Oilers To Move To Nashville, Newspaper Reports

The Houston Oilers will sign an agreement on Monday to move to Nashville for the 1998 season, the Nashville Banner reported today.

The move would be the second proposed NFL franchise shift announced in an eight-day span. Four days ago, the Cleveland Browns said they intend to move to Baltimore next season.

Nashville Mayor Phil Bredesen, Oiler owner Bud Adams and Tennessee Gov. Don Sundquist will sign a 30-page agreement Monday to move the team, the newspaper reported.

-- Representatives of the NFL will be summoned to Capitol Hill to discuss the Cleveland Browns' pending move to Baltimore and other franchise migrations.

The Senate Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on antitrust, business rights and competition scheduled a hearing Nov. 29 to look into questions raised by Ohioans who object to owner Art Modell's attempt to move the Browns. The hearing was announced by Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio.

-- Buffalo linebacker Bryce Paup plans to sue the NFL for defamation of character if it does not rescind a $12,000 fine. Paup, fined for a hit on Indianapolis quarterback Paul Justin, believes the action makes him look like a dirty player. The Bills have filed an appeal.

-- The San Francisco 49ers signed running back Dexter Carter, who was released Wednesday by the New York Jets.

-- While the University of Miami prepared a final plea to the NCAA, Dennis Erickson, the Hurricanes' former coach, insisted he has no reason to be ashamed of a tenure marked by admitted rule breaking and allegations of lawlessness.

"All I know is when I was at Miami, we had success," said Erickson, now coaching the Seattle Seahawks. "I'm very proud of what I did at the University of Miami. I'm very proud of that program."

-- Corey Pullig's 26-yard scoring pass to Albert Connell in the third quarter put Texas A&M ahead to stay and the 18th-ranked Aggies struggled past Rice 17-10.

-- Senior quarterback Kyle Wachholtz will make the first start of his USC career tomorrow when the Trojans play Oregon State in Corvallis, Ore. Brad Otton, who started the team's first nine games, missed practice this week after suffering a mild concussion in last week's 31-30 victory over Stanford.

-- Ronney Jenkins, a senior at Hueneme High in Oxnard, Calif., set a national prep rushing record by gaining 619 yards and scored seven touchdowns in a 52-34 victory over Rio Mesa. Jenkins, who carried 30 times, scored on runs of 93, 84, 26, 79, 43, 87 and 15 yards.

BASKETBALL

Tes Whitlock, leading scorer for the Hawaii's men's team last season, was suspended for 16 games by the NCAA for his involvement in a college credit scam.

Whitlock was among dozens of athletes being investigated by the NCAA for taking correspondence courses from the Southeastern College of the Assemblies of God in Florida.

-- Kentucky, which finished one game away from making the Final Four in last year's NCAA men's tournament, was voted the team to beat this season in the USA Today/CNN Coaches Poll. Kansas was ranked second and UCLA third.

-- Dawn Staley, starting point guard on the USA women's team, will miss the next five games of the team's NCAA Tour after undergoing arthroscopic surgery to repair torn knee cartilage.

TENNIS

Steffi Graf beat Meredith McGrath 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the semifinals of the Advanta Championships in Philadelphia. Graf will face the winner of today's quarterfinal between Zina Garrison-Jackson and Irlina Spirlea tomorrow.

-- Top-seeded Jim Courier was eliminated from the Stockholm Open today, losing in the quarterfinals to David Prinosil of Germany 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).

GOLF

Sweden's Jesper Parnevik celebrated a hole-in-one but then finished with two bogeys to allow the U.S. team of Davis Love and Fred Couples to increase its lead to four strokes over the Swedes in the World Cup of Golf in Shenzhen, China.

Love shot a 6-under-par 67 and Couples carded a 69 for a 19-under 269 total for two rounds.

-- Sweden's Liselotte Neumann shot a 1-over-par 74 today to maintain a one-stroke lead over American Jane Geddes after the second round of the Women's Australian Open in Melbourne.

-- Jim Colbert shot a 4-under-par 68 for a three-stroke lead after the first round of the season-ending Senior Tour Championship in Myrtle Beach, S.C

AUTO RACING

England's Damon Hill upstaged Germany's Michael Schumacher today, taking the provisional pole for the Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide in qualifying that was marred by an injury to Finland's Mika Hakkinen, whose car spun out and slammed into a barrier.