By BETH DUFF-BROWN
The Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — Don’t yell obscenities, don’t flip the bird — and don’t even think about insulting anyone’s mother.

The San Francisco 49ers and the NFL have adopted extraordinary security measures for Sunday’s NFC championship against the New York Giants after New Orleans Saints fans complained of harassment by unruly 49ers faithful last week.

Undercover police will be dressed in Giants’ garb and on the lookout for nasty fans. Giants ticketholders will be handed a card as they enter Candlestick Park with details on how to contact police if they feel threatened. And more security cameras and undercover police officers will be in place to identify abusive fans.

Season ticketholders have also been warned to follow the NFL Fan Code of Conduct: no foul or abusive language or obscene gestures and no verbal or physical abuse of opposing team fans.

The nail-biting 36-32 win last Saturday for the 49ers was the team’s first playoff game in nine years, and a raucous crowd was on hand to enjoy the victory at the expense of the Saints.

“I apologize for any rudeness that may have happened,” San Francisco 49ers president and CEO Jed York said. “I think you saw 49ers fans who were very excited about hosting a playoff game for the first time in a long time.”

Those fans were so excited that they ruined the day for a shaken Don Moses and his two teenage daughters. Moses, a longtime Bay Area resident who is from New Orleans, said they were wearing the Saints colors and prepared for some good-natured ribbing.

Instead, he tells a horror story of fear and humiliation when his daughters asked him why he didn’t do anything to stop the hulking 49ers fans who yelled vulgarities and threw footballs at them, screamed in their faces and called their mother a whore.

“The hostility and threats of violence were a constant throughout our experience,” Moses said in a letter to the San Francisco Chronicle, one that launched some soul-searching by city officials and led to some 49ers fans to apologize on behalf of their city.

“Every other word from dozens of fans around us was an f-bomb shouted at the top of their lungs,” Moses said. “There were seven or eight large 30- to 35-year-old guys directly behind us who cursed and threatened us the entire game.” He turned to ask them to tone it down in front of his girls and they yelled: “Do not turn around again! Do not ever turn around again.”

He was afraid that if the fans saw him calling or texting security, the men would harm his daughters.

“Every 49ers fan, the team and its owners should be ashamed and embarrassed to wear the red and gold today,” Moses wrote in the letter published Tuesday. “They won the game but are losers in every other way.”

NFL security director Jeff Miller told the AP that if the security cameras or undercover police catch such abusive behavior by fans on Sunday, they will be yanked from the stadium.

“We’ll be looking early on to identify people trying to do those things in the parking areas and take action to remove them,” said Miller, who will be at the game. “We’re not going to be warning people inside the stadium. They will be removed.”

Authorities are already sensitive about the heartbreaking case of Brian Stow, a paramedic and San Francisco Giants fan who suffered a traumatic brain injury after a beating by two men dressed in Dodgers gear following the home opener against the Giants in Los Angeles on March 31. Medical care for Stow is expected to cost as much as $50 million and the father of two has sued the Dodgers.

Tailgating after kickoff already has been banned from the parking lot at Candlestick Park under security measures introduced after two shootings, a beating and fights broke out during an Aug. 20 pre-season game with across-the-bay rivals Oakland Raiders.

San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr said he heard first-hand how Saints fans were treated last Saturday when he gave three of them a lift from the stadium back into the city after the game. They gave him an earful about how badly they’d been belittled.

“We’re all native San Franciscans and, you know, that’s not the way we want to represent the team and the city,” Suhr said.

He said Mayor Ed Lee instructed him to do whatever it takes to make Giants fans feel safe.

Police officers and team personnel at the ticket gates will be welcoming them with cards that tell them how to contact police.

The 49ers also purchased Giants attire for undercover police officers.

“They’ll be seated around the stadium as decoys, if you will, trying to draw out the obnoxious fans and they will be removed immediately,” he said.

Then there are the lights.

A good portion of the game will be played under the same stadium lights that blacked out and delayed the nationally televised Monday Night Football game between the 49ers and the Pittsburgh Steelers on Dec. 19.

The city and the Pacific Gas & Electric Co. insist there won’t be an embarrassing repeat of the two blackouts at the 51-year-old stadium, which had prompted the mayor to call the night a “national embarrassment.”

PG&E spokesman Joe Molica is confident the nearly $1 million in upgrades to the park by the electric utility and the city will prove the old bayside stadium proud.

He said the wire for the electrical circuit that serves the park has been replaced with more than a mile and a half of new wire that is resistant to contact and carries three times the electrical load. A new computer system allows workers to better monitor the circuit.

The command center at the stadium has conducted a string of tests simulating the Dec. 19 blackout and everything tested well.

Will Molica be holding his breath on Sunday about another blackout?

No, he said, “I’ll be holding my breath for the 49ers to win.”

• AP Sports Writer Janie McCauley contributed to this report from Santa Clara, Calif.

