Soccer: Wambach pleads not guilty to DUII charge

Pro Soccer

Wambach pleads not guilty to DUII charge

PORTLAND, Ore. – Abby Wambach admitted to once trying cocaine and smoking marijuana some 10 years ago, according to court documents connected to her arrest on a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence of intoxicants.

Wambach, who won a World Cup with the U.S. national team last summer, was arraigned on Tuesday in Multnomah County Circuit Court. She was not present, but her attorney entered a plea of not guilty on her behalf.

Wambach is scheduled to speak Tuesday night at the University of Kentucky.

She was arrested on Saturday night after running a red light in Portland, Oregon, where she lives, and charged with Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants (DUII) – Alcohol.

Wambach, a two-time Olympic gold medalist who announced her retirement from the national team in December, posted an apology on her Facebook page Sunday and took responsibility for her actions.

Olympics

Legends get Wheaties Box cover

Swimmer Janet Evans, diver Greg Louganis and hurdler Edwin Moses are landing on the cover of a Wheaties box decades after their Olympic-champion careers ended.

General Mills says the trio will be honored on cereal boxes as part of the Wheaties Legends series. The boxes will be on stores shelves in the U.S. in May.

Evans won four gold medals in distance swimming at the 1988 and 1992 Olympics; Louganis swept the 3-meter and 10-platform diving events in the 1984 and ‘88 Games; and Moses won two golds and set a world record in the 400-meter hurdles at the 1976 Montreal Games.

Evans is currently a vice chair for the group trying to bring the 2024 Olympics to Los Angeles; Louganis is a mentor for the U.S. Olympic diving team and an LGBT rights activist; and Moses is a sports administrator.

NFL

NFL announces expanded rookie program

NEW YORK – All NFL rookies will now take part in an expanded program to help them adjust to life in the league, on and off the field.

The league said Tuesday the Rookie Transition Program will be hosted by each of its 32 teams and include both drafted and undrafted first-year players. The program replaces the centralized Rookie Symposium that was open only to drafted rookies.

The new format allows teams to tailor the orientation to their history and culture. Topics will include social responsibility, respect at work, mental health, character and values.

The program will be held June 20-22 for NFC rookies and June 22-24 for AFC rookies.

NBA

Hawks to build new practice facility with Emory

ATLANTA – The Atlanta Hawks have partnered with Emory Healthcare to build a new practice facility and move team headquarters to a new campus a few miles north of Philips Arena.

Hawks principal owner Tony Ressler says the partnership will allow his team to have a competitive advantage to attract NBA free agents and retain star players like center Al Horford, whose contract expires this summer.

Ressler and Dr. Scott D. Boden, the director of Emory Orthopaedics and Spine Center, said the complex will open before the 2017-18 season.

Bowen says the Hawks, Emory and Peak Performance Project, a Santa Barbara, California-based center that tests and trains athletes, will create an onsite campus “that doesn’t exist in the NBA or really in almost any professional sport.”

MLB

Commissioner Manfred will rule soon on Reyes

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred says he expects to rule soon on possible discipline for Colorado Rockies shortstop Jose Reyes.

Reyes was scheduled to go to trial April 4 after pleading not guilty to abusing a family or household member, a charge that stemmed from an Oct. 31 incident with his wife at a Maui resort hotel. Reyes was suspended with pay under baseball’s new domestic abuse policy, an action Manfred took just before the shortstop was to report to spring training.

Hawaii prosecutors dropped charges last week and said his wife was not cooperating.