SEC Suspends Officiating Crew

The Southeastern Conference officiating crew that missed a crucial call in the Georgia-Georgia Tech football game has been suspended by the conference.

The seven-man crew, rated the best in the SEC, ruled that Georgia’s Jasper Sanks fumbled at the one-yard line in the final seconds of regulation Saturday. Television replays showed that the ball popped out after Sanks hit the ground.

The score was 48-48 when the ball was awarded to Georgia Tech, which won, 51-48, in overtime.

The suspension means the officials will not work Saturday’s SEC title game between Florida and Alabama at Atlanta. Several of the officials involved also will lose their postseason assignments. SEC officials have not said if the men could be fired.

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Louisville, which had been lobbying for a berth in the Motor City Bowl, accepted a bid to play Boise State in the Humanitarian Bowl on Dec. 30 at Boise, Idaho. Brigham Young will play the Mid-American Conference champion in the Motor City Bowl on Dec. 27 in Pontiac, Mich. Syracuse accepted a bid to play in the Music City Bowl in Nashville on Dec. 29.

Baseball

The Philadelphia Phillies signed baseball’s top free-agent closer, agreeing to a $3-million, one-year contract with Mike Jackson after a lengthy delay for medical tests. . . . Kenny Lofton, the Cleveland Indians’ all-star center fielder, will have surgery on a torn rotator cuff in his left shoulder and could be sidelined until next season’s All-Star break. Lofton suffered the injury while diving into first base during Game 5 of the American League playoffs against the Boston Red Sox. . . . David Cone, trying to get the New York Yankees to give him a two-year contract, may force them to make a decision by Tuesday. A clause in Cone’s expired contract gives the 36-year-old right-hander the right to prohibit the team from offering him salary arbitration, a baseball lawyer familiar with the contract said. . . . Chili Davis ended his 19-year career in the major leagues when the Yankees gave him his unconditional release. Davis, 39, had said late in the season that he was leaning toward retirement. . . . Angel Manager Mike Scioscia, who suffered a small fracture in his left eye orbit last week, was told by specialists that the possibility for surgery was unlikely.

Miscellany

Jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. continues to be relentless in his pursuit of Bill Shoemaker. He was nearly perfect at Hollywood Park, winning with three of his four mounts to move to within six of Shoemaker’s record of 8,833 victories. Pincay has 15 victories at Hollywood Park’s autumn meeting, one more than Pat Valenzuela. Pincay has four mounts on today’s card and four more Friday.

Italian front-runner Prada had instant success with its second yacht today, beating the New York Yacht Club’s Young America by 23 seconds in the opening race of the America’s Cup challenger series third round-robin off Auckland, New Zealand. . . . New York Gov. George Pataki vetoed legislation that would have required boxing judges’ scorecards be publicly posted after each round. Pataki also rejected a measure that would have made judges demonstrate they are “financially responsible” before being licensed by the state Athletic Commission to work fights. Both bills were in response to the controversial draw declared at Madison Square Garden on March 13 between Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis in a fight most observers felt Lewis had clearly won. . . . A bearded Sikh boxer won a court order in Toronto allowing him to compete, but officials canceled an entire weight division of the Canadian national championships because of the ruling. Pardeep Nagra, a light flyweight, wears a beard for religious reasons. He was barred from the Canadian Amateur Boxing Assn. tournament because beards are prohibited under international amateur boxing rules.

Richmond International Raceway was sold for $215 million to International Speedway Corp. . . . PPG Industries Inc. said it would not renew sponsorship of the Championship Auto Racing Teams for the 2000 racing season.

Australian players preparing for the Davis Cup final against France refused to undergo a drug test until a misunderstanding over doping procedures was sorted out, organizers said. But after the rules were clarified they all underwent the tests later in the day. . . . Steffi Graf will be presented Monday with the Olympic Order from International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch, the IOC said. . . . Two weeks after calling for Richard Pound’s removal as the head of the new World Anti-Doping Agency, U.S. drug chief Barry McCaffrey had lunch with Pound at the White House and decided that Pound was OK after all.

Sam Torrance of Scotland was selected to succeed Mark James as captain of Europe’s Ryder Cup team. . . . International soccer’s request to restore limits on free agency was rejected by the European Commission. . . . England’s bid to stage the 2006 World Cup was thrown into turmoil when plans to build a new Wembley Stadium were put on hold by the government. Government minister Chris Smith said the proposed stadium was too small for other showpiece events such as the Olympics and World Track and Field Championships. . . . South Korea damaged the United States’ hopes of winning one of the three qualifying berths in men’s volleyball for the Sydney Olympics by beating the Americans, 19-25, 25-23, 25-22, 25-21, in the World Cup tournament at Tokyo. . . . A rape charge against Enrico Gordon, a member of the Arkansas track team, will be dropped because of a lack of evidence, a prosecutor in Fayetteville, Ark., said. . . . Soviet high jumper Vladimir Yashchenko, who once held the world indoor and outdoor records, died Tuesday of cirrhosis of the liver in Kiev, Ukraine. He was 40. . . . The U.S. Air Force has purchased the title rights to track and field’s Millrose Games, a one-year deal worth $600,000.