Sports briefs 8/25/04

Baseball

Magglio Ordonez will miss the rest of the season with a left knee injury, Chicago White Sox general manager Kenny Williams confirmed Tuesday. Ordonez has been sidelined since July 22 with a bone marrow condition, and the White Sox had been saying they did not expect him back this year.

Ordonez, who was nearly traded to Boston before the season, played 52 games, his fewest since he was a late-season callup in 1997. He hit .292 with nine homers and 37 RBIs.

Basketball

The judge in the Kobe Bryant rape case on Tuesday sharply restricted how the news media may cover the trial using television and still cameras, saying he was worried too much exposure could threaten the fairness of the proceedings.

District Judge Terry Ruckriegle said no cameras will be allowed during witness testimony or jury selection. Still photography will be allowed during opening statements and closing arguments. Video and audio coverage will be allowed only during closing arguments.

The Dallas Mavericks got a big man, completing an eight-player deal Tuesday that will bring Erick Dampier from Golden State.

Dallas sent Christian Laettner, Eduardo Najera, two future first-round draft picks and the draft rights to guards Luis Flores and Mladen Sekularac to the Warriors for Dampier, Dan Dickau, Evan Eschmeyer and the draft rights to Steve Logan.

The 6-foot-11 Dampier averaged career highs of 12.3 points and 12 rebounds in 74 games last season for the Warriors. He was fourth in the NBA in rebounding, and one of just nine players to average more than 10 points and 10 rebounds a game.

College

Standout receiver Mike Williams is all but certain not to play Saturday night when top-ranked Southern California opens its season because of continuing delays in the school's appeal process to the NCAA.

After that - who knows? USC has applied to the NCAA for a progress-toward-degree waiver and reinstatement of Williams' eligibility.

Football

Quarterback Quincy Carter signed a one-year deal with the New York Jets on Tuesday, three weeks after his surprising release by Dallas. Carter, who started every game for the Cowboys last season, was released Aug. 4, before the team's first exhibition game. Reports said he failed a drug test and the NFL Players Association has filed a request for arbitration in the case.

With the Jets, Carter will back up Chad Pennington, giving the team an experienced second-stringer. Neither of the other two quarterbacks, second-year man Brooks Bollinger nor Ricky Ray, who played in the Canadian Football League, has ever taken an NFL snap.

Buffalo Bills rookie quarterback J.P. Losman broke his left leg during practice Tuesday and will be out indefinitely. The Bills must now decide whether to place Losman on injured reserve, a move that would sideline him for the season.

Losman, the second of Buffalo's two first-round picks, was hurt two hours into practice when he was finishing a run up the right side during a two-minute drill. As he was pulling up, cornerback Troy Vincent laid a shoulder into Losman's upper body, knocking him over.