Marinovich Sent to Jail for a Week

A judge told Avenger quarterback Todd Marinovich to report to jail for a week, then check into a stricter drug treatment program because the one he’s in isn’t working out.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephen Marcus ordered Marinovich to appear June 28 for a week in county jail. Following that he will enter a residential treatment program.

Marinovich, 31, pleaded no contest March 27 to a felony heroin possession charge, avoiding a prison sentence by agreeing to enter a yearlong treatment program that included counseling and group sessions.

“It wasn’t working out, he wasn’t making the progress that the court felt was sufficient,” district attorney’s spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said.

Marinovich rejoined the Avengers last week after serving a two-game suspension in May for “conduct detrimental to the team” following ejections in consecutive games.

Tennis

Pete Sampras may get to keep his No. 1 seeding at Wimbledon, and top clay-court players will no longer have to worry about facing him in the opening round.

The four major tournaments--Wimbledon and the French, Australian and U.S. opens--announced they are doubling the number of seeded players to 32, with the order determined by a formula that assesses performance on each event’s playing surface.

The new system ensures that the top 32 players in the ATP and WTA rankings will be seeded.

Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia defeated Tuomas Ketola of Finland, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, in the opening round of the Gerry Weber Open at Halle, Germany. Other seeded players who advanced included Thomas Johansson of Sweden, who defeated Michael Chang, 6-2, 7-5. . . . Greg Rusedski of Britain defeated countryman Arvind Parmar, 7-6 (5), 1-6, 6-2, in the first round of the Queen’s Club grass-court championship at London. . . . . Cara Black of Zimbabwe defeated Jill Craybas, 7-6 (2), 6-3, in the first round of the DFS Classic at Birmingham, England.

Martina Hingis filed a $40 million lawsuit in New York’s Supreme Court charging that Sergio Tacchini, an Italian sportswear maker whose products she endorsed, gave her shoes that injured her feet.

John Mano of Los Alamitos High defeated Eric Riley of Rancho Santa Fe, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, in the boys’ 16 title match in the Santa Barbara Junior Tournament on Sunday at Santa Barbara. In other divisions of the U.S. Tennis Assn. designated event, Carsten Ball of Newport Beach defeated Shan Sondhu of Laguna Niguel, 6-1, 6-1, in the boys’ 14 final match and Lori Stern of Carpinteria Cate School defeated Joanna Kao of Sunny Hills High, 7-5, 6-3, in the girls’ 18 final.

Miscellany

The U.S. Supreme Court reinstated a racketeering lawsuit against boxing promoter Don King by Cedric Kushner, who is accusing King of interfering with his contract with heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman.

In a proceeding unrelated to the ruling, Rahman testified in federal court in New York that his contract with Kushner expired last October, freeing him to sign with King, therefore rendering Kushner’s deal for a heavyweight title rematch with Lennox Lewis invalid.

Jockey Gary Stevens learned that a knee injury he suffered when he was unseated by Pride Of Cats during the post parade of Sunday’s eighth race at Hollywood Park was only a sprain. The incident occurred a day after Stevens had won his third Belmont Stakes, with Point Given at Elmont, N.Y.

Stevens, who retired because of knee problems in December 1999, then returned to riding more than nine months later, had feared there was more serious damage. He said the sprain would keep him off his scheduled mounts until Saturday.

USC officials say they almost certainly will not accept an invitation to play the Black Coaches Assn. football game Aug. 26 at the Coliseum. They did not want to add a 12th game on such short notice with a new coaching staff.

The Chicago Bears hired Jerry Angelo, director of player personnel for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, as the team’s first general manager since 1987. . . . New York Giant running back Joe Montgomery suffered a ruptured left Achilles’ tendon in a passing drill at East Rutherford, N.J., and is expected to sit out the 2001 season. . . . The Mighty Ducks exercised options on forwards Dan Bylsma and Jim Cummins. . . . . Olympic 100-meter champion Maurice Greene ran a winning 9.91 seconds at the Athens Grand Prix in Greece. . . . Todd Lee has been named associate head coach of the men’s basketball team at UC Irvine. . . . IRL driver Davey Hamilton, who suffered severe injuries to both legs in a crash at the Casino Magic 500 on Saturday at Fort Worth, was in stable condition.

Passings

Ike Brown, a veteran of the Negro leagues and the Detroit Tigers from 1969-74, died in his hometown of Memphis, Tenn. He was 59. . . . Malcolm Cooper, the only man to defend an Olympic small-bore shooting title, died of cancer Saturday at his home in Eastergate, England. He was 54.