YAKIMA, Wash. — Friday’s East Valley-Prosser doubleheader and Saturday’s Eisenhower-Davis doubleheader are scheduled to be broadcast on SWX, which is a digtal subchannel of KNDO.

To find out how you can receive SWX, visit this website

Michael Moreno/Toppenish High School

YAKIMA, Wash. — After a delayed start because of a months-long lockout, the NBA season finally starts on Christmas day.

Here are some of the things to look out for while watching the games.

1. How Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers respond to their conference finals loss to the eventual champs, the Dallas Mavericks. Will being swept by the Mavs give Kobe the motivation and hunger to go after a sixth championship, or will this season be the beginning of a decline in his career? Stay on the lookout for Kobe and his team.

2. Derrick Rose’s season as reigning MVP. Will he defend this title well, or will he disappoint his fans and confirm his critics skepticism? The addition of Richard Hamilton to Chicago might help Rose and the Bulls be a threat this season.

3. The Miami Heat vs. the Dallas Mavericks. Will this be the season of redemption for LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh (collectively known as The Big Three), or will the Mavs again show that they are the better team? With the additions of Vince Carter and Lamar Odom to the Dallas team, combined with the virtually invisible offseason moves for Miami (with the exception of Shane Battier to add to the Heat’s defense), the edge goes to the Mavs. Sure, the Heat have James and Wade, but how well they come back to the court this season will be the biggest question.

4. Chris Paul’s first game for the Los Angeles Clippers. Will Paul and Blake Griffin play just like Paul and Tyson Chandler did when the two played for the New Orleans Hornets? It will take some time for Paul and Griffin to mesh, but it could eventually happen, and the pair could be just what’s needed for the suddenly resurgent Clippers to be relevant in the league.

• Michael Moreno is a student at Toppenish High School and a member of the Yakima Herald-Republic’s Unleashed youth journalism program.

NEW YORK — The ouster of one of America’s most revered coaches, Penn State’s Joe Paterno, after shocking child sex abuse charges against his former assistant was overwhelmingly voted the sports story of the year by members of The Associated Press.

On the morning of Nov. 5, Paterno’s Nittany Lions were undefeated in the Big Ten and ranked No. 16 in the country, and the 84-year-old Hall of Famer was renowned as the winningest coach in Division I football, a leader who preached and practiced “Success with Honor.” Then came the staggering revelations: the indictment of longtime defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky for allegedly sexually assaulting eight boys over a 15-year span, perjury charges against two high-ranking school administrators — and a grand jury report that suggested Paterno knew of accusations against Sandusky and did not do enough to pursue them.

Within four days, Penn State’s board of trustees had done the once-unthinkable, firing JoePa after 46 seasons as head coach.

There were 214 ballots submitted from U.S. news organizations that make up the AP’s membership. The voters were asked to rank the top 10 sports stories of the year, with the first-place story getting 10 points, the second-place story receiving nine points, and so on.

The Penn State saga received 2,044 points and 172 first-place votes. It was also voted the No. 6 news story for 2011 in the AP’s annual poll of U.S. editors and news directors.

The No. 2 sports story — labor strife in the NFL and NBA — had 15 first-place votes and 1,345 points.

The turmoil that at times seemed to rock college sports on a weekly basis this year was evident in the voting beyond the Penn State selection. Three more of the top 10 stories involved upheaval in the NCAA: conference realignment (No. 4); the Ohio State infractions that cost Jim Tressel his job (No. 6); and more sex abuse accusations, these involving Syracuse basketball (No. 9).

Tiger Woods’ humbling return to the public eye was the top story last year.

Here are 2011’s top 10 stories:

1. PENN STATE: Paterno said in a statement Nov. 9, “It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more,” and that he would retire at the end of the season. It wasn’t enough to quell the rising outrage that he didn’t go to the police after then-graduate assistant Mike McQueary told him in 2002 about witnessing an apparent assault. By the night of Nov. 9, Paterno was out, and so was Penn State President Graham Spanier. As 2011 comes to a close, athletic director Tim Curley, who was placed on leave, and since-retired university vice president Gary Schultz await trial, and Sandusky faces additional charges. Paterno revealed Nov. 18 he had been diagnosed with a treatable form of lung cancer. The Nittany Lions play Houston in the TicketCity Bowl on Jan. 2.

2. NFL/NBA LOCKOUTS: “Millionaires vs. billionaires” was often fans’ reaction to the labor woes that struck the NFL and NBA this year. Football’s work stoppage lasted 4 1/2 months before an agreement was signed Aug. 5; it cost the league just one preseason game. Fans have quickly forgiven the owners and players based on ticket sales and television ratings. Basketball’s dragged on for more than five months and wiped out 16 games of the normal 82-game schedule. The fallout won’t be clear until the season begins on Christmas.

