RICHMOND, Texas - The sky cleared and Lorena Ochoa and Jiyai Shin were left with one day to settle their duel for LPGA Tour player of the year.

SEATTLE - They were railed and criticized for reaching the championship of Major League Soccer despite a losing record in the regular season.

HOMESTEAD, Fla. - The nickname "Four-Time" was claimed long ago by Jeff Gordon, leaving Jimmie Johnson in search of a fresh moniker to cap his record-setting fourth consecutive NASCAR championship.

The Indianapolis Colts are two wins away from the longest winning streak in NFL history. The Colts kept Baltimore out of the end zone Sunday and got the go-ahead field goal from former Ravens kicker Matt Stover in a 17-15 victory, their 19th straight regular-season win over two seasons.

SEATTLE - Robbie Russell kicked the decisive penalty as the underdog Real Salt Lake beat David Beckham and the star-studded Los Angeles Galaxy in a shootout Sunday for its first Major League Soccer championship.

CHICAGO - Donovan McNabb and the Philadelphia Eagles found a way to pull out a close win. They also hurt the Chicago Bears in the process.

NEW YORK - Mississippi, California and North Carolina, teams that started the season with lofty expectations before stumbling, have surged back into the AP Top 25 college football poll.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The defense Bill Belichick didn't want to put on the field a week ago kept the offense of the New York Jets off it Sunday.

OAKLAND, Calif. - Bruce Gradkowski threw a 29-yard tying touchdown pass to Louis Murphy with 33 seconds left and Sebastian Janikowski kicked a 33-yard field goal after Andre Caldwell fumbled the ensuing kickoff, giving the Raiders a 20-17 victory Sunday.

NEW YORK - Iowa and Penn State ended their seasons eligible for an at-large BCS bid, and Oklahoma State and Virginia Tech are also in position to be eligible for invites to the four big-money bowl games even though they have no shot to win their conferences.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Charlie Weis wouldn't blame Notre Dame for firing him. "If they decide to make a change, I'd have to say I'd have a tough time arguing with that.

NEW YORK - NFL teams will soon be working with independent neurologists on concussion issues. Commissioner Roger Goodell will implement the policy as soon as details can be worked out.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - When the last player drafted in 2009 trotted onto the field, the best team of 2008 was doomed. Ryan Succop kicked a 22-yard field goal with 8:28 left in overtime Sunday after Chris Chambers' 61-yard catch-and-run, and the Kansas City Chiefs snapped a team-record 10-game home losing streak with a 27-24 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

ARLINGTON, Texas - Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys were awful on offense for a second straight week. This time, they were lucky to be playing the broken-down Washington Redskins.

TAMPA, Fla. - Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints keep on rolling. Brees threw for three touchdowns and the Saints shrugged off a slow start defensively to remain unbeaten Sunday with a 38-7 rout of the struggling Tampa Bay Buccaneers and young quarterback Josh Freeman.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - David Garrard's second game-winning drive in as many weeks gave the Jacksonville Jaguars their first three-game winning streak in nearly two years.

MINNEAPOLIS - Brett Favre is doing things with the Minnesota Vikings that even one of the most decorated quarterbacks in league history has never done before.

MONACO - Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt and 400-meter runner Sanya Richards of the United States won their second IAAF World Athlete of the Year awards on Sunday.

LAKE PLACID, New York - Steven Holcomb, the reigning four-man bobsled world champion, won the four-man World Cup event at Mount Van Hoevenberg on Sunday, giving the U.S.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Lee Westwood of England became Europe's No. 1 golfer on Sunday after winning the Dubai World Championship by six strokes.

CAIRO - Angry soccer fans rampaged through a posh diplomatic neighborhood in Cairo over the weekend, smashing shop windows and shouting obscenities in a frenzy fed by venomous headlines that portrayed Algerians as barbaric terrorists with a history of violence.

LONDON - Jermain Defoe scored five goals, including a seven-minute hat trick, to match a Premier League record in powering Tottenham to a 9-1 rout of Wigan on Sunday.

LONDON - Andy Murray beat Juan Martin Del Potro 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 Sunday in the opening group match of the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Larry Bird and Magic Johnson have been linked since their epic 1979 NCAA title game. Now they're going into college basketball's hall of fame together.