In brief: Broncos to start Orton at QB

NFL: Kyle Orton was selected to be the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos on Saturday.

Broncos coach Josh McDaniels decided to end the suspense early heading into next month’s training camp.

Orton had been competing this offseason with Chris Simms for the starting spot left open by the blockbuster deal that sent Jay Cutler to the Chicago Bears on April 3.

But McDaniels apparently liked what he saw in Orton’s assimilation to the offense over the past several months to give the three-year veteran the edge for now, stressing there was still time for Simms to take away the job.

McDaniels informed Orton of the QB news Friday night, and the former Chicago Bears quarterback took all the snaps behind the first- team offensive line during Saturday’s practice.

“There’s a lot of difficult aspects about what we ask our quarterback to do in our offense and Kyle has really grasped some of them more quickly than Chris did,” McDaniels said in explaining the move after the second day of a three-day minicamp at the team’s Dove Valley, Colo., headquarters.

Also, wide receiver Brandon Marshall was again a no-show at minicamp, one day after a face-to-face meeting with team owner Pat Bowlen.

Marshall is unhappy with both his contract and what he considered a misdiagnosis of a hip injury last season.

Associated Press

Umpire throws bums out, all 100

Baseball: An umpire has emptied the stands at a high school baseball game in West Burlington, Iowa, ejecting the entire crowd of more than 100 fans for being unruly.

Umpire Don Briggs said he had no problem with any of the student athletes during Thursday’s game between Winfield-Mount Union and West Burlington.

He said he had to take action because fans were being unruly, yelling and arguing.

However, West Burlington Superintendent James Sleister said he didn’t see any unusual behavior and said he thought the umpire overreacted.

The game resumed after a 40-minute delay. West Burlington won 12-11.

The umpire called police as a precaution. West Burlington police officer Al Waterman says there were no arrests. He says he saw no unruliness himself.

Associated Press

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