Contacted by English Premier League club Bolton the day after his wedding, 24-year-old American defender Tim Ream canceled his honeymoon in Tahiti and headed to Lancashire.
Ream convinced Bolton manager Owen Coyle of his worth while training in December with the Wanderers and completed a transfer from Major League Soccer's New York Red Bulls. The transfer fee of about $2.75 million is the highest for an MLS defender.
"I can't really repeat what she said," Ream said, of his new wife's reaction. "But . . . she wants the best for me, and I just want her to be happy. If she says tomorrow that she wants something, then I guess I'll have to give it to her."
Ream joins fellow American Stuart Holden, who signed with Bolton in January 2010. The midfielder, a member of the 2010 U.S. World Cup team, has been limited to one appearance since March because of a knee injury.
John Rooney, the younger brother of Manchester United's Wayne Rooney, signed to play with Orlando City of the third-tier of the United Soccer League.
FIGURE SKATING: At the U.S. championships in San Jose, Calif., Rockne Brubaker and Mary Beth Marley won the short pairs program with a score of 65.80. Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig were second. Caydee Denney and John Coughlin, who won the last two U.S. titles with different partners, were third going into Saturday's free skate.
At the European championshps in Sheffield, England, Artur Gachinski of Russia completed a quad and finished with 84.80 points, 0.09 points ahead of training partner Evgeni Plushenko. Tomas Verner of the Czech Republic was third (81.14 points), just ahead of Javier Fernandez of Spain (80.11).
Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov had 210.45 points to take the pairs gold.
HOCKEY: Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick said Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas' decision to skip a White House ceremony with President Obama honoring the Stanley Cup champions points to the country's growing loss of "basic courtesy and grace."
Thomas has said he skipped Monday's event because the federal government was "out of control," while blaming both parties.
The San Jose Sharks acquired forward Tim Kennedy in a trade with Florida that sends defenseman Sean Sullivan to the Panthers.
RUNNING: Russia's Tatiana Aryasova was stripped of her 2011 Tokyo Marathon title after testing positive for a banned substance.
Japan's Noriko Higuchi, who finished second, was awarded the victory with a time of 2 hours 28 minutes, 49seconds.
- Staff and wire reports
