Tuesday's Sports In Brief

By The Associated Press

Here's a look at Tuesday's sports in brief around the world.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

NEW YORK (AP) — President Barack Obama is picking Louisville, North Carolina, Memphis and Pittsburgh for the Final Four.

The First Hoops Fan indulged in one of the week’s most popular pastimes, filling out his NCAA tournament bracket for ESPN. The network, which is posting Obama’s bracket online Wednesday and showing Andy Katz’s report on “Sportscenter” at noon EDT, will reveal the president’s pick for NCAA champion then.

A private campaign promise earned ESPN the hoops scoop.

Katz interviewed Obama during the presidential campaign last October for a story about the president’s brother-in-law, Oregon State head basketball coach Craig Robinson. After the interview, Obama invited Katz to play in a pickup basketball game on Election Day in Chicago, and he did.

Katz extracted a promise from Obama that if elected, the new president would reveal his NCAA picks to ESPN when the pairings were announced in March.

FOOTBALL

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama selected Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney to be U.S. ambassador to Ireland, turning to a lifelong Republican who provided the Democrat critical campaign support during the White House race.

The 76-year-old Rooney endorsed Obama over Hillary Rodham Clinton during Pennsylvania’s contentious Democratic primary; Clinton won the contest last April. Rooney later campaigned for him in Steelers country in western Pennsylvania, and Obama went on to win the state last November.

The grandson of an Irish immigrant, Rooney in the 1970s helped found the American Ireland Fund, an organization that has raised millions for advocacy of peace and education in Ireland. His legacy is reflected in a Steelers-themed bar in a disused linen mill in one of the roughest parts of northwest Belfast.

In announcing the nomination on St. Patrick’s Day, Obama called Rooney “an unwavering supporter of Irish peace, culture and education.”

BASEBALL

HOUSTON (AP) — Lawyers for Roger Clemens asked a federal judge to reconsider his decision dismissing most of a defamation suit the pitcher filed against his former personal trainer over allegations of performance-enhancing drug use.

U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison dropped most of Clemens’ lawsuit against Brian McNamee on Feb. 12, saying statements McNamee made to baseball investigator George Mitchell were protected.

McNamee told federal agents, Mitchell and a House of Representatives committee that he injected Clemens more than a dozen times with steroids and human growth hormone from 1998-2001.

In a filing Monday, Clemens’ lawyers asked Ellison to examine whether he was wrong in holding McNamee’s statements to Mitchell were absolutely privileged and whether Ellison was wrong in deciding McNamee’s statements to Clemens’ former New York Yankees teammate Andy Pettitte about Clemens using drugs weren’t slanderous.

Clemens lawyers’ also want Ellison to reconsider whether the court has jurisdiction over the claims arising from what Clemens insists were McNamee’s false statements to Mitchell and to Sports Illustrated’s Web site.

PRO BASKETBALL

HOUSTON (AP) — Hours after arriving home from an important victory in New Orleans, the Houston Rockets awakened to news that forward Carl Landry had been shot overnight near his home.

Landry, 25, sustained a minor wound to his left calf and is expected to miss only one to three weeks. The team said Landry was treated at a hospital and released.

The shooting occurred about 2:30 a.m., a few hours after the Rockets returned from a 95-84 win over the Hornets that kept them in third place in the Western Conference.

Houston police said Landry was driving his sport utility vehicle southbound on a city street, when a northbound car swerved into his path and collided with his vehicle. Landry and the driver of the other vehicle made U-turns and the vehicles collided again and Landry’s SUV hit a utility pole.

Police spokesman Kese Smith said Landry got out of his SUV to inspect the damage, and was shot by one of the two occupants of the car. The suspects then fled the scene, while Landry ran to get help, police said.

SOCCER

ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) — FIFA announced that 11 bidders are officially in the race to host the World Cup in 2018 or 2022.

The candidates are: Australia, England, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Qatar, Russia, South Korea and United States, plus joint bids from Belgium-Netherlands and Spain-Portugal.

Qatar and South Korea have applied only for the 2022 tournament. The other nine candidates are in both races.

FIFA confirmed the candidates after the deadline to formally register bids passed late Monday.

FIFA’s 24-man executive committee will choose the two winning bids in December 2010.

The World Cup, featuring 32 teams playing over four weeks, generates billions of dollars through television, tourism and marketing deals.

Hosts must also commit billions of dollars of investment to stage the event, by building and upgrading stadiums and adding infrastructure of roads, airports and hotels.

Candidates are supposed to provide about 12 stadiums holding at least 40,000 fans for group matches, with one stadium of at least 80,000 capacity to stage the opening match and final.