NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and four players whose suspensions in connection with the bounty investigation were recently lifted by an appeals panel have agreed to new meetings on the matter.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said Tuesday no specific dates have been set for the meetings. An attorney for Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma said his client hoped to meet with the commissioner by early next week.
The NFL Players Association, which is representing Saints defensive end Will Smith, Cleveland linebacker Scott Fujita and free agent defensive lineman Anthony Hargrove, did not immediately comment
CLEVELAND (AP) - Scott Fujita is a step closer to being on the field with the Browns
The NFL lifted the roster exemption for the linebacker, who had the three-game suspension for his role in the Saints' bounty scandal lifted last week.
Fujita is back on Cleveland's 53-man roster, which had an opening when cornerback Joe Haden was suspended four games Monday for failing a drug test and violating the league's ban on performance-enhancing substances. Fujita did not play in Sunday's season opener against Philadelphia despite being eligible.
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) - Former Pro Bowl center Dan Koppen, who spent nine season snapping the ball to Tom Brady in New England, will now have the chance to work with Peyton Manning.
Koppen signed with the Denver Broncos two weeks after his release from the Patriots, where he played from 2003-11.
SOCCER
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Spurred on by a roaring crowd decked out in red, white and blue, the United States used all of that emotion as fuel to pull off a significant World Cup qualifying victory.
The U.S. rebounded from a loss at Jamaica four nights earlier and moved back into a tie for its group lead by beating the Reggae Boyz 1-0 when Herculez Gomez curled in a free kick in the 55th minute.
It was a night when the only respite from the din from a capacity crowd of 23,881 was the moment of silence before the game in remembrance of the 11th anniversary of Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) - An ambulance was sent to the home of Texas Tech coach Billy Gillispie for the second time in 10 days and the school gave associate head coach Chris Walker control of the team while it continues to investigate Gillispie's leadership of the program.
Lubbock Police Sgt. Jeff Baker said that the emergency call came from Gillispie's home around 6 p.m. Monday and that an ambulance was sent.
A spokesman for University Medical Center, where Gillispie spent six days this month, said Gillispie did not come there. A spokeswoman for the other hospital in Lubbock said Gillispie wasn't brought there either.
Gillispie, in a text message to The Associated Press, said he would be treated for high blood pressure ''amongst other things,'' at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
Texas Tech spokesman Blayne Beal said Gillispie told athletic director Kirby Hocutt he was going to the Minnesota medical facility for treatment.
Gillispie is on indefinite sick leave and Hocutt said he is no longer making day-to-day decisions for the basketball program so he can focus on his health.
''Nor is he to engage with our program in any way until he and I have a chance to sit down and talk face to face,'' Hocutt said.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) - Harvard basketball co-captain Kyle Casey plans to withdraw from school amid a cheating scandal that also may involve other athletes.
Sports Illustrated and the Harvard Crimson reported that Casey, a senior, would take a leave of absence from school in an attempt to preserve a year of eligibility once the issue is resolved.
Co-captain Brandyn Curry also has been implicated in the scandal and is weighing his options, his father told the magazine. The Boston Herald reported Curry also is expected to withdraw from classes.
The school is looking into whether at least 125 undergraduates cheated in what has been reported to be an Introduction to Congress class by working together on a take-home final exam in the spring.
School officials have declined to release the students' names.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Michigan, Virginia, Kansas State and Pittsburgh are the top seeds for the NIT Season Tip-Off.
The other seeded teams in the field that was announced were Lehigh, Robert Morris, Cleveland State and Delaware. The rest of the field is Ala.-Huntsville, Bowling Green, Fairfield, Fordham, IUPUI, Lamar, North Texas and Penn.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
DICKINSON, N.D. (AP) - A concussion kept Jamie Kuntz from suiting up for his first college football game. A kiss from his much-older boyfriend at that game led the freshman linebacker to be kicked off the team.