3. PACKERS WIN: Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay are shining and well out of Brett Favre’s shadow. The injury-ravaged Packers barely made the playoffs as a No. 6 seed last season, then won three road games to reach the Super Bowl, where they beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25 in February. They kept right on winning into the 2011 season, rolling to a 13-0 start led by play from their quarterback almost as perfect as their record, until an upset loss to the Chiefs.

4. CONFERENCE REALIGNMENT: San Diego State in the Big East? Another dizzying round of college conference hopping made a mockery of geography. Texas A&M bolted the Big 12 for the SEC in September — likely ending its more than century-old rivalry with Texas — which set off the dominoes. Missouri followed the Aggies to the SEC. The Big East lost Syracuse and Pittsburgh to the ACC and West Virginia and TCU to the Big 12, then regrouped by adding some hardly Eastern schools: Boise State, San Diego State, Houston, SMU.

5. CARDINALS WIN: St. Louis trailed in the wild-card race by 10 1/2 games in late August but rallied to clinch a playoff berth on the season’s final day. The Cardinals’ comeback in the World Series might have been even more remarkable. They were twice down to their final strike in Game 6 against the Texas Rangers, who were up by two runs in the ninth and 10th innings. St. Louis won it on David Freese’s home run in the 11th before clinching the championship in Game 7. Manager Tony La Russa retired after the victory parade.

6. OHIO STATE: The Buckeyes beat Arkansas 31-26 on Jan. 4 in the Sugar Bowl with five players allowed to take part even though they were suspended for the first five games of the 2011 season for NCAA infractions. Ohio State would soon have far bigger problems. The school learned that month that Jim Tressel, who coached the Buckeyes to their first national title in 34 years, long knew about the transgressions and had violated NCAA rules by not reporting them. On May 30, he finally resigned under pressure. After a 6-6 season, Ohio State replaced Tressel with somebody who’s won two national championships: former Florida coach Urban Meyer.

7. MAVERICKS WIN: Five years after blowing a series lead in the NBA finals to the Heat, Dallas and Dirk Nowitzki got revenge and redemption against Miami. The Mavs picked up fans around the country by beating the Heat, suddenly everybody’s favorite team to hate with the nucleus of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. After Dallas won in six games, Dirk finally got his title — while LeBron still seeks his.

8. WHELDON DIES: Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon was killed Oct. 16 during IndyCar’s season finale in Las Vegas in a fiery 15-car crash. The 33-year-old Brit won Indy this year in one of just three starts during the season as he searched for sponsorship. Wheldon was chasing a $5 million incentive in Las Vegas, and IndyCar is still answering questions about whether the race was excessively dangerous.

9. SYRACUSE: Less than two weeks after the Sandusky charges, ESPN reported that two former Syracuse ball boys accused longtime men’s basketball assistant coach Bernie Fine of molesting them. Then, on Nov. 27, Fine was fired after the network aired a tape in which a woman it identified as Fine’s wife tells one of the men, Bobby Davis, she knew “everything” that was going on. Fine has not been charged, and a federal investigation is ongoing.

10. WOMEN’S WORLD CUP: Their country devastated by a tsunami and earthquake, Japan’s soccer players vowed they would inspire their homeland. They did it with an improbable victory in the final, rallying from a goal down late in regulation and again in overtime against the favored Americans to force penalty kicks, which they won 3-1. The Japanese also upset host Germany in the quarterfinals.

• Follow Rachel Cohen at http://twitter.com/RachelCohenAP

SEATTLE — Mike Leach has been named football coach at Washington State. Leach agreed in principle to a five-year contract and will be introduced at a news conference Tuesday in Pullman, according to a release from the school.

“I asked athletic director Bill Moos to select the best head football coach in the country and I am convinced that he has done exactly that,” WSU president Elson Floyd said in the news release.

FILE - In this Sept. 19, 2009, file photo, Texas Tech coach Mike Leach waits as a play is reviewed during the first quarter of their NCAA college football game against Texas in Austin, Texas. Leach has reached a verbal agreement to be the new football coach at Washington State, an official within the athletic department told the Associated Press on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

Moos said, “This is an exciting day for Washington State University and Cougar football. I have spoken about the need to re-energize our fan base and take Cougar football to the next level. I believe the hiring of Mike Leach accomplishes both of those goals. His credentials speak for themselves.”

Leach replaces Paul Wulff, fired Tuesday by Washington State after a 9-40 record in four seasons. The quick push for Leach was not unexpected. The Seattle Times reported last week that Wulff was likely to be fired, and that Leach would be the top target of the Cougars. An informed source told The Times the deal might be done quickly.

Leach, 50, had been expected to be a top choice at Kansas, where he had an old friendship with athletic director Sheahon Zenger.

Leach has been out of coaching for the past two years after a controversial exit from Texas Tech. He was fired just short of collecting on an $800,000 salary bonus. At issue was whether he mistreated a Red Raiders player, Adam James, by directing him to stay in a darkened equipment shed to help treat a concussion.

Leach coached 10 Texas Tech to 10 straight bowl games and favors a spread passing offense.

