SportsLog

Welker may attend Patriots’ minicamp

May 15, 2012

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NFL

Patriots receiver Wes Welker said on Monday there’s still a chance he will attend the Patriots’ minicamp this month. “We’re still kind of waiting, but I’d really like to be there,’’ Welker told WEEI. “I don’t know. To say I’m going one way or another right now, I’m not going to say definite or anything like that. But I would definitely like to be at those minicamps for sure.’’ Welker, who was franchised for the 2012 season, said he is working with the team on a new deal. “I think we’re all on the same page,’’ Welker said. “And we’re all trying to collectively come together and make something happen.’’ . . . Governor Mark Dayton signed off on a hard-fought agreement to build the Vikings a $975 million stadium at the downtown Minneapolis site of the team’s current home, the Metrodome. There was strong opposition to the deal by some taxpayers and elected officials, who argued that the public shouldn’t have to shoulder most of the costs. The Vikings hope to move in by 2016, and will sign a 30-year lease. The team will pay just under half the cost of the $975 million, with the state and city of Minneapolis paying the rest. The Minneapolis City Council must give final approval to its share of the cost, with a vote expected later this month . . . The Rams and the public entity that operates the Edward Jones Dome are far apart in their plans on how to improve the facility. While St. Louis’s mayor, Francis Slay, is urging rejection of the Rams’ plan, his top aide said it is far too soon to sound the alarm that the city may lose an NFL team for the second time since 1987. Owner Stan Kroenke has been non-committal about the team’s future if the dome isn’t improved.

Arbitrator in Braun decision is fired

baseball

Major League Baseball management fired Shyam Das, the arbitrator who overturned Ryan Braun’s drug suspension in February. MLB informed Das and the players’ association of its decision last week. Das had been baseball’s permanent arbitrator since 1999, part of what technically is a three-man panel that also includes a representative of management and labor. The sides will now try to select a successor. Das, a graduate of Harvard and Yale University Law School, also has been an arbitrator for the NFL since 2004 and is scheduled to hear a grievance in the New Orleans Saints bounty case Wednesday. Management publicly disagreed with his decision to overturn the 50-game suspension of Braun for a positive drug test after lawyers for the NL MVP argued that the collection procedures specified in baseball’s drug agreement for the urine sample were not followed. The 100-game suspension of Colorado catcher Eliezer Alfonzo for a second positive test, announced Sept. 14, was dropped Monday because of the same procedural issues that came up in the Braun case . . . Andy Pettitte will be guaranteed his full $2.5 million from the Yankees Thursday.

Krzyzewski: 2012 may be last Games

Olympics

Mike Krzyzewski said he thinks the London Olympics will be his last coaching men’s basketball for the United States. The Duke coach was brought in before the 2008 Games to revive a struggling Olympic team. USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo, meanwhile, said he would stick around after London . . . Colangelo considers about 10 team spots set “on paper,’’ with the rest to be determined over two days of practice before the squad is announced July 7. The Americans were granted an extension to the deadline to select the roster by the US Olympic Committee after four candidates were injured . . . IOC president Jacques Rogge doesn’t expect a “flood of positive cases’’ when the Olympic body retests doping samples from the 2004 Athens Games before they are destroyed.

Guilty verdict in Middle Tenn. death

Colleges

A jury convicted the roommate of Middle Tennessee basketball player Tina Stewart of second-degree murder in the athlete’s 2011 stabbing death. Jurors spent about two hours deliberating before reaching a verdict against 19-year-old Shanterrica Madden in the March 2, 2011, stabbing of Stewart at an off-campus apartment they shared . . . Heisman Trophy winner and BYU star Ty Detmer was selected to the College Football Hall of Fame, the National Football Foundation announced. The rest of the class will be revealed Tuesday in New York. Detmer won the Heisman in 1990 . . . Colonial Athletic Association commissioner Tom Yeager said he hasn’t been contacted by Virginia Commonwealth University with any news that the Rams are leaving the conference. CBSSports.com cited “industry sources’’ reporting that VCU is joining the Atlantic 10 in 2013 . . . Police in Tulsa, Okla., said Nolan Richardson III - the son of former Arkansas and Tulsa basketball coach Nolan Richardson - was found dead in his home. A cause of death was not immediately released but police said the 47-year-old’s death appears to be due to natural causes.

Ivanovic starts Italian Open with win

Miscellany

In a matchup of former French Open champions, Ana Ivanovic beat Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-4, 6-3, in a first-round match at the Italian Open. For the men, John Isner beat Philipp Kohlschreiber, 2-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 . . . Tiger Woods will play in the Memorial Tournament this month and The Greenbrier Classic July 5-8 . . . Chris Marinaro of Pittsfield and Steve Sokol of Milford, Conn., each shot 2-under-par 70s in Pittsfield and Chris Scialo of New York shot a 5-under 67 in Ipswich to lead qualifiers for the Massachusetts Open . . . Aston Villa fired manager Alex McLeish after just one season in charge of the Premier League club.