BRIEFLY : MORE ASU WOES; OSU RECEIVER OUT.

Byline: - Daily News Wire Services

Two Arizona State wide receivers were suspended before Saturday's opening football practice for breaking team rules, coach Bruce Snyder announced.

Snyder declined to specify the rules or the violations that led him to suspend sophomore Justin Taplin and redshirt freshman Joey Graves for the season on the eve of the opening of training camp.

``It wasn't a legal issue; It wasn't an academic issue,'' Snyder said. ``I hated to do it. But it was something I felt like I had to do.''

Earlier this year, starting cornerback J'Juan Cherry was dropped from the team, and tackle Steve York, a junior college recruit, was suspended for two months.

Snyder said the situations are not a sign of a crackdown.

``I would not connect them,'' he said. ``Those are really separate issues.''

Taplin, who saw action on special teams last year as a freshman, and Graves each will have three years of eligibility when they return to the team.

Oregon State freshman receiver James Newson broke his left leg in an automobile accident and will miss the entire season.

Although a true freshman, Newson, 19, was No. 2 on the depth chart at flanker. The Stockton native apparently fell asleep while driving on Oregon Highway 34 at about 6:30 a.m. on Friday, said state police. He was returning to Corvallis in a borrowed car after dropping a friend off at the Portland airport.

Newson was cited for driving while suspended, careless driving, and driving uninsured.

Less than one year after a fatal alcohol-related truck crash involving two Kentucky football players, Tennessee and Kentucky have discontinued using a beer barrel as the trophy for their football rivalry.

Kentucky athletic director C.M. Newton said he and Tennessee athletic director Doug Dickey made the decision to stop the 74-year-old tradition. Officials would not elaborate.

CYCLING: Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong had to quit during the San Sebastian Classic in Spain, a World Cup cycling event, because of problems with his bicycle. Italy's Francesco Casagrande won the event, covering the 143 miles in 5 hours, 17 minutes and 18 seconds in the sixth of 10 one-day races making up cycling's World Cup.

Armstrong had said the San Sebastian would be his last of the European season.

An amateur bicycle race that draws thousands of Americans to the coastal highways of Baja California has been canceled for the first time in 20 years.

Bicycling West Inc. decided against next month's 50-mile ride from Rosarito to Ensenada because the Mexican highway patrol missed a deadline to provide a written guarantee of traffic control, said David Dickson, the organization's president.

NBA: Gary Grant, who averaged 4.4 points and 3.7 assists with Portland last season, signed a one-year contract with the team. The 34-year-old guard has played 11 seasons in the NBA, including a stint with the Clippers.