Apology relayed for Sidney display
By Barbara Huebner, Globe Staff, 10/14/2000

There were apologies all around yesterday afternoon from the US Olympic men's 4x100-meter relay team, which came under heavy criticism for what many saw as an offensive, unpatriotic display of preening and posturing after winning the gold medal two weeks ago in Sydney.

''Sadly, our gold medal has become a symbol not of hard work and victory, but a reminder of disgrace,'' said relay captain Jon Drummond, reading from a statement during a teleconference. ''We hope through our words and actions in the coming months we will convince everyone of our character, our respect for the flag, and our pride in being Americans. We guarantee that what happened in Sydney will not be repeated.''

After defeating silver medalist Brazil and bronze medalist Cuba, the US squad of Drummond, Bernard Williams, Brian Lewis, and Maurice Greene first gathered in a circle to say a prayer, then began to cavort around the track in a lengthy victory lap in which some of them stripped to the waist, used the American flag as a turban, and struck poses emulating professional wrestlers, using the flag as a prop. As the celebration went on, cheers from the Australian crowd were punctuated by whistles of derision, and even other US athletes competing that night condemned the display. Later, on the victory stand, several on the relay team clowned with their medals after receiving them from former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

''We meant no disrespect or offense with our actions, and we understand that our behavior caused pain and anger for many Americans,'' said Drummond. ''We maybe got out of control.''

''We're truly sorry for it,'' said Greene, who also won gold in the 100-meter dash. ''A lot of war men have e-mailed me how disgraced they feel.''

Drummond also acknowledged that, in the week following the Games, he got 150-200 e-mails a day, almost all negative and some with ugly racial overtones. ''It was horrible,'' he said.

Added Williams, seen by many as the prime offender for his prolonged antics: ''I am very sorry, very apologetic if I offended anybody.'' At 22, Williams is the youngest of the quartet.

Craig Masback, CEO of USA Track & Field, read a statement in which he called the incident ''disconcerting'' and said the four athletes will speak to young people about their actions and consequences as part of a USATF program. He also said that in the future the organization will inform its athletes in writing of the expectations of them and consequences for ''actions that do not meet the standards we set.''

Summed up Greene: ''We just lost our minds.''

• Basketballer turned 'rapper' - Black leaders, U.S. senator rip Iverson for rap lyrics
  shocked that Iverson's lyrics contained "a lot of n----- this and n----- that."
  "The NBA, the Philadelphia 76ers, Mr. Iverson's record label, his coach and every fair-minded person should condemn this kind of so-called 'entertainment' for the trash that it is," Bryan said.

Footballers face rape charges Girl, 14, says 4 River Rouge players raped her;
The Detroit News RIVER ROUGE -- Four River Rouge High School football players were arraigned Monday in district court on charges they raped a 14-year-old student at the school. Judge Raymond Charron charged the suspects, all seniors, with four counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in the alleged Sept. 20 incident. Lajuan Ewing, Lamar Tony, and Jeffrey Keith Jackson, all 17, and Justin Gary, 16, were released by paying 10 percent of their $25,000 bond -- or $2,500. Defense attorney Gerald Evelyn said the young men should not have been charged because there is not enough evidence. "My client (Jackson) is a star athlete...

Another Report of rape by footballers stuns Central High School -- Students and parents at St. Paul's Central High School reacted with a mixture of dismay and anger Tuesday as details surfaced about an alleged rape at the school Friday. Hoping to restore a sense of security in the building, school leaders Tuesday clamped down on students in hallways, sending home kids who were in the halls without a pass and keeping closer watch over the school's nooks and labyrinthine corridors. The alleged attack on a 15-year-old Central sophomore girl was a topic of painful conversation all day. Prosecutors on Tuesday charged three Central senior boys with criminal sexual conduct and kidnapping.
Durelle L. White, 18, was arraigned on two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of kidnapping. Joseph E. Phipps Jr., 17, appeared before a juvenile court referee. Charges in his case are identical to those against White. Phipps is scheduled for a hearing before Ramsey County District Judge Kathleen Gearin on Nov. 2, when the county attorney's office will seek permission to try him in adult court. Prosecutors will also seek adult status for Dushaune P. Poe, 16, who turned himself in to police Tuesday afternoon. He is charged with one count each of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and kidnapping. He is not accused of having sexual contact with the girl. All three played football at Central.

• River Rouge Footballers Charged in Rape of Cheerleader
  Race and names of suspects suppressed Four High School Football Players Plead Not Guilty RIVER ROUGE, Mich. (AP) -- Four high school football players pleaded innocent Monday to charges of criminal sexual conduct in the rape of a 14-year-old cheerleader.
  
