Texans’ Brian Cushing retains defensive rookie of year award

A positive drug test notwithstanding, Houston Texans linebacker Brian Cushing is still the Associated Press NFL defensive rookie of the year.

Five days after he was suspended without pay for four games, a nationwide panel of 50 sportswriters and broadcasters who cover the NFL voted again to give Cushing the award. He didn’t receive anywhere near the 39 votes of his previous landslide victory, but the 18 he got in Wednesday’s revote were enough to reclaim the honor.

“I was just glad to hear the news, that people stuck by me. Very honored,” Cushing said. “I’m very happy to have the award once again, and I’m just happy with how everything turned out.”

Although Cushing, an All-American at USC, said he took a non-steroid substance, the league still considers it a performance-enhancer.

The AP decided to have a revote, in which Cushing finished five votes ahead of Buffalo safety Jairus Byrd. Green Bay linebacker Clay Matthews III got 12, Washington linebacker Brian Orakpo earned three votes, and St. Louis linebacker James Laurinaitis got one.

Three voters abstained. In all, 19 voters switched from Cushing to another player, and one voted for Cushing after picking Byrd originally.

“I’m good,” Byrd said, referring to the result. “Yeah, I’m fine with it.”

In the original balloting in January, Cushing received 39 votes to six for Byrd, three for Matthews and two for Orakpo.

Cushing did lose his spot on the All-Pro second team, for which he originally had five votes and now has just one.

“If Brian Cushing had come out with a plausible excuse as to why he failed a test for prohibited substances, he could have kept his defensive rookie of the year award as far as I was concerned,” said voter Dan Pompei of the Chicago Tribune. “But his silence was deafening, disturbing and damning.”

Not to some voters.

“If I had known in January when we initially voted that Brian Cushing had tested positive for a banned substance, I might not have voted for him,” said Charean Williams of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and president of the Pro Football Writers of America. “However, Cushing won the award in January, and I don’t feel like we should revise history. I am concerned about the precedent.”

BOXING

Manny Pacquiao’s veteran boxing promoter, Bob Arum, returned from the Filipino’s surprise congressional election victory and declared Wednesday that “I’ll do my darndest” to make the super-fight the sports world has anticipated between Pacquiao and unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Arum declined to respond to reports that Pacquiao has softened his stance on accepting drug testing inside of the 24-day pre-fight deal he agreed to before negotiations to stage the bout collapsed earlier this year. Mayweather wants both fighters to be subject to blood and urine tests for performance-enhancing drugs through fight night.

“I’m not going to negotiate this through the media,” Arum said.

Arum did say that “Manny is definitely going to fight in November,” and that he has already reserved Cowboys Stadium outside Dallas on Nov. 13 for the bout if both sides can agree to place the fight there.

--Lance Pugmire

GOLF

Tests reveal that Tiger Woods has an inflamed neck joint that causes pain and makes it hard to turn his head.

Woods says on his website that an MRI exam on Wednesday determined he has inflammation in the facet joint of his neck. He says the treatment will include soft-tissue massage, anti-inflammatory medicine and rest.

The world’s No. 1 player withdrew on the seventh hole of the final round Sunday at the Players Championship and feared he had a bulging disk because of pain he had felt since before he returned at the Masters.

Woods expects a full recovery, although he did not say when he would be able to return.

TENNIS

Top-ranked Serena Williams was knocked out of the Madrid Masters, falling, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, to Nadia Petrova of Russia in the third round. Petrova, who has won 19 doubles titles, frustrated Williams into making 41 errors by hitting accurately from the baseline. The 16th-seeded Petrova served 10 aces to advance to the quarterfinals.

Williams had looked out of form Tuesday in a victory over Vera Dushevina in a match that last 3 hours, 26 minutes. It was the longest match of Williams’ career.

Second-seeded Rafael Nadal advanced to the third round with a 6-4, 6-3 win against Ukrainian qualifier Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr.

Earlier, fifth-seeded Andy Roddick withdrew from the tournament before his second-round match against Feliciano Lopez because of illness.

SOCCER

U.S. forward Eddie Johnson left Aris’ Greek league playoff game against AEK Athens with a possible hamstring injury. Selected a day earlier for the 30-man preliminary World Cup roster, Johnson came out in the 42nd minute. Fellow American Freddy Adu, who was not selected for the World Cup roster, started and was substituted in the 76th minute.

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Diego Forlan scored with just four minutes of extra time remaining to give Atletico Madrid a 2-1 win over Fulham in the Europa League final in Hamburg, Germany, and end the club’s longest ever spell without a major trophy.

Forlan got his second goal of the game when he flicked Sergio Aguero’s cross under his standing leg, the ball rolling past goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer via a deflection off Fulham defender Brede Hangeland.

Man-of-the-match Forlan, who also hit the post and put Atletico ahead in the 32nd minute, was the only Atletico player not to celebrate at the final whistle as the club won its first trophy since the Spanish league and cup double in 1996.

HOCKEY

The United States lost its third straight game at the ice hockey world championships, going down, 3-2, to Finland in Cologne, Germany, and will now fight against relegation. The Americans, Olympic silver medalists, will have to finish in the top two of four teams in the relegation round to avoid demotion.

PRO FOOTBALL

A Pennsylvania state trooper who was barred from working for Ben Roethlisberger wants the agency to let him return to his part-time job as an assistant for the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback. State police spokeswoman Lt. Myra Taylor said that Trooper Ed Joyner has filed a union grievance, but he won’t be allowed to work for Roethlisberger while it is pending.

The state police last month rescinded Joyner’s permission to work for Roethlisberger as part of an investigation into Joyner’s activities when Roethlisberger was accused of sexual assault in a Georgia nightclub on March 5.

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Restricted free agent running back Cadillac Williams signed his one-year tender to remain with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

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Charlie Francis, who coached Ben Johnson when the sprinter became the first athlete to be stripped of an Olympic gold medal for using banned drugs, has died. He was 61. See AAX.