Sports

Terrell Owens In GQ: I'm In Hell

2012-01-25T09:49:00.000-08:00

Terrell Owens has always been an island of sorts. His brash personality and self-absorption routinely alienated his teammates during an NFL career that teetered between terrific and toxic, leaving him to fend for himself.

Now, at 38 and out of football, he's lonelier than ever, and running out of money. In a GQ profile, Owens comes across as wounded, broke and desperate. When people text him to ask where he is, he replies back: "I'm in hell."

But is it his own fault? That's the perennial debate on T.O., who had a heartbreaking childhood but continually pointed fingers at everyone but himself once he became an adult.

In the GQ story by Nancy Hass, Owens blames the media for not giving him a chance to rehab his injury, blames agent Drew Rosenhaus for not protecting him from a bad business arrangement, and -- perhaps most surprisingly -- blames a former team captain for his issues with former Philadelphia teammate Donovan McNabb.

Owens earned around $80 million during his NFL career, but has found himself in deep financial trouble, despite never spending lavishly. In the February edition of GQ, Owens admits to trusting the wrong people, who in turn cost him a lot of his fortune.

"It's not a matter of having lived too large -- he was never the type to stockpile Ferraris or build himself a compound; the flashiest car he ever drove was a Mercedes, and while he indeed racked up a few homes that cost as much as $4 million, the only crib he classifies as even mildly sick by pro-ball standards was the one he bought in Atlanta to live in during the Philly off-season.

The problem, he says, is that he's by nature too trusting, loyal to a fault, despite everyone's carping that he's selfish. It's the sad old stereotypical song of the up-from-nothing black athlete: He let other people take care of things."

Owens said financial advisers recommended by Rosenhaus lost much of his money in highly leveraged ventures, then houses and apartments he thought he could rent out in a worst case scenario became dead weight in a housing market collapse (none of the properties is particularly excessive, but total a yearly mortgage of about $750,000), and $2 million was lost in an Alabama entertainment complex investment. That venture turned out to be illegal, and also claimed former Redskins running back Clinton Portis as a victim.

"I hate myself for letting this happen," Owens told GQ. "I believed that they had my back when they said, 'You take care of the football, and we'll do the rest.' And in the end, they just basically stole from me."

Owens has also found himself friendless, thanks to a growing sense of distrust thanks to his many unfortunate dealings.

He never had many friends -- teammates never called him to party, he says, wrongly assuming that he was "too big" to socialize -- and now, "I don't have no friends. I don't want no friends. That's how I feel."

And on top of that, he's battling in court with four women to whom he pays a total of $44,600 a month in child support for his four children, ages 5 to 12.

"If there's anything I'm sorry about, it's getting involved with all that." He never actually dated any of the women, he says. One was a one-night stand, the others "repeat offenders." Owens, who has never been married, concedes he is "not a very good judge of character." Still, he "never suspected they were the types to do what they done in the past year."

When money became tighter, Owens had to reduce the amount he paid to each of the women, and three of them sued him. A warrant was issued for his arrest when he didn't show up for a court date with the mother of his oldest child, Tariq. Beyond that, the relationship he's maintained with the mothers and his children is tenuous, at best.

Now he is in court with all four women, whom he lumps together like one big bloodsucking blob. None of them are being fair, he says: "They know I'm not working; they know the deal." Although he never established regular visitation with any of the children through the courts, he says he sees the eldest three as much as he can when their mothers allow it. So bitter is his relationship with the mother of the youngest child, a son, that he has never met the boy.

As for McNabb, Owens stands by his decision not to mend fences with the former Eagles quarterback, whom Owens characterized as "tired" following the Eagles' 24-21 loss to New England in Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005.

When given an apology written by the team's media relations staff, Owens claims to have handed Eagles' captain Jeremiah Trotter the mea culpa moments before he was to deliver it to reporters.

Owens tells GQ Trotter read through the statement and arrived at the portion regarding McNabb, who threw for 357 yards, but was picked off three times. Owens claims Trotter ripped off the bottom portion of the page and told Owens he didn't owe McNabb a thing.

"This is the team leader we're talking about," Owens tells GQ. "He told me not to do it."

Trotter calls Owens' account inaccurate, telling the magazine he was the one insisting Owens apologize.

Once again, T.O. stands alone.

Owens' career is defined as much by its theatrics than for its statistical body of work. His playing days ended last spring after his one-year, $2 million contract was not renewed by the Cincinnati, where Owens and Chad Ochocinco collectively proved to be more style than substance.

Owens has clearly moved on.

Some decisions, he admits, may have been handled differently now. But at this point of his life, he's not willing to look back.

"To say I regret anything would be a slap to my grandmother's face," Owens says, referring to the woman who raised him.

He concedes his only mistake in calling McNabb out was one of timing, admitting "I might not have said or done things at exactly the right moment."

To this day, Owens remains confident bordering on cocksure, convinced -- even with a medically repaired ACL -- that he is capable of the jaw-dropping playmaking ability of his youth. It's not his talent that keeps teams from calling, he insists, but instead a reputation cast onto him by the reporters he often held hostage.

"I think people change, but the media, they never allowed me to change," Owens says. "They never allowed me to be a better person."

Described in the GQ piece as a "caged cat" living in a spacious 1,800-square foot Los Angeles apartment, Owens remains on an island. He claims to be broke despite making at least $80 million during his playing days.

He says he's never been diagnosed as clinically depressed but he's been "real down."

"I don't have no friends -- I don't want no friends," Owens says. "That's how I feel."

You can read the rest of the interview on GQ.com.

-- Jeff Arnold can be reached at jeffarnold24@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @jeff_arnold24. Read his story on the Harbaugh family here.

Article Source: http://www.thepostgame.com/features/201201/terrell-owens-gq-jeremiah-trotter-told-me-not-apologize-donovan-mcnabb

Video: Jets coach trips Dolphins player during game

2010-12-13T14:08:00.000-08:00

We know that the New York Jets are a team that likes to be loud and proud about their exploits. They're a team with a lot of swagger even when things are not going well, which they haven't been of late. Less than a week after losing 45-3 to the New England Patriots on "Monday Night Football," Rex Ryan's bunch lost 10-6 to the Miami Dolphins, and did so in a much more embarrassing fashion.

What, you say? How can a four-point deficit be worse than a 42-point beatdown? Because at least in the Patriots game, nobody on the Jets' sideline did anything rotten like this: Link to video on NFL site

This play happened with 2:58 left in the third quarter, when the Dolphins punted to Jets receiver Santonio Holmes. As Holmes took the ball for a short return, cornerback Nolan Carroll was hurt on the right sideline as he rushed down to cover the play. The replay showed strength and conditioning coach Sal Alosi extending his knee just enough to trip Carroll up on the play. Carroll was down for a minute, but returned to play later in the game.

Jeff Darlington of the Miami Herald got postgame reaction from three Dolphins players -- Carroll, linebacker Karlos Dansby and Channing Crowder.

"That needs to be on 'C'mon, Man!' on Monday night," Dansby said, speaking of the ESPN "Monday Night Countdown" crew's weekly salute to the game's biggest boneheads. "Freeze-frame it, and that's No. 1 by far."

"They do what they do," Crowder said. "They cheat and they talk junk and do all that stuff, but we beat the hell out of them today, so they can trip all the people they want to. I'll tell 'em to trip me -- I would have broken that old man's leg."

"I'm not angry," Carroll said. "It's not my problem; it's the Jets' problem. We just move on."

Alosi had this to say in a statement:

"I made a mistake that showed a total lapse in judgment. My conduct was inexcusable and unsportsmanlike and does not reflect what this organization stands for. I spoke to [Miami] Coach [Tony] Sparano and Nolan Carroll to apologize before they took off. I have also apologized to [Jets owner] Woody [Johnson], [Jets general manager] Mike [Tannebaum] and Rex [Ryan]. I accept responsibility for my actions as well as any punishment that follows."

The league is likely to come down hard on Alosi, if for no other reason than to prevent others from getting a goofball notion and doing the same thing. We suspect that even if Alosi doesn't lose his job, he's probably going to be very light in the wallet and he may be spending some time away from the team facility.

Update: Alosi spoke in front of the New York media on Monday and reitirated his apology. "I wasn't thinking," he responded when asked why he tripped Carroll. "If I could go back and do it again, I'd sure as heck take a step back."

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Video-Jets-employee-trips-Dolphins-player-durin?urn=nfl-294916

Jets coach Sal Alosi's devious act was not a coincidence
By MJD

Sal Alosi, the New York Jets coach who tripped Miami player Nolan Carroll(notes) in the third quarter of the Dolphins’ 10-6 win last Sunday, didn't "just happen" to be there.

The Jets have discovered that he strategically ordered players to "form a wall" in that specific place, and have now changed Alosi's suspension from "rest of the season" to "indefinite." Here's the play: NFL link

If you'll take his word for it, Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum said today that neither head coach Rex Ryan or special teams coach Mike Westhoff were involved in the plan.

“As we continued our investigation, we discovered some new information,” Tannenbaum said in a conference call from the NFL owners meetings in Dallas, “and the players at the Miami game were instructed by Sal to stand where they were to force the gunner in the game to run around them.”

To force the gunner to run around them, or to give them an opportunity to trip the gunner? It seems a little unlikely that the gunner would go all the way around them. Tripping him, as we all saw on Sunday, isn't all that far-fetched. That actually happened.

Tight end Jeff Cumberland, who was inactive Sunday, said it was nothing new for the players to line up next to each other as they did against the Dolphins, according to AP.

"Since the beginning of the year, we’ve been instructed to line up behind the (white) line,” he said, adding that it was only Alosi who has told them to do so."

As far as further punishment goes, Tannenbaum says the Jets are still gathering information and that "all options are on the table." A lot of people felt like Alosi should've been fired for acting so recklessly to begin with. Now that there's evidence pointing to this being a premeditated plan, things seem even worse.

The Jets interviewed the players who were standing near Alosi, but will not take any action against them. “This is just about Sal,” Tannenbaum said.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Sal-Alosi-s-devious-act-was-not-a-coincidence?urn=nfl-296526

2 stabbed as rival fans brawl before USC-UCLA game

2010-12-05T01:13:00.000-08:00

AP – Southern California running back Allen Bradford, right, is tackled by UCLA players during the first half …

PASADENA, Calif. — A fight among dozens of fans in a parking lot before the Southern California-UCLA football game has left leaving two men with stab wounds and two police officers with minor injuries, authorities said.

Three men were arrested after about 40 fans of both schools fought in a grassy part of Brookside Golf Course that the stadium uses for event parking, Pasadena police Cmdr. Darryl Qualls said.

One person was stabbed in the cheek and the other was stabbed in the back during the melee some three hours before Saturday's crosstown-rivalry game between the Bruins and Trojans was set to start, Qualls said. Both were taken by ambulance to Huntington Memorial Hospital. He described their condition as stable.

One officer was treated for a sprained hand, the other for a sprained ankle, and both were released, Qualls said.

Arturo Cisneros, 44, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, police said. Steven Radu, 27, and Joshua Elder, 23, were arrested for investigation of assault on a police officer. They were being held in Pasadena City Jail.

Police did not know if any of the men had retained attorneys.

USC later beat the Bruins for the 11th time in 12 games, 28-14.

Police said the school rivalry and tailgate party drinking were major factors.

"The fans are pretty passionate about their football teams," Qualls said.

Friends and family of the stabbing victims said the fight broke out when Vimal Patel, 24, and another man who were part of a group of UCLA fans were tossing a football that accidentally hit a black Mercedes-Benz belonging to members of a nearby group.

Three men from that group confronted Patel, which ended with his being stabbed in the back, his friend Martin Keeley told the Los Angeles Times.

Keeley said he tried to defend his friend as his wife called 911, and many more people followed.

They included Joshua Dirling, 27, who was stabbed in the cheek, according to his brother.

"We were in the middle of it and my brother got popped in the face," Matthew Dirling told the Times. "We were having a good time and this broke out."

USC fan Michael Lane of Los Angeles said he was tailgating with friends in the lot when the melee broke out around him.

"People from USC and UCLA were fighting against each other," Lane said. "It was bottles being thrown and different things happened ... I saw a person come out with a bloody face."

Qualls said that the last time the annual rivalry game was held at the Rose Bowl in 2008, there were about 50 arrests, but he didn't think any of them were for assault.

"It doesn't happen at normal college football games," he said.

The brawl occurred before most fans or either team had arrived at the Rose Bowl, but thousands of tailgating fans spent most of the day gathered around RVs or barbecues in quiet Arroyo Seco, waiting for the late kickoff dictated by television coverage.

UCLA's rivalry with USC is among the most intense in college football, pitting two schools separated by just 13 miles between USC's downtown campus and UCLA's Westwood address. The rivalry divides fans from every section of Los Angeles, sometimes even splitting families.

UCLA was overshadowed while the Trojans won seven straight Pac-10 titles during the past decade.

Saturday's USC victory — the Trojans' fourth straight — in the 80th meeting between the teams was for nothing but civic pride, with the Bruins failing to qualify for a bowl game and USC banned from the postseason by NCAA sanctions.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101205/ap_on_sp_ot/us_usc_ucla_stabbings

Dog Rapist Joel Mongahan Admits ‘Prank’ – Faces Sack

2010-11-04T23:48:00.000-07:00

And people barking at him for the rest of his life, dumb ass.

Monaghan’s agent Jim Banaghan released a statement last night on behalf of the player, who took full responsibility for his disgusting Mad Monday actions.

“Joel can’t blame anyone but himself for an act of stupidity that will haunt him for the rest of his life,” Banaghan said.

“Joel wants to make it clear that he was the one playing a prank on an absent teammate by simulating the act.

“There are no words of explanation that can be offered because none can be appropriate.

“Joel has to now face his family as well as fans and supporters with that shame and has already undergone counselling to help him cope with the consequences of what has happened.

“It was a moment of abject stupidity brought about by too much drink and a complete lack of any thought process.

“The fact that someone has sought to compound the situation further by the use of social media only adds to the trauma, but Joel accepts that it is his actions alone that are at fault.”

The picture is believed to have been taken by a high-profile Raiders first-grade player inside the home unit of one of his teammates.

Read the original story and see the GRAPHIC IMAGE (NSFW) at this link…

Banaghan said Monaghan “apologises unreservedly for the outrage that people feel at the moment and blames nobody but himself”.

“He will meet the club over the issue and accepts that there must be ramifications, but the fact is he is not in a fit emotional state to have those discussions at the moment,” he said.

“Joel is a genuinely good person who is simply shattered by a moment of sheer madness.”

RSPCA representatives spoke with Furner before writing a letter to ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope – which was obtained by The Daily Telegraph – demanding any similar acts in the future be deemed illegal.

NRL boss David Gallop said he was shocked and appalled by the image and would closely monitor the Raiders’ response to the atrocity.

AND THE LATEST…..

CANBERRA representative star Joel Monaghan faces the sack after admitting to a simulated sex act with a teammate’s dog that was photographed and posted on Twitter.

Source: http://www.therealstevegray.com/2010/11/dog-rapist-joel-mongahan-admits-prank-faces-sack/

Ex-NFL QB Jake Plummer is playing a new sport these days

2010-11-04T09:43:00.000-07:00

It's an early November day and Jake Plummer has the itch to play again.

No, he's not pulling a Brett Favre(notes). Plummer is on his way to play handball for the first time in weeks in Sandpoint, ID, the resort town of 7,000 people near the Canadian border where Plummer now lives three years after his abrupt retirement.

Still only 35 years old, Plummer sounds totally carefree, shooting from the hip while yapping on his cell phone, cracking jokes and laughing.

"I lost in our doubles match at my tournament in a tiebreaker and came off the court as happy as I've ever been after a loss," Plummer said. "I was smiling and laughing and (thinking), 'Hey, this is life.'"

Wait, is this the same Jake Plummer that was labeled a brat after wearing out his welcome in Denver for flipping off a fan, cussing out a gossip columnist and being surly with the local sports media?

Hearing Plummer talk now, it sounds like the weight of the world has been lifted off his shoulders since he shockingly walked away from the NFL and $5 million in 2007.

In fact, right now he's so excited to get back out on the handball court that he's even breaking one of his cardinal rules - not to be indoors when the weather is nice - to play despite it being a beautiful fall day.

"I hate to say it, I'm driving in today and it's sunny and 57, but I haven't played since my tournament so I'm kind of jonesin' to go play," Plummer said.

That tournament would be the third annual Jake Plummer Halloween Handball Bash, of course. Yes, Plummer takes this handball stuff pretty seriously. After a 12-year absence from the sport due to football, he has reconnected with the game taught to him and his two brothers by his father. Plummer plays three to four times a week when it's not summertime - the most his body can handle.

What's the summer entail?

"Outdoor stuff," Plummer said. "Mountain biking, boating, fishing and hiking - not being indoors in an air conditioned room playing handball."

It's clear that Plummer is just living the dream these days. He's so active that after less than two years away from the gridiron, he has already dropped 20 pounds. And his handball game has progressed to the point that he won the Idaho State Handball Championship doubles title last April.

Heck, people are already asking him about his handball legacy.

"I play more doubles than singles, my body's not able to do the singles thing, it really pounds on my body," Plummer said.

"I've got to count my blessings I'm able to (compete) with my knees and back."

Instead of dreaming about a Super Bowl ring, Plummer's new mission is a doubles title at the U.S. Open of Handball with his older brother Eric, the ace of the family and reigning Idaho singles champion that also lives in Sandpoint.

Don't bet against "The Snake." This is the same guy that landed in Tempe, AZ, as a skinny kid from Boise, ID, and led Arizona State to the 1997 Rose Bowl and within 100 seconds of a possible share of the national title with a heroic drive vs. Ohio State capped by slithering through the Buckeye defense for a go-ahead touchdown - only for OSU to drive back down the field and win.

Plummer played his NFL ball in the exact same stadium as ASU after he was picked in the second round of the '97 draft by the Cardinals and word spread like wildfire that none other than former 49ers head coach Bill Walsh compared him to Joe Montana. In just his second year in the league, Plummer led the moribund Cardinals to their first postseason victory since 1947.

But the Cards came back to earth and Plummer finally left the Valley of the Sun for Denver in 2003, where then-Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan was supposed to be getting the quarterback he needed to win another Super Bowl after John Elway's retirement.

It didn't work out that way.

The Broncos rolled through the regular season for three straight years with Plummer at the helm only to bomb out in the playoffs each time - twice getting steamrolled by the Colts and in 2006 losing to eventual champion Pittsburgh at home in the AFC Championship Game with Plummer turning the ball over four times.

That was the beginning of the end for Plummer in Denver. Offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak, whom Plummer loved playing for, soon became the head coach for the Houston Texans. Then Shanahan drafted Jay Cutler in the NFL Draft's first round that spring, benching The Snake mid-way through the following season despite a 7-4 record at the time.

The grind of playing for an uber-perfectionist like Shanahan wore on Plummer during his time in the Rockies.

"I had a coach that, regardless of how well I thought I was playing or how well the majority of fans across the country thought I was playing, it was never good enough for him," Plummer said, not bitter but very matter-of-fact. "And that kind of gets frustrating."

"It just seemed like every game I could have completed these four more passes or these five more shots here and it would have been perfect. And that just wasn't my personality... But Shanahan wanted perfection and he wore a lot of us down there."

Plummer didn't sound surprised by the current circus unfolding in Washington, D.C., between Shanahan and Redskins quarterback Donovan McNabb.

"I think Shanahan is still searching for John Elway," Plummer said. "Somehow, someway, he thinks there's going to be another guy like John Elway."

"He coached a team to almost perfection (with Elway) so he wanted that again, he wanted that every time we went out there. It's just not realistic."

So after being replaced in Denver, Plummer was traded to the Buccaneers in March 2007 but - beaten down by life in the NFL - rumors began to circulate that he would never show up in Tampa Bay and instead retire at the age of 32, walking away like his best friend Pat Tillman did five years earlier.

It seemed unthinkable that someone would leave the game with so many good years left and due $5.3 million in 2007.

That is, until Plummer held a press conference in Denver days later to say he was done playing. The speech was short because, well, he had a handball tournament to attend.