  
• Ref: River Rouge is a racially mixed district, with African-American students
  making up about 55 percent of the population.
  Ref: Duez Henderson of River Rouge High School lettered one year in football (left)
  
  Ref: Chester Taylor - Footballer from River Rouge High School (right)
  
• 
  Ref: THE LEAGUE OF REVOLUTIONARY BLACK WORKERS at River Rouge Approximately one half of the Negroes in the industry were employed by the Ford Motor industry and 99% of these in the huge River Rouge plant.

Black Sports: Black athletes: You better watch it by Eugene Kane
Let the meeting come to order. As you all know, this is the first gathering of BABB, otherwise known as Black Athletes Behaving Badly. The reason we're calling this meeting on the news page instead of the sports page is the recent spurt of non-sports-related incidents involving black athletes behaving badly.

African Athlete Charged in Australian Rape Ugandan Swimmer Granted Bail SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- A Ugandan charged with raping a 17-year-old girl near the main Olympic venue had been granted bail. Joe Atuhaire, 22, appeared in court Monday night after being extradited from Adelaide in southern Australia, where he was arrested Saturday. Atuhaire was ordered to appear in court Oct. 19 to enter a plea. He faces a maximum sentence of only 14 years in prison if convicted.

Sports: Souksangouane Phengsene Pleads Guilty in Black Basketballer's Death

"It was kind of surreal to see a descendant from Australia's ancient Aborigines..."

Ugandan Olympic athlete appears in court over sexual assault A visiting Olympic athlete accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl last week in Sydney has appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court.

Olympic Drugs (and rape) Steal Headlines From Sport

• American shot put champion C.J. Hunter wipes away tears during a news conference in Sydney - said he could not explain why he failed four tests for the anabolic steroid nandrolone but that he would defend himself

Hunter tested positive after meet in July According to the Daily Telegraph, Hunter tested positive for 1,000 times the legal limit of nandrolone. SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- American shot put world champion C.J. Hunter, husband of Olympic gold medalist Marion Jones, tested positive for the banned substance nandrolone, international track officials said Monday

Redskins' Stubblefield Charged with Domestic Abuse
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Washington Redskins football star Dana Stubblefield was arrested on a charge of domestic assault after he and his wife fought over a piece of luggage, Fairfax County police said on Thursday. Stubblefield, a defensive lineman who has a six-year, $36 million contract with the NFL team, was arrested and released..
Ref: Under NFL policy, a player arrested on charges involving violence must undergo a psychiatric examination. If a player is convicted he faces league penalties of a fine or suspension without pay. (but doesn't get sent to the crazy house....)

Sports: Hepatitis B May Be Transmitted On Football Field
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - While the hepatitis B virus (HBV) is usually passed on through sex or injection drug use, new evidence suggests the football field may offer another route of transmission. Japanese investigators have documented cases of hepatitis B transmission among 11 players on one college football team. This ``mass outbreak'' of liver-infecting HBV suggests that transmission may occur ``even among members of a sports team,'' researchers report in the September 11th issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. Transmission probably occurred when the players were exposed to each others' open wounds during practice, according to Dr. Kazuo Tobe and colleagues at Okayama University in Japan.

Sports: O.J.’s ex-girlfriend files complaint - Alleges that Simpson broke into her home. MIAMI, Sept. 23 — O.J. Simpson’s ex-girlfriend has filed a burglary complaint against the former football great, claiming he broke into her home, erased a message on her answering machine and took a letter.    (reader link)
Simpson and Christine Prody reportedly stopped seeing each other six weeks ago. In May, police were called to a Miami hotel after Simpson and Prody got into a loud dispute where Prody allegedly slapped and kicked him. Simpson refused to press charges. No arrests were made and police gave Simpson a brochure on dealing with domestic violence.
Prody, a statuesque blonde, met Simpson while she worked as a cocktail waitress.
"She didn't use to do drugs until they started hanging around together, her mother said.

Reader uncovers race of "Olympic Rapist" suppressed by Australian press....
Ugandan athlete wanted for Sydney sex assault
Sydney - Police said on Friday they have issued a warrant for the arrest of an athlete at the Olympics suspected of sexually assaulting a young woman. "Investigators ... took out a warrant for the arrest of a 23-year-old international Olympic athlete in relation to an alleged sexual assault committed upon a 17-year-old female," the New South Wales state police said in a statement. Unnamed police sources reported that the wanted man was a Ugandan athlete and that he was believed to have fled Sydney. A police spokesperson declined to give further details of the assault or the athlete's identity.