“First off I would like to express my appreciation to Paul Wulff for all his efforts and dedication to Washington State and wish him the best in the future,” Leach said in the news release. “It’s an honor to have the opportunity to work with Bill Moos, who is a legend in this business. To have the opportunity as a coach to work with someone like that is an experience few head coaches get. Along with Bill and Dr. Floyd, I’m excited about being a part of the future of Washington State.

“I have always admired the tradition of Washington State. It’s a university on the move that is experiencing growth. I’m excited about what they are doing with the facilities and it’s a team that has battled through some hard times and shows great promise in the future. I’m proud to be a part of this team.”

— Bud Withers

SEATTLE — Paul Wulff wanted just a little more time. Bill Moos, the Washington State athletic director, thought WSU had run out of it.

Tuesday morning, Moos dismissed Wulff after four struggling years of Cougars football in which WSU went 9-40.

At a news conference Tuesday afternoon, Moos said informing Wulff on Tuesday morning that he had been fired “was not an easy thing to do.”

Moos thanked Wulff for his contributions to WSU but said the Cougars were at a critical juncture and needed to make a change.

“I feel we have apathy in our fan base,” said Moos, who claimed a coaching change was necessary to raise the energy among WSU fans.

Moos said the search for Wulff’s successor will begin immediately and said he has had conversations with coaches on a “shortlist.”

Wulff said he hoped to have a new coach in the next two to three weeks.

“You’re looking at the search committee,” Moos said.

Moos said he talked with Wulff for an hour and a half Sunday and “pretty much” made the choice then to fire Wulff but elected to take another day to mull the decision.

Moos had been a consultant on a search committee when Wulff was hired in December 2007, urging the committee to consider a couple of WSU alums, including Wulff. In spring 2010, Moos became the school’s athletic director, and more than once voiced the thought that “nobody wants Paul to succeed more than I do.”

After a 3-22 start — results on the field which Moos said he largely disregarded because of the downtrodden state of the program in 2007 — the Cougars began to show improvement in 2010 and 2011. But hopes for gaining six victories and bowl eligibility this year were dashed, partly by some key quarterback injuries, and the Cougars went 4-8.

Almost since the start of the Wulff regime, there was divisiveness in the fan base. In 2008, the Cougars were shut out three times — they hadn’t been blanked since 1984 — and six times, they allowed 58 or more points.

There was improvement each year. There were fewer problems off the field, after 25 players were arrested in an 18-month span bridging the Bill Doba and Wulff regimes. The Cougars had a heavy representation on conference all-academic teams, after some Academic Progress Rate shortfalls caused them to be docked eight scholarships against a maximum of 85 as part of the problems Wulff inherited.

Two problems developed in 2011 as key to Wulff’s demise. One happened shortly into the opener against Idaho State.

Jeff Tuel, one of the underrated quarterbacks in the Pac-12, broke his clavicle on his fifth snap of the game after being inserted on the third series despite suffering from a virus. Tuel’s season was essentially ruined; after he tried to come back against Stanford and Oregon State in midseason, he took hits to that side and was unable to play in the final five games of the season.

The schedule, meanwhile, was initially kind but ultimately demanding. Some fans presumed a 5-0 start for the Cougars, who opened with Idaho State, UNLV, San Diego State, Colorado and UCLA. But without Tuel, WSU lost to San Diego State and a tight, 28-25 loss at UCLA, putting them at 3-2.

Over the long haul, with WSU playing the Oregon State game at CenturyLink Field and it being a year when it had only four conference games in its stadium, WSU went from Sept. 10 to Nov. 12 with just one game in Pullman — against Stanford. Home for consecutive games in November, the Cougars ambushed Arizona State and lost a thriller in overtime to Utah.

They ended with a 38-21 loss to Washington in the Apple Cup, but it’s believed the decision was already made on Wulff. On Nov. 18, the WSU regents approved Moos’ renovation plans for Martin Stadium — suites and club seats on the south side, and eventually, a football-only facility beyond the west end zone — and Moos was open in saying that the football coach, whoever he was, would be pivotal in rallying support from donors.

The Cougars have to pay the final year of Wulff’s contract. He was earning about $600,000 annually, the lowest-paid coach in the Pac-12.

Mike Leach, the former Texas Tech coach, is believed at the top of WSU’s list of possible successors. But Leach has been reported also to be coveted by Kansas, which fired Turner Gill over the weekend after two years.

 — Bud Withers/The Seattle Times

NEW YORK — NBA owners and players reached a tentative agreement early Saturday to end the 149-day lockout.

After a secret meeting earlier this week, the sides met for more than 15 hours Friday, working to try to save the season. This handshake deal, however, still must be ratified by both owners and players.

“We’ve reached a tentative understanding that is subject to a variety of approvals and very complex machinations, but we’re optimistic that will all come to pass and that the NBA season will begin Dec. 25,” Commissioner David Stern said.

