NFL, troubled players meet

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and league officials met with Adam “Pacman” Jones on Tuesday as the Tennessee Titans’ cornerback tried to avoid a long suspension after a series of arrests.

Goodell and his staff also met with Cincinnati receiver Chris Henry and members of the NFL Players Assn. executive board as he prepared a tougher policy on players who violate the law.

Henry is one of nine Bengals who were arrested last season, leading to calls for a crackdown on player behavior. But Jones has become the focus for Goodell, who took over as commissioner in September.

Goodell has said he will announce his decision on suspensions or other disciplinary action before the April 28 draft.

Kicker Olindo Mare was traded by Miami to New Orleans for the Saints’ sixth-round pick in this month’s draft. The Dolphins had earlier signed former New York Giants kicker Jay Feely.

The Titans are interested enough after visiting with San Diego running back Michael Turner that they have talked with his agent and the Chargers about acquiring him in a trade.

Free-agent David Carr traveled to North Carolina to visit with a Panthers team needing a backup quarterback. Carr, the No. 1 overall pick by Houston in the 2002 draft, was released by the Texans last month.

The NFL will allow more local television stations to cover games from the sidelines next season under a policy change prompted by complaints from broadcast media.

The Green Bay Packers have appointed a woman as a vice president for the first time in the team’s 89-year history. Vicki Vannieuwenhoven was selected as vice president of finance.

SOCCER

Blanco and Fire

agree to contract

Mexican star Cuauhtemoc Blanco joined the Chicago Fire, signing a contract to become the third player to join a Major League Soccer club under the designated player rule.

Blanco, 34, will return to Mexico City’s Club America for the remainder of the season. He is expected to join the Fire in July.

Liverpool defeated PSV Eindhoven, 3-0, and AC Milan and Bayern Munich battled to a 2-2 tie in the first leg of the European Champions League quarterfinals.

The Italian Senate passed anti-violence laws that were put into effect after a policeman was killed during a soccer riot two months ago.

Diego Maradona’s health continued to improve while undergoing treatment for acute hepatitis related to alcohol abuse at a Buenos Aires hospital.

MISCELLANY

Former Grambling

coach is hospitalized

Former Grambling State coach Eddie Robinson was hospitalized in stable condition after suffering “a setback,” according to a statement from the family.

Robinson, 88, who coached football at Grambling for 56 years, has had Alzheimer’s disease for years. In and out of a nursing home for the last year, Robinson had been at home recently.

Charter Communications reached an agreement in principle that ended the threat of the Golf Channel being removed from its channel lineup at midnight tonight.

Charter serves 530,000 homes in the Los Angeles market.

-- Greg Johnson

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A fund aimed at helping permanently disabled jockeys is nearly broke, meaning nearly five dozen jockeys will not receive payments they expect this month, the head of the Jockeys’ Guild said.

Dwight Manley, manager of the Jockeys’ Guild, said the program is operating month to month because of a lack of support from horsemen and others in the industry.

Tasha Schwikert, Anna Li, Jordan Schwikert and Michelle Selesky of UCLA have been chosen to the All-Pacific 10 Conference gymnastics team. Tasha Schwikert, a junior who was the conference’s all-around champion, was gymnast of the year.

Venus Williams needed only an hour to defeat Aravane Rezai, 6-1, 6-2, in the opening round of the Bausch & Lomb Championships, the WTA’s first clay-court event of the year, at Amelia Island, Fla.

South Africa handled underdog Ireland by seven wickets with 21 balls to spare in a Super 8 match at cricket’s World Cup in Bridgetown, Barbados.

Ted Ligety won the giant slalom at the U.S. Alpine Championships at Girdwood, Alaska, for his fifth national title and second this week.

A DNA sample taken from 1997 Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich has been matched to blood bags seized in the Spanish doping scandal, German prosecutors said. Ullrich retired from cycling Feb. 26.

The Indy Racing League fined driver Kosuke Matsuura an undisclosed amount of money for using vulgarity during a television interview after a crash in Sunday’s St. Petersburg Grand Prix.

NASCAR will mandate a change in the design of the Car of Tomorrow in an attempt to alleviate the heat that caused foam to melt in several cars last weekend at Martinsville, Va.

BMW Oracle Racing rallied past America’s Cup champion Alinghi in the first fleet race of the Louis Vuitton Act 13 off the coast of Valencia, Spain.