U.S. reaches third straight Gold Cup final

Soccer: Clarence Goodson scored at the end of the first half and Kenny Cooper at the end of the second to give the Americans a 2-0 victory over Honduras on Thursday night in Chicago and a spot in their third straight CONCACAF Gold Cup final. It was the U.S. team’s third win over Honduras in less than seven weeks, and the second at Soldier Field.

The Americans, winners of the past two Gold Cup titles, will play Mexico in Sunday’s final at the Meadowlands. The Mexicans edged Costa Rica 5-3 on penalty kicks after a 1-1 tie.

Honduras had a chance to tie with 5 minutes to play, but goalkeeper Troy Perkins and defender Jay Heaps made big stops. Perkins made an excellent save on a shot by Carlo Costly, then Heaps made a sliding block to clear the rebound and end the threat.

Cooper then sealed the victory in the 90th after a nice exchange by Gonzaga product Brian Ching and Stuart Holden. Ching flicked the ball to Holden off his back heel. Holden then crossed it to Cooper, who one-timed it past Honduran goalkeeper Donis Escobar from about 10 feet.

Panel recommends composite bat ban

College baseball: The NCAA Baseball Rules Committee this week proposed an indefinite ban on composite-barrel bats after anecdotal evidence and research conducted during this year’s Division I national tournament indicated many of the bats didn’t comply with NCAA standards.

NCAA spokesman Cameron Schuh said the proposal is being sent to schools for comment and will be reviewed next week.

A formal vote could be taken next month and, if approved, the ban would go into effect in 2010.

The beef with the bats is with the barrel, which softens over time, creating a trampoline effect.

Composite-barrel bats that are broken in or “rolled” tend to have more pop and often violate NCAA limitations on the allowable speed at which the ball comes off the bat.

Watson trails Funk at Senior British Open

Golf: Four days after his heart-rending playoff defeat to Stewart Cink at Turnberry, Tom Watson shot a 3-under-par 67 in Sunningdale, England, to begin his pursuit of a fourth Senior British Open title.

Watson, 59, who almost became the oldest major champion at the British Open last weekend, was three shots behind leader Fred Funk.

Funk shot a 6-under 64, the lowest opening round in the history of the championship.

•Na leads Canadian: Kevin Na birdied the final five holes and nine of his last 12 for a 9-under 63 and a two-stroke lead over Retief Goosen, Scott Verplank and Joe Durant during the suspended first round of the Canadian Open in Oakville, Ontario.

•Three tied atop Evian: Becky Brewerton shot a 5-under 67 and was tied for the first-round lead of the Evian Masters in Evian-les-Bains, France. The South Korean duo of Na Yeon Choi and In-Kyung Kim also shot 67s in windy and overcast conditions.

Wendy Ward of Edwall, Wash., is one shot behind the leaders.

Cuban-Nelson feud details emerge

Miscellany: The feud between Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and former coach Don Nelson stretches back nearly seven years and has some $7 million at stake. Previously secret testimony and e-mail is now coming to light.

There’s testimony from Cuban in which he acknowledges withholding consulting fees from Nelson because he believed the former coach had “badmouthed” the team during the NBA Finals and should be made to “beg” for the money.

Nelson recalls being so disgusted with Cuban that he signed a contract to stay on as coach only after friends “got me drunk.”

The proceedings stem from a contract dispute over whether Nelson, now the coach of the Golden State Warriors, should be paid millions in salary he deferred while coaching the Mavericks from 1997 to 2005.

•Post blames ESPN: The New York Post says ESPN is to blame for identifying reporter Erin Andrews as the subject of a secretly filmed Internet video that shows a woman naked in a hotel room.

ESPN is banning Post reporters from appearing on the company’s programs because the newspaper published three photos from the video.

“No one would have known that a sick voyeur had secretly videotaped ESPN reporter Erin Andrews nude in her hotel room, if the Mickey Mouse sports network hadn’t sent a letter to an obscure Web site demanding that it take down its link to a fuzzy video of an unidentified blonde,” the Post said in its popular “Page 6” column.

ESPN last week sent a letter to a Web site demanding that the video be removed. The person who posted the video didn’t identify the nude woman, but her attorney’s letter confirmed the video was of the 31-year-old reporter.

•Provisional Open field announced: Defending champion Serena Williams and four other past winners, including her sister Venus and wild-card entry Kim Clijsters, are in the provisional women’s field for the U.S. Open.

Ninety-nine of the top 100 women in the current WTA rankings received direct entry into the hard-court Grand Slam tournament, played Aug. 31 to Sept. 13 in New York.