Guillen apologizes for tirade at team
Two days after ripping them for not backing him up after he was hit by a pitch, Jose Guillen apologized to his Anaheim Angels teammates yesterday during a team meeting. "I know those comments are supposed to be made inside the clubhouse," he said. Guillen went on a profanity-laced tirade after the Angels' 6-5, 10-inning loss to Toronto Monday night . . . The Texas Rangers placed righthander Chan Ho Park on the 15-day disabled list and recalled righthanded reliever Rosman Garcia from Triple A Oklahoma. Park, 2-4 with a 5.80 ERA in eight starts, has been bothered by a sore lower back . . . Safety Erik Coleman, who played at Washington State, signed with the New York Jets, the first of the team's 10 draft picks to come to terms. He was drafted 143d (fifth round) . . . The estate of Hall of Fame center Mike Webster has sued the NFL's retirement and disability plans for denying him a "fair" disability pension for injuries caused by his football career. Webster, who played center for the Steelers from 1974 to 1989, died in 2002 at 50. According to the suit, Webster, who played 177 consecutive games, was diagnosed with brain damage resulting from the long-term head trauma he sustained during his NFL career . . . Tracy McGrady will not play for the US men's basketball team at the Olympics, US coach Larry Brown said. "Tracy dropped out," Brown said, breaking the news of yet another superstar's withdrawal from the roster. McGrady joins Ray Allen, Jason Kidd, Kevin Garnett, Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter, Elton Brand, and Kenyon Martin among players who have withdrawn from the team or declined invitations. Brown indicated McGrady's decision to get married influenced the decision . . . Former NBA player Sam Mitchell was hired as the top assistant coach of the expansion Charlotte Bobcats. Mitchell, who played 13 seasons with Minnesota and Indiana, spent the past two seasons as an assistant with the Milwaukee Bucks . . . Commissioner David Stern wants the NBA to send some of its players to the minor league. Stern proposed expanding the National Basketball Development League from its current six- or seven-team structure to 15 franchises, allowing each NBA team to farm out one young player on its roster.
MISCELLANY
Smarty Jones's jockey fined again
Smarty Jones's jockey Stewart Elliott was fined again for submitting an inaccurate riders' application, this time by the New York State Racing and Wagering Board. Elliott was fined $500 for "making false statements in relation to his license application," the board said. The fine will not affect Elliott's riding status for the June 5 Belmont Stakes, when the jockey will ride the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner and attempt to win the Triple Crown. Elliott was fined $1,000 two weeks ago by the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority . . . FC Porto won the European Champions Cup for the second time, beating AS Monaco, 3-0, in the final last night in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Carlos Alberto, a 19-year-old forward, scored from 12 yards out six minutes before halftime. Deco made it 2-0 in the 71st minute off a pass from substitute Dmitri Alenitchev, and Alenitchev scored the final goal in the 75th minute . . . Olympic silver medalist Rocky Juarez will take a step up in class when he meets unbeaten Zahir Raheem July 17 in a featherweight elimination fight on a card that includes Houston lightweight Juan Diaz going after his first professional world title against World Boxing Association lightweight champion Lakva Sim. The card will be televised on HBO. Juarez is unbeaten in 20 fights since turning pro after winning a silver medal in Sydney, while Raheem is 25-0 and has knocked out five of his last six opponents. The fight is an elimination bout for the International Boxing Federation No. 1 ranking . . . Former Colorado quarterback John Hessler, 29, checked out of a hospital in Denver and returned to his parents' home, another milestone in his long recovery from a serious head injury from a hit-and-run accident in October . . . Police raided the hotel rooms of eight cyclists in the Giro d'Italia before dawn but found no doping substances. Hundreds of officers searched the homes of athletes, trainers, and medical personnel around Italy. Fifteen professional cyclists, staying in the Alpine town of Brunico between mountain stages of Italy's top cycling competition, were among 138 people under investigation, Colonel Stefano Ortolani said.
