Attorney Criticizes Raiders

The Raiders made a calculated business decision to return to Oakland and when profits they expected didn’t roll in after a few bad seasons they sued, a defense lawyer said Tuesday in closing arguments in the team’s nearly four-month fraud trial at Sacramento.

Attorney James Brosnahan, who represents the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum and its chief negotiator, said the team’s claim that it was lured back on the false promise of a packed stadium is bogus. He cautioned the jury not to award hundreds of millions of dollars sought by the team based on flimsy evidence.

“Why is it when a plaintiff seeks this kind of award that the evidence is of that kind of quality?” he asked. “You would take it and discard it if it were anything related to your life.”

The Raiders claim they were defrauded of $833 million in franchise value and lost ticket sales by moving from Los Angeles in 1995 to a stadium that was not sold out as they said they were repeatedly promised. The defunct accounting firm Arthur Andersen is also a co-defendant.

In 190 pages of contracts, there was no guarantee of a sold-out stadium, Brosnahan said. Nine people testified they told owner Al Davis the stadium was not sold out before he signed an Aug. 7, 1995, contract to move the team back through 2010.

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Kansas City Chief offensive tackle Willie Jones was recovering from a sprained neck and was expected to be released from a Canton, Ohio, hospital today.

Chief President Carl Peterson said Jones was doing better Tuesday, a day after he was injured while making a block during the Pro Football Hall of Fame game.

Jones crumbled to the turf with 17 seconds left in the second quarter after briefly blocking Green Bay Packer linebacker Marcus Wilkins on a pass play.

After going down limp, Jones, who suffered temporary paralysis on a similar play in practice last season, lay motionless for nearly 10 minutes before being removed from the field on a stretcher.

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Pittsburgh Steeler running back Amos Zereoue, trying to beat Jerome Bettis for the starting job, injured his left ankle on the last play of practice.

Coach Bill Cowher said he thinks the injury is a sprain. Zereoue will be examined today.

“An injury like that ... you just hope he’ll be fine,” Bettis said.

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Defensive lineman William Joseph ended the longest holdout by a New York Giants’ first-round draft pick since 1995 by signing a $6.95-million contract.

The contract covers seven years, but the last two can be voided, which effectively makes it a five-year contract. The Giants reported to training camp on July 24. Joseph missed 17 practices.

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NFL single-season sack king Michael Strahan has a broken little toe and his status for the New York Giants’ exhibition opener against the New England Patriots on Thursday is uncertain.

“If it was the regular season, I would be playing,” Strahan said.

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For the first time since the team triggered the escape clause in its Qualcomm Stadium lease, San Diego Charger President Dean Spanos met with San Diego Mayor Dick Murphy to discuss the team’s pursuit of a new stadium. The meeting lasted half an hour and produced no major developments.

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Former Carolina Panther Rae Carruth lost a bid for a new trial on his 2001 murder conspiracy conviction despite an error by a lower court at Charlotte, N.C.

A state appeals court ruled that although the trial judge shouldn’t have allowed handwritten notes from the victim to be admitted, the notes didn’t prejudice the jury because of the overwhelming evidence against Carruth.

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Wesley Walls, one of the NFL’s elite tight ends for much of the last decade, agreed to a one-year contract with the Green Bay Packers.... Miami Dolphin cornerback Patrick Surtain underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee for the third time in two years, but he’s expected to be ready for the start of the season Sept. 7.