Ex-Bruin Miller Urged to Retire After Injury

Former Cleveland Brown linebacker Jamir Miller has been advised to retire by a doctor who examined the free agent’s surgically repaired Achilles’ tendon.

“He got a very discouraging medical report,” Miller’s agent, Leigh Steinberg, said Monday. “The Achilles’ injury is very serious. He’s seriously considering retirement and is in the last stages of making a decision.”

Miller, 29, who made the Pro Bowl after recording 13 sacks in 2001, ruptured his right Achilles’ tendon in the Browns’ exhibition opener against Minnesota last August and sat out the season.

Earlier Monday, the Browns confirmed they had withdrawn their one-year, $1.65-million contract offer to Miller.

Miller was released by the Browns in February but had little luck in the free-agent market. Miller, a former UCLA standout who played five seasons with Arizona, signed with the Browns as a free agent before their expansion season in 1999.

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An autopsy failed to determine the cause of death of Dallas Cowboy running back Ennis Haywood. Results of toxicology and tissue tests are expected in six to eight weeks, the Tarrant County (Texas) medical examiner’s office said.

Haywood, 23, died Sunday in a hospital at Arlington, Texas. He had been taken to the hospital early Saturday after he began vomiting in his sleep.

Tennis

Australian Lleyton Hewitt, the men’s top-ranked player, has committed to the Mercedes-Benz Cup on July 28-Aug. 3 at the Los Angeles Tennis Center-UCLA.

Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil defeated Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina, 6-2, 6-4, in the first round of the Hamburg Masters in Germany and 16th-seeded James Blake lost to Gaston Gaudio of Argentina, 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-2.... Conchita Martinez of Spain upset ninth-seeded Jelena Dokic of Serbia, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, in the Italian Open at Rome.

Golf

Tiger Woods won’t play in the Colonial next week and probably will go to the U.S. Open having played only two tournaments since the Masters in April.

Woods always has played at least three times between the Masters and the U.S. Open. But he said he’s trying a lighter schedule after having knee surgery in December.

Prize money for the men’s U.S. Open this year will be $6 million, a $500,000 increase, with the winner receiving $1.08 million. That’s $80,000 more than Woods got for winning last year’s event.

The tournament will be June 12-15 at Olympia Fields (Ill.) Country Club.

The U.S. Women’s Open will have $3.1 million in prize money this year, with the winner earning $560,000. The tournament will be July 3-6 at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in North Plains, Ore.

The U.S. Senior Open will have $2.6 million in prize money, with the winner getting $470,000. The Senior Open is June 26-29 at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.

Jurisprudence

A jury in St. Louis County Circuit Court ruled in favor of Ram running back Marshall Faulk in a civil case accusing him of domestic abuse.

The jury ruled against Faulk’s former girlfriend, Helen Dunne, the mother of three of his children. Faulk was awarded $125, even though he had sought only $1 in symbolic damages.

Miscellany

Forward Mike Gansey, the No. 2 scorer on the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team rocked by scandal last season, was granted his release and forward Patrick Tathum will be released from a letter of intent he signed last fall.

Kendrick Perkins, a 6-foot-11, 290-pound high school center in Texas who is known as “Baby Shaq,” has made himself available for the NBA draft.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters said it has begun the process of affiliating the Joint Assn. of Boxers as a professional fighters’ union.

Austrian cross-country skiers Achim Walner and Marc Mayer were banned for two years by the International Ski Federation because of blood-transfusion equipment found in the house of Austrian skiers during the 2002 Olympics at Salt Lake City.

The federation also banned cross-country skier Kaisa Varis of Finland for two years after she tested positive during this year’s Nordic world championships.

Austrian cross-country chief Walter Mayer, Marc Mayer’s father, was banned for life from any event sanctioned by the ISF.

Brazil sports officials have informed the Sparks that reserve forward Erika Desouza will remain in the country this WNBA season to be part of the national team’s preparations for the 2004 Olympics.