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(01/18/09 1:37am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>OXON HILL, Md. -- NCAA president Myles Brand disclosed Saturday he has pancreatic cancer with a long-term prognosis that is "not good," shocking a convention center full of delegates who had spent the week working on more of his reform-minded ideas.The 66-year-old Brand, who has led the governing body of college sports since 2003, announced his condition during a teleconference with the NCAA executive committee and through a written statement on the last day of the organization's convention, which he was unable to attend."I have pancreatic cancer," the statement said. "The long-term prognosis is not good. I am currently undergoing chemotherapy, and I am receiving excellent care. I will know in the next several months the success of this treatment."Brand concluded his statement by thanking supporters who had wished him well since the NCAA announced last week that he was sick. The nature of the illness wasn't given at the time, but executive committee chairman Michael Adams said Brand was diagnosed early this month and the seriousness of the condition was known only in the last few days.Brand, who initially had hoped to travel to the convention for the final day of meetings, began receiving chemotherapy treatments early in the week. Vice president Wally Renfro delivered the state-of-the-NCAA speech in Brand's place Thursday."We're all stunned and challenged by this," Adams said.Adams said there are no plans to have Brand relinquish any duties, although other executives are expected to assume more responsibilities. There are also no immediate plans to search for a successor."Myles is the president. He is in charge," said Adams, sitting in a near-vacant conference room after the convention's final meeting. "He has given some direction to the staff as recently as about an hour ago. Happily the treatments are such that right now he is able and desirous of continuing to lead the organization.""He's functioning, and I want to believe he's going to get well," Adams added, "so I've not moved beyond that. I just hope and pray that he does."Brand, who was president of Indiana University from 1994 to 2002, is perhaps best known for his dismissal of basketball coach Bob Knight in 2000 for violating a "zero-tolerance" policy for misbehavior. Knight, who led Indiana to three national championships in 27 years, was fired after grabbing the arm of a student who greeted him by his last name.Knight went on to coach at Texas Tech and retired last season with 902 victories, the most by a Division I men's coach.Brand, meanwhile, went on to establish a legacy of academic comprehensive reform at the NCAA. In the last five years, university presidents have regained a stronger control of athletic programs, and the introduction of the Academic Progress Report has created a scorecard that punishes teams whose athletes consistently fail to keep up in the classroom."He's exemplified what the (reform-oriented) Knight Commission called for 20 years ago," Adams said, "and that was presidential control. That was an issue at the time he was hired. That's not even a debated issue today. And he changed the whole conversation from eligibility to graduation. We don't sit around here talking about remaining eligible anymore; we talk about what we need to do to help student-athletes prepare for life, and I think he deserves most of the credit for changing that conversation."Despite such work, the episode many associate with Brand is the dismissal of the popular coach at Indiana nine years ago. The man who worked closest with Brand during that time, former athletic director Clarence Doninger, said Saturday it was unfair to tag Brand as the man who fired Knight."It's part of his life's work, but it's only part of it," added new Indiana AD Fred Glass, who worked with Brand at Indiana Sports Corp. "Obviously, our prayers and best wishes are with him. If anybody can beat it, Myles can."Brand graduated with a degree in philosophy from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1964. He served as president at the University of Oregon from 1989 to 1994 before moving to Indiana.
