sports in brief

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, May 21, 2008

Local & state: Seaman graduate makes MVC first team

Ben Carlson, a Seaman graduate and sophomore designated hitter for Missouri State, was named to the Missouri Valley Conference first team. Carlson is hitting .387 and leads the Bears with 16 home runs and 63 RBIs.

Topeka West graduate Shawn Joy, a senior pitcher at Southern Illinois, was named to the honorable mention list. Joy is 6-2 with a 4.38 ERA in 881/3 innings pitched.

Santa Fe Trail graduate Rob Musgrave, a pitcher at Wichita State, was named to the first team, and Silver Lake graduate Josh Workman, a second baseman at WSU, was named to the second team.

The Kansas City Chiefs signed six rookie free agents to two-year contracts Tuesday.

Terms weren't available for the contracts signed by guards L.J. Anderson and Edwin Harrison, safety Khayyam Burns, linebackers Weston Dacus and Lerue Rumph, and running back Dantrell Savage.

Football: Owners unanimously vote to end labor agreement

The NFL and its players' union are on the clock. As it counts down, the games will go on. To nobody's surprise, owners voted unanimously Tuesday to end their labor agreement with the union in 2011, opting out of a deal that could have gone through 2013.

Executive director of the NFL Players Association Gene Upshaw and commissioner Roger Goodell were reasonably optimistic that an agreement could be reached before the start of the 2010 free-agent season, presumably in March of that year. If there is none, that would be the first season without a salary cap since the year after the 1993 labor contract was signed, ending more than a half-decade without labor strife.

Upshaw suggested that once the cap went away, the union would never let one back. Goodell suggested that might be rhetoric - that the owners weren't worried about playing without a cap and that some system would be put in place that could work.

The Dallas Cowboys signed running back Marion Barber and cornerback Terence Newman to long-term extensions Tuesday, just in time to beat a deadline that would've changed how the money is spread over the salary cap.

Newman's deal is a six-year extension to the final year left on his initial contract. It's worth more than $50 million, with a $12 million signing bonus and $22.5 million guaranteed over the first three years.

Barber, a restricted free agent, received a $45 million, seven- year contract that includes $16 million in guaranteed bonuses. It's worth $21 million over the first three years.

Matt Ryan signed a $72 million, six-year contract with the Atlanta Falcons on Tuesday, ending concerns that prolonged negotiations could threaten his chance to become the starting quarterback as a rookie.

Ryan, the No. 3 overall pick in last month's draft out of Boston College, is guaranteed $34.75 million. His guaranteed money is $4.75 million more than that given to Jake Long, the No. 1 overall choice who also is represented by agent Tom Condon.

The NFL put more teeth in its personal conduct policy on Tuesday when commissioner Roger Goodell announced he would fine teams whose players were suspended for disciplinary reasons.

"We want to continue to emphasize personal conduct and personal responsibility," he said at the end of a one-day league meeting. "One way to do it is to hold teams responsible for the conduct of their players.

Indianapolis was awarded the 2012 Super Bowl on Tuesday, the fourth time a cold-weather city will host the NFL's championship game.

The new retractable-roof Lucas Oil Stadium was runner-up to Dallas last year. This time, Indianapolis beat out Houston and Arizona for the game, which will be played Feb. 5, 2012, for the title of the 2011 season.

New Orleans Saints defensive end Charles Grant has been indicted on a charge of involuntary manslaughter stemming from a February altercation at a nightclub.

Grant, who was stabbed in the neck during the fracas, was charged by an Early County grand jury that also charged Laquient Macklin with felony murder and feticide in the shooting death of Korynda Reed, 23. Reed died after being taken to the Southeast Alabama Medical Center in Dothan, after the fight early Feb. 3.

Basketball: Commissioner wants meeting with Donaghy

NBA commissioner David Stern wants to have a talk with Tim Donaghy after the disgraced referee is sentenced in July for taking cash payoffs from gamblers and betting on games he officiated.

Stern said the league already has asked Donaghy's lawyer, John F. Lauro, for a sit down and been rebuffed.

In a letter filed in federal court Monday, Lauro said Donaghy told investigators in the NBA betting probe that relationships among officials, coaches and players "affected the outcome of games."

Charles Barkley, former NBA star, has retired his debt to a Las Vegas Strip casino that sued him after he failed to pay $400,000 in gambling loans.

But the civil lawsuit remains open and is going to cost Barkley $40,000 more to get out of the legal doghouse.

Clark County District Attorney David Roger said the case will remain open, with Barkley facing possible criminal prosecution, until he pays a 10 percent processing fee.