Nebraska governor rips protestors

Two university regents and the governor criticized three Nebraska football players who kneeled during the national anthem to protest racial injustice and police brutality.

Michael Rose-Ivey, Mohamed Barry and DaiShon Neal each took a knee as the anthem played before last Saturday’s game at Northwestern.

Regents Hal Daub of Omaha and Jim Pillen of Columbus said Tuesday the three used poor judgment.

“They’re wearing a University of Nebraska uniform, and all student-athletes should be aware that their actions reflect not only on themselves but everyone else,” Daub said. “It wasn’t their forum to take advantage of and use as a Colin Kaepernick cloning situation. Everyone will say the First Amendment gives them the right, but they shouldn’t be able to take advantage of the captive market of the football team and the university’s reputation.”

Daub said he has received a large number of phone calls and emails from the public and that “most of the people I talk to are disappointed and embarrassed.”

During the team’s media availability on Monday, Rose-Ivey read a statement explaining the reasons why he, Barry and Neal joined Kaepernick, the San Francisco 49ers backup quarterback, and other professional and amateur athletes who have kneeled or otherwise protested unfair treatment of blacks in the United States.

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, responding to a caller on his weekly radio show on Monday, said the kneeling Nebraska players acted inappropriately.

“I think the way they chose to protest was disgraceful and disrespectful.” Ricketts said.

Odds increase for NHL players

HOCKEY: International Ice Hockey Federation President Rene Fasel feels better about the chances of having NHL players compete at the 2018 Olympics in South Korea than he did earlier this year. The league doesn’t sound nearly as confident and may be looking six years ahead to China instead.

In May at the IIHF world championship, Fasel said he thought there was a 60 percent chance the NHL and NHL Players Association would pass on the opportunity to participate in a sixth straight Olympics. Whether the best hockey players in the world go to South Korea in about 16 months is up to the league and union, though Russian star Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals has said he will go no matter what .

“I think it is 50-50 chance,” Fasel told The Associated Press on Tuesday ahead of Game 1 of the World Cup of Hockey final. NHL officials, however, sounded an ominous tone. “Time is very short to make a decision and I’m not sure there has been a lot of progress made in the past six months, and I’m not sure there’s any prospect for progress being made,” Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said. “On the basis on that, I’m more negative today than I was two weeks ago.”

Money is a big factor in the deliberations. NHL players have not and will not get paid for participating in the Olympics, but their travel expenses and insurance have been covered in the past.

Phelps warned Lochte before scrape

SWIMMING: Add Michael Phelps’ name to the list of Americans who were less than amused by teammate Ryan Lochte’s post-competition, early morning drunken antics at the Rio Olympics.

“I did have a talk with him about two days before about not doing anything bad,” said Phelps, who retired after the Summer Games as the most-decorated Olympian of all time. “I told him, Just keep your head on straight. Have fun.”

Apparently, the warning didn’t take. Lochte and three teammates got into a scrape with a security at a gas station in Rio de Janeiro after a night of partying. He originally claimed he and young teammates Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and Jimmy Feigen were threatened and robbed at gunpoint but was later charged in Brazil with filing a false police report.

Lochte, 32, was banned from competition for 10 months by the U.S. Olympic Committee and USA Swimming. He also forfeited $100,000 in medal bonuses, was dropped from the Olympic team’s White House visit and was ordered to perform 20 hours of community service.

Despite losing a number of sponsorship deals as well, Lochte hasn’t lowered his public profile. He’s competing this season on “Dancing With the Stars,” where two protestors rushed the stage during a taping of the show in Los Angeles two weeks ago.

Bucks president softens criticism

NBA: Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said he’s eager to work with Bucks president Peter Feigin to improve the city’s race relations after the NBA executive last week called the city the “most segregated, racist place” he has seen.

However, Feigin said Tuesday in a statement that he didn’t intend to characterize the city as “overtly racist,” that it’s “a terrific community with wonderful people” and he is “proud to be a part of it.” according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Barrett and Feigin, who is from New York City, had a “good conversation” on Monday, the mayor said. “I hope we can change his feelings, but to do that, we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Barrett said.

Last week, the Wisconsin State Journal reported that Feigin called Milwaukee the “most segregated, racist place I’ve ever experienced in my life” during a speech in Madison.

“It just is a place that is antiquated. It is in desperate need of repair and has happened for a long, long time. One of our messages and one of our goals is to lead by example,” Feigin was quoted as saying.

In his statement Tuesday, Feigin said the comment came as he was “addressing a question about the social, economic and geographic divides that exist and how we can help address them.”

Leicester wins, Madrid held to draw

SOCCER: Leicester’s players upturned the established order in England last season. Now, they’re doing the same in Europe.

The fairy tale goes on for the once-unheralded central English club after beating double European champion Porto 1-0 on Tuesday for a second straight win in its first-ever Champions League campaign. No other team has six points at this stage in the Champions League – not even defending champion Real Madrid, which scored early through Cristiano Ronaldo before conceding late to draw 2-2 at Borussia Dortmund.

Leicester was bottom of the Premier League this time two years ago, so not even its most ardent fan could have predicted this rise. No wonder the King Power stadium was rocking when Islam Slimani headed home from close range in the 25th minute for what proved to be the winning goal.