Youth basketball
CRAIG HODGES TO GIVE CLINIC SATURDAY: Two-time NBA champion and three-time NBA 3-point champion Craig Hodges, formerly of the Bulls, will be featured in the Velocity Sports Performance basketball training clinic Saturday at the Fieldhouse-Merrillville, 899 E. 99th St., Merrillville.
Times are from 11 a.m. to noon for grades three to six, from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. for grades seven and eight, and from 2 to 3 p.m. for high school.
Cost is $35 per individual. For details, call (219) 738-2424, or go to www.velocitysp/tinleypark.com.
Pro football
BEARS PLAY PRANK ON ROOKIE MCCLELLIN WITH FAKE TAB: It's not cheap feeding hungry Bears.
Chicago's Shea McClellin learned that when he was handed a dinner tab for more than $38,000. Good thing for him, it was only a joke.
The Bears decided to play a prank Tuesday night at Mastro's Steakhouse in Chicago when they handed their first-round draft pick and practice squad defensive end Aston Whiteside a bill for $38,091.91 after a rookie night dinner.
Veteran defensive end Israel Idonije says "they didn't know what to do with themselves" and watched for about five minutes as they discussed how they were going to pay for it before they were told the tab was phony. McClellin told reporters the actual bill was for more than $10,000.
Idonije posted a picture of the fake receipt on his Twitter account.
COLTS MAKE RB CHANGE: Colts rookie running back Vick Ballard will make his first NFL start Sunday against the New York Jets after Donald Brown had surgery to repair torn cartilage in his knee.
Interim coach Bruce Arians says Brown had surgery Tuesday and shouldn't miss more than two to three weeks.
Pro baseball
GIANTS EVEN SERIES WITH REDS: Angel Pagan led off the game with a home run; Gregor Blanco and Pablo Sandoval connected later, and Tim Lincecum came out of the bullpen to help the San Francisco Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds 8-3 on Wednesday, evening their NL division series at 2-all.
The Giants can complete an unprecedented comeback today. No team has recovered from a 2-0 deficit in a best-of-five series by winning three on the road.
Matt Cain, who lost the series opener and has yet to beat Cincinnati in three starts this season, will start Game 5 against Mat Latos.
The Reds haven't won a home playoff game in 17 years. One thing in Cincinnati's favor — it hasn't dropped three straight at home all season.
Lincecum relieved in the fourth inning with the Giants ahead 3-2. The two-time NL Cy Young winner struck out six in 4 1-3 innings, allowing one run.
CARPENTER PITCHES CARDS PAST NATS: Chris Carpenter was every bit the postseason ace he's been in the past for the St. Louis Cardinals.
Taking the mound for only the fourth time in 2012, missing a rib after surgery to cure numbness on his right side, the 37-year-old Carpenter pitched scoreless ball into the sixth inning; rookie Pete Kozma delivered a three-run homer, and the defending champion Cardinals beat the Washington Nationals 8-0 Wednesday to take a 2-1 lead in their NL division series.
Three relievers finished the shutout for the Cardinals, who can end the best-of-five series in today's Game 4 at Washington.
Pro cycling
11 TEAMMATES TESTIFIED IN CASE AGAINST ARMSTRONG: Lance Armstrong challenged the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency to name names and show what it had on him.
On Wednesday, it did.
The anti-doping group has released a report on its case against Armstrong — a point-by-point roadmap of the lengths Armstrong went to in winning seven Tour de France titles USADA has ordered taken away.
Over nearly 200 pages, USADA details cheating by Armstrong's teams and names 11 former teammates — George Hincapie, Tyler Hamilton and Floyd Landis among them — as key witnesses.
The report accuses Armstrong of depending on performance-enhancing drugs to fuel his victories and "more ruthlessly, to expect and to require that his teammates" do the same.
College baseball
VU SERIES EVEN AT ONE: Valparaiso University held game two of its fall world series on Tuesday with Team Bain defeating Team Wormington 7-3 to even the series at one.
Team Bain was led by Spencer Mahoney, who finished 3-for-4 with three RBIs, Tanner Vavra, who was also 3-for-4 with a double and two runs scored, and Michael Morman, who went 2-for-3 with an RBI, two walks and three runs scored. Freshman Trevor Haas earned the win, going 4 1/3 innings, giving up five hits and striking out three.
Team Wormington was led offensively by Andrew Bynum, who went 2-for 3 with a double, a two-run homer and two runs scored. Will Cribbs added two hits and an RBI.
Game three will take place at 3:15 p.m. today at Emory G. Bauer Field.
Around the horn
Sarrah Ludwig and Hailey Chmela each scored to lead the Valparaiso University women's soccer team to a 2-0 victory over St. Joseph's College on Tuesday. Freshman goalkeeper Sarah Silvasi earned a shutout in her first collegiate appearance for the Crusaders (9-4-1). Amanda Volk made eight saves for the Pumas (2-10-1). ... Junior Charles Barden scored the Valparaiso University men's soccer team's lone goal in a 1-1 draw with DePaul (3-8-2) on Tuesday. Goalkeeper Kyle Zobeck stopped two shots for the Crusaders (1-6-4). ... Valparaiso University women's golfer Kelly Voigt shot a 74 to match the second-lowest round in program history Tuesday at the Butler Fall Invitational in Indianapolis. Voigt led the Crusaders with a two-day total of 159. VU finished 10th at 664, improving by 18 strokes Tuesday. ... Bears cornerback Charles Tillman was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week after recording a 36-yard interception return touchdown to go along with three tackles at Jacksonville.
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