National Digest
Upshaw dies
NEW YORK (AP) — Gene Upshaw, the Hall of Fame guard who during a quarter century as union head helped get NFL players free agency and the riches that came with it, has died. He was 63.
Upshaw died Wednesday night at his home in Lake Tahoe, Calif., of pancreatic cancer, which was diagnosed only last Sunday, the NFL Players Association said Thursday. His wife Terri and sons Eugene Jr., Justin and Daniel were by his side.
Sanctions
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — NASCAR suspended seven Joe Gibbs Racing crew members indefinitely for attempting to manipulate a horsepower test after a Nationwide Series race last weekend put a serious dent in owner Joe Gibbs’ reputation
While NASCAR decided against banning the cars from future races, the penalties were among the harshest NASCAR has levied.
Crew chiefs Jason Ratcliff and Dave Rogers were suspended and fined $50,000 each. No. 18 car chief Dorian Thorsen, engine tuner Michael Johnson and crew member Toby Bigelow and No. 20 car chief Richard Bray and engine tuner Dan Bajek were all suspended indefinitely.
Drivers Tony Stewart and Joey Logano were each docked 150 driver points. JGR was stripped of 150 owner points for each car, and the teams were placed on probation for the rest of the season.
Softball loss
BEIJING (AP) — Losing for the first time since 2000, the U.S. softball team was denied a chance for a fourth straight gold medal Thursday, beaten 3-1 by Japan in the sport’s last appearance in the Olympics for at least eight years — and maybe for good.
Yukiko Ueno, Japan’s remarkably resilient right-hander, shut down the Americans and handed them their first loss since Sept. 21, 2000 at the Sydney Games. The U.S. had won 22 straight since then, most of them with outrageously lopsided scores.
Butterfingers
BEIJING (AP) — The American men and women sprint relays dropped the baton.
Darvis Patton and Tyson Gay misconnected on the final pass in preliminaries of the 400-meter relay Thursday. Then, Torri Edwards and Lauryn Williams did the same thing for the women’s team.
Two American gold-medal contenders didn’t even advance to the finals. Two more chances for the U.S. track team to turn around a disappointing Olympics were lost on the rain-soaked track at the Bird’s Nest.
The drop means Gay, the defending world champion in the 100 and 200, will leave Beijing not just empty-handed, but without even running in a final.
BASEBALL
NEW YORK (AP) — Baseball umpires and management signed an agreement that will allow the sport to start using instant replay to help determine calls on the field.
Major League Baseball still hasn’t determined when the use of replays will start. Installation of equipment has been going on at ballparks, and officials have said they hoped to start using replay in August.
Replays will be limited to boundary calls, such as determining whether fly balls were fair or foul, or whether they went over fences.
NEW YORK (AP) — Atlanta Braves pitcher Tom Glavine was examined by Dr. James Andrews in Alabama and, as expected, tests showed the 42-year-old pitcher has a partial tear in the flexor tendon in his left elbow — but no ligament damage.
The 300-game winner was to have surgery Thursday, performed by Andrews, to repair the tendon and is expected to face four to five months of rehabilitation. That leaves open the possibility Glavine could return next season.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Cardinals pitcher Kyle Lohse was suspended five games for throwing a fastball past the head of Cincinnati pitcher Edinson Volquez last weekend. Lohse appealed the penalty, and can continue to play until a hearing is held.
AUTO RACING
BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) — Kyle Busch earned his third win in the Craftsman Truck Series by dominating the O’Reilly 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The 23-year-old led the final 130 laps, endured four cautions and a red flag over the final 21 laps and finally iced the victory by holding off the field on a green-white-checker finish.
Busch extended his record for combined victories in NASCAR’s three top series to 17. He also joined Mark Martin and Carl Edwards as the only drivers to win at the .533-mile banked oval in all three series.
FOOTBALL
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Rams running back Steven Jackson ended his holdout and St. Louis appeared on the verge of signing him to a new multiyear contract. Jackson told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he had agreed “in principle” to terms of a deal. He added that once a few details were ironed out, “We’ll be pretty much done.”
The 235-pound Jackson, a bruising runner and the centerpiece of the Rams’ offense, is entering the final season of a five-year, $7 million deal he signed as a first-round pick in 2004.
BASKETBALL
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The championship banners and trophies from the SuperSonics’ best days will be staying in Seattle. But the flat screen TV in the coaches’ locker room, that is going to Oklahoma City.
The city of Seattle and Clay Bennett’s ownership group have divvied up the Sonics’ artifacts. The agreement calls for Bennett’s Professional Basketball Club to leave any banners, trophies and retired jerseys. Those will be placed in a curatorship at Seattle’s Museum of History and Industry, although the new Oklahoma City franchise would be allowed to borrow them to put on display periodically and make copies.
The franchise is also leaving some KeyArena furniture and equipment in Seattle, noting it will take 150 courtside seats, 24 office chairs, three televisions and other equipment that is still being used by the WNBA’s Seattle Storm. Those items — including 200 CDs, a sound-effects machine, a basketball inflater, radios, headphones and a replay monitor — will be shipped to Oklahoma City when the Storm’s season is over.
SEATTLE (AP) — Two more strikes against Howard Schultz in his long-shot attempt to void his sale of the former SuperSonics and undo their move to Oklahoma City.
U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman ruled the NBA can intervene in Schultz’s lawsuit. She also denied Schultz’s motion to split the trial into two separate phases: a liability phase and, if needed, a remedy phase. The trial has been scheduled for June 15.
The lawsuit filed in April by Schultz, the Starbucks Corp. CEO, contends Clay Bennett failed to carry through on a promise to negotiate in good faith for a new arena in Seattle for one full year after he purchased the Sonics. Schultz hopes to undo that sale — so he can initiate a transfer of the team to a buyer who will keep it in Seattle.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Theo Ratliff returned to the Philadelphia 76ers, seven years after he was traded from the team during its run to the NBA finals. The 35-year-old Ratliff played 26 games for Minnesota and Detroit and appeared in 12 of the Pistons’ 17 playoff games.
Ratliff has played for six teams during his 13 NBA seasons, including parts of four years with the Sixers from 1997-2001. In 705 career games, Ratliff has averaged 7.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.6 blocks in 27 minutes.
TENNIS
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — Second-seeded Daniela Hantuchova survived three match points in a 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4) victory over Olga Govortsova in a second-round match at the Pilot Pen. Seventh-seeded Alize Cornet, Amelie Mauresmo and top-seeded Anna Chakvetadze also advanced to the quarterfinals.
In the men’s draw, top-seeded Fernando Verdasco cruised past Ivo Minar, 6-3, 6-1 in the third round, and Luka Gregorc upset the No. 2 seed Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-2. Mischa Zverev defeated Robby Ginepri 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 in their third round match, and seventh-seeded Andreas Seppi, fourth-seeded Igor Andreev, and eighth-seeded Mardy Fish also advanced.