(03/27/06 7:21am)
WASHINGTON -- George Mason's players stood on the press table, waving their jerseys to the crowd. Coach Jim Larranaga walked around with the nylon net around his neck.\nIt won't be the same old schools from the same old conferences at this year's Final Four -- certainly not top-seeded Connecticut.\nBuoyed by a partisan crowd and playing some 20 miles from their campus, 11th-seeded George Mason overcame huge disadvantages in size, athleticism and history Sunday to stun the Huskies 86-84 in overtime, ending a stranglehold that big-time programs have enjoyed for 27 years in college basketball's biggest showcase.\nImprobable as it might seem, the powers-that-be are going to have to make room for a suburban commuter school from Fairfax, Va., that was a dicey choice to make the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team.\n"I was kidding with one of my assistants," Larranaga said, "We're not just an at-large team, we're an at-extra-large. And if we win today, we're going to be an at-extra-double-large. I can't tell you how much fun I'm having."\nThe Patriots overcame their deficiencies with heart and tenacity. They were never rattled, even when they trailed by 12 late in the first half and nine early in the second. They hit six straight 3-pointers in the second half, shot 5-for-6 in overtime and out-rebounded UConn 37-34 even though the Huskies have three starters taller than any of the Patriots' frontcourt players.\nThere was also motivation from Larranaga, who fired up his team during timeouts by telling them that UConn's players didn't even know which conference George Mason is in.\n"That's a little bit of disrespect," guard Tony Skinn said. "Coach told us the CAA stands for 'Connecticut Assassin Association.'"\nOf course, as more people are learning, CAA stands for Colonial Athletic Association, a league that has never had a team get this far before. The Patriots (27-7) are only the second double-digit seed to make the Final Four, matching LSU's run, also as an 11th seed, in 1986. They are the first true outsider to crash the quartet since Penn and Indiana State both got there in 1979.\nGeorge Mason next plays No. 3 seed Florida in Saturday's semifinals in Indianapolis. This marks the first time since the field was expanded to 64 teams in 1985 that no top-seeded team advanced to the Final Four, and the second time in tournament history.
(08/27/04 5:06am)
ATHENS, Greece -- An hour after the game, Mia Hamm was still on the field, hugging, crying and posing for pictures with an Olympic gold medal around her neck.\nThen, finally, she left.\nAfter 17 years, 153 goals and 266 games -- including a grueling overtime finale -- it was time for her to go.\n"There are few times in your life where you get to write the final chapter the way you want to," Hamm said. "I think a lot of us did that tonight."\nHamm and the rest of the Fab Five had just enough left in their thirtysomething bodies for one more triumph in their final tournament together. Led by two goals from the next generation, the United States beat Brazil 2-1 Thursday to claim the Olympic title.\nAbby Wambach, the player who might break Hamm's records one day, scored the game-winning goal in the 112th minute with a powerful 10-yard header off a corner kick from Kristine Lilly. It was Wambach's fourth goal of the Athens Games and 18th in her last 20 games.\nThe game marked the final competitive appearance together for the remaining players from the first World Cup championship team in 1991. The five helped bring their sport to national prominence and captured the country's imagination by winning the World Cup in 1999, and together they have played in 1,230 international matches.\nHamm, Julie Foudy and Joy Fawcett are retiring from the national team -- although they might play in farewell exhibitions this fall -- leaving Lilly and Brandi Chastain as the last of the old guard. Hamm plans to start a family with her husband, Chicago Cubs shortstop Nomar Garciaparra.\n"I talked about feeling good about where I was in my life, and this is a great way to end it," Hamm said.\nThe retiring players left happy with the final result, but they might never want to watch a replay of a game that showed it was perhaps time for them to hang it up.\nThe Americans were slower, less organized, less creative and lost the chase to most of the loose balls against the young Brazilians, who weren't afraid to shove the U.S. stars around.\nPretinha scored for Brazil in the 73rd off of a rebound, and the Brazilians twice hit the post later in regulation, coming within inches of what would have been the winning goal.\n"I think today, Brazil was the better team," coach Rene Simoes said. "We deserved to win."\nWhat Brazil lacked, though, was the passion of a group of players determined to give their heroes a proper send-off.\n"We were bending, but we weren't breaking," goalkeeper Briana Scurry said. "They were throwing the kitchen sink at us, but I knew we had the heart to win it."\nHamm was a nonfactor throughout the game, unable to find space to make the kind of runs that made her famous. Hamm's post-game speech in the locker room was a great big "Thank you" to her teammates.