Off the wire

Dale Earnhardt Jr., is shown during driver introductions before the start of the NASCAR Sprint Cup auto race at Daytona International Speedway, Saturday, July 2, 2016, in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., is shown during driver introductions before the start of the NASCAR Sprint Cup auto race at Daytona International Speedway, Saturday, July 2, 2016, in Daytona Beach, Fla.

FOOTBALL

photo

AP Photo/File

In this Nov. 14, 2014, file photo, Jeff Gordon celebrates after qualifying laps for the EcoBoost 400 auto race in Homestead, Fla.

NFL doctor to retire

Dr. Elliot J. Pellman, the rheumatologist who came to personify the NFL's mishandling of brain trauma, is retiring, and the league will look for a chief medical officer to work on health and safety issues on a full-time basis, Commissioner Roger Goodell informed all 32 clubs on Wednesday. Pellman was asked by Goodell to retire, according to an individual with knowledge of the situation. Despite having no expertise in neurology or brain science, Pellman long denied a link between head trauma and brain damage while working for nearly 30 years for the New York Jets and the NFL. As a medical adviser to the league, Pellman led the influential Mild Traumatic Brain Injury committee that was established by Paul Tagliabue, then the commissioner. As the chairman of the committee, Pellman was instrumental in shaping the NFL's response to the growing awareness of the dangers of concussions and repeated head hits. Pellman and the committee published research starting in the mid-1990s that played down or denied the dangers of concussions and head hits. Well after this research was discredited, Pellman remained at the NFL even as other members of the committee left. Pellman was also found to have distorted his medical record on his resume. In a memo to the owners obtained by the Los Angeles Times, Goodell said the new executive "will be responsible for working with our team medical staffs, the NFLPA (players union) and our medical committees ... (and) will add to our expertise to help ensure that clubs have access to the most up-to-date information" regarding injuries and injury prevention. Goodell wrote that the search would begin this week and be headed by Dr. Betsy Nabel, chief health and medical advisor to the NFL and president of Brigham and Women's Healthcare. "There is no higher priority than the health and safety of our players," Goodell wrote.

BASKETBALL

Attorney: Deadline missed

An attorney for former Southern Mississippi basketball coach Donnie Tyndall said the NCAA's Committee on Infractions missed its deadline to respond to the coach's appeal in the case. Attorney Don Jackson said in a motion that because the NCAA missed its Tuesday deadline, any response from the committee should be denied. It also requests that all previous penalties against Tyndall be dropped. The NCAA gave Tyndall a 10-year show-cause penalty in April after the governing body ruled the former Southern Miss coach orchestrated academic fraud designed to land recruits, as well as other misconduct that included trying to cover up payments to athletes and potential evidence. Tyndall was fired as Tennessee's coach in March 2015 due to the possibility the NCAA might penalize him.

TENNIS

Kerber tops Lister

Top-seeded Angelique Kerber dropped a set before beating local wild card Cornelia Lister 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 on Wednesday in the second round of the Stockholm Open. The second-ranked German, who lost to Serena Williams in the Wimbledon final earlier this month, struggled to adjust to the change of surface on the clay in Bastad. The left-handed Australian Open champion suffered a left elbow injury early in the match that taxed her normally powerful strokes. The 22-year-old Swede was quick to capitalize on Kerber's difficulties, breaking her serve three times in the first set to get an early lead, but Kerber bounced back after receiving treatment during a medical timeout. In other games, second-seeded Sara Errani of Italy defeated Switzerland's Viktorija Golubic 7-6 (6), 6-1, and Karin Knapp of Italy beat 2014 champion Mona Barthel of Germany 6-0, 7-5. Errani lined up a quarterfinal against Czech qualifier Katerina Siniakova, who ousted fifth-seeded Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. Sixth-seeded Laura Siegemund of Germany beat Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic 7-5, 7-6 (4) to advance to the last eight.

MOTOR SPORTS

Larson wins at Eldora

Kyle Larson rallied from a lap down to win the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race Wednesday night at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. The 23-year-old Sprint Cup driver had a flat right rear tire while leading about a third of the way through NASCAR's lone dirt race in its top three series. He got back on the lead lap with a free pass on a caution and quickly worked his way to the front. Larson held off Christopher Bell, the Oklahoma dirt racer who won last year for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Larson led 48 of 150 laps on the half-mile clay oval. Rico Abreu was third.

OLYMPICS

Rio drug lab gets OK

The World Anti-Doping Agency said Wednesday it has reinstated the laboratory that will carry out drug testing for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, which start in just over two weeks. The lab was shuttered last month for what WADA called "nonconformity with International Standard for Laboratories." In a statement on Wednesday, WADA said the Rio laboratory "has successfully complied with the ISL's requirements for reinstatement and no further suspension is required." The statement will be a relief for local organizers and the International Olympic Committee, which would have been forced to send thousands of samples abroad for testing. A statement from the Brazilian sports ministry, which oversees the Brazilian Doping Control Authority, said it received the news "with satisfaction" and said the laboratory was already up and running.

MOTOR SPORTS

Earnhardt to miss two more races

INDIANAPOLIS — Dale Earnhardt Jr. will miss two more races with concussion-like symptoms and Jeff Gordon will come out of retirement to drive the No. 88 car for at least the next two weekends.

Hendrick Motorsports announced Wednesday that NASCAR’s most popular driver will not compete at this weekend’s Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis and the next race, at Pocono, as he continues to recover from balance issues and nausea.

Earnhardt took himself out of the car last weekend in New Hampshire and was replaced by Alex Bowman. The team said he was evaluated Tuesday by doctors in Pittsburgh but was not cleared to drive.

“Our focus is giving Dale all the time he needs to recover,” team owner Rick Hendrick said. “There’s nothing we want more than to see him back in the race car, but we’ll continue to listen to the doctors and follow their lead. What’s best for Dale is what’s best for Hendrick Motorsports and everyone involved with the team. We’re all proud of him and looking forward to having him racing soon.”

While retirement talk for Earnhardt, 41, might be premature, his history of concussions is clearly a concern. He had two concussions in a six-week span in 2012 and missed two races, and this season he was involved in a 22-car wreck in Daytona and another wreck at Michigan International Speedway. He felt steadily worse, thinking it was allergies at first, and his head injury was confirmed after meeting with a neurological specialist.

Gordon, the four-time series champ and only five-time winner of the Brickyard 400, will make his season debut just a short drive away from his boyhood home in Pittsboro, Ind. He has not competed since retiring after last year’s season finale and has spent this season primarily as a commentator on Fox Sports’ NASCAR coverage.

Brickyard organizers had billed last year’s race as Gordon’s “last ride” on his home track.

Sports on 07/21/2016

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