Skier Miller Apologizes for Recent Comments

Bode Miller apologized Thursday for his comments about skiing and drinking during a televised interview, regretting the “confusion and pain” he caused.

The apology came after the overall World Cup champion spoke to U.S. Ski and Snowboard Assn. President and Chief Executive Bill Marolt. The association was swamped with angry phone calls from team donors and corporate sponsors after Miller said during a “60 Minutes” profile on CBS that it’s not easy “to ski when you’re wasted.”

“The most important thing is that I wanted to come straight out and apologize to mostly my family, friends,” Miller said Thursday at a news conference at Wengen, Switzerland. “But also we have a lot of people who supported me along the way, through my team and even just family and friends who have supported me, who I think are subject to only what the media puts out in America.

“And because of the way I made those comments in the ’60 Minutes’ interview it caused a lot of confusion and pain for all those people and obviously that’s nothing I want to do so firstly I’d like to apologize to them,” he added.

Miller took no questions after his statement and has not commented on the possibility of leaving the U.S. team and competing on his own.

International Ski Federation President Gian Franco Kasper said he was surprised by Miller’s apology.

“But I’m happy,” Kasper said. “It’s a good thing and a clever move.”

*

In the team’s worst showing at a major international skeleton race in at least five seasons, no American man finished in the top 10 at a World Cup race at Konigssee, Germany.

Chris Soule’s 15th-place finish was tops for the U.S. in its first race since the suspensions of Olympic gold-medal hopeful Zach Lund and Coach Tim Nardiello.

Lund is being sanctioned after a positive doping test this season. Nardiello is suspended because of sexual harassment accusations made against him in recent weeks.

Sebastian Haupt of Germany was the surprise winner in his World Cup debut, edging Kristan Bromley of Britain by 0.37 seconds. Besides Soule, no other American cracked the top 20. Eric Bernotas was 21st and Kevin Ellis was 32nd.

In skeleton, athletes slide headfirst on a sled at more than 70 mph on the same track used for bobsled and luge.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Wisconsin’s Calhoun Heads for the NFL

Running back Brian Calhoun, who played one year for Wisconsin after transferring from Colorado, announced he would skip his senior year to make himself available for the NFL draft.

In his season with the Badgers, Calhoun became the second player in Big Ten history to surpass 1,000 yards rushing and 500 yards receiving in the same season. He finished with 1,636 rushing yards, fifth most in Wisconsin history, and 22 rushing touchdowns, a school record.

Louisville junior Michael Bush will play for the Cardinals next fall rather than test the NFL draft. Bush ran for 1,143 yards and 23 touchdowns last season.

Dana Dimel, former head coach at Wyoming and Houston, is joining the staff of Mike Stoops at Arizona.

BASEBALL

First Baseman Millar Signs With Orioles

First baseman Kevin Millar agreed to a $2.1 million, one-year contract with the Baltimore Orioles. Millar, 34, hit .276 with 25 home runs and 96 RBIs with the Red Sox in 2003.

Left-handed reliever Alan Embree agreed to a minor league contract with the San Diego Padres and was invited to spring training. He would get an $850,000, one-year contract if he makes the big league roster.... Reliever Matt Wise and the Milwaukee Brewers agreed to a $1.7 million, two-year contract that avoided salary arbitration....Brett Myers avoided arbitration, agreeing to a $3.3 million, one-year contract with the Philadelphia Phillies.

TENNIS

Federer, Hewitt Could Meet in Semifinals

Roger Federer and Lleyton Hewitt were put in the same half of the Australian Open draw, meaning two of the favorites for the season’s first major could meet in the semifinals.

Top-seeded Federer will play wild-card Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan in the first round of the tournament beginning Monday.

The third-seeded Hewitt opens against Robin Vik of the Czech Republic.

Also in Federer’s quarter of the draw is Tommy Haas of Germany, the former No. 2 who beat Federer in an exhibition tournament this week.

Second-seeded Andy Roddick and fourth-seeded David Nalbandian of Argentina, in the same half of the draw, have both drawn qualifiers for their first-round matches.

Top-seeded Lindsay Davenport will play Australian Casey Dellacqua in the first round in her tough quarter of the women’s draw that also features Venus Williams and 2004 champion Justine Henin-Hardenne, meaning either one could meet Davenport in the quarterfinals.

Former Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova takes on Germany’s Sandra Kloesel in the first round and defending champion Serena Williams, also in Sharapova’s quarter and Davenport’s half, has a tough opener against China’s Li Na.

Martina Hingis, a three-time Australian Open singles champion trying to come back after a three-year retirement, has drawn Vera Zvonareva of Russia.

Hewitt’s 22-match winning streak at the Sydney International ended when the top-seeded player was upset, 4-6, 7-5, 7-5, by Andrea Seppi.

Hewitt had never lost in the ATP tournament held at the former Olympic site, winning titles in 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2005.

James Blake beat Arnaud Clement, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, in another quarterfinal.

Henin-Hardenne advanced to the women’s final with a 6-3, 6-1 win over 2004 U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. Francesca Schiavone beat Nicole Vaidisova, 6-4, 6-3, in the other semifinal.

Top-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues beat Shahar Peer, 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-4, to reach the Canberra International final. The match lasted 3 hours, 40 minutes. The first set took 90 minutes to complete.

Medina Garrigues will play Cho Yoon-jeong in today’s final. Cho rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the final set by winning six of the next seven games for a 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 victory over sixth-seeded Catalina Castano.

Practice partners Iveta Benesova and Michaella Krajicek will meet in a WTA Tour final for the first time at the Hobart International in Australia. Krajicek advanced with a 6-4, 6-2 semifinal win over Jelena Kostanic. Benesova beat Mara Santangelo, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.

Mario Ancic beat top-seeded Fernando Gonzalez, 6-0, 6-3, in the Heineken Open at Auckland.

Ancic will face Stanislas Wawrinka in the semifinals. Wawrinka beat Florian Mayer, 6-3, 6-4.

Bulgaria’s Sesil Karatantcheva said she would appeal her two-year doping ban to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.... Germany chose a clay court for its Fed Cup quarterfinal against the United States in April at Hamburg, Germany.

BOWLING

Loschetter Leads in Fountain Valley

Chris Loschetter holds the top spot heading into round-robin match play in the Dick Weber Open, after he led qualifying with a 3,596 15-game pinfall, including averaging 249.80 in his final five-game set at the Fountain Bowl at Fountain Valley.

The top 24 qualifiers move on to round-robin match play, which begins with an eight-game set tonight at 6.

Three legends were just behind Loschetter, including 30-time PBA Tour winner Parker Bohn III, Norm Duke, a 22-time Tour winner, and 40-time winner Walter Ray Williams Jr.