Winter Sports

Bernard Knauss of Austria won a U.S. Pro Tour giant slalom at Pico, Vt.

Winter sports this season started with a bang in the autumn and cruised through one big storm after another during winter and spring, leaving several Western mountain resorts to conclude that the Fourth of July is more than beaches, picnics and fireworks. You can hit snowy slopes too. Just be prepared for limited terrain and shortened hours, in many cases. Weather permitting, here are some snow-meets-sun options for Independence Day weekend: -- Mammoth Mountain in California sometimes seizes the confused calendar to keep some lifts humming through Independence Day. With heaps of fresh snow, the Sierra Nevada snowpack looks more like its mid-winter self - a “June-uary” as the month has been renamed at the resort.

Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli was suspended Friday for the upcoming season by Coach Chip Kelly after pleading guilty to second-degree burglary in the theft of a pair of laptops and a guitar from a campus fraternity. Masoli, who had been mentioned as a potential Heisman Trophy candidate, will remain on scholarship with the Ducks. "He does have a redshirt season available to him if he chooses to do that," Kelly said. Kelly announced the suspension just hours after Masoli appeared in Lane County Circuit Court to answer to the burglary charge.

Curling tops my list of what I respectfully refer to as "Dumb Winter Sports." To this list, I would include almost everything except skiing, snowboarding and hockey, which are merely "Insane Winter Sports." People call to ask what it's like up here, and I tell them that it's like summer camp in the snow -- for the dumb and the insane. You should hear them sigh enviously on the other end of the phone line. Yet, curling leads the dumb list. As you probably know, the Scots invented it some 500 years ago, and probably what's most amazing is not that it has survived over the centuries but that they ever played it a second time.

U.S. Olympic officials have one thing they would like to say to our neighbors from the Great White North. Whoa, Canada. The pace at which Canada's "Own the Podium" program has improved the country's winter sports results in anticipation of the Vancouver Olympics will almost certainly halt Team USA's recent rise toward the top of the Winter Games medal count. But, almost paradoxically, the United States can count on medal possibilities in more sports than ever before.

The Dodgers are close to signing Reed Johnson to a one-year deal to be their fourth outfielder, according to baseball sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deal hadn't been completed. Johnson, 33, is a .282 hitter over seven major league seasons, the last two with the Chicago Cubs. He batted .255 with four home runs and 22 runs batted in last year in a season in which he sat out nearly two months because of a broken foot. Johnson can play all three outfield positions.

The Angels and left-hander Joe Saunders avoided arbitration by agreeing to terms on a one-year, $3.7-million contract Friday. Saunders, 28, the winningest left-hander in the American League over the last two seasons with a 33-14 record, had asked for $3.85 million when he and the club exchanged arbitration figures last week. The Angels countered with a $3.6-million offer. Saunders' new deal also includes a $25,000 bonus for 180 innings pitched and another $25,000 if he reaches 200 innings.

Robert Allenby and Ryan Palmer avoided bogeys on a windy day in Honolulu and made enough birdies Saturday to share the lead at the Sony Open and give themselves a small cushion over a crowded leaderboard. Neither of them was spectacular, though they didn't need to be. With no one making a move, Allenby made three birdies inside four feet for a three-under-par 67 and his first time atop the leaderboard through three rounds on the PGA Tour in more than six years. Palmer, who started with a one-shot lead, two-putted from long range on the last two holes -- one for par, the other for birdie -- for a 68 to catch the Australian.

Nikolay Davydenko won the first big tournament of his career Sunday, running down just about every ball and using a consistent serve to beat U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro , 6-3, 6-4, to win the ATP World Tour Finals at London. Davydenko was coming off his semifinal victory over top-ranked Roger Federer and dominated his service games against Del Potro, losing only five points on serve in the first set and eight in the second. "Maybe I had good concentration.

Michelle Wie won her first LPGA Tour title, fulfilling the promise of a decade with a three-under-par 69 Sunday for a two-stroke victory over Paula Creamer in the Lorena Ochoa Invitational at Guadalajara. Wie finished off the victory in style, hitting a greenside bunker shot to six inches on the 18th hole and then tapping in for a birdie. The 20-year-old Wie raised both arms in the air -- while holding her putter -- and then put her hand over her mouth. After pulling the ball out of the hole, she turned to the gallery, looked to the sky and let out a large sigh of relief.

Tiger Woods shot a four-under-par 68 today for a two-shot victory over Greg Chalmers in the Australian Masters at Melbourne. In his first trip Down Under in 11 years, Woods put on quite a show for his $3-million appearance fee. He pulled away from a three-way tie for the lead with three birdies on his opening six holes, then seized control with a tee shot that covered the flag and stopped six feet away for birdie on the 15th. He finished at 14-under 274. Michelle Wie moved into position for her first LPGA Tour victory, shooting a two-under-par 70 in the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in Guadalajara for a share of the third-round lead with Cristie Kerr.