Redskins Sign Bruce Smith to 5-Year Deal

It didn’t take Bruce Smith long to find a new home.

Two days after being cut by Buffalo, where he had spent his entire 15-year career, the 11-time Pro Bowl defensive end signed a five-year, $23-million deal Saturday with Washington to highlight a heavy day of player movement in the NFL.

“I’ve been through an emotional swing this last week,” said Smith, who is Washington’s third highly paid defensive lineman, joining Dan Wilkinson and Dana Stubblefield.

Smith, 36, has 171 career sacks, second all-time in the NFL behind Reggie White.

He brings his ability to harass quarterbacks to a team whose only genuine pass rusher was third-down specialist Ndukwe Kalu.

“If you want to play good on third down, you’ve got to rush the passer,” said Coach Norv Turner, whose team had 40 sacks last season and ranked 30th in defense. “Bruce has made a career of that.”

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The other big-name player switching teams was Joey Galloway, who was acquired by Dallas at a heavy price. The Cowboys acquired the speedy receiver from Seattle for first-round picks in 2000 and 2001.

After the trade the Cowboys signed Galloway, who was designated the Seahawks’ franchise player after being declared a free agent Thursday, to a seven-year contract worth $42 million, including a signing bonus of $12.5 million.

Galloway, 28, had fired his former agent Eric Metz and hired Leigh Steinberg, who also represents Cowboy quarterback Troy Aikman. Steinberg said Aikman pushed hard for the signing of Galloway.

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The Atlanta Falcons signed former New Orleans cornerback Ashley Ambrose to a five-year deal worth a reported $22.5 million and former New England receiver Shawn Jefferson to a reported four-year, $14.2-million deal. . . . Phillip Daniels, the free-agent defensive end who led Seattle with nine sacks last season, signed a five-year, $25-million contract with the Chicago Bears. . . . Defensive end Orpheus Roye, an unrestricted free agent who started every game last season for the Pittsburgh Steelers, agreed to a six-year contract with Cleveland.

Winter Sports

Austria’s Josef Strobl mastered a treacherous course and profited from a rare crash by World Cup leader Hermann Maier to win a super-G at St. Anton, Austria. Strobl finished the course in 1 minute 23.41 seconds, defeating Switzerland’s Didier Cuche by .13 seconds. Maier, the winner in this season’s three previous super-Gs, skidded off the course shortly after he started. He still leads the World Cup standings by 402 points. . . . Slovenian Spela Pretnar won her second consecutive World Cup slalom, defeating France’s Christel Saioni by .30 seconds at Santa Caterina, Italy.

At Vienna, Russian Irina Slutskaya skated a controlled, clean free program and easily reclaimed her title at European Figure Skating Championship, a title she won in 1996 and 1997. . . . Germany’s Andre Lange piloted his sled into the lead by .21 seconds after two heats of the four-man event at the Men’s Bobsled World Championships at Altenberg, Germany. . . . Germans Patric Leitner and Alexander Resch won the overall World Cup luge title in men’s doubles by 10 points in the season’s final event at Oberhof, Germany. . . . Three-time defending World Cup biathlon champion Magdaldena Forsberg of Sweden finished 12th at Ostersund, Sweden, but extended her overall lead by 14 points.

Tennis

Defending champion Mark Philippoussis of Australia fired 13 aces to power past fifth-seeded Jim Courier, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, to reach the final of the Sybase Open at San Jose. He will face unseeded Mikael Tillstrom of Sweden, who defeated Wayne Ferreira of South Africa, 7-6 (7), 2-6, 6-3. . . . Top-seeded and defending champion Serena Williams advanced to the finals of the Paris Open with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over third-seeded Julie Halard-Decugis of France. Williams will face second-seeded Nathalie Tauziat of France, who defeated Anna Kournikova of Russia, 7-6 (6), 2-6, 6-4. . . . Top-seeded Nicolas Kiefer of Germany charged into the finals of the Dubai Open with an easy 6-2, 6-0 victory over fourth-seeded Albert Costa of Spain. Kiefer will take on Spanish teenager Juan-Carlos Ferrero in today’s championship. Ferrero ousted Karim Alami of Morocco, 7-6 (3), 6-3. . . . Unseeded Marc Rosset upset fourth-seeded Sebastien Grosjean, 6-3, 6-3, and 18-year-old Roger Federer took out sixth-seeded and defending champion Fabrice Santoro, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5, setting up an all-Swiss final today in the Marseille Open in France.

Miscellany

Outfielder Alex Ochoa and the Cincinnati Reds avoided salary arbitration when the sides agreed on a one-year contract. Ochoa was seeking $950,000 and the Reds had offered $775,000. He made $245,000 last year, when he batted .300 with eight home runs and 40 runs batted in in 119 games for Milwaukee. Also, Ken Griffey Jr. will wear the No. 30 his father wore as a member of the Reds. . . . The Boston Red Sox and newly acquired center fielder Carl Everett have agreed to terms on a four-year contract worth between $30 million and $40 million, the Boston Globe reported. . . . The world governing body of track and field decided to suspend seven standouts, including Merlene Ottey and Linford Christie, until it can hold arbitration hearings to determine if their positive tests for nandrolone were produced by nutritional supplements.

South Africa won third place in the African Nations Cup soccer tournament, defeating Tunisia, 4-3, on penalty kicks at Accra, Ghana. . . . Jenny Thompson bettered her world record by .10 seconds in the 100-meter butterfly, finishing in 56.80 seconds at Paris. . . . Mike Tyson’s next fight will be in Italy or Spain on April 1 or April 8, against an opponent to be determined, a Tyson advisor said. . . . Kostya Tszyu of Russia retained his World Boxing Council super-lightweight title with an eighth-round TKO over Ahmed Santos of Mexico at Uncasville, Conn. . . . Former WBC heavyweight champion Oliver McCall stopped Ric Lainhart at 2:22 of the first round at Pembroke Pines, Fla., his sixth consecutive victory since being disqualified against Lennox Lewis three years ago. . . . Pete Weber defeated Brian Himmler, 209-198, to win the PBA Empire State Open at Latham, N.Y.