\n"They carried me tonight, that's for sure," the 32-year-old Hamm said.\nThe U.S. team was rescued by Wambach, some great saves from Scurry and a stunning 39th-minute goal from Lindsay Tarpley, whose 24-yard drive skirted two defenders and curled just inside the left post.\n"Tarp and I, it's the least we can do for the women who have meant so much to us," Wambach said.\nWhen the final whistle blew, Hamm was quickly swarmed by all 17 teammates. The team then took a victory lap, waving flags to the crowd of 10,416 at Karaiskaki Stadium.\nHamm clenched her fists under her chin and looked to the sky with teary eyes after arriving behind the podium for the medal ceremony. Foudy, Fawcett, Hamm, Lilly and Chastain stood together at the far left -- making them first on their team to receive medals. Hamm blew a kiss to the crowd when her name was announced. Foudy smiled and helped lead the fans in a chant of "U-S-A."\nBrazil received its first women's soccer medal after finishing fourth at the last two Olympics. Germany, which beat Sweden 1-0 in the third-place game, took the bronze.\nThe win helped erase the sting of the loss to Norway in the gold-medal game in Sydney four years ago and a third-place finish at last year's World Cup. In the 1990s, the United States ruled women's soccer, but the other teams have caught up over the last five years.\nThe victory also offers a measure of vindication for coach April Heinrichs, who took over after the 1999 World Cup and failed to win the top prize in 2000 or 2003.\nThe team was captained for the last time by Foudy, who played the entire 120 minutes just three days after spraining her right ankle in the semifinal victory over Germany.\nThe Americans were out of sorts from the opening whistle. They couldn't handle the Brazilian pressure and could barely string two passes together to get their possession game going.\nThe Brazilians came out playing very physically, pushing and grabbing whenever they could get away with it. Simoes accused the Americans of trying to hurt his players when the two teams met in a 2-0 U.S. victory in the first round last week, but this time his team was clearly the aggressor.\nScurry, while not announcing her retirement, has also said this will be her last Olympics. Her teammates had her to thank for not trailing by a goal at halftime.\nScurry dived right, stretching her body as far as it could go, to barely get a piece of Elaine's 19-yard shot in the sixth minute. In the 41st, Scurry somehow pushed away a short drive from Cristiane that deflected off Chastain, ending a furious sequence that began with an indirect free kick from 10 yards out.\nGiven Brazil's control of the first half, Tarpley's goal seemed to come out of nowhere. In a rare attack for the U.S. team, she found space to launch her shot from the top of the penalty box and into the upper corner of the net.\nBut the Brazilians kept pressing. Daniela was wide left with a low 24-yard drive early in the second half, and various crosses were just off target or gathered by Scurry.\nIn the final minutes of regulation, Brazil was clearly controlling the play, and their goal seemed inevitable.\nCristiane, 19, ran past 36-year-old Fawcett with ease down the left flank, then beat defender Kate Markgraf before sliding a cross toward Pretinha. Scurry could only get a hand on the pass, leaving Pretinha alone for the easy shot to tie the score.\nCristiane was just wide right with a long curling shot two minutes later, then she hit the left post with a 20-yard drive. In the 88th minute, Pretinha beat Scurry with a 16-yard shot, but it also hit the left post.\nThe U.S. team, the oldest in the tournament, was playing its sixth game in 16 days -- and its second straight 120-minute overtime game.\nEven so, the Americans found a way to win it.\n"We wanted to send them out on top," Tarpley said. "They've done so much for the women's game. To be able to win gold when some of them are retiring -- it's a great night"
(01/09/04 6:47am)
ASHBURN, Va. -- After a decade of high-profile Washington Redskins failures, only one name could restore credibility in an instant: Joe Gibbs.\nAnd they got him.\nThe Hall of Fame coach is coming back after an 11-year absence, a stunning development and a much-needed lift for a franchise that has been to the playoffs only once since he left after the 1992 season.\n"Who better to set our strategy and lead the Redskins back to championship glory?" said owner Dan Snyder, who again proved he's the master of the big splash offseason move.\nGibbs agreed to a five-year deal worth approximately $25 million, said a source within the NFL, speaking on condition of anonymity. That would make Gibbs' contract comparable to the NFL-record deal given to his predecessor, Steve Spurrier.\n"The desire to coach has always been with me, even after being away from the game for 11 years," said Gibbs, who won three Super Bowls in 12 seasons with the Redskins.