Newsmakers
Sidelined Oregon State hoped receiver Darrell Catchings would only miss a month, but the junior is going to miss the entire 2009 football season because of a broken bone in his right hand. He will redshirt this season and have two years of eligibility remaining when he returns next season. Promising freshman Markus Wheaton is expected to get a shot at winning the starting job.
Named Former Duke point guard Greg Paulus is the starting quarterback at Syracuse. He won the job after transferring and getting an NCAA waiver to play football as a graduate student at the Newhouse School of Public Communications. Coach Doug Marrone announced the decision Tuesday. Senior Cam Dantley, last year’s starter, and two underclassmen were also in the running for the starting spot.
Signed The Detroit Red Wings signed Todd Bertuzzi to a one-year, $1.5 million contract in the hopes that the veteran forward can help make up for some of the Red Wings’ significant losses. The 34-year-old Bertuzzi scored 15 goals and had 44 points last season in the NHL, ranking sixth in both categories for the Calgary Flames. He played in an average of 67 games the past two seasons after a back injury stunted his career.
• Brian Vickers was rewarded for his auto racing win at Michigan with a multiyear contact extension from Red Bull Racing. The pole-sitter won when leader Jimmie Johnson ran out of gas with two laps left, giving Vickers just the second Sprint Cup Series win of his career. His win Sunday moved him to 13th in the standings, and he’s just 12 points out of a spot in the Chase for the championship. There are three races remaining to set the 12-driver field.
Retired Two-time U.S. Olympic skier Caroline Lalive is retiring, ending her comeback from various knee injuries. The 30-year-old Lalive earned five World Cup podium finishes. She was forced to skip the 2006 Turin Olympics when she was hurt during a World Cup training run less than a month before those games. Lalive missed all of the 2007 and 2008 seasons because of injuries. The American returned to competition this year, but yet another knee injury sidelined her in February.