Off the wire

LITTLE ROCK — BASKETBALL

Self signs $3.8M contract

Bill Self could be roaming the sideline at Allen Fieldhouse well into the next decade. The Kansas basketball coach agreed to a restructured contract Friday that extends through the 2021-22 season and includes a raise to $3.857 million per year. Self ’s previous deal, worth $3.376 million annually, would have run through June 2018. Self is coming off his second appearance with Kansas in the Final Four. He led the Jayhawks to the 2008 national title and lost to Kentucky in the championship game in April. Self’s new contract includes bonus provisions of $50,000 for conference regular-season titles, $25,000 for winning the conference tournament, $100,000 for earning Associated Press coach of the year, $150,000 for reaching the Final Four and $200,000 for winning the national championship.

The Utah Jazz will not allow disgruntled guard Raja Bell to join the team for training camp even though he remains under contract and they haven’t been able to agree on buyout terms. Utah Jazz General Manager Dennis Lindsey issued a statement Friday on Bell, who has publicly feuded with Coach Tyrone Corbin. Lindsey said in his statement he has spoken with Bell’s agent and they mutually decided it is in the “best interest” of both sides that he not rejoin the team. Bell, 35, is set to make $3.5 million this season, his last year under contract with the Jazz. But he said at the end of last season that he didn’t want to play for Utah this year and was critical of Corbin and the organization.

Washington Wizards point guard John Wall will be sidelined about eight weeks with a knee injury. The team announced Friday the former No. 1 overall draft pick has been diagnosed with the early stages of a stress injury to his left patella. The Wizards said Wall will not require surgery. If his rehab goes as expected, he will miss the first month or so of the regular season.

FOOTBALL

3 fined for flagrant hits

Baltimore Ravens safety EdReed, Detroit Lions linebacker Stephen Tulloch and Pittsburgh Steelers safety Ryan Mundy each have been fined $21,000 by the NFL for flagrant hits. Reed was fined for striking defenseless Patriots receiver Deion Branch in the head and neck area last Sunday night. Tulloch was docked for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Tennessee tight end Craig Stevens. Mundy’s hit on Raiders receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey resulted in his fine. Heyward-Bey was taken from the field on a stretcher and hospitalized with a concussion. Four players were fined $15,750 on Friday by the league: Denver LB Von Miller, Cincinnati defensive back Adam Jones, Eagles defensive end Jason Babin, and Titans DE Scott Solomon.

Washington Redskins left tackle Trent Williams is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after being limited in practice with a bone bruise in his right knee. Williams was hurt in last week’s loss to Cincinnati and did not practice Wednesday or Thursday. He said he did what he could in practice Friday and that “it would be tough” for him to play if the game were right away.

Titans middle linebacker Colin McCarthy will miss a third consecutive game with his sprained right ankle, and receiver KennyBritt has missed his third consecutive practice with his own injured left ankle. Britt said Friday he is not ruling himself out against Houston (3-0) on Sunday because his ankle is feeling better than Thursday and he has two more days left before kickoff.

Cleveland Browns linebacker Scott Fujita met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for about one hour Friday about his suspension in the Saints’ bounty case that was temporarily lifted earlier this month. Fujita was suspended for three games for his role in the bounty program while he played for New Orleans. He missed a meeting last week with Goodell while recuperating from a knee injury, and was not granted a video conference meeting with the commissioner.

TENNIS

Ferrer advances

Top-seeded David Ferrer of Spain rallied past Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 Friday to advance to the semifinals of the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He’ll face Julien Benneteau of France, who defeated Alejandro Falla 6-2, 6-2 at Putra Stadium. Second-seeded Juan Monaco of Argentina beat Vasek Pospisil of Canada 6-3, 6-4 to set up a semifinal against Kei Nishikori of Japan.

Defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska will play Nadia Petrova in the final of the Pan Pacific Open. Radwanska overpowered Angelique Kerber 6-1, 6-1 Friday, while Petrova defeated Sam Stosur 6-4, 6-2 in the other semifinal. Stosur took an injury timeout last in the first set to address a pulled abdominal muscle.Petrova will play for her 12th career title. It’s the second time she has beaten two top-10 players in the same week - No. 7 Sara Errani and No. 9 Stosur - but she’s never beaten three.

Top-seeded Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia out-rallied Fernando Verdasco of Spain from the baseline to win 7-6 (5), 6-4 and move into the Thailand Open semifinals in Bangkok. Tipsarevic set up a match with 2009 champion Gilles Simon, who won the all-French quarterfinal with Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-1.

MOTOR SPORTS Journalist Economaki dies

DOVER, Del. - Chris Economaki, a journalist regarded as the authoritative voice in motorsports for decades, died Friday. He was 91.

National Speed Sport News, where Economaki worked as an editor for more than 60 years, announced his death Friday. It did not release a cause of death. Economaki was known as the dean of American motorsports journalism and worked in TV for more than 40 years with stints at ABC, CBS and ESPN. He was part of ABC’s first telecast from Daytona International Speedway in 1961.

His love of motorsports blossomed as a child, and he sold copies of National Speed Sport News as a teenager.

“Many people consider Chris the greatest motorsports journalist of all time,” NASCAR chairman Brian France said. “He was, indeed, ‘The Dean.’ Chris was a fixture for years at NASCAR events and played a huge role in growing NASCAR’s popularity.”

Economaki, who switched from ABC to CBS in 1984, watched stock car racing branch out from its Southern roots to become a national attraction. The watershed year, he said, was 1984.

“That was the year ABC did the closing ceremonies at the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo at the same time CBS was showing the Daytona 500 - and Daytona got the higher rating,” Economaki said in the 1980s. “It was also the year that President Reagan came to the Firecracker 400 and said, ‘Gentlemen, start your engines.’ And the next day, there was a picture of him next to Richard Petty on the front page of The New York Times. After that, it seemed a lot of people discovered stock car racing.”

Economaki told The Associated Press in 1991 that even if fans didn’t recognize his face in public, they sure knew him by the sound of his voice.

“I do have a distinctive voice, and it’s nice to know that it registered somewhere along the line,” he said. “I remember I was getting a pair of shoes in Des Moines, Iowa, one time. The salesman was lacing up my shoes, and I’m looking at the bald spot on the back of his head, and he asks: ‘Aren’t you on TV?’ This guy’s got his nose six inches from the floor and asks my shoes if I’m on TV. He doesn’t recognize me, but he recognizes my voice.”

In 2006, the Trackside Conference Room at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Media Center was renamed the Economaki Press Conference Room in his honor.