SANTA CLARA, Calif. — More than missing one of the game's most menacing pass rushers, the San Francisco 49ers care that Aldon Smith can carry on with a healthy life off the field over the long haul.

With or without football.

Smith received second chance after second chance with the Niners before they finally had enough following his fifth run-in with the law. The franchise parted ways with the troubled but talented linebacker Friday after Santa Clara police accused him of drunken driving, hit and run and vandalism.

It's a tough blow for a team that watched several other young stars depart and retire this offseason.

OTTAWA, Ontario — Michael Sam became the first openly gay player to appear in a Canadian Football League game Friday night, playing sparingly for the Montreal Alouettes in a 26-23 loss to the Ottawa Redblacks.The 25-year-old defensive end failed to record a tackle.The 2013 Southeastern Conference defensive player of the year at Missouri, Sam was selected by the St. Louis Rams in the seventh and final round of the 2014 NFL draft.He was cut by St. Louis and signed by Dallas to the practice squad, but failed to make the Cowboys' roster.Sam agreed to a two-year deal with the Alouettes this summer.

ALBANY, N.Y. — The family of a young driver struck and killed by Tony Stewart's car on an upstate New York dirt track filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the NASCAR star Friday.The lawsuit was filed as Stewart returns to Watkins Glen International on the one-year anniversary of the fatal crash.The lawsuit accuses Stewart of gross negligence, saying he gunned his engine and put his car into a skid as 20-year-old Kevin Ward Jr. walked on the track after a crash at Canandaigua Motorsports Park on Aug. 9, 2014. The car struck Ward, and he was killed.A grand jury declined to indict Stewart, who at the time called it “100 percent an accident.”A toxicology report found Ward had marijuana in his system.There was no comment from Stewart, who was with his crew in the garage before a final practice Friday afternoon.From wire reports