In Brief
SPORTS AND THE LAW
Sandusky's lawyers plot
strategy to refute claims
After a gripping, emotionally charged four days of testimony that saw eight men from 18 to 28 years old tell jurors that Jerry Sandusky sexually abused them as children, the former Penn State assistant football coach will soon get to tell his side of the story.
Sandusky could take the stand in his own defense at his criminal trial, but it's not certain that will happen. The trial resumes today in Bellefonte, Pa.
During his first remarks to jurors, his lawyer Joe Amendola suggested he might, though the jury has already heard an audio recording of a stilted television interview Sandusky conducted shortly after his November arrest, denying the allegations against him.
Amendola's opening statement, court documents and four days of witness cross-examination provide something of a road map to the defense's strategy, which has been aimed at creating enough doubt in jurors' minds to avoid a conviction that could send Sandusky to prison for life.
The defense has sought to show how the stories of accusers have changed over time, that they were prodded and coached by investigators and prosecutors, that some are motivated to lie by the hopes of a civil lawsuit jackpot, and to paint Sandusky's interactions with children as misunderstood and part of a lifelong effort to help, rather than victimize them.
"Jerry, in my opinion, loves kids so much that he does things none of us would ever do," Amendola said at the start of trial.
Lawyers pursuing a credibility defense try to give jurors reasons to disbelieve the narrative presented by prosecutors, and a financial gain motive or a changing story can be part of that, said University of Pittsburgh law professor David A. Harris.
"This is all standard procedure for building a reasonable doubt defense," said Harris, who has worked as a defense lawyer and prosecutor. "What they don't have here is any way to say, 'OK, these kids have been molested, but somebody else did it.' "
BASEBALL
Arizona shuts out UCLA,
stays unbeaten in CWS
Konner Wade pitched a five-hit shutout, Arizona did its scoring on five straight fourth-inning hits, and the Wildcats beat Pac-12 rival UCLA 4-0 in a winners' bracket game of the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.
The win puts the Wildcats (45-17) in control of Bracket 1 and gives them three days off. They are one victory away from the best-of-3 finals, in which they would play for their fourth national championship and first since 1986.
UCLA (48-15), which lost for the first time in 11 games, plays Florida State in an elimination game Tuesday.
Wade (10-3) outdueled Nick Vander Tuig, throwing his first career shutout and fifth complete game of the season.
Seth Mejias-Brean's bases-loaded single drove in the Wildcats' first two runs, and Bobby Brown followed with a two-run double.
Bishop Gorman products Johnny Field and Joey Rickard went 1-for-4 and 0-for-4, respectively, for Arizona.
In an elimination game, Florida State capitalized on a throwing error to score six runs in the third inning, and the Seminoles ended Stony Brook's surprise appearance with a 12-2 victory.
Justin Gonzalez and Devon Travis homered to help the Seminoles build an early 9-0 lead against the CWS first-timers from Long Island.
Also: The Washington Nationals designated struggling reliever Brad Lidge for assignment and activated reliever Ryan Mattheus.
Lidge signed a $1 million, one-year contract as a free agent in the offseason to add veteran bullpen depth, but the 35-year-old right-hander couldn't find the form that made him a two-time All-Star with Houston and Philadelphia. He went 0-1 with two saves and a 9.64 ERA in 11 appearances with the Nationals.
MOTOR SPORTS
Top Fuel's Schumacher
ends long winless streak
Seven-time Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher ended a 32-race winless streak in the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway in Bristol, Tenn.
Ron Capps topped the Funny Car field, and Mike Edwards won the Pro Stock competition.
Schumacher beat Doug Kalitta in the final. Schumacher's reaction time was four-hundredths better than Kalitta's, leading to Schumacher's slower but winning 3.819-second pass at 342.28 mph.
In Funny Car, Capps raced to his second win of the season in his sixth final-round appearance in a row since adding veteran turner Rahn Tobler to the team. Capps edged rookie Alexis DeJoria in the final with a 4.076-second pass at 312.35 mph.
Edwards claimed his fourth victory in a row at Bristol Dragway with his holeshot win over local favorite Allen Johnson in the final. Edwards used his better reaction time with his 6.674-second pass at 206.16 mph to beat Johnson's quicker but losing 6.661 at 207.05.
Also: Defending champions Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer overcame driving mistakes to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France and give Audi its 11th title.
Audi took possession of second place for most victories at the world's most famous endurance race, five shy of Porsche's record.
Scott Gafforini and Chris Clyne scored 30-lap NASCAR Super Late Model victories in the Chris Trickle Father's Day Doubleheader at Las Vegas Motor Speedway's Bullring on Saturday night.
Rob Kiemele led the first nine laps of the first 30-lap feature until Gafforini took command. Gafforini built up a comfortable lead on the rest of the field, but Dee Gable's spin in Turn 2 on lap 20 erased his advantage. Gafforini held his lead on the restart and went on to win, followed by Clyne, Dennis Rock Jr., Dustin Ash and David Anderson.
Clyne started the second feature from the pole position, survived two restarts for spinning cars and held off a determined Gafforini for his first win of the 2012 season.
Rock finished third, with Glenn Burke and Anderson completing the top five.
miscellaneous
Haas beats Federer to
win Gerry Weber Open
Wild card Tommy Haas defeated five-time champion Roger Federer 7-6 (5), 6-4 to win the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany, for the second time.
The 87th-ranked Haas, the oldest player in the singles draw at 34, recovered from losing his serve in the first game by winning the opening set in a tiebreaker and then getting the decisive break in the ninth game of the second set.
Also: The Queen's Club final in London was halted abruptly when David Nalbandian injured a line judge, handing the title to Marin Cilic.
The 10th-seeded Nalbandian was leading in the second set when he kicked the small barrier surrounding the line judge in anger. A piece of the barrier then hit the line judge, causing bleeding on his left shin.
After checking on the line judge, the chair umpire decided to end the match.
Nalbandian said he shouldn't have been disqualified.
"Sometimes you get very frustrated on court and it's tough to control that, and sometimes I do a mistake. So it's very tough to end a final like that," he said.
Alize Cornet of France defeated Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium 7-5, 7-6 (1) to win the Gastein Ladies in Bad Gastein, Austria, for her first title in four years.
American Melanie Oudin will play former top-ranked player Jelena Jankovic of Serbia in today's rain-delayed Aegon Classic final in Birmingham, England, after both players won quarterfinal and semifinal matches Sunday.
Darren Fichardt of South Africa shot a 2-over 73 to win the Saint-Omer Open by three strokes for his third European Tour title.
Fichardt shot his worst round of the tournament to finish at 5-under 279. Gary Lockerbie of England shot 69 and finished second.
Germany advanced without fanfare to a quarterfinal against Greece after grinding out a 2-1 victory over Denmark at the European Championship in Lviv, Ukraine.
The Danes were eliminated after the two teams finished their Group B campaigns.
In another Group B match, Cristiano Ronaldo finally found the form he was lacking, scoring twice to give Portugal a 2-1 win over the Netherlands in Kharkiv, Ukraine, and a spot in the quarterfinals.
