he took to the head, fracturing his orbital eye wall.He said he hasnt decided | Forum

WACO, Texas -- Prominent Baylor alumni and donors advocated for reforming the schools board of regents and demanded transparency from university leaders Thursday, while deflecting questions about football and whether the group would advocate for the return of former head football coach Art Briles. Rick Martin Sabres Jersey .Bears for Leadership Reform drew about 350 people for its launch event in a small auditorium whose windows looked directly at McLane Stadium, the Baylor football stadium named for one of the reform groups prominent founders, Drayton McLane -- a former chairman of the board of regents and former owner of the Houston Astros.Another 30,000 reportedly streamed the rally online from the groups Facebook page.?Attorney and alumnus John Eddie Williams told the crowd that it was time for transparency and accountability in the universitys governance and got into specifics, noting that the regents dont provide their contact information on the schools website, issue copies of their rules, publicize how they vote on issues or release meeting minutes.In a perfect world, the regents would be up here addressing you today, Williams said, drawing loud applause and shouts from the crowd.Also on Thursday, Regents chairman Ron Murff posted a letter on the universitys website addressing some of the recent criticism of the board.?Since our announcement in May about Baylors systemic failures under Title IX, there have been continual requests from the Baylor Family for more transparency and information. Rather than stay silent, the Universitys senior leadership recognized that the Baylor Family deserved to know more about the magnitude of the problem and about the reasons why we responded so forcefully to the Pepper Hamilton findings, it read.The Board of Regents determined we simply could not allow a campus environment to continue where reports of sexual assaults were minimized, rationalized and mishandled within the University. We needed new leadership for our administration, our athletics department and our football team, it continued.Murffs letter also noted that the university announced the creation of a new Governance Review Task Force to assess and recommend improvements in how the governing board can improve its practices, procedures and selection process.Williams dismissed the universitys task force at the rally, saying, The best way to make a great idea die, is to give it to a committee, invoking a round of laughter from the crowd.Former Texas Gov. Mark White, also one of the founders, said he blames the board of regents for the schools failure to implement the guidelines issued in a letter sent to colleges and universities in 2011 from the U.S. Department of Education on how to carry out Title IX, the gender equity law that requires schools to investigate allegations of sexual violence.They ignored that letter. They treated it as though it didnt matter. As a result we went for years not taking care of the needs of people who were sexually assaulted on this campus, he said. It was not confined to the athletic department. ... It is a Baylor problem, not an athletic problem.Although speakers at the event Thursday did not mention football or Briles in their opening statements, McLane and some other founders of Bears for Leadership Reform have been highly critical of the schools firing of Briles in connection with the Pepper Hamilton law firms investigation into sexual assault complaints at Baylor.On Thursday, McLane said he wanted to see Briles honor restored but that he has not seen evidence -- either way -- to say whether his firing was justified.We are here to do the will of God. To do the right things and to be strong Christians, and to have a powerful influence, McLane said to the crowd.McLane -- and the other speakers, many of whom are large donors -- were asked if they would withdraw their financial support until the university met their demands, to which White pointed out a recent $18 million gift that McLane had given to the schools nursing program.Williams, who said it was unknown whether or not the recent controversy would affect his giving,?followed up by asking, Do you want happy donors, or do you want reluctant donors?When a reporter asked if there was support for reinstating Briles, a smattering of people started to clap as Williams interrupted and said he didnt want to lose focus.Our focus is not on athletics. They may be a symptom of the problem, but we dont know. The buck stops with the board, he said.?In his letter posted Thursday, Murff noted that many have second-guessed decisions made by the board, and he went on to address Briles specifically, stating, I need to make clear that, as brilliant and successful as Coach Briles was, he will not be returning to Baylor. This change in leadership was not based on any single incident, but on the weight of the information presented to us and a pattern of poor decisions over a range of disciplinary issues, not just sexual assault. The internal system of discipline operated by the coach was not in line with the Universitys mission and obligations.Briles daughter Staley Lebby attended the event and said that while her fathers firing may have indirectly prompted the movement, she said the focus is on overall reform and greater accountability by the universitys leadership overall.This group, Bears for Reform, thats not their mission. Thats not their goal. They dont have that in the back of their minds. Lets hire a new board and hire Coach Briles back. To me, thats not at all close to what they want to do. They want to see change at the top and they want to see truth and honesty from the board of regents, she said.Get the truth from the board of regents. I dont think