Sen. Specter wants independent probe into Spygate

At A Glance

WASHINGTON — Hold on, NFL. Spygate isn't over. Not if the "incensed" Pittsburgh Steelers fan in Congress has anything to do with it.

Sen. Arlen Specter on Wednesday called for an independent investigation of the New England Patriots' taping of opposing coaches' signals, possibly similar to the high-profile Mitchell Report on performance enhancing drugs in baseball.

"What is necessary is an objective investigation," Specter said at a Capitol news conference. "And this one has not been objective."

The Pennsylvania Republican was unforgiving of his criticism of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, saying that Goodell has made "ridiculous" assertions that wouldn't fly "in kindergarten." Specter said Goodell was caught in an "apparent conflict of interest" because the NFL doesn't want the public to lose confidence in the league's integrity.

"They are enormous role models for everybody," Specter said. "If you can cheat in the NFL, you can cheat in college, you can cheat in high school, you can cheat on your grade-school math test. There's no limit as to what you can do. I think they owe the public a lot more candor and a lot more credibility."

Goodell essentially declared an end to Spygate after a 3 1/2-hour meeting in New York on Tuesday morning with former New England video assistant Matt Walsh.

Tennis

Top-seeded Ana Ivanovic lost and Venus and Serena Williams advanced to the third round of the Italian Open in Rome.

Ivanovic was upset by qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova 6-4, 5-7, 6-2. Venus Williams advanced to the third round by defeating Samantha Stosur 6-4, 6-1, and Serena Williams routed Alona Bondarenko 6-2, 6-0. Defending champion Jelena Jankovic defeated Flavia Pennetta 6-1, 6-4.

Ivanovic became the top seed of the clay-court warmup for the French Open when top-ranked Justine Henin withdrew citing fatigue. Henin announced Wednesday she would retire.

Williams won the tournament in 1999 and was the runner-up in 1998. Her best result since was a semifinal appearance two years ago.

--Top-ranked Roger Federer and No. 3 Novak Djokovic cruised into the third round of the Hamburg Masters in Germany. Second-ranked Rafael Nadal had to work harder.

Federer eased past Jarkko Nieminen 6-1, 6-3, and Djokovic downed Juan Ignacio Chela 6-3, 6-1. Djokvic, seeking consecutive titles after winning the Rome Masters, had 34 winners to Chela's 11.

Nadal needed a tiebreaker to overcome Potito Starace 6-4, 7-6 (6), while James Blake was upset by Janko Tipsarevic 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Auto racing

With the help of a back-flipping dog, Humpy Wheeler made Carl Edwards the favorite to win the All-Star race by naming the acrobatic driver his pick to win Saturday night's event in Concord, N.C.

Wheeler, president of Lowe's Motor Speedway and the P.T. Barnum of NASCAR, staged a humorous Dog Show on Wednesday in downtown Charlotte to reveal his annual All-Star selection. He was an expert prognosticator when he first started making the picks, as Wheeler was correct on six of seven winners from 1989-95. But he's been right only twice since, correctly selecting Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2000 and Johnson in 2003.

Soccer

Zenit St. Petersburg became the second Russian team in four seasons to win the UEFA Cup, beating Scotland's Glasgow Rangers 2-0 in the final in Manchester, England. Igor Denisov scored in the 72nd minute and Konstantin Zyryanov got the second goal in injury time. The UEFA Cup is Europe's No. 2 club tournament behind the Champions League.