STEROIDS IN SPORTS

NEW CHARGES AHEAD IN BALCO SCANDAL

Balco founder Victor Conte could face additional charges in connection to the Bay Area sports doping ring, federal prosecutors said yesterday. Conte and three other men are charged with dozens of counts of distributing steroids and human growth hormone, and of money laundering. The government said more money laundering charges, on top of the three for which Conte has already been indicted for, could be unveiled by the end of the month.

Those new counts are not expected to be levied against the other three defendants – Balco vice president James Valente, Barry Bonds’s personal trainer, Greg Anderson, or track coach Remi Korchemny.

PRO FOOTBALL

GIANTS WILLING TO SHARE NEW STADIUM WITH JETS

The New York Giants are willing to work out an agreement with the Jets to share ownership of a new $750 million stadium at the Meadowlands if the Jets’ plans to build a stadium on Manhattan’s West Side fall apart.

“Our preference all along has been to play in a building with the Jets,” Giants chief operating officer John K. Mara said yesterday. “This is not a risk-free proposition, coming up with $750 million and financing the stadium.”

The advantage of having the Jets share in the ownership and play in the same stadium would be that the teams would not compete for money from advertisers and suite owners. The new, 80,000-seat stadium for the Giants is expected to be ready for the 2009 season.

VIKINGS’ SMITH SUSPENDED FOR 2005 SEASON

Minnesota Vikings running back Onterrio Smith, 24, has been suspended by the NFL for the entire 2005 season for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. The announcement had been expected for several weeks, ever since Vikings head coach Mike Tice suspended Smith indefinitely after Smith was stopped April 21 at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport when his bag set off a screening device. A search found several vials of dried urine and “The Original Whizzinator,” which is marketed as a way to beat drug tests. Smith already had two strikes against him before his latest violation. The third strike in the program comes with an automatic one-year suspension.

LEWIS’S REQUEST TO LEAVE HALFWAY HOUSE DENIED

Jamal Lewis’s request to attend the Baltimore Ravens’ minicamp next week has been denied by the Atlanta halfway house where he is spending two months after a prison term for a federal drug conviction. Lewis entered the halfway house Friday after serving four months at a federal prison camp in Florida. He pleaded guilty last October in federal court in Atlanta to using a cell phone to try to set up a drug deal in 2000, shortly after the Ravens drafted him. Lewis is scheduled to remain at the halfway house until the first week of August, when the team’s training camp begins.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

ESPN WITHDRAWS FROM COACHES’ POLL

ESPN withdrew from the college football coaches’ poll yesterday, the second major news organization to say it didn’t want to be a part of the Bowl Championship Series’ weekly rankings. The cable sports network said it no longer wanted its name attached to the rankings unless all ballots were made public, not just the final ones. USA Today will continue running the poll, which helps determine who plays for the national championship.

In December, the Associated Press told the BCS to stop using its media poll in its weekly formula. The AP poll and the ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll had been the major components of the BCS rankings. However, the AP said such use was never sanctioned and had reached the point where it threatened to undermine the independence and integrity of its poll. ESPN had sponsored the coaches’ poll with USA Today since 1997.

HOCKEY

NHL TESTS A NUMBER OF RULE CHANGES

When the NHL finally returns to the ice, the tie game will probably be a thing of the past. Shootouts will be used to determine a winner if a game remained tied after a five-minute overtime period.

After watching free-agent junior and college players on Monday test a radical plan by Boston Bruins president Harry Sinden that allows passing from the top of the faceoff circles to anywhere on the ice, and the use of nets four inches taller and eight inches wider than usual, club representatives took in scrimmages yesterday to test zero tolerance on obstruction fouls and strange-looking nets with arced posts. The most likely changes in NHL play for next season are shootouts, smaller goalie equipment, and tag-up offsides.

GOLF

BROWNE FIRES 59 TO QUALIFY FOR U.S. OPEN

Olin Browne closed with a birdie-eagle-eagle run to shoot 59 and join 21 other players who qualified for the U.S. Open at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Md. His 73-59 put him at 10-under 132 and three shots behind medalist J.P. Hayes. Others who qualified at Woodmont, where the qualifier was delayed overnight because of storms, were Tommy Armour III, Rocco Mediate, and former PGA champion Steve Elkington. The scores are not official because it was not an official PGA Tour event.

– Associated Press