Briefly

Barnett glad to be back at Colorado

For nearly four months, Colorado coach Gary Barnett listened as reports of sexual assaults, drug and alcohol use and questionable recruiting practices filtered almost daily from the campus.

It was enough to make him wonder if he’d ever be allowed back.

“There were moments that my faith wandered a little bit as to whether or not what I felt was the right thing to do would be done. Absolutely,” Barnett said Friday. “You can’t hear and read all the things that were out there for four months without wondering. I don’t think anyone expected me to make it through this.”

Somehow he did. Barnett was reinstated by university President Betsy Hoffman this week after a nearly four-month suspension. Athletic director Dick Tharp also retained his job.

Barnett met with reporters, speaking publicly for the first time since his reinstatement. He said he spent much of his time off reviewing went wrong, asking others for their perspective on whether he handled things right.

He was suspended Feb. 18 for saying he would have backed a player who was accused of assaulting an athletics department worker in 2001 and for calling former player Katie Hnida a “terrible” kicker just hours after she claimed to have been raped by a teammate in 2000.

Football

Eagles sign QB Blake to one-year contract

Quarterback Jeff Blake signed a one-year contract with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Blake, who was released by Arizona in February, gives the Eagles insurance should starter Donovan McNabb or backup Koy Detmer get injured. He replaces A.J. Feeley, who was traded to Miami for a second-round pick in next year’s draft.

• Gary Ballman, a Pro Bowler for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1960s, is dead at 63. Ballman died May 20 in Aurora, Colo., as he mowed his lawn, family members said. The cause of death was not disclosed.

College basketball

Announcer testifies in Richardson lawsuit

A University of Arkansas radio announcer who worked with Nolan Richardson for 17 years testified in the former coach’s discrimination lawsuit that he vowed to take down his superiors if he was dismissed.

Mike Nail, the Razorbacks’ play-by-play announcer for 23 years, said Richardson told him the day before his firing that athletic director Frank Broyles and university Chancellor John A. White had asked him to resign for saying publicly that the school could buy out his $1.03 million-a-year contract.

“If I go down, I’m taking that … Broyles and Chancellor White with me,” Richardson said, according to Nail. “I’m not the only one going down.”

Arkansas fired Richardson on March 1, 2002, saying he had expressed a lack of confidence in his program. Richardson later sued in federal court, saying Arkansas discriminated against him because he is black and outspoken. He seeks his former job, but only if Broyles and White leave.

Horse racing

Smarty Jones’ final tuneup flawless

John Servis can breathe a little easier: Smarty Jones’ final tuneup was flawless at Bensalem, Pa.

The trainer watched from the backstretch as his Triple Crown threat worked seven furlongs morning at Philadelphia Park – his only timed workout before next Saturday’s Belmont Stakes.

“Absolutely perfect,” Servis said. “As far as I’m concerned, we’re right on schedule.”

Basketball

Humiliated athlete honored by ex-coach

A middle school honor student who was humiliated when his basketball coach gave him a “Crybaby Award” last month was feted at a school assembly with applause from his peers and an apology from the coach.

Ousted Pleasantville (N.J.) Middle School coach James Guillen presented Terrence Philo Jr. with a certificate, a trophy and the first-ever Terrence Philo Jr. Award.

“I would like to extend a special apology to the Terrence Philo family,” Guillen told the boy in front of about 250 of his cheering classmates. He blamed his error last month on “my lack of experience as a coach and as a teacher.”

Softball

Cal, UCLA advance in women’s World Series

At Oklahoma City, Vicky Galindo scored on a throwing error in the bottom of the eighth inning and California beat Oklahoma 2-1 to advance in the NCAA Women’s College World Series. UCLA beat LSU 2-0 in the other winners bracket game behind a four-hitter by Keira Goerl. The two winners are off until Sunday, when they will face teams that emerge from four losers bracket games today.