Agassi revealed in his recent autobiography that he failed a 1997 drug test, a result he says was thrown out after he lied by claiming he "unwittingly" took crystal meth.

However, ATP chairman Adam Helfant said on Friday that there was no way to sanction the American retroactively since he has retired from tennis.

"There has been a lot of speculation about whether the ATP would reopen the case, but we cannot do that because he's no longer playing on the tour," Helfant said at the ATP World Tour Finals in London. "I asked an outside law firm to go through the records from 1997 so I had all the facts. Andre Agassi has admitted he failed a drugs test in 1997 and regrettably he then lied about it. Even more regrettably he got away with it."

He said the ATP's decision not to reveal the positive test was in line with its policy not to comment on doping cases.

"If we had revealed that test it would have been in contravention of the rules at the time," he said.
Helfant said he had a "very frank conversation" with Agassi after the book came out, and that the ATP has responded to the World Anti-Doping Agency's questions about the case.

"But what was said will remain between us and will not be made public," he said.

Amy Eyden's goal in the 25th minute was the difference.

The Knights will play Polk CC, of Winter Haven, Fla., in a consolation game at 1 p.m. Friday.

CCRI became one of eight teams to qualify for the NJCAA tournament after winning the District G Northeast Tournament last Sunday.

The Cavaliers' All-Star forward caused a stir this week by saying he could be "really good" if he committed himself to playing football. The remarks set off debate about James' football talents and prompted Browns coach Eric Mangini to joke that James should "come on down" and help his 1-8 team.

Cleveland nose tackle Shaun Rogers initially sacked James' belief. Now Shockey has piled on.

On his Twitter page, Shockey wrote: "Everyone trust me Lebron James could not play in the NFL! espn is crazy to even think he could even make a practice squad. hes a 4.9 40 time."

James was an All-State wide receiver in high school.

However, the question of whether she remains eligible to compete as a woman remained uncertain.

The ministry also said in a statement that the International Association of Athletics Federations has agreed to allow the 18-year-old Semenya to keep her prize money.

"Because Caster has been found to be innocent ... she will then retain her gold medal," the ministry said.

On Wednesday, the IAAF said the gender tests performed on Semenya had not been completed. The track and field governing body had been expected to announce its findings Friday.

On Thursday, the IAAF said it was sticking by its statement and could not confirm the South African ministry statements.

"Whatever scientific tests were conducted legally within the IAAF regulations will be treated as a confidential matter between patient and doctor," the sports ministry said. "As such there will be no public announcement of what the panel of scientists has found. We urge all South Africans and other people to respect this professional ethical and moral way of doing things."

Before the 800 final in Berlin, the IAAF said it had ordered gender tests because of Semenya's muscular build and rapid improvement in times. The case caused outrage in South Africa, and the IAAF was accused of violating her privacy. South African track officials were accused of failing to protect her.

Australian newspapers said in September that Semenya has male and female sexual organs, but the IAAF has refused to confirm or deny those reports.

After Athletics South Africa president Leonard Chuene admitted he lied about gender tests being conducted on Semenya in South Africa before the worlds, South African Olympic committee officials suspended him and the rest of the track body's 12-member board.

The Olympic committee appointed one of its members, Ray Mali, as ASA's administrator. When Mali moved into the track body's Johannesburg offices this week, one suspended ASA official had to be escorted from the premises by police.

The sports ministry said Thursday it had asked the IAAF to apologize for its role, and had received this response: "It is deeply regrettable that information of a confidential nature entered the public domain."

The IAAF also told the sports ministry it was not the source of leaks about the case.

DUBLIN (AP) -- Ireland appealed to France and soccer authorities Thursday to replay their World Cup playoff in Paris after an obvious handball by Thierry Henry produced the winning goal.

Ireland's government and opposition leaders united in demands for Wednesday's 1-1 draw in France to be replayed, and the country's soccer federation said it is considering a protest.

In extra time, Henry twice handled the ball to prevent it going out of play, then passed to William Gallas in the Irish box for the deciding goal.

France advanced to next year's World Cup finals in South Africa with a 2-1 aggregate score. At the time of Henry's unpunished handball, the match was 17 minutes from reaching a penalty shootout.

"If that result remains, it reinforces the view that if you cheat you will win," said Irish Justice Minister Dermot Ahern -- who also pointed out that two French players appeared to be offsides on a free kick that preceded the goal.

"Millions of people worldwide saw it was a blatant double handball, not to mention a double offside," Ahern said. "We should put the powers that be in the cozy world of FIFA on the spot and demand a replay."

The Football Association of Ireland said it was still mulling whether to protest. But Irish assistant manager Liam Brady and several players appealed to France's sense of honor.
"If the game's going to survive, it's got to be an equal playing field," Brady said. "If we're going to have integrity and dignity in the world game, the game should be replayed. And we'll go to Paris to play it."

Some Irish players accused Henry of lying when he told them that his handball had been accidental and instinctive, and criticized Swedish referee Martin Hansson for missing the infraction.

Irish left back Kevin Kilbane said replays showed conclusively that Henry "handballed it once and it's still going out of play, so he's handled it again to make sure it doesn't go out of play. ... I asked him on the pitch: Did you handball it? And he said, 'Yes -- but I didn't mean it.'"

Kilbane said he also asked Hansson after the final whistle if he had seen the incident.
"He said: 'I can 100 percent say it wasn't handball.' When he said that to me, I knew full well that he was just lying to me because he hadn't even seen it."

Irish lawmaker Joe McHugh said France should follow the 1999 precedent set by Arsenal's French manager, Arsene Wenger, who volunteered to replay a match in England's FA Cup after Arsenal won on an unfair goal.

"Throughout the country today there is an air of bitterness. We were beaten unfairly and there is general disgust in France too," McHugh said. "Friends of mine who attended last night's game phoned me this morning from a cafe in Paris to report that the French people are ashamed and do not regard this as an honest victory."

Several Irish players were in tears after Wednesday's match and rued their own missed scoring chances after outplaying France for much of the night.

"We got robbed. ... We feel cheated. We were the better team," said Irish defender Sean St. Ledger.

Ahern said he doubted that soccer's world governing body FIFA would sanction a replay. He reflected the widespread Irish view that the sport's powers were biased in favor of ensuring France's qualification.

"They probably won't grant it as we are minnows in world football," Ahern said, "but let's put them on the spot anyway."

That was the message Boston coach Doc Rivers told his team last night before they stormed the Garden to take on the Golden State Warriors.

Rivers said that the Celtics played poorly in the second half, and especially in the fourth quarter in their two previous games, resulting in losses to Atlanta and Indiana.
He wanted to make sure that didn't happen again last night.

And it didn't.

The Celtics outscored the road-weary Golden State Warriors who were playing their fifth consecutive game away from home and only had eight healthy bodies, 31-19, in the third quarter, to break open a close game, and 29-28 in the fourth to snap a two-game losing streak with a 109-95 triumph over the upset-minded Warriors.

All five starters scored in double figures, with Rajon Rondo (18 points, 12 assists, 7 rebounds), Paul Pierce (19 points, 4 rebounds), Ray Allen (15 points), Kendrick Perkins (15 points, 7 rebounds), and Kevin Garnett (12 points, 6 rebounds) leading the way.

After Corey Maggette (23 points, 8 rebounds) tied the game up at 55-55 for Golden State with a free throw, it seemed to awake a sleeping giant in the Celtics.

The Celtics shut down Golden State's high-powered offense after that and went on an 11-0 run which gave them their biggest lead of the game up to that point, 66-55.

They would extend that lead to 80-67 by the start of the fourth quarter thanks in large part to Rondo, who scored 12 points in the third.

Golden State made one last push, slashing Boston's lead to 86-76 with 7:30 remaining, but Eddie House (11 points) answered with back-to-back 3-pointers for the Celtics to put the game out of reach.

"NHL In Russian" ("NXL Na Russkom") will be broadcast on the Penguins' HD radio station and streamed live on www.pittsburghpenguins.com and NHL.com. The show will feature interviews with Russian NHL players, legends, and NHL news.

It will air at 8:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday mornings in the U.S. (4:30 p.m. in Moscow), starting Tuesday. Special guests on the inaugural show will be 2008-09 NHL scoring champ Evgeni Malkin and Russian hockey legend Igor Larionov.

The Celtics are clinging to a 49-48 lead at halftime.

While the Celtics have been nearly unstoppable on offense, shooting 54.1 percent from the field, they have not been able to slow down Golden State's efficient offense, which has knocked down 50 percent of its shots.