He hasn't looked back since and Plummer's certainly got his hands full these days. On top of all the physical activities, he's now a family man, spending time with his wife and former Broncos cheerleader, Kollette, and their newborn son, Roland, whom she had in June.

However, there's one final thing he fantasizes about doing on the gridiron.

Said Plummer: "I would like to go in one more game and roll to my left and throw a ball, a sick wobbly lob pass to Larry Fitzgerald and he'd go up against eight (defensive backs) and pull it down and make me look good."

Somewhere, the Cardinals brass frantically just picked up the phone.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Ex-NFL-QB-Jake-Plummer-is-playing-a-new-sport-th?urn=nfl-282499

Rough And Tense, But Spain With The Win: 1-0

2010-07-11T18:25:00.000-07:00

World Cup 2010 is done with Spain the victors over the Netherlands: 1-0

The Spanish team made history today, making their first World Cup final, then winning it, and the cherry on top: being the first team to win the World Cup after losing their first game in the tournament.

So that's three history making feats for Spain.

Spanish players resplendent in their navy blue jerseys and the Netherlands’ on fire with their electric orange kits were quite a sight to behold in Johannesburg’s Soccer City Stadium.

But, the play was ugly and tense in the first half with rough challenges from both sides. English referee, Howard Webb, whipped out his card holder 5 times in the first 45 minutes: three yellows for the Dutch (Van Bommel, Van Persie, and De Jong) and two for Spain (Puyol and Ramos). De Jong’s yellow was for one of the nastier challenges, a high kick to Xabi Alonso’s chest. He could, and probably should, have been sent off.

Spain looked strong, confident, calmly passing in that Spanish style, in the first minutes of the game, but the Dutch played a rough and rugged game that shut the Spanish down. And they looked strong at the very end of the half with a great shot from Arjen Robben almost on half-time.

0-0 at the half.

The second half was not as rough, but choppy, so much whistle blowing, falling, stopping, starting and "free kicking" — it was enough to drive even the most seasoned soccer enthusiast, crazy.

At 62 it was Arjen Robben vs. Spanish goal keeper, Iker Casillas — it was looking bad for Spain as Robben powered toward the goal and, and, and — MISSED. And it was Spain's golden chance at 76 minutes when Xavi took a corner kick headed by Ramos WAAAAAY over the top of the goal. Then, 82 minutes in, Robben with another wonderful one-on-one chance, again saved by Casillas.

More yellow cards: minute 55, Heitenga on the Dutch side and Arjen Robben at nearly 84 minutes after an episode of whining and complaining that made a two year old brat seem logical and diplomatic.

0-0 into extra time.

In extra time there were few opportunities to score and those few were missed. Iniesta with a great run on goal at 99 minutes that he bumbled at the last moment and Fabregas with another miss at 103.

The beginning of the end for the Dutch came shortly into the second period of extra time. Heitenga got a second yellow card for shoving Iniesta to the ground on his run toward goal and was sent off, leaving the Dutch with 10 men. Free kick for Spain at 110, but Xavi with the miss, free kick for Sneijder at 114, but another Dutch miss.

It was Spanish midfielder Andrés Iniesta who made the first and only goal at nearly 117 minutes into the game after a bad cross from Torres and a quick pass from Fabregas dissected the shorthanded Dutch defense. Iniesta took the chance beautifully. And that's all Spain needed for a deserved win, that's all they've needed to win this entire tournament, ONE GOAL.

But, we all know the real winner of this championship is Paul...the octopus.

Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128448865&sc=fb&cc=fp

Uruguay survives frantic finish to advance to semifinals

2010-07-02T14:59:00.000-07:00

Uruguay reached the World Cup semifinals for the first time since 1970, beating Ghana 4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw Friday.

The Uruguayans advanced to face the Netherlands in the semifinals after Sebastian Abreu casually slotted the last penalty straight down the middle to secure the win.

Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera saved two shots for the South Americans.

URUGUAY VS. GHANA
Despite few expecting to find these two teams at this stage of the World Cup, Uruguay takes on Ghana with the winner going to the semifinals.
Asamoah Gyan had a chance to win the match for Ghana with the final kick of extra time, but he hit the crossbar with a penalty after Luis Suarez was sent off for handling the ball on the line. Gyan, who had converted two penalties in earlier matches, bit his jersey and walked away with his back to the goal.

In regulation, Sulley Muntari gave Ghana the lead with a 35-meter (yard) left-foot strike seconds before halftime at Soccer City, but Diego Forlan equalized from a free kick in the 55th minute

Ghana, bidding to be the first African country to reach the World Cup semifinals, picked up the tempo in the dying stages of extra time and had other chances to win the match.

Kevin-Prince Boateng missed with a header in the 118th in the midst of three defenders. He sent in a cross from the left in the next minute which Muslera had to save at the near post.

Suarez was given a direct red card in the last minute of extra time for batting away Dominic Adiyiah's header with his arms after he'd already blocked Stephen Appiah's shot on the line.

After Muslera saved the ensuing penalty from Gyan, he kissed his glove and touched it to the bar, and Suarez ran into the tunnel pumping his arms and celebrating the reprieve.

Support for Ghana has continued to grow this week as the only one of six African teams in the tournament to progress past the group stage.

The 84,017-strong partisan crowd booed loudly when Forlan was successful with the first penalty of the shootout, and cheered wildly when Gyan angled his first shot into the top right corner to make it 1-1.

Ghana captain John Mensah was the first to miss, giving Uruguay a 3-2 cushion, but the Africans stayed alive when Maximiliano Pereira missed the next shot and the crowd cheered again wildly.

But when Adiyiah's next kick was saved by Muslera, Africa's exit was almost sealed.

After Abreu secured the win, Gyan was inconsolable as he left the field in tears.

Source: http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/worldcup/story/uruguay-survives-frantic-finish-shootout-to-reach-world-cup-semifinals?GT1=39011

Woman dies after being hit by tire from NHRA crash

2010-02-22T07:29:00.000-08:00

CHANDLER, ARIZ.(AP) —A woman died Sunday after being hit by a tire from a crashing dragster at the NHRA Arizona Nationals.

The woman was watching a first-round Top Fuel run at Firebird International Raceway when Antron Brown’s Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster went out of control on the strip and its left rear wheel came off.

Alia Maisonet, a spokeswoman for the Gila River Indian Community, said the woman was airlifted to a hospital for treatment and later died. Gila River emergency personnel were among the first to respond to the scene.

Maisonet said she didn’t know the victim’s name or hometown.

“The entire NHRA community is deeply saddened by today’s incident and sends its thoughts and prayers to the woman’s family and friends,” the National Hot Rod Association said in an e-mailed statement.

Franki Buckman, the track’s executive vice president, said Firebird International Raceway also is deeply saddened by the incident.

Brown was released by the track medical staff, but went to Chandler Regional Hospital for further observation, according to a statement from Don Schumacher Racing. The NHRA said Brown wasn’t injured.

The Associated Press sent an e-mail to Brown’s Brownsburg, Ind.-based racing team seeking comment after the woman died.

The racing continued after the accident, and John Force advanced to his second straight Funny Car final before the session was postponed because of rain. Force, the 60-year-old star who ended a 40-race winless streak last week with his record 127th victory, will meet Jack Beckman on Monday.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news?slug=txnhrafankilled&prov=st&type=lgns

Sources: USSA forced Lago to leave Olympics

2010-02-21T03:53:00.000-08:00

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – The fuddy-duddy suits who run the Vancouver Games got their scapegoat. Scotty Lago was kicked out of the Winter Olympics. Yes, kicked out.

Do not believe the party line served by the United States Ski and Snowboard Association, nor the words of United States Olympic Committee spokesman Patrick Sandusky, who said: “Scotty left on his own accord. He wasn’t forced to leave.” Lago, the bronze medalist in halfpipe, was forced to leave, two sources close to him told Yahoo! Sports, and did so only to prevent an even greater escalation of a situation that already had been blown far out of proportion.

Lago is the smiling 23-year-old in the now-infamous pictures of an Olympic medalist celebrating. The photos are kids’ play, and yet because somebody caught Michael Phelps taking a bong hit, anything – anything – gets the USOC’s tighty-whities in a bunch.

American Scotty Lago reacts after his run in the halfpipe final on Wednesday.

Once the photos of Lago surfaced on TMZ.com, the USSA, in an effort to avoid USOC intervention, came to him with two options, according to sources: go home quietly and play the necessary political game, or go through a trial process and risk getting formally ejected. Lago, not wanting to torpedo any future Olympic opportunities, chose to return to New Hampshire instead of staying until the Closing Ceremony as planned, sources said.

Lago had tried to preemptively strike against repercussions. He issued an apology to the USSA on Friday morning when informed the pictures existed, sources said, in which he apologized for the lapse in judgment and said he was thankful for the opportunity to compete in the Olympics. It was not enough.

“He did something pretty foolish, but it’s nothing illegal,” Lago’s father, Michael, said from his New Hampshire home. “No one’s hurt. That’s really all that matters to me.”

Olympic athletes across all sports have been on high alert against behaving poorly in public after the embarrassment caused by Phelps. Athletes were warned repeatedly heading into the Vancouver Games to conduct themselves well, particularly with cell phone cameras ever present. Oh, how rich that it was a snowboarder, a participant in the one sport that brings verve to an Olympic movement that grows more constipated by the year.

Whether Lago broke any formal code of conduct is unclear. Rule 4 of the USSA’s code says: “USSA members shall maintain high standards of moral and ethical conduct, which includes self-control and responsible behavior, consideration for the physical and emotional well-being of others, and courtesy and good manners.”

“It’s important for athletes to not just follow a code of conduct,” said Sandusky, the USOC spokesman. “It’s more than just about an individual. They’re here representing Team USA.”

And Lago was representing his country in the best fashion possible: showing off the spoils of his hard work, allowing strangers to bask in the glory of an Olympic medal, enjoying life when it’s at its finest. While the photograph may have been in poor taste – a woman kissed the medal while Lago held it below his belt – by no means did it merit the sort of treatment he received.

Lago planned on spending the rest of his time in Vancouver watching hockey and hanging out with halfpipe teammates Louie Vito and Greg Bretz and soaking in an Olympic experience with exponentially more meaning thanks to his bronze.

Instead, the IOC used him. It hung Lago out, his pelt there for the rest of the athletes to see, and said: If anyone thinks about acting up – or, heaven forbid, celebrating – this is what happens.

Scott Lago (left) and Shaun White (right) of the United States snowboard team pose with hockey great Wayne Gretzky and their Olympic medals.

No wonder the backlash among youth is so acute. The generation gap is evident. It’s not just that the IOC and NBC think it’s a wonderful idea to tape delay events completed for hours. It’s the general attitude toward snowboarders, the hypocrisy in pimping them for ratings and selling them out because they’re the easiest targets.

Lago got caught in the moment – and a compromising position. He hadn’t slept for 36 hours, TV appearances and media hits and all of the other Olympic duties calling. He fulfilled them, and with grace, honoring his friends Kevin Pearce and Danny Davis, both medal contenders before injuries left them unable to compete.

Lack of sleep is no excuse, of course. It happened. Lago owned up to it. And the USSA could have accepted the apology, broadcast it and let Lago move on. Only it didn’t, the power of the Olympic overlords forcing a rash decision.

“This was about one incident,” USSA spokesman Tom Kelly said, and it was an incident that, in the end, earned Scotty Lago millions of new fans. He was an American kid celebrating the way an American kid should – out on the streets, with the people, happy to give the world a look at his shiny new toy.

The suits turned him into a loser, a derelict, someone told to leave Vancouver and not come back. It’s a shame. The Olympics were better for having Scotty Lago. The same can’t be said for the people running them.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/snowboard/news?slug=jp-lago022010&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Martin apologizes for popping player on chest

2010-01-10T11:37:00.000-08:00

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Kansas State's Frank Martin is a fiery old-school screamer who expects his players to play with the same kind of passion he coaches with.

That passion got the better of Martin on Saturday -- and he feels bad about it.

Caught up in the heat of a tight road game, Martin hit senior Chris Merriewether on the arm with the back of his hand late in the No. 11 Wildcats' 74-68 loss to Missouri. Martin wasted little time in apologizing, telling reporters he was wrong before taking questions during his postgame news conference.

"That's a mistake on my part," Martin said. "I'm an old-school guy, but I understand the times are real sensitive now. I love him. I don't know what to tell you. It's wrong on my part and is completely out of line and has no part in the game. I need to apologize for that."

Martin's swipe came during a timeout with 1:17 left after a turnover by Merriewether led to a foul at the other end.

Before Marcus Denmon hit one of two free throws to put Missouri up 66-63, Martin called timeout and gathered his team in front of the bench. He immediately started screaming at Merriewether and flicked the back of his hand at the senior, striking him on the arm with his fingers.

The crowd at Kansas State's end of the floor reacted and Martin, realizing he had made a mistake, flipped his hand again, appearing as if he were trying to high-five Merriewether.

Martin sought out Merriewether in the locker room after the game and apologized for popping him.

"It was just in the heat of the moment; big game, lot of heated plays going on," Merriewether said. "I mean, he hit me in the arm, it was nothing serious. (Teammate) Jacob Pullen came back right after and he hit me in the arm, too. It really wasn't too much. I trust Frank and Frank trusts me and it was just a heat of the moment-type deal. It's not a big deal at all."

It may not be a big deal to Merriewether, but Martin's swipe is sure to get some attention at a time when coaches are being punished for abusing players.

Kansas football coach Mark Mangino resigned last month amid allegations that he mistreated his players. Texas Tech football coach Mike Leach was fired in December after he was accused of forcing an injured player to stand in a dark shed. South Florida fired football coach Jim Leavitt on Friday, saying he grabbed a player by the throat, slapped him in the face and lied about it.

Pullen didn't believe Martin's moment was in the same category.

"I think people really looked at that wrong," Pullen said. "I don't think Frank really hit him like you would hit somebody if you wanted to fight them. He hit him as like 'Let's go.' Frank is an enthused person, he's emotional on the sidelines and that's why I think everybody came here to play for him, because we knew we had an emotional coach who would get out there just like we do."

Martin has never been accused of inappropriate behavior with his players and Kansas State athletic director John Currie didn't seem overly concerned after meeting with him and Merriewether following the team's return to Manhattan on Saturday night.

"Coach Martin clearly understands his contact with Chris at the end of the game was unacceptable, regardless of the emotion of the moment," Currie said in a statement. "I am proud of coach Martin for immediately apologizing and I expect that there will be no further such incidents."

Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=ncb&id=4811782

Tiger Woods in the news: tabloid revelations and blind eyes

2009-12-13T21:14:00.000-08:00

As we wind down from TigerCrashGate -- yes, it's true, we're almost done, at least until he returns to the course -- it's worth taking a look at the way that this story spiraled from one-car hydrant-bump to worldwide scandal, one whose cost will eventually be measured in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Here's the key question to all of this: did we need to know about Tiger Woods' secret, off-the-course life? Many argue that this is an unforgivable invasion of a family's privacy, that we're interested in Tiger Woods as a golfer, not as a family man. As long as he keeps sinking long putts on Sunday afternoons, who cares what he does later that evening?

But that just-golf-it mindset doesn't account for the fact that Woods is not "just a golfer," he's the public face of an entire corporation. What he does on his own time is not his own business, not when his actions can do financial harm to those who have invested hundreds of millions in his image. That financial impact, not the "more mistresses or more majors?" question, is the real story here.

Still, the reason why this scandal exploded the way it did is because Woods' secret dealings were allowed to continue unabated, whether intentionally or unintentionally. The more Woods got away with his misdeeds, the bolder -- and stupider -- he got. (Leaving your name on a voicemail? Sending texts from your own phone? Really, Tiger?)

Part of this is surely because of the coverage bubble that Woods enjoyed for all of his career, a bubble that was born fully formed in Gary Smith's absurdly over-the-top introduction/sanctification of Woods in a legendary 1996 Sports Illustrated article entitled "The Chosen One." The see-no-evil approach to Tiger then dominated the golf media for more than a decade, partly because everyone was so in awe of Woods, and partly because Woods would cut off any access to any media outlet daring to poke around the edges of the mystique.

Did Tiger Woods have everyone fooled? Did the golf media know about Tiger's affairs and cover them up? Did everyone just happen to look the other way at the proper time? Those are questions that each media member will have to answer for him- or herself, but here's one huge clue: there are several golf media members who have not written a single word about this, the biggest story to hit golf in decades. Why? Well, you'd have to ask them, but it's a fair bet that they're setting themselves up as good guys when Tiger eventually does return. ("See, Tiger? All those other guys piled on, but I didn't! I'm still your pal!") On the flip side, credit longtime golf writers like Steve Elling who actually did call out Woods, knowing full well that they'll find that next one-on-one interview that much tougher -- if not impossible -- to secure.

Many in the golf media got completely outplayed on this story because of their insistence that it was no golf story at all, it was nothing but celebrity garbage, tawdry trash-digging that was beneath them. And again, if it was nothing but the personal affairs of a private family, that would be true. But Tiger's absence from the Tour is going to cost people and corporations hundreds of millions of dollars and fundamentally alter the game of golf for the short term -- so, yeah, that very much is a golf story.

Journalists who complain that the tabloids were setting the agenda in this story should have been practicing a little shoe-leather journalism themselves. After the initial revelation on the day before Thanksgiving that Rachel Uchitel was somehow involved with Woods, it was a blogger who trumped the mainstream media and first contacted her. In the absence of comments from Team Tiger, the tabloids filled in the gaps, and despite their "bat boy/UFO abduction" rep, were on the whole more accurate than not. (Tiger's admission of "infidelities" plural is a testament to that.)

There were some notable missteps on the tabloids' part. The RadarOnline.com story about Elin Woods moving out proved to be completely groundless, even though many outlets picked it up and ran with it. (We decided not to here because of the flimsiness of the sources.) More significantly, the Life & Style story about two professional golfers calling out Woods turned out to be an utter falsehood; we had decided to mention it here because there was on-the-record attribution, not "unnamed sources." Surely, we figured, no magazine would be foolish enough to print actual names without verifying. Wrong. Lesson learned -- and that's an aspect of this story that deserves further scrutiny.

This is not to defend the tabloids' approach to celebrity -- they look at stars the way that the rest of us look at a Thanksgiving turkey right out of the oven -- but their dogged method of running down a story does indeed have its merits. (Paying interview subjects is not one of them, nor is publishing articles without bylines.) Still, if other journalists were similarly unconcerned about their future access to their subjects, they'd be able to uncover some secrets on topics more important than celebrities' sex lives.

For now, though, the Tiger story has reached a natural stopping point. We can take some time over the holidays to breathe deep, stop wondering about how many more mistresses will come out of the woodwork, and -- thank you, heaven -- stop hearing lame Tiger jokes.

The old Tiger Woods is gone. The new one -- well, we haven't met him yet. But he won't be on the same celebrity-worship pedestal as the old guy ... and, all in all, that's probably for the best.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/devil_ball_golf/post/Tiger-Woods-in-the-news-tabloid-reveleations-an?urn=golf,208325

For 3rd time, Woods cancels meeting with police

2009-11-29T14:37:00.000-08:00

WINDERMERE, Fla. (AP)—Tiger Woods canceled yet another meeting with state troopers but, for the first time, talked about his car crash on his Web site, saying it was his fault, that his wife acted courageously and that remaining details were private.

The statement was posted about an hour before troopers were to meet with the world’s No. 1 golfer at his home inside the gates of Isleworth. A meeting was not rescheduled.

In a tape of a 911 call released Sunday, two days after the accident, a neighbor told dispatchers that a black Cadillac Escalade hit a tree and “I have someone down in front of my house.”

Woods’ neighbor never mentions the golfer by name, and the call is inaudible at several points because of the bad connection.

“I came out here just to see what was going on,” the neighbor, who was not identified, told dispatchers. “I see him, and he’s laying down.”

One woman is heard in the background yelling, “What happened?”

In his statement, Woods took responsibility for the accident.

“This situation is my fault, and it’s obviously embarrassing to my family and me,” Woods said. “I’m human and I’m not perfect. I will certainly make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

Woods said it was a private matter, and he wanted to keep it that way. What he failed to address was where he was going at that hour.

“Although I understand there is curiosity, the many false, unfounded and malicious rumors that are currently circulating about my family and me are irresponsible,” he said.

