<h4>Say it isn't so, Cubbies! </h4>

A Cubs fan tries to hide his sorrow during Game 1 of the National League Division Series on Wednesday against the Dodgers. The Cubs, who have not won a World Series in 100 years, lost 7-2.

So that’s where former Arizona basketball star Michael Dickerson was: in India.

Now he’s in Cleveland, trying to land a job after retiring from the NBA in 2003.

According to the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Web site at Cavs.com, Dickerson, 33, is in camp after spending time in India doing soul-searching, all the while staying in shape after what seemed to be a career-ending sports hernia injury.

“I’ve been trying to concentrate on basketball, get the plays down and get my rhythm back,” Dickerson is quoted on the Web site, “so I kind of have to change my mind from a meditative mind to a basketball mind.”

How did he get to be with the Cavaliers?

“I never wanted to retire. I always wanted to play basketball; that was all I knew what to do,” Dickerson said. “So, I just kept that option open.

“I was feeling good and my agent, Mark Bartelstein, said I had the opportunity to come to Cleveland, so I accepted the opportunity.”

Dickerson said if he doesn’t make the team, he’ll head back to India.

Pima men’s soccer

The No. 8-ranked Aztecs had all of their goals in the second half in a 4-1 win over host South Mountain on Wednesday.

Travis Sanchez from Las Cruces, N.M., scored twice in the win. Edgar Reyna (Nogales High School) had a goal and an assist.

Pima is 10-1. It next plays at noon Saturday at Glendale.

Citizen Staff Report

Pima women’s soccer

Pima improved to 6-3-1 with a 6-0 win over South Mountain. The Aztecs scored three times in each half. Alexa Garzelloni (Cienega) had two goals.

Pima next plays at Glendale at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

Citizen Staff Report

Shanahan weighs in

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – Mike Shanahan feels Lane Kiffin’s pain, or is it relief?

Kiffin was jettisoned by the Oakland Raiders this week. Shanahan was fired by Al Davis four games into the 1989 season with a pledge by the enigmatic owner not to pay him what was left on his contract.

“I was a little disappointed, to be honest with you. When you take a look at it, I was there 582 days. Lane Kiffin was there 616 days. So, what it really means is that Al Davis liked Lane more than he liked me,” Shanahan joked during his weekly news conference Wednesday.

“I really don’t think it’s fair. I won three more games, yet he got 34 more days of work. That just doesn’t seem right.”

Did Shanahan, whose feud with Davis simmers each time the Denver Broncos play their AFC West archrival, really count the days both men were in Oakland?

“I knew how many days I was there. I just wasn’t sure how long Lane was there,” Shanahan said. “And then I found out after that press conference that Al really liked Lane more than me because he lasted 34 more days. That’s 34 more days of pay, you think about that? And I had three more wins than him. That doesn’t seem right, does it?”

Asked if he was sure Kiffin got paid for those 34 extra days, Shanahan laughed.

“No, I can’t guarantee that,” he said.

Shanahan and Davis have long fought over the $250,000 the coach contends he was owed when he was dismissed, and Davis’ refusal to pay up, or to donate the money to Oakland’s public schools as Shanahan later requested, has added plenty of spice to the bitter rivalry between two of the original AFL franchises.

The Associated Press

MLB attendance down

NEW YORK – Major League Baseball’s attendance dropped by 1.1 percent this year, ending a streak of four straight record seasons.

Baseball finished with 78.6 million total fans and an average of 32,539, the commissioner’s office said Wednesday. That was down from 79.5 million and a 32,785 average in 2007.

Commissioner Bud Selig had said that breaking 80 million for the first time was in reach, and attendance was at or slightly ahead of last year’s pace for the first half of the season.

De La Hoya to stay busy

NEW YORK – The Golden Boy got the golden fight he wanted. Turns out it won’t be the last one, either.

Shading his eyes in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, Oscar De La Hoya said Wednesday that he wants to fight at least a couple of more times after taking on Filipino hero Manny Pacquiao on Dec. 6 in Las Vegas, in what is sure to be the biggest fight of the year.

“There’s no doubt about it. My mind can still do it, my body can still do it,” said De La Hoya, on the first stop of a promotional tour that will include such landmarks such as the Alamo and Golden Gate Bridge. “I’m going to ride the wave for a little while.”

De La Hoya broke box office and pay-per-view records with his narrow loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. last year, and the sport’s most bankable star said that fight proved he could still compete at an elite level.

The Associated Press