IN BRIEF

BASKETBALL

Maricopa sheriff wants O'Neal's deputy badge

Phoenix Suns center Shaquille O'Neal will lose his special deputy's badge in Maricopa County (Ariz.) because of language he used in a rap video that mocks former Los Angeles Lakers teammate Kobe Bryant.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said O'Neal's use of a racially derogatory word and other foul language left him no choice. Arpaio made Shaq a special deputy in 2006 and promoted him to colonel of his largely ceremonial posse later that year.

"I want his two badges back," Arpaio said Tuesday. "Because if any one of my deputies did something like this, they're fired. I don't condone this type of racial conduct."

O'Neal was seen in a video posted on the celebrity news and gossip Web site TMZ.com rapping that "Kobe couldn't do without me." O'Neal skewers Bryant, with whom he won three straight NBA titles from 2000 to 2002 with the Lakers, for not being able to win a championship without him.

HOCKEY

Melrose back in NHL as coach of Lightning

Barry Melrose was hired as coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning, returning to the NHL after 12 years as a TV analyst because he wants to be "on the inside again."

He replaces John Tortorella, who was fired June 3. The hiring of Melrose by the Lightning's new owners ended weeks of speculation concerning the former Los Angeles Kings coach.

"I wanted the challenge again. I wanted to find out if I can still do it," Melrose said.

Also: The NHL indefinitely suspended Anaheim Ducks owner Henry Samueli after the billionaire philanthropist's guilty plea to a felony count of lying to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Samueli, the co-founder of the chipmaker Broadcom Corp., entered the guilty plea in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, Calif., on Monday after a federal probe into illegal stock option backdating at Broadcom.

MISCELLANEOUS

Judge blocks Gatlin's attempt to run at trials

Banned sprinter Justin Gatlin got support but no relief from a federal judge who rescinded his order allowing the defending 100-meter champion to compete in this weekend's Olympic track and field trials.

Judge Lacey Collier said that while he believed Gatlin "is being wronged," he lacked jurisdiction over the U.S. Olympic Committee to determine who is eligible for the trials.

The former world 100- and 200-meter champion's next recourse will be with an appellate court in Atlanta. Gatlin's attorney, Joe Zarzaur, said he will file an appeal today.

Also: Ambesse Tolossa of Ethiopia has been stripped of his 2007 Honolulu Marathon title and suspended from international competition after testing positive for a banned substance.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency says Tolossa tested positive for an opiate in two samples. He will be banned from international competition until April 4, 2010.

Alabama linebacker Jimmy Johns was arrested on felony drug charges and kicked off the team, the latest in a string of off-the-field problems for coach Nick Saban's squad.

Johns, who moved to defense for his senior year after playing running back and receiver in 2007, was "pretty wide open" selling cocaine to students on and around the Alabama campus but tried to hide what he was doing from teammates, police said.

Jeff Fenech won a majority decision over Azumah Nelson in a junior middleweight bout in Melbourne, Australia, 16 years after they last fought for a world title in Las Vegas.

Though the fight was billed as a serious rematch, Fenech, 44, and Nelson, 49, were far from the form they exhibited in fighting for super featherweight titles in 1991 and 1992. Judges scored Tuesday's 10-round bout 96-94 and 96-94 for Fenech and 95-95.