Off the wire

FOOTBALL Bills GM steps down

Buddy Nix stepped down as the Buffalo Bills General Manager on Monday, the team announced. Nix, 73, will remain with the team in a new role as special assistant. Buffalo drafted Florida State quarterback EJ Manuel with the 16th pick last month as the team is undergoing an overhaul with new coach Doug Marrone. Assistant general manager Doug Whaley, entering his fourth season with the Bills, is expected to take over. Though the Bills did not immediately announced Nix’s replacement, the team has spent much of the past year grooming Whaley to succeed Nix. In signing Whaley to a long-term contract extension in February, both Nix and team president Russ Brandon referred to Whaley as someone who will “transition” into the top job “when the time comes.” Whaley is a former scout and executive with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The next general manager will become the team’s fifth since John Butler was fired during the 2000 season.Buffalo has not enjoyed a winning season since going 9-7 in 2004. And it has not made the playoffs in 13 seasons - the NFL’s longest active drought. Under Nix, the Bills went 16-32, including two consecutive 6-10 finishes in 2011 and 2012.

BASKETBALL

Grizzlies assistant leaves

Memphis Grizzlies assistant Barry Hecker has left the team during the Western Conference semifinals for what Coach Lionel Hollins says is a “personal matter.” Hollins said after the Monday morning shootaround that Hecker’s departure is “nothing that’s public consumption.” Hecker was with the Grizzlies for their Game 2 victory in Oklahoma City. But he was not with the team in Memphis for Saturday night’s 87-81 victory that gave the Grizzlies a 2-1 lead. Team officials said only that Hecker is “no longer” with the Grizzlies. Hecker had been on Hollins’ staff in Memphis the past five seasons. Hecker also has worked as a scout, player personnel director and assistant coach for the Los Angeles Clippers and Cleveland Cavaliers.

Chattanooga has hired VCU assistant Will Wade as the Mocs’ new men’s coach, hoping his experience helping the VCU Rams develop into an NCAA Tournament perennialcan get the program back on the winning track. Wade had been on Shaka Smart’s VCU staff the past four seasons and Wade helped the Rams make four consecutive postseason appearances, including three NCAA Tournament trips in a row and the 2011 Final Four. VCU went 27-9 this season and finished with a No. 23 ranking nationally. He will be introduced today in Chattanooga. Wade replaces John Shulman, who was fired last month with his last winning season in 2009 when he led the Mocs to the NCAA Tournament.HOCKEY Boogaard family sues NHL

Joanne Boogard and other family members have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the National Hockey League, blaming the league for brain damage her son Derek suffered playing the gameand for his addiction to prescription painkillers. Derek Boogaard died of an accidental overdose of pain medication and alcohol two years ago; his body was found on May 13, 2011. Boogaard, who was 28, was posthumously diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain ailment that can be caused by repeated blows to the head, according to the 55-page lawsuit filed in Cook County (Ill.) Circuit Court late Friday. One of the attorneys who filed the lawsuit, William Gibbs, said Monday the NHL profited from Boogaard’s physical abilities as team doctors dispensed “pain pills like candy” after he suffered repeated injuries. The NHL declined to comment on the lawsuit. The allegations of the suit mirror those by thousands of former football players against the NFL. Both contend the leagues knowingly withheld informationon the connection between the violent collisions in their sport and traumatic brain injury, and pushed players to play through pain, an approach that brought about longterm health issues. Boogaard scored only three goals in his six-season career in 277 regular season games but took part in at least 66 on-ice fights; in the 2008-2009 season with the Minnesota Wild, he received 1,021 prescriptions from NHL team physicians, dentists, trainers and staff, the lawsuit says. He was under contract with the New York Rangers at the time of his death. He played his first five NHL seasons with the Minnesota Wild and one season with the Rangers after signing a four-year, $6.5 million contract with New York in July 2010. Boogaard’s family filed a lawsuit against the NHL Players Association last September, seeking $9.8 million. The family said the union, after expressing interest in helping pursue a case against the league, missed a deadline for filing a grievance. A judge ruled the family waited too long to act and dismissed the case this spring.

TENNIS Venus upset

Venus Williams lost in the first round of the Italian Open to Laura Robson in Rome. Now sister Serena Williams will get a chance to even the score. Robson, a quickly improving 19-year-old British player, beat Venus Williams 6-3, 6-2 on Monday to set up a second-round match with top-ranked Serena Williams. Robson won the Wimbledon junior title at 14. At last week’s Madrid Open, she upset fourth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska before losing in the third round to 16th-seeded Ana Ivanovic in a third-set tiebreaker. The top eight seeds in Rome, including Serena Williams, have first-round byes. In other matches, ninth-seeded Samantha Stosur cruised past Su-Wei Hsieh of Taiwan 6-2, 6-3 and two-time champion Jelena Jankovic overpowered Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria 6-3, 6-0. In men’s action, 11th-seeded Marin Cilic beat Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-2, and Italian wild card Potito Starace rallied past Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to set up a match against second-seeded Roger Federer. In a late match, 16th-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan dispatched Italian wild card Paolo Lorenzi 6-2, 6-4.

HORSE RACING Orb arrives at Pimlico for Preakness

BALTIMORE - Orb has settled into the place reserved for royalty at Pimlico Race Course - stall 40.

The Triple Crown hopeful arrived at Pimlico on Monday afternoon, five days before the Preakness. He was immediately taken to stall 40 at the Stakes Barn, which traditionally serves as home to the Kentucky Derby winner.

Some of the greatest horses in history have been kept there, including Secretariat (1973), Seattle Slew (1977) and Affirmed (1978), the last Triple Crown winner. “I can’t believe how proud I am,” trainer Shug McGaughey said.

Orb was shipped by van after a workout at Belmont Park. With exercise rider Jennifer Patterson aboard, Orb seemed to move effortlessly around the track on a clear, sunny day. He breezed four furlongs in 47.18 seconds and galloped out five furlongs in 59.54.

“The way he worked this morning was nothing short of magnificent,” McGaughey said. “I couldn’t be any happier where we are, and I’m very excited about Saturday afternoon.”

McGaughey wasn’t concerned with the fast fractions, which came nine days after running 1¼miles in the Derby.

“I think it’s a tribute to the way he came out of the Derby, and to come back and be able to have a work like that and do it the way he did it - I couldn’t be more thrilled,” he said in New York. “Right now, I’m on cloud nine. The way he was striding today, the way he held his leads through the lane, I thought it was spectacular.”

Orb was the second horse to arrive at Pimlico, joining Goldencents, the 17th-place finisher in the Derby.

McGaughey has never won a Preakness. The last time he tried was in 1989, when Kentucky Derby runner-up Easy Goer lost to Sunday Silence by a nose.

A victory in the 1 3/16-mile Preakness on Saturday would set up a Triple Crown try in the Belmont Stakes on June 8.

Orb, owned by the Phipps Stable and Stuart Janney III, takes a five-race winning streak in the Preakness, where he will face what look to be nine challengers. Among them are Derby runners Mylute (fifth), Oxbow (sixth), Will Take Charge (eighth), Itsmyluckyday (15th) and Goldencents. Also set for the race is Departing, winner of the Illinois Derby.

Sports, Pages 18 on 05/14/2013

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