Free Republic

A teenager who collapsed during a basketball tryout while wearing a mask said Tuesday on "Fox & Friends" that she believes mask mandates are harmful to athletes. On the second day of basketball tryouts at Crooks County High School in Prineville, Oregon, Savannah Lay said she experienced what she called a near-death collapse due to lack of oxygen. Lay told "Fox & Friends" that she was doing "drills" that were usually easy to do, but, after she told the coach that she had "difficulty breathing," she asked for a break and removed her mask. She said she was confronted by...

National discussions of college athletics routinely emphasize race. That emphasis, however, is unfortunate because it diverts attention from issues that affect all student-athletes. Also, discussions of race in college sports commonly rely on questionable statistics. Some of those statistics come from a report by Shaun Harper, head of the Center on Race and Equity at the University of Southern California. His report makes the case that big-money college athletics exploits black male athletes—or, as Harper’s Washington Post op-ed read, “Black Men Will Play and White Men Will Profit.” Harper’s report provides useful data on graduation rates of black male athletes...

Five Notre Dame football players were arrested with a misdemeanor possession of marijuana on Friday, according to the Indiana State Police. A sixth football player was arrested after a separate incident at a South Bend bar, according to multiple reports. Starting safety Max Redfield, linebacker Te’Von Coney, wide receiver Kevin Stepherson, running back Dexter Williams and defensive back Ashton White were charged in the marijuana incident. Redfield, Stepherson and Williams face additional charges for possession of a handgun without a license, according to the police. In a separate incident, cornerback Devin Butler was arrested on suspicion of battery, according to...

The regional director of the National Labor Relations Board in Chicago, Peter Sung Ohr, ruled Wednesday that Northwestern University football players are university employees and entitled to an election that will determine whether they can form a union. The blockbuster ruling and Ohr's reasoning raise significant legal questions: Q: What is the basis that college athletes are employees and entitled to form a union? A: Ohr based his conclusion primarily on the enormous revenue and benefit that result from the efforts of the Northwestern football players and on the rigorous control that Wildcats coaches have over the lives of the...

The rape of an 11-year-old girl may have involved as many as 10 men, most of whom are football players at local community colleges, police said Sunday. Police arrested two men in connection with the rape Saturday night, and officials said they identified eight others as persons of interest in the case. Most or all are students at either Fresno City College or Reedley College, police said. The victim, a runaway from a group home, went to the Villa Hermosa apartments in southwest Fresno on Saturday night to visit an acquaintance who lived there, said police spokesman Jeff Cardinale. While...

Fresno police say as many as 10 men — most of them current or former football players at local junior colleges — sexually assaulted an 11-year-old girl. Two of the men, Mackey Lee Davis, 20, and Eddie Scott, 19, were arrested Saturday night at the west-central Fresno apartment where the assault allegedly occurred. They face two felony sex charges, including child molestation."

A dispute over a $20 cab fare -- and an offer to pay it with marijuana -- leads to multiple charges against the players Friday, February 18, 2005 PAUL BUKER What started as a dispute with a taxi driver over a $20 fare escalated into a scuffle in the wee hours Friday morning in Corvallis and led to the arrests of two Oregon State football players. Jimtavis Walker, a transfer from Florida who was expected to be the Beavers' starting tailback in the fall, and Star Paddock, a walk-on deep snapper, were arrested at 5:10 a.m. at the apartment of...