The league plans a 66-game season and aims to open camps Dec. 9.

“We thought it was in both of our best interests to try to reach a resolution and save the game,” union executive director Billy Hunter said.

The Christmas Day deadline created a sense of urgency because that schedule is traditionally a showcase for the league. This season’s three-game slate was to include Miami at Dallas in an NBA finals rematch, plus MVP Derrick Rose leading Chicago into Los Angeles to face Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.

A majority on each side is needed to approve the agreement. The NBA needs votes from 15 of 29 owners. (The league owns the New Orleans Hornets.) Stern said the labor committee plans to discuss the agreement later Saturday and expects them to endorse it and recommend to the full board.

The union needs a simple majority of its 430-plus members. That process is a bit more complicated after the players dissolved the union Nov. 14. Now, they must drop their antitrust lawsuit in Minnesota and reform the union before voting on the deal.

Because the union disbanded, a new collective bargaining agreement can only be completed once the union has reformed. Drug testing and other issues still must be negotiated between the league and the players.

The settlement first was reported by CBSSports.com.

Participating in the talks for the league were Stern, deputy commissioner Adam Silver, Spurs owner Peter Holt, the chairman of the labor relations committee, and attorneys Rick Buchanan and Dan Rube. The players were represented by executive director Billy Hunter, president Derek Fisher, vice president Maurice Evans, attorney Ron Klempner and economist Kevin Murphy.

When last talks broke down, the sides were still divided over the division of revenues and certain changes sought by owners to curb spending by big-market teams that players felt would limit or restrict their options in free agency.

On Nov. 14, players rejected the owners’ proposal, which included opening a 72-game schedule on Dec. 15, announcing instead they were disbanding the union, giving them a chance to win several billion dollars in triple damages in an antitrust lawsuit.

Two days later, players filed two separate antitrust lawsuits against the league in two different states. On Monday, a group of named plaintiffs including Carmelo Anthony, Steve Nash and Kevin Durant filed an amended federal lawsuit against the league in Minnesota, hoping the courts there will be as favorable to them as they have been to NFL players in the past.

Now, players will dismiss that lawsuit and get back to the business of basketball.

The previous CBA expired at the end of the day June 30. Despite a series of meetings in June, there was never much hope of a deal before that deadline, with owners wanting significant changes after saying they lost $300 million last season and hundreds of millions more in each year of the old agreement, which was ratified in 2005.

Owners wanted to keep more of the league’s nearly $4 billion in basketball revenues to themselves after guaranteeing 57 percent to the players under the old deal. And they sought a system where even the smallest-market clubs could compete, believing the current system would always favor the teams who could spend the most.

Initially, the salary cap emerged as the biggest obstacle. Owners first proposed a hard cap, but players fought hard to maintain the current system that allows teams to exceed the cap through the use of various exceptions.

The league was adamant the system needed some adjustment, because the old rules gave too many advantages to teams who could afford to keep adding to their payrolls. So the league’s proposals targeted the highest-spending teams, seeking to eliminate the use of the midlevel exception by teams over the luxury tax and prevent them from participating in sign-and-trade deals.

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Tony Stewart insisted he wasn’t a title contender when NASCAR’s championship race began.

When it became clear he actually was a viable threat, he kicked it into another gear and vowed to go for broke in his pursuit of Carl Edwards.

Did he ever.

Stewart used a powerful and relentless drive — some might suggest the best in NASCAR history — on Sunday in the season finale to seize his third NASCAR championship. He overcame a hole in the grill of his Chevrolet, a rain delay, used debatable fuel strategy and made 116 passes on the track to win at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Edwards led the most laps — 119 of the 267 — but finished a helpless second. The two ended up tied in the final Sprint Cup points standings, but Stewart’s five victories — all in the chase — to Edwards’ one gave him the championship.

Stewart became the first owner/driver to win the championship since the late Alan Kulwicki in 1992, and the driver to end Jimmie Johnson’s record five-year title run.

“Are you kidding me?” Stewart asked in Victory Lane. “We said all week we’d just go out and win the race and didn’t have to worry about what he did. If this doesn’t go down as one of the greatest championship battles in history, I don’t know what will.”

If this doesn’t go down as one of the greatest championship battles in history, I don’t know what is.”

Edwards was disappointed but held his head high after the race.

“This night is about Tony Stewart. Those guys rose to the occasion and they beat us fair and square,” Edwards said. “That is all I had. We came here and sat on the pole, led the most laps and Tony still managed. That’s it. That’s all I got at the end. That’s as hard as I can drive.

“I told my wife, ‘If I can’t win this thing, I’m going to be the best loser NASCAR has ever had.’ So, I’m going to try really hard to keep my head up and know that we’ll just go next year and we’ll be just as hard to beat.”

YAKIMA, Wash. — In case you missed it, here are some of the best photos from some of the biggest sports news stories from the past weekend.