Windermere police chief Daniel Saylor has said Woods’ wife, Elin, used a golf club to smash out a rear window to help him get out of the SUV when she heard the crash from inside their home at 2:25 a.m. Friday.

“The only person responsible for the accident is me,” Woods said. “My wife, Elin, acted courageously when she saw I was hurt and in trouble. She was the first person to help me. Any other assertion is absolutely false.”

Sgt. Kim Montes of the Florida Highway Patrol said Woods’ attorney, Mark Nejame, informed the patrol that Woods would not be meeting with troopers Sunday afternoon.

“It has not been rescheduled,” Montes said. “He’s not required by law to give us a statement, and we’ll move forward with our investigation without it.”

Mark Steinberg, Woods’ agent at IMG, said in an e-mail Sunday:

“We have been informed by the Florida Highway Patrol that further discussion with them is both voluntary and optional. Although Tiger realizes that there is a great deal of public curiosity, it has been conveyed to FHP that he simply has nothing more to add and wishes to protect the privacy of his family.”

Police first tried to interview Woods on Friday, but his wife asked if they could return the next day because he was sleeping.

As they headed to Woods’ $2.4 million house inside the gates of Isleworth on Saturday afternoon, FHP dispatch put through a phone call to troopers from Woods’ agent, informing them that Woods and his wife would be unavailable to talk until Sunday.

The accident came two days after the National Enquirer published a story alleging that Woods had been seeing a New York night club hostess, and that they recently were together in Melbourne, where Woods competed in the Australian Masters.

The woman, Rachel Uchitel, denied having an affair with Woods when contacted by The Associated Press.

Los Angeles attorney Gloria Allred confirmed she was representing Uchitel when she was reached by the AP on Sunday.

“She is with me in L.A.,” Allred said later in an e-mail to the AP. “We plan to meet and then we’ll decide on the next step, which we do not plan to announce to the press.”

Uchitel arrived at Los Angeles International Airport late Sunday morning, where she was met by Allred and escorted out of the baggage claim area and into a black car. Uchitel did not speak to reporters except to ask that she be left alone.

Woods is to host his Chevron World Challenge this week in Thousand Oaks, Calif., which benefits his foundation. Woods’ news conference had been scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, although it was not clear if he would still play, or even attend.

“We do not know if Tiger is playing; we are anticipating a great week of competition,” said Greg McLaughlin, the tournament director and president of his foundation.

Aside from occasional criticism of his temper inside the ropes, Woods has kept himself out of the news beyond his sport. In an October posting on his Facebook account, Woods wrote, “I’m asked why people don’t often see me and Elin in gossip magazines or tabloids. I think we’ve avoided a lot of media attention because we’re kind of boring. …”

“He’s an iconic brand, the platinum standard,” said John Rowady, president of rEvolution, a Chicago-based sports marketing agency. “I find it interesting how he’s being attacked by so many sides after how gracious he’s been. But even the best of celebrities who try to do their best can be riddled with controversy.”

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/pga/news?slug=ap-woods-accident&prov=ap&type=lgns

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Woods speaks up, says crash is ‘private matter’

WINDERMERE, Fla. (AP)—Despite presenting his side of the car-crash story and asking that it remain “a private matter,” Tiger Woods may still not be in the clear.

Troopers arriving at his Isleworth home requesting an interview were turned down for a third straight day, but the Florida Highway Patrol said it will continue to investigate. Yet the tabloid-fueled rumors now swirling around one of the world’s richest and most-recognizable athletes could turn out to be more troublesome still.

About an hour before the troopers arrived Sunday afternoon, Woods released a statement on his Web site taking responsibility for—but providing few details about—the middle-of-the-night accident that left him dazed, bruised and bloodied.

“This is a private matter and I want to keep it that way,” Woods said. “Although I understand there is curiosity, the many false, unfounded and malicious rumors that are currently circulating about my family and me are irresponsible. …

“I appreciate all the concern and well wishes that we have received,” the statement concluded. “But, I would also ask for some understanding that my family and I deserve some privacy no matter how intrusive some people can be.”

Yet several public-relations experts believed there was little chance of that request being honored.

“The goal of putting out a statement, or having a press conference, is to make sure questions are answered so you’re not continuing to have questions that are crisis-related,” said Mike Paul, whose firm, MGP & Associates, frequently works with athletes. “There are still over a dozen questions we have regarding his reputation because the statement is not enough.”

The world’s No. 1 golfer remained hunkered down at home in an exclusive gated community outside Orlando. He was scheduled to compete at the Chevron World Challenge, which starts Thursday in Thousand Oaks, Calif. The tournament director, however, did not know whether Woods would play or even attend.

When troopers arrived at Woods’ home Sunday, his attorney, Mark NeJame, gave them Woods’ driver’s license, registration and insurance, as required by law for such accidents. This time, the meeting was not rescheduled.

But patrol spokeswoman Sgt. Kim Montes said investigators spoke with the neighbor who made the 911 call on Saturday and might seek out others who were at the scene as well.

“If we have somebody who we feel is pertinent to the investigation, then we will interview them,” she said.

In the 911 call released by the FHP on Sunday, the unidentified neighbor told the dispatcher, “I have a neighbor, he hit the tree. And we came out here just to see what was going on. I see him and he’s laying down.”

The caller did not identify the neighbor as Woods. When asked if the victim was unconscious, the neighbor replied, “Yes,”

Parts of the call were inaudible because of a bad connection. At one point, the voice of a woman is heard yelling, “What happened?”

Yet even the release of the 911 tape and Woods’ statement failed to answer that question and several other.

— Where he was going at that time of the night?

— How did he lose control of his SUV at such a speed that the air bags didn’t deploy?

— Why were both rear windows of the Cadillac Escalade smashed?

— If it was a careless mistake, why not speak to state troopers trying to wrap the investigation?

Montes said authorities towed the Cadillac SUV that Woods was driving and have already documented the damage to the vehicle and the point of impact. According to the FHP accident report, Woods had just pulled out of his driveway when he struck a fire hydrant and then a tree. His wife told Windermere police she used a golf club to smash the back windows to help him out.

“The only person responsible for the accident is me. My wife, Elin, acted courageously when she saw I was hurt and in trouble. She was the first person to help me. Any other assertion is absolutely false,” Woods said.

The reference in his statement to “false, unfounded and malicious rumors” may have involved a story published last week in the National Enquirer alleging that Woods had been seeing a New York nightclub hostess, and that they recently were together in Melbourne, where Woods competed in the Australian Masters.

The woman, Rachel Uchitel, denied having an affair with Woods when contacted by The Associated Press. On Sunday, she flew to Los Angeles and was met by high-profile attorney Gloria Allred at the airport.

Uchitel didn’t speak to reporters except to ask that she be left alone. Allred, however, confirmed to the AP that she would be representing Uchitel.

“We plan to meet and then we’ll decide on the next step, which we do not plan to announce to the press,” the attorney said in an e-mail.

AP Golf Writer Doug Ferguson in Jacksonville, and Associated Press writers Linda Deutsch in Los Angeles, and Sarah Larimer in Miami contributed to this report.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/pga/news?slug=ap-woods-accident&prov=ap&type=lgns

Chad Ochocinco tries to 'bribe' official on replay ruling

2009-11-09T04:56:00.000-08:00

The artful use of a folded bill can get people past a long line at a club, seated quickly at a restaurant with a 45-minute wait or, as countless detective shows have demonstrated, a good piece of information from a cab driver with a hazy memory. As Chad Ochocinco(notes) found out today, it will not get you a call during an NFL game.

The impish Cincinnati Bengals receiver playfully tried to bribe an NFL official today during his team's game with its division rival, the Baltimore Ravens. With the Cincinnati Bengals up 14-3 in the third quarter, Ochocinco caught a 15-yard Carson Palmer(notes) pass near the sideline. The side judge ruled it a catch, but the Ravens contended that Ochocinco's foot was out of bounds. While the ref was under the hood looking at the replay, Ochocinco borrowed a dollar bill from an assistant and playfully tried to hand the one-spot to another official.

Ochocinco was smiling the entire time and, as you can see above, the official put a stop to the hijinks before they really began. It didn't work, the ref overturned the call on the field and ruled that the pass was incomplete.

You're either going to be in one of two camps with this. Either you think it's hilarious (like me) or you think that the mere appearance of bribery toward officials is uncouth and needs to be dealt with swiftly. Judging by his track record, Roger Goodell will fall firmly in the latter camp. Expect a fine for Ochocinco, even though nobody will seriously think that this was ever meant to be anything but a goof.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Chad-Ochocinco-tries-to-bribe-official-on-repl?urn=nfl,200914

UFC fighter was eating ketchup and rice before UFC 104

2009-11-03T17:10:00.000-08:00

If anyone needed a huge postfight bonus at UFC 104, it was Pat Barry. The heavyweight out of New Orleans, scored Knockout of the Night and Fight of the Night for his victory over Antoni Hardonk. That was good enough for $120,000. Good thing, Barry needed the infusion of cash in the worst way. He confirmed to MMAScrapsRadio that he was completely down on his luck before the fight, agreeing that he had little to eat in Los Angeles the week of the fight.

"I still had my apartment but if something would've happened and the fight had been canceled, I would've been evicted six days later."

Barry, 30, said he didn't even tell his trainer Duke Roufus for fear that he would think the fighter had the wrong motivation going into the fight. Barry said he didn't ask anyone for money including his mother:

"I could ask someone but then at the same time, how hard are you going to work for something if everytime you get in trouble somebody catches you? I did something to put myself in this position I have to work my way out of it."

Barry got his $120,000 bonus check last Tuesday. He couldn't believe it. When he went to deposit the check, his truck wouldn't start. Barry got a jump and hit the bank sporting a black eye and pink striped shorts.

"I go to the bank, I'm sweaty, I've got the black eye, I haven't shaven in two days, I'm strung out because I haven't slept, I have green circles under my eyes so I'm like 'Can I have a deposit slip mam?'. She gives it to me, I fill it out hand it to her. She looks at the deposit slip, then the check, then looks at me and says 'Excuse me I'll be right back.' Then a manager comes out, a guy in a suit and says 'What seems to be the problem?' I was like 'Well I have a black eye, that's the only problem I know this looks really ridiculous.' So he asks me for my ID, I hand him my license an he's like 'Your license says Pat Barry, but this check was written to Patrick Barry.' So I decided to be funny and tell him Pat Barry is in my trunk right now. He didnt laugh. So I told him take your time man do whatever you need to do because I have no where to go and my truck probably wont start when I go outside so you can just do whatever you need to do. An hour later he came back and everything was fine, the check was in my bank account."

Listen here to the entire Barry interview on MMA Scraps Radio.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/UFC-fighter-was-eating-ketchup-and-rice-before-U?urn=mma,199656

Congress slams NFL commissioner Roger Goodell about NFL's head trauma policy

2009-10-29T18:54:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Like a quarterback facing a game-long blitz, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and the nation's richest professional sport absorbed a barrage of hits on Capitol Hill Wednesday, when a hearing on football head injuries produced sharp questioning and a finger-jabbing accusation from Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.).

Waters, whose husband played in the NFL, was particularly incensed when Goodell refused to acknowledge a direct link between football and brain-trauma injuries.

"I believe you are an $8 billion organization that has failed in your responsibility to the players," Waters said. "I know that you dearly want to hold on to your profits. I think it's the responsibility of Congress to look at your antitrust exemption and take it away.”

The league's antitrust exemption, established in 1961, cleared the way for owners to reap billions in television revenue.

The hearing - convened by the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) - was held before an SRO crowd in the Rayburn Office Building, among them two NFL Hall of Famers, Willie Wood and Jim Brown.

Wood, the former Packers defensive back, was in a wheelchair. Brown, perhaps the greatest running back in history, walked with a cane.

The hearing was called in the wake of a recent NFL-commissioned survey that revealed that retired NFL players may suffer from such irreversible brain diseases as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), and dementia, at rates far greater than the general population. Conyers said it was time for the committee to do "an expeditious and independent review all of the data."

The league has steadfastly downplayed the validity of any studies indicating a connection between playing football and the incidence of brain disease, maintaining that its own recent survey was widely misinterpreted.

Christoper Nowinski, a former Harvard football player and professional wrestler, is the founder of the Sports Legacy Institute and co-director of Center For the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at Boston University. He testified about his own years of concussion-related problems, while his colleague, Dr. Ann McKee, reported that she found "severe" brain damage in all 11 of the postmortem studies she has made of former pro and college football players.

"I am constantly surprised by the NFL's reaction to evidence that is overwhelming that we have a serious public-health crisis on our hands," Nowinski said.

Goodell repeatedly defended the league's actions and policies, saying he had spent more time and attention to the issue of brain injuries to NFL players than any issue in his time as commissioner.

"We know that concussions are a serious matter," Goodell said. "Our goal is to make our game as safe as possible."

Goodell said the league has dramatically improved pension and disability benefits for former players, and was committed to studying data to continue its efforts to reduce the risk of brain injury.

When asked by Conyers if he believed there was a connection between football-induced brain injury and neurological problems later in life, Goodell said the league wasn't waiting for the debate to unfold, but was taking all possible measures make the game safer now.

"I asked you a simple question. What's the answer?" Conyers said.

Goodell said that a medical expert would be best equipped to answer the question. Under further questioning, Goodell assured Conyers that the league would turn over all relevant player medical records to the committee, as did DeMaurice Smith, the new executive director of the NFL Players Association.

Over the objection of the ranking minority committee member, Lamar Smith, (R-Tex.) who said "the NFL does not need Congress to referee this issue," Waters, Anthony Weiner (D-NY) and other committee members, pressed Goodell and the panel of witnesses that included doctors, neurologists and safety advocates, along with former Giants George Martin and Tiki Barber.

Martin talked movingly of a former Giant teammate, a star running back whose once-prosperous life has been obliterated by CTE, leaving he and his family ashamed and embarrassed.

"(He) has been reduced to a shell of his former self," said Martin, executive director of the NFL Alumni Association, who declined to name his teammate. "This unfortunate scenario rings a far too familiar refrain among many NFL alumni."

Barber, for his part, said that the whole culture of the sport inclines players to minimize injuries, get back out there.

"I think a lot of it comes down to pride. I know when I was playing, I didn't want to come out of the game," Barber said.

Dr. Gay Culverhouse, former president of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was sharply critical of medical practices in a league in which "the team doctor is not a medical advocate for the players." Rather, the team physicians are in cahoots with management to get players on the field no matter what.

"This is inexcusable. This is, in my mind, inhumane," said Culverhouse, whose account was refuted by Dr. Joseph Maroon, longtime team physician of the Steelers, who said that only one time has a coach ever questioned his judgment that a player sit out.

The most powerful testimony came from Dick Benson, whose son, Will, died shortly after suffering a helmet-to-helmet hit in a Texas high-school game in 2002.

'Don't let it happen again," Benson said to the committee, sobbing.

For Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ), the co-chair of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force, the core of the issue goes far beyond the NFL - to the estimated 3.8 million Americans who suffered a concussion last year.

Last year, Ryan Doughterty, 16, of Montclair, died from a brain hemorrhage after returning to play football, allegedly before he recovered from a concussion earlier in the season.

"I hope this hearing will generate a national conversation,spur innovation to equipment and lead to action regarding brain injury," Pascrell said.

Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/2009/10/28/2009-10-28_goodell_hit_head_on_by_congress.html

Agassi admits use of crystal meth

2009-10-28T16:54:00.000-07:00

American Andre Agassi has admitted in his new autobiography he lied to tennis authorities about his use of crystal methamphetamine to escape a ban.

Eight-time Grand Slam winner Agassi said he wanted to share "my bad decisions which, in a few instances, nearly ended in catastrophe".

The 39-year-old, who retired in 2006, also stated it was "not easy being so candid" and "brutally honest".

Agassi admitted he used the drug with ex-assistant "Slim" in 1997.

"I felt my story was one from which many people could learn," he added in a video promoting the book.

Meanwhile, he also confessed in the book itself to a surprise lifelong hatred of the sport.

"I play tennis for a living, even though I hate tennis, hate it with a dark and secret passion, and always have," he wrote.

The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) said it could not comment on Agassi's drug-taking revelation because it had withdrawn its doping case against him.

Agassi had lied to them that the use of the drug was accidental - and the failed test was kept secret by the ATP.

In response, the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) called on the association to "shed light" on the case.

Meanwhile, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) said it was "surprised and disappointed" by Agassi's remarks.

Writing about the first time he used crystal meth, Agassi said: "Vast sadness and regret" followed his taking of the drug.

"Slim dumps a small pile of powder on the coffee table," writes Agassi in his book, which the Times is serialising.

"He cuts it, snorts it. He cuts it again. I snort some.

"Then comes a tidal wave of euphoria that sweeps away every negative thought in my head. I've never felt so alive, so hopeful - and I've never felt such energy."

Crystal meth is classified in the UK as a class A drug - the category for those considered to be the most harmful and which attract the most serious punishments and fines.

It looks like small ice crystals and is a very powerful and addictive form of the stimulant speed, which can be eaten, inhaled through the nose or injected.

Agassi, who is widely considered to be among the greatest tennis players of all time, recounts in the book, which is called 'Open', about his introduction to the drug.

He was enduring the worst year of his professional career in 1997 as he struggled with a wrist injury, and his world ranking slumped to a low of 141 that November.

Agassi, who is married to former women's world number one Steffi Graf, explained how he had received a call from an ATP at that time to inform him he had failed a drugs test.

The Las Vegas-born star wrote a letter to the ATP to argue the use was accidental, blaming his former assistant Slim.

"My name, my career, everything is now on the line. Whatever I've achieved, whatever I've worked for, might soon mean nothing," Agassi writes.

"Days later I sit in a hard-backed chair, a legal pad in my lap, and write a letter to the ATP. It's filled with lies interwoven with bits of truth.

"I say Slim, whom I've since fired, is a known drug user, and that he often spikes his sodas with meth - which is true. Then I come to the central lie of the letter.

"I say that recently I drank accidentally from one of Slim's spiked sodas, unwittingly ingesting his drugs. I ask for understanding and leniency and hastily sign it: Sincerely.

"I feel ashamed, of course. I promise myself that this lie is the end of it."

Agassi, who is often cited as one of the most charismatic players ever, writes that the ATP reviewed his case and, while he faced a minimum three-month ban, decided to believe his account and withdraw the charges.

His subsequent rise back through the rankings over the following two years, on the back of a gruelling fitness programme and the ignominy of playing on the lesser Challenger circuit, has gone down in tennis history.

In 1999 Agassi became only the fifth man to win all four Grand Slam titles with victory at the French Open. Three months later he added a second US Open crown and he ended the year back at number one in the world.

Former Wimbledon champion Michael Stich told BBC Radio 5 live the revelations raised questions about the ATP's handling of the matter.

He suggested Agassi was not suspended "because he was so important to the game".

The German said: "The fact that he was using it [crystal meth], escaped drugs tests and said he used it accidentally raises a lot of questions towards the ATP.

"Why was Andre Agassi not suspended if he tested positive and why was it never brought to the attention of the media and the players? Nobody ever heard about it."

An ATP spokesman said it commented on the results of drugs tests only when a violation had occurred, and so could not speak about the Agassi situation because it withdrew the case against him.

"Under the tennis anti-doping programme it is, and has always been, an independent panel that makes a decision on whether a doping violation has been found," he stated.

"The ATP has always followed this rule and no executive at the ATP has therefore had the authority or ability to decide the outcome of an anti-doping matter."

Expressing his disappointment about the revelation, Wada president John Fahey said Agassi was seen as a role model who should alert youths to the dangers of doping.

Fahey said he expected the ATP to "shed light on this allegation."

The ITF said tennis authorities were determined to keep drugs out of the sport.

"This should not be overshadowed by an incident that took place over 12 years ago," said president Francesco Ricci Bitti.

"The statements by Mr Agassi do, however, provide confirmation that a tough anti-doping programme is needed."

BBC Radio 5 live's tennis correspondent Jonathan Overend feels Agassi's legacy could be ruined by the revelations and will also damage tennis's reputation.

"This is sure to severely tarnish the reputation of one of the great champions," said Overend.

"I think it will have underlying implications for the sport in terms of the suspicion about some of the athletes and whether or not they are on drugs.

