In Brief

CYCLING

Armstrong tunes up for Australia event

Lance Armstrong made a cautious return to professional cycle racing Sunday, finishing 64th among 133 riders in a 30-mile criterium in downtown Adelaide, Australia.

More than 138,000 people watched Armstrong return from three years of retirement and begin a campaign to win his eighth Tour de France title.

Armstrong will compete in the six-day Tour Down Under, which starts Tuesday. The criterium does not count toward the event's overall standings.

PRO FOOTBALL

Pereira to retire as NFL officiating chief

Mike Pereira, who has headed the NFL's officiating department since 2001, will retire after the 2009 season.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said that Pereira, who will turn 60 next year, told commissioner Roger Goodell after last season that next year would be his final one. He and his wife will return to his native northern California.

Pereira's retirement was first disclosed by Fox Sports.

Also: Scott Linehan declined the San Francisco 49ers' offer to become their offensive coordinator, saying he wasn't ready to commit to his next coaching move.

Linehan, a respected offensive coordinator for Miami and Minnesota, was fired four games into his third season as the St. Louis Rams' head coach last September.

MISCELLANEOUS

Phillies pitcher Hamels makes new deal official

Cole Hamels officially signed a three-year, $20.5 million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies, keeping the 25-year-old World Series MVP winner in Philadelphia through the 2011 season. The deal allows the Phillies to avoid an arbitration hearing.

Hamels went 4-0 in the postseason with a 1.80 ERA as the Phillies claimed their first championship since 1980.

Also: Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan will make it 22 seasons with the team, as he signed a one-year extension through the 2009-10 season.

Buffalo Sabres defenseman Teppo Numminen is out indefinitely after having surgery to repair a fractured bone in his face, suffered when a puck hit him during Saturday's game against Carolina.

St. Louis Blues defenseman Roman Polak has a fractured right foot and will be out indefinitely.

American Lindsey Vonn finished third in a World Cup downhill in Zauchensee, Austria, good enough to regain the lead in the overall standings.

The defending overall and downhill champion trailed co-winners Anja Paerson of Sweden and Dominique Gisin of Switzerland by 0.17 seconds.

UNLV's Alisa Razina and Anna Maskaljun lost 8-5 to Southern California's Leyla Entekhabi and Cristala Andrews in the Flight Two doubles final of the Freeman Memorial Women's Tennis Championships at the Fertitta Tennis Complex.

Irshad Stolden, a first-team all-division wide receiver from Rancho Cucamonga (Calif.) High School, committed to UNLV's football team. Stolden (5 feet 10 inches, 165 pounds) caught 47 passes for 902 yards and seven touchdowns last season.

Arkansas freshman basketball player Brandon Moore was suspended indefinitely after an arrest early Sunday in Fayetteville, Ark., on several charges, including drunken driving.

Henderson's Wendy MacPherson finished with four consecutive strikes to beat Stephanie Nation 199-184 in a PBA Women's Series event in Medford, Ore.

It was MacPherson's first title in the series.