Bledsoe’s Days as a Bill Are Over

Unwilling to accept a secondary role with Buffalo, quarterback Drew Bledsoe is seeking a new team for another opportunity at being a starter.

The team announced Wednesday that it would grant Bledsoe’s request to be cut Tuesday, the first day NFL teams are allowed to officially release players. The decision came after the Bills informed Bledsoe, 33, of their plans to give the starting job to J.P. Losman.

“I completely disagree and can’t understand their point of view,” Bledsoe said. “Do I think this is fair? No, I don’t think it’s fair. But I’m also aware that that’s how it works, and I understand that.... I just don’t see myself being a backup in this league.”

Bledsoe’s record as a starter with Buffalo was 23-25.

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The San Diego Chargers won’t seek a redevelopment designation for the Qualcomm Stadium site, a designation that would have given the team city redevelopment tax funds to help finance a new stadium.

The announcement was praised by State Senator Christine Kehoe.

“Historically, redevelopment funds go to revitalize blighted neighborhoods and Mission Valley just isn’t a blighted area,” Kehoe said in a statement. “Simply because someone wants a state-of-the-art stadium doesn’t mean the public should help pay for it. This is very welcome news from the Chargers.”

The team hopes to get a stadium measure on the 2006 ballot.

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New England linebacker Tedy Bruschi was admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston after complaining of headaches. The team released a statement saying Bruschi was in good condition.

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St. Louis Coach Mike Martz said that running back Marshall Faulk, the NFL MVP in 2000, would be the backup next season behind Steven Jackson.

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Seattle agreed on a multiyear contract with Pro Bowl left tackle Walter Jones.

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Bill Sheridan, an assistant coach at Michigan for the past three seasons, was hired to be the linebackers coach for the New York Giants.

Tennis

Andy Roddick breezed to a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Arnaud Clement in the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships at Memphis, Tenn.

Santiago Ventura beat Alex Corretja, 6-4, 6-4, and advanced to the quarterfinals of the ATP Brazil Open in Salvador.

Venus Williams scored a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Virginie Razzano in the Diamond Games at Antwerp, Belgium. She will meet Kim Clijsters, who defeated Nadia Petrova, 7-5, 6-7 (3), 6-1, in a quarterfinal.

Roger Federer beat Bohdan Ulihrach, 6-3, 6-4, in the ABN Amro tournament at Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Miscellany

Former Washington football coach Rick Neuheisel, testifying in his lawsuit against the university and the NCAA, said he did not believe he violated NCAA rules by putting $6,400 on the men’s college basketball tournaments of 2002 and 2003. Neuheisel characterized the auction-style pools as bidding rather than betting.

The Mountain West will join a growing list of conferences that plan to test football instant replay next season. Any conference wishing to use instant replay must submit its system to the NCAA by June 1.

Former UCLA, Oklahoma and Kansas defensive coordinator Tom Hayes was hired for the same post at Stanford. Hayes was a Bruin assistant from 1980 to ’88.

Club Deportivo Chivas USA defeated the USL Second Division’s San Diego Gauchos, 2-0, at the Home Depot Center in the Major League Soccer expansion team’s first exhibition in the U.S.

Brad Guzan got the shutout for Chivas USA, which had played exhibitions in Mexico.

Galaxy defender Danny Califf will have surgery today to remove torn cartilage in his right knee. There is no timetable set for his return.