Minnesota Basketball Program Probed MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Federal investigators are trying to determine whether academic cheating in Minnesota's basketball program occurred before a former tutor did coursework for players, the Saint Paul Pioneer Press reported Thursday. Jan Gangelhoff revealed in March 1999 that she wrote more than 400 research papers and tests for about 20 players. WCCO-TV reported Wednesday night that she will plead guilty to a federal charge of misappropriating funds. Gangelhoff has agreed to plead guilty as early as Friday to one felony count related to federal grant money given to former guard Bobby Jackson and to testify before a grand jury, WCCO reported. Prosecutors will argue that by doing Jackson's work, Gangelhoff enabled him to collect Pell Grant student aid.

Natives of Bawku and Bolgataga terrorized by blood-sucking"Kwaku"
Believed to be an escaped patient from an experimental AIDS research facility deep in the heart of upper Ghana near the border of Burkina Faso... natives that still hold to their traditional tribal beliefs report seeing a "Kwaku Monster" after dark in the jungle near their villages... they report missing goats that have been sucked dry of blood and are afraid for their children. A traditional witch doctor has been called in to exorcise the evil spirit... Ref: Map of Ghana

Mike Tyson Rages about Drugs, Violence and Race 'I Bring Pain,' He Boasts in Pre-Fight Performance - , he laced several tirades with profanity and, at one point, stripped off his shirt and jumped on a table to show he was in fighting trim.
Appearing highly agitated, Tyson said he's on anti-depressant medication for a reason. "I'm on the Zoloft to keep me from killing y'all" " There are nine million people who see me in the ring who hate my guts, most of them white. But that's OK.

Black Basketballer Maxwell Surrenders to Police
- Wanted on an Assault Complaint CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Seattle SuperSonics guard Vernon Maxwell surrendered to police Wednesday, more than a week after a warrant was issued seeking his arrest for an assault complaint. Maxwell was wanted after a Charlotte woman said she was punched and kicked several times in her home Sept. 2. Heidi Hayden sustained bruises and scratches and refused treatment, a police report said.

• UK: Black Sports Cult: Black players get Springbok honour Black rugby players who were denied the chance of competing at Test level for South Africa under apartheid are to be retrospectively honoured as Springboks by the South African Rugby Football Union.

• Black Sports: Bucs' Robinson picked up on bounced check charge TAMPA, Fla.
  - Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety Damien Robinson was arrested Tuesday and charged with bouncing a check - to the tax collector. Robinson, 26, was picked up on a warrant for writing a bad check in January to the Hillsborough County tax collector to renew a license tag for his 1998 Land Rover. Robinson was released on $250 bond. A Buccaneers spokesman said the team had no comment. "What an idiot!" (reader link)
  Ref: "Here's to you, Mr. Robinson"

UT fights ESPN's subpoenas of students' records
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- A lawyer for the University of Tennessee has asked a federal judge to stop ESPN's attempts to subpoena student records and university documents for defamation lawsuits against the sports network.

The Black Sports Cult and the American Dream
The University will not release 'academic records' of black athletes - many allege a conspiracy of coaches, teachers, administrators, alumni and the media to recruit illiterate
below-average intelligence blacks solely for the promotion of the 'Black Sports Cult'
that has become a 'religion' in American with millions of majority Americans 'brainwashed'
with their obsessed voyeuristic fixation on watching the scholastically retarded sports heroes jump up and down, bump into each other, perform ritualistic homosexual acts, do strange primitive 'victory dances' on the field and ritualistically follow the cabalistic magical numerics of the 'scores' of the games.

The Black Sports Cult promotes gambling, drinking in front of TV, Sports Bar alcohol syndrome, obesity and the shorting of life associated with this lifestyle.

This is reminiscent of the "Bread and Circuses" of the last days of the Roman Empire.
Today it is "Food Stamps and the Black Sports Cult".

The Barbarians will get tired of Foreign Aid. They have infiltrated their spies and are
sharpening their swords. One day America may be rudely awakened when the Barbarians
have sacked the cities, raped the women, eaten the dogs and enslaved those not too fat
for work in the slave labor camps.

- Sports Editor, New Nation News

Synopsis: In a book that is certain to ignite an explosive controversy, 
Herrnstein and Murray dare to reveal their belief that it is intelligence levels, not environmental circumstances, poverty, or lack of education that are at the root of many of our social problems.

Some news sources: Sports: police blotter (slow) * "Bad Jocks"  * Athlete Arrests