\nGibbs also was given the title of Redskins team president, but the protocol for roster decisions will essentially remain the same. Vinny Cerrato continues as director of player personnel, and Snyder will have the final word to settle any disputes, according to the source. Gibbs' track record and work ethic, however, make him certain to have more influence than Spurrier had.\nGibbs was to be introduced at a news conference Thursday, but he already has at least two assistants in place, according to the source. Former Buffalo Bills coach Gregg Williams will be the team's sixth defensive coordinator in six years, a hiring first reported by SportsLine.com.\nJoe Bugel returns to coach the offensive line, the same job he held when he oversaw the famed "Hogs" under Gibbs from 1981-89, the source said.\nGibbs, 63, was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1996, based in part on his adamant denials of any intention to coach again. He joins the late Paul Brown as the only coaches to return after being elected to the Hall.\nHe will find today's NFL different, largely because free agency has made it difficult for teams to keep a group of talented players together for more than a couple of years. Roster stability, particularly along the offensive line, was a hallmark of the Gibbs years.\nBut the adjustment has been made before. Dick Vermeil left Philadelphia in 1982 and returned with St. Louis in 1997, winning a Super Bowl in his third season with the Rams.\n"I appreciated very much where he was when he left and understood completely why he left," said Vermeil, now coaching Kansas City. "And I can understand completely why he's back."\nAfter leaving the Redskins, Gibbs rose to the top in a second sports career as a NASCAR team owner. His racing teams have won two Winston Cup championships in the past four seasons. Gibbs' oldest son, J.D., will remain president of Joe Gibbs Racing.\nBut Gibbs hasn't strayed far from the NFL. He was involved with a group that attempted to purchase the Redskins after owner Jack Kent Cooke's death in the late 1990s, and he and two partners bought a combined 5 percent of the Atlanta Falcons for $27 million in 2002.\nGibbs had to sell his Falcons stake to coach the Redskins, but he apparently came close to coaching that team. In a statement, the Falcons said Gibbs approached them several weeks ago about their coaching vacancy.\n"When the opportunity at the Redskins came up, Joe told us he couldn't turn his back on the history, fans, loyalties and relationships built over time in Washington," the Falcons' statement said. "While we understand his feelings, we are disappointed that he didn't continue his talks with us."\nThe Redskins began serious talks with Gibbs on New Year's Eve, the day after Spurrier quit with three years left on his contract. His teams went 7-9 and 5-11.\nIn contrast, the Redskins made the playoffs during eight of Gibbs' 12 seasons, and his .683 winning percentage ranks third in NFL history. His record was 124-60 in the regular season and 16-5 in the playoffs, including Super Bowl victories after the 1982, '87 and '91 seasons -- each with a different quarterback.\nSince Gibbs' retirement after the 1992 season, the Redskins are 74-101-1, with just one playoff appearance under five different coaches.\nGibbs retired from football because he was burned out from long days of game-planning that would end with him sleeping on a cot at Redskins Park. His NASCAR team, by contrast, heavily involved both his sons, giving him the family life he missed in the NFL.\nMost of Gibbs' new players know little about him, other than the fact that he won three Vince Lombardi trophies.\n"It's a privilege to play for somebody of that caliber," linebacker Jessie Armstead said. "He is a legend"
(12/12/03 6:46am)
LANDOVER, Md. -- How does 8-5 feel? Not good at all when the last two games were lost by a combined 45 points.\nAnd when the coach is Bill Parcells, it feels downright miserable.\n"It makes for a loooooooong week," safety Darren Woodson said. "You can't wait until they blow that whistle for the Washington game. That's the kind of week this is ... a lot of yelling, a lot of screaming. Nothing's going to be right no matter what it is. He's a sore loser, and I think that's what he wants us all to be, sore losers.\n"He's doing a good job of that."\nAfter going 1-3 through a tough November schedule, the Dallas Cowboys are in danger of losing their grip on the improbable playoff run they crafted with a 5-1 start. Their final three games, all against teams currently with losing records, will determine whether the quick start in Parcells' first year was just an early fluke.\nThe homestretch starts Sunday against the Washington Redskins (5-8).\n"I'm glad that we have something to play for. That's very important, particularly in your first year," Parcells said. "This is a very, very key game for us."\nIf other results fall just the right way, the Cowboys can even clinch a playoff berth with a victory. The NFC East title looks out of reach, however, following last week's loss at Philadelphia.\nBut the trip to Washington is no gimme. The Redskins have lost seven of their last nine, but most of the games have been close. A weight was lifted when they beat the New York Giants last week, ending a three-game losing streak and giving quarterback Tim Hasselbeck his first NFL win.