Dennis Rodman Says He Is Returning to North Korea

HONG KONG — The former basketball star Dennis Rodman said Tuesday that he was on his way back to North Korea, returning "to see my friend" Kim Jong-un, the dictator whose country until recently was threatening to annihilate the United States with nuclear weapons.

Mr. Rodman said in Beijing that he was planning a five-day visit to the North starting Tuesday but played down speculation that he would try to secure the release of Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American Christian missionary who has been jailed there since late last year after being detained on North Korean soil.

"I'm not going to North Korea to discuss freeing Kenneth Bae," the Basketball Hall of Fame member told Reuters in a telephone interview. "I'm just going there on another basketball diplomacy tour."

His visit comes amid a thaw in relations between North and South Korea, sworn enemies that just months ago appeared to be on the brink of military conflict.

Mr. Rodman's last trip to Pyongyang was sponsored by Vice Media, and he drew wide criticism for cozying up to a government with a long record of human rights abuses. This time, he said his trip was being sponsored by Paddy Power, an Irish gambling operation. After Mr. Rodman's first North Korea trip, Paddy Power sent Mr. Rodman to Vatican City to urge people to place their bets on a new pope.

But Mr. Rodman said this trip to see Mr. Kim was all about friendship — and sports.

"I've come out here to see my friend," he said in an allusion to the dictator. "I want to talk about basketball."

During his visit to North Korea in March, Mr. Rodman told reporters in Pyongyang that North Koreans "love" Kim Jong-un, adding, "I love him — the guy's awesome."

It was around that time that North Korea was reaching new heights of bellicosity toward the United States, threatening to turn Washington and Seoul into "a sea of flames" with "lighter and smaller nukes" because of new United Nations Security Council sanctions over Pyongyang's third nuclear test in February.

Mr. Rodman's visit also comes just days after North Korea rescinded its invitation to Robert King, a senior American diplomat who was planning to travel to Pyongyang to try to secure Mr. Bae's release.

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Straight Sets: Conversations With Andy Murray: Dreaming Up Tennis Venues

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Straight Sets: Getting to Know Tim Smyczek

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Red Bulls Move Into a Tie for First

HARRISON, N.J. (AP) — Lloyd Sam and Tim Cahill scored to lead the New York Red Bulls in a 2-1 victory over the last-place D.C. United on Saturday night.

The Red Bulls (12-9-6) moved into a tie with Montreal and Sporting Kansas City for first place in the Eastern Conference. New York won despite playing without star forward Thierry Henry for the first 57 minutes as punishment for his blow-up at practice with head coach Mike Petke.

Bradley Wright-Phillips made his first MLS start in Thierry's place and barely missed scoring in the 45th minute when Sam's pass fell just wide of the leaping forward.

Sam put the Red Bulls on the board in the eighth minute on a freak goal after Cahill was knocked down in the box. There was no call on the Cahill play, but the ball came out to the right wing to Sam, whose lofted shot hit the left post.

DC keeper Bill Hamid tried to gather it from the ground, but after a delay for an officials conference it was determined the ball had crossed the goal line for Sam's third score of the season.

Nick DeLeon got his first goal of the season for United (3-18-5), tying the score in the 36th minute. He took a chip from Dwaye DeRosario from outside the box, made a move out front, and barely beat Luis Robles to his right.

Cahill got the tiebreaker a minute later, converting on a header off Jonny Steele's cross from the left side. It was Cahill's team-leading eighth goal.

Henry finally entered in the 58th minute for Cahill and made an impact two minutes later, dribbling into the box and firing a shot that barely went wide right.

United missed tying it in the 72nd minute after Ibrahim Sekagya pulled down De Rosario in the box, resulting in a penalty kick for the midfielder and a red card for Sekagya. But Robles dove and reached to his right to preserve the lead.

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Sports Briefing | Horse Racing: Accusations Made Against Travers Winner

The New York State Gaming Commission will investigate a complaint filed Friday by the connections of Moreno, the second-place finisher in the Travers Stakes on Aug. 24. The complaint says that Luis Saez, who rode the Travers winner Will Take Charge, used an electrical device on his horse during the race.

Will Take Charge rallied in midstretch to beat the pacesetter Moreno by a nose in the $1 million race. The investigation is being conducted by the three track stewards and the Gaming Commission, which also has the assistance of the New York State Police.

