Off the wire

LITTLE ROCK — FOOTBALL

NFL union wants new probe

NFL Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith on Friday called for the NFL to scrap the results of a months-long investigation into the New Orleans Saints’ alleged bounty program. Smith, calling the investigation “unprofessional, unsubstantiated and incomplete,” said he believes a new investigation should be launched into the program, which the NFL said ran in 2009-2011. Smith wrote a letter to Commissioner Roger Goodell to detail his concerns about the investigation. Goodell held an appeal hearing Monday for four players suspended in connection with the alleged program: Jonathan Vilma, Will Smith, Anthony Hargrove and Scott Fujita. “In the days since the June 18 hearing, firsthand witnesses to the Saints defensive team meetings who the league actually interviewed have clearly and publicly stated that the NFL grossly mischaracterized the information they provided to NFL investigators and knowingly misrepresented the facts surrounding this investigation,” Smith wrote. He cited statements from Saints interim head coach Joe Vitt, Hargrove and Mike Ornstein, a close friend of suspended Coach Sean Payton, who was implicated in the bounty program, that contradicted findings by NFL investigators. Smith also complained that the league did not allow witnesses to appear at Monday’s hearing. Goodell did not immediately respond to Smith’s call for a new investigation. Jeff Pash, the NFL’s lead attorney who was among those who briefed reporters on the evidence presented at the appeal, expressed disappointment Smith didn’t participate in the hearing.

Mississippi State Athletic Director Scott Stricklin said construction should begin before the end of the next football season on an $80 million expansion to add about 6,000 seats to the stadium. Stricklin said that the project is out for bid, and might be awarded by the end of July. It will be completed before the 2014 season - and the university’s centennial. Davis Wade Stadium seats 55,082. It is the second-oldest stadium in the Football Bowl Subdivision and second smallest stadium in the SEC.

BASKETBALL

Wade could miss Olympics

Dwyane Wade is unsure if he will be able to compete in the London Olympics this summer. The Miami Heat guard said Friday that he will soon have his ailing left knee examined, and acknowledged that surgery might be a possibility. Wade played through pain in this year’s playoffs, helping the Heat win the NBA Finals for the second time. Wade appeared in all 23 postseason games for Miami, averaging 22.8 points. Wade said he isn’t sure what the exact problem is with his knee, which was drained during the second round of the playoffs.

LSU Coach Nikki Caldwell said junior college standout La-Quinta Jefferson has committed to transfer to LSU for the 2013-2014 season. Jefferson, a 6-0 guard at Jefferson College in Missouri, will enroll at LSU in the spring of 2013 and will have two years of remaining eligibility when she joins the Lady Tigers. Caldwell called Jefferson “a tremendous all-around player and scorer.” Jefferson, a native of La Vergne, Tenn., averaged 17.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.9 steals per game for Jefferson College as a sophomore last season.

TENNIS

Roddick wins 600th match

Andy Roddick claimed his 600th career singles victory and reached the Eastbourne final in Eastbourne, England, when Steve Darcis retired Friday after receiving treatment on his back. Roddick was leading 6-3, 3-1 when Darcis stopped, sending the American into his first final since winning Memphis in February 2011. Roddick next faces third-seeded Andreas Seppi, who beat American Ryan Harrison 7-5, 6-1. Sixth seeded Roddick was in control throughout against Darcis. The Belgian dropped his serve at the start of the second set after leading 40-0, and retired after playing three more games.

MOTOR SPORTS

Ambrose takes pole

Marcos Ambrose had never won a Sprint Cup Series pole before last week. Now he has two in a row. Ambrose won the top starting spot for Sunday’s race at Sonoma, Calif., with a fast lap around the 1.99-mile road course Friday. Jeff Gordon was the last driver to attempt to qualify, and just missed the pole to finish second. Jimmie Johnson was third.

Dario Franchitti won the third of the first three qualifying heat races Friday to take the pole for the Iowa Corn Indy 250 in Newton, Iowa. Franchitti, the Indianapolis 500 winner, has two victories in four starts on Iowa’s short oval. Helio Castroneves will start on the front row with Franchitti, followed by 2011 winner Marco Andretti, James Hinchcliffe and Ryan Briscoe.

HORSE RACING

I’ll Have Another to stud

Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner I’ll Have Another is headed to stud duty in Japan. A representative of Paul Reddam said Friday that the owner has reached an agreement to sell the colt to Shigeyuki Okada of Big Red Farm on the island of Hokkaido. Financial terms were not disclosed. I’ll Have Another will stand at stud starting with the 2013 breeding season alongside two-time Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Conduit. The colt is tentatively set to leave for Japan in August.

DIVING

Conway’s Stanley 2nd at trials

Nick McCrory and David Boudia earned spots on the U.S. Olympic synchronized diving team Thursday, easily outdistancing the team of Conway’s Toby Stanley and Steele Johnson of Carmel, Ind., in the 10-meter platform at the U.S. trials in Seattle. McCrory and Boudia scored three 10s in the six-dive final and totaled 1,387.66 points in the round. “Our name is out there,” said Stanley, whose team finished with 1,207.08 points. “They’ll be looking for us in 2016.” Stanley and Johnson also competed in Friday night’s 3-meter springboard event but did not qualify.

SOCCER Germany beats Greece

GDANSK, Poland - Germany scored three second-half goals to reach the European Championship semifinals for a record seventh time Friday after a 4-2 victory over Greece.

Philipp Lahm gave Germany the lead in the 39th minute before Georgios Samaras tied it for Greece in the 55th, but Sami Khedira, Miroslav Klose and Marco Reus all scored to pull Germany ahead. Greece converted a penalty kick in the 89th minute by Dimitris Salpigidis.

The match was played amid a political background between the countries. Germany has been a major contributor to economic bailouts for Greece and was instrumental in demanding unpopular spending cuts.

Germany dominated nearly the entire match, but the Greek defense held strong for much of the first half. Lahm finally put his team in front by controlling the ball with his chest and dribbling toward the middle before sending a long-distance shot into the corner off the hand of Greece goalkeeper Michalis Sifakis.

The Greeks looked better at the start of the second half, and even tied the game when Samaras knocked the ball past Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer after a cross from Dimitris Salpigidis.

But after that goal, it was back to being all Germany. Khedira volleyed in a cross from Jerome Boateng in the 61st, and Klose headed in a free kick from Mesut Oezil in the 68th. Reus made it 4-1 in the 74th, volleying a shot in off the underside of the crossbar after Sifakis had saved a shot from Klose.

Salpigidis scored the penalty for Greece after Boateng was called for a hand ball.