Sports briefs 3/1/05

Baseball

* Testing under baseball's new drug agreement will start Thursday, according to the commissioner's office.

Lawyers for players and owners have been drafting the deal since they announced the agreement for tougher testing on Jan. 13.

"We're going to be in the camps testing starting the third of March, and I expect the language to be wrapped up in the next couple of days," Rob Manfred, management's executive vice president for labor relations, said Monday.

Football

* Wide receiver David Terrell, known for his antics on and off the field, was released by the Chicago Bears on Monday after four seasons of failed expectations.

The move came two days after the Bears signed a six-year contract with All-Pro receiver Muhsin Muhammad, who was released by the Carolina Panthers. Muhammad also had his own share of problems at Carolina where he was convicted on drug and gun charges.

Muhammad was cut because the Panthers did not want to pay a $10 million roster bonus due Tuesday. The Bears will give him a $12 million signing bonus, which is guaranteed money.

Terrell, who was selected eighth overall in the 2001 NFL draft and had another year left on his contract, started 15 games last season and led the Bears with a career-high 699 receiving yards on 42 receptions with one touchdown. Over four years with the team, he totaled 128 receptions, 1,602 receiving yards and nine touchdowns.

* The New England Patriots cut linebacker Roman Phifer on Monday. Phifer played with the Rams in Los Angeles and St. Louis for eight seasons after being a second-round pick in the 1991 draft. He signed with the New York Jets before joining the Patriots in 2001.

Hockey

* Mario Lemieux will likely skip the upcoming hockey world championships in Austria, but the player-owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins hasn't ruled it out completely.

Lemieux told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that it would be difficult for him to get ready for the tournament that runs from April 30-May 15 since he hasn't played this season due to the NHL lockout.

Tennis

* Venus Williams struggled with a blister on her right palm and lost in the first round for the first time in four years, beaten by Italy's Silvia Farina Elia 7-5, 7-6 (6) in the Dubai Women's Open on Monday.

Williams' previous first-round ouster was to Barbara Schett at the 2001 French Open. She also lost her opening match at Moscow in October 2002 to Magdalena Maleeva but after a first-round bye.

Farina Elia had lost all nine of her previous matches to Williams since 1997. Williams, seeded fifth, made 66 unforced errors in a match lasting 2 hours, 4 minutes.