*BASEBALL: Reliever Jeremy Affeldt became the first of 171 free agents to sign, striking an $8 million, two-year deal with the Giants. The 29-year-old left-hander was 1-1 with a 3.33 ERA for the Royals last season. … Padres third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff had arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder and is expected to be ready by spring training. … Baseball’s legends and old-timers will play in a new Hall of Fame Classic that officials hope will become a tradition. The inaugural game will be June 21 — Father’s Day and the first day of summer — and will replace the annual game that was discontinued this season after 68 years because of scheduling problems. … Coming off their first winning season, the AL champion Rays said single-game tickets will rise anywhere from $1 to $5 depending on location at Tropicana Field.
*COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Utah State fired Brent Guy, who will coach the Aggies’ season finale Nov. 29. Utah State is 2-9 and 8-38 in Guy’s four seasons. … Rocky Long resigned after 11 seasons as New Mexico’s coach. The Lobos went 4-8 this season and 65-69 overall under Long. … Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh said he’s close to finalizing an agreement on a contract extension. … Cincinnati dismissed freshman receiver Nick Truesdell for an unspecified rules violation. … Northern Iowa dismissed receivers Johnny Gray and Victor Williams after they were arrested for possession of marijuana. … Injured Washington QB Jake Locker (thumb) is done for the season. … Naperville’s North Central College (10-0) is ranked No. 2 in Div. III and opens the playoffs Saturday at home against Kentucky’s Thomas More College (8-2).
*COLLEGE BASKETBALL: North Carolina remained a unanimous No. 1 in the AP men’s poll, followed by Connecticut, Louisville, UCLA and Michigan State. In the women’s poll, Connecticut became a unanimous choice at No. 1 while LSU fell out of the AP poll for the first time since Feb. 25, 2002, a span of 117 straight weeks. … The 16th-ranked Virginia women upset No. 5 Tennessee 83-82 while No. 4 North Carolina routed Kennesaw State 102-68.
*COLLEGE SOCCER: The men’s Div. I pairings were announced and Loyola (12-6-3) plays at 7 p.m. Friday at Northwestern (13-4-2) while Illinois-Chicago (12-3-4) will host Dayton (15-4-2) at 7. Complete schedule in Scoreboard
*NHL: Blues center Andy McDonald will miss at least eight weeks after fracturing a small bone in his left ankle. … The Avalanche signed center Paul Stastny, 22, to a five-year extension through 2014. … Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury is out with an undisclosed injury. … Doug Gilmour is leaving the Maple Leafs organization to become coach of the OHL’s Kingston team.
*TENNIS: Rafael Nadal of Spain officially ended Roger Federer’s reign as the No. 1 player in the world in the final ATP rankings. Three Americans were in the top 25: Andy Roddick at No. 8, James Blake at 10 and Mardy Fish at 23.
*OLYMPICS: The International Olympic Committee can’t put a Band-Aid on this financial cut: Johnson & Johnson informed the IOC that it won’t be renewing its global sponsorship deal that was worth up to $100 million.
*GOLF: In another sign of fragile financial conditions, Buick has told the PGA Tour it will not provide courtesy cars to most tournaments next year.
*ALSO: A thoroughbred appraiser set Curlin’s market value at $20 million as a complicated ownership dispute is worked out. Two disbarred lawyers who own 20 percent must sell their interest in the horse of the year to satisfy a $42 million civil judgment against them. … University of Illinois police have served search warrants on the home, computer and e-mail accounts of former gymnastics coach Jon Valdez, who’s being investigated after a video camera was discovered in a locker room. … Dara Torres, 41, said if she can stay healthy she hopes to race at the world championships next summer.
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EDITED FROM TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICES
