said after the Dallas Cowboys’ loss in the NFC championship game that he was retiring, will play another season. Haley, 31, will earn $1.95 million this season.
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Fred Whittingham, the defensive coordinator at the University of Utah since 1992, was hired to coach linebackers for the Raiders. . . . Free agent Bryan Barker, who led the NFC in punting average last year with the Philadelphia Eagles, signed a reported three-year contract for $500,000 a year with the Jacksonville Jaguars. . . . Klaus Wilmsmeyer, the San Francisco 49ers’ punter for the last three years, has agreed to a two-year, $678,000 contract with the New Orleans Saints, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. . . . Linebacker Dante Jones was released by the Chicago Bears.
Boxing
Gerald McClellan was taken off a life-support machine in a London hospital as he began to regain consciousness, 11 days after suffering brain injuries in a title fight loss to Nigel Benn.
James (Buddy) McGirt lacked his potent left hook when he lost his welterweight title to Pernell Whitaker in 1993 because a doctor failed to properly diagnose and treat his left shoulder before the bout, the fighter claims in a lawsuit filed in Newark, N.J.
Israel T. Berbick, 40, formerly known as Trevor Berbick, lost a unanimous decision to Jimmy Thunder in a heavyweight bout at Prior Lake, Minn.
Sailing
After losing its top sailboat during a Pacific Ocean storm, John Bertrand’s oneAustralia sailed its year-old backup boat and defeated national rival Sydney 95 by 1 minute, 54 seconds in the America’s Cup trials.
The Aussies, who have retained their dry wit throughout their crisis, wore life jackets for most of the prestart maneuvers, then removed them as the race began.
On the defender course, Kevin Mahaney’s Young America passed Dennis Conner’s Stars & Stripes on the second leg and won by 2:06.
Harry Mitchell, a 70-year-old English yachtsman, remained lost at sea in the BOC round-the-world race. He has not been heard from for more than 40 hours.
Miscellany
Wayne Gretzky, as expected, bought out former King owner Bruce McNall’s share of a 1910 Honus Wagner baseball card they bought for $451,000 in 1991. Gretzky paid $225,500.
Billy Martin’s widow has reached a settlement with the man who was at the wheel of Martin’s pickup truck when it slid into a ditch and killed the former New York Yankee manager in 1989.
Andrea Gaudenzi and Renzo Furlan will play singles and Stefano Pescosolido and Cristian Brandi will play doubles for Italy in the Davis Cup quarterfinal against the United States in Palermo on March 31-April 2.
Former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash of Australia upset third-seeded Daniel Vacek of the Czech Republic, 7-6 (7-1), 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), in the first round of the Copenhagen Open.
Jimmy Connors defeated Guillermo Vilas, 6-2, 6-3, and Jose-Luis Clerc defeated Roscoe Tanner, 6-3, 6-4, at the Nuveen Masters, an over-35 event in Naples, Fla.
Dee Dee Jonrowe of Willow, Alaska, was the first musher into Nikolai in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on a fast pace of nearly 12 m.p.h. on the 93-mile run from the Rohn.
Germany plans to become the first country to introduce an extensive program of random blood tests during training in a bid to catch athletes who cheat with performance-enhancing drugs.
Raymond Floyd shot a five-under-par 67 for a two-day 139 and a six-stroke $250,000 victory in the Senior Slam in Los Cabos, Mexico.
Former Detroit Piston Mark Aguirre scored 32 points as Magic Johnson’s All Stars beat the Australian national team, 113-98, in Adelaide. Johnson scored 19.
Kenya’s Delilah Asiago has agreed to compete in the Mobil St. Patrick’s Day 10K in Torrance.
