NCAA strips Alabama of 21 victories

Joe Nieuwendyk made his first significant decision since being named general manager of the Dallas Stars May 31, naming Marc Crawford coach. Crawford replaces Dave Tippett, who was fired Wednesday. Nieuwendyk, who played for Crawford on Team Canada in the 1998 Olympics, lauded Crawford's wealth of experience. He has coached the 15th-most games in NHL history at 987 and won the Stanley Cup with Colorado in 1996.

The Mets placed righthander John Maine on the 15-day disabled list with weakness in his shoulder. The move was made retroactive to Sunday, a day after Maine was tagged for seven runs and six hits over a season-low four-plus innings in New York's 7-1 loss at the woeful Nationals. "It's nothing serious," he said. "My shoulder is just fatigued. It's dead." . . . Angels righthander Kelvim Escobar has been dropped from the rotation after one start and sent to the bullpen because of a lack of stamina in his surgically repaired throwing shoulder. Manager Mike Scioscia said Escobar will not pitch until the middle of next week . . . Orlando Hernandez, who was part of World Series championships with two teams but hasn't pitched in the majors since 2007, agreed to a minor league contract with the Rangers . . . Phillies infielder Pablo Ozuna has been suspended 50 games under baseball's minor league drug program.

Eventually, the Vikings will need to know: Is Brett Favre going to play or not? But for now the Vikings reiterated no deadline has been set for the NFL's all-time leading passer to decide. Coach Brad Childress said he called Favre last week, but declined to elaborate on the conversation, and the 39-year-old Favre hasn't spoken publicly since he retired from the Jets in February . . . Donovan McNabb and the Eagles have agreed to restructure the final two years of his contract, with the five-time Pro Bowl quarterback expected to get a raise, not the extension he'd been seeking . . . The Associated Press reported the Texans have agreed to a deal with former Bears quarterback Rex Grossman.

After the start of the match was delayed by a bomb threat, Andy Roddick defeated Lleyton Hewitt, 7-6, 7-6, to advance to the quarterfinals at the Queen's Club grass-court tennis tournament in London. Tournament officials said a bomb threat message had been found pinned to a wall, but a security sweep found nothing . . . Maria Sharapova won twice within hours to advance to the quarterfinals of the Aegon Classic in Birmingham, England. Sharapova needed only two minutes and five points to wrap up a 6-3, 6-4 victory against Alexa Glatch in a second-round match suspended Wednesday by rain. Sharapova required little more than an hour to dispatch seventh-seeded Francesca Schiavone, 6-1, 6-3 . . . Manchester United accepted a world-record transfer offer of $131 million for Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid, clearing the FIFA player of the year to negotiate terms with the Spanish soccer club . . . Northeastern's Nate Hunter finished eighth in the shot put at the NCAA track and field championships in Fayetteville, Ark., his throw of 60 feet 5 inches earning All-American honors. Providence's Danette Doetzel won the women's 10,000 in 33:25.71.