Raiders Lose to NFL in Court Again

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has ruled that the Oakland Raiders must share stadium revenues with the NFL’s 31 other teams under the league’s revenue-sharing rules.

The ruling, handed down Monday by Judge Richard Hubbell, was the second and final phase in a lawsuit that began last year. In May 2001, a jury in the same case concluded in the NFL’s favor that the Raiders did not “own” Los Angeles, and that the league had not interfered with the Raiders’ negotiations to build a stadium at Hollywood Park in the mid-1990s.

“We’re pleased that the judge confirmed that the Raiders have the same obligation to share revenues as do the other 31 clubs,” said Joe Browne, an NFL vice president. “We hope that this decision will end litigation relating to the Raiders’ departure from Los Angeles and other contentious matters between [Raider owner Al Davis] and the 31 other NFL owners.”

Larry Feldman, a Raider attorney, disputes the NFL’s assertion that the Raiders have refused to share millions of dollars in stadium revenues since moving to Oakland in 1995.

“It has never been the Raiders’ position--and it isn’t their position now--that they wanted anything more than the other 31 teams get,” Feldman said. “They just want the same treatment as the other clubs.”

Sam Farmer

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Former NFL defensive lineman Jim Dunaway was ordered to pay his children more than $500,000 in the wrongful death of his wife. Dunaway was charged in 1998 two days after Nonniel Dunaway’s body was found by a relative in the half-empty pool outside a house she owned in rural Marion County. An autopsy revealed that she had drowned. The county coroner said the 56-year-old woman had been struck in the head and was unconscious when she was placed in the water.... A Covington, Ky., judge approved a mediated settlement between Cincinnati Bengal kicker Neil Rackers and a man he was accused of assaulting at a restaurant last year. In approving the settlement, Judge Douglas Grothaus dismissed the assault charge against Rackers in Kenton County District Court. Rackers and the alleged victim--Brian Stoehr of Cincinnati--agreed to keep the terms of the settlement confidential.

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The Washington Redskins signed defensive tackle Santana Dotson, one day after releasing defensive end Marco Coleman. Dotson missed the end of the 2000 season with a torn quadriceps, but he returned to play in all 16 games last year, starting 13.... Guard Glenn Parker, who lost all five Super Bowls he played in, was released by the New York Giants. The 35-year-old Parker, who started at left guard for the Giants the last two seasons, played with New York in the 2001 Super Bowl and all four the Buffalo Bills lost from 1990-93.... Strong safety Damon Moore, who started the last three years for the Philadelphia Eagles but injured his knee in last season’s final game, signed a two-year contract with the Chicago Bears.

Miscellany

Former Nevada Las Vegas basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, the Las Vegas Sun reported Tuesday.

The 71-year-old who retired in February from his coaching duties at Fresno State was told last week that he is facing several weeks of radiation treatment.

Redshirt freshman forward Andrew Zahn, a former standing at Redondo Union High, has left the Arizona basketball team and will transfer to another school, Coach Lute Olson said.

Greg Norman, who hasn’t made a cut in the U.S. Open since 1996, and Jean Van de Velde, whose spectacular collapse cost him the 1999 British Open, both earned berths in this year’s U.S. Open.

Norman shot a five-under 139 total to join John Huston and amateur Kevin Warrick as the qualifiers from Old Memorial Golf Club in Tampa, Fla. Van de Velde was one of 22 players who made it through 36 holes of qualifying in Purchase, N.Y.

Tom Byrum had a five-under 138 and was the medalist at Purchase. Others who qualified from New York were Jeff Maggert, Jay Haas, Craig Stadler, Bob Tway and K.J. Choi.

Former New York Met and Yankee pitcher Dwight Gooden, accused of drunken driving in February, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of reckless driving and was put on probation for one year.

Pitcher Lisa Fernandez and five other Olympians were among 17 players selected to the U.S. softball team that will play in the world championships this summer in Saskatoon, Canada. Leah O’Brien-Amico, Laura Berg, Lori Harrigan, Stacey Nuveman and Michele Smith are the other members from the 2000 Sydney Olympic team to be chosen. Among those joining them are Arizona pitcher Jennie Finch and UCLA players Amanda Freed, Keira Goerl, Lyndsey Klein, Tairia Mims, and Natasha Watley.

Passings

Former Pittsburgh Steeler running back Fran Rogel, the team’s leading rusher during the 1950s who had been suffering from Parkinson’s disease, died Monday. He was 74.