WASHINGTON — A day after the judge handling the NFL lockout lawsuit urged the sides to go “back to the table,” the players and owners both expressed a willingness to do so. The hitch: Each offered to meet for talks in a setting the other finds unpalatable.

A lawyer representing MVP quarterbacks Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and other players suing the NFL wrote U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson to say they're willing to engage in mediation overseen by her federal court in St. Paul, Minn.

PITTSBURGH — Ben Roethlisberger will marry a 26-year-old physician's assistant whom he said he met during training camp in 2005 and has been friends with ever since, the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for a story in Thursday's editions.Roethlisberger confirmed his July 23 wedding plans to Ashley Harlan, who lives in New Castle.

NEW YORK — The Twins' heralded Japanese import, Tsuyoshi Nishioka, broke his left fibula after the Yankees' Nick Swisher slid into him at second base while breaking up a double play in Minnesota's 4-3 loss.

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — The mother of Miami Heat basketball star LeBron James was arrested by Miami Beach police after she was accused of assaulting a valet worker because it was taking too long to have her car delivered.