Sports Desk

Basketball

Gallinari gets on track in first game with Knicks

After a scoreless first half, Danilo Gallinari scored 14 points in a hurry in the second half of his Knicks debut, helping New York beat Cleveland yesterday.

Gallinari, who was selected by the Knicks with the no. 6 pick of the 2008 NBA draft, scored all of his points in just over 7 minutes during the third and fourth quarters. Gallinari finished with 5-for-11 from the field and added six rebounds in New York's 97-94 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers at the NBA Summer League.

Gallinari's last two points were on free throws with 5:06 remaining in the final quarter. He was taken out of the game less than one minute later and did not return due to a sore back.

"I was hurting all game," he said.

College basketball

Packer out, Kellogg in as CBS lead announcer

Billy Packer didn't sound like a man who found out his 34-year run as part of the Final Four broadcast had ended.

Yesterday, CBS announced that Clark Kellogg would replace Packer after 27 years as the network's lead college basketball analyst. Including his earlier years at NBC, Packer had done every Final Four since 1975, an unparalleled run for a national sports championship.

"These are really good circumstances," Packer told The Associated Press by phone. "This decision was made with myself and CBS over a year ago. Their timing to announce it is their business. I have nothing to do with that. I was working on a series of 1-year contracts for several years. ... I did say there would be no mention during the season so as not to detract from the games and the guys involved."

Football

Favre: Packers should let me play elsewhere

Brett Favre finally is speaking for himself: He wants to play but doesn't feel welcome in Green Bay, so he's asking to be released.

The quarterback's first substantial comments on his latest retirement decision reversal come in an interview with Fox News on "On the Record with Greta Van Susteren."

"I am guilty of retiring early and there is a reason for that," Favre said, according to an excerpt provided to The Associated Press before the Monday night broadcast. "And the major issue is 'Why did he retire?,' and 'He asked for a release because he doesn't want to play in Green Bay.' That's not true. And I hope people are hearing this and saying 'okay, that clears it up."'

Baseball

Bonds's rep on 2008 return: 'Prospects look bleak'

Don't expect to see Barry Bonds showing up in a pennant race.

Bonds has not received a single offer, agent Jeff Borris said yesterday. He dismissed recent reports of interest from Arizona, the Mets, and Boston.

"I'm an optimistic guy by nature," Borris said, "and I've told Barry that the prospects look bleak."

Bonds, who turns 44 in two weeks, led the majors last season with a .480 on-base percentage. He finished the year with 762 career home runs and became a free agent when the San Francisco Giants did not bring him back.

Sweat stained Babe Ruth cap auctioned for $328,000

A baseball cap worn by Yankees slugger Babe Ruth has been auctioned for a record $328,000. The sweat-stained cap from around the 1920s sold yesterday at an auction of Yankees memorabilia in New York. Hunt Auctions says the cap is one of only three Yankees hats in existence worn by Ruth during games. It says a hat used by a player had never sold for more than $100,000.

The Ruth cap had been expected to fetch up to $200,000. The surname Ruth and the player's first and middle initials, G.H., for George Herman, are embroidered inside.

A Ruth bat signed to Broadway star Tessa Kosta sold for $195,500. And Thurman Munson's 1970 Rookie of the Year award sold for $46,000.

Hockey

Leafs acquire Ryan Hollweg from Rangers

The Toronto Maple Leafs acquired forward Ryan Hollweg from the New York Rangers for a 2009 fifth-round draft pick on yesterday.

The 25-year-old Hollweg had two goals and two assists and 96 penalty minutes in 70 games for the Rangers. He has five goals and seven assists in 200 career NHL games, all with the Rangers.