Philadephia ? Michael Vick can throw passes to his teammates instead of ball boys.

The Philadelphia Eagles elevated Vick to the team’s 53-man roster Tuesday, a move that allows the quarterback to practice with the team.

Wide receiver Hank Baskett was released to make room for Vick, who is eligible to play Sept. 27 against the Kansas City Chiefs. Vick will begin practicing with the team Wednesday, though he cannot play in Sunday’s home opener against the New Orleans Saints. Vick was suspended for the first two regular-season games as the final league penalty for his role in running a dogfighting ring.

Kevin Kolb is expected to take the snaps with the starters Wednesday because Donovan McNabb has a cracked rib. Jeff Garcia was signed to back up Kolb in case McNabb can’t play.

Vick was brought in to give the Eagles another dimension on offense. He ran Philadelphia’s version of the wildcat offense and took some snaps as a traditional QB under center in two preseason games.

Vick hasn’t played in a regular-season game since Dec. 31, 2006 when he was with the Atlanta Falcons. It’s highly unlikely he would have started even if he were eligible to play this week. Eagles coach Andy Reid has maintained all along that Kolb is McNabb’s backup.

Baskett was one of seven receivers the Eagles carried on their 53-man roster through Week 1.

NFL

Bills CB’s lawn vandalized

Hamburg, N.Y. — The front lawn of a home belonging to Bills cornerback Leodis McKelvin was vandalized following Buffalo’s season-opening loss to New England.

Hamburg police on Tuesday confirmed the home of a Bills player was vandalized, but declined to release details of their investigation after an obscenity and the score of Monday night’s game — a 25-24 loss to the Patriots — were painted in white on the player’s lawn in suburban Buffalo. McKelvin fumbled a kickoff return with under two minutes to play and the Bills leading 24-19. Three plays later Tom Brady hit Benjamin Watson for the go-ahead touchdown.

Pats’ Mayo might return

Foxborough, Mass. — Patriots linebacker Jerod Mayo probably will play again this season after hurting his knee in the opener, welcome news for a team that lost Tom Brady for the 2008 season to a knee injury in the first game.

“I don’t think that’s what it is,” New England coach Bill Belichick said Tuesday when asked if he could rule out Mayo’s injury being season-ending.

Belichick, who rarely gives details or timetables for injuries, didn’t go beyond that, leaving it unclear when Mayo, last year’s NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, might return. He said additional information would be in yoday’s postpractice injury report.

Suspensions on hold

Metairie, La. — The NFL has decided against enforcing four-game suspensions of Charles Grant and Will Smith at this time, opening the way for the New Orleans Saints’ starting defensive ends to play this week and possibly the whole 2009 season.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said it would be unfair to suspend the two Saints players now, when the league has been blocked from suspending two Vikings players for the same offense while their case is pending in Minnesota state court.

BASEBALL

Hampton to miss 2010

Houston — Oft-injured Houston Astros pitcher Mike Hampton is already out for next year. Hampton has undergone surgery for a torn left rotator cuff and other damage in his shoulder that will sideline him for the 2010 season, the team said Tuesday.

The 37-year-old lefty was 7-10 with a 5.30 earned-run average in 112 innings over 21 starts this season, his most in a year since making 29 starts in 2004 with Atlanta.

TENNIS

Attendance record set

New York — The U.S. Open tennis tournament has set an attendance record with 721,059 spectators. That’s slightly above the previous mark of 720,227 set last year.

The tournament also set a Week 1 attendance record of 423,427, including a single-day high of 61,554 for the combined day and night sessions on the first Friday.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

UCLA suspends four

Los Angeles — UCLA has suspended four football players for violating team rules, sidelining them for Saturday’s home game against Kansas State.

Starting cornerback Courtney Viney was suspended by coach Rick Neuheisel along with running back Milton Knox and receivers Morrell Presley and Randall Carroll. The school didn’t specify the nature of the rule violations.

The players will be allowed to practice during the suspension. UCLA (2-0) didn’t specify the punishment’s length.

USC-Ohio State sets mark

Bristol, Conn. — The Southern California-Ohio State thriller is the most-viewed college football game ever on ESPN. USC’s 18-15 come-from-behind win Saturday night drew nearly 10.6 million total viewers, more than any regular-season or bowl game on the network. ESPN said Monday that the 7.3 rating was its highest for a college football game since Florida State-Miami 15 years ago.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Gillispie wants case moved

Lexington, Ky. — Former Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie wants a lawsuit the school filed against him moved to federal court. Court records show Gillispie filed a request Monday to move the case from circuit court to U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.

UK reports violations

Lexington, Ky. — The University of Kentucky has told the NCAA it disciplined a former men’s basketball administrative assistant for a secondary rules violation. In response to an open records request by The Associated Press, UK released information about the self-reporting of several minor violations from its sports programs. Among them was an admission that Bilal Batley broke NCAA rules when he shagged rebounds with an unnamed student-athlete at a gym.

NBA

Warriors’ Jackson fined

New York — Golden State’s Stephen Jackson has been fined $25,000 by the NBA for saying he wanted to be traded.