"The fact that Agassi lied and the authorities believed him has enormous repercussions. How many other cases may there have been like this?"

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/8329193.stm

Video: Who had more embarrassing goal, Pavelec or Toskala?

2009-10-24T08:22:00.000-07:00

"It was a pass, I think ... It was a just bad bounce. It hit the ice and went over my shoulder. Sometimes it happens. It just happened at a bad time." -- Ondrej Pavelec(notes) to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Yeah, that about sums up the 178-foot goal Atlanta Thrashers goalie Pavelec surrendered to Washington Capitals defenseman Jeff Schultz(notes) last night that (a) gave Washington a 3-2 lead that became 5-2 (and, eventually, a 5-4 win) just 1 minute and 28 seconds later thanks to Matt Bradley(notes) and Chris Clark(notes); (b) began a sequence had Pavelec getting yanked for Johan Hedberg(notes) in what Coach John Anderson called "a mercy pull"; and perhaps most embarrassing, (c) gave Jeff Schultz a goal.

Take a look at what will surely be one of the NHL's biggest goalie goofs of the season (stick around for the final replay at the :50 mark):

Thrashers blogger Bill Tiller said it took "a bad hop up off the ice just before reaching him" but that "really, if you are a goalkeeper in the NHL you just cannot let that wind up in the net."
This is, of course, the second time in two years we've seen an NHL goalie let in a rink-length shot. Please recall March 17, 2008, as Toronto Maple Leafs keeper Vesa Toskala(notes) allowed an excruciating, slow-bouncing goal from nearly 200 feet away from where New York Islanders defenseman Rob Davison(notes) cleared it while shorthanded in the first period.

Two funky bounces, two awkward goals. We ask you, dear readers -- which long-distance goal is the most embarrassing: Pavelec against the Caps or Toskala against the Isles?

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Video-Who-had-more-embarrassing-goal-Pavelec-o?urn=nhl,197825

Jordan’s son not free to wear Air Jordans

2009-10-21T15:50:00.000-07:00

The fight over the feet of Michael Jordan’s son is not over.

Last Thursday, Marcus Jordan, the Hall of Fame guard’s younger son, told the media that he’d honor the University of Central Florida’s contract with adidas by wearing all the apparel with adidas logos on it.

He would not, however, take the court in the shoes. Citing family pride, Marcus said he would be in Nike’s Air Jordans, named after his father, of course.

Soon after the comments were made, UCF athletic director Keith Tribble told AOL’s Fanhouse that the freshman could make the decision for himself since there had been a previous precedent set with a UCF football player who wore a different brand of shoe due to the fit.

But adidas spokesperson Andrea Corso told CNBC that no compromise had been reached with the school.

“We are in negotiations for a future relationship regarding the broader UCF athletic program,” Corso said. “What I can say is that these relationships are based upon agreed deliverables for both parties.”

Translation: The story that adidas had buckled on this one might be what UCF is saying, but it’s certainly not what adidas is saying. adidas officials won’t talk contract specifics, but it appears as though adidas might have the right to change the terms if they don’t get what they were promised.

While some might think this is all about Nike vs. adidas, it seems like it’s more about potential breach of contract. And although it’s bigger than Marcus Jordan, Jordan’s shoe defection is very public and could potentially be costly to the university.

We’re wondering in the coming days if Tribble is willing to take say, tens of thousands of dollars (maybe even hundreds of thousands) less on the shoe deal, to allow Jordan to wear his father’s shoes.

The Jordan brand doesn’t make softball uniforms like adidas does, but maybe Tribble is counting on the original MJ to bridge the gap in donations.

Source: http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=ys-cnbcairjordan102109&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Nike, Vick do not have agreement

2009-10-01T21:11:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK -- Nike said Thursday it does not have a "contractual relationship" with Michael Vick, a day after the quarterback's agent announced a deal with the manufacturer.

In a statement released Thursday morning, Nike said it has "agreed to supply product to Michael Vick as we do a number of athletes who are not under contract with Nike."

On Wednesday, Michael Principe, the managing director of BEST, the agency that represents Vick, announced the Philadelphia Eagles player had a new deal with Nike during a panel discussion at the Sports Sponsorship Symposium.

"He actually just became a Nike client," Principe said Wednesday. "He has a new deal with Nike that we're all very pleased about."

Principe declined comment Thursday.

Vick's agent, Joel Segal, said later Wednesday that Vick looked forward to continuing his relationship with Nike, adding that the player and company had agreed not to release terms of the deal.

Segal did not immediately return a call for comment Thursday.

Nike had initially declined comment Wednesday night.

Nike, which signed Vick as a rookie in 2001, terminated his contract in August 2007 after he filed a plea agreement admitting his involvement in a dogfighting ring.

Vick signed a $1.6 million deal with the Eagles, with a team option for the second year at $5.2 million. He was once a corporate star -- holding multimillion-dollar deals to market everything from sneakers to sports drinks. But those millions are long gone.

In July, Vick filed for bankruptcy protection while serving a 23-month prison sentence, saying he owed between $10 million and $50 million to creditors.

Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4521948

Burress begins sentence in gun case

2009-09-23T19:36:00.000-07:00

Former Giants receiver Plaxico Burress carried his son, Elijah, into court on Tuesday, and then told him goodbye.
NEW YORK -- One-time Super Bowl hero Plaxico Burress was sentenced to two years in prison Tuesday for violating New York's stringent gun laws and was immediately taken into custody following his hearing.

Burress agreed to a plea deal last month and pleaded guilty to a lesser firearms charge. The charges stemmed from an incident late last fall, in which Burress accidentally shot himself in the thigh at a Manhattan nightclub with a gun that had not been licensed in New York.

He is expected to serve about 20 months with credit for good behavior -- meaning he could be released as early as the spring of 2011 -- followed by two years of probation.

Burress arrived at the courthouse at 9:41 a.m. ET on Tuesday wearing a jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt, a stark contrast to the dark blue suit he wore last month when he entered his guilty plea.

He was accompanied by his pregnant wife, Tiffany; his almost 3-year-old son, Elijah, whom he carried; his father and stepmother; and his grandmother.

Before the sentencing began, Burress asked for and was granted permission by Judge Michael Melkonian to say one last goodbye to his wife and family, seated in the fifth row of the courthouse.

The hearing was brief, as the prosecution and defense told the judge they had previously agreed to the guilty plea and two-year sentence.

A soft-spoken Burress then apologized to his family and fans and thanked them for their support. "We will all get through this," he said.

He was then taken into custody.

The Giants, through spokesman Pat Hanlon, said, "This has been a tragic, sad, disappointing situation from the beginning. Our concern has always been for Plax's welfare, and for his family, and that continues to be our overriding feeling."

Michael Strahan, a former Giants teammate who is now an NFL television analyst, used his Twitter account to support Burress: "My Thoughts and Prayers are with my man Plaxico and his family today!!!"

Antonio Pierce, also a former Giants teammate who was with Burress the night of the incident, and former Giants linebacker Kawika Mitchell, now with the Buffalo Bills, re-tweeted the Strahan comment.

Burress was transported to Rikers Island jail in New York, where he arrived at 1:20 p.m. ET, according to Steve Morello, a deputy commissioner with the New York City Department of Corrections.

Burress was moved Wednesday morning to Ulster Correctional Facility, a medium-security prison, in Napanoch, N.Y., on the edge of Catskill State Park. There, he will undergo further processing, including getting state-issue clothing and a strip search.

After the sentencing on Tuesday, his defense attorney, Benjamin Brafman, called the case "terribly sad and very tragic."

"This has been a very emotional experience for him," Brafman said. "He's sad about what he's done to his life, his career, and more importantly to his family. He's a fundamentally good man who has used bad judgment and is going to pay a very, very severe penalty."

The case went to a grand jury after months of negotiations between prosecutors and Burress' defense attorney broke down, apparently because Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau insisted that the former New York Giants wide receiver serve at least two years in prison for violating the city's strict gun laws. Mayor Michael Bloomberg had also publicly called for Burress to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

On July 29, Burress took the rare and risky step of testifying before the grand jury, hoping to convince the panel that the gun was not used in the commission of a crime and that he was the lone victim. But days later, Burress was indicted on two counts of criminal possession of a weapon and one count of reckless endangerment. He faced a minimum sentence of 3½ years if convicted at trial.

On Aug. 20, the day he was to be arraigned, Burress agreed to a plea deal and pleaded guilty to attempted weapons possession in the second degree.

Hours after Burress pleaded guilty, the NFL announced that commissioner Roger Goodell had suspended the receiver and said Burress is ineligible to sign with any team until he completes his prison term. After that, Burress may sign with an NFL team without further review.

Burress, a nine-year veteran with the Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers, became a Super Bowl hero when he caught the winning touchdown pass in the last minute of the Giants' 17-14 upset win over the previously unbeaten New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.

Burress and Pierce were at the Latin Quarter nightclub in Manhattan in late November 2008 when a gun that was tucked into Burress' waistband slipped down his leg and fired, shooting him in the right thigh.

The bullet narrowly missed a nightclub security guard who was standing inches away, prosecutors said. It lodged in the floor and was recovered by a bartender.

The gun was not licensed in New York or in New Jersey, where Burress lived. His license to carry a concealed weapon in the state of Florida had expired in May 2008.

Prosecutors said Pierce drove Burress to a hospital, then took the gun to his own home in New Jersey. It was later delivered to Burress' home. Pierce, who also testified before the grand jury, was not charged.

The Giants released Burress in April, but the 32-year-old told ESPN he hopes to resume his NFL career when he completes his sentence.

"When I get out, I'll be 33, not 43," Burress said in an interview broadcast in August. "I'll still be able to run and catch. I'll still have the God-given ability to snag footballs; that's what I love to do. Of course, I want to play again."

Gil Brandt, an analyst on NFL Sirius Radio and the former head of player personnel for the Dallas Cowboys, said Burress won't be too old for a comeback when he's released from prison.

"First of all, Plaxico is a guy who keeps himself in pretty good shape," Brandt said. "Lots of times guys get heavy in the offseason. He is not a guy who has done that."

Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4493887

Semenya withdraws from race amidst reports she's hermaphrodite

2009-09-12T09:45:00.000-07:00

Caster Semenya, the 18-year old at the center of one of the biggest gender scandals in sports history, withdrew from a weekend race in South Africa amidst unconfirmed reports that her gender tests have revealed that she has both male and female sexual organs.

She was scheduled to compete in the 4,000 meters at the national cross country championships in Pretoria. Semenya's coach, Michael Seme, says his runner "isn't feeling well".

Yesterday, unsubstantiated reports from Australia and England said that Semenya's tests showed that she has no womb or ovaries and produces testosterone levels three times higher than a normal woman. The IAAF thinly denies the reports. (The organization's spokesman says he hasn't "seen" the results, which doesn't mean he hasn't "heard" the results. Nor has the IAAF come out and said that the reports are false.)

The Today Show aired a report on the Semenya situation this morning:

It's another chapter in an unfortunate story. It's easy to get caught up in the sensationalized aspects of Semenya's tale, but let's not forget that she's still just a teenager who is now the centerpiece of an embarrassing worldwide scandal. No matter how things progressed to this point (and we'll get to that later), Semenya is a victim in this story.

But let's operate under assumption that the tests were accurate and that Semenya is a hermaphrodite. If so, then there are three main questions that will need to be answered soon:

1) Will Semenya be stripped of her gold medal?

Probably. It's hard to imagine that the IAAF would allow Semenya to keep the gold after what these tests reveal. The rules explicitly state that a "gender verification" situation has to be approved and overseen by medical authorities. Semenya didn't do this. Fair or not, a rule is a rule.

2) Will Semenya ever be allowed to run again?

Reading the IAAF rules, it would appear that Semenya would be allowed to run if her condition was treated. Whether or not she would want to is anyone's guess. But there's also a chance she could be banned from running based on the answer to the next question.

3) Who knew about this and when did they know?

We haven't gotten this far down the road yet, but the next logical step in the progression of this sordid affair is whether there was a coverup involved. Regardless of whether the intentions of Semenya and her handlers were nefarious, they had to know of her ambiguous gender. Not having ovaries isn't something that goes unnoticed. If they did, then at what point did this turn from an unfortunate medical situation into outright deception?

If Semenya was an innocent running without knowledge of her condition, then there's not much the IAAF could do other than strip her medal and advise her on how to regain eligibility. But if it can be determined that she knew she was running illegally (which would be tough to prove, but I'm starting to get the feeling that people knew -- how else would other coaches have known to order gender tests?) then there could be heavy sanctions down the road.

These questions will be discussed in the coming weeks and will be the center of attention when the IAAF officially releases its findings in November. If you thought the tale of Caster Semenya was strange before, it's just getting started.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Semenya-withdraws-from-race-amidst-reports-she-s?urn=oly,188930

Coach: Gender tests not explained to Semenya

2009-09-08T18:33:00.000-07:00

JOHANNESBURG (AP)—A South African track coach has resigned, saying Monday that he and other officials failed a world champion runner by not telling her she was being subjected to tests to determine her sex.

Wilfred Daniels’ comments contradicted statements from Athletics South Africa officials who have accused the IAAF, track and field’s international governing body, of publicly humiliating world 800-meter champion Caster Semenya while denying any responsibility on their part. The South African officials have said tests were done only abroad, not in South Africa.

Athletics South Africa President Leonard Chuene told The Associated Press on Monday that Daniels’ statements were “wild allegations.” Both he and Daniels said Monday they were still awaiting an IAAF ruling on Semenya’s sex—and future as a runner.
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The Athletics South Africa Web site listed Daniels as a manager for middle distance—Semenya’s specialty—for the team that went to the IAAF World Championships in Berlin in August.

He told the AP he resigned last week from his post, which included supervising Semenya’s personal coach and overseeing South Africa’s performance at international meets. He said he agonized over the decision for weeks before deciding “there’s only one way for me to deal with this, and that was to say sorry and walk away.”

“Maybe it’s time that other people came in and do what I was supposed to do,” he said.

Daniels said he found out shortly before Semenya won the race at the world championships in Germany last month that she had been tested in South Africa in July at the IAAF’s behest. He said she was told she was undergoing only a doping test.

IAAF rules say such cases are to be handled confidentially. Instead, responding to media reports, the IAAF publicly acknowledged hours before the 800-meter final that questions had been raised about Semenya and that sex tests were initiated in response.

The IAAF has said Semenya is not accused of cheating by trying to mask her sex. She may have a biological condition that gives her an advantage over other female runners. That could result in her being banned from the sport.

Daniels said he did not know why Semenya was lied to, but said it could have been to protect her feelings at a time when the issue was confidential, as IAAF rules demand.

But “when there’s legal implications that an athlete could be barred from competing for life, we need to explain to the individual concerned, look, these are the implications,” Daniels said.

He said Semenya would have been better prepared to deal with the media storm had she been told “this is what’s going to happen, this is how gender verification tests are done, these are your rights,” he said. “Those are the kind of issues that we didn’t explain to her.”

Daniels said he explained and apologized to Semenya over the weekend, and she took the news calmly. He said the poise she has shown since the case became public is “a lesson to us grown-ups on how to behave under difficult circumstances.”

Daniels said IAAF rules stipulate the results be kept private, but that he was not sure that would happen.

“The IAAF violated their own procedures and protocols by putting this out in the public domain,” he said.

IAAF President Lamine Diack has publicly acknowledged the affair was handled badly, telling reporters in Berlin last month: “I deeply regret that confidentiality was breached in this case and that the IAAF were forced into a position of having to confirm that gender testing was being carried out on this young athlete.”

Chuene called on Daniels to prove his statements. Until then, Chuene said, “wild allegations will remain wild allegations.”

Chuene said top South African track officials were meeting this weekend to determine their next step in Semenya’s case. He would not say what options they were considering.

Found at: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ap-southafrica-gendertest&prov=ap&type=lgns

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Embattled track star Caster Semenya gets new coach, new look

It's been a week of change for Caster Semenya, the South African runner at the center of a gender controversy at last month's world track championships.

First, one of her South African coaches quit the team in shame for not telling Semenya that she was being subjected to gender tests. (Semenya had thought she was taking a doping test.) Then, Semenya appeared on the cover of South Africa's You magazine with a complete makeover designed to silence critics who insist she is a man.

For the shoot Semenya sported a less ambiguous hair style, a designer black dress, jewelry, makeup and nail polish. Despite what you think about the whole situation, it's safe to say that this is the first time that Semenya has truly looked like an 18-year old woman.

She says she likes the look too. Semenya told the BBC:

"I'd like to dress up more often and wear dresses but I never get the chance.

I am who I am and I'm proud of myself."

Let's hope this is what she wants though.

Nothing Semenya has done in the past month has suggested that she likes to wear dresses, get manicures and let down her hair. After the controversy broke, she kept her cornrows, wore baggy clothes and pounded her chest in victory like a college football cornerback. When she returned to her hometown, she was dressed the same way. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. That seemed to be Semenya's natural inclination. This feels forced.

Hopefully I'm wrong. But if Semenya was pressured to do this to silence her critics, then this is a sad story rather than one of retribution. The opinions of a few jealous coaches shouldn't have an effect on how an 18-year old carries herself. If Semenya wants to wear dresses then she should. But if she wants to run around in track suits, what's the problem with that?

The coach who resigned wasn't Semenya's personal coach, but a middle distance supervisor on the South African team who was ashamed that Semenya was kept in the dark about the growing controversy. Wilfred Daniels said he was told the issue was supposed to stay private.

Found at: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Embattled-track-star-Caster-Semenya-gets-new-coa?urn=oly,187999

49ers running QB tradition into the ground

2009-08-27T20:45:00.000-07:00

Today’s column is about the 49er offense, such as it is. But first I want to talk about bread. That’s right, bread.

We have a tradition around here. We love our sourdough bread and we have the best sourdough in the world. If a dictator came in – OK, I’m pretending – and said sourdough is out and from now on Northern Californians can eat only rye or whole wheat or, heaven help us, pumpernickel, the population would revolt.

As it should. You don’t mess with tradition, especially a tradition unique to this part of the country.

The 49ers and their quarterbacks are the same as Northern California and sourdough. They share an identity and a tradition. There’s really no need to document the case re: the 49ers and QBs — just think Montana, Young, Brodie, Tittle and leave it at that.

And now we have the current 49ers regime. Specifically, we have offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye explaining the diminished, degraded, laughable role of the quarterback — Shaun Hill — in the so-called new, improved Niner scheme of things.

Raye: “This deal is 21 (running back Frank Gore). This ballpark is going to be run by No. 21. The guy that’s running the ship at the quarterback position — and for both of them, that is why the competition was what it was — it was never going to be that the lead dog in this race was going to be the quarterback.”

I’ll get back to Raye’s speech in a minute, although I’m completely confused how a dog can run a ship. I know some dogs are smart, especially border collies, but not THAT smart.

What Raye said was inflammatory. It’s like he was spitting on sourdough. He sure was disrespecting 49er football tradition – a pretty good tradition as football traditions go.

To paraphrase, he declared the quarterback chump, Hill or Alex Smith, always was perceived as a bit player in the Niner drama, a mere sidekick to the running back. The quarterback mostly will be a glorified hander-offer. Think of him as a turnstile.

He spins, faces Gore, hands off and gets the hell out of the way while Gore runs up the middle to the grunting sounds of offensive linemen.

This is what the Niners call an offense?

More Raye: “The bell cow in this operation will be No.21.”

So now the dog is a cow. Make up your mind, Jimmy.

Sorry. Back to Raye’s dog/cow riff.

“The quarterback’s job is to make sure we get that done (the handoff) and play within himself and make the plays available to him. It wasn’t from the beginning to tailor it so we would see the quarterback and do what his strengths were as our lead. That wasn’t the way it was.”

Now he tells us. Silly me, I thought something important was at stake in that quarterback competition that dragged on for months. Now I know different.

It feels like an outsider just came in and changed everything.

This someone — Mike Singletary, Raye, whoever — has no feel for our region and what made 49ers football special. This guy is doing violence to our tradition and trying to sell us on banana bread, or Chicago Bears smash-mouth football, whatever.

So, let’s talk football reality. What happens when the running game doesn’t work? Believe me, one day the Niners will meet a bigger, stronger team — it always happens. And the offensive line won’t open holes for Gore and the running game won’t go anywhere. Then they’ll have to fall back on the guy who is not the lead dog or the bell cow who has little experience at steering the ship.