North Dakota State College of Sciences in Wahpeton acknowledges Kuntz was disciplined by the team, but says it wasn't because he is gay. Football coach Chuck Parsons told Kuntz in a letter that he was removed from the team for lying about the kiss.
Kuntz, 18, and on a partial football scholarship, left the college in southeast North Dakota this month after his dismissal from the team.
NEW YORK (AP) - The mother of paralyzed Rutgers football player Eric LeGrand is reaching out to the parents of the Tulane player whose spinal cord was severely injured during a game.
Karen LeGrand told The Associated Press that she and her son will make themselves available to Devon Walker and his family in any way they can.
Walker was hurt trying to make a tackle Saturday in Tulane's game at Tulsa. He underwent three hours of surgery the next day and was in stable condition Monday at a Tulsa hospital. The long-term prognosis is unclear.
PRO HOCKEY
NEW YORK (AP) - The NHL and the players' association will resume negotiations Wednesday in an effort to avoid a lockout this weekend.
After not meeting face to face since last Friday, the sides planned to get together at the league office in New York before the NHLPA holds player meetings later Wednesday.
The NHL board of governors will convene on Thursday with Commissioner Gary Bettman, while the union holds a second day of discussions with as many as 250 players.
BOSTON (AP) - The Bruins continued their pre-lockout signing strategy by agreeing with forward Tyler Seguin on a six-year, $34 million contract extension.
Seguin, 20, led Boston with 29 goals and 67 points last season, and posted a plus-34 rating.
On Friday, they locked up forward Brad Marchand to a new, four-year deal. The feisty Marchand, 24, a key cog in the Bruins' run to the 2011 Cup, will make $4.5 million per season, starting in 2013-14.
BASEBALL
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Oakland Athletics pitcher Brandon McCarthy was released from a Bay Area hospital on Tuesday, less than a week after getting hit in the head by a line drive and undergoing surgery.
And he said he plans to return to baseball once he returns to full strength in the coming months.
BALTIMORE (AP) - Right-hander Jason Hammel left the Orioles' game against Tampa Bay with an injury to his surgically repaired right knee.
Hammel left in the fourth inning after throwing a pitch to Matt Joyce. He had retired 11 of 13 batters at that point.
HOUSTON (AP) - Chicago Cubs slugger Anthony Rizzo has a sore right shoulder and upper back after a scary collision with Brett Wallace while running to first base against the Houston Astros.
He remained on the dirt for a minute while trainers looked at him. He finally sat up and slowly walked off the field with the help of the trainers.
PRO BASKETBALL
SEATTLE (AP) - Efforts to bring the NBA back to Seattle took a giant step forward in a revised arena deal, with investor Chris Hansen agreeing to kick in more money for transportation improvements near a proposed new arena, personally guaranteeing the city's debt - and offering to buy everyone a beer.
The plan for the $490 million arena, which could also host an NHL team, represents the best shot at bringing the NBA back to Seattle. The SuperSonics ended their 41-year run here in 2008 and skipped town for Oklahoma City, where they became the Thunder.
Though formal votes are still required, Tuesday's announcement effectively gave Hansen, a San Francisco hedge-fund manager, and his fellow investors, including Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Peter and Erik Nordstrom, of the department store clan, the green light to begin shopping for an NBA team.
BOXING
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - A fan of Muhammad Ali has acquired an important piece of memorabilia: the boxing great's boyhood home.
Las Vegas real estate investor Jared Weiss closed on the property earlier this week, a Louisville real estate agent told The Associated Press.
Realtor Dave Lambrechts said Weiss paid $70,000 for the small white house with a sagging front porch overhang in a western Louisville neighborhood of neat, modest homes.
GYMNASTICS
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Add a fractured tibia to Olympic champion McKayla Maroney's injuries this summer.
Maroney fractured her left tibia Sunday when she fell on her uneven bars dismount during the second stop of a 40-city gymnastics tour. USA Gymnastics said that her leg is in a brace, and she and her family are consulting with doctors on treatment. It's not certain when she'll return to the tour.
