Sports briefs 7/24/04

Baseball

An estimated $15,000 in jewelry taken this month from a hotel room where Chicago Cubs pitcher Matt Clement and his family were staying has been recovered, police said. An employee of the Pfister Hotel was arrested and will be referred to the Milwaukee County district attorney for a felony burglary charge, Sgt. Ken Harris said Friday. He said the employee has admitted entering the room where the Clements were staying and taking the jewelry, including an engagement ring and wedding band. Police said the hotel worker led detectives to the jewelry at his girlfriend's home.

Basketball

Needing to replace Carlos Boozer, the Cleveland Cavaliers acquired Drew Gooden in a four-player trade with Orlando on Friday, sending the Magic forward Tony Battie and two second-round draft picks. In their second major deal this week, the Cavaliers also got rookie forward Anderson Varejao and 7-foot center Steven Hunter - a former first-round pick - from Orlando. Gooden should help Cleveland offset the surprising loss of Boozer, who bolted as a free agent when he signed a six-year, $68 million offer sheet with Utah last week. The 6-foot-10, 242-pound Gooden averaged 11.6 points and 6.5 rebounds in 79 games - 17 starts - for the Magic last season.

Cycling

Britain's David Millar will be stripped of his world time-trial gold medal if his admission to using drugs before last year's championships is made official, the International Cycling Union said Friday. Millar told a French judge earlier this month he used EPO before worlds in Hamilton, Canada, but the International Cycling Union has yet to receive an official statement. According to UCI rules, a cyclist only has to declare he has taken drugs, without any ensuing investigation, to be stripped of any pertaining medal. Police raided Millar's home in Biarritz in late June and said they found two used syringes labeled Eprex 4000, a form of EPO, which works by boosting oxygen-carrying red blood cells.

Football

Former Pro Bowl center Barret Robbins was released by the Oakland Raiders on Friday, a week after he and two other players were fined three game checks for testing positive for the steroid THG. Robbins confirmed that he had failed the exam and added: "I'm OK. I just don't want to talk about this right now." Robbins, who began training camp last year on the physically unable to perform list, missed two meetings and a walkthrough practice before the 2003 Super Bowl and didn't play in the game. Robbins, teammate Chris Cooper and free agent Dana Stubblefield were fined three game checks last week for the THG violation. The case had been pending since last fall and the checks were for 2003 rather than 2004.

Safety Sean Taylor of the Washington Redskins has been fined $25,000 by the NFL for leaving the league's rookie symposium for a day. The fine is the largest leveled on a rookie for missing the mandatory seminars for first-year players. Ryan Leaf of San Diego and Ron Dayne of the New York Giants were fined $10,000 in 1998 and 2000 -- Leaf for leaving early and Dayne for not attending. Taylor, who starred at Miami, was the fifth player chosen in last April's draft. The mandatory rookie sessions are designed to teach rookies about the pitfall of being an NFL player, with an emphasis on off-the-field behavior.

Tennis

Defending champion Andy Roddick overcame blisters on his right hand, a pair of tough challenges and his second rain delay in as many nights, Thursday then moved into the quarterfinals of the RCA tournament. First, the world's second-ranked player got past qualifier Michel Kratochvil in a rain-suspended match that began Wednesday night. He then waited out a three-hour rain delay before defeating 15th-seeded Robby Ginepri, 7-6 (5), 6-4, in a night match. The victory gave top-seeded Roddick a 46-9 mark in match competition this year as he seeks his fifth championship of 2004. Next up for Roddick is sixth-seeded Dominik Hrbaty, who defeated No. 11 Joachim Johansson 7-6 (9), 4-6, 7-6 (1).