thats asking a lot. I dont think thats hard. Theres been a lot of skirting around it, a lack of transparency, a lot of pretty words being used and a lot of things that theyre hiding, Lebby said, and them going to big news outlets and media outlets instead of coming first and talking to Baylor Nation and the alumni like theyve asked them to do for the past six months, honestly hurt a lot of peoples feelings.Lebby also handed out a flier promoting the #cabCARES campaign, which is a fundraiser her father is leading to raise money for a local advocacy center for crime victims and children. According to the flier, Briles has made an initial undisclosed donation to start the campaign and will match up to $8,500 of donations made to represent the 8.5 years I was a Wacoan and the head football coach at Baylor. Pat Lafontaine Jersey . -- The Sacramento Kings are set to become the first major professional sports franchise to accept Bitcoin virtual currency for ticket and merchandise purchases. Jeff Skinner Sabres Jersey . PETERSBURG, Fla. http:///...stadt-sabres-jersey/ . "I dont know that were close," said general manager Alex Anthopoulos. "I just think, right now, the acquisition cost just doesnt work for us right now. I dont know if I can quantify how far off or things like that that they might be but I would say we continue to have dialogue. NEW ORLEANS -- Its Holiday season in New Orleans all right. One of the Pelicans primary players is back and already helping them win.Jrue Holiday scored 21 points in his first action this season, Anthony Davis had his latest stellar outing with 38 points, nine rebounds and four blocks, and the Pelicans beat the Portland Trail Blazers 113-101 on Friday night.I head a great first game, Holiday said. The thrill was there. It felt good, being a part of a team.Holiday made his season debut after missing the first 12 games to care for his wife , retired soccer star Lauren Holiday, who had brain surgery last month only weeks after giving birth to the couples first child, a daughter.He wound up playing just more than 23 minutes hitting an array of jumpers, including a 3, as well as driving floaters and layups. He finished with seven assists, none more crowd-pleasing than his crisp bounce-pass to a cutting Davis, who finished the play with a thunderous two-handed dunk.Holiday had been in constant contact with coaches and studying game video while on leave, so he wasnt surprised that he quickly got into the rhythm of the offense.There are some new faces around here, but at the same time its the same system, Holiday said. The part that I was really worried about was conditioning. I really thought that I was behind. Maybe I was just excited for this game. I felt like I could play forever.Terrence Jones added 15 points, and Tim Frazier had 12 for the Pelicans. New Orleans built the lead up to 20 in the fourth quarter and cruised to the finished. Theyve won three of five after an 0-8 start.Damian Lillard scored 27 points, and CJ McCollum 24 for Portland, which has lost three straight to fall to 7-7. Mason Plumlee added 13 points and 12 rebounds for the Trail Blazers, who never got closer than eight points in the second half.We obviously are not playing the best basketball right now, but we are still .500, said Portland forward Ed Davis, who had 11 rebounds in a starting role that required him to attempt to defend his Pelicans namesake. Its not like we are on an eight-game losing streak.We are not in panic mode, he added. Well be all right, man.TIP-INSTrail Blazers: Maurice Harkless scored 10 points, but went 2 of 7 from 3-point range, from where the Blazers wentt 12 of 34 as a team. Marco Scandella Jersey. ... Portland has scored 100 or more points in 12 of its first 14 games. ... The Blazers, which lost 126-109 in Houston on Thursday night, dropped to 3-4 on the road.Pelicans: Alvin Gentry reached his 800th career game as an NBA head coach. ... New Orleans won its second straight home game after starting 0-5 on its own floor. ... Center Alexis Ajinca sat out with a sore left shoulder.HOLIDAY CHEERThe crowd bellowed, Jruuuuue! as Holiday checked in, and he wasted no time getting involved, assisting on Jones layup the first time he handled the ball on the offensive end.Within four minutes on the court, Holiday scored five points to go with a rebound and assists, and even a block on Noah Vonlehs dunk attempt.Anthony Davis called Holiday instant offense.He comes in, makes great reads, makes plays for himself or others -- and also does it on the defensive end, Davis said. In my eyes, hes one of the top point guards in the league and it showed.DOMINANT DAVISDavis was making shots from all over the court, hitting a pair of 3s to go with usual leaners, floaters, layups and mid-range jumpers.The Pelicans made their first significant push in the final three minutes of the first half. Portland was down 51-47 after Plumlees 16-foot jumper, but Davis responded with a 16-footer of his own that sparked a 13-4 run to close out the half. Davis added six more points during the spurt, hitting a jumper, floater and spinning a reverse layup off the glass with McCollum climbing on his shoulders. Davis also rejected his third Lillard shot of the half, and New Orleans led 64-51 as the horn sounded to end the second quarter.NEW LOOKHoliday wore goggles as a precaution after missing the last nine games of last season because of an inadvertent elbow he took to the head, fracturing his orbital eye wall.He said he hasnt decided yet how long hell wear them.We won so Im probably going to play in them Saturday night, he said. I think I look dorky. Ive already been made fun of by half of the team. Thats OK as long as we get the win.UP NEXTTrail Blazers: Visit Brooklyn on Sunday.Pelicans: Host Charlotte on Saturday night. ' ' '