SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Tim Duncan has agreed to a two-year, $40 million contract extension with the San Antonio Spurs, an official familiar with the negotiations said Tuesday.
The agreement will add to Duncan's existing three-year deal and keep him in San Antonio at least through the 2011-12 season, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the source was not authorized to discuss negotiations.
The 31-year-old Duncan has led the Spurs to four NBA titles in the past nine seasons, and he was the finals MVP for the first three. He also won back-to-back league MVP titles in 2002-03.
Duncan, entering his 11th season, was the No. 1 pick in 1997, two years before the Spurs won their first title. The nine-time All-Star has career averages of 21.8 points and 11.9 rebounds.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Former major-league All-Star Jose Offerman was granted probation Tuesday and ordered to get anger management treatment for a bat-wielding attack during a minor league game that injured two opposing players.
Bridgeport Superior Court Judge James Ginocchio also ruled that Offerman, 38, must pay the medical expenses of Bridgeport Bluefish catcher John Nathans and pitcher Matt Beech.
Offerman, an All-Star infielder with the Dodgers in 1995 and Red Sox in 1999, had faced up to 10 years in prison on two felony assault charges. He was granted accelerated rehabilitation, a form of probation that will allow the charges to be dismissed after two years if he abides by the judge's orders.
Prosecutor Brian Kennedy argued that the assaults were too serious for Offerman to receive probation, but agreed with the judge and defense lawyers that Offerman was unlikely to commit similar offenses in the future.
"The act of swinging the bat on the baseball field and the way it was swung ... someone could have been killed," Kennedy said.
ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) — Brazil was chosen to host the 2014 World Cup, the first time since 1950 the soccer showcase will be held in the country that has won the event a record five times.
Brazil was the only candidate and won in a unanimous vote Tuesday by the executive committee of the sport's governing body.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter said Brazil now has "not only the right, but the responsibility" to organize the 2014 tournament. Blatter then handed the World Cup trophy to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who flew in for the announcement.
"Soccer is not only a sport for us," Lula said. "It's more than that: Soccer for us is a passion, a national passion."
He promised the Brazil "will now with great pride do its homework." And, he added, "if everything works out well, we will win once again a World Cup."
The evening of May 11 was going like any other for Lianne McMaster Velez. The 41-year-old Portsmouth resident was preparing dinner for her family, helping her kids with their homework — successfully performing the juggling act that is parenting. So when the phone rang and the voice on the other end said something about tests she had taken that day at the hospital, she was too busy to process it.
That is, until she was told she needed to come in immediately to review the tests; this after doctors had said they would call her in three or four days. That's when life as she knew it suddenly stopped for Velez. That's when she knew she had breast cancer.
While it wasn't a completely unexpected diagnosis — she had found a lump in her breast while doing a self-exam — anybody who has heard those words knows that, for a moment at least, everything comes to a screeching halt. You really just don't ever envision being told you have cancer.
"I was making dinner, doing homework, and I was like, 'What?'" Velez said. "There is no history of cancer in my family."
Velez didn't spend much time being upset, feeling sorry for herself or second-guessing the course of her life. Nope, she decided right then she was going to beat breast cancer and she wasn't going to waste any time doing it. The cancer was Stage 2, and it was triple negative breast cancer, so the only way to deal with it was chemotherapy and surgery.
"Lianne said to me, 'A lot of people deal with this; this is just my turn,'" said her sister, Katie McMaster, a Dover resident by way of Portsmouth. Added Lianne, "I've had a moment here and there, but I've been positive."
Velez had single mastectomy surgery on June 22, and on July 21 she began chemotherapy treatments. Aside from the fact she shaved her head, you wouldn't even know she is dealing with the disease. The treatments seem to be going well, and while tired at times, she has good energy considering the circumstances and is looking forward to being done (five treatments to go).
"My husband and I tried to make this a cancer-free summer for the kids, in that we tried to do the things we would normally do," Velez said as she began to laugh. "My kids are unaffected by it. They're like, 'Whatever, I just want my cereal.'"
And as you can imagine, people are coming out in droves to support her. She is a server at Galley Hatch in Hampton, but is unable to work right now. With a young family — she and her husband, Peter, have a 10-year-old daughter, Reilly, and a 9-year-old son, Aidan — being out of work puts obvious financial pressures on the family.
"I was so adamant about no fund-raising, but being out of work with two kids ...;" Velez said, her voice trailing off.
McMaster, and their friend and fellow Portsmouth Co-ed Softball League player Tom Rosenwald, decided to do something. A softball tournament to raise funds and awareness for Velez and anyone battling breast cancer seemed like the right thing to do.
"This is about friends and family, and an opportunity to help," said Rosenwald, who is vice president of the Portsmouth Co-ed Softball League.
The tournament runs Sept. 9-11 in Portsmouth and Greenland. Upwards of 175 players representing 16 teams from Portsmouth and beyond are participating, all with the motivation of supporting families and friends who have been affected by breast cancer. That, of course, includes Velez.
"The wheels had already turned on this," said Rosenwald, a Portsmouth resident who, along with his wife, Heidi, has been involved with the league for years. "Lianne is part of our softball family, and we're all pretty close-knit. She is living proof that you can beat breast cancer, and you can come through it even stronger."
As you can imagine, the diagnosis has caused Velez to take a long, hard look at life and appreciate what — and who — she has.
"It's amazing because, when you have cancer, you suddenly know 20 people with it," Velez said. "Absolutely, my life has changed forever. I don't want to be corny and say my life changed, but you do look at it from a different perspective."
Before being diagnosed with breast cancer, Lianne McMaster Velez knew she had friends who care about her. What she didn't know was that she had an entire league of them.