NFL

Lions fire team president Millen

ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- Matt Millen insisted he would stick with the tough job of turning the Detroit Lions into a winner instead of returning to the broadcast booth to make easy money.

So the Lions got rid of him.

Finally.

The Lions fired Millen seven-plus years after the acclaimed TV analyst and Super Bowl-winning linebacker took over as team president for one of the NFL's mediocre franchises and made it the worst.

"I have relieved Matt Millen of his duties effective immediately," Lions owner William Clay Ford said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.

Messages seeking comment were left on Millen's cell phone.

Millen's teams won a league-low 31 games since he took over in 2001, but his boss refused to get rid of him until now.

Bill Ford, son of the team owner, said Monday he would fire Millen if he had the authority.

Detroit was routed in each of its first three games this season, falling behind 21-0 twice and 21-3 once en route to lopsided losses going into its bye week.

"I am very disappointed with where we are as a team after our start this season," Ford added in his statement. "Our sole focus now is preparing for our next game against Chicago."

The 0-3 record dropped Millen to 31-84 overall, giving the Lions at least 10 more losses than any other NFL team since 2001, one of the worst stretches in league history. They gave up a league-high 25.3 points and ranked 30th with 18.3 points a game under Millen, according to STATS.

After winning just five games in his first two seasons, Millen bristled when a reporter told him some people were already predicting he would eventually walk away to get paid stress-free millions as a broadcaster again.

"Those people don't know me that well," Millen said in a 2003 interview with The Associated Press. "I can't not finish something that I started. That bugs me. I've got to get this finished.

"This gray hair shows how much I care. Look at me. I look like Kris Kringle!"

The Lions' front office will now be led by executive vice president Tom Lewand, who will report to the owner on business issues, and new general manager Martin Mayhew, who will report to the owner on football matters.

• Giants suspend Burress for 1 game: A yearlong ankle injury could not keep Plaxico Burress out of the New York Giants' lineup last season. The lack of a telephone call this week apparently is going to cost him a game and more than $235,000.

Less than a month after handing the man who caught the winning pass in the Super Bowl a new $35 million contract, the Giants on Wednesday suspended Burress for a game for missing a practice and not calling to explain his absence.

Burress' agent insisted the nine-year veteran had an undisclosed family emergency on Monday and will appeal the ban to the NFL Players Association.

"We have had success here because of the team concept," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said in discussing the suspension, which was handed down during a bye week for the Giants (3-0). "And the team concept means basically that everyone is accountable and responsible and that we don't let the other guys down. And that is what we are trying to do."

As part of the suspension, Burress will not be allowed to practice until after the Oct. 5 game against the Seattle Seahawks. That means he will miss two weekly paychecks, totaling $235,294.12 of his $2 million annual base salary.

The Giants refused to say why Burress was suspended, but agent Drew Rosenhaus claimed Burress had a family emergency that has now been resolved.

Rosenhaus said Burress spoke with Giants director of player development Charles Way on Monday evening, but he added there was "miscommunication" between the player and the team.

When asked specifically why Burress did not telephone the team or answer repeated telephone calls Monday to discuss the absence, Rosenhaus avoided answering the question.

"Again we're acknowledging that there should be some repercussion, but not to the extent where he is denied his right to perform his livelihood to play,"

• Bills WR Parrish out 4-6 weeks: Receiver Roscoe Parrish will miss 4-to-6 weeks after having surgery to repair ligament damage in his right thumb, leaving the Buffalo Bills without their fastest and one of their most elusive threats.

Coach Dick Jauron made the surprise announcement Wednesday, a day after Parrish had what was described as a brief but intricate operation. Jauron said Parrish told him he was hurt early in the fourth quarter of a 24-23 win over Oakland last weekend.

• McCarthy says Harris' spleen injury may not end season: Cornerback Al Harris has a "serious" spleen injury that requires a cautious approach, but he hasn't been ruled out for the rest of the season, Packers coach Mike McCarthy said Wednesday.

"I'm hopeful he'll be back," McCarthy said. "The time frame just hasn't been established."

Harris was injured in the first quarter of Green Bay's loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night. The injury is believed to be a ruptured spleen, which sidelined then-Tampa Bay quarterback Chris Simms for the rest of the season in 2006.

"It's a serious injury," McCarthy said. "I think that's obvious to everybody. And really, as we move forward, it's a different type of injury. And we will take a cautious approach, and everything we'll do will be in his best interests."

• Former Giants player, radio voice dies: Dick Lynch, who starred at cornerback for the New York Giants during their glory years in the late 1950s and early 1960s and was a longtime radio analyst for the team, has died. He was 72.

Lynch, who had been treated for leukemia, died in New York on Wednesday morning, family members said.

Lynch played in the NFL from 1958-1966 -- his first season with Washington and the last eight with the Giants. He had 37 career interceptions, including a league-leading nine each in 1961 in 1963. He had four returns for touchdowns, three in 1963.

"He was a player who played way, way, way above his physical ability," Giants teammate and Hall of Famer Frank Gifford said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "He was an inspirational person for all of us. He was a hell of a cornerback and was as tough as they come."

Lynch perhaps is best known for a 3-yard, fourth-down, touchdown run with 3:50 to play that gave Notre Dame a 7-0 win over Oklahoma in 1957, ending the Sooners' 47-game winning streak.

Cycling

Armstrong to ride with Astana in comeback

NEW YORK -- Lance Armstrong is chasing an eighth Tour de France title and an elusive feat: persuading everyone he's clean.

As Armstrong reunites with his close friend and Astana team director Johan Bruyneel, the man behind his yellow jerseys, he's also adding a new member to his support group. Anti-doping expert Don Catlin has been hired to test Armstrong anytime, anywhere -- and to post the results online for the world to see.

"I think it's the first time an athlete can actually be totally validated on the chance he's successful," Armstrong said Wednesday. "In my opinion, Don Catlin is beyond reproach."

Armstrong revealed details of his comeback two weeks after saying he would end a three-year retirement. He'll ride for Astana and will compete in the Tour Down Under in Adelaide, Australia, in January.

The setting was the Clinton Global Initiative, the annual meeting of former President Bill Clinton's foundation. Armstrong held a news conference to talk cycling after announcing a new worldwide campaign to fight cancer before an audience of political and corporate leaders.

As he described his 2009 Tour plans, the 37-year-old Armstrong sometimes made it sound as though this was more a publicity move to raise awareness about the fight against cancer than a legitimate shot at winning an eighth title.

"I think we're sure we'll have success with the movement, because we need it," he said in an interview with The Associated Press, "but I'm not sure I'll be the fastest cyclist in the world."

Astana was banned from this year's Tour because of past doping violations. But Pat McQuaid, the leader of cycling's governing body, said he believed the team would be allowed to return in 2009.

The Amaury Group, which owns the company that organizes the Tour, has confirmed in writing to UCI that Astana is on its list of teams "that they say are guaranteed to ride to the Tour de France in 2009 and 2010," he told the AP.

Tour director Christian Prudhomme didn't respond to messages.