I see problems looming. Icebergs anyone? I also see problems with Gore. Terrific little back. Yes, little. He’s 5-9. Last year he missed two games — ankle. In 2007 he missed one game — ankle. In 2006 he was OK, but in 2005 he missed two games — groin.

You see where I’m going with this. Gore gets bounced around and crunched and sometimes he can’t play. The Niners better have a PlanB. This plan needs to involve the quarterback. The quarterback will have to lead the offense. Sometimes he will have to win a game by himself, with or without Gore.

If Singletary and Raye and general manager Scot McCloughan didn’t think Hill or Smith could be the top dog (a schnauzer?) or lead cow (a Guernsey?), they should have acquired a better one in the offseason. But they didn’t.

Which means, if this running back thing doesn’t work, the 49ers are toast.

Source: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090826/NEWS/908269895/1057/SPORTS0908?Title=49ers-running-QB-tradition-into-the-ground

In runner's village, no doubts on her gender

2009-08-20T17:56:00.000-07:00

FAIRLIE, South Africa – She wore pants instead of a skirt to school, played soccer with the boys and was teased about her masculine looks.

Caster Semenya learned to ignore the taunts. She ran alone across a landscape of high grasses dotted with rocky hills.

She came almost out of nowhere to win the world championship in the 800 meters Wednesday in Berlin, far and away the fastest woman on the track.

Or was she?

Her time of 1 minute, 55.45 seconds was more than 2 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, but now Semenya's gender is the subject of an international investigation.

Even before Berlin, track officials were taking a closer look at the 18-year-old runner, following her performance last month at an international meet where she improved her personal bests in the 800 and 1,500 meters by huge margins.

Her family is outraged at suggestions that Semenya, who has a muscular build and a deep voice, isn't a woman.

"That's how God made her," Semenya's cousin, Evelyn Sekgala, told The Associated Press. "We brought her up in a way that when people start making fun of her, she shouldn't get upset."

Her father, Jacob, has no doubts.

"She is my little girl. ... I raised her and I have never doubted her gender," he told the Sowetan newspaper. "She is a woman and I can repeat that a million times."

Added her paternal grandmother, Maputhi Sekgala: "What can I do when they call her a man, when she's really not a man?

"It is God who made her look that way," she told the South African daily The Times.

Muriel Mkele, 16, remembers how her sister would run for miles on dirt roads in this dry corner of Africa, usually alone because no one could keep up with her as she breezed past low, thorny trees.

Semenya's former headmaster said he thought for years that she was a boy.

"She was always rough and played with the boys," Eric Modiba, head of the Nthema Secondary School, told South Africa's Beeld newspaper. "She liked soccer and she wore pants to school. She never wore a dress. It was only in grade 11 that I realized she's a girl."

The International Amateur Athletic Federation asked the South African athletic federation to conduct the gender test after Semenya burst onto the scene by posting a world-leading time of 1:56.72 in the 800 at the African junior championships in Bambous, Mauritius, on July 31. Her previous best was 2:00.58.

The test, which takes weeks to complete, requires a physical medical evaluation, and includes reports from a gynecologist, endocrinologist, psychologist, an internal medicine specialist and an expert on gender.

At the medal ceremony Thursday in Berlin, Semenya waved to the crowd as she ascended the podium. She bowed as she received her gold medal and mouthed the words to the South African national anthem.

Asked how she felt as she walked into the ceremony, Semenya smiled and said, "Good, man."

She did not attend the medal winners' news conference and was replaced at the dais by IAAF general secretary Pierre Weiss, who said the testing was ordered because of "ambiguity, not because we believe she is cheating."

"We have to be very scrupulously fair and sensitive about" the issue, IAAF spokesman Nick Davies said. "It's all very well people saying she's a man, she looks like a man — that's not good enough. You have to be very careful and cautious about that."

Gender testing used to be mandatory for female athletes at the Olympics, but the screenings were dropped in 1999. One reason for the change was not all women have standard female chromosomes. In addition, there are cases of people who have ambiguous genitalia or other congenital conditions.

The most common cause of sexual ambiguity is congenital adrenal hyperplasia, an endocrine disorder where the adrenal glands produce abnormally high levels of hormones.

Semenya's family was pleased she took up sports instead of drinking and partying like many other teenagers. A teacher got her interested in running, and her grandmother gave her money to enter races.

When she was about 13, Semenya's parents sent her from Ga-Masehlong to the nearby village of Fairlie to help care for her grandmother. Semenya's sister still lives in Ga-Masehlong. In the family's concrete-walled, tin-roofed home, she retrieved a plastic shopping bag containing a tangle of ribbons and medals, most of them gold, won by her sister. Muriel didn't have to count when asked how many there were, firmly declaring: "39."

Despite Semenya's medals from local races, she is fairly new to international track and field.

Shirley Rammabi, who lives in Ga-Masehlong, said Semenya is an inspiration to young people in the village and that no one there questioned her gender even though it was unusual for a girl to be so interested in sports.

"The people from this place, they know her very well. They've known her since" — Rammabi broke off, putting her hand at the height of a toddler.

As questions mounted in Berlin, South Africans leapt to Semenya's defense. The ruling African National Congress party called on South Africans to "rally behind our golden girl."

"We condemn the motives of those who have made it their business to question her gender due to her physique and running style. Such comments can only serve to portray women as being weak," the ANC said in a statement.

South African athletics federation president Leonard Chuene insisted Semenya is facing intense scrutiny because she is African.

"It would not be like that if it were some young girl from Europe," Chuene told the AP by telephone. "If it was a white child, she would be sitting somewhere with a psychologist, but this is an African child."

The Congress of South African Trade Unions said it "rejects with contempt the attempts by those who tried to undermine her success by raising bogus and groundless queries about her gender."

Gideon Sam, the president of South Africa's Olympic governing body, congratulated Semenya on a "truly remarkable achievement."

"We condemn the way she was linked with such media speculation and allegation, especially on a day she ran in the final of her first major world event," Sam said. "It's the biggest day of her life."

Morris Gilbert, a media consultant for TuksSport, the University of Pretoria's sports department, said the issue of Semenya's gender was never raised at the school, where she is a freshman studying sports science.

"We are all very proud of her and of what she's achieved," Gilbert said. "The university stands behind her all the way."

He attributed her 800-meter victory to hard work and rigorous training.

"She trains a lot," Gilbert said. "If you go to the athletics track, you're sure to find her there."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090820/ap_on_re_af/af_semenya_s_village

Heavyweight orbits cross in St. Louis

2009-06-07T20:29:00.000-07:00

ST. LOUIS – Brett Rogers’ new mixed martial arts gym in Eagan, Minn., is named Ambition MMA, an appropriate moniker for a place that houses a guy looking to move to the top of the heavyweight division.

There is little doubt what the future holds for the undefeated Rogers, who scored a spectacular first-round knockout of former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight king Andrei Arlovski Saturday on a Strikeforce card at the Scottrade Center.

More serious questions surround the future of Arlovski, who has now been knocked out in each of his last two fights.

Arlovski, the former UFC heavyweight champion, is good enough to beat the majority of the world’s heavyweights. He doesn’t look like a guy, though, who is prepared to beat the elite men in the important bouts.

Rogers needed just 22 seconds to dispose of Arlovski on Saturday. He blasted the Belarusian with a left hook that sent the popular former champ staggering back into the cage. Rogers finished him with a flurry of punches, including a left-right-left combination that nearly left Arlovski’s head spinning like a top.

Rogers, the one-time Sam’s Club employee, guaranteed himself another high-profile bout with the nationally televised victory. He may get a shot at Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem on an Aug. 15 card that also features a women’s showdown between Gina Carano and Cris “Cyborg” Santos.

“I’m ready for whatever, man,” Rogers said after improving to 10-0 with his ninth knockout. “I was planning on picking that (heavyweight title) up today, but it was kind of pushed back. I hope he’s keeping that belt good and clean for me.”

Arlovski is only 30 years old, and there’s no reason he couldn’t continue to fight at a high level for four or five more years. But when a man has scaled the heights that Arlovski has, it’s often difficult to accept being a middle-of-the-pack guy.

That’s what Arlovski appears to be at this stage. He was knocked out by Fedor Emelianenko in Anaheim, Calif., in January and suffered a similar fate on Saturday to a man with a far less impressive résumé than Emelianenko.

Many fighters who get knocked out as hard as Arlovski was by Emelianenko are never truly able to take a hard shot again.

It’s hard to question Arlovski’s chin on Saturday because the punches Rogers hit him with were powerful enough to knock down a schoolyard wall. The psychological effect, though, of another knockout loss figures to have a far more lasting impact than the physical damage sustained.

Rogers, though, inflicted plenty of that. He made little pretense of what he intended to do and then simply went out and overpowered Arlovski.

“He wasn’t moving much,” Rogers said.

That’s probably because the first clean punch Rogers landed, a left hook to the cheek, appeared to put Arlovski out on his feet. He was back against the cage when Rogers waded in firing heavy shots, forcing referee John McCarthy to jump in and stop the carnage after Arlovski dropped to the mat.

“I wanted to show everyone I’m not in there to play around,” Rogers said.

If he gets past Overeem in August, he’ll have positioned himself to fight the biggest names available. Though Rogers’ record isn’t filled with big names, he’s only been out of the first round once in 10 fights, and that has to count for something. You can bet that the Showtime television executives have taken note of that.

What clouds Arlovski’s future is that those same executives undoubtedly were carefully watching his last two outings. Because of his past he commands big money, but fighters who make big money in MMA do it by fighting top-shelf competition.

But after back-to-back crushing knockouts, it’s doubtful Arlovski is going to get another fight of similar magnitude anytime soon.

He was so confident of a victory on Saturday that he’d already agreed to a boxing match on June 27 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. That, too, went out the window when he got knocked out by Rogers.

Arlovski’s boxing handlers were excited by his potential and believed he had the skills to compete for a title. His confidence, though, is now as shattered as his chin.

Rogers has no such issues. His confidence soared with the career-defining win over Arlovski, and his prospects are exceedingly bright.

Rogers hasn’t proven he has a ground game, though the other way to look at is that he hasn’t needed to. If he keeps knocking guys out, he won’t have to worry about his ground skills.

He began training in his spare time while he worked in the tire department at a Minnesota Sam’s Club. He finally decided earlier this year to give the job up for good so he could concentrate on MMA full-time.

It clearly looked like a good move on Saturday, though Rogers doesn’t want to get caught up in the hype.

“I’m not the only guy who started in the working world,” Rogers said. “This was a perfect opportunity and this sport is all about timing. Definitely this is my time and I’m just going to keep on working.”

The only difference between now and six months ago is that he can do his work in a spiffy new gym and doesn’t have to worry about throwing tires around in an auto shop.

It’s the guy he beat on Saturday who might have to think about getting a job.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news?slug=ki-rogerswins060709&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Chicagoland Power Closing Its Doors

2009-04-06T14:49:00.000-07:00

A suburban Catholic school football team near Chicago that won seven consecutive state football titles won't win another – but it won't be because of anything that has happened on the field.

Driscoll had a run of success in Illinois football.

Driscoll Catholic High School in Addison, Ill., is closing its doors, the Christian Brothers of the Midwest announced Thursday, because of falling enrollment and finances. The school, which opened in 1966, had seen its enrollment drop from 465 students in 2003-04 to 303 this year. A student body of 270 was projected for next year.

The Christian Brothers of the Midwest is a religious order with schools around the world. Brother Kevin Convey, director of education, characterized the decision as "very, very difficult," particularly given the school's success on the field.

The Highlanders won seven consecutive Class 4A state championships under two different coaches before losing Nov. 15 in the quarterfinals to undefeated Aurora Christian, which lost in the state final. Driscoll finished 9-3 this season after going 92-6 during its seven-year run.

Convey blamed the school's plunging population on the nation's economic recession, which made it harder for families to afford the school's nearly $8,000 annual tuition. Local elementary schools that have fed students into the pipeline also have seen a decline in enrollments. As for staff members and coaches, "We will do what we can to assist them to find other positions in other Catholic schools," he said.

The news was difficult for former players and coaches to hear. David Schwabe, last season's quarterback who is now playing baseball at the University of St. Francis in Aurora, Ill., was sitting in his accounting class when he received a text message about the news.

"Actually, I cried, to tell you the truth," he said.

Schwabe, whose father, David, was the freshman football and basketball coach and whose brother, Steve, quarterbacked the team this year, said he and his high school teammates have been exchanging phone calls sharing their thoughts and memories – "how we walked into that school as boys and came out as men."

Schwabe credited the team's winning streak to its coaches, starting with Gene Nudo, who started the winning tradition with the team's first state championship in 1992.

Six players from that team were coaches during Schwabe's four-year championship run from 2004-07. The coach and winner of the first four championships was Tim Racki.

"Racki just had this demeanor about him that, 'We work hard every day, and we may not be the biggest, the fastest, the strongest, but we'll be the smartest,' " Schwabe said. "And he never took anything for granted."

Schwabe, who rotated in and out at safety as a freshman and started at quarterback as a senior, said the coaches spent hours watching film, changed offensive schemes every week, and always had the players ready. A favorite memory of his was stuffing a fourth-and-1 in the conference championships in 2007 against Montini Catholic High School in Lombard, Ill., which, unlike Driscoll, had several Big Ten recruits. Both teams were 13-0. Recognizing the offensive set, Schwabe blitzed up the middle and stopped the run, and the Highlanders went on to win, 13-7.

Mike Burzawa, who coached the team for its last three championships before moving on to coach at Evanston Township High School, credited the players. Only three or four players during the championship run have gone on to play at Football Bowl Subdivision (i.e., Division I-A) schools.

"I think it was just the kids were unselfish," he said. "We didn't care who got the credit, as long as the job got done. The players, they played like their hair was on fire week in and week out."

For Burzawa, the closing of the school is a personal loss. He was on the team that won the first state championship, and he also played on that year's state champion baseball team.

"It's a very sad day for the Highlander family," he said. "Driscoll's been a great place for me personally because many of my best friends today are people I met when I was in high school."

Source: http://highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=932536

Browns WR Stallworth hits, kills Fla. pedestrian

2009-03-14T13:39:00.000-07:00

In this Nov. 6, 2008 file photo, Cleveland Browns Donte Stallworth in action against the Denver Broncos in an NFL football game in Cleveland. Police in Miami Beach say Stallworth has hit and killed a pedestrian with his Bentley, who was crossing the busy causeway that links downtown Miami with Miami Beach the morning of Saturday March 14, 2009.

MIAMI (AP)—Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte Stallworth hit and killed a pedestrian with his Bentley on Saturday morning on a busy causeway linking Miami and Miami Beach, police said.

Stallworth was headed toward the beach when he hit a 49-year-old man around 7 a.m., said Miami Beach police spokesman Juan Sanchez. The unidentified pedestrian was taken to a nearby trauma center, where he was pronounced dead about an hour later. He was near a crosswalk but it’s not clear if he was crossing legally.

Stallworth, 28, was cooperating and no charges have been filed, Sanchez said. Officers drew blood to test for drugs or alcohol, which is routine, but police said it was too early to tell if Stallworth was impaired or violating traffic laws. Police would not say where he was coming from or where he was headed.

Miami-Dade County property records show Stallworth owns two condos in a building on Biscayne Boulevard in Miami not far from the causeway and another condo in a different building in Miami.

A message seeking comment was left on the voicemail of his agent, Drew Rosenhaus.

The Browns said in a statement they were aware of what happened.

“We understand the seriousness of this situation, but will not have any further comment at this time as this is an ongoing investigation,” the team said.

Stallworth signed a seven-year, $35 million contract with the Browns as a free agent before last season but hardly played because he was hurt. He was due a $4.75 million signing bonus Friday.

Stallworth, who previously played for New England, Philadelphia and New Orleans, finished last season with just 17 catches for 170 yards. He was slowed all season by a nagging hamstring injury and made just seven starts for the Browns.

Stallworth had his best season with the Saints in 2005, when he made a career-high 70 receptions for 945 yards and seven touchdowns. He was drafted in the first round (No. 13 overall) by the Saints in 2002. Stallworth played his college ball at Tennessee.

AP Sports Writer Tom Withers in Cleveland contributed to this report.

Found at: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-stallworth-pedestriankilled&prov=ap&type=lgns

Agent: 2 NFL players among Fla. missing boaters

2009-03-01T12:32:00.000-08:00

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP)—Detroit Lions defensive end Corey Smith and Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper were among four boaters missing Sunday off Florida’s Gulf Coast, the Coast Guard and Smith’s agent said.

Smith and Cooper were on a 21-foot vessel that left Clearwater Pass on Saturday morning for a fishing trip and did not return as expected, the Coast Guard said Sunday. Crews used a helicopter and a 47-foot motor-life boat to search a 750-square mile area west of Clearwater Pass on Sunday.

Smith owned the boat and he and Cooper had been on fishing trips before, said Ron Del Duca, Smith’s agent. The pair had been teammates on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2004.

Smith, 29, had 30 tackles, including three sacks, and an interception in 12 games last season for the winless Lions. Smith, who is 6-foot-2, 250 pounds, also played for the San Francisco 49ers and played college ball at North Carolina State.

Del Duca called Smith one of the “good guys” of the league and was planning to start visiting teams as a free agent this week. He said he has spoken with Smith’s family and is also in touch with Coast Guard officials.

“They’ve assured me that they’re deploying all available resources to look for these guys and get them back,” he said.

Cooper, 26, has played sparingly in five seasons with the Buccaneers, Seahawks, Jaguars, Steelers and Raiders. Cooper, who is 6-foot-3, 230 pounds, played college ball at Washington.

Rick Davis, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tampa, said seas were about 2 to 4 feet Saturday morning and increased to 3 to 5 feet in the afternoon. Late Saturday night, a small craft advisory was issued, when winds were around 20 knots and seas were up to 7 feet or more. There were no thunderstorms in the area.

Davis said the water was “extremely rough and choppy” on Sunday afternoon.

Lions spokesman Bill Keenist said he had heard Smith was aboard a missing boat but hadn’t been able to confirm it.

“We’re aware of the media reports,” Keenist said Sunday afternoon. “We’re trying to find out what we can.”

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-missingboaters-nfl&prov=ap&type=lgns

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Doctor: Boater’s survival a ‘miracle’

TAMPA, FLORIDA (TICKER) —The attending physician for the lone survivor of a boating mishap off Florida’s Gulf Coast said it was a “miracle” that his patient withstood the 46-hour ordeal.

Nick Schuyler, a former football player at South Florida, was in “good condition” Wednesday, two days after he was plucked from the sea while clinging to an overturned fishing boat.

“To stay in the water for 46 hours, to be alive, I think is a miracle,” Dr. Mark Rumbak said during a Wednesday morning press briefing.

Three men, including two NFL players, were presumed dead after the Coast Guard announced it was suspending its rescue efforts at 6:30 p.m. EST on Tuesday.

Free agent defensive end Corey Smith, Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper and former South Florida football player Will Bleakley also were aboard the boat that capsized in rough seas on Saturday night.

The Coast Guard ended its search approximately 30 hours after Schuyler was rescued at 12:30 p.m. on Monday. Dr. Rumbak said he didn’t think Schuyler could have lasted another five to 10 hours in the ocean.

“But if you asked me to predict, I don’t think he could have lasted 46 hours,” Rumbak said. “I can’t explain it, (it’s) some divine providence.”

Schuyler, wearing a yellow life vest, was discovered perched atop the capsized boat approximately 38 miles west of Tampa Bay. He was rushed via helicopter to Tampa General Hospital, where he was listed in serious condition.

Rumbak said one key to survival is the physical condition of Schuyler, who is a personal trainer, and also credited his mental toughness.

“Extremely important. This guy is very tough mentally,” Rumbak said. “Even so, being in the water that long saps the energy you have.

“I think if he didn’t have that type of background, I don’t think he would have made it.”

Rumbak said the 24-year-old Schuyler was suffering from moderate hypothermia with a body temperature of 89 degrees when he was pulled from the water.

Schuyler also has significant muscular damage, some kidney issues along with pain in his knees and ankles, which will be checked by an orthopedic surgeon on Wednesday. Rumbak attributed some of the sustained trauma from repeatedly knocking up against the boat.