"We have received a complaint, and it will be thoroughly investigated," Lee Park, a spokesman for the Gaming Commission, said.

The Daily Racing Form first reported news of the claim, which it said was filed by Eric Guillot, who trains Moreno. He said he was sent a slow-motion video of the NBC broadcast by his brother.

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Around the Country: The Day’s Best in College Football

Bob Levey/Getty Images

LaDarius Perkins of Mississippi State was sent flying by Oklahoma State's Daytawion Lowe, on ground. Perkins was held to 58 yards on 16 carries in a 21-3 loss.

NATHAN SCHEELHAASE The Illinois senior quarterback, right, threw for a career-best 416 yards and 2 touchdowns Saturday to lead Illinois to a 42-34 home victory over Southern Illinois.

C. J. BROWN The Maryland quarterback, who missed all of last season with a torn A.C.L., threw three touchdown passes and ran for two scores in a 43-10 victory over Florida International. He finished 20 for 23 for 281 yards passing and ran for 105 yards on 11 carries.

SHANE CARDEN The East Carolina quarterback threw for 5 touchdowns and a program-record 447 yards in a 52-38 win over Old Dominion.

ROBENSON THEREZIE The Auburn defensive back had two interceptions, including one in the end zone with five minutes remaining, in a 31-24 win over Washington State.

JONATHAN WILLIAMS AND ALEX COLLINS Williams rushed for 151 yards and Collins, a freshman, added 131 on the ground for Arkansas, which defeated Louisiana-Lafayette, 34-14.

A Successful Debut

Even a third-quarter downpour could not dampen the enthusiasm for the Charlotte 49ers at Jerry Richardson Stadium — certainly not after an eight-year wait to get a football team.

Charlotte's football debut could not have gone much better as the 49ers defeated Campbell, 52-7, in their inaugural game before a standing-room-only crowd of 16,630. The freshman quarterback Matt Johnson threw for 282 yards and 3 touchdowns as the 49ers jumped out to a 32-0 second-quarter lead.

"I really couldn't have written it out any better," Coach Brad Lambert said of the program's first victory.

The 49ers will play two seasons in the Football Championship Subdivision before moving to Conference USA in 2015.

An F.C.S. Uprising

Vernon Adams passed for 411 yards and ran for 107 and the go-ahead score with 18 seconds left as visiting Eastern Washington upset No. 25 Oregon State, 49-46, to become the third Football Championship Subdivision team to beat a ranked Football Bowl Subdivision team.

Adams threw for four touchdowns and ran for two.

The other two times an F.C.S. team beat a ranked F.B.S. team came when James Madison beat Virginia Tech in 2010 and Appalachian State beat Michigan in 2007.

■ Cody Stroud threw for 207 yards and 2 scores as McNeese State of the F.C.S. won, 53-21 at South Florida, for whom Willie Taggart made his coaching debut.

■ David Johnson scored four touchdowns as Northern Iowa of the F.C.S. won at Iowa State, 28-20.

Mixed Coaching Debuts

Bobby Petrino won his debut as Western Kentucky's coach, a 35-26 victory over Kentucky in Nashville.

"This is not about me," said Petrino, who was fired by Arkansas in April 2012 for misleading university officials about a motorcycle accident in which his mistress, an employee of his, was involved. He added, "I'm just really proud of our players."

■ North Carolina State beat Louisiana Tech, 40-14, in Dave Doeren's debut, but the starting quarterback, Brandon Mitchell, injured his left foot and may be out four to six weeks.

■ Southern Mississippi lost to visiting Texas State, 22-15, in Todd Monken's debut. It was the Golden Eagles' 13th straight loss, the longest current skid in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

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Clemson 38, Georgia 35: A Major Victory for Clemson, and for the A.C.C.

CLEMSON, S.C. — The Clemson players who squeezed into a hallway outside the locker room for postgame interviews wanted to hush the noise about an Atlantic Coast Conference team knocking off No. 5 Georgia, a marquee team from the mighty Southeastern Conference. It was a win, they said, just like any other, but the words are going to be seen as insincere given the daylong emotion here.

The eighth-ranked Tigers had just come off the field at Memorial Stadium with a 38-35 victory Saturday night in front of a howling crowd of 83,830, which made a sea of orange inside the stadium. Try telling that throng of fans this was just another win. More than 20,000 poured onto the field after the clock ran out to celebrate.