St. Louis Cardinals' Albert Pujols hits a solo home run during the ninth inning of Game 3 of baseball's World Series against the Texas Rangers, Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Marco Simoncelli, a rising MotoGP star, died Sunday at the same Malaysian circuit where the Italian won the 250cc world title in 2008. He was 24.

Nicknamed ’Super Sic’ and sporting a mop of curly hair, Simoncelli was predicted by many to be a future MotoGP world champion. He died a week after Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon was killed in a 15-car accident in the IndyCar finale at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Simoncelli lost control of his Honda at turn 11 four minutes into the Malaysian MotoGP. After regaining partial grip, Simoncelli’s bike swerved across the track — and into the path of American Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi of Italy.

Simoncelli

“Marco was a strong rider and he always pushed hard,” said Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso of Italy. “We raced together since we were kids, I saw him always pushing to the maximum, he crashed many times, but without major injuries, he seemed invincible. What happened today seems impossible.”

Rossi had been one of the first riders to praise Simoncelli’s desire to win.

“Going into a duel with him is like going into a fight with someone bigger than you,” Rossi said. “You know he’s going to take you.”

Rossi posted a message on Twitter later Sunday praising his friend.

“Sic for me was like a younger brother, as strong on the track as he was sweet in life,” Rossi wrote. “I still can’t believe it. I will miss him a lot.”

A crash between Colin Edwards, center, Valentino Rossi from Italy, left, and Marco Simoncelli from Italy is seen at turn 11 during the Malaysian MotoGP Grand Prix in Sepang, Malaysia, Sunday, Oct. 23, 2011. Italian rider Simoncelli died of chest, head and neck injuries Sunday after a crash at the Malaysian MotoGP motorcycle race, organizers said. He was 24. (AP Photo/Ruben Yap)

Simoncelli was born on Jan. 20, 1987, in Cattolica in eastern Italy. He developed a passion for the sport at a young age and started racing in the Minibike Championships when he was 7.

He won the European 125cc title in 2002, the same year in which he made his debut in the 125cc World Championship, moving to the global competition full time the following season.

Simoncelli finished 21st that year but improved in 2004, when he moved up to 11th and earned his first win — the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez.

In 2005, Simoncelli joined the Nocable.it Race team. He won in Jerez again and totaled six podium finishes, ending the season — and his time in 125cc — in fifth place.

Simoncelli had an unimpressive start to his career in the 250cc class.

Riding for Gilera, he finished 10th in his first two seasons, with his best showing a sixth place in 2006. He finished seventh twice in 2007.

Everything changed the following year when Simoncelli won the 250cc world title despite crashing out on the first two races of the season. He clinched the title with a third-place finish at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia.

His title defense was hampered by a hand injury that kept him out of the first race. Despite six victories that year, Simoncelli finished third.

Simoncelli moved to MotoGP in 2010. His best result in his debut season was fourth in Portugal, and he ended the year in eighth position.

“We are deeply saddened at the passing of Marco Simoncelli. He was one of the most charismatic figures in the World Championship and had a fantastic future ahead of him in MotoGP,” Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Jeff Belskus said in a statement. “Marco was one of the most popular riders at the MotoGP event at Indianapolis, as his talent on the motorcycle and his ability to connect with fans both were very special. We extend our sincere sympathies to his family, team and fans.”

The young rider was thought to be a possible surprise contender this season, but had experienced a difficult year following several crashes. He finished on the podium twice, third in the Czech Republic and second a week ago in Australia.

Simoncelli’s manager, Carlo Pernat, believes the youngster would have gone on to great things.

“Marco was a cheery boy, everyone’s friend,” Pernat said. “He had expectations, dreams. He was a boy from days gone by, with a wonderful family who taught him good values. It’s terrible, there are no words, everyone’s very upset, he could have become world champion one day.

“He had this desire to get to the top, it was really inside him, there was this desire for success because he knew he could have it.”

SUZUKA, Japan  — Sebastian Vettel wrapped up his second straight Formula One championship Sunday, finishing third behind Jenson Button in the Japanese Grand Prix.

Needing just one point to take the title if Button won the race, Vettel earned 15 points to clinch the title with four races left. The 24-year-old German star, the series’ youngest two-time champion, has nine victories this season for Red Bull.

Button raced to his third win of the season for McLaren.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was second.

BATHURST, Australia — Garth Tander raced to his third Bathurst 1,000 victory Sunday, holding off Craig Lowndes in Australia’s most prestigious touring car race.

The Holden Racing Team driver won by less then three-tenths of a second in the 161-lap race on the 3.8-mile Mount Panorama circuit.

Pole-sitter Greg Murphy was third.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Steve Gleason may always be remembered most for his blocked punt on the night the Louisiana Superdome reopened for the first time after Hurricane Katrina — a play that stirred an already emotional crowd into a deafening, drink-spilling frenzy.