\n"It feels really good," Hasselbeck said. "Obviously it feels good for me in terms of proving that we can win games with me in there, but more importantly in terms of the team, we needed this bad. Week after week of just losing, being close, just gets frustrating. It's like walking on a treadmill when you'd rather be outside."\nPlus, the Dallas game always means rivalry week in Washington, even though it's been more like bully-bashing in recent years. The Cowboys have won 11 of the last 12, including a 21-14 victory in November that nearly set new standards for unwatchable football until Dallas pulled away in the second half.\n"It's our Super Bowl," Washington cornerback Fred Smoot said. "This is the game we're going to rise up. This is the game we want. I hate the idea of spoiling. I'd rather somebody try to spoil us, because that means we're going to the playoffs. But I hate Dallas. I ain't trying to let them out of here a winner -- no way."\nThe Cowboys won the first game by blitzing Patrick Ramsey silly, but Ramsey is out for the season with a foot injury. Hasselbeck, though less experienced, has better mobility and a keener sense of when to get rid of the ball.\nTo no one's surprise, the teams' hands-on owners made news this week. Washington's Dan Snyder gave an interview that consisted of just one word -- "absolutely" -- when asked by The Washington Post whether coach Steve Spurrier will return next season. There's no telling whether it was just an off-the-cuff answer or a calculated move against the possibility Spurrier might want to leave, but that one word managed to become big news in a locker room tired of yearly change.
(08/11/03 2:30am)
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Michael Phelps set another world record, punched the air several times and pointed to his head, an unusual show of emotion from the 18-year-old Baltimore native.\nWas he celebrating the end of a phenomenal season? No, he was simply thrilled to win a bet with his coach, who now has to get his head shaved.\nPhelps swam the 200-meter individual medley in 1 minute, 55.94 seconds Saturday night at the U.S. championships, cutting one-tenth of a second off the mark he set at the world championships at Barcelona on July 25.\nIt was also better than the 1:56 time involved in his bet with coach Bob Bowman. Phelps' first words to his coach after the race were: "It's gone. It's gone."\n"That was a big motivator going into tonight," Phelps said. "I have the little things that really push me. ... One of my teammates pulled out a set of clippers, a razor and some shaving cream, so we're ready."\nBowen said he didn't expect Phelps to beat the time, but he'll carry through with the bet.\n"I was hoping it would be 56.01 or something," Bowen said.\nIt was the fourth time Phelps has set the world record in the event this year. Since late June, he has progressively lowered by more than 2 seconds a mark that had stood since 1994.\nPhelps had warned before the race not to expect another record because he would be tired from a grueling schedule of 23 races in 19 days, including five world records at the world championships.\n"I think I shocked myself tonight, for sure," he said.\nWith the victory, Phelps became the first man to win five individual events at the national championships. He also won the 100, 200 and 400 freestyle races as well as the 200 backstroke at the weeklong event. He set a personal best in all five events and set American records in the 400 freestyle and the 200 backstroke.\nTracy Caulkins (1978) and Natalie Coughlin (2002) are the only other Americans to win five individual races at the nationals. Phelps shared the men's record of four with Johnny Weismuller, Mark Spitz and Tom Dolan.\nPhelps' performance in his final race was just as stunning, even though it was a losing cause. He made up a huge deficit in the butterfly leg of the 400 medley relay and handed off a 2-second lead, but his North Baltimore team finished third when the anchor couldn't hold off the field.\nThe big winner in the women's events was Kaitlin Sandeno, who won the 200 individual medley in a championships-record 2:12.97, her third title of the week.\nBuoyed by the crowd and by his bet, Phelps started faster than usual in the 200 meter individual and led the field by a full length after a butterfly leg of 25.15 seconds, a change from his usual strategy of even pacing throughout the race.\n"There are certain times and places for this," Phelps said. "Right now, being at the end of this season, that's a pretty good strategy. But if I had done that at the worlds, it would have come back and haunted me."\nPhelps now gets a well-deserved break from racing, with his next competitive meet scheduled for November in Australia.\nThat doesn't mean he'll take a break from swimming, though. He said he'll take maybe four or five days off before resuming his preparations for Athens.\n"I guess I'm kind of antsy when I spend too much time out of the water," he said.
