Chargers GM clears air with LT

The ball was in A.J. Smith's court; this time, he went directly to LaDainian Tomlinson.

Smith, the San Diego Chargers' general manager, called the star running back and had a 10-minute conversation Monday night in an effort to close the chapter on what had been a weeklong verbal saga.

"It was important to me that LT know exactly what happened," Smith said, according to the Chargers' Web site.

Last week, Tomlinson had posted a statement on his personal Web site, affirming his desire to stay with the Chargers, who are looking for salary-cap flexibility and might have to release him or ask him to take a pay cut.

Smith's response, made a day later in The San Diego Union-Tribune, was regarded as dismissive, and upset a number of Chargers players, as well as team president Dean Spanos.

Linebacker Shawne Merriman weighed in on Sunday, telling the Union-Tribune: "That [stuff] doesn't help bring a Super Bowl to San Diego ... And that [stuff] needs to stop, period. It needs to stop now."

"We're a team, upstairs and downstairs, no matter what," Merriman added, according to the newspaper. "This is a business, but if you address the situation publicly now you have turmoil. They're going to make decisions upstairs. But we've got to be a team."

Later Sunday, Smith phoned Tomlinson in Tampa, and discussed the past week's events. According to the Chargers' team Web site, Smith said they had "a great talk -- the kind of talk we have at the beginning of each season."

"I just answered a question and unfortunately my response was inappropriate," Smith said. "After reading my response to the question, I can see why it was interpreted the way it was. I absolutely meant no disrespect toward LT -- none. I have the utmost respect for him on two fronts -- as a player and as a person."

Tomlinson, beset by injuries last season and unable play in the Chargers' playoff game Jan. 11 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, will count nearly $8.8 million against the salary cap this year.

"Dean Spanos and many members of our front office and coaching staff know exactly how I feel about LT," Smith said, according to the Chargers' Web site. "And that is what has gotten me through this difficult time. And most important, LT knows how I feel about him."

Smith didn't return phone calls seeking further comment, according to The Associated Press. The team has refused to make Spanos available to comment on the subject.

Sources told the Union-Tribune that during the 10-minute conversation between Smith and Tomlinson, no contract details were discussed.

"It was great to hear from [Smith]," Tomlinson said on the Chargers' Web site. "It really went well. It's always better talking directly to someone one-on-one. He was very upbeat and very sincere. He felt bad about what had happened."

Justice, Gooden fire back at Radomski

David Justice and Dwight Gooden denied allegations made by former Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski during an exclusive interview with "Outside the Lines" on Sunday. Radomski told ESPN that Justice lied about knowing him and purchasing performance-enhancing drugs from him and said he twice took urine tests for Gooden in the 1990s.

In a phone interview with ESPN on Monday night, Justice denied having ever met Radomski or buying performance-enhancing drugs from him.

"He has never been in a car with me," Justice said. "He didn't take me to the airport. He's going to call me a liar and that's his information? That's a bald-faced lie."

Gooden, who has not responded to numerous ESPN requests for comment, told the New York Post that Radomski never took a urine test for him.

"That never happened," Gooden told the New York Post. "I don't know what he's talking about. I've made mistakes through the years, and I've admitted them, but that never happened. And the way the tests were administered, it couldn't have happened. I've done enough wrong on my own, I don't want to get blamed for something I didn't do."

In a telephone interview on Mike and Mike in the Morning on Tuesday, Justice said that in 2000, Brian McNamee told him he could give him HGH to help him recover from a groin injury. McNamee told him it could help him and that it wasn't steroids. He said McNamee brought HGH to his locker, but when he saw it was needles, he couldn't do it. If the HGH were in pill form, Justice said he probably would have taken the HGH that McNamee gave him.

Radomski was a key source for the 2007 Mitchell report on steroids in baseball. Justice was implicated in the report by Radomski, who said he sold Justice human growth hormone. Radomski told ESPN he drove Justice to the airport after the 2000 World Series and handed Justice a box containing steroids and HGH.

Justice said Radomski's allegations were not specific enough to be credible.

"Who was in the car with me?" Justice asked. "Give me some specifics. What was the day like? Why didn't [Radomski] put that in the Mitchell report?"

He also questioned why Radomski's specific allegations weren't in the Mitchell report.

"You don't remember taking me to the airport then? Now you wrote a book and remember?" Justice asked.

"He has nothing."

Justice said he hasn't taken legal action against Radomski because it wouldn't be worth the cost of defending himself.

"OK, so I go ahead and sue him, just so a couple of other people believe me? I'm not going to waste my money to hire lawyers," Justice said. "I'm not going to spend 200 or 300 grand and go flying all over this country and walking into courtrooms to appease a few people. It's not that serious to me anyway. I'm going to speak out and go back to living my life. I'm not going to let the guy just say anything. Suing him gives his book a little more power and keeps him in the news, which is what he wants. I'm not going to do that."

Johnson has surgery on tendon, nerve

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Three-time reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson underwent surgery to repair a tendon and nerve after cutting his left middle finger with a kitchen knife Sunday while preparing to compete in the final segment of the Rolex 24 sports car race.

A statement released by Johnson on Monday said the injury occurred above the knuckle and happened while the Hendrick Motorsports driver was attempting to cut a small hole in his firesuit in order to feed a tube from a cooling shirt through a pocket.

Johnson, whose GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley finished seventh in the race, flew to Charlotte, N.C., for further evaluation and outpatient treatment with a hand specialist at Carolinas Medical Center.

"That certainly wasn't the way I wanted to end the Rolex race," Johnson said. "I really appreciate all the hard work by the guys this weekend. I'm just sorry I wasn't there at the end with them. The doctors did a great job in Daytona and Charlotte and I can't thank them enough. Everything feels good and I'll be ready to roll for Daytona."

The injury will not keep Johnson from driving in the season's first NASCAR Sprint Cup event, the Budweiser Shootout, Feb. 7 at Daytona International Speedway.

Johnson said he would also appear as scheduled on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" Monday night and will still co-host his Super Skins charity golf tournament and party with Nick Lachey this weekend in Tampa, Fla.