BASEBALL

MLB THINKING OF CHANGING RULE ON SEPTEMBER CALLUPS: INDIAN WELLS (AP) — Major League Baseball is considering a change to its longtime rule allowing active rosters to expand from 25 to 40 from Sept. 1 through the rest of the regular season.

MLB executive vice president for baseball operations Joe Torre said general managers discussed the matter Wednesday on the opening day of their annual meeting.

Some teams have been reluctant to use the larger limit late in the season. They have cited not wanting to disrupt minor league teams in their playoffs, and those decisions have led to big league games in which teams have differing numbers of available players.

"Each team should have equal number of players available every day," Torre said. "I just think you play the whole season with one set of rules and the most important time of the year, especially for clubs that are in a pennant race, I just don't think it's fair for it to be done (with a) different number of roster people."

Torre said one possibility would be setting a fixed number of players who must be on the active roster for September games.

MLB CONSIDERING WIDER EXPANSION OF INSTANT REPLAY: INDIAN WELLS . (AP) — Baseball is considering a broader expansion of video review for umpires than first discussed.

Instant replay in baseball began in August 2008 and has been limited to checking whether potential home runs were fair or cleared over fences. Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig has been saying since early 2011 he wants to expand it to two additional types of calls.

"He was talking about really basically fair-foul, trap plays. But we're looking into more than that," Joe Torre, MLB's executive vice president for baseball operations, said Wednesday at the general managers' meetings.

COLLEGE
EMMERT DOUBTS NCAA WILL RELAX MARIJUANA STANDARDS: ATLANTA (AP) — NCAA President Mark Emmert doubts that college sports' governing body will relax its drug standards for student-athletes now that two states have legalized recreational marijuana use.

"There hasn't been any discussion to that effect, and I would be surprised if there was an interest in doing that," Emmert said on Wednesday.

Colorado and Washington approved ballot measures on Tuesday to become the first states to legalize recreational marijuana use. Marijuana is on the NCAA's list of banned substances.

FOOTBALL

NFL FINES CHARGERS $20K IN STICKY TOWEL CASE: SAN DIEGO (AP) — The NFL fined the San Diego Chargers $20,000 because a member of the equipment staff failed to immediately surrender towels when ordered to do so by a game official against the Denver Broncos on Oct. 15.

The NFL also said in a statement Wednesday that after investigating the Chargers' use of towels that included an adhesive substance, it was determined that San Diego did not violate any rules.

After consulting with the Competition Committee, the league said it has advised all clubs that the use of towels or other products that contain any type of adhesive substance is prohibited on game days until further notice.

The Chargers said they will appeal the fine.

"It's disappointing to me," coach Norv Turner said. "I think the most important thing, obviously, is that there's a lot of people in this league that were using the towel and certainly it wasn't being done in any way to deceive anybody."

In a statement, the Chargers said they were appealing the fine because their staff member "was unaware that the game official was trying to get his attention and he cooperated fully once he became aware."

LUCK AMONG PLAYERS SHAVING HEAD TO SUPPORT PAGANO: INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Andrew Luck has joined the shaved squad, too.

Nearly three dozen players on the Indianapolis Colts have shaved their heads in a show of support for head coach Chuck Pagano, who is undergoing treatment for a form of leukemia.

Luck became a new member of the no-hair club Wednesday morning. Players and coaches were not available for comment because they were headed to Jacksonville, but a team spokesman confirmed that Luck will indeed look quite different when he takes off his helmet Thursday night.

Indianapolis (5-3) has gone to great lengths to give their ailing coach encouragement.