NCAA 'BENDS RULES' IN WAKE OF HURRICANE KATRINA

[MrMustang1965]

The NCAA wants university officials and student-athletes to focus on recovery efforts from Hurricane Katrina rather than worry about infractions, schedule changes or travel restrictions.

To help, college athletics' governing body may temporarily adjust some of its most restrictive rules.

Steve Mallonee, the NCAA's managing director for membership services, said Wednesday the NCAA is willing to give athletes and universities more latitude to travel, provide more benefits to athletes' families and even allow students to compete without attending classes because of the storm that devastated the Gulf Coast.

"Any rule that can negatively impact an institution or the student-athletes, I think we'll be proactive in," Mallonee told the Associated Press. "The message we'd like is that we have a process that can and will be flexible to any of our institutions that are impacted."

Experts predict it could take months for some areas, including New Orleans, to recover. Classes could be canceled -- making athletes at those schools ineligible under NCAA rules -- while other schools may want to use football stadiums or basketball arenas as relief centers.

That could force games to be canceled or moved.

The NCAA hopes a more flexible approach will give schools an opportunity to help communities, allow athletes to assist family and friends and compete on the playing field.

Donations

The New York Yankees and the NFL is each donating $1 million to the American Red Cross to assist hurricane victims. On their flight to Nashville for their final preseason game, the Green Bay Packers loaded the team airplane with generators and other emergency supplies.

Elsewhere

• The football teams from Tulane and Southern Mississippi moved to other campuses after their schools were damaged by Hurricane Katrina, Conference USA said. Tulane, based in New Orleans, relocated to Southern Methodist University in Dallas, another Conference USA member. Southern Mississippi, in Hattiesburg, will go to the University of Memphis in Tennessee. Tulane and Southern Mississippi were to play their season-opening game this weekend in Hattiesburg. The game was postponed.

• Hundreds of refugees from the hurricane are being evicted from Tallahassee, Fla., hotels to accommodate fans coming to town for the Miami-Florida State game Monday night. Some hoteliers said there was little they could do to help those who fled homes in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama because they had to honor long-standing reservations for the football weekend.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/503/5590206.html