Cal coach has trouble with airline
Cal women’s basketball coach Lindsay Gottlieb was upset after she said a Southwest Airlines employee asked her to prove she was the mother of her biracial son.
Gottlieb, who is white, claimed the airline stopped her from boarding a flight from Denver to Oakland on Sunday night because they didn’t believe her year-old son, Jordan, was hers.
“I’m appalled that after approx 50 times flying with my 1 year old son, ticket counter personnel told me I had to “prove” that he was my son, despite having his passport. She said because we have different last name. My guess is because he has a different skin color,’ read one of Gottlieb’s series of tweets.
Gottlieb, who is engaged to her longtime boyfriend Patrick Martin, who is black, was traveling alone with her son when she was confronted.
Southwest Airlines told KPIX5 it is looking into the episode Gottlieb described.
“We’re looking into this specific interaction, and we have engaged with the customer directly to address her concerns,” Southwest Airlines told the television station. “Our employees are well regarded for their hospitality and we always strive for the best experience for anyone who entrusts us with their travel.”
Horse racing
JUSTIFY GETS IN WORKOUT >> Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Justify has completed a half-mile workout at Churchill Downs in preparation for his Triple Crown bid next month. The 3-year-old colt covered the distance in 46.80 seconds with trainer Bob Baffert and co-owner Elliott Walden of WinStar Farm looking on. It was the fastest among 43 workouts at the distance. Also Tuesday, Free Drop Billy was confirmed to run in the Belmont. The colt finished 16th in the Kentucky Derby and skipped the Preakness.
NFL
EX-49ER TAKES ISSUE WITH ANTHEM POLICY >> Panthers wide receiver Torrey Smith believes the NFL “dropped the ball” with its new policy that forbids players from sitting or taking a knee on the field during the national anthem.
Smith is upset because he feels like the ruling has created a “false narrative” surrounding the message former NFL teammate Colin Kaepernick was originally trying to convey while taking a knee prior to NFL games.
He said it also paints players as anti-American.
“Guys aren’t against the military,” Smith said. “Kap originally started that against police brutality. It was never against the military. It was never about the military, but that narrative changed.”
Smith, acquired in an offseason trade with the Eagles, denounced the league’s ruling following Carolina’s practice on Tuesday, its first since it was announced last week at the NFL owners meetings.
He said the restrictions imposed by the league on players go against the beliefs that protesters like Kaepernick have stood up for the past couple years.
“When you see reactive policy ... I always think that’s a problem,” Smith said. “Especially when the message has been changed. ... It makes it seem like Kaepernick or Eric Reid and the guys who started it, what they did was in vain like they were villains. And that is not the case.”
Basketball
WILKES RETURNING TO UCLA >> UCLA guard Kris Wilkes will skip next month’s NBA draft and return to school for his sophomore season. He averaged 13.7 points and 4.9 rebounds both secondbest on the team last season. The Indianapolis native was named to the Pac12 All-Freshman team. SIXERS GIVE COACH EXTENSION >> The Philadelphia 76ers will continue to put their trust in coach Brett Brown. Brown, who took the 76ers from 10 wins to the third seed in the Eastern Conference in just two seasons, has agreed to a three-year contract extension that runs through the 2021-2022 season.
Soccer
MLS BYPASSES SACRAMENTO IN EXPANSION >> Major League Soccer added Cincinnati in its latest round of expansion, rewarding a city that has set attendance records during three seasons of United Soccer League play and has a stadium deal in place. Cincinnati beat out Sacramento and Detroit in this latest round of expansion.
The announcement brings MLS to 26 teams, two shy of its ultimate goal. It began as a 10-team league in 1996. Cincinnati will join next year, continuing to play at the University of Cincinnati’s football stadium while a 21,000seat soccer stadium is built. PRESS, ERTZ ADDED TO ROSTER >> Stanford’s Christen Press and Santa Clara’s Julie Ertz were added to the U.S. women’s national team roster, along with Tobin Heath. Coach Jill Ellis named a 23-player roster for a pair of exhibition matches against China next month. Ertz, who missed a pair of April exhibition matches against Mexico because of a knee injury. Press, left off the roster for Mexico because she was not on a club team at the time, also returned to the roster. Press, who was traded to the Houston Dash in the offseason but never joined the National Women’s Soccer League club, is playing in Sweden.
Tennis
BADANOV BANNED FOR LIFE >> Ukraine’s Dmytro Badanov has been banned for life and fined $100,000 by an independent hearing officer after being found guilty of tennis match fixing. Badanov, 30, was found to have broken rules of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program by fixing the outcome of two matches on the ITF Futures tour.