The retired New Orleans Saints folk hero only hopes he can continue to lift people’s spirits by the way he handles what until now has been a private struggle with ALS, a debilitating and ultimately fatal disease for which there currently is no cure.

On Sunday, five years to the day after his memorable play became a symbol of a devastated community’s will to carry on, Gleason, 34, went public with his diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

“In a way, I see this as an opportunity to continue to be an inspiration, maybe even more so than I ever have been,” said Gleason, a 5-foot-11, former Washington State standout who forged an eight-year NFL career in New Orleans as a special teams leader and reserve safety.

Now the native of Spokane, Wash., who settled in New Orleans after retiring in 2008, is setting up an organization called Team Gleason. Its mission is to improve the lives of those who have ALS, the symptoms of which include gradual paralysis.

“You have to continue to do things you love,” Gleason said. “There’s technology available that, if I’m proactive, I can continue to do some of those things. You have to engage in passionate, remarkable human relationships, which has always been important to me.”

Gleason was an honorary captain for the coin toss of Sunday’s game against Houston, walking with a limp to the center of the field with his hand on quarterback Drew Brees’ shoulder. The crowd in the sold-out Superdome rose for a standing ovation when he was shown, wearing his old No. 37 jersey, on the stadium’s video board.

He raised his left arm over his head to initiate the crowd’s traditional pregame “Who Dat!” chant. Brees then hugged him and walked with him back to the sideline, where Gleason’s wife, Michel, now nearly eight months pregnant, gave him another hug and a football-style pat on his back side.

Most people live three to five years with ALS after diagnosis, though some have lived longer and research on treatments continues.

When Gleason was diagnosed last January, he and Michel had been seeing fertility specialists in hopes of conceiving their first child. He also was trying to finish a master’s program in business administration at Tulane University.

He briefly considered abandoning his school work, but returned to Tulane and got his MBA.

He also had to address whether he and Michel should keep trying to start a family.

“More than ever I wanted to have a child, but it really was my wife’s decision, because if things ran their course with me, potentially she’d have to be taking care of and supporting two people,” said Gleason, who has limited use of his right arm, and who finds eating and drinking more challenging because of a weakening in his mouth and throat.

“Luckily for me, she didn’t hesitate,” Gleason said. Their first child is due Oct. 28.

When Gleason played, he was easily recognizable by the long curly locks of light brown hair dangling from his helmet, and was a favorite among fans and teammates for the flair with which he played and lived.

In 2006, his last season playing before spending 2007 on injured reserve, he was third on the Saints in special teams tackles with 14. His blocked punt in the victory over Atlanta on Sept. 25, 2006, was the fourth block of his career.

Saints coach Sean Payton said the crowd’s reaction was “probably the loudest I’ve ever heard any stadium — ever.”

Cleveland linebacker Scott Fujita, who played in New Orleans from 2006-09, said the play was his “most electric sports memory,” and drove home how important the Saints’ return to the city really was.

Gleason used the term, “infinite joy,” to describe what he felt in that moment.

Fujita, who remains friends with Gleason, has been both saddened by Gleason’s condition and uplifted by his enduring sense of humor and zest for life.

“He even said to some of us on the phone that he views this as an exciting challenge and opportunity,” Fujita said. “Steve’s one of the few people I think in this situation who could say something like that and actually mean it.”

Because scientific studies have shown increasing links between brain disease, such as dementia, and the frequency of concussions among football players, Gleason cannot help but wonder if his football career had something to do with his condition.

Yet the question of whether he regrets playing football is a complicated one. He cannot be certain that he would have been spared from ALS had he never played football.

He also cherishes the friendships and experiences he gained from his NFL career.

“It was amazing. I got this incredible adventure,” Gleason said. “I did all these things most boys grow up dreaming to do.”

Dr. Steve Perrin, the chief scientific officer at the ALS Therapy Development Institute in Cambridge, Mass., said he is aware of 27 cases of NFL players being diagnosed with ALS, which is much higher than any other major American pro sport. However, he stressed that a conclusive link between concussions in sports and ALS has been tough to prove. He noted, for example, that there are no documented cases of NHL players with ALS, which remains a relatively rare disease in general.

At this point, Gleason said he is more concerned with how he’ll live with ALS than how he got it.

For now, he can still walk without a cane, however gingerly, and enjoy dinners out with family and friends, though he sometimes needs help pulling a shirt on, washing his hair or cutting a steak.

Talking is getting harder as well, so Gleason has been working on a video library in which he shares his most poignant memories and life lessons, both good and bad. He hopes the videos will allow his child to know him as he was before his symptoms made it more difficult for him to move or speak.

“Especially here in New Orleans, most of the people that my child will encounter, if I’m not here, will say, ‘Your dad was amazing and he had this great football career, he was a hero for the city,’ and almost in a sense build kind of a mythical image of me,” Gleason said. “So what I’ve tried to do is sit down and really explain some of the struggles I’ve gone through and the less desirable parts of myself. … I want them to know I went through a lot of the same things they went through. And I’ve had to go through one of the hardest things a person can go through, but hopefully shown the courage and grace and joy you can still have despite these circumstances.”

