Sports digest 11/27/01

Selig will likely receive extension

NEW YORK -- Baseball commissioner Bud Selig is expected to get a term extension when owners meet today in Chicago, but it appeared no decision will be made on the Minnesota Twins and Montreal Expos.

Owners voted Nov. 6 to eliminate two teams before next season but didn't select them. The Expos and Twins are the most likely candidates, and contraction then ground to a halt 10 days later when a Minnesota judge issued a temporary injunction that forced the Twins to fulfill their lease next season at the Metrodome.

Selig did not want to ask owners to make any decisions on contraction while the injunction was in place, a high-ranking baseball official said Monday on the condition he not be identified.

Jaguars' Smith tests positive for cocaine

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Jimmy Smith's heartwarming comeback story took a shocking turn Monday when tests showed the Jacksonville Jaguars receiver had cocaine in his system.

Smith, who will not be prosecuted, vehemently denied having taken the drug.

The positive tests were taken Nov. 11, after police arrested the four-time Pro Bowl receiver on suspicion of drunken driving.

Smith was released after his arrest without being charged. He will not be prosecuted because his blood-alcohol level was under the state legal limit of .08, and because he was not in possession of cocaine at the time of the arrest.

NFL spokesman Dan Masonson said the league is reviewing the case to determine whether Smith will be suspended for violating the NFL substance-abuse policy.

Omaha Royals hire Dent as manager

OMAHA, Neb. -- Bucky Dent was hired Monday to manage the Omaha Royals, the AAA team of the Kansas City Royals.

Dent, the former New York Yankees shortstop who will forever be remembered for hitting the three-run homer that beat Boston in a one-game playoff in 1978, replaces John Mizerock, who was promoted to Kansas City's bullpen coach.

Dent, 50, managed the Yankees at the end of the 1989 season and early in 1990.

Panthers place Bure on injured reserve

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Pavel Bure, the NHL's leading goal scorer the last two seasons, was placed on injured reserve Monday by the Florida Panthers because of a concussion.

Bure, who is listed as day-to-day, was injured Nov. 19 against Toronto and has missed the Panthers' last two games. He is also expected to miss both games on the Panthers' current road trip, at Colorado on Tuesday and Minnesota on Thursday.

Bure, who scored 59 goals last season and 58 in 1999-2000, is second on the Panthers with eight goals and 15 points this season.

IAAF investigates Sotomayer drug case

MONACO, Monte Carlo -- Track's international federation is investigating why two parts of a drug test on high-jump champion Javier Sotomayor produced markedly different results.

The International Association of Athletic Federations council was told Monday that the first part of the 1992 Olympic champion's sample tested positive for the steroid nandrolone after a July 14 meet in Spain. But the second part showed 50 percent less of the drug.

-- From wire reports