Sports briefs

Hockey

Going out with Stanley Cup win sounds good to Red Wing

Dallas Drake's last act in the NHL was hoisting the Stanley Cup. Not a bad way to cap 16 seasons as a pro. The Detroit Red Wings forward announced his retirement Tuesday, a month after he finally got to skate with hockey's Holy Grail. ”I think it's a good way for me to go out,“ he said. The 39-year-old Drake said he's still mentally fit to play, but that ”the wear and tear on my body“ has become impossible to ignore. ”I just don't recover very well anymore,“ he said. ”Physically, I'm done.“ Drake ended the 2006-07 season on the Blues' injured reserve with a wrist injury. He has several minor injuries this season.

College Football

WKU team selling tickets door-to-door

Members of the Western Kentucky football team will sell season tickets for the 2008 season by going door-to-door in 10 Bowling Green neighborhoods on July 22 and July 24. Fans will be able to purchase a $25 season ticket good for general admission to all five WKU home games. This marks the second consecutive year the football team has gone door-to-door selling season tickets. Players and coaches from the team who sell the most tickets will be treated to a steak dinner at the team's annual cookout during pre-season camp. ”We had tremendous success with this initiative last year, and I am pleased we will be doing it again,“ WKU Coach David Elson said. ”I also believe good-natured competitions such as this help build team chemistry.“

Kansas coach gets raise and extension

Kansas gave Coach Mark Mangino a raise and extended his contract two years Tuesday, amending his deal to up his compensation to $2.3 million per year. The contract now runs through 2012. Mangino, entering his seventh year at Kansas, was The Associated Press Coach of the Year last season. The Jayhawks went 12-1, including a 24-21 victory over Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl, Kansas' first BCS bowl victory.

Soccer

Ronaldinho leaves Barcelona for Milan

Ronaldinho transferred to AC Milan late Tuesday, leaving FC Barcelona after the club's new coach declared the team would plan for next season without the Brazilian playmaker. The Italian club said late Tuesday Ronaldinho would arrive in Milan on Wednesday to get a medical exam and sign a contract through June 30, 2011. Barcelona said that AC Milan will pay $33.4 million for Ronaldinho and another $6.3 million if it clinches a place in next season's Champions League. A two-time FIFA World Player of the Year, Ronaldinho has been seeking to leave Barcelona since new coach Pep Guardiola said that the star was not needed.

Etc.

Tracy gets behind the wheel in IndyCar Series

Paul Tracy will finally get his chance to race in the IndyCar Series — for at least one race. The former CART champion will drive in the July 26 Rexall Edmonton Indy in a car fielded by Walker Racing. ”It's going to be good to be back in a race car and see how we can do,“ Tracy told The Associated Press in a Tuesday phone call. The 39-year-old Tracy, winner of 31 races in CART and its later iteration as Champ Car, found himself out of a ride when Champ Car was absorbed into the IRL's IndyCar Series in February. Forsythe Championship Racing, for whom the Canadian raced in recent years, closed down rather than joining the teams moving to the IRL for the 2008 season.

■ Top-seeded James Blake looked rusty before rallying to beat unheralded Israeli Dudi Sela 7-6 (2), 6-2 Tuesday in a first-round match at the Indianapolis Tennis Championships. The 78th-ranked Sela led 2-0 in the opening set and had a 30-love lead in the next game before Blake improved.

■ Notre Dame will announce its new athletic director on Wednesday. The school declined to disclose who the new athletic director will be, although media reports indicated the likely choice would be Indianapolis lawyer Jack Swarbrick. He was a leader of the city's successful bid this spring to host the 2012 Super Bowl and is a Notre Dame graduate.

■ Dago Pena has been given a scholarship to play basketball at Marshall. Pena, a 6-foot-6 guard-forward, originally signed with Florida Atlantic but was granted a release from his letter-of-intent following a coaching change.

The last word

Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard said winning a gold medal in basketball at the Beijing Olympics next month would be more than an individual accomplishment:

”Winning the world championship for the USA team is for everybody in America. It's not just you taking it back home and saying, "I got a gold medal.' It's "We got a gold medal.' “