Sports briefs for February 25, 2005

Friday, Feb. 25, 2005 | 10:05 a.m.

Black legislators urge Auburn sports boycott

Lawmakers in the Alabama's black caucus are calling for a black athletes' boycott of mostly white Auburn University until the school agrees to rehire two black administrators fired in a reorganization of the athletic department.

The caucus voted unanimously Thursday in Montgomery for the boycott. Auburn President Ed Richardson maintains the restructuring was not racially motivated.

"We asked athletes to boycott Auburn until this issue is resolved because of the money going into Auburn from sports," said Democratic Rep. Laura Hall, caucus chairwoman.

The roughly 30 caucus members met last week with Richardson and asked him to rehire associate athletic director Stacy Danley and assistant athletic director Eugene Harris, even if they had to be placed in positions outside the athletic department.

Both were fired earlier this month as part of a department restructuring; a white assistant athletic director also was fired.

Democratic state Rep. Alvin Holmes said the caucus does not expect athletes already at Auburn to leave. "We're just asking those being recruited not to come to Auburn," Holmes said.

IOC wraps up visit

With a promise from mayor Michael Bloomberg that a stadium will be built, IOC commission members wrapped up their four-day tour of New York as they evaluated the city's plans and facilities for playing host to the 2012 Olympics. New York, Moscow, Paris, London and Madrid are the finalists. The host city will be selected July 6.

Champs out in UEFA

Defending champion Valencia was eliminated on penalty kicks by Steaua Bucharest in the first round of knockout play. English Premiership clubs Newcastle and Middlesbrough won home matches to advance to the round of 16.

Jamaica won the Caribbean Cup for the third time, beating Cuba 1-0 at Bridgetown, Barbados, on Luton Shelton's goal.

American circles globe

Bruce Schwab, a 44-year-old from Oakland, Calif., became the first American to complete the around-the-world Vendee Globe regatta when he piloted his 60-foot Ocean Planet onto shore on France's Atlantic Coast, just a few hours shy of 110 days after he started. He finished ninth in the race, more than 22 days behind winner Vincent Riou.

UNLV slips to third

Ryan Moore shot a 7-under-par 65 to move into a first-place tie with SMU's Will Dodson and New Mexico's Spencer Levin, but the UNLV men's team slipped from first to third place, seven strokes behind leader New Mexico, after two rounds of the Burns Intercollegiate at Wahiawa, Hawaii.

Rebels near title

UNLV leads the men's standings at the Mountain West Conference meet in Oklahoma City, 54 points ahead of five-time defending champion BYU as the Rebels try to bring home the school's first conference swimming title. The UNLV women were in second, 19 points behind BYU. The meet concludes Saturday.

Replay gets OK

An NCAA oversight panel voted to approve the use of instant replay as an officiating tool for those conferences willing to make the financial commitment to do so.