Rumbak declined to say when Schuyler would be released from the hospital, although he could get out of intensive care unit in the next few days and possibly leave the hospital by the end of the week.

According to the doctor, Schuyler was in much better spirits and likely was aware of Tuesday’s turn of events, although he acknowledged that the patient may not have fully grasped the magnitude of the ordeal.

Late Tuesday afternoon, the Coast Guard announced it would suspend its search after exhaustive efforts turned up no evidence of survivors.

“We’re extremely confident that if there were any survivors on the surface of the water, we would have found them,” Coast Guard captain Timothy Close said.

Smith, who spent this past season with the Detroit Lions, and Cooper were teammates with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the 2004 campaign.

Smith, 29, appeared in 12 games with the Lions this past season, his seventh in the NFL. The Richmond, Virginia native has played 62 career games with Detroit, San Francisco and Tampa Bay, recording 8 1/2 sacks.

Cooper, 26, played in eight games with the Raiders last year. A native of Mesa, Arizona, he has played in 42 career games over parts of five seasons with seven different teams.

Schuyler told rescuers that the boat, which belonged to Cooper, was anchored when it flipped over Saturday evening. Schuyler claimed that all four men clung to the vessel for at least 12 hours Sunday night before Smith, Cooper and Bleakley drifted away.

After receiving the report of the missing boat early Sunday morning, the Coast Guard began its search.

According to a statement released Sunday by the Coast Guard, the boat left Clearwater Pass at approximately 6:30 a.m. on Saturday morning and did not return at its scheduled time later in the day.

The boat was reported missing at about 1:30 a.m.

Close said the Coast Guard covered 24,000 square miles in an exhaustive search for the men, conducting 50 missions in the 60-plus hours since they were reported missing.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=txnflplayersmissing&prov=st&type=lgns

Police cite Steelers kicker for restroom tantrum

2009-02-15T07:50:00.000-08:00

PITTSBURGH (AP)—Pittsburgh Steelers kicker Jeff Reed is in trouble with the police over some towels, but not the Terrible kind waved by his fans.

Pennsylvania state police say Reed threw a temper tantrum at a Sheetz convenience store in New Alexandria, a tiny borough about 35 miles east of Pittsburgh, because its restroom didn’t have any towels.

Reed has been cited for disorderly conduct and criminal mischief, offenses similar to traffic tickets that carry a maximum fine of $300 and 90 days in jail each. Police said he broke the towel dispenser then used profane language to an employee and also outside the store.

“Reed caused damage to a towel dispenser as he was infuriated at the fact that there were no towels in it,” according to a news release by Trooper Shawn Askins, who issued the citations. The incident occurred Saturday about 2:50 a.m.

A message left on an answering machine at Reed’s home was not immediately returned.

Steelers spokesman Dave Lockett said the team wouldn’t have any immediate comment.

“We’re still gathering information right now,” Lockett said Saturday.

Reed made 27 of 31 field goals and 36 of 37 PATs for 117 points in his seventh season with the Steelers, which was capped by Pittsburgh’s 27-23 win over the Arizona Cardinals in the Super Bowl.

Reed has made nearly 83 percent of his field goals (162 of 196) and scored 733 points for the Steelers in his career.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-steelers-toweltantrum&prov=ap&type=lgns

Where will Michael Vick play football in 2009?

2009-02-14T19:52:00.000-08:00

The Atlanta Falcons announced this week that they were looking to trade the rights to Michael Vick, who is indefinitely suspended from the NFL and currently imprisoned for his role in a dogfighting operation. In essence, they want somebody to give them something in return for their massively overvalued, damaged product. Good luck with that.

It's not even a guarantee that Vick will be back in the NFL in 2009. Roger Goodell has said he won't consider reinstatement until Vick's legal obligations are settled, and that might not be until July. Plus, it's Goodell and he likes to drag things out, so don't expect a quick decision on Vick's future.

If Vick does get reinstated, it is still difficult to imagine that there will be too many teams lining up to give away draft picks in order to get a guy who's been in prison for the past 18 months and is due to get $15 million in 2009 from his current contract. More likely, teams will wait for Atlanta to release Vick, thus enabling them to sign him to a new, more logical deal.

Assuming that all these things happen, what's the most likely destination for Vick in 2009? Shutdown Corner lists the five most likely spots:

1) Oakland -- Other locales might make more football sense, but Vick landing in Oakland make the most overall sense. The Raiders are irrelevant, Al Davis won't care about the negative press and a good number of Oakland fans can relate to Vick's status as an ex-con. JaMarcus Russell is already there at QB, but that's just semantics.

2) Seattle -- Former Falcons coaches Jim Mora and Gregg Knapp are now running the show in Seattle. With Matt Hasselbeck possibly on his way out, this could be a good fit for Vick.

3) San Francisco -- Shaun Hill and J.T. O'Sullivan may not be the answers.

4) Minnesota -- The Vikings are a quarterback away from being a true contender in the NFC, so they seem like the most logical landing spot for Vick. But Vick isn't a Drew Brees-type who can be easily dropped into a pre-existing system, he's the kind of guy whom the system has to be built around. Also, the team is in a battle to get public funding for a new stadium and bringing in a social pariah like Vick may not be the best way to win support for a stadium plan that's already questionable in this economy.

5) New York Jets -- The Jets have said they aren't interested in acquiring Michael Vick. They weren't interested in trading for Brett Favre either.

Honorable Mention: Washington -- If you think Dan Snyder hasn't called up Jim Zorn in the middle of the night at least once this month to bounce off some ideas about how Michael Vick could help the Redskins, then you don't know Danny.

Not listed: Detroit (even Michael Vick has standards), Tampa Bay (unlikely that a new coach and GM would begin careers with Vick at QB) and Kansas City (ditto).

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Where-will-Michael-Vick-play-football-in-2009-?urn=nfl,141488

Jeremy Lusk dies at 24; freestyle motocross star

2009-02-10T17:47:00.000-08:00

Nicknamed 'Pitbull' because of his tenacity on a motorcycle, Lusk is believed to be the first pro rider to have died from injuries sustained in an FMX contest.

Jeremy Lusk, star of a daredevil sport known as freestyle motocross and a popular action sports hero, died early Tuesday from head injuries suffered during a crash Saturday at a competition in San Jose, Costa Rica. He was 24.

Lusk, a Temecula resident, had been in a medically induced coma, with swelling of the brain, at Calderon Guardia Hospital in San Jose. A spokesman at the hospital said he suffered severe brain damage and a possible spinal cord injury.

Nicknamed "Pitbull" because of his tenacity on a motorcycle, Lusk was injured after failing to fully rotate a back-flip variation while soaring over a 100-foot jump.

He slammed headfirst into the dirt on the landing ramp's down-slope. It was reminiscent of a similar crash he endured while attempting the same trick during the 2007 X Games at the Home Depot Center in Carson, but Lusk walked away from that incident.

The trick involves extending the body away from the motorcycle and grabbing the seat as the motorcycle is upside down, then pulling back aboard as the motorcycle is righted before landing. Lusk clearly had trouble getting back on the seat, and some witnesses said swirling winds within San Jose's Ricardo Saprissa Stadium may have been a factor.

Despite the danger associated with freestyle motocross, Lusk is believed to be the first pro rider to have died from injuries suffered in an FMX contest, though several have incurred serious injuries.

Lusk, who was born San Diego in 1984 and had been riding motorcycles since he was 3, turned pro at 19. He was coming off his most successful year.

He won his first X Games gold medal in the freestyle motocross competition last summer at the Home Depot Center, and won a silver medal in the FMX best-trick contest.

Also in 2008, Lusk won two gold medals in an X Games Mexico competition; he finished third in the Dew Tour series standings, and he was never lower than fourth in a string of high-level international events.

The X-Knights competition Saturday in Costa Rica was not affiliated with the X Games.

Of Lusk, X Games General Manager Chris Stiepock said: "He was really starting to emerge as one of the premier freestyle motocross riders in the world.

"He was a great kid and a great athlete. I think he represented his sport very well. He was very passionate about what he did, and I think it's a great loss for the freestyle motocross community for sure."

Stiepock said he did not believe the increasingly risky maneuvers attempted by freestyle motocross riders have pushed the sport over the line. "I think there's a whole lot more that can be done with freestyle motocross, and we're going to continue to feature it strongly at the X Games," he said.

Lusk was on a team of star FMX riders called Metal Mulisha, founded by the sport's most iconic figure, Brian Deegan.

Deegan was in Costa Rica and unavailable for comment but released a statement through his publicist: "Jeremy motivated me to be a better person; he was my best friend. The bond of this team is one that will never be broken."

Lusk is survived by his wife, Lauren, and his parents, who were with him when he died.

Memorial services are pending. The Jeremy Lusk Trust Fund has been set up within the Athlete Recovery Fund. Donations can be made via the website athleterecoveryfund.com.

Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-jeremy-lusk11-2009feb11,0,848599.story

Here is an old Youtube video from 2007:
Jeremy Lusk crashes doing hart attack indian air backflip

14-times Olympic gold medal winner Michael Phelps caught with cannabis pipe

2009-02-08T15:28:00.000-08:00

THIS is the astonishing picture which could destroy the career of the greatest competitor in Olympic history.

In our exclusive photo Michael Phelps, who won a record EIGHT gold medals for swimming at the Beijing games last summer, draws from a bong.

The glass pipes are generally used to smoke cannabis.

And after sporting chiefs announced laws which mean four-year bans for drug-taking, Phelps’ dreams of adding to his overall 14 gold medal tally at the 2012 games in London could already be OVER.

Those dreams seemed the last thing on his mind when he puffed from the bong during two days of partying with students last November, a quiet time in the swimming calendar when athletes would not expect to get tested for drugs.

One party-goer who witnessed the star’s behaviour told the News of the World: “He was out of control from the moment he got there.

“If he continues to party like that I’d be amazed if he ever won any more medals again.”

Phelps’ aides went into a panic over our story and offered us a raft of extraordinary incentives not to run the bong picture.

It was on November 6, weeks after his Beijing triumph, that 23-year-old Phelps surprised students at the University Of South Carolina in Columbia by showing up unannounced at a house party.

He was visiting Jordan Matthews, a girl he was secretly seeing who was a student there.

Our source revealed: “Michael came to visit Jordan but ended up just getting wasted every night.

“He arrived with a group of girls hanging all over him. Jaws hit the floor when he walked in. You don’t get many celebrities in Columbia, so when Phelps comes to your party it’s a very big deal.

Obnoxious

“He didn’t know many people so you’d think he’d be a little shy. But he was loud, obnoxious and slamming beers from the get-go.

“Every girl wanted a piece of him and every guy wanted to be his best buddy. He couldn’t get enough of all the attention.”

As he basked in his hero status, Phelps knocked back beers and shots of spirits. And when a student offered him the glass bong engraved with red writing, he did not hesitate, says our source.

The 6ft 4ins athlete, in a white T-shirt and navy cap worn back to front, clasped the device in his huge hands and inhaled deeply.

Our source said: “You could tell Michael had smoked before. He grabbed the bong and a lighter and knew exactly what to do.

“He looked just as natural with a bong in his hands as he does swimming in the pool. He was the gold medal winner of bong hits. Michael ended up getting a little paranoid, though, because before too long he looked like he was nervous and ran out of the place.”

But the next night, Phelps was out partying again. The source added: “He was right back at it at Pavlov’s bar.

“Like the night before he was holding court, throwing back shots two at a time and pouring drinks to every cute girl.”

Drink has got Phelps into trouble before. In 2004, aged 19, he got 18 months probation for driving while under the influence.

His wild behaviour is in stark contrast to the grim regime which took him to the top of his sport.

He once described his life, saying: “All you do is eat, sleep, swim; eat, sleep, swim; eat, sleep, swim.”

Last night Phelps’ management team and the sporting world closed ranks over the scandal.

Taint

The US Olympics Committee, who have pledged to clamp down on drug use, refused to comment, as did USA Swimming and Phelps’ coach Bob Bowman.

More surprising still was the World Anti-Doping Agency’s refusal to comment, given that they introduced the four-year ban on sport’s drug users.

Phelps, who earned £4million last year in endorsements, has resumed training for the 2012 games.

But there were fears about his commitment when, weeks after the bong incident, he began dating former stripper Caroline Pal.

Phelps is represented by marketing giant Octagon, which works with huge brands such as Mastercard and HSBC. They admitted proven cannabis use would be “a major taint” on Phelps’ character.

Spokesman Clifford Bloxham offered us an extraordinary deal not to publish our story, saying Phelps would become our columnist for three years, host events and get his sponsors to advertise with us.

In return, he asked that we kill Phelps’ bong picture. Bloxham said: “It’s seeing if something potentially very negative for Michael could turn into something very positive for the News of the World.”

He stressed that the swimmer had taken 1,500 drug tests and never failed one.

Until now?

Source: http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/150832/14-times-Olympic-gold-medal-winner-Michael-Phelps-caught-with-bong-cannabis-pipe.html

Olympic hero Phelps issues apology over dope pipe photo

Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps has admitted “regrettable behaviour" and "bad judgement" after the News of the World published an exclusive photo showing him inhaling from a marijuana pipe.

In a statement released to The Associated Press, the swimmer, who won a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Games, did not dispute the authenticity of the exclusive picture.

“I engaged in behaviour which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgement,” Phelps said.

“I’m 23 years old and despite the successes I’ve had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public it will not happen again.”

Source: http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/157299/Olympic-hero-Phelps-acknowledges-marijuana-pipe-photo-is-authentic-and-issues-apology.html

School Seeks to Forfeit 100-0 Win

2009-01-23T14:53:00.001-08:00

DALLAS -- A Texas high school girls basketball team on the winning end of a 100-0 game has a case of blowout remorse.

Now officials from The Covenant School say they are trying to do the right thing by seeking a forfeit and apologizing for the margin of victory.

"It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened," Kyle Queal, the head of the school, said in a statement, adding the forfeit was requested because "a victory without honor is a great loss."

The private Christian school defeated Dallas Academy last week. Covenant was up 59-0 at halftime.

A parent who attended the game told The Associated Press that Covenant continued to make 3-pointers -- even in the fourth quarter. She praised the Covenant players but said spectators and an assistant coach were cheering wildly as their team edged closer to 100 points.

"I think the bad judgment was in the full-court press and the 3-point shots," said Renee Peloza, whose daughter plays for Dallas Academy. "At some point, they should have backed off."

Dallas Academy coach Jeremy Civello told The Dallas Morning News that the game turned into a "layup drill," with the opposing team's guards waiting to steal the ball and drive to the basket. Covenant scored 12 points in the fourth quarter and "finally eased up when they got to 100 with about four minutes left," he said.

Dallas Academy has eight girls on its varsity team and about 20 girls in its high school. It is winless over the last four seasons. The academy boasts of its small class sizes and specializes in teaching students struggling with "learning differences," such as short attention spans or dyslexia.

There is no mercy rule in girls basketball that shortens the game or permits the clock to continue running when scores become lopsided. There is, however, "a golden rule" that should have applied in this contest, said Edd Burleson, the director of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools. Both schools are members of this association, which oversees private school athletics in Texas.

"On a personal note, I told the coach of the losing team how much I admire their girls for continuing to compete against all odds," Burleson said. "They showed much more character than the coach that allowed that score to get out of hand. It's up to the coach to control the outcome."

In the statement on the Covenant Web site, Queal said the game "does not reflect a Christ-like and honorable approach to competition. We humbly apologize for our actions and seek the forgiveness of Dallas Academy, TAPPS and our community."

Covenant coach Micah Grimes did not immediately respond to a message left by The Associated Press on Thursday.

Queal said school officials met with Dallas Academy officials to apologize and praised "each member of the Dallas Academy Varsity Girls Basketball team for their strength, composure and fortitude in a game in which they clearly emerged the winner."

Civello said he appreciated the gesture and has accepted the apology "with no ill feelings."

At a shootaround Thursday, several Dallas Academy players said they were frustrated during the game but felt it was a learning opportunity. They also said they are excited about some of the attention they are receiving from the loss, including an invitation from Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to see an NBA game from his suite.

"Even if you are losing, you might as well keep playing," said Shelby Hyatt, a freshman on the team. "Keep trying, and it's going to be OK."

Peloza said the coach and other parents praised the Dallas Academy girls afterward for limiting Covenant to 12 points in the fourth quarter. She added that neither her daughter nor her teammates seemed to dwell on the loss.

"Somewhere during that game they got caught up in the moment," Peloza said of the Covenant players, fans and coaches. "Our girls just moved on. That's the happy part of the story."

Source: http://highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=903780

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Coach Says He's Not Sorry for 100-point Win

DALLAS — The coach of a Texas high school basketball team that beat another team 100-0 sent an e-mail to a newspaper saying he will not apologize "for a wide-margin victory when my girls played with honor and integrity."

On its Web site last week, the Covenant School of Dallas, a private Christian school, posted a statement regretting the outcome of its Jan. 13 shutout win over Dallas Academy. "It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened. This clearly does not reflect a Christlike and honorable approach to competition," said the statement, signed by Kyle Queal, head of school, and board chair Todd Doshier.

Covenant coach Micah Grimes, who has been criticized for letting the game get so far out of hand, made it clear in the e-mail Sunday to The Dallas Morning News that he does not agree with his school's assessment.

"In response to the statement posted on The Covenant School Web site, I do not agree with the apology or the notion that the Covenant School girls basketball team should feel embarrassed or ashamed," Grimes wrote in the e-mail, according to the newspaper. "We played the game as it was meant to be played. My values and my beliefs would not allow me to run up the score on any opponent, and it will not allow me to apologize for a wide-margin victory when my girls played with honor and integrity."

A phone number for Grimes could not be located by The Associated Press. The Dallas Morning News said Grimes did not respond to their repeated e-mail requests for a telephone interview.

Queal did not immediately return a phone message left at his home Sunday afternoon by the AP. There was no answer at a number listed for Doshier.

A parent who attended the game said Covenant continued to make 3-pointers— even in the fourth quarter. She praised the Covenant players but said spectators and an assistant coach were cheering wildly as their team edged closer to 100 points.

Covenant was up 59-0 at halftime.

Dallas Academy has eight girls on its varsity team and about 20 girls in its high school. It is winless over the last four seasons. The academy boasts of its small class sizes and specializes in teaching students struggling with "learning differences," such as short attention spans or dyslexia.

There is no mercy rule in girls basketball that shortens the game or permits the clock to continue running when scores become one-sided. There is, however, "a golden rule" that should have applied in this contest, said Edd Burleson, the director of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools, said last week. Both schools are members of this association, which oversees private school athletics in Texas.

The story has received national attention, and the Dallas Academy team has been recognized for refusing to give up during the lopsided contest.

Source: http://highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=904560

Vick wants to play, but what team would risk it?

2008-11-15T16:55:00.000-08:00

Michael Vick lives in a prison in Kansas, making 12 cents an hour while plotting his return to the NFL. His houses and farms will soon be gone, the two yachts are history, and he’s down to his last couple of Range Rovers.

A race horse he bought for $60,000 died of colic, the Atlanta Falcons are still trying to hit him up for millions they paid him, and the IRS and the state of Georgia want nearly $1 million in back taxes.

In 2006 he made nearly $15 million. Recently he reported total income of $12.89 for an entire month.

That’s $12.89 as in 12 dollars and 89 cents. This from someone who, before things went terribly bad, categorized a $1,000 check to his mother as “chump change.”

The numbers are cold, but they have to warm the heart of any animal lover sickened by what once went on at Vick’s Bad Newz Kennels. To many, seeing Vick stripped of the material things he and his fellow millionaire athletes like to enjoy is almost as good as watching him go to prison in the first place.

Best of all, the dogs who survived the terror of Vick’s dogfighting ring are having the last laugh.

They’re the stars of a recent National Geographic Channel television special. They live in comfort in a Utah ranch, thanks to $928,000 Vick agreed to contribute to finance their care.

And now they have their own wine.

Yes, there’s Meryl, looking anything but ferocious on a bottle of Syrah. And there’s Lewis, peeking out from the front of another Vicktory Dog bottle.

