Sports & Politics Intersect: Verdict reveals depth of corruption in NCAA hoop schemes

• James Dolan gets vindictive against radio station, parent company  - Madison Square Garden Co. Executive Chairman James Dolan ordered that all of the company’s businesses shut down work with Entercom, which owns New York-area sports talk station WFAN. Why is the owner of the Knicks, Rangers and Liberty angry? Because of an on-air rant by radio host Maggie Gray over the summer in which she lambasted Dolan for a song he recorded that is presumably about Harvey Weinstein, the famed movie executive accused of numerous counts of sexual assault and misconduct.

• Russian trolls used NFL anthem issue to sow discord  - President Donald Trump wasn’t the only one fanning the flames regarding the NFL player protests during the national anthem. As with many other hot-button political issues in the United States in recent years,  over 12,000 tweets from Russia-linked accounts helped widen the divide over if and how players should protest about injustice during “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

• College sports are “affirmative action” for affluent white athletes - A recent study revealed that at elite colleges and universities such as Harvard, affluent white students who played high school sports tend to get a leg up on minority applicants.

• Former NFL players with brain trauma get next to nothing in settlement payouts - Former NFL players and family members of those who passed on have received award statements from the $1 billion-plus settlement the NFL agreed to that provides financial assistance to players who suffer from chronic brain trauma. Unfortunately, many statements are for pennies and some even have negative balances. 

• MMA fighters endorsing Brazilian far-right presidential candidate - Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right candidate for Brazil’s presidential election whose authoritarian and discriminatory messages seem to resonate with nearly half of the country’s voters, has a unique group of supporters behind him — several athletes in Brazil’s MMA community.

• S.F. Giants co-owner had been supporting super PAC behind racist campaign ad  - Charles Johnson, co-owner of the San Francisco Giants,  tried to distance himself from the “Black Americans for the President’s Agenda,” a super PAC that made an incendiary radio ad in support of incumbent Arkansas congressman French Hill (Republican) against Democratic challenger Clarke Tucker.

• NFL ending ban of cross-ownership of other sports teams in NFL markets - The NFL put an end to a longstanding policy that team owners cannot own non-NFL sports franchises in other NFL markets. This may potentially lead to teams becoming even more valuable than they already are.

• Mark Cuban sends FC Dallas fans into a tizzy  - Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban recently said that if given the chance to buy another sports franchise, he would aim for a Major League Soccer team. Some fans of FC Dallas, which is the MLS franchise in the Metroplex, are hoping he buys their team.

• Cuban spoke with Skylar Diggins-Smith about pay gap  - Not long after Dallas Wings star guard Skylar Diggins-Smith made noise about the pay disparity WNBA players face vs. their male counterparts,  she privately met with the Mavericks owner, whom she called out back in August for not attending Wings games. Cuban and Diggins-Smith talked about strategies that the WNBA could use to help bridge the gap.

• New Bucks arena helped the NBA remain in Milwaukee  - After years of concerns about the Milwaukee Bucks’ viability without a new arena,  the opening of Fiserv Forum was a celebration of efforts of the team’s ownership (and taxpayer funding) to keep the franchise in Wisconsin.

• Bucks owner subpoenaed in “sex dungeon” case - Wes Edens, co-owner of the Bucks, has been subpoenaed as a third party multiple times in relation to a federal lawsuit in New York against Howard Rubin, a Wall Street portfolio manager who has been accused of luring and raping multiple women in a NYC penthouse.

• Nike signs first esports star - Nike, the world’s premier apparel company, is officially sponsoring Jian Zihao  (known as “Uzi”), a Chinese star in “League of Legends.” He’ll be teaming up with LeBron James in an upcoming ad campaign, “Dribble &.”

• Eric Reid and Malcolm Jenkins confrontation was built up since last season  - During the coin toss at the start of the Carolina Panthers-Philadelphia Eagles game last weekend, Panthers safety Eric Reid confronted Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins. Reid’s decision to go for Jenkins  stems back to disagreements between the two as the Players Coalition was forming, a group Reid feels is “an NFL-created subversion group” meant to gloss over the intent of the player protests during the national anthem.

• Skateboarder alleges abuse by former pro, USA Skateboard exec - In a letter to the Costa Mesa Police Department, Julz Lynn (given name Julie Lynn Kindstrand Nelson) alleges that she was “groomed for a sexual relationship” at the age of 14 by famed skateboarder Neal Hendrix, who was 33 at the time. Hendrix, who was suspended by USA Skateboarding, denies the accusations.

• Maryland football culture problematic but “not toxic,” says report - The report from a school-appointed commission regarding the culture within the Maryland Terrapins football team stated that while the program under head coach DJ Durkin was “not toxic,” players feared speaking up about their safety. The report comes four months after the death of offensive lineman Jordan McNair.

• WWE “Crown Jewel” to go on as planned - WWE confirmed that its “Crown Jewel” event in Saudi Arabia will go on as planned on Nov. 2. The company has been heavily criticized for not canceling or at least moving the event out of the country in light of the reported murder of Jamal Khashoggi, an outspoken journalist who had been critical of the Saudi government.

“I was in the middle of the field, in a pretty good spot. If I was going to run anywhere, it would probably be to where I was standing.” - Mike Krukow, Giants starting pitcher during Game 3 of the 1989 World Series

At 5:04 p.m. Pacific Time during Game 3 of the 1989 World Series, the earth shook underneath the Bay Area for 15 incredibly long seconds. This year marks the 29th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake that hit 6.9 on the Richter Scale and stalled the World Series for a full 10 days.

The aftermath of the quake was devastating to the city and traumatic to the players on the field. Power and phone lines were out immediately, the Bay Bridge collapsed, and 67 people died as a result. As it was happening and in the immediate moments after, players were on the field, looking up into the stands trying to find their families.

Giants pitcher Mike Krukow had four children and a pregnant wife at the game. Brett Butler’s brother was up grabbing a hot dog, and a part of the roof caved in onto his seat while he was gone.

Photos of the destruction are tough to stomach: cars stuck on a broken bridge, houses and churches falling over, multiple fires being put out. On the field, there were police cars and ambulances as players started to reunite with their families.

Baseball did have to return, though. The game was originally pushed back seven days but got delayed again on the following Tuesday with it finally resuming on Friday, Oct. 27. Baseball commissioner Fay Vincent, with San Francisco mayor Art Agnos by his side, made the announcement. "Churchill did not close the cinemas in London during the blitz," Vincent said. "It's important for life to carry on."

This came after Agnos gave the go-ahead following a report structural engineers provided on Candlestick Park. ''Based on this report, I am convinced that Candlestick is as safe as any facility can be either before or after an earthquake.''

The A’s would win Games 3 and 4 in San Francisco to complete the sweep — but they wouldn’t have a celebration full of beer and champagne because it felt improper due to the destruction caused by the Loma Prieta earthquake.