LITTLE ROCK — BASEBALL Howard to begin rehab
Ryan Howard will begin a rehab stint tonight, a day after Chase Utley returned to the PhiladelphiaPhillies’ lineup. Howard, the 2006 NL MVP, hasn’t played since tearing his left Achilles’ tendon on the final swing of the 2011 season in Game 5 of the NL division series against St. Louis. Howard will serve as the designated hitter for Class A Lakewood. He could return to the Phillies within three weeks. Utley homered in his first at-bat after missing the first 76 games with a chronic problem in both knees.
The Arizona Diamondbacks placed Daniel Hudson on the 15-day disabled list on Wednesday with a right elbow injury that could lead to season-ending surgery. Manager Kirk Gibson said an MRI exam Wednesday in Phoenix showed a tear in Hudson’s ulnar collateral ligament. Tommy John ligament-replacement surgery is a possibility. Hudson was 16-12 with a 3.49 ERA for Arizona in 2011, but has had difficulty this season. He was on the disabled list from April 21 to May 27 with a right shoulder impingement.
HOCKEY
Fehr: No deal in the works
The NHL season could start without a new labor agreement if both sides agree to continue talks beyond the Sept. 15 expiration of the current deal. NHL players association executive director Don Fehr said Wednesday “the players haven’t considered what they would do on Sept. 15 or any other date if no agreement is in place.” If there is no agreement by the expirationdate, work could go on under the old pact if management and players agree to that, Fehr said. The regular season is scheduled to start on Oct. 11. Fehr, the former head of the baseball players’ union, said there were a number of times during his 33 years there when a season went on without a collective bargaining agreement. Fehr spoke at a news conference in Chicago at the end of meetings with NHL players that began in that city on Monday. He said he expects formal talks with the league to begin this week with regular meetings through July. The league’s free-agent signing period begins on Sunday.
The St. Louis Blues and CoachKen Hitchcock, who led the team to its first playoff series victory in a decade last season, have agreed to a one-year contract extension through the 2013-2014 season with a mutual option for 2014-2015. The 60-year-old Hitchcock won the Jack Adams Award after producing the franchise’s first 100-point season since 2001 and its first postseason series win since 2002. The Blues tied for second overall in the NHL in the regular season and beat San Jose in the playoffs before getting swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings.
The Washington Capitals have traded All-Star defenseman Dennis Wideman to the Calgary Flamesfor a fifth-round pick in the 2013 NHL draft and minor league defenseman Jordan Henry. Wideman had 11 goals and 35 assists in 82 games for Washington last season. FOOTBALL
Former NFL exec dies at 74
Former NFL executive Eddie Jones, who spent 10 years as president of the Miami Dolphins, has died. He was 74. Jones died Wednesday morning, the Dolphins said. No cause was immediately given. Jones joined the Dolphins as vice president of administration and finance in 1988 before becoming executive vice president and general manager in 1990. He became team president in 1996 and held that position until retiring following the 2005 season.
NFL Players Association attorney Jeffrey Kessler said an arbitrator expects to rule within a week on arguments presented Wednesday concerning the Saints’ use of the NFL’s franchise tag on quarterback Drew Brees. Arbitrator Stephen Burbank is handling the matter of how to interpret language in the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement, which requires any club that designates a player as a franchise player for the third time to give that player a 44 percent raise. Brees, once a franchise tag player with San Diego, has been designated New Orleans’ franchise player in 2012. The QB seeks clarity on whether the raise for third-time franchise players applies to his career, or only his stint with one team.
BASKETBALL
Former Knick dead at 55
Pat Cummings, who played with five NBA teams over a 12-year career, was found dead in a New York apartment, according to police. He was 55. The 6-9 Cummings, a native of Johnstown, Pa., was found Tuesday afternoon, police said Wednesday. They said the cause of death was to be determined but foul play wasn’t suspected.
BASKETBALL Drexler: Book quotes ‘totally ludicrous’
HOUSTON - Clyde Drexler denied Wednesday making negative statements attributed to him about Magic Johnson in an soon-to-be-released book about the Dream Team.
In Jack McCallum’s book, Dream Team, Drexler said Johnson only earned a spot on the Olympic team and the MVP award in the 1992 All-Star game out of pity resulting from his HIV diagnosis the previous year.
“He couldn’t play much by that time. He couldn’t guard his shadow,” Drexler is quoted as saying in the book. “But you have to understand what was going on then. Everybody kept waiting for Magic to die. Every time he’d run up the court everybody would feel sorry for the guy, and he’d get all that benefit of the doubt.”
Drexler said in a phone interview that the quotes attributed to him were “totally ludicrous” and he has “no idea” where Mc-Callum got them. In a statement released through the HoustonRockets, Drexler said he would’ve never said those things and that Johnson is one of his closest long-time friends.
“Magic and I have a friendship that goes back more than 28 years and I would never say such hurtful things,” Drexler’s statement said. “I have reached out to Magic to assure him that I did not say those things and to apologize to him and his family for even having to respond to something as baseless as this.”
McCallum’s book is due out on July 10.
On his website, McCallum said the excerpt is accurate. Deadspin.com ran the excerpt on Tuesday, and McCallum said the site mischaracterized the context. Drexler was referring to the opinion of many people in the league, McCallum said, and not specifically members of the 1992 Olympic team.
McCallum said he didn’t feel comfortable writing about what Drexler said, but he stands by the quote.
Sports, Pages 14 on 06/28/2012