Briefly

Jacobs files appeal over test

An attorney for Oakland middle-distance star Regina Jacobs is filing a federal court appeal in a procedural argument involving her positive test for the steroid THG.

Lawyer Edward Williams is requesting that the case before the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency be carried out under commercial rules of arbitration in accordance with USA Track & Field rules. Oral arguments are scheduled for June 22.

Williams wants to use commercial rules because he claims it would allow for a more independent panel of arbitrators than those used by the anti-doping agency, which ultimately will rule on the drug case.

• Al Joyner isn’t making a formal announcement or issuing a press release. But the 1984 Olympic gold medalist in the triple jump is quietly coming out of retirement in hopes of qualifying for next month’s U.S. track and field trials in Sacramento.

“This is something personal for me,” Joyner said. “Just making the Olympic trials would be like winning an Olympic medal.”

• At Norfolk, Va., world 100-meter record-holder Tim Montgomery has ended his relationship with Dan Pfaff and returned to his former coach, Steve Riddick.

Colleges

A.D. keeps off-campus liquor store

The University of Colorado’s athletic director plans to keep a stake in a liquor store in Boulder, Colo., despite concerns that doing so conflicts with his job to reform a program that has been criticized for allowing players to abuse alcohol.

Dick Tharp told university officials last month that he would resign from the board of the Liquor Mart near campus.

“I felt like it was just giving an appearance of impropriety,” he said Thursday. But he said his continuing partial ownership of the store, like his other investments, is not relevant to his job.

An independent commission investigating a football-recruiting scandal at the school concluded that sex and alcohol were allowed at recruiting activities, but there was no evidence that university officials knowingly permitted them. Commission members questioned Tharp’s role with the liquor store.

University spokeswoman Pauline Hale said Tharp’s involvement at the business “has been fully disclosed from the beginning.”

“It was his personal decision to take the high road and announce his plan to resign from the board,” she said.

• The Southeastern Conference announced at Destin, Fla., another financial windfall, doling out a record $108.8 million to its 12 members for this school year.

The amount is 6 percent more than last year and nearly $75 million more than the schools divvied up just a decade ago.

Schools that participated in football bowl games also kept another $7.9 million from their payouts. In addition, the NCAA provided $624,000 to SEC members for academic enhancements.

Hockey

Probert scuffles with cops, arrested

Former NHL enforcer Bob Probert was arrested at Delray Beach in West Palm Beach, Fla., after a scuffle with police that led to him being shocked with a Taser gun.

Police officers first spotted Probert just before 1 a.m. when he parked his vehicle pointing in the wrong direction on a downtown side street and began hanging out of his window to yell at several men.

Four officers intervened when Probert got out of the car and tried to start a fight with one of the men. He then fought with the officers and refused their orders to drop to the ground, according to a report.

As two of the officers struggled to handcuff Probert, another officer shocked him with a Taser gun. Probert still resisted attempts to handcuff him so he was shocked several more times.

He was then handcuffed and taken into custody.

“He was so combative in our jail that we didn’t take a booking photo of him because we didn’t want to struggle with him again out of handcuffs,” police spokesman Jeff Messer said.

Probert, who listed his alias as “The Bad One” on booking documents, was charged with battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest with violence and disorderly conduct.

He was being held without bail Friday at the Palm Beach County jail.

It was not clear if he had retained a lawyer.

• Games 3 and 4 of the Stanley Cup finals on ABC between Calgary and Tampa Bay drew two of the lowest overnight ratings since broadcast networks began carrying the NHL finals in 1998.

Saturday’s Game 3, won by Calgary 3-0, got a 2.2 rating, the lowest since 1998. Tampa Bay’s 1-0 win on Monday got a 2.8, which tied last year’s Game 3 between New Jersey and Anaheim for the second-lowest since 1998.

Boxing

Parra defends WBA flyweight title

Venezuela’s Lorenzo Parra retained his WBA flyweight title at Tokyo by outpointing Takefumi Sakata of Japan. Parra outscored Sakata 117-111 on one judge’s scorecard and 115-113 on another’s. The third judge had the boxers tied 114-114 after the 12-round fight.

• Indonesia’s Chris John retained his WBA featherweight title at Tokyo by unanimously outpointing Japan’s Osamu Sato 117-111, 116-113, 120-109.