Briefs | College Football: FAU rewards Howard Schnellenberge

College football

FAU extends Schnellenberger's contract: If Florida Atlantic opens its long-planned new football stadium in 2010, Howard Schnellenberger will be on the sideline.

The 74-year-old coach had his contract extended Wednesday through the 2010 season, a reward from the Boca Raton, Fla., school's board of trustees after leading the Owls to their first Sun Belt Conference championship last year. There is a provision in the deal that could allow it to be extended through 2011 if the facility is not completed until then.

"Howard has built the football program into a bowl champion in record time," FAU athletic director Craig Angelos said in a statement. "FAU wants him to serve at the team's helm through its next historic phase, the construction of our on-campus stadium."

Penn State players kicked off team: Penn State defensive tackles Chris Baker and Phil Taylor, who were involved in off-field fights last year, have been kicked off the team by coach Joe Paterno. No reason was given on why they were released.

UCLA's Bell cleared for practice: UCLA running back Kahlil Bell, recovering from a knee injury, was cleared for full practice when preseason workouts begin Tuesday.

Alabama State doesn't contest rules violations: Alabama State chose not to contest any of the 23 alleged NCAA rules violations in the university's official response to the charges.

Tennis

Nadal cruises to 30th consecutive win: Rafael Nadal needed little time to win his 30th straight match.

The Spaniard spent only 48 minutes on court and earned a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Florent Serra in the second round of the Cincinnati Masters. Nadal has won 30 consecutive matches since May.

Ivanovic, Sharapova win in Toronto: Top-seeded Ana Ivanovic, playing with a swollen thumb, advanced to the third round at the Rogers Cup in Toronto with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 win over Petra Kvitova.

Maria Sharapova advanced despite an injury, beating Poland's Marta Domachowska 7-5, 5-7, 6-2.

Sharapova called for the trainer trailing 3-4 in the second set to look at her right shoulder, an injury that might have contributed to her committing 17 double faults in the match.

NBA

Euroleague teams added to preseason schedule: League champion CSKA Moscow will join two other Euroleague teams in playing exhibition games against NBA opponents this season, the NBA announced.

FC Barcelona and Lietuvos Rytas of Lithuania also will appear on the Euroleague American tour, which features five games from Oct. 10-21.

Detroit signs Bynum: The Detroit Pistons have signed free-agent guard Will Bynum. Terms of the deal were not released.

Horse racing

Lava Man retires as richest claiming horse: Lava Man was retired as Thoroughbred racing's richest claiming horse after X-rays revealed changes in the horse's front ankles.

The 7-year-old gelding was claimed for $50,000 at Del Mar in 2004 and finished his career with earnings of $5,268,706, and 17 wins in 46 starts.

In 2006, Lava Man became the first horse to win the Santa Anita Handicap, Hollywood Gold Cup and Pacific Classic in the same year.

Zappa wins at Del Mar: Zappa led all the way and won the $150,000 Cougar II Handicap by 6 ¼ lengths at Del Mar.

Ridden by Garrett Gomez, Zappa covered 1 ½ miles in 2:30.30, the first time the distance has been contested over the track's synthetic Polytrack surface.

Soccer

Fire acquires McBride: The Chicago Fire acquired former United States striker Brian McBride from Toronto FC on Wednesday for Chad Barrett, a first-round pick in the 2009 draft and future considerations.

The clubs had been working since last week to complete the deal for McBride, a native of the northwestern Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights.

Meanwhile, Chris Rolfe and Tomasz Frankowski each scored goals to lead the Fire to a 2-0 win over Everton in an international friendly.

Hockey

Wild lets Parrish go: The Minnesota Wild bought out the final three years of right winger Mark Parrish's contract. Parrish cleared waivers and is now an unrestricted free agent.

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