(05/20/03 9:41pm)
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Twelve hours after one of the franchise's biggest victories, the Detroit Pistons were back on the practice court Saturday, defying the skeptics again.\nWith barely any time to celebrate, or even sleep, following Friday night's series-clinching overtime victory at Philadelphia, the Pistons had no trouble getting motivated for the New Jersey Nets. The Nets won the matchup 96-94 in overtime Sunday. \n"There were some things that were said that kind of made it personal," guard Chucky Atkins said. "There were some comments made about us from Richard Jefferson, something about us being overrated. Nobody has given us a chance all year."\nJefferson took that swipe at the Pistons during the regular season, but the recycled bulletin-board material still serves the purpose for a group of players not used to getting this far. Detroit is in the conference finals for the first time since 1991, a year after its last NBA title.\nThe Pistons got home at 2 a.m. Saturday and were on the floor at 2 p.m. Guard Richard Hamilton, excited over the team's success in his first postseason experience, said he liked the quick turnaround because it keeps his nerves from taking over.\n"You don't get a chance to dwell on it," Hamilton said. "To me, it still hasn't set in. Everybody calls me and says 'Man, can you believe you're in the finals?' And I'm like, 'Hey, it's more games you can play.'"\nThe Nets, meanwhile, have practically twiddled their thumbs all week waiting for this series to start. They finished a four-game sweep of Boston on Monday, seemingly creating a natural advantage for a team that loves to run.\n"They haven't had much rest," Nets forward Kenyon Martin said. "So we want to go up there and play our game. We want to go out there and impose our will on them. They want to play in the halfcourt. We want to run. We'll see who gets the best of it."\nThe Pistons countered by saying that their team is deep, with Ben Wallace the only player to consistently log heavy minutes. Point guard Chauncey Billups, who has to chase Jason Kidd all over the court, should also be fresh after sitting out three games in the Philadelphia series with a sprained ankle.\n"It's a great matchup, I feel like he is the best point guard in the league," Billups said. "It's a great challenge for me because he's Mr. Everything for them."\nThe other interesting matchup is Martin vs. Wallace, two inside forces with similar styles. Wallace is the league's two-time defensive player of the year, but Martin did a great job against Boston's Antoine Walker, and he isn't about to back down from this challenge.\n"You just have to take it right at him," Martin said of Wallace. "I think teams try to avoid him too much. If you avoid him, he's won."\nEven with the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers eliminated from the West, the Nets and Pistons have much work to do before they can prove that this series is anything but the JV championship. Detroit and New Jersey went a combined 2-10 against San Antonio, Dallas and Sacramento this season, and the Eastern Conference champion is 5-16 in the NBA Finals since Michael Jordan left Chicago in 1998.\n"OK, we'll be the JV series," Nets guard Lucious Harris said. "But it's going to come down to two teams in the finals, and I don't mind being the underdog."\nAs for Jefferson, he decided not to be inflammatory Saturday and settled for sarcasm instead. He was asked about the Nets' recent poor road record against the Pistons -- Detroit has won 15 of the last 17 at the Palace.\n"I could barely sleep last night thinking about it," Jefferson said. "When I saw that stat, it was just amazing. I had to have a little warm milk and got to sleep around 4 o'clock"
(04/15/03 5:26am)
WASHINGTON -- Michael Jordan received a U.S. flag from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, beginning a night of honors for Jordan during his final home appearance as an NBA player.\nA bigger tribute was scheduled to take place after Monday's game between the Washington Wizards and the New York Knicks, with the details kept secret.\nRumsfeld, who received a loud ovation, presented Jordan with a flag that flew over the Pentagon on the one-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Jordan cradled the flag in his right hand, his head bowed, before the national anthem was played.