Ravens Acquire a Billick Favorite

Randall Cunningham and Brian Billick are together again, this time with the Baltimore Ravens.

The 38-year-old quarterback and the Super Bowl champions agreed on a one-year contract Tuesday. The former most valuable player is expected to sign this weekend.

The Ravens and Cunningham reached an agreement several weeks ago, but the signing was put off to at least Friday because of salary cap concerns.

Cunningham will serve as the backup to Elvis Grbac and tutor Chris Redman, who threw only three passes last year as a rookie.

Billick, the Ravens’ coach, was the Minnesota Viking offensive coordinator and Cunningham was the quarterback in 1998, when the Vikings scored an NFL-record 556 points and earned a berth in the NFC championship game.

Running back Edgerrin James failed to show for the first day of the Indianapolis Colts’ three-week summer camp. . . . Veteran tight end Jeff Thomason signed a two-year contract with the Philadelphia Eagles, while linebacker Derrick Walker was released.

Soccer

European soccer star Gheorghe Hagi was charged in Istanbul, Turkey, with assaulting a referee three days after playing what he said was his last game.

The Romanian midfielder for the Turkish club Galatasaray could face a maximum jail sentence of four years, two months.

Hagi is accused of assaulting referee Erol Ersoy after his ejection from a game in Istanbul in March.

A player born in Ghana scored a goal in a game at Bremen, Germany, in which he became the first African to play for Germany’s national team. Gerald Asamoah scored in the 50th minute of a 2-0 exhibition victory over Slovakia.

Jamaica recalled striker Walter Boyd from the English second division for its World Cup qualifying game against the U.S. on June 16. . . . Frank De Boer faces suspension from soccer after a second urine sample by the Dutch defender contained traces of the banned steroid nandrolone, his club Barcelona said. . . . Jeff Cunningham scored in the 81st minute and Brian McBride had two goals to lead the Columbus Crew to a 4-3 victory over Bayer Leverkusen in an international exhibition at Columbus, Ohio.

Miscellany

The Sparks’ tardy arrival at Houston’s Compaq Center on Monday cost the team $2,500. The WNBA assessed the fine because the Sparks arrived 15 minutes late for their pregame media-availability period. Coach Michael Cooper had said he didn’t want his team standing around during the Comets’ championship ring ceremony.

The field for next year’s World Golf Championships will be doubled and include players from outside Europe and the U.S. for the first time. The International Federation of PGA Tours said that up to 80 players would compete at the invitational event next year. Dates and location have not been announced.

Lawyers for the widow of Dale Earnhardt urged a judge in Orlando, Fla., to keep an injunction in place barring the public release of the race driver’s autopsy photos. . . . Preliminary TV ratings of ABC’s broadcast of the Indianapolis 500 rose 18% from a year ago, the network said. . . . Scott Goodyear, who suffered a broken bone in his lower back in a crash during the Indy 500, was fitted with a back brace and began taking a few steps.

Italy’s Denis Zanette won the 10th stage of the Giro d’Italia and compatriot Dario Frigo kept the overall lead as the cycling race crossed into Slovenia. . . . Irina Privalova of Russia, winner of the 400-meter hurdles at the Sydney Olympics, underwent knee surgery and will sit out the World Championships in August at Edmonton, Canada.

Passings

Victor Kiam II, former owner of the New England Patriots, died at 74 in Stamford, Conn. (Page B10). . . . Former Florida football coach Charley Pell, who helped lay the program’s foundation for success before his career was derailed by NCAA sanctions, died after a battle with cancer. He was 60 (Page B11).