Off the wire

— BASEBALL Gamel tears ACL

Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Mat Gamel has torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee for the second time in less than a year and will miss the season. The 27-year-old was injured May 1 at San Diego when he hit a wall while chasing Nick Hundley’s foul pop-up, cutting short his season after 21 games. Gamel re-injured the knee Saturday during Milwaukee’s first full-squad workout this year. A magnetic resonance imaging Sunday revealed the extent of the injury. Gamel has been restricted to 106 games in the majors since his debut in 2008, mostly because of injuries, including a torn muscle in his right shoulder in March 2010 and a strained his right oblique in February 2011.

Chicago Cubs starter Matt Garza will undergo a magnetic resonance imaging to determine the severity of the side injury he sustained while pitching batting practice, his first extensive work since last July. Garza, who made just 18 starts last season because of an elbow injury, felt a twinge in his side while throwing Sunday. Garza went 5-7 with a 3.91 ERA last season. He made his final start July 21, when he left a game in St. Louis because of a “stress reaction” in his elbow.

Miami Marlins first baseman Casey Kotchman has received four stitches to close a cut on his left ring finger after running into a pop-up machine during infield drills. Manager Mike Redmond said Kotchman would be evaluated today. Kotchman signed a minor league contract with Miami on Friday. Known for his defense, Kotchman has a career .262 average with 71 home runs and 387 RBI in nine seasons.

The Arizona Diamondbacks have acquired outfielder Tony Campana in a trade that sent right-handed pitchers Jesus Castillo and Erick Leal to the Chicago Cubs. The 26-year-old Campana hit .264 with 30 stolen bases in 89 games with the Cubs last season. He was second in the NL with a stolen base percentage of 90.9 and was tied for third in bunt hits with eight. Campana played 184 games in two seasons with Chicago, hitting .262 with 11RBI and 54 steals. Leal and Castillo are both 17-year-olds who signed as nondrafted free agents in 2011.

FOOTBALL Saturday released

The Green Bay Packers have released veteran center Jeff Saturday. Saturday signed a two-year deal with the Packers as an unrestricted free agent in March 2012 after playing 13 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts. He had been the Colts’ full-time starting center since 2000. Saturday, a six-time Pro Bowl selection in 14 seasons, was benched as a starter last season with two games left in the regular season in favor of Evan Dietrich-Smith.

The Kansas City Chiefs have signed former Minnesota Vikings safety Husain Abdullah, who gave up football last season to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, in an attempt to add depth to their defensive backfield. A practicing Muslim, Abdullah turned down a contract offer from Minnesota to speak at mosques across the country along with his brother, former Arizona Cardinals defensive back Hamza Abdullah. Husain Abdullah entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 2008. The former Washington State star made 24 starts in 54 games over the next four seasons for the Vikings, making 167 tackles and two sacks with four interceptions. He also was a contributor on special teams.

Da‘Quan Bowers, a defensive end for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was arrested Monday at LaGuardia Airport in New York after police found a loaded handgun in his luggage. The 22-year-old athlete has been charged with criminal possession of a weapon. Bowers played college football for Clemson University and was chosen by the Buccaneers in the 2011 NFL Draft.

BASKETBALL Johnson suspended

Mississippi State forward Roquez Johnson has been suspended indefinitely after the school said he violated team rules. The 6-7 sophomore is averaging 8.8 points and 4.5 rebounds this season and has played in 23 games, starting eight. Johnson’s suspension, which was announced Monday, could leave Mississippi State with just five scholarship players and two walk-ons for Wednesday’s game at Alabama. Mississippi State has lost 10 consecutive games.

The Philadelphia 76ers have signed guard Jeremy Pargo for the remainder of the season. Pargo was playing on a 10-day contract. He had 12 points, 6 assists and 4 rebounds in his debut against Charlotte on Feb. 9, and has averaged 8 points, 2.7 assists and 2.3 rebounds in three games. Pargo played in 27 games for Cleveland this season, making 11 starts. He averaged 7.8 points, 2.6 assists and 1.3 rebounds with the Cavaliers.

Former North Carolina State basketball coach Sidney Lowe was arrested Monday and charged with failing to file his North Carolina state income taxes for three years. Lowe didn’t file returns in 2009, 2010 and 2011 - the last three years he coached the Wolfpack, according to the state Department of Revenue. He was booked at the Wake County jail Monday and released on a $10,000 unsecured bond on the misdemeanor charges. Lowe was paid a base salary of around $210,000 per year. That was boosted to $760,000 with television and radio commitments, and with bonuses and endorsements could have been up to $900,000 a year. A contract settlement after his 2011 resignation was expected to pay Lowe around $900,000, Athletic Director Debbie Yow said then. Lowe is currently an assistant coach for the Utah Jazz.

ATHLETICS NCAA president making staff changes

INDIANAPOLIS - The NCAA’s home-grown scandal is hitting hard at headquarters.

President Mark Emmert announced Monday that Julie Roe Lach, the vice president of enforcement, is leaving and will soon be replaced by private attorney Jonathan Duncan after her role in the botched investigation at the University of Miami. He even suggested the NCAA’s board of directors and executive committee could hold him accountable.

After releasing a 55-page report detailing how the NCAA violated its own practices and policies by paying the attorney for convicted Ponzi-schemer Nevin Shapiro thousands of dollars to help with the Miami case, Emmert spent more than an hour doing damage control on the latest black eye to hit the organization.

“I think the damage is, first of all, for those people who were already skeptical or cynics, this feeds into their cynicism,” Emmert told The Associated Press after a conference call with other reporters. “For those of us who have great confidence in all the people around this building, it’s painful to have to deal with an issue that fails to live up to our standards and expectations. I think that’s the challenge for all of us that work here.”

The report, written by attorney Kenneth L. Wainstein, details how now-former NCAA investigator Ameen Najjar appeared to manipulate the process by hiring Maria Elena Perez, Shapiro’s attorney, to help the NCAA obtain information from a bankruptcy proceeding - information that would have otherwise been unavailable. Shapiro has said that it provided improper benefits to dozens of football and basketball players at Miami.

According to the report, Lach obtained clearance for paying Perez, but the NCAA’s legal staff nixed the idea. Najjar then contacted Perez himself with what the report describes as a “way around” the road block.

The report said Najjar, who left the NCAA last spring, assured Lach and Tom Hosty, the managing director of enforcement, that the legal staff had approved the deal when it had not. Najjar did not return phone messages Monday.

The NCAA didn’t figure out what happened, the report said, until Perez billed the NCAA $57,115 for hours in August. By that time, the NCAA had already paid out approximately $10,500 to Perez in expenses.

Sports, Pages 18 on 02/19/2013

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