NCAA says Paterno’s family can’t appeal sanctions

Joe Paterno’s family said it planned to appeal the sanctions imposed by the NCAA against Penn State for the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal. The governing body’s response: Don’t bother.

Family lawyer Wick Sollers in a letter sent Friday to the NCAA said the Paternos would like to appeal the “enormous damage” done to Penn State, the community, athletes and the late Hall of Fame coach. He died in January at age 85.

But the NCAA quickly rejected their plan. “The Penn State sanctions are not subject to appeal,” spokesman Bob Williams said.

The landmark penalties handed down last month included a four-bowl ban, scholarship cuts and 111 vacated wins from 1998-2011, meaning Paterno no longer has the most coaching victories in major college football. The family said the NCAA acted hastily and without regard for due process and that it accepted the results of the school’s internal investigation without further review.

::

Boise State receiver Geraldo Boldewijn will miss the first four games of the season for violating NCAA rules for players getting extra benefits. Team officials said Friday that Boldewijn accepted help from his high school host family when he booked a plane trip home to the Netherlands last December. Boldewijn has repaid the family for the flight.

Clemson All-America receiver Sammy Watkins will miss the Tigers’ first two games as punishment for an off-season drug arrest.

Hawaii punter Alex Dunnachie is suspended for an indefinite number of games after pleading no contest to drunk driving.

Pittsburgh Coach Paul Chryst has suspended offensive lineman Juantez Hollins for the season and announced the transfer of backup quarterback Mark Myers.

Etc.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. out of jail

World boxing champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. walked out of a Las Vegas jail early Friday after serving a bit more than two months of a three-month sentence for his role in a domestic battery case.

“He was just glad to get out,” Mayweather’s advisor Leonard Ellerbe said.

Mayweather, wearing a leather Miami Heat cap, didn’t speak to reporters after leaving the Clark County Detention Center, where he was greeted by Ellerbe, one of his daughters and rapper 50 Cent, among others, before driving away in his Bentley sedan.

Mayweather, 35, entered jail June 1 after a judge allowed him to delay his term to fight Miguel Cotto in a world super-welterweight title bout May 5 in Las Vegas. Mayweather won the bout by unanimous decision, improving to 43-0. It’s unclear if Mayweather will fight again this year.

—Lance Pugmire

::

Sixty-five-year-old Gil Morgan shot his age for a share of the first-round lead in the Champions Tour’s 3M Championship at Blaine, Minn. Chien Soon Lu, Steve Pate and Peter Senior also shot seven-under 65 at the TPC Twin Cities.

Joel Edwards, Tom Jenkins and Mark McNulty were a stroke back.

::

Good friends Mardy Fish and Tommy Haas will meet in the Citi Open semifinals at Washington. The top-seeded Fish defeated Xavier Malisse, 6-3, 6-4, and fourth-seeded Haas defeated Tobias Kamke, 6-1, 6-2. “This is a guy that’s trying to take my lunch away tomorrow, and I’m going to try to beat him any way I can,” Fish said. “We’ll remain friends off the court.”

::

Cycling’s international governing body is trying to block the case American anti-doping officials filed against Lance Armstrong, saying there may be a lack of due process and that witnesses were promised “advantages” in exchange for incriminating statements against the seven-time Tour de France winner.

::

UCLA freshman basketball player Tony Parker suffered a strained hamstring during practice this week and will be out two to four weeks, making his availability questionable for the Bruins’ trip to China later this month.

Parker, a 6-foot-9 center, led Lithonia (Ga.) Miller Grove to four consecutive state titles.

—Chris Foster

::

The Stanley Cup champion Kings signed forward Tanner Pearson to a three-year, entry-level contract. Pearson, selected 30th overall in the June draft, had 37 goals and 54 assists in 60 regular-season games last season for the Barrie Colts in the Ontario Hockey League.

::

Ron Capps topped funny-car qualifying in the NHRA Northwest Nationals at Kent, Wash. Raceways. Capps had a 4.119-second pass at 298.47 mph during the second qualifying session.