Falcons making room way for Ryan?

The Atlanta Falcons released quarterback Joey Harrington yesterday, leaving the team with only two quarterbacks as it prepares to address the position in the NFL draft. The Falcons cut veteran quarterback Byron Leftwich last month. Harrington's release may increase the chances the team will take a quarterback, perhaps Boston College product Matt Ryan, with the No. 3 overall selection in the draft. Ryan is widely considered the top quarterback in the draft. The Falcons re-signed Chris Redman to a two-year deal last week, but the only other quarterbacks on the roster are D.J. Shockley and Michael Vick. Shockley has never played in a regular-season game and Vick is serving a 23-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to federal charges in a dogfighting operation. Vick also is serving an indefinite suspension imposed by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

Cable television operators discriminate against the NFL even though professional football is the nation's most popular spectator sport, Goodell told lawmakers. The league-owned NFL Network airs eight regular-season games each year, but they are not widely available because of a dispute between the league and the country's two biggest cable companies, Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable. Goodell asked members on the House Energy and Commerce's telecommunications subcommittee to pressure the Federal Communications Commission to enforce a law that bars discrimination against unaffiliated networks. Glenn Britt, president and chief executive of Time Warner Cable, said the NFL's position was "especially disingenuous" considering the league's exclusive arrangement with DirecTV Inc. to air the "NFL Sunday Ticket" package of out-of-market games.

A Democratic congressman from New York asked the FBI to drop its investigation of former Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens because the pitching great had suffered enough from the probe into steroid use. Representative Anthony Weiner, a candidate for New York mayor in 2009, said the FBI is too busy with more important crimes to spend time trying to determine if the pitcher lied to Congress about taking performance-enhancing substances. "Roger Clemens has been shamed," Weiner said. "I think the public record is replete with examples of how he did not likely tell the truth. What is the public benefit of continuing with an FBI investigation?" . . . New York Mets left fielder Moises Alou, 41, will have surgery for a hernia today and miss the start of the season . . . Former commissioner Francis "Fay" Vincent Jr. is giving $7 million to Williams College for undergraduate scholarships and a new fellowship program. Vincent was a scholarship student while attending Williams from 1956-60.

No. 5 Maryland's Crystal Langhorne was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year. Langhorne, a senior post player averaging 16.5 points and 9.2 rebounds, received 23 of 49 votes cast by members of the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association. Second-ranked North Carolina's Sylvia Hatchell was named ACC coach of the year for the third time, receiving 40 of 49 votes . . . Elena Delle Donne, Connecticut's highly touted recruit, won the 2008 Naismith National High School Player of the Year award. The 6-foot-5-inch player attends Ursuline Academy in Wilmington, Del.

Andy Roddick will face Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships. Roddick had 13 aces in his 6-3, 6-4 win over Paul-Henri Mathieu, and the second-ranked Nadal easily beat Mikhail Ledovskikh, 6-4, 6-0. Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray also reached the quarterfinals . . . Serena Williams, playing in her first match since the Australian Open, overcame a shaky start to defeat Tzipora Obziler, 7-5, 6-0, and reach the quarterfinals of the Bangalore (India) Open.

The United States routed China, 4-0, at the Algarve Cup on the opening day of the soccer tournament in Albufeira, Portugal. The five-time champion Americans got goals from Lindsay Tarpley, Tobin Heath, Abby Wambach, and Carli Lloyd in Group B . . . England's Nick Dougherty birdied 10 of his first 13 holes in a bid for the first 59 in European Tour history, then parred the final five for a 10-under-par 62 and the early first-round lead today in the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur. Dougherty had a string of seven straight birdies . . . The Florida Panthers suspended left wing Chad Kilger just a few days after obtaining him in a trade from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Kilger had asked Florida for a leave of absence, which was granted, but the Panthers apparently expected him back by now . . . Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki was suspended without pay for one game by the NBA for a flagrant foul on Utah's Andrei Kirilenko during a 116-110 loss to Utah Monday. Nowitzki will miss tonight's game vs. Houston . . . Stephon Marbury wants to finish his contract with the Knicks, and acknowledged being hurt recently when coach Isiah Thomas indicated he might have a different plan. Marbury, who had ankle surgery Jan. 22, said he doubts he'll be able to return this season, but hopes he's still wearing a Knicks uniform in 2008-09. "I pray to God that's what happens. I love New York."