Baltimore Ravens Donate Motorcycles to New Orleans Cops

The Baltimore Ravens have donated two motorcycles to the New Orleans Police Department Traffic Division as a show of appreciation for the treatment the team received during the week of the Super Bowl.

While in New Orleans, the Ravens received police escorts to and from their destinations, as well as 24-hour security protection.

Team owner Steve Bisciotti says the Ravens provided two 2013 Harley Davidson motorcycles to the New Orleans police force "to show our appreciation for how well our team, our families and our fans were treated by everyone representing New Orleans."

Ravens wide receiver Jacoby Jones, a New Orleans native, presented the gift on behalf of the organization this morning in New Orleans.

New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu and police superintendent Ronal Serpas accepted the motorcycles.

The case against the Washington Redskins nickname begins again Thursday.

The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board will hear a petition brought by a group of Native Americans who say the Redskins should lose their federal trademark protection. They cite a law that prohibits registered names that are disparaging, scandalous, contemptuous or disreputable.

The board stripped the Redskins of the trademark in 1999, but the ruling was overturned in large part on a technicality. The same technicality doesn't apply to the new group of plaintiffs.

GOLF: Rory McIlroy offered another apology, a straightforward explanation and a pledge Wednesday that he will never again quit in middle of a round.McIlroy faced the media for the first time since he abruptly walked off the golf course in the second round of the Honda Classic, telling reporters that his head was not in the right place and then issuing a statement that his sore wisdom tooth made it difficult to concentrate.

Turns out the wisdom tooth wasn't the whole truth, and the world's No. 1 player said, "It will never happen again."

NCAA: One of the investigators who worked on the NCAA's inquiry of Miami athletics wrote a letter on behalf of former booster and convicted felon Nevin Shapiro just days before he was sentenced two years ago.

In the same letter, dated June 3, 2011, Ameen Najjar even suggested that the NCAA could eventually hire Shapiro.

Najjar, who is no longer with the NCAA, told U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton that college sports' governing body could have utilized Shapiro "in the future as a consultant and/or speaker to educate our membership."

Najjar also said that Shapiro assisted the NCAA with investigations involving a number of schools. Najjar did not specify the schools - not even Miami, where Shapiro is the central figure in the scandal that has dogged the Hurricanes' athletic department for at least two years.

PRO HOCKEY: Doctors are optimistic that New York Rangers defenseman Marc Staal will recover fully after being struck in the eye by a deflected puck.

Staal was injured Tuesday night in the third period of New York's 4-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. The 26-year-old defenseman will be sidelined indefinitely, but was already showing improvement on Wednesday, the Rangers said in a statement.

Staal's specific injury hasn't been disclosed.

PRO BASKETBALL: New York All-Star Carmelo Anthony sat out the Knicks' game at Detroit after injuring his right knee earlier in the week.

Anthony stumbled near midcourt Monday night against Cleveland after catching a pass and fell awkwardly to the floor. He got up, and appearing more embarrassed than hurt, immediately headed to the locker room with a slight limp. He did not return.

TENNIS: Svetlana Kuznetsova took another step forward in her comeback from a right knee injury, beating Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic, 6-3, 6-1, in the opening round of the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

SOCCER: Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain protected their leads from the first legs to reach the quarterfinals of the Champions League.

Juventus avoided any slip-ups against Celtic, finishing off the Scottish team with a 2-0 win to advance 5-0 on aggregate. PSG faced a tougher challenge against Valencia, but Ezequiel Lavezzi equalized in the second half for a 1-1 tie that was enough to put the French team into the quarterfinals for the first time since 1995. PSG had won the away leg of their round-of-16 match 2-1.

* Abby Wambach scored her 154th career goal, leaving her four shy of tying Mia Hamm's record, and the U.S. women opened the Algarve Cup with a 3-0 victory over Iceland.

CYCLING: American Andrew Talansky held off six riders in a sprint finish to win the third stage of the Paris-Nice race and take the race leader's yellow jersey.

Mark Cavendish took the early lead of the Tirreno-Adriatico after his Omega Pharma-QuickStep won the team time trial on a rainy opening day.