The Junction City Lady Jay soccer team lost at Shawnee Heights Tuesday night 5-0.

Junction City is 6-3-1 on the season.

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The Blue Jay boys tennis team finished fourth out of six teams in the JCHS Invitational.

Kyle Hand finished third in one singles with a record of 3-2 on the day. Neil Glaser and Dave Graham combined to go 3-2 in one doubles while Gary Davis and Elvin Viloria went 3-2 in two doubles. Both doubles teams finished third in their categories.

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At the Topeka High Invitational the Blue Jay boys tennis team finished sixth out of 12 teams.

In one singles Kyle Hand finished in fifth place with a 2-3 record.

 

IRVING, Texas (AP) – Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby says he expects to be at the conference for a long time and would rather shape the future of college sports in his current job than as NCAA president.

Bowlsby has been a vocal advocate of NCAA reform. He practically overshadowed President Mark Emmert at the NCAA’s state of the union news conference during the Final Four.

As Bowlsby’s profile has grown, so has speculation he could be a candidate to succeed Emmert at some point.

Bowlsby is committed to the Big 12 and thinks he can be “more effective in supporting and leading change from my current location. And that’s the vantage point from which I want to do it.”

 

NEW YORK (AP) – Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling has been banned for life by the NBA in response to racist comments the league says he made in a recorded conversation.

Commissioner Adam Silver said he will try to force the controversial owner to sell his franchise. Sterling has also been fined $2.5 million, and Silver made no effort to hide his outrage over the comments.

“I fully expect to get the support I need from the other NBA owners I need to remove him,” Silver said.

The rebuke, which came three days after the scandal broke, is the harshest penalty ever issued by the league and one of the stiffest punishments ever given to an owner in professional sports. Silver said a league investigation found the NBA’s longest-tenured owner was in fact the person on the audiotapes that were released over the weekend.

“We stand together in condemning Mr. Sterling’s views,” Silver said. “They simply have no place in the NBA.”

Sterling acknowledged he was the man on the tape, Silver said.

Sterling is immediately barred from attending any NBA games or practices, be present at any Clippers office or facility, or participate in any business or player personnel decisions involving the team.

He also cannot participate in any league business going forward. It’s unclear how he will respond, and a lawsuit certainly seems possible.

“This league is far bigger than any one owner, any one coach and any one player,” Silver said.

The fine will be donated to organizations dedicated to anti-discrimination and tolerance efforts that will be jointly selected by the NBA and the Players Association, Silver said.

“This has all happened in three days, and so I am hopeful there will be no long-term damage to the league and to the Clippers organization,” Silver said. “But as I said earlier, I’m outraged so I certainly understand other people’s outrage. This will take some time and appropriate healing will be necessary.”

After the announcement, the Clippers’ website had a simple message: “We are one,” it read.

“We wholeheartedly support and embrace the decision by the NBA and Commissioner Adam Silver today. Now the healing process begins,” the Clippers added in a statement released to the media.

Sterling’s comments were released over the weekend by TMZ and Deadspin, and numerous NBA owners and players have condemned them. Even President Barack Obama weighed in on the crisis, the first of Silver’s brief tenure as commissioner.

The league’s investigation started Saturday and players immediately began expressing intense displeasure with the situation, even going so far as to ask Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson to get involved on behalf of the players’ union.

“Commissioner Silver thank you for protecting our beautiful and powerful league!! Great leader!!,” Miami Heat star LeBron James wrote on Twitter.

Before Silver took the podium, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban tweeted out a photo of the NBA Constitution, saying “It exists for a reason.”

The announcement of the sanctions came just hours before the Clippers will play Golden State in Game 5 of a knotted-up Western Conference first-round playoff series.

Several sponsors either terminated or suspended their business dealings with the team on Monday, though individual deals that some of those companies have with Clippers stars like Chris Paul and Blake Griffin will continue and were not affected. Still, it was a clear statement that companies, like just about everyone inside the league, were outraged.

“Commissioner Silver showed great leadership in banning LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling for life,” Magic Johnson, who was referenced on the taped conversation involving Sterling, tweeted shortly after the league’s decision was announced.

Johnson’s role on the tape stemmed from Sterling’s female companion apparently posting a photo of her and the Hall of Fame player on her Instagram account. That photo has since been deleted, but raised Sterling’s ire nonetheless.

“It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people. Do you have to?” Sterling asks the woman on the tape.

Silver said when he first heard the audio, he hoped it had been altered or was fake – but also said that from his 20-year relationship with Sterling, he suspected the voice was his.

The issues raised when the tapes were released over the weekend represent just another chapter in Sterling’s long history of being at the center of controversy.

In the past, he’s faced extensive federal charges of civil rights violations and racial discrimination in his business dealings, and some of his race-related statements would be described as shocking.

He has also been sued in the past for sexual harassment by former employees, and even the woman who goes by the name “V. Stiviano” – purportedly the female voice on the tapes at the center of this scandal – describes Sterling in court documents as a man “with a big toothy grin brandishing his sexual prowess in the faces of the Paparazzi and caring less what anyone else thought, the least of which, his own wife.”

Stiviano is being sued by Rochelle Sterling, who is seeking to reclaim at least $1.8 million in cash and gifts that her husband allegedly provided the woman.

The rain has altered the sports schedule for Junction City High School on Tuesday.

