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Derek Anderson signs two-year deal with Cardinals

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The Arizona Cardinals have come to terms on a two-year contract with free agent quarterback Derek Anderson.

The one-time Pro Bowl quarterback comes to Arizona as the Cardinals look for someone to compete with Matt Leinart, the only quarterback the team has under contract after Kurt Warner’s retirement.

Anderson was released by Cleveland on March 9, ending an uneven five-year stint with the Browns.

Anderson made the Pro Bowl in 2007 when he threw 29 touchdown passes and led the club to a 10-6 record.

At the start of last season, Anderson lost his starting job to Brady Quinn, got it back, lost it again, returned to the starting lineup when Quinn got hurt, and won Cleveland’s last two games.

Cleveland claimed Anderson off waivers from Baltimore in 2005.

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NFL owners will vote next week whether to allow each team a possession in overtime in the playoffs if the team winning the OT coin toss kicks a field goal on the first series.

Previously, the game would end whenever either side scores, as happened in the NFC championship game in January, with New Orleans beating Minnesota on Garrett Hartley’s kick. But NFL competition committee chairman Rich McKay says a trend has developed showing too strong an advantage for teams winning the coin toss to start overtime.

If the team that falls behind by three points on the first series also kicks a field goal, then the game would continue under current sudden death rules.

The proposal is only for the postseason.

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The Philadelphia Eagles released right guard Shawn Andrews, a former All-Pro. Andrews, who missed the 2008 training camp because of depression, has played in just two games over the last two years because of back injuries.

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Prosecutors in Northern California said they were waiting for a police report before deciding whether to file drunk driving charges against Green Bay Packers tight end Spencer Havner.

The 27-year-old Havner, who played at UCLA, was arrested for suspicion of drunk driving Monday after he lost control of his motorcycle on private property and crashed about 2:45 a.m. in his hometown of Grass Valley, about 55 miles north of Sacramento.

The police report said Havner suffered “major” injuries, but Mark Humenik, whose agency represents Havner, said Havner’s injuries were minor, including a broken shoulder blade.

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Free-agent guard Richie Incognito signed a one-year contract with the Miami Dolphins.

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Tennis officials have closed the book on Andre Agassi’s drug revelations.

International Tennis Federation President Francesco Ricci Bitti told the Associated Press that despite appeals from the World Anti-Doping Agency, the statute of limitations in the case expired long ago and no retroactive punishment was possible.

In Agassi’s recently published autobiography, “Open,” he wrote that he took crystal meth in 1997 and lied to the ATP to avoid a suspension after failing a doping test. The statute of limitations in the case was eight years.

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NASCAR will officially move from the wing to the more traditional spoiler at next weekend’s race at Martinsville Speedway.

Martinsville had been targeted for the transition, and Robin Pemberton, NASCAR’s vice president of competition Robin Pemberton, confirmed that spoilers have been shipped to Sprint Cup teams and will be used for the first time at the Virginia short track.

NASCAR decided in January it would return the spoiler to the race cars, a decision based on improving the racing and pleasing fans who did not like the look of the wing. Officials told teams the spoiler will replicate the downforce and balance that is being produced on the current car.

NASCAR in 2007 phased in a new car that replaced the spoiler with a wing. Many drivers were slow to adapt to the new car, which went to full-time use in 2008, and fans had claimed the car had made the racing boring.

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NASCAR has added a mandatory four-tire pit stop to the format of the Sprint All-Star Race.

The race will once again be decided by a 10-lap shootout to the finish. But, for the first time, teams will be required to enter pit road for a full stop. The order that cars exit pit road will determine how they line up for the sprint to the $1 million payout.

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Twins Kelly and Coco Miller have each signed two-year deals with the Atlanta Dream, giving them their first opportunity to play together professionally. The twins helped lead Georgia to the 1999 Final Four and 2000 Southeastern Conference championship.

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The manager for two-time Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal says he will pull out of the Masters next month because he is suffering again from rheumatism. Sergio Gomez said that Olazabal has pain in his shoulder, forearms and hands and is unable to swing properly.

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The PGA Tour is looking for a new title sponsor for its World Golf Championship at Doral after CA decided not to renew its contract.

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Allan Green’s fight against WBA champion Andre Ward in the Super Six World Boxing Classic has been postponed. Ward (20-0, 13 knockouts) had surgery on his right knee last year, and it gave out during training camp, forcing the former Olympic gold medalist to postpone the bout.

It was scheduled for April 24 in Ward’s hometown of Oakland. No makeup date was set.

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Russia’s Nikita Kriukov won a men’s cross-country sprint ahead of overall World Cup champion Petter Northug of Norway. Sweden’s Emil Jonsson finished third in the 1.1-kilometer race around the Royal Palace in downtown Stockholm.

Anna Olsson of Sweden led the women’s race from the start, but just barely edged overall World Cup leader Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland in the final stretch. Olympic sprint champion Marit Bjoergen of Norway was third, 0.4 seconds behind Olsson.

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Wayne Collett, a UCLA sprinter who won the silver medal in the 400 meters at the 1972 Munich Olympics but then was banished from the Games for fidgeting on the medals platform, has died. He was 60. Story, AAX

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