Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Attorneys for Floyd Landis began trying to paint a picture yesterday of incompetence at the French laboratory where the cyclist's urine was tested.

Using computer logs from the lab, Landis's attorneys tried to prove lab workers manipulated the calibration of the machine that performed tests on the cyclist's backup samples -- and claimed a U.S. Anti-Doping Agency scientist tried to prevent the Landis camp from seeing the logs.

"Because without these log files, we wouldn't know about the data that was deleted," Landis attorney Maurice Suh said at the second day of an arbitration hearing in Malibu, Calif.

Suh showed instances where calibration tests were performed, then rerun, and the first records of those tests were erased by the new results.

Landis is accused of using banned synthetic testosterone during his Tour de France victory last year. A three-man panel will decide whether to uphold his positive doping test. If it does, Landis could face a two-year ban from cycling and become the first person in the 104-year history of the race to have his title stripped.

The Landis camp is trying to prove the abnormal testosterone levels found in his urine samples are the result of mishandled tests.

· FOOTBALL: Cleveland Browns wide receiver Braylon Edwards pledged $1 million to fund scholarships for Cleveland students.

Through Edwards's program, 100 eighth-graders from the Cleveland Municipal School District will be offered scholarships for college tuition upon their graduation from high school, the NFL said in a news release.

The participating students, who will be mentored and tutored, must keep at least a 2.5 grade point average and accumulate at least 15 hours of community service each year. They will not be allowed any unexcused absences from school.

Last year, Edwards, 24, announced a $500,000 scholarship endowment fund to the University of Michigan, his alma mater, for team members who wear the school's No. 1 football jersey. . . .

Baltimore Ravens return specialist B.J. Sams was acquitted of driving under the influence and negligent driving charges in district court in Towson, Md.

· AUTO RACING: Dreyer & Reinbold Racing hired veteran Roger Yasukawa, giving the team its first three-driver program at the Indianapolis 500.

Yasukawa, 29, who drove for the Indianapolis-based team two years ago, will try to qualify this weekend for his fifth consecutive start at Indy. The top 22 of 33 starting spots were filled last weekend during the first round of qualifications.

· COLLEGES: The Mid-Continent Conference is changing its name to the Summit League. The new name for the conference will take effect June 1, conference officials said.

The Summit League will include Centenary, Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne, Indiana-Purdue Indianapolis, Missouri-Kansas City, North Dakota State, Oakland, Oral Roberts, South Dakota State, Southern Utah and Western Illinois.

-- From News Services