"It feels good to win any game, doesn't matter that they are SEC," left tackle Brandon Thomas said. "It was the first game on our schedule; every game that we win is great."

It seemed like a rehearsed, coached-up response for a team that has some serious aspirations. Clemson is supposed to be flashy team with the exhilarating wide receiver/return man Sammy Watkins, but the Tigers showed off a solid run game with running back Roderick McDowell going for 132 yards. Clemson had 206 yards rushing.

Watkins had his moment, taking a short pass and converting into it a 77-yard scoring play in the first quarter, but the win was about a balanced offense that is going to be tough for any Atlantic Coast Conference team to handle.

The Tigers, who defeated Louisiana State in the Chick-fil-A Bowl to end the 2012 season, kept their momentum going into this season behind the sixth-year coach Dabo Swinney, who played at Alabama and understands that the hierarchy of college football starts with the SEC. (The A.C.C. has not won a national title since Florida State in the 1999 season.)

Swinney's players were Saban-like in dismissing one win as anything more than one win.

The score was 28-28 in the third quarter when Chandler Catanzaro kicked a 24-yard field goal to give Clemson a 31-28 lead. Clemson widened the margin to 10 after Boyd threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to tight end Stanton Seckinger with 7 minutes 40 seconds to play.

Clemson still led, 38-28, late in the fourth, but Georgia raced in for a score with 1:19 to play to make it 38-35. The Tigers recovered the Bulldogs' onside kick, and Georgia, with no timeouts, was finished.

Georgia had a special-teams mishap when it lined up for a field goal inside the 5 in the third quarter. The snap sailed over the kicker's head.

The Georgia sophomore running back Todd Gurley rushed for 154 yards on just 12 carries. The Bulldogs amassed 545 yards total offense, and quarterback Aaron Murray threw for 323 yards. If there is an issue with Clemson, as far as being a national championship contender, it lies with its secondary, which gave Georgia receivers too much room and allowed Gurley to fly 75 yards untouched for a touchdown in the first quarter.

Of course, the Tigers are not thinking about such things.

"It wasn't really A.C.C., SEC, it was a game we needed to win, it was our opener," running back Zac Brooks said.

The Georgia-Clemson series started in 1897 because the two campuses are only 71 miles apart, but the Bulldogs and the Tigers have been linked by something other than proximity for the last 30 years. The two programs lost all momentum from national championships because of scandals in the 1980s.

The Bulldogs won the 1980 national title with the all-American running back Herschel Walker, and the Tigers won the 1981 title with defensive lineman William Perry, known as the Refrigerator. While both programs have had some top-10 teams the last 30 years, they have not been consistent contenders for the national championship — a disappointment because both have successfully commercialized their teams with large stadiums located in fertile recruiting areas.

That was why Saturday night's top-10 matchup was so eagerly anticipated. There was a chance to snatch back the luster on national television in prime time.

In 2012, Georgia had its best chance to win its first national title in more than 30 years, but it came up 5 yards short of beating Alabama for the SEC championship. There were just four starters returning on defense this season, but Georgia Coach Mark Richt was hoping the extra preparation for playing Clemson in the first game would help negate the inexperience.

Given the skill of the Tigers' offense, the Bulldogs held up well in the first half. They forced Clemson to punt five times. But Georgia kept hurting itself in a game where it could not afford mistakes given the potency of the Clemson offense.

Murray, a fourth-year starter, was stripped in the pocket and fumbled the ball away. He also threw an interception in Clemson territory to defensive end Corey Crawford, who had dropped into coverage.

The Bulldogs are 0-1 and still have to play nationally ranked South Carolina and Louisiana State before the first month of the season is complete.

Clemson heads off toward the A.C.C. with a nationally televised win under its belt and expectations of its fans following them every step of the way. Whether the Tigers accept it or not, beating a top-10 team from a conference like the SEC, which has won seven straight titles, is not going to be treated as just another win.

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Straight Sets: Robredo, Rejuvenated, Keeps Climbing Back Up

The match clock had just struck 3 hours 13 minutes on Saturday as Tommy Robredo engineered a deft drop volley to end the brave challenge of the British qualifier Daniel Evans, 7-6 (6), 6-1, 4-6, 7-5, on a humid evening at Flushing Meadows.

It is the eighth time that Robredo has reached the second week of the United States Open in his illustrious career, but this run will feel all the more special after a bleak period two years ago when it seemed that his life as a tennis player might be over.

