Monday's Sports In Brief

By The Associated Press

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

PRO FOOTBALL

ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) — The Detroit Lions are holding out hope Matthew Stafford, the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft, will be healthy enough to play against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Stafford was listed as day to day after his right knee was twisted on a sack in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s loss against the Chicago Bears. He immediately grabbed behind his knee and screamed in pain on the ground following the play.

Daunte Culpepper replaced Stafford at Chicago and would likely start Sunday at home against the defending champion Steelers if the rookie can’t play.

But even if Stafford can’t practice after Tuesday’s off day, coach Jim Schwartz insisted that wouldn’t necessarily rule him out.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Florida coach Urban Meyer said quarterback Tim Tebow has not yet been cleared to play against No. 4 LSU.

Tebow did not practice but Meyer said the Heisman Trophy winner is no longer dealing with post-concussion symptoms.

Meyer said Tebow has been without headaches and other symptoms for several days. He was tested Friday, Sunday and Monday, and the results were “very positive.”

Tebow was hospitalized overnight nine days ago after his helmet struck teammate Marcus Gilbert’s leg during a sack in the game against Kentucky.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The chairman of the Florida State University trustees wants Bobby Bowden to retire at the end of this season.

Jim Smith said the arrangement with Bowden as head coach and his successor, Jimbo Fisher, as offensive coordinator isn’t working.

The Seminoles (2-3, 0-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) are off to their worst start since Bowden’s first year at Florida State in 1976.

Bowden said Sunday that he has no plans of quitting anytime soon. His 384 wins are three fewer than Penn State coach Joe Paterno, the career leader in victories among major college coaches. Bowden will soon turn 80 and has a contract with an option to return in 2010.

BASEBALL

NEW YORK (AP) — Chris Carpenter was voted NL comeback player of the year while Aaron Hill won the AL award.

Limited to four starts over the prior two seasons because of elbow surgery and a shoulder injury, Carpenter was 17-4 with a league-leading 2.24 ERA for the St. Louis Cardinals. The 2005 NL Cy Young Award winner, Carpenter won 11 consecutive decisions from early July to early September.

Hill appeared in just 55 games in 2008 due to a concussion. He hit .286 for the Toronto Blue Jays this year and established career highs with 36 homers and 108 RBIs, the most among major league second basemen.

The awards were voted on by the 30 beat writers of MLB.com.

OLYMPICS

COPENHAGEN (AP) — IOC president Jacques Rogge says the decision to give Rio de Janeiro the 2016 games shows the Olympic movement isn’t out to make “big money” on its showcase event.

Rogge said that bringing the Olympics to South America for the first time should end criticism that the IOC chooses host cities based on financial profit. The American broadcast rights for the Rio games are expected to be worth considerably less than if the games had gone to Chicago. Tokyo and Madrid were the other candidates.

The IOC gets more than half its revenue from broadcasting deals, and U.S. deals alone have been worth more than the rest of the world’s broadcasters combined.

ATHLETICS

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa’s governing party wants champion runner Caster Semenya to compete as a woman regardless of any gender tests.

African National Congress party spokesman Jackson Mthembu said that Semenya had been brought up as a girl and should therefore “continue to run as a woman.”

Semenya won the 800 meters at the world championships in August in Berlin. Before the final, track and field’s ruling body said it had ordered gender tests.

The ANC has set up a group to support Semenya and says she has been “victimized and subjected to unnecessary public scrutiny.”

SPORTS & MEDIA

CHICAGO (AP) — An Illinois insurance executive accused of secretly making nude videos of ESPN reporter Erin Andrews apparently uploaded videos of other unsuspecting nude women to the Internet, a federal prosecutor said.

Michael D. Barrett, 47, of Westmont, was released on $4,500 bond but was ordered to wear an ankle monitoring bracelet, to adhere to a strict curfew and not to use the Internet. He is due in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Oct. 23 to face federal charges of interstate stalking.

Barrett is accused of making the videos by modifying peepholes in hotel room doors, using a hacksaw and a cell phone camera, and then trying to sell them to Los Angeles-based celebrity gossip site TMZ.

GYMNASTICS

COPENHAGEN (AP) — A ruling on whether China competed with two underage gymnasts at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney has been pushed back until at least next year.

A disciplinary commission of the International Gymnastics Federation told that group’s executive committee, which met Sept. 23-25, that it has yet to finish its investigation.

If the gymnasts were underage, the commission could recommend sanctions to the FIG’s executive committee. It won’t meet again until the end of February, so no decision can come before then, Gueisbuhler said.

The gymnasts, Dong Fangxiao and Yang Yun, are suspected of being as young as 14 in Sydney. Gymnasts must turn 16 during an Olympic year to be eligible to compete.