Sports briefs 3/4/04

Baseball

Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig sent a directive to all 30 teams, telling them to decline comment on the BALCO case "specifically" and performance enhancing drugs "generally." While the memo was not sent to players, some of them liked the move. "There's a lot of comments out there," said pitcher Russ Ortiz, Atlanta's union representative. "But it's all speculation. Let's focus on baseball and let the other stuff take care of itself."

Jackie Robinson will be honored every April 15 by Major League Baseball, starting with a national celebration at Shea Stadium paying tribute to the Hall of Famer's legacy.

College basketball

University of Oklahoma center Jabarhi Brown was charged Wednesday with possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. Police said they found marijuana, drug paraphernalia and a firearm during a search of Brown's home on Tuesday. Cleveland County District Attorney Tim Kuykendall said he decided against filing felony charges. "I didn't think it would be appropriate to ask a judge or jury to send a man to prison based on the small amount of marijuana that was in his apartment," Kuykendall said. Brown, a 6-foot-10, 220-pound center, has started all 25 games for the Sooners this season, averaging 7.1 points and a team-high 5.1 rebounds a game.

Hockey

The New York Rangers traded defenseman Brian Leetch to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night. The Rangers acquired defenseman Maxim Kondratiev, forward Jarkko Immonen, a first-round pick in this year's draft and a second-round choice in 2005. The Maple Leafs also received a conditional pick. The Rangers earlier in the day traded center Petr Nedved and goalie Jussi Markkanen to the Edmonton Oilers for forward Dwight Helminen, goalie Stephen Valiquette and a second-round pick this year.

Miscellaneous

Manchester United is the world's richest sports franchise, beating out the New York Yankees. Figures released Wednesday by sports business group Deloitte & Touche showed the British soccer club had revenues of $289 million for the 2002-03 season. The Yankees were second with $280 million. The Washington Redskins are the second-richest sports franchise in the United States and fifth in the world with an income of $227.3 million.

Soccer

The U.S. women's team qualified for the Athens Olympics with a 4-0 victory Wednesday against Costa Rica.

-- From wire reports