BRIEFLY : HENLEY CAN'T REMOVE JUDGES.

Former Los Angeles Rams and UCLA player Darryl Henley lost an effort Monday to disqualify all federal judges in the Los Angeles area from presiding in his drug and murder-for-hire case.

In denying Henley's motion, U.S. District Judge James Ideman said the judicial district is so big that he has little contact with the Santa Ana judge whom Henley allegedly wanted to kill.

Henley, 29, is accused in a 13-count indictment of plotting the killings of Judge Gary Taylor and of former Rams cheerleader Terry Donaho, who testified against Henley in a 1995 drug trial at which Taylor was the judge.

Henley is accused of setting up a $1 million cross-country drug deal and bribing prison guard Rodney Anderson to provide him with a cellular telephone in his cell.

Henley, who has pleaded innocent, was a Rams second-round draft choice out of UCLA in 1989 and was a regular starter through much of the 1994 season, when he played while free on bond prior to trial.

A Salinas man who played football at Pierce College and the University of Texas under an assumed name avoided prison time or a fine in a U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

Ron Weaver, 30, who played football at both schools under the name Ron McKelvey, had pleaded guilty in May to misusing a social security card.

After exhausting his eligibility at Sacramento State in 1989, Weaver took the identity of 23-year-old Joel Ron McKelvey. Under McKelvey's name, he played two seasons at Pierce and last season at Texas.

Weaver could have received up to two years in federal prison, said his lawyer, Peter Soli.

``He essentially told the judge that he allowed his love of football to cloud his judgment,'' Soli said.

Johnny Mitchell was ecstatic when he joined the Miami Dolphins two weeks ago. But the tight end, expected to play a big role in the Dolphins' offense, says he no longer wants to play football and retired at age 25.

He has been bothered since last season by a bad back and as recently as late last week was suffering from chronic back pain. However, a club spokesman said that was not the reason for the decision. Mitchell becomes the third tight end to leave the Dolphins since Johnny Johnson became coach.

In a decision that dismissed a rape case involving two Virginia Tech football players, a judge in Roanoke, Va., ruled that Congress exceeded its authority by enacting a law that lets women sue their attackers in federal court.

Christy Brzonkala, the first woman to sue under the 1994 Violence Against Women Act, claimed the two players, Antonio Morrison and James Crawford, raped her in their dormitory suite in 1994. She sought $10 million.

U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser, who ruled Friday but did not release the decision until Monday, said gender discrimination is not like racial bias, so the 1994 law patterned after the Civil Rights Act is unconstitutional.

BASKETBALL

David H. Yanai, former coach at Cal State Dominguez Hills, has been named head coach at Cal State Los Angeles.

TENNIS

Jana Novotna of the Czech Republic, who knocked America's Monica Seles out of the running for a medal at the Olympics, has entered the Acura Classic, set for Aug. 12-18 in Manhattan Beach.

SOCCER

In what is believed to be the largest transfer fee in soccer history, English star Alan Shearer was sold by Blackburn to Newcastle for $23.25 million. Shearer, who had five goals in last month's European Championship and is the top scorer in England's Premier League the past two years, signed a five-year contract.

BOXING

Former WBC heavyweight champion Oliver McCall was arrested in Chicago on charges of crack cocaine and marijuana possession, his second drug bust in four months. Police said they stopped McCall while he was driving his Pontiac Grand Am illegally down a lakefront bike path.

An 18-year-old amateur boxer died of internal injuries after an exhibition bout in Brazil, police in Rio de Janeiro said. Reginaldo Tavares da Silva Jr. felt stomach pains after a fight Sunday morning at a gym in Sao Goncalo, police said. Da Silva was rushed to a hospital with severe internal bleeding and died on the operating table.