Rivera begins cancer treatment

Ron Rivera missed Washington's first game-week practice to begin treatment for a form of skin cancer, so Jack Del Rio stepped in as planned.

“We carried on as normal,” Del Rio said Tuesday. “It was pretty much business as usual.”

Exactly like Rivera wanted. The veteran NFL coach didn't want his diagnosis or treatments for squamous cell carcinoma to interfere with football, and his defensive coordinator followed orders and began the team's preparations for the season opener Sunday against Philadelphia.

“He knew these things were going to occur,“Del Rio said. “We're going to stay on point with what we're doing. I pay attention to what he's saying to the staff and what he's saying to the team and I echo those things.”

CLIPPERS GET OK FOR ARENA

The Los Angeles Clippers have received final approval from Inglewood's city government to begin construction on their new arena next summer.

The Clippers announced the approval from the city council Tuesday, along with a joint deal to buy the publicly owned property on the arena site for $66.25 million.

EX-A.L. PREZ DIES

Gene Budig, the self-effacing educator and baseball fan from small-town Nebraska who became the head of three major universities and the last president of the American League, died Tuesday. He was 81.

Budig succeeded Bobby Brown as AL president in 1994 and augmented his staff with Larry Doby, the first Black player in the AL. Budig held the job until baseball owners abolished league presidents in 2000.