A glance at the 12 drivers competing in NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup championship heading into this weekend’s race at New Hampshire (in order of points):

Kevin Harvick

CHASE POINTS: First, 2,054 points

POSITION CHANGE: Plus 1

CAR: No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet

TEAM: Richard Childress Racing

WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK: Stretched fuel to the checkered flag and finished second.

CAREER NEW HAMPSHIRE STARTS: 21

BEST NEW HAMPSHIRE FINISH: 1st (2006)

Tony Stewart

CHASE POINTS: Second, -7 points

POSITION CHANGE: Plus 7

CAR: No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet

TEAM: Stewart-Haas Racing

WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK: Snapped a 32-race winless streak with first victory of season.

CAREER NEW HAMPSHIRE STARTS: 25

BEST NEW HAMPSHIRE FINISH: 1st (2000, 2005)

Carl Edwards

CHASE POINTS: Third, -10

POSITION CHANGE: Plus 2

CAR: No. 99 Aflac Ford

TEAM: Roush Fenway Racing

WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK: Finished fourth after running in top-10 all race.

CAREER NEW HAMPSHIRE STARTS: 14

BEST NEW HAMPSHIRE FINISH: 2nd (2006)

Kurt Busch

CHASE POINTS: Fourth, -11

POSITION CHANGE: Plus 3

CAR: No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge

TEAM: Penske Racing

WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK: Had an uneventful sixth-place run.

CAREER NEW HAMPSHIRE STARTS: 21

BEST NEW HAMPSHIRE FINISH: 1st (2004-twice, 2008)

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

CHASE POINTS: Fifth, -13 points

POSITION CHANGE: Plus 5

CAR: No. 88 AMP Chevrolet

TEAM: Hendrick Motorsports

WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK: Worked to get inside top-10 and finished 3rd after others ran out of gas.

CAREER NEW HAMPSHIRE STARTS: 24

BEST NEW HAMPSHIRE FINISH: 3rd (2004)

Ryan Newman

CHASE POINTS: Sixth, -14 points

POSITION CHANGE: Plus 2

CAR: No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet

TEAM: Stewart-Haas Racing

WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK: Had an uneventful eighth-place run.

CAREER NEW HAMPSHIRE STARTS: 19

BEST NEW HAMPSHIRE FINISH: 1st (2002, 2005, 2011)

Brad Keselowski

CHASE POINTS: Seventh, -14 points

POSITION CHANGE: Plus 4

CAR: No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge

TEAM: Penske Racing

WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK: Fell back in the field early, but ended day with fifth-place finish.

CAREER NEW HAMPSHIRE STARTS: Four

BEST NEW HAMPSHIRE FINISH: 6th (2009)

Jimmie Johnson

CHASE POINTS: Eighth, -16

POSITION CHANGE: Minus 2

CAR: No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet

TEAM: Hendrick Motorsports

WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK: Ran out of gas on final lap and finished 10th.

CAREER NEW HAMPSHIRE STARTS: 19

BEST NEW HAMPSHIRE FINISH: 1st (2003-twice, 2010)

Kyle Busch

CHASE POINTS: Ninth, -19

POSITION CHANGE: Minus 8

CAR: No. 18 M&Ms Toyota

TEAM: Joe Gibbs Racing

WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK: Ran out of gas on final lap and finished 22nd.

CAREER NEW HAMPSHIRE STARTS: 13

BEST NEW HAMPSHIRE FINISH: 1st (2006)

Matt Kenseth

CHASE POINTS: 10th, -24

POSITION CHANGE: Minus 6

CAR: No. 17 Crown Royal Ford

TEAM: Roush Fenway Racing

WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK: Ran out of gas on last lap then penalized because JJ Yeley pushed him across the finish line. Dropped to 21st in the final running order.

CAREER NEW HAMPSHIRE STARTS: 23

BEST NEW HAMPSHIRE FINISH: 2nd (2004)

Jeff Gordon

CHASE POINTS: 11th, -25

POSITION CHANGE: Minus 8

CAR: No. 24 Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet

TEAM: Hendrick Motorsports

WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK: Came back from a flat tire to crack top-10, but ran out of gas on final lap and finished 24th.

CAREER NEW HAMPSHIRE STARTS: 33

BEST NEW HAMPSHIRE FINISH: 1st (1995, 1997, 1998)

Denny Hamlin

CHASE POINTS: 12th, -41 points

POSITION CHANGE: None

CAR: No. 11 FedEx Toyota

TEAM: Joe Gibbs Racing

WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK: Finished 31st because of a loose wheel and a flat tire

CAREER NEW HAMPSHIRE STARTS: 11

BEST NEW HAMPSHIRE FINISH: 1st (2007)

— Jenna Fryer/Associated Press