Sports in Brief

Published 5:00 am Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Baseball

• Blue Jay suspended for slur: Toronto shortstop Yunel Escobar was suspended for three games Tuesday by the Blue Jays for wearing eye-black displaying a homophobic slur written in Spanish during a game last weekend against Boston. Escobar apologized to his team and “to all those who have been offended” for what he said was meant to be “just a joke.” “It was not something I intended to be offensive,” he said through a translator. “It was not anything intended to be directed at anyone in particular.” Escobar said he wrote the message 10 minutes before Saturday’s home game on his eye-black, a sticker players wear under their eyes to reduce sun glare. The 29-year-old Cuban said he frequently puts messages there — usually inspirational, manager John Farrell offered — and had never previously written that specific slur.

• Dodgers’ Kershaw gets opinion from hip specialist: Reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw was examined Tuesday by a hip specialist who said the Los Angeles left-hander can continue to pitch without risking damage to his sore right hip — but the Dodgers want to keep him sidelined if the pain persists. The team said Kershaw would re-start a throwing program Tuesday, when the Dodgers’ scheduled game at the Washington Nationals was postponed by rain. Asked whether Kershaw will pitch again this season, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly replied: “Yeah, maybe. Sounds like there’s a chance of it.”

Cycling

• German wins women’s time trial at worlds: Judith Arndt of Germany successfully defended her individual time trial title Tuesday at the Road Cycling World Championships in the Netherlands. Arndt, who won silver in the Olympic time trial in London and plans to retire at the end of the season, finished the 15-mile race in 32 minutes, 26.46 seconds, an average speed of 27.71 mph. American rider Evelyn Stevens was second, 33.77 seconds behind Arndt. Linda Melanie Villumsen of New Zealand was third, 40.57 seconds back.

Football

• Atlanta RB Turner arrested for DUI: Atlanta Falcons running back Michael Turner was jailed on charges of drunken driving and speeding early Tuesday, just hours after he scored a touchdown in the team’s win over the Denver Broncos. Turner, 30, of Suwanee, Ga., was booked into the Gwinnett County jail in metro Atlanta just after 5 a.m. Turner spent barely two hours behind bars before he was released on $2,179 bond, jail records showed. A Gwinnett County police officer pulled over Turner’s black Audi R8 on Interstate 85 northeast of Atlanta after clocking the car at 97 mph — 32 mph over the speed limit, said Cpl. Edwin Ritter, a police spokesman.

• NFL Films’ Sabol dies at 69: Steve Sabol, who was the creative force behind NFL Films, his father’s innovative enterprise that melded cinematic ingenuity, martial metaphors and symphonic music to lend professional football the aura of myth and help fuel its rise in popularity, died on Tuesday in Moorestown, N.J. He was 69. The cause was brain cancer, said Dan Masonson, a spokesman for the National Football League. Sabol learned of the cancer in March 2011. See obituary, C5.

Soccer

• FIFA’s goal-line technology on schedule: Officials from two FIFA-approved goal-line technology systems arrived in Japan on a Club World Cup inspection visit on Tuesday, hours after English football witnessed yet another disputed incident. Everton was denied what appeared a clear goal against Newcastle in a Premier League match on Monday, as a referee’s assistant did not spot that the ball had crossed the line. The Premier League has pledged to install goal-line technology, though the Hawk-Eye and GoalRef systems had no chance of being ready at the start of the season after FIFA’s law-making panel cleared them for use in competitive matches on July 5.

Motor sports

• NASCAR reinstates Allmendinger: The first phase of his comeback complete, an optimistic AJ Allmendinger is ready to get on with his life. He’s hopeful that includes another job in racing. Allmendinger on Tuesday was reinstated by NASCAR, which said he successfully completed its rehabilitation program after testing positive for a banned substance. The process took a little more than two months, and Allmendinger said he learned a lot about himself while participating in the “Road to Recovery” program. Allmendinger was suspended July 7 after failing a random drug test in June. His backup “B” urine sample also later tested positive.

Hockey

• Panthers announce layoffs, blame ‘work stoppage’: The Florida Panthers announced the layoffs of an unknown number of staff members Tuesday, only the third full day of the NHL’s lockout. The Panthers are believed to be the NHL’s second team to publicly announce layoffs since the league’s collective bargaining agreement with its players expired at 11:59 p.m. Eastern on Saturday and ushered in the league’s fourth work stoppage in the past 20 years. The Ottawa Senators have already had layoffs and full-time employees have been placed on a reduced work week.

— From wire reports