IN BRIEF

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Mountain West makes pitch for BCS changes

Mountain West Conference commissioner Craig Thompson made his league's case for sweeping changes to the Bowl Championship Series, including a move to an eight-team playoff, in a 90-minute presentation to other conference leaders Tuesday at the BCS meetings in Pasadena, Calif.

Also, BCS coordinator John Swofford dismissed the looming antitrust lawsuit from Utah's attorney general as having "no impact" on how the MWC's proposal will be considered.

The MWC's proposal comes after a season in which Utah, the Mountain West champion, was the only undefeated team in major college football but did not get a chance to play for the national title.

"We want it performance-based," Thompson said of the BCS.

The 11 major college football conference commissioners will take the MWC proposal to their end-of-year league meetings and return June 15 to 19 in Colorado Springs, Colo., with their responses.

MOTOR SPORTS

NASCAR puts Mears, Earnhardt on probation

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Casey Mears were penalized for intentionally bumping cars after the race at Phoenix International Raceway on Saturday night.

NASCAR put both drivers on probation for the next six races, but neither was fined or lost any points. It was an about-face from Saturday night, when officials said they would not punish the drivers for their post-race skirmish.

Contact between the two caused Earnhardt to crash with 11 laps to go, spoiling what had been a good run. He led 63 laps and probably was headed to a top-10 finish, but the accident dropped him to 31st.

After the race, Earnhardt intentionally spun Mears on the cool-down lap. Mears retaliated by passing several cars on pit road to find Earnhardt, then bumping into the back of his car.

MISCELLANEOUS

Breeders' Cup officials still eye Santa Anita

Breeders' Cup officials say they still intend to stage horse racing's year-end world championships at Santa Anita in November despite the track's owner filing for bankruptcy.

The Breeders' Cup said it is working with Santa Anita management and its attorneys to obtain the necessary approvals from the bankruptcy court so the two-day event can take place as planned.

If issues surrounding the bankruptcy cannot be resolved, the Breeders' Cup has the option of moving the Nov. 6 and 7 event to Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

Also: Budding beach volleyball stars soon will be able to play the sport in college.

The NCAA approved "sand" volleyball as an emerging sport for women. The move clears the way for schools to count the sport toward scholarship and financial aid requirements.

The new retractable roof over Wimbledon's Centre Court could mean the first matches past twilight for players and fans at the All England Club.

Tournament organizers unveiled the 56,000-square foot folding roof and confirmed it will be ready for the June 22 to July 5 tournament.

Promoters announced Tuesday that the May 2 junior welterweight fight between Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton at the MGM Grand Garden has sold out.

The fight will be shown on closed circuit TV at several Strip properties. General admission tickets are $50.

Boston Marathon third-place finisher Kara Goucher will not run the London Marathon on Sunday.

The American considered running back-to-back races but decided against what would have been an unprecedented double.

The United States lost to Switzerland 5-2 in their final warm-up before the ice hockey world championships.

The 16-nation world championships begin Friday. The United States opens Saturday against Latvia in Group C, which includes Sweden and Austria.

Kristina Nedeltcheva was named Mountain West Conference Player of the Week for the fifth time this season, a first for the UNLV program.

UNLV jumped to an early 2-0 lead against Texas Tech but couldn't make the lead stand, losing 10-6 to the Red Raiders in a nonconference baseball game in Lubbock, Texas.

The loss snapped the Rebels' five-game winning streak and dropped the team to 20-19.

Matt Hutchison (1-2) took the loss, giving up four runs in three innings and striking out two.