Omaha Beef indoor team offers Tebow contract
OMAHA, Neb. — The Omaha Beef have a job waiting for Tim Tebow if he wants it — and the Nebraska indoor football team will even pay him $75 a game.
A day after Tebow was cut by the New York Jets, the Beef called the office of Tebow agent Jimmy Sexton to offer a standard player contract. Beef assistant general manager Andrew Mather said Tuesday that he doesn’t expect to hear back, but he thought it was worth asking.
The Beef’s current quarterback, James McNear, has led the team to a 5-1 start. He’s completing 70 percent of his passes and has thrown for 21 touchdowns against just two interceptions.
McNear is anything but insulted by the Beef’s wooing of Tebow. McNear said, “I think Tim can learn a lot from me.”
Kidd repeat winner of sportsmanship award
NEW YORK — New York Knicks guard Jason Kidd has become the first player to win back-to-back NBA sportsmanship awards.
Kidd received 91 first-place votes from league players and 2,474 total points Tuesday to claim the Joe Dumars Trophy in his first season in New York. He won the award last season, his final one in Dallas.
Three-time winner Grant Hill is only other player to win the award multiple times.
The NBA will make a $10,000 donation on behalf of Kidd to The Jason Kidd Foundation, which is dedicated to improving education for youngsters.
Alford says he won’t pay buyout to N. Mexico
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A University of New Mexico official says former Lobos basketball coach Steve Alford is willing to pay a $200,000 buyout for leaving the Albuquerque school to take a job at UCLA but he won’t pay the $1 million payment that New Mexico wants.
According to the Albuquerque Journal, an email written by a university lawyer says Alford is offering to comply with terms of his previous contract with New Mexico.
Alford on March 18 signed a term sheet agreeing to a new 10-year contract with New Mexico that included a $1 million buyout.
It was to take effect April 1, two days Alford announced his resignation.
New Mexico contends it’s owed the $1 million buyout because the previous contract required a 30-day notice of termination.
Tour drops its doping case against Singh
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Vijay Singh no longer faces any sanction for using deer antler spray.
The PGA Tour said Tuesday it was dropping the case against the three-time major champion.
Tour commissioner Tim Finchem says new information from the World Anti-Doping Agency indicates that using deer antler spray is no longer considered prohibited.
The tour confirmed that the spray Singh used contained IGF-1, an insulin-like growth hormone that is on the tour’s list of banned substances. Singh was appealing tour sanctions under the anti-doping policy when WADA clarified its position.
Duke: No wrongdoing
in player’s purchase
DURHAM, N.C. — Duke says the NCAA did not find any wrongdoing after looking into a jewelry purchase of nearly $100,000 by a basketball player on the Blue Devils’ most recent national championship team.
The school issued a statement Tuesday saying the NCAA and the university found no evidence of a rules violation based on the information available.
It added that Duke and the NCAA “consider the matter closed.”
Stepanek defeats Youzhny at Munich
MUNICH — Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic beat seventh-seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 Tuesday to advance to the second round of the BMW Open.
Youzhny was the second former winner of the clay-court event to be eliminated after two-time champion Nikolay Davydenko lost on Monday. Youzhny was the 2010 winner.
Wild-card entry Gael Monfils of France topped eighth-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria 6-3, 6-3.
Fifth-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov defeated Ukrainian countryman Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-4, 6-2. Sixth-seeded Florian Mayer of Germany, the 2011 runner-up, struggled to overcome qualifier Lukasz Kubot of Poland 7-6 (2), 4-6, 7-5.
Evgeny Korolev of Kazakhstan upset Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 7-5, 7-6 (3), and Ernests Gulbis of Latvia beat Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-4, 6-2.
Fifth-seeded Benneteau loses at Portugal Open
LISBON, Portugal — Pablo Carreno-Busta of Spain upset fifth-seeded Julien Benneteau in the first round of the Portugal Open on Tuesday, defeating the Frenchman 6-3, 6-4.
In the women’s event, top-seeded Marion Bartoli also exited the tournament. After a poor start in her first-round match, the Frenchwoman fought back against Peng Shuai to win the second set before losing the match 6-0, 1-6, 6-4.
Third-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia went through with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Israel’s Shahar Peer.
From wire sources
