The Butler BlueSox named former Seton Hill University player and current assistant coach Brandon Whitfield as their assistant coach for the 2011 Prospect League season.

Whitfield will serve as the team's hitting and defense coach under new manager Anthony Rebyanski.

He made the all-region first team in 2005 and 2006 with Seton Hill and was a second-team NAIA All-American in 2006. Whitfield has coached for the Griffins since the fall of 2008, helping the team produce a composite .302 batting average with 209 stolen bases since.

Whitfield has also coached with the Sherrill (N.Y.) Silversmiths of the Eastern Collegiate Baseball League and the Alexandria (Minn.) Beetles of the Northwoods League.

PARIS — David Stern is promising Brazilian fans they will soon have the chance to watch NBA players in action in their own country.The NBA commissioner said during a news conference Wednesday that preseason games will be held in Brazil "likely prior to the 2014 World Cup," when Brazil will organize the soccer tournament.

PITTSBURGH — Steelers players voted Wednesday to give the NFL Players Association their backing to decertify the union in the event of a labor lockout next year.The Steelers are at least the 10th group of players to vote to decertify if necessary, joining players from the Packers, Bengals, Bills, Colts, Cowboys, Saints, Eagles, Redskins and Giants. The vote, with no apparent dissenters, occurred during ameeting with NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith.By disbanding their union, players could sue the NFL under antitrust laws if there is a lockout. A similar move following a 1987 impasse led to the 1993 deal that created free agency.

ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday exercised a $16 million club option for 2011 with three-time NL MVP Albert Pujols.The 30-year-old Pujols led the National League with 42 home runs and won his first league RBI title with 118, and tied Matt Holliday for the team lead with a .312 batting average.Pujols topped 400 homers last season and set a franchise record with his 39th career multihomer game.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Former Ohio State tailback Maurice Clarett said Wednesday it feels good to be cheered for what he does on a football field after years away from the game he loves.Clarett, a month into a stint with the Omaha Nighthawks of the UFL, said it's taken him time to get back into shape after not playing competitively since he led Ohio State to the 2002 national championship. He was suspended by the NCAA for taking improper inducements, failed to make it in the NFL, then spent 3Z\x years in prison for carrying a concealed weapon and holding up two people outside a Columbus bar in 2006.In the Nighthawks' two games — both wins — Clarett has seen limited action while playing behind former NFL star Ahman Green.