The NCAA's "crackdown on unsportsmanlike conduct in college
football" will include penalizing players who kneel in prayer
after touchdowns, notes Randall Mell of the Ft. Lauderdale SUN-
SENTINEL. Mell reports that members of the NCAA Rules Committee,
seeking stricter enforcement of rules prohibiting exhibitionism,
intimidation and individualism, "determined that if it was going
to adhere to the letter of the law, it must eliminate the act of
prayer from the field of play." Players may still pray without a
15-yard penalty, but must do it on the sideline, not the field.
Dolphins receiver Irving Fryar, an ordained minister who prays
after each touchdown: "It's the same thing they do when they take
prayer out of the schools. It's another trick from the devil"
(Ft. Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL/ORLANDO SENTINEL, 8/16).
SUGAR BOWL UNDER FIRE: The Sugar Bowl Committee, which has
99 members but no women and only eight blacks, "is struggling to
address charges of racism and sexism," according to Jim Yardley
in this morning's ATLANTA CONSTITUTION. N.O.W. President
Patricia Ireland: "Having locked out more than half the
population, rich and powerful men on the committee enjoy the
exclusive privileges of membership. Not only tickets to parties
and parades and the game, but also visibility and networking in
the community, and importantly, control over the multimillion-
dollar Sugar Bowl events and contracts." Sugar Bowl Exec Dir
Troy Mathieu, who is black, said the group has a new plan aimed
at diversification (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 8/17).