\nJordan's introduction during the starting lineups was a letdown, with the cheers not much louder than the ones for Rumsfeld. The MCI Center crowd gave Jordan a standing ovation that lasted a mere 25 seconds, some 3 1/2 minutes shorter than the one he received in his final game at Chicago earlier this season.\nThen again, Jordan himself tried not to make a big deal out of the game, with the greater focus on what he says will be his final NBA game ever -- Wednesday's season finale at Philadelphia.\n"It's just another night, really," Jordan said after the morning shoot around. "I know that this is my last home game in Washington, D.C., and that is something I definitely will treasure, but I woke up this morning and I thought that there was this certain feeling that I should be feeling -- and I had breakfast, coffee, did my normal stuff -- and nothing seems out of the ordinary."\nFor his teammates, there was a sense of melancholy that they were sending Jordan out on a losing team.\n"We're disappointed it's MJ's last game, that we didn't make the playoffs," guard Tyronn Lue said. "Hopefully, Michael will go out at his last game at home with a win."\nAlthough he couldn't produce a winning record, Jordan brought national exposure and big profits to the Wizards, who shattered attendance records over the last two seasons. All 82 home games in the 20,000-seat arena were sellouts, averaging 5,000 more fans per game than in the season before Jordan returned to the court.\nBut that was nothing new for Jordan, who regularly sold out Chicago Stadium and the United Center during his 13 seasons with the Bulls. The last time Jordan played a home game that wasn't a sellout was Nov. 20, 1987.\nThe 40-year-old Jordan has been feted everywhere he's gone this season, with huge cheers and video tributes at away arenas. The Denver Nuggets gave him a motorcycle last month, and the Miami Heat retired his No. 23 last week.
(01/30/03 9:01pm)
WASHINGTON -- A Bush administration advisory commission on Thursday rejected several proposals for overhauling a landmark gender-equity law that substantially increased the number of female athletes.\nIn the morning's key vote, the Commission on Opportunity in Athletics deadlocked 7-7 on a plan to alter the Title IX requirement that the ratio of male and female athletes at colleges and universities be roughly the same as the overall student body.\nCommissioner Lisa Graham Keegan showed up after the plan was considered. It was not immediately clear which way she would have voted.\nThe commission had more recommendations to consider Thursday, but the tie vote was a major setback for those seeking changes to a law that critics say has punished male athletes to promote female sports participation.\nThe commission is wrapping up a two-day meeting Thursday and will forward a report to Education Secretary Rod Paige, who will consider whether to recommend changing the law.\nTitle IX prohibits gender discrimination in programs that receive federal funding. Its effect has been profound: The number of girls participating in high school sports rose from 294,000 to 2.8 million from 1971 to 2002. The number of women in college sports increased fivefold during the same time frame.\nIn 1979, Title IX was clarified by the introduction of the three-prong test, with schools having the option to meet any of the prongs to comply with the law:\n• A school's male-female athlete ratio must be "substantially proportionate" to its male-female enrollment.\n• The school must show an ongoing history of broadening opportunities for women.\n• A school must show that it is "fully and effectively" accommodating the interests and abilities of women.\nThe first prong gets the most attention, and it's the only one that can be met using pure statistics with little or no subjective interpretation. Even so, there is still a substantial gap between the percentage of U.S. female college students (56 percent) and the percentage of female college athletes (42 percent).\nThe tie vote came on University of Maryland Athletic Director Debbie Yow's amended plan calling for schools to be allowed a 50-50 split of male and female athletes, regardless of the student body makeup, with a leeway of 2 to 3 percentage points. Her earlier proposal called for a leeway of 5 to 7 percentage points.\n"If we had an apple and were hungry and we wanted to be fair, we would split it 50-50," Yow said.\nCommissioner Julie Foudy, a member of the U.S. women's national soccer team, was among those who voted against the plan. She said she doesn't believe the commission's mandate is to change proportionality. Foudy favors stronger enforcement of the existing law.