Soward Is Suspended

Jacksonville Jaguar receiver R. Jay Soward will sit out the first four games of the season for violating the NFL substance abuse policy.

The Jaguars put Soward on the reserve list for non-football-related illness before the final game of a disappointing 2000 rookie season.

Coach Tom Coughlin fined Soward numerous times last season for several team violations. At one point, Coughlin began sending a limo service to Soward’s house to ensure he would make team meetings on time.

The former USC receiver appeared in 13 games and caught 14 passes for 154 yards and one touchdown in 2000, never coming close to turning into the third receiving threat the Jaguars were hoping for.

Running back Eddie George of the Tennessee Titans received a bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture from Ohio State. George ranked this accomplishment equivalent to winning the Heisman Trophy in 1995 and playing in the Pro Bowl.

The Kansas City Chiefs signed rookie running back Derrick Blaylock to a three-year contract and released Jeff Blackshear, who started 15 games last season at left guard. . . . The Seattle Seahawks signed fourth-round draft pick Curtis Fuller, a free safety from Texas Christian.

Auto Racing

Chris Shields, 30, a driver in the Legends class and chief mechanic for the Race Training Center, a speedway racing school based at Irwindale Speedway, died Thursday night at Los Angeles County-USC hospital from injuries suffered last week in one of the school’s cars.

Jeff Gordon continued his march back to the top of NASCAR, and Shawna Robinson officially started her drive into the history books.

Gordon, experiencing a resurgence after a disappointing 2000 season, turned a lap of 188.250 mph around Michigan International Speedway to win the pole for the Kmart 400 at Brooklyn, Mich.

It was his third pole this season and 36th of his career--three of which have come on this two-mile oval. But the feat was overshadowed by Robinson, who qualified 32nd.

When she takes the green flag Sunday, Robinson will be the first woman to start a Winston Cup race since Patty Moise in 1989.

Jack Sprague broke a 22-race drought in the NASCAR truck series, and ended Dodge’s winning streak by taking the O’Reilly 400 at Fort Worth.

College Basketball

Alabama men’s Coach Mark Gottfried, a former UCLA assistant, signed a four-year contract extension worth $650,000 annually after guiding the Crimson Tide to the NIT championship game last season and its best record since 1992.

Ball State’s Brenda Oldfield was hired as the Minnesota women’s coach, replacing Cheryl Littlejohn, who was fired for NCAA rules violations.

Davidson College forward Jason Dickens, a 6-foot-8 junior, announced he will transfer to Loyola Marymount. Dickens, who will sit out the 2001-02 season according to NCAA rules, was the Wildcats’ third-leading scorer at 10.6 points a game.

Miscellany

Welterweight Anthony Thompson of the United States won his semifinal bout over Ireland’s James Moore, 36-24 on points, to advance to the gold medal final in the World Amateur Boxing Championships at Belfast, Northern Ireland.

The 19-year-old from Philadelphia, the only American to reach the finals, will face Cuba’s Lorenzo Aragon today.

In the other bout Friday involving an American, Cuba’s Yan Bartelemi defeated Ron Siler, 23-7, in a light-flyweight semifinal.

In the biggest upset of the semifinals, Ukraine’s Oleksli Mazikin defeated Cuba’s super-heavyweight title favorite, Pedro Carrion, 26-20.

A Cuban track and field athlete who disappeared this week from a meet in South Carolina has decided to defect.

Daniel Jaime Pedroza had been competing in the Pan American Games for the Blind at Spartanburg, S.C. He was reported missing early Sunday after he failed to board a team van.

The International Ski Federation scheduled a fifth World Cup ski race for Aspen, Colo., after deciding it needed another men’s slalom event. . . . People selling Olympic tickets on Salt Lake City streets or hawking T-shirts or pins will need a $130 “solicitor’s license” during the 2002 Winter Games.

The Pacific 10 Conference entered into an agreement with the Las Vegas Bowl beginning this year. In the Dec. 20 football game, the conference’s sixth-place team will play against the Mountain West Conference’s No. 2 team.

Three English soccer fans convicted of causing public disturbances before a World Cup qualifying game at Athens received jail sentences of up to 15 months each. Police detained about 80 English fans involved in disturbances before Wednesday’s game with Greece. Most were released before halftime and allowed to watch the rest of the game.

One year after quitting Jamaica’s soccer team, midfielder Fitzroy Simpson was picked for the roster for Sunday’s exhibition game against Cuba.