Gay linebacker Michael Sam signs with Alouettes of CFL

Michael Sam, the first openly gay player to be drafted by an NFL team, signed with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League, the team announced Friday.

Sam, a 25-year-old linebacker, signed a two-year deal.

"I cannot wait to put on the pads, get back on the field and work hard each and every day with my teammates to bring a Grey Cup to the great fans here in Montreal," Sam said in a statement.

He was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the seventh round out of Missouri after becoming the highest-profile football player ever to reveal he is gay. He was cut before the regular season and spent seven weeks on the Dallas Cowboys' practice squad without appearing in a game.

General manager Jim Popp considered Sam's sexuality a nonissue.

"Michael Sam is a very good football player, and that's the reason we signed him," Popp said. "He's an outstanding pass rusher."

• Sources close to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell strengthened what Goodell has already indicated: The commissioner will hear Tom Brady's appeal of his four-game suspension for his role in the deflated footballs scandal. Goodell will not withdraw from what he has said is his responsibility, according to several people with knowledge of the decision.

Triple Crown hopeful American Pharoah went out for his first gallop since winning the Preakness, covering 1 3/16 miles at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

Exercise rider Jorge Alvarez said the 3-year-old colt "didn't seem like he was tired or anything,"

American Pharoah is expected to have two timed workouts at Churchill Downs before he's sent to New York on June 3.

Marques Haynes, the Harlem Globetrotters star often called the greatest dribbler in basketball history, has died in Plano, Texas. He was 89.

The Globetrotters said Haynes died Friday of natural causes. Globetrotters CEO Kurt Schneider said "basketball has lost one of its most iconic figures."

Tom Lehman shot a 5-under 67 on the difficult Pete Dye Course at French Lick (Ind.) Resort to take the second-round lead in the Senior PGA Championship.

Lehman, a 56-year-old Minnesotan, birdied three of his first four holes. He had a one-stroke lead over playing partner Colin Montgomerie and Brian Henninger.

Montgomerie, the defending champion, had a 69, and Henninger shot a 67.

• Kevin Na went without a bogey in the second round until his final hole at soggy Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas, finishing with a 4-under 66 for the lead halfway through the PGA Tour's Crowne Plaza Invitational. Na had a 10-under 130 total for a two-stroke lead over Ian Poulter.

• Rory McIlroy missed the cut at the BMW PGA Championship in Virginia Water, England, after an erratic 6-over 78 at the European Tour's flagship event. McIlroy, No. 1 in the world, totaled 149, four strokes outside the cut line.

Cycling: Alberto Contador lost the overall lead of the Giro d'Italia to Fabio Aru after he was involved in a crash toward the end of Friday's 13th stage, which was won by Sacha Modolo. Aru escaped the crash to move 19 seconds ahead of Contador.

College lacrosse: Aly Messinger had three goals and two assists to help North Carolina beat Duke 16-7 in the NCAA women's semifinals in Chester, Pa. The Tar Heels (18-3) will play defending champion Maryland in the final Sunday. Maryland beat Syracuse 10-8 in the second semifinal.

College athletics: North Carolina has received a notice of allegations from the NCAA connected to the school's academic fraud scandal. School officials said they would review the "lengthy" notice and release it publicly soon. The NCAA reopened a probe into academic misconduct last summer that goes back to 2010.