8:00 PM CSN Baltimore has video of Marcus Smith, a U.S. soldier who dressed as a minor league umpire to surprise his children at a Bowie Baysox game with a home visit from Afghanistan.
7:45 PM A Japanese Harley-Davidson motorcycle that was swept out to sea during last year's tsunami washed up on a shore in British Columbia last month. The bike's owner asked that the motorcycle be displayed at the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee as a memorial to the tsunami victims.
7:30 PM Buffalo Bills receiver David Clowneytweeted the results of his HIV test which came back negative. And to the critics of his decision to share his results, Clowney added: "Some people are Ridiculously stupid ... And can't see the bigger picture about things that are important in this world."
Jose Lambiet of the PALM BEACH POST reports that the rock legend paid $200,000 to Florida horseman Todd Minikus, after reneging on a deal to buy a steed for Bruce’s 15-year-old daughter, Jennifer.
Minikus took Springsteen to court when the Boss didn’t go through with the $850,000 purchase of 10-year-old gelding Pavarotti. But the Springsteens apparently were put off by the horse’s poor showing at the Pan American Games, and decided Pavarotti wasn’t going to help Jennifer’s fledgling equestrian career.
A source close to the settlement said that the Boss “doesn’t have much of a stomach for a legal battle. He’s not a fighter.”
Guess that “emotional” Friday phone call didn’t patch things up, after all.
The HOUSTON CHRONICLE reports that Roger Clemens is suing the ex-trainer who accused the pitcher of past steroid use.
The Rocket filed the lawsuit against Brian McNamee on Sunday night, saying that the Mitchell Report accusations of Clemens receiving illegal drug injections are untrue. (They were just vitamins, don’t ya know.)
A former minor league baseball player says that steroids ruined his chances at a profitable pro career. Not because he took any performance-enhancing drugs, but because other players did:
The NEW YORK DAILY NEWS reports that Rich Hartmann may file a class-action suit against Major League Baseball, claiming that steroid use gave some players an unfair advantage of getting a big-league gig.
Hartmann was a pitching prospect in the St. Louis Cardinals organization in the mid-1990s, but now serves as a manager at a Manhattan bank. But he feels that drug use by others could have cost him a shot at counting millions of his own money, instead of balancing the bills of other customers.
West Virginia University seems to have gotten over Rich Rodriguez running out of Morgantown to grab the Michigan job, and they wish him the best of luck in Ann Arbor.
The ASSOCIATED PRESS reports that the Big East institution is taking their former gridiron general to court over money owed as part of his buyout.
According to Rich’s deal with WVU, the coach would owe the college $4 million if he left before his contract was up. The contract requires Rodriguez to pay the money over a two-year period, with the first third due 30 days after the end of his employment.
Well, Rich resigned December 19 so he could replace Lloyd Carr. However, the Mountaineers don’t think Rich is going to pay up the first $1,333,333.33 by January 19 - or if any of it at all by December 2009. So, the school is hightailing it to the Halls of Justice to get their money…and get it now.
Milwaukee Brewers slugger Prince Fielder has inherited a lot from dad Cecil - his powerful swing, his large frame, and now, his legal woes.
HOUSTONED crunches the numbers, as a Georgia financial company is suing Prince and also his grandparents in an effort to get back money owed by Cecil.
The problems started in 2000, when Cecil signed some leases with ORIX Financial Services to help finance his trucking company. However, Cecil defaulted on the loans in 2003, and ORIX sued to recover more than $1 million lent to the former Detroit Tiger.
Prince & the grandparents come in the picture because ORIX claims Cecil signed over ownership of his two houses to the relatives. The company says the move was made to hide assets, with the intent to “hinder, delay and/or defraud ORIX.”
It’s not the first time Cecil’s money troubles came to haunt Prince. Once after a minor league game, the younger Fielder was tracked down by a process server and given papers, naming his dad as a defendant in another business-related lawsuit.
It looks like Cecil’s been a royal pain in the butt for Prince.
