Sports World and Nation Briefs | September 11

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Hawaii special teams coach suspended 1 game

Hawaii special teams coach suspended 1 game

HONOLULU — The Mountain West Conference in suspending Hawaii special teams and safeties coach Chris Demarest one game for inappropriate sideline conduct during a loss to Oregon State.

The conference said in a release Tuesday that Demarest is prohibited from coaching during Hawaii’s next game Sept. 21 at Nevada.

A conference official declined to give details, but the release says Demarest was suspended under a sportsmanship rule that governs obscene gestures and language toward other people during games.

Hawaii coach Norm Chow said in a statement that the situation is unfortunate and the team will abide by the penalty.

Hawaii (0-2) lost 33-14 to Oregon State on Saturday. The Beavers (1-1) outscored the Rainbow Warriors 19-0 in the second half.

Demarest is in his second year as a position coach with Hawaii.

Giants add depth, bring back RB Brandon Jacobs

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The New York Giants signed running back Brandon Jacobs Tuesday.

Jacobs, who played for the Giants from 2005-2011 and was a part of two Super Bowl-winning teams, should help a backfield in flux. Second-year starter in David Wilson is backed up by Da’Rel Scott and Michael Cox. But New York ran for only 50 yards in the season-opening loss to the Cowboys.

“Whatever they need me to do,” Jacobs said. “Whatever role they want me to play, I’ll come in and do it. I know the offense. I know they’ve made some tweaks, and I’ll do whatever I have to do.”

Mavs add 3 to roster for training camp

DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks have added center Fab Melo, guard-forward D.J. Kennedy and guard Richard McConnell to their roster for training camp.

Melo was a first-round pick by Boston last year and played six games for the Celtics. The 7-footer spent most of the season with Maine in the NBA Development League. He was traded to Memphis for Donte Green in August and waived by the Grizzlies two weeks later.

Kennedy helped Rio Grande Valley win the D-League championship last season. He played two games for Cleveland during the 2011-12 season and scored 12 points in his debut with the Cavaliers.

McConnell played in Italy last season, averaging 13.6 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists for Tezenis VE.

Nets to retire Kidd’s No. 5 jersey

NEW YORK — The Brooklyn Nets will retire the No. 5 jersey of Jason Kidd, who led the franchise to its greatest NBA success as a player and is now its coach.

The Nets said Monday the ceremony will take place Oct. 17 before their preseason game against the Miami Heat.

Kidd led the New Jersey Nets to the 2002 and 2003 NBA Finals and is their career leader in numerous statistical categories. He ended his 19-year playing career after spending last season with the New York Knicks, and the Nets hired him as their coach in June.

He will be the sixth Nets player to have his number retired, following Julius Erving, Drazen Petrovic, John Williamson, Bill Melchionni and Buck Williams.

Bach elected to head IOC

BEUNOS AIRES, Argentina — Thomas Bach of Germany was elected president of the International Olympic Committee, replacing Jacques Rogge as the head of one of sport’s most powerful groups.

Bach was elected in the second round of voting after international boxing association head Ching-Kuo Wu was eliminated in the opening voting, leaving five candidates for the final ballot.

Rogge, a 71-year-old who stabilized the IOC for 12 years as it recovered from corruption scandals, is retiring, and a record number of candidates vied to replace him at the 125th annual meeting Tuesday in Buenos Aires. The new head for the Lausanne, Switzerland-based body may influence decisions for events through 2040, according to Michael Payne, who oversaw the IOC’s marketing from 1983 to 2004.

The potential power attracted the biggest field of candidates in the IOC’s history. Bach, a German lawyer and Olympic gold-medalist fencer, was labeled the frontrunner by some IOC members including Dick Pound of Canada. The other candidates were Puerto Rican banker Richard Carrion, former world champion and current pole-vault record holder Sergey Bubka from Ukraine, Singapore’s Ng Ser Miang, Wu and Denis Oswald, a Swiss lawyer who was responsible for coordinating the 2012 London games.

Judges sides with Armstrong in book lawsuit

AUSTIN, Texas — A federal judge in California is siding with Lance Armstrong and the publishers of his autobiographies, rejecting claims in a lawsuit that lies about not using performance-enhancing drugs amounted to fraud and false advertising.

In a ruling issued Tuesday, the judge sided with lawyers for Armstrong that the books are free speech protected by the First Amendment.

A group of readers who bought Armstrong’s “It’s Not About The Bike” and “Every Second Counts” sued in Sacramento federal court seeking more than $5 million. They said they were duped into believing the books were inspirational true accounts and should have been labeled fiction.

By wire sources