Florida Sentinel Bulletin

NEW YORK — The Los Angeles Lakers have surpassed the New York Knicks as the NBA’s most valuable team, according to Forbes’ annual report.

The magazine said Wednesday that the Lakers’ value had increased 40 percent since last year to $900 million thanks to its blockbuster Time Warner TV deal.

The Knicks’ value increased 19 percent to $780 million with a boost from the renovation of Madison Square Garden. The Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks and Boston Celtics round out the top five.

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Tiger Woods says he’s starting a season healthy for the first time in at least eight years.

“It’s been quite a few years since I’ve been physically fit,” Woods said on Tuesday in his first appearance at the Abu Dhabi Championship.

“So I’m looking forward to getting out there and giving it a full season, which I haven’t done in a while.”

Woods’ confidence got a boost when he ended 2011 by winning his Chevron World Challenge in December for his first title in more than two years.

“I’m looking forward to this year,” Woods said. “That’s something that I have to say, because I was able to prepare and get fit enough to prepare last year and towards the end of the year. I demonstrated to myself what I can do with implementing what (coach Sean Foley) wants me to do on the golf swing.”

The Australian Open women’s draw was thrown wide open Monday after Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova shocked Serena Williams in the fourth round, as Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova won in straight sets.

Makarova, the world number 56, reached a grand slam quarter-final for the first time when she stunned a below-par Williams 6-2, 6-3 and will now face former champion Maria Sharapova, who battled back from a set down to progress.

But almost from the first point it was obvious that Williams, who suffered an ankle injury this month in Brisbane, was not her usual self as mistakes came thick and fast from her racquet, 37 in all.

The 30-year-old sent down seven double-faults as she was broken five times, ending a 17-match unbeaten streak at Melbourne Park stretching back to 2009.

ASHBURN, Va. — Ike Hilliard is the new receivers coach for the Washington Redskins.

The Redskins also announced Monday that Bob Slowik will move to linebackers coach after working with the secondary for the last two seasons.

Hilliard played 12 seasons in the NFL and spent this season as an assistant receivers coach for the Miami Dolphins.

He replaces Keenan McCardell, who was dismissed earlier this month.

At the end of the 2011 season in the NFL, three Black head coaches were fired.

The first to get a pink slip was Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach, Raheem Morris.

The Bucs surprised everyone by finishing the 2010 season with a 10-6 record, and expectations were high for the 2011 season, especially with the quality draft picks the team secured.

However, it was quickly discovered that the youth on the team, and the shortened season due to the lockout, was too much for the Bucs to overcome. They started out with a 4-2 record, and a lead in the NFC South Division.

After a trip to England to face the Chicago Bears, the Bucs began a slide that continued to the end of the season, and they never won another game (4-12). At the end of the season, Morris and his entire coaching staff were fired.

JIM CALDWELL

After taking over for Tony Dungy, Jim Caldwell had a great season coaching the Indianapolis Colts. However, an injury to starting quarterback Peyton Manning and the loss of other key players, sent the Colts to a 2-14 season.

The Colts began their house cleaning by first getting rid of Vice Chairman, Bill Polian, and his son, Chris Polian, as general manager. When they brought in their new general manager, Ryan Grigson, that’s when the decision was made to get rid of Caldwell.

A week before Caldwell got his pink slip, The Oakland Raiders fired coach Hue Jackson. The decision to get rid of Jackson was made by the team’s new general manager, Reggie McKenzie, who said it was time for the organization to “start a new.”

The Raiders finished the season 8-8, and were showing improvement over the past few seasons when they fell short of making the playoffs.

Injuries to key players for the Raiders, especially quarterback Jason Campbell, began to take a toll on the team as the season progressed.

These latest firings leaves only 3 Black coaches in the league: Lovie Smith (Chicago Bears), Marvin Lewis (Cincinnati Bengals), and Mike Tomlin (Pittsburgh Steelers).

OAKLAND, CA — Dwight Howard broke Wilt Chamberlain’s nearly 50-year-old NBA record for the most free throw attempts in a game, making 21 of 39 in the Orlando Magic’s 117-109 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Thursday.

BRADENTON, FL — Former Alabama cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick has been arrested on a marijuana possession charge.

An arrest report on the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office website says Kirkpatrick was arrested at 12:48 a.m. Tuesday and charged with possessing less than 20 grams of marijuana. He was released on $120 bond.

Kirkpatrick is regarded as a potential top 10 NFL draft pick. The second-team All-American announced last week he was skipping his senior season with the national champions to enter the draft.

One-time NBA star Dikembe Mutombo has made a worldwide name for himself sponsoring humanitarian projects and noble causes in his native Africa, so it was only natural that two State Department officials would meet with him in November 2010 as part of his effort to bring more attention to the bloody trade in conflict minerals that has bedeviled his homeland, the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Less than two weeks later, according to a U.N. report, Mutombo was in New York on a more personal cause — trying to interest a Houston oil executive in a $10 million deal to buy 1,045 pounds of gold from the mines of eastern Congo, the heart of the conflict mineral trade.

If Mutombo had reservations about the apparent contradiction between word and deed, he did not show it. He eagerly explained how he and his family had 4 tons of Congolese gold just waiting for a buyer.

CINCINNATI, OH — Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Adam “Pacman’‘ Jones pleaded guilty Wednesday to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct.

Jones entered the plea in Hamilton County Municipal Court just as his non-jury trial was scheduled to begin. A second misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest was dismissed in a plea agreement with prosecutors.

Judge Brad Greenberg ordered Jones to serve a year of probation, complete 50 hours of community service and pay a $250 fine plus court costs. Jones could have received a maximum jail sentence of 30 days.

Jones, 28, was accused in court documents of being disorderly, shouting profanities and trying to pull away as officers arrested him at a downtown bar in July.