Saturday, November 8, 2008
Stung by a disappointing season that left the team out of the MLS playoffs for the first time since 2002, D.C. United's owners are going to get more hands-on.
Owners Victor MacFarlane and Will Chang announced a reorganization of the executive management of the club. The two will assume the titles of co-executive chairmen and will make all top-level decisions.
"At D.C. United, we set the bar very high, and this year we did not achieve many of our objectives on and off the field," MacFarlane and Chang said in the letter addressed to the team's fans. "By reorganizing and reinvigorating the organization at the executive level, we further commit to our mission of winning championships and serving the community."
· COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Towson Coach Pat Kennedy has suspended three players for violating team policy, doling out punishments from one to five games.
Senior forward Tony Durant will miss the season opener against Navy on Nov. 14; senior forward Junior Hairston will sit out the Tigers' first three games and freshman forward Rick Brown was suspended for the first five games, the school announced yesterday.
Hairston was Towson's leading rebounder last season and ranked third in scoring, averaging 12 points. Durant averaged 8.7 points and ranked third in rebounding.
· COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Former NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf has resigned as quarterbacks coach at Division II West Texas A&M.
The No. 2 pick in the 1998 NFL draft told the school Thursday he was leaving the program immediately. Athletic Director Michael McBroom said in a statement that Leaf resigned because of "personal issues." . . .
Police in State College, Pa., have filed charges against 14 people in connection with a rowdy celebration after Penn State beat Ohio State two weeks ago in Columbus, Ohio.
There were no serious injuries.
· OLYMPICS: IOC President Jacques Rogge expects at least 15 doping cases from the Beijing Olympics.
"We had 39 positive cases in the run-up to the Games, eight during the Games, and seven more possibly coming up," Rogge said at a gala celebration to mark the 100th anniversary of the Austrian Olympic Committee.
Rogge said it will take about six more weeks before all final doping results are available. . . .
After a four-year Olympic fight, Sue Haywood has a sense of vindication.
Haywood, who was left off the 2004 U.S. Olympic mountain biking team because of a clerical error in the qualifying series standings and has battled that decision since, was awarded nearly $319,000 over "the negligence of USA Cycling" from a federal jury in her home state of West Virginia on Thursday.
· GOLF: Scott Verplank shot his second straight 8-under-par 64 to take a three-stroke lead in the Children's Miracle Network Classic, the final official PGA Tour event of the season.
Steve Marino (66) and Troy Matteson (68) were tied for second.
-- From News Services
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