In 2011 and 2012, Robredo, from Spain, was sidelined for 14 months with a leg injury. As he had always relied on his stamina and sheer determination to go with his baseline artistry, his injury was a result of wear and tear − an unavoidable consequence of 13 years' worth of lung-busting rallies, despite his impeccable physical conditioning.

During his time out, Robredo insisted, retirement never crossed his mind. Instead, he found that the break rekindled his love for the game. Even though he was forced to return on the Challenger Tour last summer while watching his former rivals compete at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, he said he was simply glad to be back.

"It was hard playing Challengers, but it had been much harder to be at home watching all of my friends playing and be sitting there without any chance to play," he said. "That was the worst feeling. And then when I was ready, for me, I didn't care whether I was playing Futures, Challengers, ATP, whatever. It was just a gift to be able to play again."

In 2011, Robredo said, life in professional tennis had become a grind. "I had been playing and playing for 10 years in a row with nearly no holidays," he said. "And when you do that, it gets to the point where you're doing it as a job rather than your passion.

"While I was waiting to come back, I realized that I love tennis and I really need it. So since I returned, I've appreciated it a little more, for sure, because I know what I nearly lost."

With this run at the United States Open, Robredo will climb back up from his current world ranking, 22nd, into the top 20, and he has been a man on a mission in 2013. The high point was his performance at the French Open, where he came from two sets to love down on three successive occasions to reach the quarterfinals, culminating in an thrilling victory over Nicolas Almagro. Robredo sank to his knees and wept as a packed Court Suzanne Lenglen chanted his name.

"I've shown I was right to continue playing," he said. "I've shown that I'm still playing at a good level. I don't know if it's the same level as when I was in the top 10, but after Roland Garros, I reached top 30 in the world after only one year of playing again, and I think that's not easy to do."

At 31, Robredo is still a relative youngster to Tommy Haas, who is showing that it is still possible to reach the latter stages of the majors while well into one's mid-30s. However, Robredo seemed perplexed when asked if Haas's resurgence had been an inspiration for him.

"What other people are doing doesn't really inspire me," he said. "What inspires me is that I'm feeling good again, I'm in good shape and I'm enjoying my tennis again. That gives me the power and belief to work hard in practice each day to see if I can keep winning matches. That's the only thing which matters to me."

He thinks there is far more to come after reaching the third round at Wimbledon, losing to the eventual champion, Andy Murray, and now he will have the opportunity to see how he matches up against his fellow veteran Roger Federer on Monday.

"These performances have given me a lot of mental strength and a lot of belief that I can keep going," Robredo said. "Let's see where my ranking is at the end of the year."

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Showalter and Selig Said to Discuss Rodriguez

Baltimore Manager Buck Showalter's comments about how the Yankees could enjoy a windfall from Alex Rodriguez's pending suspension struck a nerve with Major League Baseball earlier this month. According to three people with knowledge of the matter, the comments resulted in a back-and-forth between M.L.B. and the Orioles, with Showalter eventually talking directly with Commissioner Bud Selig.

In the days leading to the suspensions of Rodriguez and a dozen other players for violations of drug policy, Showalter was quoted in USA Today as saying: "If Bud lets them get away with that, they're under the luxury tax. If they can reset, they can spend again, and I guarantee you in two years, Matt Wieters is in New York."

After the comments, which Showalter later said he did not think were going to be published, the M.L.B. executive vice president Rob Manfred called Orioles General Manager Dan Duquette.

Manfred told him that the timing of Showalter's comments, with the suspensions only days away, were not helpful and that there were many factors in play beyond what Showalter was aware of. He also wanted to make it clear that the issue was about Rodriguez, not a matter of letting the Yankees get away with anything.

Upon hearing of Manfred's displeasure, Showalter decided to reach out to Selig, and the two were said to have had a productive conversation.

Showalter, at Yankee Stadium on Friday for the Orioles' series against the Yankees, said he would not discuss any private conversations he may or may not have had. He did reiterate that his initial comments were intended to be private, although he accepted responsibility for them becoming public.

"Those were not for public consumption, but that happens," he said. "It was my fault."

The M.L.B. spokesman Pat Courtney said he could not comment on conversations between the commissioner's office and club officials.

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Sports Briefing | Basketball: Fever Battle Back After Liberty’s Surge

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