In Brief
GOLF
Former UNLV star Campbell
tied for RBC Heritage lead
Former UNLV All-American Chad Campbell used a fast start, and Vaughn Taylor and Colt Knost had strong finishes to share the first-round lead at 4-under-par 67 in the RBC Heritage in Hilton Head, S.C., on Thursday.
Campbell birdied four of his first seven holes, Knost birdied three of his final five, and Taylor holed out from the fairway for a closing eagle on the par-4 ninth hole.
Jim Furyk, the 2010 winner, was a stroke back with Harris English, Charlie Wi and Matt Every. Top-ranked Luke Donald had a 75, and must finish eighth or better to maintain the top spot.
Also: Charl Schwartzel of South Africa shot an 8-under 64 to take the first-round lead at the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur. He had a one-stroke lead over India's Jeev Milkha Singh.
PRO FOOTBALL
NFL will allow teams to accept
casino, gaming advertisements
The NFL will allow teams to accept advertisements for casinos and other state-licensed gambling-related establishments during the next two seasons.
Those ads can appear only in game programs, on local radio broadcasts and in the upper bowl and inner concourses of stadiums.
The league told the 32 clubs that the change in policy will allow such advertising on a limited basis from casinos in their markets. After the subject was discussed at last month's owners meetings, the league reviewed how other sports handle casino advertising, did fan research, analyzed likely impact of recent gambling-related legislative developments and surveyed all 32 franchises.
Also: The Bengals traded linebacker Keith Rivers to the New York Giants for a fifth-round draft pick, ending his four-year stay in Cincinnati marred by frequent injuries. Rivers missed last season recovering from surgery on his right wrist. He has been limited to 35 games in four seasons.
In other Bengals news, the team agreed to a deal with cornerback Terence Newman, an unrestricted free agent from Dallas who struggled in pass coverage last season.
The Pittsburgh Steelers agreed to terms with free-agent wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery and offensive lineman Trai Essex.
Cotchery, 29, had 16 receptions for 237 yards and two touchdowns in 13 games with Pittsburgh last season. Essex has played his entire career in Pittsburgh, re-signing with the club midway through training camp last summer.
The Seattle Seahawks agreed to one-year deals with linebackers Leroy Hill and Matt McCoy.
Hill has spent his entire career with Seattle and is one of two remaining players from Seattle's NFC championship team in 2005. McCoy has been with Seattle the past two seasons.
Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck and Baylor QB Robert Griffin III are among 26 players who will attend the NFL Draft in New York this month. Luck and Heisman Trophy winner Griffin are expected to go 1-2 to Indianapolis and Washington.
National champion Alabama will have five players at the draft: safety Mark Barron, running back Trent Richardson, linebackers Courtney Upshaw and Dont'a Hightower, and cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick.
Louisiana State will have three players at Radio City Music Hall: defensive tackle Michael Brockers, cornerback Morris Claiborne and receiver Rueben Randle.
The Lingerie Football League, which fields a local team with the Las Vegas Sin, is forgoing a 2012 season to expand the sport abroad and refocus it in 2013 as a spring-summer game.
MISCELLANEOUS
Judge won't dismiss charges in
Sandusky child sex-abuse case
A judge refused to throw out child sex-abuse charges against Jerry Sandusky, but will allow defense lawyers for the retired Penn State assistant football coach to ask again to have the case dismissed as more evidence is turned over by prosecutors.
Judge John Cleland of Allentown, Pa., ruled on a catch-all pretrial defense motion that also sought to have some of the evidence against Sandusky suppressed, compel additional disclosure of prosecution materials and win the court's permission to introduce an alibi defense.
Sandusky, 68, is charged with more than 50 criminal counts that allege he sexually abused 10 boys over 15 years, both on the Penn State campus and elsewhere. He has denied the allegations.
Also: Former Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino was apologetic in text messages sent to a series of athletic department employees, including athletic director Jeff Long, after the revelation of his affair and the presence of a 25-year-old employee during the April 1 motorcycle accident that led to his downfall.
The content of Petrino's text messages still available on his phone were obtained by The Associated Press through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Northern Arizona hired Memphis assistant Jack Murphy as its basketball coach.
Murphy, 32, replaces Dave Brown, who served as interim coach last season after former Bishop Gorman High School coach Mike Adras abruptly left the program Dec. 9. The Lumberjacks finished 5-24 and 1-15 in the Big Sky Conference, ending the season on a school-record 16-game losing streak.
Brent Sutter was fired as coach of the Calgary Flames, who failed to make the playoffs in his three seasons with the team. The Flames narrowly missed the postseason in all three years under Sutter, compiling a 118-90-38 record. Calgary went 37-29-16 this season.
Chevrolet's strong start in its return to IndyCar suffered a significant setback when the manufacturer decided to change the engines for all 11 of its teams before they open the weekend at Long Beach, Calif.
The change means all 11 Chevrolet drivers will drop 10 spots on the starting grid before Sunday's race under an IndyCar rule that prohibits engine changes before each one has completed 1,850 miles.
Mike Fagan of Dallas continued to build his Professional Bowlers Association Player of the Year credentials, averaging 240.22 while racing to a 119-pin lead after 18 qualifying games in the PBA Tournament of Champions at Red Rock.
Ragan, with a total pinfall of 4,324, leads defending champion Mika Koivuniemi of Hartland, Mich. Dave Wodka of Henderson tied for 16th to advance to today's action. The top four after today will advance to Sunday's stepladders finals on ESPN.