Maybe Vick can pick up a $40 bottle when he gets out of prison next July, assuming things go as planned. If he’s careful about not spending his prison earnings in the commissary, he could be paroled with enough to buy a couple of them.

He shouldn’t drink too much, though. Because he’s still got some football to play.

Buried in the hundreds of pages of paper detailing Vick’s financial woes the other day in federal bankruptcy court was the declaration that not only does Vick expect to be reinstated in the NFL upon his release but also believes he will “be able to earn a substantial living” playing quarterback once again.

Good luck with that.

Just what team he believes will employ him to do so wasn’t mentioned, but the Falcons are surely out. They severed their ties with the quarterback they once were sure would lead them to a Super Bowl and are now being led by a quarterback who has been so good in his rookie season that he just might.

Vick is supposed to be released July 20, so he could be out just in time for the opening of preseason camps. But how many teams are so desperate for a quarterback that they would risk the ire of PETA-types and other animal activists to sign an ex-con who admitted to doing some heinous things?

The other question is how much would they risk for a quarterback who has a career passing rating of 75.7, fumbles the ball once every 10 times he carries it, and hasn’t played a down in two years. Quarterbacks who could run were once the rage in the NFL, but most teams today look for the traditional pocket passer.

If a team did take a chance on Vick, it would likely be for little or no guaranteed money with incentives kicking in only if he produces—something that can never be certain in the NFL, where injuries and age can quickly take their toll. Even then, Vick won’t keep all his salary because under his bankruptcy plan he must pay part of any future earnings to creditors.

Indeed, Vick’s financial mess is as much a cautionary tale to his fellow athletes as his criminal woes are.

He has assets of $16 million but owes creditors $20.3 million. His attorneys had to hire forensic accountants to find out where the money went, $18 million of it over the last two years alone as Vick bounced from one business deal to another and seemed to hire financial advisers he met standing in line at the supermarket.

Flush with bonus money from the Falcons, Vick bought houses by the handful, invested in a rental car franchise in Atlanta and poured money into a liquor store and restaurant. He hired friends, gave away money and cars, and could never say no to his mother, who got $700 for an Easter Egg hunt one year and $317,000 for a new church building the next.

Now he sits in a prison in Kansas after a staggering and quick fall from the top. Once a favorite of fans who couldn’t buy enough of his No. 7 jerseys he’s now vilified and hated by millions who will never forgive the despicable things he and his buddies did to their dogs.

A comeback is still possible, but my guess is that this story will not end well. Upon his release from prison, the odds are Vick will spend more time dodging creditors than defensive linemen.

The dogs are a different story. Those that survived will live in comfort the rest of their lives.

And for that, we should all raise a glass of Lewis red in celebration.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-timdahlberg-111508&prov=ap&type=lgns

Elam's field goal with no time left lifts Falcons over Bears

2008-10-14T13:22:00.000-07:00

ATLANTA -- Jason Elam stood on the sideline with head bowed, figuring he had cost the Atlanta Falcons a win.

Then, a kickoff return and a quick pass gave him a second chance.

In the blink of an eye, he went from goat to hero.

Atoning for his miss a few minutes earlier, Elam booted a 48-yard field goal on the final play to give the Atlanta Falcons a stunning 22-20 victory over the Chicago Bears on Sunday.

"I've been in some wild games," said rookie quarterback Matt Ryan, "but I think this one trumps them all."

How wild?

In the last 8 minutes, there was a goal-line stand by the Falcons, an 85-yard kickoff return by Atlanta's Jerious Norwood, Elam's first missed field goal in 31 attempts, a gutty drive by the Bears that culminated with Kyle Orton's touchdown pass to Rashied Davis with 11 seconds remaining and, finally, Elam's winning kick after Ryan hooked up with Michael Jenkins on a 26-yard completion.

Whew.

"That is one of the most exciting games I've ever been in," first-year Atlanta coach Mike Smith said. "There were a lot of ebbs and flows."

The Falcons erupted in a playoff-like celebration near the middle of the field. Smith lifted Ryan in the air. Elam was swarmed over by his teammates, having atoned for the miss with his fifth field goal of the game, equaling his career high. He also connected from 29, 48, 32 and 41 yards.

Six games into what was supposed to be a rebuilding year, Atlanta (4-2) already has matched its win total from a forgettable 2007 season. Suddenly, the playoffs don't appear out of the question.

"I think this is going to do great things for our confidence and chemistry," Elam said. "Hopefully we can do something pretty special down the stretch."

Elam was really on the hook after hooking a 33-yard attempt wide left with 2:43 left, costing the Falcons an insurmountable nine-point lead.

The Bears took advantage, quickly driving down the field to go ahead for the first time in the game when Davis ran by Falcons cornerback Chris Houston to haul in Orton's perfectly thrown pass in the corner of the end zone. Robbie Gould booted through the extra point that gave Chicago a 20-19 lead.

But the surprising Falcons, coming off an upset of the Packers in Green Bay, weren't done. With many fans heading for the exits, Gould pooched the ensuing kickoff, and Harry Douglas managed a 10-yard return to the Atlanta 44.

Ryan, playing with the poise of a 10-year veteran, calmly threw a pass to Jenkins along the left sideline. The receiver made the catch in front of safety Mike Brown, got both feet down and tumbled out of bounds with 1 second left.

After a short delay to allow the officials to confirm on the replay that Jenkins' catch was good, Elam lined up for the winning kick. This one curled right through the uprights, clearing the crossbar with plenty to spare as the final second ticked off.

It was the 16th game-winning kick of Elam's career in the final 2 minutes of regulation or overtime, according to STATS Inc. Last year, he made four of them for the Broncos. Now, he's got his first one with the Falcons.

"I'm really happy it went through," Elam said with a smile that was more relief than jubilation.

It was a bitter loss for the first-place Bears (3-3), who appeared to have pulled off an improbable comeback of their own. Orton completed seven passes for 71 yards on Chicago's final drive and finished 26 of 43 for 286 yards.

"You have to play a full game," Orton said. "We didn't."

The Bears quarterback was trumped by Ryan, who has quickly made Atlanta fans forget Michael Vick. The No. 3 overall pick completed 22 of 31 for a career-best 301 yards, including a 3-yard scoring pass to Roddy White with 13:25 remaining after the Bears closed to 12-10 with the game's first touchdown.

White missed two days of practice during the week after taking a blow to the head, but he looked just fine on game day with nine catches for 112 yards.

Chicago drove within inches of the end zone, but Matt Forte was stuffed on fourth down as he attempted to leap across the line. Michael Boley came in low to trip up the runner, then Lawyer Milloy and Keith Brooking finished him off.

But Chicago drove back into position for Gould's second field goal, a 32-yarder with 4 minutes to go. On the ensuing kickoff, Norwood broke off a long return for the second week in a row.

But that big play was negated by Elam's miss, which snapped a streak of 30 straight field goals -- his last 15 attempts of the 2007 season, and his first 15 with the Falcons.

Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/recap?campaign=rss&gameId=281012001&source=ESPNHeadlines

Cherepanov dies during game in Russia

2008-10-13T19:01:00.000-07:00

Alexei Cherepanov, the New York Rangers' first pick (No. 17) in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, has died after suffering an apparent heart attack Monday during a game with Avangard Omsk, his club in the Kontinental Hockey League.

The 19-year-old Cherepanov had 8 goals and 13 points in 15 games this season, his third with Omsk.

Cherepanov had scored the game's first goal in what ended as a 5-4 loss for Omsk against Vityav Chekhov.

"We are extremely saddened by the tragic passing of Alexei," said Rangers General Manager Glen Sather. "On behalf of the New York Rangers organization, I would like to extend our deepest sympathies to his family. Alexei was an intelligent, energetic young man, with tremendous talent and an extremely bright future."

The Rangers had been hoping to bring Cherepanov to New York for the club's prospect evaluation camp or training camp, but with the lack of a formal transfer agreement between the NHL and International Ice Hockey Federation, Cherepanov remained in Russia, with the Rangers hoping to bring him over for the 2009-10 season.

"It (the Russian league) is not as physical as our hockey over here, but it's very skilled," Gordie Clark, the Rangers' director of player personnel, told NHL.com this summer. "It's a fast-moving, very skilled league, and he manages to continue scoring points in it."

Cherepanov was the top-ranked European skater heading into his draft year, and backed up his credentials with 29 points in 47 games with Omsk when it played in the Russian Super League. He had more points in his first year in the RSL than Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin and Ilya Kovalchuk, and his 18 goals in 2006-07 broke Pavel Bure's RSL rookie scoring record.

"He was close to a complete package," said Goran Stubb, NHL Director of European Scouting. "Very fast skater. He was a goal scorer and a passer.

"I think he could have been a big spectator favorite because he was that kind of player. Sometimes you could hardly notice him, but on one shift, he could do unbeliveable things with the puck -- passing, shooting, skating, extremely skillful. A finesse player with a capital 'F.'"

That he slipped to No. 17 in the draft was a major surprise, one the Rangers were extremely thankful for.

"There are going to be a lot of teams that say, 'Geez, I can't believe he was still there,' " Clark told the New York Daily News after the team picked Cherepanov." But we had him going way, way before this. The guy has got an incredible pair of hands and head on him."

Cherepanov represented Russia at numerous international tournaments. He was named the best forward at the 2007 World Junior Championships after he finished with a tournament-high 5 goals, and his 8 points led the Russian team in scoring and to the silver medal. He had 3 goals and 6 points in six games at the 2008 WJC as Russia won the bronze.

"He was a great kid," Cherepanov's agent, Jay Grossman told TSN. "He had a great smile and was an outstanding player with a great future on and off the ice. It's both shocking and devastating news for all of us."

Source: http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=386386

Oklahoma's Granger Could Miss Season

2008-09-18T09:52:00.000-07:00

Oklahoma defensive tackle Demarcus Granger will undergo surgery to repair torn ligaments in his right foot suffered in OU's 55-14 victory over Washington on Saturday.

That is a much different prognosis than the one Bob Stoops gave on Tuesday.

"I don't know what to tell you there, hopefully he'll be back for TCU but we'll have to see how it goes," said Stoops.

A return for Oklahoma's game against TCU on Sept. 27th will not happen. Sources have indicated Granger will miss significant time and could be out for the rest of the 2008 season.

Granger, a former Rivals.com No. 1 defensive tackle prospect, came up lame after being triple-teamed by members of the Washington offensive line. Replays appeared to show a UW offensive lineman punching Granger after he was knocked to the ground.

On the previous play, a Washington lineman was penalized for a false start. However, Granger was flagged for a personal foul for shoving a Huskies lineman to the ground after the whistle.

Controversy has surrounded the Granger injury in Norman, but Stoops didn't throw any blame toward the Huskies or their players on Tuesday.

"Three guys didn't go and say, 'Hey we're going to twist his ankle,'" said Stoops. "He got caught in the turf and you get double-teamed in there and that happens sometimes. There isn't anyone here whining or complaining about anything."

Granger later returned to the sideline on crutches, wearing a protective boot over his right leg.

The junior tackle from Dallas Kimball High School was a part of the regular rotation at defensive tackle, but had been replaced in the starting rotation by sophomore Adrian Taylor. Through three games Granger accumulated six tackles, one-and-half tackles for loss and one fumble recovery.

Granger was slowed during the preseason by back problems and conditioning issues, but was expected to become a bigger factor on the defensive line as the season progressed.

The Sooners will now turn to unproven and inexperienced players to replace Granger in the rotation. Gerald McCoy, Adrian Taylor and senior Cory Bennett provide a solid nucleus, and junior Cordero Moore replaced Granger in the four-man rotation on Saturday. The Sooners could ask freshmen Stacey McGee or Casey Walker to give up their redshirt season to provide depth throughout the remainder of the 2008 campaign.

Source: http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=1144&CID=851790

Former UFC champ Tanner dead at 37

2008-09-09T09:49:00.000-07:00

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champion Evan Tanner was found dead near Palo Verde, Calif. on Monday. He was 37.

Tanner had trekked into the desert on a journey to “cleanse” himself, according to Douglas Vincitorio of Tanner’s management team. “He went out to the desert to do a ‘cleansing’ as he called it. Kind of like ‘Survivorman.’” These short trips were not new to Tanner, said Vincitorio. It is something that he has done numerous times over the years.

“What we were told is that (Sheriff’s officials who found Tanner) believe his motorcycle had run out of gas, so he went to walk out in like 115- to 118-degree heat,” Vincitorio said. “He was miles away from his camp. That’s where the helicopter found him. Right now, they just think that he succumbed to the heat.”

Tanner had apparently told friends before he left that if they hadn’t heard from him in a couple of days, they should contact officials, which is what happened. When he stopped responding to text messages, friends waited a couple of days and then notified officials at the Imperial County Sherrif’s Department on Friday.

A search ensued and Tanner’s body was found Monday.

On Aug. 10, Tanner wrote a blog on Spike TV’s website, proclaiming his desire to start an adventure in the desert east of his new home in Oceanside, Calif. An avid outdoorsman and wandering spirit, he wanted to escape civilization for a while.

“I’m not just going out into the desert, I’m going out into the desert to hunt for lost treasure,” he wrote. “I’m going on a pilgrimage of sorts, a journey to solitude, to do some thinking, and to pay my respects to the great mysteries.”

On Aug. 16, Tanner wrote about collecting supplies for his journey, and wrote about the dangers he might face.

“I plan on going so deep into the desert, that any failure of my equipment, could cost me my life,” he said. “I’ve been doing a great deal of research and study. I want to know all I can about where I’m going, and I want to make sure I have the best equipment.”

Of course, this led followers of his blog to fear for his safety, as they often did when Tanner reported his frequent by-the-seat-of-his-pants adventures. In a blog dated Aug. 27, Tanner tried to calm his audience.

“This isn’t a version of ‘Into the Wild,’” he wrote. “I’m not going out into the desert with a pair of shorts and a bowie knife, to try to live off the land. I’m going fully geared up, and I’m planning on having some fun.”

But he also affirmed that things could go wrong if his equipment wasn’t up to snuff.

“I do plan on going back pretty far, so I did mention in one of my posts that I wanted to make sure to have good quality gear,” he said. “Any failure of gear out in the desert could cause a problem.”

On Sept. 2, Tanner wrote his final blog entry, documenting a training session at a facility in Oceanside.

The Amarillo, Texas native was a high school wrestling stand out who won the state championships his junior and senior years despite only getting into the sport as a sophomore. He entered mixed martial arts in 1997 encouraged by friends.

Tanner rose to the top of the mixed martial arts world by winning the UFC middleweight title over David Terrell at UFC 51: “Super Saturday” Feb. 5, 2005. He lost the title later in the year to Rich Franklin. Tanner, who had a career MMA record of 32-8 last competed in the UFC on June 21 losing to Kendall Grove by split decision.

“He will obviously be sorely missed,” said Vincitorio. Adding, “I think that Evan would want to be remembered as a very complex man with many layers, not just a fighter.”

Tanner was surely a unique personality. He’s eclectic spirit and competitive nature will be sorely missed in the MMA community.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news?slug=ys-mmaweektanner090808&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Brett Favre might want to invest in his own cell phone

2008-07-23T13:10:00.000-07:00

It's not as poetically idiotic as Chris Henry getting arrested while wearing his own jersey, but this one's in the same neighborhood.

Remember those tampering charges that the Packers filed against the Vikings? And remember how I thought it would be difficult for the Packers to prove that Favre had made inappropriate contact with the Vikings?

Well, that assumed that Brett Favre wasn't using a Packers-issued cell phone to make those calls to the Vikings. As it turns out, Favre may have done exactly that.

From the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

...Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel had an interesting bit of information in a piece he wrote about the quarterback today.

McGinn writes that a source said Favre had continued to use a Packers-issued cell phone and that when the team checked the phone records it found “repeated calls to coach Brad Childress and offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell.”

The possibility of Favre having used a phone issued by the Packers had been speculated on last week after the Associated Press reported that Green Bay informed the NFL it felt “an investigation of the phone records would show more than ‘normal contact’ between the Vikings and Favre, even before he formally asked for his release to play for another team.”

In fairness to Favre, it should be mentioned that any phone calls he made to the Vikings were made in a gunslinging fashion, and through the entire conversation, he looked like a kid out there, just having fun.

Say this turns out to be true, and tampering by the Vikings can be proved. And say that the Packers do what they're expected to do, and block Favre from playing for the Vikings. Favre could end up costing the Vikings draft picks and fines while never playing a down for them, while also putting the Packers in this miserable position.

Give him a couple more weeks, and he might just find a way to tear down the entire NFC North.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Brett-Favre-might-want-to-invest-in-his-own-cell?urn=nfl,95401

Favre wants release from Packers

2008-07-11T15:06:00.000-07:00

Brett Favre has asked the Packers to release him so he can return to the NFL with another team after apparently being told that his latest retirement reversal wasn't welcome news in Green Bay.

The team said it would do "what's right" in response to Favre's request, which was first reported by ESPN..

"Brett earned and exercised the right to retire on his terms," the team's statement read.

"We wanted him to return and welcomed him back on more than one occasion. Brett's press conference and subsequent conversations in the following weeks illustrated his commitment to retirement. The finality of his decision to retire was accepted by the organization. At that point, the Green Bay Packers made the commitment to move forward with our football team."

The 38-year-old Favre retired March 6 after a 17-year career, but almost immediately began dropping hints that he was having second thoughts.

The Packers statement said Favre now has the right to petition NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to be reinstated, at which point he would return to the team's active roster.

But the statement did not specify what the Packers would do after that, beyond doing "what's right and in the best interest of the team."

If the team has committed to moving forward without Favre, their options once he was reinstated would include trading him to another team or releasing him so he would be free to sign with the team of his choice. The Packers already have committed to going at quarterback with Aaron Rodgers, a first-round pick in 2005 who has been sitting behind Favre for his first three seasons in the NFL.

Releasing Favre presents the possibility of him signing with NFC North rivals Minnesota or Chicago, where he would be an upgrade over the incumbent QBs. If the Packers traded him, there would be teams outside the division such as Baltimore or Tampa Bay and perhaps Washington that would be interested. There also has been speculation that he could go to Miami for disgruntled defensive end Jason Taylor, the 2006 defensive player of the year.

It would be an ugly end to what has been one of the most celebrated partnerships in recent NFL history.

"As with all Packers greats, Brett's legacy will always be celebrated by our fans and the organization, regardless of any change in his personal intentions," the statement read. "Brett and Deanna will always be a part of the Packers family."

ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported Friday that sources close to Favre and the team told him agent James "Bus" Cook formally asked the Packers for Favre's release in a letter because the Packers were not receptive about Favre wanting to play again.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080711/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_packers_favre

A’s to Sign Top Dominican Prospect Michael Inoa

2008-07-02T17:43:00.000-07:00

In a huge move, the A’s are expected to announce that they’ve signed top Dominican prospect Michael Inoa.

Inoa, a 16-year-old pitcher, is considered one of the better prospects to come out of the DR in recent years. He’s a first-round caliber of talent, and commanded a first-round price — about $4.25 million.

That’s the largest sum of money ever handed out to an international signing who didn’t hail from Cuba.

This is a significant move on the part of the A’s, who hadn’t developed an international signing into a top prospect since Miguel Tejada (DR) in 1993 and Ramon Hernandez (Venezuela) in 1994. Santiago Casilla could be considered an exception to that, but the reliever had to change names and spend considerable time in the minors before really breaking through, and he’s not exactly a household name. Inoa could be.

Inoa, according to an international scout Baseball America talked to, is “a once-in-a-decade type pitcher.”

Source: http://www.bigleaguefutures.com/big_league_futures/2008/07/as-to-sign-top.html

Key matches in a crucial period

2008-05-05T23:43:00.000-07:00

Mixed martial arts is a business in which people throw around superlatives like they are nothing. There seems to be a steady stream of “biggest” this and “most important” that.

But the next few months will be pivotal for the sport, with shows – offering plenty of interesting match-ups – that will determine the industry’s long-term landscape.

From a business standpoint, the May 31 Elite XC show from Newark, N.J., because it airs as a prime-time live CBS special, could be the most important show of the year. Its success or failure will have huge effects on the industry as a whole.

A successful show would instantly make Elite XC significant competition for UFC and, from a business standpoint, cause last year’s $27 million in losses to be viewed simply as expected startup losses. A failure would make survival a significant issue while leaving a black mark on the sport as viable network prime-time programming.

