Rypien leads large lawsuit against NFL

NFL: Former Washington Redskins quarterback Mark Rypien has sued the NFL over “repeated traumatic injuries to his head” sustained during his 11-season NFL career.

Rypien, a Redskins Super Bowl MVP from Washington State and Shadle Park High School, is the lead plaintiff in a mass-tort lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Taking part in the lawsuit are 126 former players.

The lawsuit alleges that the NFL was aware of the risks of repetitive traumatic brain injury but hid the information and misled players, resulting in permanent brain damage or neurological disorders.

“It’s scary the extent to which these guys have been hurt,” said Gene Locks, the plaintiffs’ lead attorney. “When we played football, broken bones, busted noses, tears of tissue were kind of expected. Nobody said you’d get a head injury. These injuries are insidious, they are latent, degenerative, and it gets worse and worse as you get older in certain players.”

According to the lawsuit, Rypien “suffers from various neurological conditions and symptoms related to the multiple head traumas.”

The same language is used for each of the 125 other plaintiffs.

Contacted by The Spokesman-Review, Rypien said he couldn’t comment for now.

• Owners approve salary cap: NFL owners ratified the agreement between the league and players’ union that takes away $36 million in salary cap space from the Redskins and $10 million from the Cowboys.

Other than Dallas and Washington, no club voted to oppose the agreement, which raised the salary cap for 2012 from about $113 million to $120.6 million. The Cowboys and Redskins have sought arbitration, which will be conducted by University of Pennsylvania professor Stephen Burbank.

Both teams were penalized for overloading contracts in the 2010 uncapped season despite league warnings not to do so. Each must take at least half the reduction this year.

The owners also approved competition committee recommendations for points of emphasis in the upcoming season, including blows to the head, horse-collar tackles and taunting.

• Payton asks Parcells to coach: Sean Payton has planned the New Orleans Saints’ offseason, done some work on the upcoming draft and jotted down ideas for the start of training camp.

And now, with his season-long suspension set to begin Sunday, he is checking to see if mentor Bill Parcells would run the team while he serves his penalty for allowing a Saints assistant coach and players to operate a crunch-for-cash bounty system.

There was no decision Tuesday.

Bryant pulls trigger late in Lakers’ win

NBA: Kobe Bryant is back to being the closer.

Two days after getting benched late in a home loss to Memphis, Bryant made a pair of jumpers in the final 64 seconds, finishing with 30 points to lead the Los Angeles Lakers past the short-handed Golden State Warriors 104-101 at Oakland, Calif.

Bryant missed his first two shots in the final period before twice rising over a pair of defenders for difficult fall-away jumpers from the corner. The first tied the game and the second put the Lakers ahead by two – and for good – with 32 seconds remaining.

Former Warriors forward Matt Barnes added 28 points.

• Westbrook helps bury Blazers: Russell Westbrook had 32 points and eight assists, Kevin Durant scored 25 points and the Western-leading Oklahoma City Thunder won their fourth straight with a 109-95 victory over the host Portland Trail Blazers.

Portland fell to 3-4 under Kaleb Canales, who took over as interim coach when the Blazers fired Nate McMillan.

• Spurs win fifth straight: Tony Parker scored eight points in a 10-0 San Antonio run early in the fourth quarter, and the visiting Spurs went on to win their fifth in a row and eighth in nine games with a 107-100 victory over the Phoenix Suns.

Miller hot in goal as Sabres surge

MISCELLANY: Ryan Miller stopped 44 shots, Drew Stafford scored two goals and the surging Buffalo Sabres beat host Washington 5-1 to climb over the Capitals into the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

It was the fifth straight win for the Sabres. Buffalo was in 14th place on Feb. 17.

• Roddick loses: Andy Roddick lost his fourth-round match at the Sony Ericsson Open to Juan Monaco of Argentina, 7-5, 6-0.

Less than 24 hours after beating Roger Federer at Key Biscayne, Fla., Roddick struggled with his serve and looked lethargic in rallies.