Sports in Brief
HORSE RACING
Smarty Jones’ racing career is over.
The 3-year-old red chestnut colt whose bid for thoroughbredracing’s Triple Crown came up one length short in the BelmontStakes was retired because of chronic bruising in his hoofs.
The winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness will stand studat Three Chimneys Farm, occupying the stall of Seattle Slew, theonly undefeated Triple Crown winner in history.
OLYMPICS
ATHENS, Greece (AP) Calvin Harrison has been suspended for twoyears for a second doping violation, knocking the sprinter off theU.S. team for the Athens Olympics and likely forcing the UnitedStates to forfeit a relay gold medal from last year’s worldchampionships.
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said that Harrison was found guiltyof using the stimulant modafinil at the U.S. track and fieldchampionships in June 2003.
His case was heard last week by a three-member arbitrationpanel, which rejected Harrison’s appeal of the test results.
Harrison’s lawyer, Ed Williams, said he was not sure whether hewill appeal the ruling to the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration forSport.
Harrison, part of the 1,600-meter gold medal relay team at theSydney Olympics that already faces loss of its medals because of apositive drug test by Jerome Young, had been named to the U.S.squad for Athens as part of the relay pool.
He also was on the 1,600 relay team that won a gold medal at the2003 world championships in Paris, and that squad now could faceloss of its medals.
All of Harrison’s results from the time of the positive drugtest – two months before the world championships – will benullified. The International Association of Athletics Federationswill decide whether to strip the U.S. squad of its gold and awardit to silver medalist France.
FOOTBALL
Larry Fitzgerald is the latest rookie to get a huge contract,signing a deal with Arizona.
Fitzgerald’s signing means only seven of the 32 first-roundchoices were unsigned as camps moved into full swing. Green Bayalso signed its first-rounder, cornerback Ahmad Carroll, 25thoverall.
HOCKEY
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) Coach Ron Wilson was given a new multiyearcontract by the San Jose Sharks, a reward for leading the club tothe best season in franchise history.
The Sharks also re-signed assistants Tim Hunter and Rob Zettler.Wilson and his staff got two-year contracts with an option for athird season.
San Jose went 43-21-12-6 last season, earning 104 points and thePacific Division title before advancing to the Western Conferencefinals for the first time with playoff victories over St. Louis andColorado.
BASEBALL
PHOENIX (AP) Arizona Diamondbacks left fielder Luis Gonzalez,bothered by a sore throwing arm all season, had reconstructivesurgery on his right elbow.
The Diamondbacks said Gonzalez should be able to start physicaltherapy in 3-4 weeks.
Gonzalez hit .259 with 17 homers and 48 RBIs in 105 games, hisworst statistics in six seasons with Arizona.
SOCCER
CARSON, Calif. (AP) Major League Soccer expanded to Los Angelesfor next season, granting a franchise to Jorge Vergara, owner ofpopular Mexican team CD Guadalajara.
The team, tentatively known as Chivas USA, will play at the HomeDepot Center in Carson, the Los Angeles Galaxy’s home field.Chivas, or Goats, is CD Guadalajara’s nickname.
Major League Soccer’s other expansion team will play in SaltLake City, giving the league 12 franchises.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) Linebacker Matt Sinclair, Illinois’ leadingtackler, and tackle Ryan Matha, another returning starter, werecharged with aggravated battery stemming from a weekend bar fight,prosecutors said.
Sinclair, 22, and Matha, 21, were accused of tackling andpunching Jamaal L. Applewhite, 19, of Champaign, according to courtdocuments. Applewhite also was charged with aggravated battery,accused of hitting Sinclair on the head with a beer bottle,according to the court papers.
The three men were arrested shortly after 1:30 a.m. Saturdaywhen officers were called to a bar near campus, said Champaignpolice spokeswoman Joan Walls. She declined to release any detailsof the fight.
Matha and Applewhite were treated at an Urbana hospital forminor injuries before being taken to jail, Walls said. All threewere released on bond Saturday, according to the Champaign Countysheriff’s office.
TENNIS
MASON, Ohio (AP) Andre Agassi won his opening match at theTennis Masters Cincinnati when Mardy Fish quit during the thirdset.
Agassi lost the first set 4-6, then pulled out a second-settiebreaker 7-3 when Fish double-faulted. He led 4-1 in the thirdset when Fish retired because of a sore back, which also forced himto withdraw from last week’s tournament in Toronto.
MONTREAL (AP) Eleventh-seeded Francesca Schiavone defeatedMarie-Eve Pelletier 6-3, 7-5 in the first round of the RogersCup.
Twelfth-seeded Karolina Sprem, Magdalena Maleeva, seeded 13th,and Fabiola Zuluaga, seeded 16th, also advanced.
Mary Pierce, who took the 17th seed after top seed SerenaWilliams withdrew from the tournament, overpowered MarleneWeingartner 6-1, 6-1.
GOLF
RANCHO SANTA FE, Calif. (AP) Hank Kuehne and Tiger Woods wonfour straight holes – a birdie and an eagle by Woods sandwichedaround two birdies by Kuehne – to rally against Masters championPhil Mickelson and John Daly, winning 2 and 1 in the “Battle at theBridges.”
