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Sports news briefs: 6/29/09
Monday, June 29, 2009
Bills owner questions plan

Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson is in no hurry to have his team play more than one annual regular-season game in Toronto.

Wilson yesterday said he would prefer waiting "two or three years" to determine whether the northern experiment is a success before he would consider reworking the contract reached last year with Toronto-based Rogers Communications. The Bills are locked into playing five regular-season -- one a year -- and three preseason games in Toronto under the agreement which runs through 2012.

Rogers officials have expressed interest in adding at least one additional regular-season game a year, particularly if the NFL goes forward with a proposal to expand its regular-season schedule to 17 or 18 games.

Wilson said an expanded schedule wouldn't make a difference at this point.

"I'm sure they want another game. And who knows?" Wilson said in an interview conducted at his home outside Detroit. "I don't know whether they'll get another game or not. We'll have to see how it works out up there."

The series kicked off last year to mixed results as the Bills became the NFL's first team to play annual regular-season games outside the United States.

The Bills "play host" to their AFC East Division rival, the New York Jets, in this year's game at Toronto, scheduled for Dec. 3. Buffalo is not scheduled to play a preseason game in Toronto until next summer.

College football

Former Oregon quarterback Justin Roper confirmed that he will transfer to the University of Montana. Roper started for Oregon in 2008 until his knee was injured in Week 3.

• Officials say North Carolina State linebacker Nate Irving was charged with careless and reckless driving after a wreck early Sunday that broke his leg and collapsed a lung. Troopers believe Irving may have fallen asleep at the wheel.

College basketball

Ex-Duke player Elliot Williams says he'll transfer to the University of Memphis. Williams, a rising sophomore guard, was granted his release from Duke because his mom is sick.

Pro basketball

Former Pitt star Shavonte Zellous scored 18 points to lead the host Detroit Shock to an 86-72 victory against the Sacramento Monarchs, giving Rick Mahorn his first WBNA win as a head coach. Deanna Nolan had 14 points as the Shock (2-5) snapped a four-game losing streak. Mahorn was 0-3 since replacing Bill Laimbeer June 15. Rebekkah Brunson had 16 points for Sacramento (1-7).

• Guard Anete Jekabsone-Zogota joined the Connecticut Sun after missing the first seven games while playing for Latvia in the European championships.

Tennis

Three-time Grand Slam champion Lindsay Davenport gave birth to her second child. The former No. 1-ranked player gave birth to a girl named Lauren Andrus Davenport Leach Saturday morning. She and husband Jon Leach already have a 2-year-old son, Jagger.

First published on June 29, 2009 at 12:00 am