NFL Flags Drug Test of Receiver Rogers

Charles Rogers, Michigan State’s All-American receiver, had excessive water in his urine when he took a drug test in February, Rogers’ agent said Monday.

The NFL told Rogers, expected to be one of the first players taken in the draft April 26, that excessive water is regarded as a masking agent under the league’s drug policy.

“He had to go to the bathroom for them at 5:30 in the morning and with people standing all around him,” said Kevin Poston, Rogers’ agent. “He couldn’t go, so they gave him a lot of water and 30 minutes later, he did.

“I’m very comfortable with this. This does not put Charles in the league’s drug program. If they want to evaluate him, that’s fine, because Charles doesn’t use anything.”

Rogers had a spectacular two-season career at Michigan State. Many believe the Detroit Lions will take him second overall if a team doesn’t trade with Cincinnati to obtain the first pick to draft Rogers. Rogers caught a school-record 68 passes for 1,351 yards and 13 touchdowns for the Spartans last season. He set NCAA and Big Ten records by catching touchdown passes in 14 consecutive games.

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Linebacker Junior Seau paved the way for a probable trade to the Miami Dolphins when he agreed to have his contract with the San Diego Chargers restructured. A 12-time Pro Bowl selection, Seau will fly from California to Miami for a physical and further discussions with the Dolphins, probably on Wednesday, said his agent, Marvin Demoff.

The Chargers last month gave Seau, 34, permission to seek a trade. Miami was his first choice, Demoff said. Seau’s contract was restructured to address a $2.7-million bonus he was due to receive today. Demoff declined to discuss details of the revised contract, which runs through 2005, but said it wouldn’t be a hurdle to the Dolphins making the trade. Miami has offered the Chargers a middle-round draft pick for Seau.

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Free-agent tight end Johnnie Mitchell joined the Jacksonville Jaguars, seven years after he last played in the NFL. He participated in a Jaguar minicamp over the weekend.

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Safety Tebucky Jones was traded to the New Orleans Saints by New England for three draft choices. The Patriots will get a third- and seventh-round pick this year and a fourth-rounder in the 2004 draft. New England has 13 picks in this year’s draft, equaling the most they’ve had since the NFL switched to a seven-round draft in 1994. The Saints also agreed to a five-year contract with tight end Ernie Conwell.

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Defensive back Tyrone Carter and wide receiver Albert Johnson signed with the New York Jets, who are hoping to find a kick returner.... Hall of Famer Larry Wilson, a team vice president, will end his 43-year career with the Arizona Cardinals when he retires May 30.... Funeral services for San Diego Charger General Manager John Butler have been scheduled Wednesday in Sidney, Ill. Butler died of cancer Friday at 56.

Tennis

Third-seeded Andy Roddick was upset in the first round of the Monte Carlo Masters, losing to Spanish qualifier Albert Portas, 7-6 (5), 6-3.

“I need more patience,” said Roddick. “I’m still missing that little something.”

Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero, seeded first, beat Australia’s Wayne Arthurs, 6-4, 6-1. Ferrero, defending champion at Monte Carlo, is in good position to win this $2.45-million clay-court tournament, considering the late withdrawals of Lleyton Hewitt and Andre Agassi and the loss by Roddick.

Brazil’s Gustavo Kuerten beat Mardy Fish, 3-6, 6-1, 6-0. Spain’s Alex Corretja, seeded 12th, lost to countryman Feliciano Lopez, 7-6 (4), 6-3; and France’s Arnaud Clement scored a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez, seeded 14th.

Hewitt is threatening to sue the ATP Tour over his fine for failing to grant an interview to ESPN in Cincinnati last August. News Ltd. newspapers in Australia reported today that unless the dispute between Hewitt and the ATP Tour were resolved, the Wimbledon champion would sue in the South Australia Supreme Court and seek $1.5 million in damages for defamation and legal costs. Hewitt was fined $106,000 by the ATP Tour for allegedly failing to fulfill his commitments in an interview Aug. 6. The fine was reduced to $20,000 on appeal Jan. 14.

Showing no lingering effects from two broken hands last year, Ukraine’s Julia Vakulenko upset Amy Frazier in the first round of the Bausch & Lomb Championships, 6-2, 6-4, at Amelia Island, Fla.

Vakulenko thought she was on the verge of breaking into the top 100 in the world rankings before suffering her injuries two days apart last June. She broke her left hand when she fell at her Barcelona home, then she broke her right hand when she fell during practice.

The tournament lost 1998 champion Mary Pierce, who withdrew because of a hip injury and a sinus infection. Pierce strained her right hip in last week’s Family Circle Cup in Charleston, S.C.

A man was killed after the car he was driving on U.S. Highway 77 near Beatrice, Neb., collided with a charter bus carrying eight members of the University of Nebraska women’s tennis team and their coach, Scott Jensen. A school spokesman said there were no serious injuries among those on the bus. The identity of the man was not immediately available. The team transferred to another bus and returned to the university, rather than attend a meet at Manhattan, Kan.

The International Tennis Federation has agreed to reschedule the Davis Cup match between Hong Kong and Lebanon because of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Forty in Hong Kong have died from the illness.

Miscellany

Dwight Stones, a former world-record holder in the men’s high jump; Steve Scott, the fastest U.S. miler in history, and Ernie Gregoire, a veteran coach who founded the Southern California Cheetahs youth track club in 1969, will receive lifetime achievement awards from the Los Angeles Track & Field Organizing Committee at a banquet at the Friars Club in Beverly Hills on April 23.

Former major league baseball pitcher Bobby Thigpen fell down a staircase while leaving an NHL playoff game at Tampa, Fla., last Thursday and needed surgery to stop internal bleeding. “He is doing very well,” wife Keri Thigpen said. “He is stable and is able to sit up in a chair. He could be walking today.” Thigpen, 39, who saved a record 57 games for the Chicago White Sox in 1990, and last played in the majors in 1994, was injured at the Washington-Tampa Bay game.