George Wants to Be Raider, and That’s All There Is to It

Quarterback Jeff George told his agent Thursday that he wants to play for the Oakland Raiders and to drop negotiations with any other team.

The Raiders and agent Leigh Steinberg reportedly have agreed to a five-year, $25-million deal, which would require the team to restructure its payroll. It was about $5 million over the $41.5-million NFL salary cap.

Part of that restructuring would probably involve releasing or trading Jeff Hostetler, the Raiders’ starting quarterback for four seasons.

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The Associated Press confirmed that Bill Parcells’ contract with the New York Jets will make him the highest-paid coach in NFL history, at $2.4 million for each year he coaches. The deal is worth $14.4 million over six years, if he coaches four of them, the length specified in his contract. In the final two years, he will be chief executive officer.

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The Kansas City Chiefs will not try to re-sign free-agent defensive end Neil Smith. . . . The Philadelphia Eagles waived quarterback Rodney Peete. . . . A new football-only stadium for the Cincinnati Bengals will be built about four blocks west of Riverfront Stadium. . . . Notre Dame Coach Bob Davie has plucked off the senior member of USC’s staff, hiring eight-year Trojan assistant Mike Sanford, 41, to be Notre Dame’s quarterback coach. . . . Center Jesse Sapolu, a member of four of San Francisco’s five Super Bowl teams, was waived along with fullback Tommy Vardell in payroll-cutting moves to get the 49ers under the salary cap.

Baseball

Baseball’s security head, Kevin Hallinan, is investigating Albert Belle’s testimony that he gambled on pro football, college basketball and golf games, and Belle probably will get, at most, one year’s probation, as long as major league officials determine he did not bet on baseball, a source close to acting Commissioner Bud Selig told the Associated Press.

An arbitrator ruled that Kansas City outfielder Tom Goodwin will be paid $1.05 million instead of the $1,795,000 he asked. Goodwin earned $312,000 last season. . . . Pitcher David Weathers avoided a salary arbitration hearing with the New York Yankees, agreeing to a $435,000, one-year contract. . . . Dennis Martinez, 42 and one of the most successful and popular pitchers in Expo history, will get a tryout at Montreal’s training camp in West Palm Beach, Fla. . . . The San Francisco Giants have acquired pitcher Rene Arocha from St. Louis, completing a December trade that sent catcher Tom Lampkin to the Cardinals.

Miscellany

Five-time Olympic gold medalist Jenny Thompson and Orange County schoolgirl Amanda Beard won their first races since the Atlanta Games, Thompson taking the 100-meter freestyle in 55.47 seconds and Beard the 200-meter breaststroke in 2:30.73 in the U.S. National Swimming Championships in Buffalo, N.Y.

Other 1996 Olympians winning were Brad Bridgewater in the 200-meter backstroke in 2:00.74, Kurt Grote in the 200 breaststroke in 2:14.39, Beth Botsford in the 200 backstroke in 2:12.49 and Bradley Schumacher in the 100 freestyle in 51.33.

Morena Gallizio of Italy led after two slalom runs, with a combined time of 1 minute 25.92 seconds, with the downhill set for today in skiing’s World Championships at Sestriere, Italy.

Tiger Woods used his driver only once in shooting a 68, four shots behind leader Lucas Parsons in the Australian Masters.