Morning Briefing April 7, 2010
Football
The quarterback holding the burgundy No. 5 Washington Redskins jersey was Donovan McNabb. From everything that was said, it might have been simpler to just go ahead and call him John Elway II.
The six-time Pro Bowl star was formally introduced Tuesday at Redskins Park. All things being equal, he would rather be preparing for a 12th season with the Philadelphia Eagles, but an Easter Sunday trade between NFC East rivals has opened what he called “a new chapter in the book of Donovan.”
Instead, he is with the Redskins and new coach Mike Shanahan, and both went to great lengths to say that trading two draft picks for a 33-year-old quarterback with a few nicks is a solid investment. They did so by repeatedly invoking Elway, who was 34 when Shanahan became coach of the Broncos in 1995.
The Seattle Seahawks terminated the contract of tight end John Owens and waived running back Xavier Omon.
University of Oregon president Richard Lariviere characterized the $2.3 million golden parachute for outgoing athletic director Mike Bellotti as a buyout — but he stopped short of saying that the former football coach was fired.
Bellotti coached the Ducks for 14 seasons and took them to 12 bowl games before sliding into the AD’s job last year. He abruptly announced on March 19 that he was stepping down as athletic director after nine months on the job to become an ESPN analyst.
Since then questions have been raised about both Bellotti’s departure and the generous compensation package from the public university. At a news conference in Eugene on Tuesday, Lariviere called the move a “mutually agreed-upon resignation.”
Tiger Woods’ return to golf at the Masters will be in the middle of ESPN’s live coverage.
Woods tees off Thursday at 10:42 a.m. PDT with K.J. Choi and Matt Kuchar. ESPN’s coverage of the opening round begins at 1 p.m., about the time Woods will be making the turn.
The group will start the second round at 7:35 a.m. on Friday.
Baseball
Baseball players may file a collusion grievance charging owners with conspiring against free agents last winter.
The sides reached a standstill agreement last year giving the union additional time to decide whether to proceed with a grievance against teams alleging misconduct after the 2008 season.
Management denies any violation of the collective bargaining agreement, which states clubs may not act in concert with respect to free agents.
Basketball
Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim was selected the Naismith college coach of the year.
Boeheim won out over finalists Steve Alford of New Mexico, John Calipari of Kentucky and Frank Martin of Kansas State.
DePaul hired Clemson’s Oliver Purnell as its men’s basketball coach.
Steve Donahue, who led Cornell to three straight Ivy League titles and to the round of 16 in the NCAA tournament, was hired to replace Al Skinner at Boston College.
Soccer
Brian Ching is expected to be sidelined for 4-6 weeks because of a strained left hamstring, an injury that could prevent him from returning to the field before the U.S. World Cup team gathers in mid-May.
The Houston Dynamo and former Gonzaga forward was injured in last Thursday’s home opener.
— The Associated Press