Off the wire

— BASEBALL Clemens signs deal

Roger Clemens isn’t done with baseball quite yet. Clemens, 50, signed with the Sugar Land (Texas) Skeeters of the independent Atlantic League on Monday and he is expected to start for the minor league team Saturday at home against Bridgeport. “His fastball was clocked at 87 mph; all of his pitches were working,” said Randy Hendricks, Clemens’ agent. “He threw a three-inning simulated game after an extensive workout warm-up.” Clemens and Skeeters Manager Gary Gaetti have been talking about this “for months,” Hendricks said. Clemens is expected to discuss his decision Tuesday during a news conference in Sugar Land, about 20 miles southwest of Houston. Clemens, who was acquitted in June of charges he lied to Congress when he denied using performance-enhancing drugs, hasn’t played for a team since pitching for the New York Yankees in 2007.

ATHLETICS

Southland set to expand

The University of Incarnate Word will join the Southland Conference, while Abilene Christian University said it has received an invitation to join the league. The Southland Conference, based in Frisco, Texas, and Incarnate Word said Monday that the San Antonio-based university will become a member July 1, 2013. Abilene Christian announced Monday it had received an invitation. The school board of trustees is scheduled to discuss the invitation this weekend.Both schools are currently members of the Lone Star Conference. Incarnate Word will get Southland schedules for all sports except football for 2013-2014. The football program will begin league play in fall 2014. The Southland currently has 11 members, including Central Arkansas.

FOOTBALL Locker named Titans starter

The Tennessee Titans have picked Jake Locker as their starter over veteran Matt Hasselbeck, choosing to wait no further to play the quarterback they drafted in 2011 for their future. Coach Mike Munchak announced the decision after practice Monday, saying Locker’s time is now in giving the Titans their best chance to win the AFC South. The Titans had let the quarterbacks compete through the off season with each starting a game each this preseason. Munchak said Hasselbeck was way ahead of Locker last season. But Locker caught up and won the job with his ability to move the team and score points. Locker will play 40 to 50 snaps Thursday night against Arizona.

Rookie quarterback Ryan Tannehill has won the Miami Dolphins’ starting job. First-year coach Joe Philbin announced following practice Monday that Tannehill will start the Dolphins’ opener Sept. 9 at Houston. Tannehill beat out Matt Moore, who finished last year as Miami’s starter. Training camp began with a three-way competition for the job, but veteran David Garrard fell out of contention when he underwent minor knee surgery Aug. 11. Tannehill, who played at Texas A&M, was drafted with the eighth overall pick in this year’s draft.

Dallas Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant will be treated for tendinitis in his right knee after a magnetic resonance imaging revealed no tear to a ligament or tendon. Bryant injured his knee during a joint practice Monday with the San Diego Chargers. The Cowboys said Bryant will be evaluated on a day-to-day basis. No timetable has been set for his return to practice.

The Atlanta Falcons have lost offensive tackle Will Svitek to a season-ending right arm injury.Coach Mike Smith said Monday Svitek suffered an upper right arm injury in Sunday’s practice. Smith provided no other details about the injury. Svitek played behind starting left tackle Sam Baker and starting right tackle Tyson Clabo in the Falcons’ two preseason games. Svitek, 30, started 10 games at left tackle in 2011. He was entering his fourth season with the Falcons after three seasons with Kansas City.

No alcohol or illegal drugs were found in Junior Seau’s system when he shot and killed himself at his home in May, authorities said Monday. The full autopsy results were released by the San Diego County medical examiner’s office in a 16-page report for the former NFL linebacker who was found by his girlfriend with a single gunshot wound to his chest. Seau did have Zolpidem, often found in the sleeping aid Ambien, and traces of the anti-inflammatory drug naproxen in his system when he died that were “consistent with therapeutic use,” wrote Deputy Medical Examiner Craig Nelson. The autopsy showed no underlying hemorrhaging or contusions on Seau’s brain, which appeared to be normal. His family has donated some of his brain tissue for research amid questions about whether any damage from his 20-year football career played some factor in his suicide.

TENNIS

Wozniacki opens defense

Caroline Wozniacki beat Ekaterina Makarova 6-3, 6-3 Monday in the first round of the New Haven Open, her 18th consecutive victory at the tournament. Wozniacki, the four-time defending champion, didn’t get a bye this year after being seeded third behind Agnieszka Radwanska and Petra Kvitova. She will face Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden in the second round. Arvidsson beat Melanie Oudin 6-4, 6-1. Sara Errani rallied from being 2-5 down in the second set for a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Maria Kirilenko of Russia had an easier time, winning her first-round match 6-2, 6-2 over Shahar Peer of Israel. Playing in only the third WTA main draw of her career, reigning NCAA champion Nicole Gibbs also won, beating fellow qualifier Alexa Glatch 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.

Two-time major champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and top-20 players Kaia Kanepi and Flavia Pennetta have pulled out of the U.S. Open. The U.S. Tennis Association did not give reasons for the three withdrawals Monday. Kuznetsova won the 2004 U.S. Open title and added the 2009 French Open championship. The 15th-ranked Kanepi withdrew from Wimbledon and the London Olympics because of a heel injury. The U.S. Open draw is Thursday and play begins Aug. 28.

CYCLING

Judge dismisses Armstrong case against USADA

A federal judge in Austin, Texas, threw out Lance Armstrong’s lawsuit against the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency on Monday, a decision that allows the agency’s drug case against the seven-time Tour de France winner to move ahead.

Armstrong, who repeatedly has denied doping, claimed in his lawsuit that USADA lacked jurisdiction and its arbitration process violates his constitutional rights.

U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks dismissed the lawsuit as speculative.

“With respect to Armstrong’s due process challenges, the court agrees they are without merit,” Sparks wrote in a 30-page order. “Alternatively, even if the court has jurisdiction over Armstrong’s remaining claims, the court finds they are best resolved through the well-established system of international arbitration, by those with expertise in the field, rather than by the unilateral edict of a single nation’s courts.”

Armstrong can try to overturn Sparks’ decision by going to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appealsin New Orleans. He also can agree to proceed with USADA’s arbitration or accept its sanctions.

In a governing body turf war, the International Cycling Union (UCI) says it has jurisdiction in the Armstrong matter, not USADA. USADA could be challenged before the Court of Arbitration forSport in Switzerland.

Armstrong was still considering his options.

USADA says Armstrong took steroids and blood boosters to win the Tour de France every year from 1999 to 2005. Penalties could include a lifetime ban from cycling and loss of his titles. USADA has said former teammates of Armstrong will testify that his teams had a long-running doping program.

Sports, Pages 16 on 08/21/2012

Upcoming Events