Brown’s Big Game Leaves Him a Raider

Cornerback Larry Brown, whose value on the free-agent market soared after he was named the Super Bowl’s most valuable player, has cashed in on that worth. Brown said Tuesday he is leaving the Dallas Cowboys to sign a multiyear contract with the Oakland Raiders.

“There’s a point in your life when you have to realize it’s time to move on. I think I came to that page,” said Brown, who had two interceptions in the Cowboys’ 27-17 Super Bowl victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. He did not reveal terms.

The Cowboys were not expected to re-sign Brown because of salary-cap restrictions and their cornerback combination of Deion Sanders and Kevin Smith.

Sanders, who has played both football and baseball, will play only for the Cowboys next season, devoting his energies to trying to become the NFL’s only full-time two-way player.

“Now, we’ll see how good I can be,” said the Cowboy cornerback-wide receiver-kick returner. “I want to have an impact on both sides of the ball.”

Smith, who was sidelined for all but Dallas’ opener because of an Achilles’ tendon injury, is expected to return.

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The Carolina Panthers signed tight end Wesley Walls, an unrestricted free agent who had been with the New Orleans Saints. Terms were not disclosed. Last season, Walls had career highs of 57 catches and 694 yards and tied a career high with four touchdowns. . . . The Atlanta Falcons re-signed starting center Roman Fortin to a four-year contract. . . . Running back Russell White, a former Los Angeles Ram and Green Bay Packer, was selected by the London Monarchs with the third pick in the World League’s 1996 draft. Former Ram Gaston Green was chosen by the Monarchs in the 19th round.

Tennis

Stefan Edberg of Sweden will not travel to India for the Davis Cup quarterfinals.

“I dare not go, I’m simply scared of catching some serious disease,” Edberg told the daily Svenska Dagbladet. “Although I’ve heard that things have improved, there is still a risk going there. It is possible I’m being too cautious, but I don’t want to risk it.”

Winter Sports

Austria’s Mario Reiter led after the slalom portion of the men’s combined slalom at the World Alpine Skiing Championships at Sierra Nevada, Spain, followed by Luxembourg’s Marc Girardelli and Rene Mlekuz of Slovenia.

Boxing

Heavyweight Joe Bugner has been turned down for a second time in his bid to fight in Britain.

The British Boxing Board of Control rejected a second application for the former British heavyweight champion to fight Scott Welch in Glasgow, Scotland, on March 16, three days after Bugner’s 46th birthday.

Citing unspecified financial questions, U.S. Amateur Boxing Inc. officials say they will not renew the contract of Bruce Mathis as executive director.

Jurisprudence

Prosecutors at Richmond, Texas, rested their assault case against Warren Moon after the quarterback’s wife acknowledged she passed up several chances to tell her side of the story. Felicia Moon has wanted the case dropped.

College Football

College football players who wear cleats longer than one-half inch long will be suspended by the NCAA for one game, according to a recommendation by the NCAA Football Rules Committee.

The recommendation, which is subject to approval by the NCAA Executive Committee, comes after several instances of high school and college teams using illegal cleats to gain better traction in poor weather last season.

Miscellany

International Equestrian Federation officials in Brussels said they have given up trying to convince U.S. authorities to allow European horses infected by a tick-borne disease to take part in the three-day Olympic competition.

Georgia state officials, who originally banned all horses with piroplasmosis from the Atlanta Games, subsequently agreed to allow infected mounts to take part in show-jumping and dressage events, under strict conditions.

But they refused to overturn the ban on the three-day event competition, in which horses compete outside a stadium environment.