4B the university daily kansan
tuesday, april 20, 2004
sports
Court: Clarettineligible for draft
Ruling will affect other underclassmen The Associated Press
Courtesy of KRT Campus
NEW YORK — Running back Maurice Clarett was barred from entering this weekend's NFL draft by a federal appeals court that blocked a lower court ruling Monday.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the NFL had shown it could win its argument that Clarett and other athletes like Southern California's Mike Williams should not be allowed to enter the league until they have been out of high school for at least three years.
Former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett avoided Texas Tech's Marquis Turner during OSU's 45-21 season-opening victory in Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday, August 24, 2002. A Federal Appeals court has ruled Clarett, USC's Michael Williams, and a host of other underclass ineligible for this weekend's NFL Draft.
The court added in its two-page order that any potential harm to Clarett would be lessened by the NFL's agreement to stage a supplemental draft if the appeals court later ruled in his favor.
That possibility seemed unlikely, though, after the manner in which three appeals court judges questioned Calertt's lawyer, Alan Milstein, during more than an hour of arguments in a Manhattan courthouse Monday morning.
dayhourng The court said a stay of a lower court ruling was warranted to safeguard the NFL from harm and to ensure meaningful review of the appeal issues.
"We are pleased that the court has issued a stay. As the court order says, we have 'demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits,'" league lawyer Jeff Pash said. "We are grateful for the prompt attention the court has given to this matter
and we await its decision on the merits."
Milstein did not immediately return a telephone message after the appeals court ruling.
During the appeals hearing, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan asked Milstein why the NFL cannot exclude young athletes, suggesting the league was saying, "It's good for them, good for us and in the long run good for the sport."
Judge Sonia Sotomayer said it was not surprising that the players' union would agree to exclude players such as Clarett.
"That's what unions do every day — protect people in the union from those not in the union," she said.
Clarett, who led Ohio State to a national title as a freshman before becoming ineligible as a sophomore, challenged the NFL rule that requires a player to be out of high school for at least three years before entering the draft. Williams declared for the draft after a lower court ruled in Clarett's favor.
Clerks' favors.
Seven others also declared for the draft after the initial ruling, but none is a prospect.
U. S. District Court Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled in February that Clairet should be allowed in the draft. She said the rule excluding him violates antitrust law and unjustly blocks a player from pursuing his livelihood.
NFL lawyer Gregg A. Levy confirmed Monday what league officials said earlier: If a subsequent ruling makes Clarett eligible, the league later could hold a supplemental draft, something the NFL has done for players who entered the draft late.
Ohio State suspended Clarett
before last season for accepting money from a family friend and for lying about it to NCAA and university investigators.
In 2003, Clarett rushed for 1,237 yards and led the Buckeyes to a national championship.
He maintained he was not subject to the NFL's "three years out of high school" rule because it was not properly negotiated and
because he was not in the union Under the rule, he would be eligible for the draft next year.
Milstein said Monday the NFL can't argue that players such as Clarett are not physically ready to play professionally. Williams was expected to be a first-round pick; Clarett was expected to be chosen in the second or third round.
Kenya sweeps in Boston Marathon
The Associated Press
BOSTON — Weakened by the heat ard a mile-long sprint to the finish, Catherine Ndereba had to receive her winner's medal and olive wreath in a wheelchair.
wheelerian.
As for the traditional bowl of beef stew, she took a pass.
It was much too hot for that.
Ndereba won the Boston Marathon for the third time Monday, running together with Elfenesh Alemu for 10 miles before sprinting away in Kenmore Square to finish in 2 hours, 24 minutes, 27 seconds. The 16-second margin of victory matched the closest in the history of the women's event.
"Toward the finish, I felt like I was dead," said Ndereba, who collapsed to the pavement at the finish line, where it was 85 degrees. "All of the sudden, I had all those cramps and I could not stand ... The heat was too tough. So I was going out there knowing I had to run very smart."
A Kenyan man has won 13 of the last 14 Boston Marathons, and the country is so deep at the distance that Cherigat is not on the Olympic team despite winning the world's oldest and most prestigious annual marathon
Timothy Cherigat won the men's race in 2:10:37 to complete a Kenyan sweep. He broke away from Robert Cheboror right before Heartbreak Hill to win by 1:12 as Kenyan men took the first four spots and six of the first seven.
"It is sad because the team has already been chosen," he said. "I
will wait for my time, and it will come."
For the women's field, the time came on Monday.
Four decades after a race official tried to run Katrine Switzer off the course, the women were put in front of the race and given their own start. Leaving Hopkinton 29 minutes before the men and 20,000 recreational runners, Ndereba and Alemu didn't have to confront the clutter of men who glom onto the women's winners for pacing or TV exposure.
"It is so great and we have all the room," said Ndereba, the reigning world champion who won here in 2000-01. "We have all the road to run wherever you feel like."
The two ran side-by-side and alone together for about 10 miles before reaching Kenmore Square — one mile to go — where Ndereba sprinted into the lead. Alemu, suffering from back pains and cramping, did not have the energy to respond.
energy to respond. "Catherine sped up, but I slowed down because of the pain in my back," Alemu said. "I wanted to improve my time, but the heat and the wind wouldn't allow me to do that."
Ndereba's time — the 11th best for a woman at Boston — was fast for a tough course and one of the hottest races in the event's 108-year history.
Once again, spectators who live along the course tried to cool the runners by spraying their garden hoses onto the street. Others offered water that was eagerly accepted by the competitors.