golf
Solheim Cup organizers will donate funds to firefighters
PARKER – With smoke from the Colorado wildfires wafting over the golf course where the Solheim Cup will be played, tournament organizers have decided to donate 15 percent of the proceeds from this month’s ticket sales to firefighters and their families.
The donations will come from all tickets sold in June on the Solheim Cup website – www.solheimcup.com – and will go to the Colorado Professional Firefighters Association.
Located about 20 miles south of the Colorado Golf Club, the Black Forest Fire covers nearly 22 square miles and has destroyed nearly 500 houses. It was 65 percent contained as of Monday.
The Solheim Cup is set for Aug. 16-18. At a news conference Monday, U.S. captain Meg Mallon called the fundraiser “our opportunity to say to you, ‘We just want to help.’”
NFL
Chad Johnson released after issuing apology to judge
FORT LAUDERDALE – A contrite Chad Johnson apologized Monday for disrespecting a judge when the former NFL star slapped his attorney on the backside in court last week, and his immediate release from jail was ordered.
Broward County Circuit Judge Kathleen McHugh accepted Johnson’s apology and cut his 30-day jail term for a probation violation to the seven days he already has served since the rear-swatting incident. Johnson, a flamboyant wide receiver formerly known as Chad Ochocinco, said in court that he’d had time to think about why his flippant attitude was wrong – especially in a domestic-violence case.
“I just wanted to apologize for disrespecting the court last time,” said Johnson, wearing a tan jail jumpsuit with his hands shackled at the waist. “I apologize. I did have time to reflect on the mistakes I made in this courtroom.”
college basketball
Ackerman’s ideas aim to increase women’s attendance
The WNBA’s first president suggests that women’s college basketball needs to make changes if the sport is to grow.
Val Ackerman was hired by the NCAA in November to assess the state of the women’s game.
In a report submitted to the NCAA last week, Ackerman advises moving the Final Four back to a Friday-Sunday format, exploring a two-site super-regional for the second week of the NCAA Tournament and returning to a format in which the top 16 teams host the first two rounds.
Those ideas would be aimed at boosting attendance and could be implemented by 2014.
Ackerman also says there should be fewer regular-season games. Other areas she’d like addressed include scholarships, game rules, conference tournaments and officiating.
college sports
Embattled Rutgers AD Hermann reports for duty
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Saying she already has rolled up her sleeves and is ready to work, Julie Hermann took over as Rutgers’ athletic director with the promise that her No. 1 job is to create an atmosphere for Scarlet Knights students to excel on and off the field.
The embattled Hermann showed up for work before most of her employees Monday morning and started the task of leading an embarrassed athletic department back to respectability, winning back boosters and alumni and leading the university into the Big Ten Conference in 2014.
Hermann did not answer either emails or telephone calls left by The Associated Press seeking comment. She failed to stop and answer questions around 12:15 p.m. Eastern time when she left in an SUV driven by Doug Kokoskie, the senior associate athletic director for facilities, events and operations. The two stopped at a couple of nearby athletic fields for quick looks.
Associated Press
