FOOTBALL

BUCS ANNOUNCE GRIESE IS OUT FOR THE SEASON

Tampa Bay quarterback Brian Griese will miss the rest of the season after tearing ligaments in his left knee. Griese was injured in the second quarter of Sunday’s victory over Miami, and just before Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline the Bucs acquired Tim Rattay as a backup for Chris Simms and Luke McCown. But until coach Jon Gruden’s announcement yesterday that Griese will be sidelined the remainder of the year, the Bucs had not acknowledged publicly that the quarterback’s injury was more than a sprained knee that might keep him out for a lengthy period.

MOSS DOUBTFUL FOR SUNDAY

Randy Moss is unlikely to play Sunday against the Buffalo Bills after being listed as doubtful in yesterday’s injury report. Moss attended the Oakland Raiders’ walk-through yesterday morning but the receiver was still nursing bruised ribs, a strained groin, and a bruised pelvic area after getting hurt in a hard fall while trying to make a leaping catch in last Sunday’s loss to San Diego.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

HURRICANE FORCES POSTPONEMENT OF MIAMI GAME

Hurricane Wilma is giving Miami and Georgia Tech the weekend off. With Wilma expected to arrive with potentially devastating force in Florida this weekend, school and Atlantic Coast Conference officials postponed Saturday’s game between the Yellow Jackets and sixth-ranked Hurricanes. Georgia Tech will visit Miami on November 19, the ACC said. Miami’s scheduled trip to Wake Forest on November 17 – a Thursday night, prime time game – will now be played on November 12.

TENNIS

RODDICK OUSTED AT MADRID MASTERS

Andy Roddick blew a match point and lost 3-6, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (3) to Ivo Karlovic yesterday in the second round of the Madrid Masters in a battle of two of tennis’s biggest servers. Roddick, seeded second, was playing his first match since losing in the first round of the U.S. Open. He had an easy first set and held match point at 6-5 in the second-set tiebreaker against the 6-foot-10 Croat. Karlovic won the tiebreak 9-7 on his second set point when Roddick’s return went wide.

Earlier, Rafael Nadal beat Victor Hanescu of Romania 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the second round, the top-seeded Spaniard’s first match before a home crowd since his French Open victory. Other winners were third-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, fourth-seeded Guillermo Coria of Argentina, sixth-seeded Mariano Puerta of Argentina, and eighth-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia.

SOCCER

AMERICA REMAINS SEVENTH IN FIFA RANKINGS

America remained seventh in the October FIFA rankings, the first to be released after the latest round of World Cup qualifiers. Brazil remained no. 1 on yesterday’s list, a position it has held since July 2002, a month after winning its record fifth World Cup. The Netherlands are second, followed by the Czech Republic, Argentina, France, and Mexico.

Spain stayed in eighth and England moved into a tie with Portugal for ninth. Sweden dropped to 13th after a month inside the top 10 – its first time there in nine years. Uruguay made the biggest jump, moving eight places to 17th after qualifying for the World Cup playoffs with a 1-0 win over Argentina.

– Associated Press