\nThe commission voted down several other proposals, the most sweeping of which would have eliminated the "proportionality" requirement. It failed 11-4.\nCritics say proportionality has forced schools to cut male sports to meet the ratio requirement. Roughly 400 men's college teams were eliminated in the 1990s, with wrestling taking such a blow that the National Wrestling Coaches Association has filed suit, claiming that the first prong has evolved into a quota system.\nOn Wednesday, the commissioners approved several less controversial recommendations. And there was no problem reaching a consensus on at least one topic: The Education Department must do a better job explaining Title IX's complex guidelines to colleges and high schools.\nThe commissioners were also emphatic that the Education Department start implementing sanctions against violators. The department has never punished a school for not complying with Title IX.\nThe commissioners also urged schools to stop overspending on sports such as football and men's basketball, whose budgets are cited as limiting opportunities in minor sports for both men and woman. Under Title IX, schools cannot be told how to spend their athletics money.\nFor local reaction to the decision, check Friday's Indiana Daily Student.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
ASHBURN, Va. -- Steve Spurrier took the field in chilling fog and drizzle Tuesday for his first practice as an NFL coach. The Fun 'N' Gun is definitely not in Florida any more.\n"Sort of like playing golf in Ireland," said Spurrier, who exchanged his trademark visor for a black baseball cap because of the weather.\nThe Washington Redskins' three-day, non-contact minicamp is a chance for the new coach to get to know his players and learn the feel of coaching in the big leagues, but the first practices skipped the preamble and went straight to Chapter One.\n"We put in -- gosh -- more plays in one meeting than I've ever seen in any offense," quarterback Danny Wuerffel said. "I was thinking, 'How would these guys adjust to this?' You go to another team, and you'll spend a week on three plays and you'll run them over and over. We've got just about the entire playbook in one meeting."\nAt least Wuerffel was familiar with it all, having won the Heisman Trophy playing for Spurrier at Florida. Spurrier has signed other former Gators -- Jacquez Green, Reidel Anthony and Chris Doering -- and it wasn't hard to tell who understood what was happening and who didn't.\nReceiver Rod Gardner completely misunderstood an audible call and ran the wrong route on the first play in the morning's final drill. Gardner heard what he did wrong from both Green and Spurrier when he got back to the huddle.\n"There's a lot of stuff," said Spurrier, who left Florida in January to sign a five-year, $25 million contract with the Redskins. "Yeah, I sort of believe you give the players a whole bunch of stuff so they don't get bored."\nAs expected, Spurrier spent his entire time with the offense, leaving defensive coordinator Marvin Lewis in charge of the defense. There were no tantrums or heavy lectures, just a reminder to the players to have fun.\nWuerffel said Spurrier hasn't changed since the Florida days.\n"Not really a lick," Wuerffel said. "He's just a ball coach. That's what he wants to be, and that's what he's doing. He's in there just drawing plays up there on the board, and we're learning them."\nAbout 50 players were on the field, but depth was lacking at many positions. The first-string guards were Alex Sulfsted and Ross Tucker, who have just three games of NFL experience between them. The team is negotiating with free-agent guard Tony Semple, who visited Redskin Park last week.\nThe first-team quarterback was Sage Rosenfels, a second-year player and the only holdover quarterback from last year's team. Even so, he actually looked much sharper than the Spurrier-savvy Wuerffel, who wore gloves.\nDameyune Craig was the third quarterback in camp. The Redskins have been unable to work out a trade with Chicago for ex-Florida quarterback Shane Matthews, and free agent Jeff Blake didn't accept Washington's initial offer and is considering other options.\n"If opening day was tomorrow, we'd be able to go play," Spurrier said. "I don't know how well we'd do, but we got enough ball players (that) after one day we could go play. That's how simple this offense is…We don't need five exhibition games to be ready, but unfortunately we've got to play all of them"