Rams’ Phillips Sentenced to 30 Days in Jail

Humming as he was led away in handcuffs, St. Louis Ram running back Lawrence Phillips was sentenced to 30 days in jail Tuesday for violating probation.

Lancaster County, Neb., Judge Jack Lindner revoked Phillips’ probation and sentenced him on two counts stemming from the 1995 assault of his former girlfriend, Kate McEwen. The sentences will be served concurrently.

Phillips had been on one year of probation for the assault. Hal Anderson, Phillips’ lawyer, said he violated that probation when he was arrested on drunk-driving charges in California in June.

“There is a price tag you pay for the mistakes you make,” Ram Coach Dick Vermeil said at the NFL meetings in Palm Desert. “Once he gets this behind him, he can get on with being a football player. This can’t hurt. It can help.”

Phillips, 21, is the third Nebraska player from the 1994 national championship team to spend time behind bars and the second to be sentenced in the last month.

The other jailed Nebraska players are Tyrone Williams and Christian Peter. Williams, a defensive back now with the Green Bay Packers, was sentenced Feb. 19 to a six-month jail sentence for firing two shots into a car. Peter, a defensive lineman, spent 10 days in a Kearney jail after pleading no contest to disturbing the peace at a bar in March 1996.

Motor Sports

Lawyers for Bobby Unser, accused of violating the federal Wilderness Act, waived a preliminary hearing and are seeking a jury trial in U.S. District Court.

Unser, three-time winner of the Indianapolis 500, drove his snowmobile into the Rio Grande National Forest, near the Colorado-New Mexico border, on Dec. 20, when he and a friend became lost in the designated wilderness area.

Unser entered a plea of not guilty, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Durango, Colo.

If convicted, Unser faces up to a $5,000 fine and six months in jail.

His son, Bobby Unser Jr., was arrested outside Albuquerque on Saturday on charges of drunk driving and marijuana possession.

An officer stopped the younger Unser after his car allegedly crossed the center line.

Unser Jr., who had been a full-time auto racer, is now a real estate developer and stunt car driver.

Police said he failed a field sobriety test and refused to take a breath test, and when he was taken to a jail, a marijuana cigarette was found in his pocket.

He was charged with possession of marijuana and aggravated DWI because of his alleged refusal to take a breath test.

He was released Sunday after posting a $1,041 bond.

NHRA funny car driver Al Hofmann, injured in a crash Sunday at the Mac Tools Gatornationals, was upgraded to good condition at a Gainesville, Fla., hospital.

Top fuel driver Marshall Topping remained in serious condition and drag racer Keith Stark remained in fair condition with injuries sustained in separate accidents during the race at Gainesville Raceway.

Pro Football

Chicago Bear defensive end Alonzo Spellman was released on $5,000 bond after being arrested on charges of transporting a loaded gun in his auto and speeding. Spellman was arrested after Illinois State Police stopped him on a Chicago-area tollway. He was driving 88 mph in a 55-mph zone at 11:30 p.m. Sunday night, police said.

After being pulled over, Spellman was asked if he had weapons or drugs in the car. Spellman responded that he had a loaded .380 semiautomatic handgun in a compartment between the front seats, police said.

Spellman, 25, was charged with unlawful use of a weapon, a felony punishable by up to three years in prison and a $10,000 fine, as well as several traffic violations, including failure to wear a seat belt and improperly tinted windows.

Miscellany

Earl Anthony bowled a 300 game at the start of the second round to take the lead at the PBA Albany Senior Open at Clifton Park, N.Y.

Terry Ewert, a longtime NBC producer, was hired as executive producer at CBS Sports. He will be responsible for all aspects of production of sports programming.

Martin Buser began the final 77-mile run for the Nome, Alaska, finish line and a third championship in the 1,161-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Buser, who won the race in 1992 and 1994, was about 90 minutes ahead of his closest competitor, Doug Swingley, who was driving a slower and less-rested dog team.

ESPN and ESPN2 will provide live coverage of 35 Major League Soccer matches in the season that begins March 22.