The Lady Jay varsity and junior varsity softball doubleheader against Topeka High at Cleary Field has been postponed until Monday, May 12.

The junior varsity boys tennis invitational in Salina has been postponed until Wednesday ( April 30) , with a 4 p.m. starting time.

The junior varsity – varsity girls soccer matches at Shawnee Heights are still scheduled to be played.

When the Junction City Blue Jay baseball team hosts Hayden Friday at Rathert Field it will be Military / Service Appreciation Night at the ballpark.

All veterans, active military, and employees of service related fields such as police, fire, and rescue will receive free admission when they present a relevant military or employment I.S. on game day. Additional tickets will be the regular $5 cost. Tickets are available on game day.

The baseball doubleheader begins at 4 p.m. and will continue until about 8 p.m.

 

BALTIMORE (AP) – Omar Infante homered and tied a career high with six RBIs, James Shields pitched seven innings of three-hit ball and the Kansas City Royals coasted to a 9-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday.

Nori Aoki scored three runs for the Royals, who took two of three from Baltimore to conclude a 3-4 road trip that began in Cleveland. Kansas City is 12-0 when scoring at least four runs and 0-12 when scoring three runs or fewer.

Infante hit a run-scoring groundout in the first inning, a sacrifice fly in the third, a two-run double in the fifth and a two-run shot in the seventh. He entered with one home run and 11 RBIs in 21 games.

 

Some questions were answered and some concerns were uncovered as Kansas State wrapped up it’s Purple/White scrimmage Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

The purple team, composed of the number one players, came out victorious 23-13, however Coach Snyder was not happy with the way they performed.

“I don’t think we were the kind of football team that I wanted to see today. I think there were some good things and some bad things, the white team I thought collectively probably played collectively better than the purple did.”

Offensively Snyder said he thought they struggled,”but the white offense got some first downs. We couldn’t get any three and outs with the purple defense so they struggled a little bit, gave up a big play. The offense killed itself with penalties took them out of field position and scoring range on more than one condition.”

He went on to call the offense undisciplined throughout the spring.

“Penalties are probably the biggest thing. We’ve had some turnover issues, we turned the ball over today again with the opportunity to go in and score.”

Jake Waters, Senior Quarterback, said that he agreed with Snyder on his disappointment of their performance.

“You have got to give credit to the white defense but we just didn’t really come out prepared enough to play and we didn’t play well but we can use that as motivation to get better going into the summer.”

Waters completed 26 passes on 38 attempts for 227 yards with one interception. His favorite target was Curry Sexton who went for 88 yards on 8 receptions. Tyler Lockett was held out of the game. A new target for Waters at receiver this year is Daniel Sams who competed against Waters at quarterback last season.

Waters talked about teaming up with Sams at receiver,”It was cool. We’re trying to get on the same page still but it’s definitely cool throwing to a guy like him.”

The two only connected on two passes for nine yards.

The purple team was able to rush the ball for 126 yards with 77 of those coming from Charles Jones.

“When he ran hard, he ran hard,” Snyder said. “That sounds a little redundant but you know there’s sometimes that he didn’t. Sometimes that he was trying to pick and choose and he’s not that type of back. He can make some guys miss once in a while, and he did that, but he makes them miss when hes going north and south not east and west.”

Snyder said that Jones will need to continue to work on running sideline to sideline. Whether or not we can assume that Jones is the number one running back Snyder said not to be so quick on that assumption, “No I wouldn’t labor under that assumption by any stretch of the imagination.”

No position has been locked down at this point of time and Snyder said that he explained to the players that there were a few on the White team that could be moving up in the depth chart.

“I said at halftime, and I meant it, that I was pleased with the way a number of young guys were playing on the white unit. Based on what I had seen, without seeing the film, based on what I had seen there were some guys on the white unit that probably stood a decent chance of moving up.”

Kansas State opens the 2014 season August 30 with a match up against Stephen F. Austin at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

The Junction City Blue Jay golf team finished 5th  out of 14 teams in an invitational hosted by Salina South at the Salina Municipal Golf Course.

Junction City turned in a team score of 330, while Maize won the championship with a score of 299.

In the individual competition Minwook ( Steve ) Kim of Junction City tied for fourth, and medaled. He shot a round of 76.

Also for Junction City Madison Roether and TJ Allen both finished with a score of 84. Dalton Senesac, and Shane Lee both shot an 86.

Junction City will compete in an invitational at the Topeka Country Club on Monday. It is being hosted by Topeka West.

The Junction City Blue Jay baseball team fell to a powerful Washburn Rural squad in both ends of a doubleheader at Rathert Field Friday.

Washburn Rural led by one run, 4-3, after four innings of game one, but then broke the contest by adding seven more runs to win 11-3.  In game two the Junior Blues cruised to a 17-0 victory over the Blue Jays in five innings.

Junction City coach Heath Gerstner said he thought Washburn Rural came ready to play. “that’s an experienced baseball team. We didn’t play the way I thought we would play, but we’re ready to move on to Monday. ”   The Blue Jays will play Topeka High at Hummer Sports Park in the capitol city on Monday.

Washburn Rural  improved to 12-1 on the season, while Junction City is 4-8.

 

The Junction City Lady Jay soccer team defeated Seaman 1-0 Friday night in a match played at Seaman.

The win left Junction City 6-2-1 on the season.