FOOTBALL
Jaguars lose Woodard
The Jacksonville Jaguars have lost another draft pick to injury. Defensive end Jonathan Woodard, a seventh-round selection from Central Arkansas, tore his right Achilles tendon during workouts two weeks ago and had surgery. He will be placed on the physically unable to perform list and likely miss his rookie season. Woodard, 6-6, 275 pounds, was a four-time All-Southland Conference selection and won the conference’s defensive player of the year award as a junior in 2014. He is UCA’s career leader in sacks (30 1/2) and tackles for loss
(53). First-rounder Jalen Ramsey, the fifth overall pick in the draft, was in Pensacola, Fla., on Monday to get a second opinion on his injured right knee. The Florida State standout sustained a “small tear to the meniscus” in his knee last week. The Jaguars also opened organized team activities Monday without second-rounder Myles Jacks, who can’t practice because of NFL graduation rules. UCLA operates on the quarter system and finishes spring session June 10. Jacksonville also was without backup offensive lineman Luke Bowanko (torn labrum in his right hip). He’ll have arthroscopic surgery.
Carolina Panthers linebacker Shaq Thompson was cited for a head-on accident that injured former Duke quarterback Anthony Boone over the weekend, a North Carolina Highway Patrol trooper said Monday. Trooper John Burgin told The Associated Press that Thompson’s vehicle collided with one driven by Boone on Sunday morning near Weddington, located about 20 miles southeast of Charlotte. Burgin said Thompson told authorities in his statement that he reached down to pick up his dropped cellphone, leading to a citation for driving left of the center line. Burgin said Boone broke his pelvis but his injuries weren’t life-threatening. Thompson wasn’t injured. Thompson had alcohol in his system but wasn’t impaired and alcohol wasn’t considered a factor in the accident, Burgin said. Thompson, 22, is preparing for his second season with the NFC champion Panthers. A first-round pick from Washington, Thompson started 10 regular-season games and all three playoff games as a rookie. Panthers spokesman Steven Drummond said Monday that Thompson notified the team he was involved in a car accident and that the team is gathering information. Boone, the winningest quarterback in Duke history, led the Blue Devils to the 2013 Atlantic Coast Conference Championship Game and two bowl games. He played for the CFL’s Montreal Alouettes in 2015, but was released by the team earlier this month.
TENNIS
Wawrinka edges Rosol
So, Stan Wawrinka was asked, were you aware that in the long history of the French Open, no defending champion ever had lost in the first round? “No,” Wawrinka replied quickly, his arms crossed, the hint of a smirk on his scruffy face. After waiting a comedic beat, he added with a chuckle: “And it’s still not the case, so it’s good.” Sure, by then, it was easy for the 2015 champion at Roland Garros to kid around, because he barely avoided making the sort of history no athlete would embrace. Eventually warming up on a gray, chilly afternoon, and twice coming back from a set down, Wawrinka edged 59th-ranked Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic 4-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Monday to sneak into the second round. Something similar transpired several hours later, when No. 2 Andy Murray faced an even greater deficit, dropping the first two sets against 128th-ranked qualifier Radek Stepanek, who at 37 is the oldest man in the field. Their match didn’t finish, though, suspended until today because of darkness. Stepanek raced to a 6-3, 6-3 lead, but Murray took the third set 6-0. Murray was up 4-2 in the fourth set when play stopped. There were no bracket-busting stunners, but the surprises included 2014 U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic’s 7-6
(4), 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 loss to 166th-ranked qualifier Marco Trungelliti of Argentina. Four seeded women exited, most notably No. 7 Roberta Vinci, the Italian who ended Serena Williams’ Grand Slam bid at last year’s U.S. Open.
HORSE RACING
Nyquist’s trip delayed
Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist has developed a slight fever, leaving plans temporarily on hold for a rematch with Preakness winner Exaggerator in the Belmont Stakes. Trainer Doug O’Neill’s assistant Jack Sisterson said Monday that Nyquist had blood work done “to make sure nothing is going on.” Nyquist finished third behind Exaggerator in the Preakness on Saturday, ending any chance of a Triple Crown try at the Belmont on June 11. Nyquist was scheduled to be shipped to Belmont Park on Monday morning, but the plan was scrapped when the 3-year-old colt had a temperature of 102 degrees. O’Neill said he still hopes Nyquist runs in the Belmont but needs to make sure he is healthy before traveling to New York. Results of the blood work are expected today.
FOOTBALL
Brady’s lawyers ask for new hearing
NEW YORK — Tom Brady’s lawyers asked a federal appeals court for a new hearing before an expanded panel of judges, telling them on Monday that it is not just a silly dispute over underinflated footballs — it’s the basic right to a fair process that is shared by all union workers.
Setting the stage for the “Deflategate” scandal to stretch into its third season, and putting Brady’s four-game suspension back in the hands of the courts, the players’ union asked all 13 judges of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to hear the case that a three-judge panel decided in the league’s favor.
In the appeal filed on Monday, Brady’s lawyers said that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s “biased, agenda-driven, and self-approving ‘appeal’ ruling must be vacated.”
The 2-1 decision by the panel, they wrote, “will fuel unpredictability in labor arbitrations everywhere and make labor arbitration increasingly capricious and undesirable for employers and employees alike.”
The NFL had no comment.
Brady was initially suspended four games for what Goodell said was an illegal scheme to use improperly inflated footballs in the AFC Championship Game in January 2015. The suspension was overturned by a federal judge on the eve of last season, but a circuit court panel ruled 2-1 last month that Goodell was within the rights granted to him by the collective bargaining agreement.
An appeal to the full 2nd Circuit — called “en banc” — is Brady’s next step in his attempt to avoid the suspension. En banc appeals are rarely granted.
If this request is rejected, the New England Patriots quarterback could then appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, where the odds of obtaining a hearing are even slimmer.
A four-time Super Bowl champion and two-time league MVP, Brady was suspended four games. The Patriots were docked $1 million and two draft picks after an NFL investigation found the team guilty of intentionally underinflating footballs used in the 45-7 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Jan. 18, 2015. Brady was found to be “at least generally aware” of the scheme.
Brady’s first appeal was heard by Goodell himself, and when that failed the quarterback went to federal court, where Judge Richard Berman vacated the suspension. The league appealed to the 2nd Circuit, and two of the three judges ruled the players had negotiated away their right to an impartial arbiter when they agreed to allow the commissioner to hear the appeals of his own decisions.
The Patriots open the season Sept. 11 at Arizona. If Brady is suspended, backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo would take his place.