Bears’ Cox Sues Nfl Over Fine

Chicago Bears linebacker Bryan Cox has sued the NFL and Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, contending the league has a vendetta against him for his past legal actions.

Cox filed the lawsuit in federal court in response to the league’s decision to fine him $85,000 for making an obscene gesture to an official during a Bears-Green Bay Packers game.

“Bryan realizes you’re not supposed to flip off an official, but the punishment has to fit the crime,” said Mike Baird, Cox’s attorney.

Baird said the fine was part of a pattern the NFL has followed since Cox’s 1994 lawsuit, filed in New York, in which Cox contended the league failed to “maintain a work environment free from racial harassment.”

Cox, then playing for the Miami Dolphins, sued after fans in Buffalo, N.Y., taunted him with racial slurs, Baird said. Cox responded with obscene gestures and was fined $10,000. The lawsuit was dropped after the NFL agreed to eject fans who engage in racially abusive behavior.

Johnson signs with Jets

Linebacker Pepper Johnson agreed to a contract with the New York Jets, reuniting him with coaches Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick.

Johnson was part of two Super Bowl winners with the Giants, but Parcells left after the 1990 season. Johnson has played for only one winner since then, the 1994 Browns, a wild-card team coached by Belichick, now the Jets’ defensive coordinator.

Johnson, a two-time Pro Bowl inside linebacker, is slated to start in the middle, with incumbent Marvin Jones moving outside.

49ers owner faces grand jury

San Francisco 49ers owner Edward DeBartolo Jr. must appear on June 3 before a federal grand jury looking into the business dealings of former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards.

The grand jury wants specific information from DeBartolo on his partnership’s receipt of the state’s 15th and final license to operate a planned riverboat casino in Bossier City, La., near the Texas border.

Buccaneers taste thrill of victory

The hapless Tampa Bay Buccaneers finally won a big one Thursday - not on the field, but in the Florida Supreme Court.

In a unanimous decision, the high court approved a disputed tax-and-bond plan for a new stadium to keep the team in the Tampa Bay area. The seven justices, saying voters knew what they were getting into, overturned a circuit judge who had ruled the deal unconstitutional.