by Sports Digest , Intelligencer Journal/New Era

Megan Forbes (Hempfield) was a member of the Synergy 16 team which wrapped up its club season with a 21-8 record and a tie for fifth place in the 16 Open division of USA Volleyball's Junior Olympic tournament this past week in Miami, Fla.

NCAA denies Sampson appeal

The NCAA is finished with the latest Kelvin Sampson saga. The NCAA on Tuesday rejected an appeal from the former Indiana basketball coach, who was slapped with five years of potential penalties for taking part in more than 100 impermissible calls to recruits while coaching the Hoosiers. The NCAA said its infractions committee upheld the violations found in the case, which prompted an overhaul at the storied program and led to Sampson's departure after just 11-w years. An NCAA spokeswoman said Sampson has used his only appeal, and the case is closed. Sampson, now an assistant coach for the Milwaukee Bucks, is essentially barred from coaching in college until 2013. The NCAA ruled that Sampson ignored signed compliance agreements with Indiana, ignored the recruiting restrictions he was already under from a similar case at Oklahoma and deliberately lied to infractions committee members. In his appeal, Sampson claimed the penalty was too harsh, the NCAA misinterpreted evidence and that the infractions committee was biased against him. The NCAA rejected each claim, saying "it found no basis on which to conclude that the findings of violations were contrary to the evidence."

Allison, Waltrip Hall nominees

Former drivers Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip are two of the 25 nominees for the first NASCAR Hall of Fame induction class. NASCAR released the two names Tuesday ahead of the announcement of all nominees Thursday night. The first class will consist of five members. They'll be inducted in conjunction with the opening of the Hall of Fame in downtown Charlotte next May. Allison and Waltrip were longtime rivals and are tied for third with 84 victories in NASCAR's top series. Waltrip won three Cup championships and Allison one. A 21-member nominating committee selected the nominees from NASCAR drivers, owners and promoters.

Dream Team to enter U.S. Olympic Hall

The Dream Team has earned a spot in the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame.

The star-studded team that featured Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Charles Barkley and won the gold medal in Barcelona headlines this year's class of 10 inductees. The class, which will be formally announced this morning, will be inducted Aug. 12 in Chicago.

Joining the Dream Team are Michael Johnson, the only man to win gold in the 200 and 400 meters at the same Olympics; Picabo Street (skiing); Teresa Edwards (basketball); Mary T. Meagher (swimming); and Willye White (athletics). Skiier Sarah Will is the Paralympic inductee.

Former USOC chairman Peter Ueberroth, gymnastics coach Abie Grossfeld and skier Andrea Mead-Lawrence also are being inducted.

Guillen unconcerned about popularity

Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen doesn't mind being unpopular among players who don't play for him.

"In sports you've got to be the bad boy. Remember Billy Martin?" Guillen said Tuesday about placing second in a players poll to the Cubs' Lou Piniella as the manager for which players would least like to play.

In an upcoming issue of Sports Illustrated, 26 percent of major leaguers polled voted for the combustible Piniella, followed by Guillen at 21 percent. St. Louis' Tony LaRussa was next at 10 percent, followed by the Los Angeles Dodgers' Joe Torre and Cleveland's Eric Wedge at four percent apiece.

"Tony was No. 3 and he's won a couple titles," said Guillen, who guided the White Sox to a World Series win in 2005 in his second year in Chicago. "Looks like players picked old-school guys. Maybe they don't like old school, don't like to be told what to do.

"It doesn't bother me. If 59 percent of my players say they like me, that's good enough for me."

NHL supports Reinsdorf's bid

The NHL believes Jerry Reinsdorf can succeed where Jerry Moyes failed as owner of the financially ailing Phoenix Coyotes.

Reinsdorf, the owner of baseball's Chicago White Sox and the NBA's Chicago Bulls, has offered $148 million to buy the Coyotes out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy and keep the team in Glendale, a suburb west of Phoenix. The Coyotes have been awash in ink as red as their home jerseys.

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