• Rainbow Wahine finish up in top 10 • Leinart’s eligibility reinstated • Yankees hit with $34 million luxury tax • Basketball player files discrimination lawsuit Rainbow Wahine finish up in top 10 The Garden Island The Rainbow Wahine volleyball
• Rainbow Wahine finish up in top 10
• Leinart’s eligibility reinstated
• Yankees hit with $34 million luxury tax
• Basketball player files discrimination lawsuit
Rainbow Wahine finish up in top 10
The Garden Island
The Rainbow Wahine volleyball team finished up its 2005-06 campaign ranked ninth in the nation, according to the CSTV/AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 Final Poll.
Hawai’i ended up with a 27-7 record and received 990 points. Washington, who won the national title, finished up at the top with all 60 first-place votes. Nebraska, Florida, Santa Clara, and Penn State rounded out the top five.
Leinart’s eligibility reinstated
LOS ANGELES — USC quarterback Matt Leinart had his eligibility temporarily revoked after appearing in a promotional segment on ESPN earlier this month, a violation of an NCAA rule. The 2004 Heisman Trophy winner was reinstated Tuesday after Southern California petitioned the NCAA.
The school declared him ineligible after the segment aired on the cable network. It was recorded after the Trojans’ victory over UCLA in the final game of the regular season.
“Whenever we are aware that media outlets ask student-athletes to do these kinds of tags we immediately cut them off,” said Tim Tessalone, USC’s sports information director. “Unfortunately, this one slipped by.”
NCAA spokesman Kent Barrett said Leinart’s actions were “unintentional and inadvertent.”
Leinart had been barred by USC from participating in media activities until after Christmas, Tessalone said.
Leinart, who returned for his senior year to try to lead his school to a third straight national championship, was named sportsman of the year by The Sporting News on Tuesday.
Top-ranked USC will face No. 2 Texas in the Rose Bowl for the national championship.
Yankees hit with $34 million luxury tax
NEW YORK — The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox got extra bills Wednesday.
The Yankees were hit with a $34 million luxury tax and the Red Sox were told they owe $4 million to the commissioner’s office. Baseball’s biggest rivals, both eliminated in the first round of the postseason, were the only teams to exceed the payroll threshold established in baseball’s labor contract, according to figures sent to teams by the commissioner’s office.
The Yankees owe $34,053,787 following tax payments of $25,964,060 last year and $3,148,962 in 2003.
Boston must pay $4,156,476, up from $3,148,962 last year.
Basketball player files discrimination lawsuit
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — A former Penn State women’s basketball player filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against coach Rene Portland on Wednesday.
The lawsuit by former player Jennifer Harris filed in federal district court in Harrisburg accused Portland of discrimination based on race, gender and sexual orientation. The university and athletic director Tim Curley were also named as defendants.
Harris, who is black, said in the filing that Portland repeatedly asked her to change her appearance to look more “feminine.” “In pursuing her discriminatory policy — known as ‘no drinking, no drugs, no lesbians’ — Ms. Portland has particularly targeted players who are African-American,” Harris’ attorneys wrote in the lawsuit, according to a copy of the filing provided by one of her lawyers.
