NBA | Referees say they are prepared to be locked out

NBA

Stern has removed himself from the negotiating process: Referees are prepared to be locked out for the start of the season after negotiations with the league on a new contract broke down this week when commissioner David Stern ended the latest bargaining session.

No further talks are scheduled — and if they resume, the commissioner will not be present.

After referees spokesman Lamell McMorris accused Stern of acting childish and not negotiating in good faith, the commissioner removed himself from the process.

Stern said Thursday he told McMorris that, "In fact if it was going to get personal — which apparently he's decided to make it by calling news media and leveling a series of inaccurate allegations — that I would absent myself from the negotiations, which I have.

"Hopefully we'll make a deal with the referees, or we won't, but it won't be on the basis of personality, it'll be on the basis of economics."

The last year the league began a season with replacement officials was 1995.

Iverson will seek to quiet critics: Guard Allen Iverson, a 10-time All-Star and former league most valuable player, has scored more than 23,000 points in his career but wasn't highly sought after as a free agent.

Iverson, 34, ended last season with Detroit. He signed a one-year contract Thursday with Memphis, which went 24-58 last season.

"It's basically going to be my rookie season again," Iverson said at a news conference. "It hurts, but I turn the TV on, I read the paper, I listen to some of the things people say about me having the season that I had last year and me losing a step, things like that.

"They're trying to put me in a rocking chair already."

College basketball

Seton Hall coach Gonzalez gets extension: Bobby Gonzalez, 47-46 in three seasons at Seton Hall, got a three-year contract extension, through the 2014-15 season.

Track and field

IAAF officials are waiting to speak with Semenya: The IAAF has received the results of gender tests on South African runner Caster Semenya, who won the women's 800-meter world title last month, and is waiting to speak with Semenya before completing its report.

In an e-mail to The Associated Press, IAAF spokesman Nick Davies said he cannot confirm a story in Australia's Sydney Morning Herald newspaper stating tests show Semenya, 18, has male and female sexual organs.

Davies said the test results must be examined by a group of experts and that the IAAF didn't plan to speak to Semenya for "at least a few weeks."

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, "Medical reports indicate she has no ovaries, but rather has internal male testes, which are producing large amounts of testosterone."

Davies said the newspaper's report "should be treated with caution."

NHL

Bankruptcy judge mentions option of rejecting both bids for Phoenix Coyotes: Bankruptcy judge Redfield T. Baum raised the possibility of rejecting both bids to buy the Phoenix Coyotes. He made the comment as a two-day auction of the team began.

Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie has made a bid contingent on moving the team to Hamilton, Ontario, over the overwhelming opposition of the league. The other bid is by the league, which says it would resell the team outside of the bankruptcy process.

Auto racing

RPM, Yates teams to merge next year: Richard Petty Motorsports and Yates Racing plan to merge in 2010, with a four-car team running Fords under the RPM banner.

RPM drivers include Enumclaw's Kasey Kahne, who is sixth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings. Next year, Yates driver Paul Menard will join RPM drivers Kahne, Elliott Sadler and A.J. Allmendinger.

RPM is switching from Dodge to Ford.

Olympics

No official word on whether Obama will go to Denmark to help Chicago's 2016 bid: The question of whether President Obama goes for the gold — and travels to Copenhagen, Denmark, to try to close the sale for Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid — looms large as the Oct. 2 vote by the International Olympic Committee nears.

White House officials are noncommittal about whether the president will be part of the hourlong final pitch before the 100-plus members of the IOC, who will choose a victor among Chicago; Tokyo; Madrid, Spain; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Britain's Tony Blair and Russia's Vladimir Putin were on hand for high-level persuasion when London and Sochi scored the Games in 2012 and 2014.

Leaders are expected to lobby the IOC for Chicago's rivals.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has made it clear he is in. King Juan Carlos of Spain will lead his country's delegation. And Japan stands to be represented by its royal family and new prime minister.

Cycling

Cavendish withdraws from Tour of Missouri: Team Columbia-HTC rider Mark Cavendish, who won the first two stages, withdrew from the Tour of Missouri because of an infection team officials said has spread to his lungs.

Saxo Bank rider J.J. Haedo of Argentina won the fourth stage and has the overall lead.

Seattle Times news services