Vikings Hope Fourth Time Is the Charm for George

The Minnesota Vikings reached contract agreement Monday with veteran Jeff George, who will be a backup to quarterback Randall Cunningham.

Terms were not disclosed. However, reports indicated George would receive $400,000 under a one-year contract.

The Vikings are his fourth team since joining the NFL as the top pick in the 1990 draft. George also played for Oakland, Indianapolis and Atlanta. He led the AFC in passing in 1997, but he was injured and did not play well last season and the Raiders opted out of his contract during the off-season. He earned about $5 million the past two seasons.

Tennis

Tennis Australia will appeal to the International Tennis Federation in a bid to get Australia’s Davis Cup quarterfinal against the United States switched to Melbourne.

Under Davis Cup rules, Australia would serve as the host of the match since the last game between the nations was in the United States. However, the ITF decided two years ago to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Davis Cup by ensuring a U.S. match would be played in Boston, the city where the competition started.

Jennifer Capriati defeated Sylvia Plischke, 7-5, 6-3, in the first round of the Bausch & Lomb Championships at Amelia Island, Fla. No. 10-seeded Chanda Rubin, No. 11-seeded Magui Serna, No. 14 Virginia Ruano-Pascual, No. 15 Nathalie Dechy and No. 16 Iva Majoli all won their first-round matches. . . .Andre Agassi teamed with David Wheaton for a 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) victory over second-seeded Jeff Tarango and Czech Daniel Vacek in doubles at the Salem Open in Hong Kong. . . .Andrei Medvedev of Russia defeated Spain’s Carlos Costa, 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4), in the first round of the Estoril Open at Oeiras, Portugal. . . .Fifth-seeded Andrew Ilie of Australia beat Dutchman Dennis Van Scheppingen, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, and 1997 champion Mikael Tillstrom defeated Bulgaria’s Orlin Stanoytchev, 6-4, 6-4, in the first round of the Gold Flake Open at Madreas, India.

Jurisprudence

Former Northwestern quarterback Brian Ballarini was placed on probation in Chicago for three years for his role as a bookie in a sports gambling scandal that swept the campus.

An Albemarle County grand jury indicted Virginia defensive back Adrian Burnim and tailback Antoine Womack on felony malicious wounding charges in connection with a campus brawl in Charlottesville.

Miscellany

The UCLA football team begins a month of spring practice that should go a long way toward determining the new quarterback and the makeup of the offensive line that loses three of five starters.

Coach Bob Toledo is not expected to name a replacement for NFL-bound Cade McNown, but he is planning to narrow down the five possibilities. They are Drew Bennett, the backup last season, Scott McEwan, Ryan McCann, Cory Paus and J.P. Losman, who graduated from Venice High and enrolled at UCLA for the spring quarter.

Toledo announced that defensive end Santi Hall has been suspended for an undisclosed violation of team rules. He could return in the fall. David Wilford, who would have been No. 1 on the depth chart at left tackle, has been dismissed from school and is attending a junior college.

Mike Adras, an assistant basketball coach at Northern Arizona for seven seasons, was named head coach. Adras, 37, replaces Ben Howland, who left to coach Pittsburgh. . . .Dan Califf scored in the 12th minute for the United States in a 1-0 victory over England in the World Under-20 Youth Soccer Championships at Kano, Nigeria. . . . More than 300,000 tickets have been sold for this summer’s Women’s World Cup, tournament organizers said.