LAWYER: CLEMENS BEANED BY MITCHELL REPORT CLAIMS: Roger Clemens has fired back at the Mitchell Report, or at least his lawyer has:
REUTERS reports that Clemens has “vehemently denied” the report’s allegations that he used performance- enhancing drugs, and is “outraged” that his name has been mentioned. Roger’s attorney Rusty Hardin threw out the following statement in regards to his client:”Roger has been repeatedly tested for these substances and he has never tested positive. There has never been one shred of tangible evidence that he ever used these substances and yet he is being slandered today.”
Slander? Could this mean a lawsuit is in the works?
Then again, ‘Roid rage could be a convenient excuse for Roger’s bat-throwing antics in the 2000 World Series.
MILF-TASTIC COACH WINS $19M SEX HARASS JUDGEMENT: KSEE-TV in Fresno is all over the sex harassment trial of former Fresno State women’s basketball coach Stacy Johnson-Klein (photo link!).
Johnson-Klein sued the institution for gender discrimination, sexual harassment and retaliation after she was fired by the school two years ago. A verdict was reached in the trial yesterday, and here are the astonishing rewards J-K won from the jury (which took only hours to deliberate the case):
- $634,254 for past economic losses
- $4.4+ million for future loss of income
- $3 million for past non-economic losses like mental suffering
- $11 million for future pain and suffering(!)
$11M for future pain and suffering? We think that money would’ve been better spent on FSU football coach Pat Hill after he endured watching his defense this season.
COACH PROVOKED BERTUZZI TO SUCKER-PUNCH OPPONENT: New allegations say that Todd Bertuzzi was just following orders when he sent opponent Steve Moore to the hospital and eventually out of the NHL.
The TORONTO STAR reports that the former Canuck star blindsided the Avalanche player in a 2004 game after a second intermission speech from then-coach Marc Crawford.According to court documents, Crawford had “angrily pointed” to Moore’s name on the roster and told his team that the player “must pay the price.” In the following period, Bertuzzi punched Moore in the side of the head and drove his head into the ice.
Documents further allege that after Moore’s hit, “a television camera panned to Crawford who was smirking.”
However, when Vancouver police questioned the Canucks players shorty after the attack, no one mentioned any inflammatory Crawford speech.The documents were presented as part of Moore’s $38 million civil suit against Bertuzzi and the Canucks franchise. And for some reason, Steve’s parents are also suing for $3.5 million.
EX-IOWA PROF STILL SEEING RED OVER PINK LOCKER ROOM: A former professor who spoke out against Iowa’s pink locker room is now suing the school on Title IX grounds:
The DAILY IOWAN reports that Jill Gaulding will be filing a complaint about the visitors’ football locker room, saying the color is derogatory against women and intends for visiting teams to “feel like sissies.”Back in 2005, Gaulding was an associate law professor at Iowa when she first raised a stink about the pink. When no immediate action was taken for a new paint job, she soon left campus.
Gaulding’s now back and ready to file over the flustering facilities. The university states that they don’t respond to potential lawsuits, and if any suits were filed, it would take about 45 days to determine if the suits have substance.
In the meantime, the pink didn’t seem to bother Western Michigan, as the MAC member defeated the Big 10’s Hawkeyes in Kinnick Stadium’s season finale.The psychological ploy seems to be wearing off. Next year, maybe lavender or puce?
HELPING ISIAH, DOLAN TURN THAT FROWN UPSIDE DOWN: Normally, a sex harassment case involving some anonymous ad exec drone wouldn’t garner much of our interest. But when the case involves crotch shots of Maria Sharapova, we’re all in.
The ASSOCIATED PRESS has details on an employee of the Dentsu ad agency who claims he was fired when he refused to participate in company outings to brothels and other sexual escapades.
More interestingly is that said employee revealed in the court proceedings that the CEO of the agency, Toyo Shigeta “during a photo shoot for an advertisement for Canon in Key Biscayne, Florida … took a picture of tennis star Maria Sharapova on the tennis court and proudly distributed the ‘crotch shot’.”
Bless his heart, Shigeta is also accused by the *harassed* employee of having an unnatural obsession about snapping the lady-gardens of healthy young women on other company outings.
So Shigeta is responsible for sending his employees to brothels and focusing on upskirt piccies of attractive females? If he’s ousted over the flap, we have an early bead on his next address of employ:
