MINNEAPOLIS -- University of Minnesota backup point guard Kevin Payton has been suspended from the men's basketball team for academic reasons.
Coach Tubby Smith says the suspension is indefinite. The redshirt junior has appeared in only eight of the team's 18 games this season but is seen as an emotional spark plug from the bench.
The 21st-ranked Gophers return to action tonight against No. 18 Purdue.
MINNEAPOLIS -- University of Minnesota football coach Tim Brewster has named ex-Denver Broncos receivers coach Jedd Fisch as his offensive coordinator.
Fisch takes over for Mike Dunbar, who resigned earlier this month.
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Fisch was receivers coach under Mike Shanahan in Denver last season and spent the previous seven years as an assistant with Houston and Baltimore of the NFL.
PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Steelers will wear their white road uniforms against Arizona in the Super Bowl, just as they did when they defeated Seattle for the NFL title three years ago in Detroit.
The Cardinals, as the home team, chose to wear their red home jerseys in the Feb. 1 game in Tampa.
In the February 2006 Super Bowl, the Steelers had the option of wearing their black home jerseys, but elected to wear white after playing and winning three road playoff games in as many weeks.
This will be only the third time in their seven Super Bowls the Steelers will wear white. They also wore white while defeating Minnesota in the Super Bowl during the 1974 season.
LOS ANGELES -- Jeff Kent plans to announce his retirement from baseball today at Dodger Stadium.
Kent spent 17 years in the major leagues and leaves as the career home-run leader among second basemen with 351. He spent the last four seasons with the Dodgers, hitting .291 with 122 doubles, 75 homers and 311 RBIs. Los Angeles issued a statement Wednesday announcing the news conference.
A five-time All-Star and the 2000 NL MVP, Kent hit .253 during the first half of last season, improved to .353 in August, then injured his knee on Aug. 29 and had surgery four days later.
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MELBOURNE, Australia -- Roger Federer and Marat Safin rolled to easy victories Wednesday against first-time opponents to reach the Australian Open's third round, where the familiarity factor will be much higher: They'll be playing each other.
Federer, who ousted error-prone Evgeny Korolev of Russia 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 in just 86 minutes, lost a semifinal thriller here in 2005 that Safin won in a 9-7 fifth set en route to the championship. Federer, seeking to tie Pete Sampras' record of 14 Grand Slam titles, has won their last three meetings, including the last two at Wimbledon.
Safin, a former world No. 1, beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 7-5, 6-2, 6-2.
Seventh-seeded Andy Roddick had his hands full against Xavier Malisse of Belgium, a former top 20 player who had to go through qualifying because his ranking has fallen to No. 195 after a wrist injury.
Roddick, a semifinalist here three times and the 2003 U.S. Open champion, rallied for a hard-fought 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (1), 6-2 victory. Malisse seemed to lose steam after forcing the third-set tiebreaker, where he won only one point.