From a pure sport standpoint, the highest profile featherweight and bantamweight fights in U.S. history both take place the next day, on a WEC show in Sacramento.

And what have to be considered the two biggest MMA promotions in the world, UFC and the Japanese-based Dream promotion, have high-profile events over the next few weeks.

In addition, Fedor Emelianenko, the best heavyweight in the sport’s history, will face his first truly significant competition in quite some time this summer, against former two-time UFC champion Tim Sylvia.

A look at some of the more intriguing upcoming matches and their potential ramifications:

May 11 – Dream lightweight tournament: Dream, the MMA division of the Japanese powerhouse Fighting Entertainment Groups (FEG), has its third show on Sunday. It’s the first that airs live in the U.S., on HDNet at 3 a.m. Eastern late Saturday/early Sunday from Saitama, Japan. A replay will air at 4 p.m. ET Monday.

The lightweight tournament that began March 15 has three quarterfinal matches scheduled: Caol Uno (24-10-4) vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida (16-3-1), Eddie Alvarez (13-1) vs. Joachim Hansen (17-6-1) and Tatsuya Kawajiri (21-4-2) vs. Luiz “Buscape” Firmino (12-3). The fourth, Shinya Aoki (15-2) vs. Katsuhiko Nagata (4-2), has been moved to June 15 to give Aoki recovery time from injuries sustained in his April 29 win over tournament favorite Gesias Calvancanti.

The lone American, Philadelphia’s Alvarez, looks to be a significant force with his strong punching power. Stylistically, Alvarez vs. Hansen has the potential for fireworks.

May 24 – B.J. Penn (12-4-1) vs. Sean Sherk (36-2-1): The main event for UFC 84 in Las Vegas is the UFC’s biggest lightweight title match in years, if not ever. The Hawaiian-born and bred Penn, who won the title on Jan. 19 with a one-sided squash of Joe Stevenson, is considered to have all-around skills equal to virtually anyone in the sport.

Sherk had been champion, but was stripped after testing positive for the steroid Nandrolone in his July 7 win over Hermes Franca. Sherk has argued his innocence. Penn has been openly skeptical, adding a grudge element to the fight. The key to look out for is Penn always comes out looking unbeatable early, but historically becomes more human as time goes on. Sherk’s best weapon is his conditioning, which is more important in a five-round title fight.

May 24 – Keith Jardine (13-4-1) vs. Wanderlei Silva (31-8-1): On paper, this looks like a crowd-pleasing fight with two guys who are going to aggressively try to match stand-up skills in a key light heavyweight division fight. Silva, 31, is a legitimate legend of the sport, as his five-plus-year reign as Pride 205-lb. champion is the longest major title run in history. But he’s coming off three straight losses, to Mirko Cro Cop, Dan Henderson and Chuck Liddell. Jardine, with wins over both Liddell and Forrest Griffin, will answer the question of whether Silva’s best days are behind him. The winner has a good shot of facing the injured Liddell in his next match.

May 24 – Tito Ortiz (15-5-1) vs. Lyoto Machida (12-0): While the biggest match of Machida’s career, it’s almost secondary to the probable final act in the Ortiz vs. UFC president Dana White feud. Ortiz has made it clear he’s leaving UFC after this match, and Machida’s role is to send him out a loser. Can Ortiz foil his boss on his last night, and if he does, what will he say in his final UFC interview? Can Machida win over the U.S. public with a win over one of the most famous fighters in the game and put himself in line for a title shot?

May 31 – Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson (2-0) vs. James Thompson (16-8): It’s historical because there can only be one first live prime-time major network card in history, and this is the show’s main event. CBS and Elite XC are hoping Slice’s street brawler charisma will mean ratings and mainstream stardom. Slice can punch, but his ground game is untested. Thompson doesn’t take a punch well, and doesn’t figure to test Slice’s ground game either. The fight was made to be short and explosive.

May 31 – Gina Carano (5-0) vs. Kaitlin Young (4-1): The highest-profile match in women’s MMA history. Last year, Carano and Julie Kedzie legitimized women’s MMA to the Showtime audience by stealing the show on the first MMA event on a premium cable network. This fight is here with the hope lightning strikes twice, with 15 or 20 times as many viewers, and thus has more potential impact. Carano, aka Crush on “American Gladiators,” has a unique likeability, in that she appeals strongly to both male and female fans. But it won’t work unless they put on a great fight.

June 1 – Urijah Faber (20-1) vs. Jens Pulver (22-8-1): The WEC featherweight title match in Sacramento’s Arco Arena is both the biggest fight in WEC history and the biggest featherweight fight ever in the U.S. The division, largely put on the map by Faber in the last year plus, sees the champ, one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world, facing UFC’s first-ever lightweight champion. Pulver, who has spent most of his career fighting bigger men, has an 8-0 record at 145 pounds. It’s Faber’s all-around game against Pulver’s sprawl-and-brawl.

June 1 – Miguel Torres (33-1) vs. Yoshiro Maeda (23-4-2): This is the highest-profile bantamweight fight ever in the U.S. Torres put on a ground clinic winning the title from Chase Beebe on Feb. 13 in Albuquerque, taking him from unknown to a pound-for-pound top ten ranking. As far as international reputation goes, Maeda is by far the toughest test Torres has faced.

July 5 – Quinton Jackson (28-6) vs Forrest Griffin (15-4): The combination of the light heavyweight title in UFC being the marquee championship of the sport, and weekly buildup as opposing coaches on The Ultimate Fighter, makes this the biggest mainstream match of the next few months. Jackson will go in as the strong betting favorite to retain, but Griffin will likely be the crowd favorite in Las Vegas.

July 19 – Fedor Emelianenko (27-1, 1 no contest) vs. Tim Sylvia (26-4): It’s the debut show of the new Affliction promotion, backed by the popular T-shirt brand. It’s one of the biggest money fights in history with Emelianenko rumored to be getting in the $2 million range, and Sylvia believed to be getting $800,000 to show and a $200,000 win bonus. How they expect to recoup those costs is a huge mystery, since as great as Emelianenko is, he’s never proven to have any drawing power in North America. Affliction is trying to challenge UFC with a strategy of bidding high to get a roster of top heavyweights. It’s been almost three years since Emelianenko has faced a true top heavyweight. Sylvia, a two-time UFC champ who was battering current UFC champ Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira their entire fight until a quick submission on the ground, will at least test where the Russians stands. Is Fedor still “The Man” in this sport? And more importantly, will Affliction survive early losses and stay in the game? Or will they be this year’s Bodog Fight, the rich owner who spends money and talks a long-term game, and quickly loses so much he’s out of business?

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news?slug=dm-events050508&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Ronaldo in transvestite scandal

2008-04-29T20:19:00.000-07:00

Brazilian football star Ronaldo has been caught up in a sex scandal with three cross-dressing prostitutes.

The AC Milan footballer has been recovering after surgery in Brazil

Having dropped off his girlfriend at her house in Rio de Janeiro on Monday night, the 2002 World Cup winner picked up three prostitutes.

When they all booked into a motel, the AC Milan striker discovered that the prostitutes were in fact men.

According to Rio police, he alleges that the transvestites then tried to extort money from him.

Local press reports quoted one of the prostitutes, Andreia Albertine - otherwise known as Andre Luiz Ribeiro Albertino - as saying that Ronaldo had threatened to hit him, on discovering that he was a transvestite.

'Extortion'

Ronaldo "reported that Andreia had taken his car documents and demanded $30,000 [£15,000]", said Rio police superintendent Carlos Augusto Nogueira.

Albertino is accused of taking the footballer's documents

He added: "Ronaldo admits the facts. He said he just wanted to amuse himself, that's not a crime. To pay to have sexual relations isn't illegal.

"There's a strong chance that Ronaldo has been the victim of extortion."

When the footballer refused to pay the prostitute, the latter claimed that Ronaldo had taken drugs, and had threatened to hurt the three transvestites.

Under Brazilian law, while pimping sex workers and running establishments where sex is sold are illegal, prostitution itself is not.

In a statement Ronaldo is reported to have denied ever using drugs, and reiterated that he was a victim of extortion.

The three-time Fifa world footballer of the year is in Brazil recovering from knee surgery.

He told police he was having some psychological problems linked to his injury.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7374317.stm

Rivals.com 2009 NFL Mock Draft

2008-04-29T18:59:00.000-07:00

Now that the 2008 NFL Draft is in the books, we're taking a shot at predicting the first round of the 2009 draft.

The teams are listed in our predicted order of finish, and unlike some organizations we have included underclassmen in our mock.

RIVALS.COM 2009 NFL MOCK DRAFT

1. Matthew Stafford, QB, Georgia*
Stafford is entering his third year as a starter. Scouts say he is the best pro-style quarterback prospect since Carson Palmer. He can throw with velocity, from different release points and moves well in the pocket.

2. Fili Moala, DT, USC
The 300-pounder is stout and his value goes far beyond numbers — he makes his teammates better, too. He is versatile enough to play in any defensive scheme.

3. Michael Oher, OT, Ole Miss
Many were surprised the Tennessee native decided to return, but the move will likely make him a top-10 pick. He has made 34 consecutive starts and is a left tackle at the next level.

4. Malcolm Jenkins, CB, Ohio State
A proven ball-hawk, Jenkins will likely be the first corner off the board in 2009. He has good size, speed and athleticism, but what makes him special is his propensity for big plays.

5. LeSean McCoy, RB, Pittsburgh*
McCoy has the speed of Tony Dorsett, but he's surprisingly physical. He has a higher ceiling than any other back on the board. Even though he is a true sophomore, he is three years removed from high school because he spent one year at a prep school.

6. Maurice Evans, DE, Penn State*
Very strong at the point of attack for a player who is such a good pass rusher (12½ sacks in '07). He uses good leverage and is considered a smart player. Some feel he's a better long-term prospect than Chris Long.

7. Rey Maualuga, MLB, USC
He's not as technically sound as many other linebackers, but is a big play waiting to happen. He has more than ample speed and athleticism, and can be as good as it gets at the point of attack.

8. Michael Crabtree, WR, Texas Tech*
Another sophomore who could turn pro because he redshirted his first year in Lubbock. He mixes incredible hands with stellar athleticism and surprising quickness and speed. Such a natural, it's amazing that he's only played receiver for two years.

9. Chris Wells, RB, Ohio State*
Wells is more of a traditional big back but has plenty of speed, just enough wiggle and does not shy from contact. A real chore to defend in the fourth quarter.

10. Michael Johnson, DE, Georgia Tech
Looking for a potential combine warrior in 2009? Johnson could be it. He's only made one college start, but scouts swear by the former basketball player's athleticism and upside.

11. Sen'Derrick Marks, DT, Auburn
No interior lineman in the country plays consistently better than Marks. He is outstanding against the run and shows flashes as a pass rusher. Some think he's a Warren Sapp-type.

12. (from Carolina) Eugene Monroe, OT, Virginia
He replaced former first-round pick D'Brickashaw Ferguson as the Cavs' left tackle, and soon he will follow in Ferguson's footsteps by hearing his name called in the first round.

13. Taylor Mays, FS, USC*
Mays has linebacker size (6-4, 215) and plays with linebacker-sized ferocity while he patrols the middle of the field. He can run, too.

14. Darrius Heyward-Bey, WR Maryland
Bey hasn't been that productive with the Terps, but he has great size (6-3, 200 pounds), good hands and big-time speed.

15. Greg Middleton, DE, Indiana
NFL teams covet pass-rushing ends, and Middleton – who led the nation with 16 sacks last season – is just that. He was a consensus All-Big Ten selection.

16. Victor Harris, CB, Virginia Tech
Unlike former teammate Brandon Flowers, Harris decided to return for his senior year. He has tremendous ball skills and is a legit 4.3 40-yard dash guy, which will only boost his stock in the postseason.

17. George Selvie, DE, South Florida
Considered a little on the light side, but is highly productive. Named Big East defensive player of the year in 2007. Has a great first step and very good athleticism.

18. Alex Boone, OT, Ohio State
Returns for his third full season as the Buckeyes' left tackle. He has prototypical size, but can get stronger. It's unclear if he's best suited for the left or right side in the NFL, but this will be a very telling season for Boone.

19. Andre Smith, OT, Alabama*
No offensive tackle - not even Oher - has more upside than Smith. However, Smith is battling weight issues that have slowed him. He could be a special left tackle, much in the mold of Flozell Adams, who can protect and run block with the best of them.

20. Travis Beckum, TE, Wisconsin*
Could be next year's Dustin Keller — he is a tad undersized, but is a terrific athlete. He's a real threat in the passing game and can be physical in the run game when pushed.

21. Jeff Owens, DT, Georgia
Owens lacks prototypical size, but has the quickness teams look for in penetrating linemen. Recorded 22 quarterback hurries in 2007 and he nearly declared off of that campaign. He made a good decision to return.

22. C.J. Spiller, RB, Clemson*
Many scouts like teammate James Davis better, but Spiller is similar to Felix Jones. He has outstanding explosiveness, is a tougher-than-expected runner and can be a real threat in the passing game.

23. Herman Johnson, OG, LSU
Johnson checks in at 6-7, 351 pounds. He can overpower opponents and may be able to play some right tackle, although most see him as a right guard.

24. Percy Harvin, WR, Florida*
Would be much higher on the list, possibly ahead of even Crabtree, but scouts are concerned about the spate of injuries. Even with the injuries, he's considered a tough player. He'll run in the mid 4.3s at the Combine if healthy.

25. James Laurinaitis, MLB, Ohio State
He can do it all — stop the run (121 tackles), get into the backfield (five sacks) and even drop into coverage. The only knock from scouts is that he needs to become more physical. Some teams were able to run the ball right at him last year.

26. Brian Cushing, OLB, USC
He suffered an injury-plagued season in '07, but has been the team's most consistent playmaker. He's a pass-rushing demon who could be a star in the right 3-4 defense at the NFL level.

27. Kyle Moore, DE, USC*
Scouts love his versatility but would like to see more production. Moore has a great frame and even drops into coverage at times.

28. Mike Mickens, CB, Cincinnati
A solid contributor from Day One, Mickens is a sure tackler who plays the run and the pass well. He always finds himself around the ball (six interceptions in 2007), but needs to get stronger.

29. Derek Pegues, S/CB, Mississippi State
Pegues converted from corner to safety as a sophomore and has blossomed since. He became a difference-maker late last year for the Bulldogs.

30. Ladarius Webb, CB, Nicholls State
This is the small school defender with the best chance to jump up the boards. He's 5-11, 185 pounds, has great ball skills and is also a fantastic return man.

31. Rudy Carpenter, QB, Arizona State
Dennis Erickson knows how to coach up quarterbacks, and Carpenter has a better skill set than most of his former protégés. If injuries come out OK, he'll rise.

32. Chase Coffman, TE, Missouri
Coffman split tight end duties the past two seasons with fourth-round pick Martin Rucker. Coffman runs crisp routes, has reliable hands and is a plus-athlete.

* - Denotes underclassman.

Source: http://nfldraft.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=802821

Giants send struggling pitcher Barry Zito to bullpen

2008-04-29T12:08:00.000-07:00

SAN FRANCISCO (AP)—Barry Zito was demoted to the bullpen Monday by the San Francisco Giants, who hope the former ace can correct his problems by working in relief.

Zito, who only 16 months ago signed a $126 million, seven-year contract with the Giants to lead their rotation, was informed of the move in a meeting with manager Bruce Bochy.

“I’m certainly not happy with it, by any means,” Zito said. “But this is the bed that I’ve made. I have to lay in it for the time being and I have to overcome. I trust management and I trust what their decisions are.”

The left-hander has lost his first six starts this season and has a 7.53 ERA that jumped considerably after Zito was tagged for eight earned runs in a 10-1 loss Sunday to Cincinnati.

The 2002 AL Cy Young Award winner with Oakland, Zito lasted just three innings against the Reds and was booed frequently by the crowd at AT&T Park during his shortest outing of the year.

“It’s good sometimes just to back off,” Bochy said. “It’s happened to a lot of great players, position players and even pitchers. We just felt at this point it’s time for him to sit back, miss a start and help us in the pen.”

A three-time All-Star and San Francisco’s opening-day starter this season, Zito is only the third pitcher since 1956 to go 0-6 before May, joining Texas’ Dave Stewart (1984) and Detroit’s Mike Maroth (2003).

The durable Zito has made 247 consecutive starts without missing a turn due to injury, the longest streak in the majors. He made his only big league relief appearance last season.

Zito’s next turn in the Giants’ rotation would have been Saturday in Philadelphia. Instead, San Francisco plans on using Pat Misch against the Phillies. Misch was recalled from Triple-A Fresno when right-handed starter Kevin Correia was placed on the 15-day disabled list.

Because Zito started Sunday, Bochy indicated he wouldn’t be available to pitch in relief until the Giants play the Phillies beginning Friday.

“We’ll watch and see how things go,” Bochy said. “Right now we’re just going to leave it at, that he’s going to be helping us out of the bullpen.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-giants-zito&prov=ap&type=lgns

Who wants to be a Raider?

2008-04-25T13:46:00.000-07:00

The $16 million, $17 million or $18 million (depending on the contract) question that nobody could answer truthfully Thursday at the annual NFL draft luncheon: Which one of you top prospects wants to be a Raider?

Sadly for the once-proud Oakland Raiders, the answer is none of the five yet-to-be signed players in attendance (newly minted Dolphins offensive tackle Jake Long is the exception) at the Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers really wants to join the franchise.

Or as one agent put: “Sure, somebody is going to want to go fourth overall because of the money, but they’re not going to like the prospects once they get there.”

There is no greater indictment of a team than the stricken look that comes upon a player’s face when he realizes he must go to the Raiders, the NFL’s wasteland. Sure, plenty of players, such as safety Gibril Wilson, cornerback DeAngelo Hall, defensive tackle Tommy Kelly and running back Justin Fargas, lined up to take the money. That’s why when the Raiders pick at No. 4 overall on Saturday, some player will manage a smile for the cameras. And if he smiles, he should get an Oscar with his Raiders jersey.

Draftees are probably thinking through scenarios where they can avoid becoming Raiders. Take running back Darren McFadden, who has drawn a lot of interest from the Raiders and the New York Jets, who pick No. 6 overall. The thinking in that camp is if LSU defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey goes No. 2 overall to St. Louis, Atlanta at No. 3 might trade with the Jets at No. 6, giving New York a clear path to him.

Over where Ohio State defensive tackle Vernon Gholston was sitting, his camp was hoping that either he or Virginia defensive end Chris Long would go No. 2 to the Rams. Then Dorsey would go No. 3, McFadden No. 4 and Gholston would end up at No. 5 (to Kansas City) or at No. 6 to the Jets.

Even Long, the son of Hall of Fame Raiders defensive lineman Howie Long, really has no desire to follow in his father’s footsteps. Part of that is the automatic pressure that goes with being a Raider Legacy (boy, is that an odd term these days), but much of it is because even his father knows that the Raiders just aren’t run well anymore.

Or as one person close to Chris Long said mockingly in recent days: “There’s no way you can tell what the Raiders are going to do because not even (owner) Al (Davis) knows what he’s doing.”

Ouch.

About the only player unconcerned with the fate of being No. 4 is Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan. He was asked to give a mock draft for the top six picks. When he got to No. 4 he said with comfort, “You know they’re not taking me,” an obvious reference to the fact that Oakland took quarterback JaMarcus Russell at No. 1 overall last year.

Ryan has the most uncertain Saturday of the lot. There’s talk that he could end up with Atlanta, Kansas City or Baltimore at No. 8. When asked how he’d feel if he took an Aaron Rodgers- or Brady Quinn-type fall in the draft, Ryan took the moment in stride, giving a very professional response.

“Five years ago, if you told me I’ll be a first-round pick, I’d take it and be happy. If you told me a year ago I’ll be a first-round pick, I’ll take it. Anywhere in the first round would be great,” he said. “Hopefully, I’m not sitting too long, but I’ll be excited with whoever takes me. It’s going to be exciting, no question.”

Whoever goes No. 4 to Oakland, it’s hard to believe they’ll feel the same way.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=jc-draftraiders042408&prov=yhoo&type=lgns