Nearly half of Boston's points have come in the paint (24), with Kendrick Perkins (12 points, 3 rebounds) and Kevin Garnett (8 points, 3) leading the way. Paul Pierce has seven points and two rebounds and Ray Allen has six points.

Corey Maggette (14 points, 4 rebounds), Stephen Curry (7 points) and Anthony Randolph (8 points, 7 rebounds) have been Golden State's go-to guys.
T
he Celtics began the game on fire, knocking down seven of their first eight shots. But they couldn't pull away as Golden State made six of its first 10 shots and were only down, 17-13, after six minutes of play.

They Celtics have led by as much as six but the Warriors will not go away quietly.

"He's fine," Rivers said. "He's ready to go."

The Warriors (3-7) only played seven players in their 114-108 loss to Cleveland Tuesday night after trading away one of their best players in Stephen Jackson over the weekend.

The Celtics and Warriors split their season series last year, with Paul Pierce leading the Celtics with a 21.0 points per game average. The Celtics are 4-6 against Golden State since the 2004-05 season.

The Celtics used the last two days of practice to work on their defense. While the Celtics are limiting their opponents to an NBA-low 87.09 points per game, the Celtics have allowed their last two opponents to score 97 points or more, and the Warriors own the highest-scoring offense in the league, averaging 111.55 points per game.

"They're a potent offensive team," Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said this afternoon on WEEI. "They have a lot of weapons and [Don Nelson] is a terrific offensive coach...It's a team that we should beat but it's a team that we could lose to if we don't come ready to play."

A recent ESPN report said that the Celtics have had discussions with the Sacramento Kings and the Philadelphia 76ers and as part of a three-team deal, Sacramento would receive Allen and Scalabrine, along with Samuel Dalembert from the 76ers, the 76ers would obtain Giddens and Kenny Thomas from the Kings, while the Celtics would get the Kings' Andres Nocioni, but Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said today on WEEI that those rumors are false.

"In the media, there are people that are more concerned with breaking news than writing truth and writing real history," Ainge said when asked about the trade rumor. "It's a competition of who breaks the story first and I have a feeling that there are people with motives trying to get their player traded from another team. That's how this story got out."

While the Celtics would love to have another player as talented as Nocioni (11.6 points, 4.1 rebounds), a one-time All-Star, on their roster (he is a career 37 percent shooter from the 3-point line and solid rebounder), Nocioni's contract is too big for the Celtics to take on.

He singed a five-year, $38 million contract in July of 2007 and has nearly three years and $21 million remaining on that deal.

The Celtics still have to decide whether to re-sign Ray Allen this summer and Paul Pierce has a player option at the end of the year and could look to renegotiate his contract. The Celtics have already committed $55 million to Rajon Rondo over the next five years.

Houston Baptist had one of the worst weekends in women's college basketball history.
It hurts to look at the scores. The Huskies got hammered 104-35 by Duke on Friday night, then got demolished 109-30 by TCU on Sunday.

Coach Todd Buchanan would do it again. Gladly.

"It was incredible," he told The Associated Press by phone. "I wouldn't change it for anything in the world."

The women's basketball season is only a few days old and already there have been plenty of blowouts, including No. 1 Connecticut's 70-point trouncing of Northeastern.

There have been five routs of at least 69 points after only three such games all of last season.

"I think he should come on down," Mangini said.

The NBA superstar, who was an All-State wide receiver in high school, said Tuesday night that if he put the time and commitment into it, he could be a good football player.

Mangini agreed, calling James "a freak athletically" and said the 6-foot-8, 260-pounder could be dangerous at tight end, wide receiver or even outside linebacker.

Browns nose tackle Shaun Rogers said it would be difficult for any athlete, even one as great as James, to step into the NFL and be able to handle the punishment.

Plys, an alternate on the men's curling team for the Vancouver Games, will be part of "Bank of Hollywood" on the E! network. The eight-episode show, produced by Ryan Seacrest Productions, is scheduled to debut Dec. 14. Celebrity judges will award their own money to the participants seeking it, with a minimum of $2,000.

The 22-year-old Plys, who won the world junior title in 2008 and was the youngest skip in the field at the curling trials in February, wants his parents, Patrick and Laura, to be able to travel to the Olympics from Duluth, Minn. Plys' dad has been battling brain cancer for several years.