Sports in brief: Contrite Pitino says he’ll stay

College basketball: The woman accused of trying to extort Louisville men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino approached him in a restaurant six years ago, and the two had sex at a table after closing time, the coach told police.

Two weeks later, the married father of five gave Karen Sypher $3,000 after she said she needed an abortion and didn’t have health insurance, according to a summary of Pitino’s July 12 statement to police. His attorney said Wednesday that the money was to help her get medical coverage, not specifically to pay for an abortion.

Pitino on Wednesday apologized to his family, players, school and fans for what happened six years ago and said he would continue coaching the Cardinals for as long as “they will have me.”

More on Pitino, B3

Chavez needs ‘mulligan’

A State Department spokesman, a once-a-week golfer, teed off on President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela for criticizing the gentleman’s game as a “bourgeois sport.”

Describing himself as the department’s “self-appointed ambassador-at-large for golf,” P.J. Crowley swung hard at the leftist leader who last month said rich people who want to play golf at the public course in Maracay, Venezuela, can build another one on the city’s outskirts.

Crowley launched the daily press briefing at the department to protest the “unwarranted attack” by Chavez on the game.

“The suggestion that golf, a truly global sport, is bourgeois is a mulligan,” Crowley said. “And once again Mr. Chavez, one of the hemisphere’s most divisive figures, finds himself out of bounds.”

Associated Press

Sober Fleury wants back in

Hockey: Now that he is sober, 41-year-old Theo Fleury wants to resume his NHL career after a six-year absence.

Fleury is preparing for NHL training camp next month, but he doesn’t know if any of the 30 teams will invite him for a tryout. He will also need to be reinstated to the league before he can take that step.

When he left the NHL after the 2002-03 season, the diminutive forward was under indefinite suspension for violating the NHL’s substance abuse policy.

Fleury has been sober for four years with the help of Alcoholic’s Anonymous and the support of his family. He has contacted the NHL about reinstatement.

He scored 455 goals and helped set up 633 others in an NHL career that lasted 15 seasons and included more than 1,000 games with the Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche, New York Rangers and Chicago Blackhawks. He won the Stanley Cup in his rookie season with Calgary in 1989, and played in seven NHL All-Star games.

Associated Press