COLLEGE BASKETBALL

After fracas, Michigan

Coach Juwan Howard is

banned for five games. D3

HOCKEY

The Capitals have their full

lineup at practice for the

first time this season. D3

KLMNO

SPORTS

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22 , 2022. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/SPORTS M2 D

BY KYLE MELNICK

After leading his first 50-min-

ute lesson Sunday morning, Ca-

leb Wein distributed report cards

to young skaters wearing color-

ful Lego-, cat- and dinosaur-

themed helmets. One boy, cov-

ered in black pads, beamed after

receiving strong grades as he

skated toward his family outside

the rink at Rockville Ice Arena.

“Thank you, Coach Caleb!” the

boy yelled as he headed toward a

hot dog lunch. Wein smiled and

nodded before turning his atten-

tion to his next group of trainees.

Wein and his ice dance part-

ner, Angela Ling, remember the

joy and optimism of learning to

skate as 4-year-olds. After a

strong session, their lifelong

dreams of competing in the

Olympics didn’t seem so far

away. Wein and Ling, one of the

top young pairs in the country,

have continued chasing the

sport’s grandest stage even as

their perception of Olympic

SEE SKATE ON D5

Young skaters dream on

Controversy clouded the Olympics, but beginners’ enthusiasm for the sport hasn’t been dampened

BY GUS GARCIA-ROBERTS

AND JACK DOUGLAS

The trial of former Los Angeles

Angels communications director

Eric Kay, which ended last week

with the jury finding him guilty of

giving pitcher Tyler Skaggs the

fentanyl-laced oxycodone that led

to his death, at times seemed to

spill secrets about a drug scourge

in Major League Baseball club-

houses.

MLB players, including former

star pitcher Matt Harvey, gave

testimony that suggested some

were self-medicating with black-

market pain pills. They were there

ostensibly to help prosecutors

prove Kay was distributing drugs

to players. But like a miniature

version of the Pittsburgh drug

trials of 1985 — during which

more than a dozen players testi-

fied about rampant cocaine and

amphetamine use — their testi-

mony also appeared to pull back

the curtain on a broader problem

in baseball, with p rosecutors

SEE OPIOIDS ON D4

Trial raises issue, but depth of opioid abuse is unclear

Despite the g uilty verdict in Skaggs’s death, MLB’s testing numbers suggest the lack of a problem

NFL flaunts its seductiveness

by hiring Lynch to fight Flores

What may be most
remembered
about the fight in
2016 against a
North Carolina
law that stripped
LGBT people of
anti-
discrimination
protections is that the NBA that
summer announced it was
moving its planned All-Star
Weekend in Charlotte out of the
state in protest. What may be
forgotten is that the league was
amplifying a challenge by the
Obama administration against
North Carolina launched late
that spring.
To be sure, the nation’s top law
enforcement official stated
during a May 2016 news
conference: “The legislature and
the governor placed North
Carolina in direct opposition to

federal laws prohibiting

discrimination on the basis of sex

and gender identity. More to the

point, they created state-

sponsored discrimination against

transgender individuals... a

right taken for granted by most of

us. Today, we are filing a federal

civil rights lawsuit against the

state of North Carolina, Gov. Pat

McCrory, the North Carolina

Department of Public Safety and

the University of North Carolina.”

That official was Attorney

General Loretta E. Lynch, the

first Black woman to hold that

title. She is the same lawyer, now

in private practice, who was

unveiled by the NFL last week as

its defense against a

discrimination lawsuit filed by

Brian Flores after he was fired as

the Miami Dolphins’ coach. (If

ever the phrase Black-on-Black

SEE BLACKISTONE ON D2

Kevin B.
Blackistone

Maryland at Indiana

Thursday, 7 p.m., Fox Sports 1

BY PATRICK STEVENS

Eric Ayala looked like himself

again Monday night. That bodes

well for a Maryland men’s basket-

ball team still harboring hopes of

salvaging something from a sea-

son full of frustration.

Ayala’s push in the second half

helped the Terrapins create some

separation from Penn State dur-

ing a 67-61 victory at Xfinity

Center, bringing Maryland with-

in a game of .500 with four regu-

lar season contests remaining.

The 13-point effort — including

10 in a little more than five min-

utes — was arguably Ayala’s best

game in nearly a month. The

senior had shot 22.6 percent

while averaging eight points over

his previous five games, and he

SEE MARYLAND ON D3

Ayala’s rise

after halftime

gives Terps

a needed lift

MARYLAND 67,

PENN STATE 61

PHOTOS BY KATHERINE FREY/THE WASHINGTON POST

Caleb Wein and Angela Ling, a dance pair that qualified for the world junior championships

in Bulgaria later this year, are also teaching y ounger children to skate at Rockville Ice Arena.

MARK J. TERRILL/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Angels outfielder Mike Trout gestured toward a photo of teammate Tyler Skaggs, who died in 2019.

BY DES BIELER

The Kentucky Horse Racing

Commission announced Monday

that Medina Spirit, who finished

first in the Kentucky Derby on

May 1 before testing positive for an

anti-inflammatory that is banned

on race day, was formally disquali-

fied and stripped of his victory.

Bob Baffert, the horse’s Hall of

Fame trainer, was suspended

from all Kentucky racing facilities

for 90 days and fined $7,500.

Baffert, whose horses won the

Derby six times before last year,

will appeal the decision, accord-

ing to his legal team.

In June, Baffert was handed a

two-year suspension by Churchill

Downs Inc., which hosts the Der-

by. Monday’s decision extends the

ban to all facilities in the state

under the KHRC’s jurisdiction

from March 8 through June 5.

Churchill Downs issued a sepa-

rate statement Monday recogniz-

ing Derby runner-up Mandaloun

as the winner of last year’s race,

and it offered congratulations to

SEE DERBY ON D6

Medina

Spirit’s win

in D erby

is stripped

Kentucky commission

also fines trainer Baffert

and bans him f or 90 days

Still locked out: The sides meet

again to begin a week of talks. D4