12:15 PM Former New York Giants receiver David Tyreespoke to hundreds of teens at a Christian conference in Fort Smith, Arkansas on Saturday: "My goal (now) is just to share my heart for God and weave in the story of testimony to impact some young people's lives."
8:00 PMJeRome Wilkins, a former University of New Hampshire football player accused of sexually assaulting a woman outside a house, said in court Friday that he did have sex with the woman but that it was consensual.
Additionally, the league confirmed another of my earlier reports this week - per John Ourand of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL - that it is now employing former ESPN programming chief Mark Shapiro as a “consultant” for NFL Network game broadcasts and studio shows.
The latter piece of news probably didn’t make NFL Network studio host Rich Eisen’s day. Read more…
Turns out the NFL is far from satisfied in allowing NFL Network to be a fringe media player.
Earlier today I confirmed that Jay Glazer of Fox Sports was joining NFL Network. I’ve since been informed that the NFL also approached Sports Illustrated’s Peter King about joining the network, but was turned down. (”Swung and missed” was how it was described to me.)
Perhaps even more significant is who the NFL Network has turned to for programming advice. Read more…
UPDATE (9:43p ET): WSVN-TV’s Blake Burman reports from Miami tonight that Warren Sapp will be spending the night in jail because of a misdemeanor batter charge: “because this case involves alleged domestic violence he has to go before a judge. That means he is spending the night in jail.”
From reading it myself, two new things popped up. The alleged victim claims there was a witness in the hallway when Sapp allegedly threw her out of the hotel room and the woman claims that Sapp texted her with the message, “You Whore” after the alleged abuse.
Omar Kelly and Brian Haas of the SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL has details from Miami Police regarding Warren Sapp’s charge of misdemeanor battery.
Sapp is accused of attacking his girlfriend around 5 a.m. Saturday at the Shore Club Hotel on Collins Avenue. The woman, who was not identified by police, was treated by emergency workers for a swollen knee and bruises on the back of her neck and taken to Mount Sinai Medical Center.
Detective Juan Sanchez, spokesman for the Miami Beach Police Department, said that the woman called police around noon Saturday to report that she had been attacked. She said she and Sapp had dated for two years.
According to a police news release, Warren Sapp has been charged with one count of misdemeanor domestic battery. The charge stems from an incident early Saturday morning at a South Beach hotel. An arrest affidavit was not immediately available.
Miami Beach Police spokesman Juan Sanchez says the 37-year-old Sapp was brought in for questioning Saturday afternoon.
Former University of Miami and Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive tackle Warren Sapp was arrested by Miami Beach Police on Saturday on a misdemeanor domestic battery charge, according to Juan Sanchez of the Miami Beach Police Department. The arrest prompted swift action by the NFL, who removed Sapp from NFL Network broadcasts while the league investigates the matter.Read more…
Yawn, another sleepy Satu–WE INTERRUPT THIS POST FOR AN IMPORTANT DREAMBOAT ALERT. Tom Brady has a sore shoulder! Stop the presses. Sound the alarum bells. All hands on deck: Mortensen! Schefter! Hell, get Peter Gammons in here! Someone fire up the ESPN overkill machine! Go! Go! Go! (!!!) Doesn’t Haynesworth know we’ve got a redemption/comeback storyline that needs to be beaten into the ground all season? EVERYBODY PANIC!
(Behold the awesome power of MS Paint.)
Given the Patriots’ secretive nature about injuries and the media’s ability to work itself into a lather at the drop of a hat, it’s hard to know the extent of the injury. Thankfully, one man had the balls and the Rolodex big enough to cut the crap and get to the bottom of things: Investigative Reporter Chad Ochocinco!
In what will surely come as good news to fantasy football dweebs, shut-ins and the parents of Denver Broncos backup quarterback Tom Brandstater (full disclosure — I qualify for the first two), the NFL Network has announced that it will broadcast every single preseason game. It’ll be the first time that the entire NFL exhibition slate will be televised, making if officially no longer necessary to ever attend one of them in person.
(Even here, the Lions are on the bottom. Sad, really)
This is also good news to the 10.8 million digitally-based Comcast subscribers who will be able to watch the games without paying extra. Comcast and the NFL Network finally hammered out a nine-year contract agreement in May, including the agreement that the company would no longer relegate NFL Network to a digital sports tier that cost subscribers extra. Of course not everyone has Comcast, but that’s another post. Oh, more breaking news … Read more…
Wednesday was the 15th anniversary of the O.J. Simpson Ford Bronco chase, perhaps the most riveting low-speed pursuit of all time until James Harrison’s fumble return in this year’s Super Bowl. I wonder if someone baked O.J. a cake in jail? (I point this out basically so I can remind everyone that’s where he is right now - in jail. No matter how down or depressed I might get in life, I can now always remind myself of this and smile.)
Of course, someone reminded me that O.J. Simpson spent more time in jail over the double murder of his wife and Ronald Goldman than Donte Stallworth will for his DUI manslaughter conviction - and O.J. was found not guilty. Which, of course, is another reminder of just how screwed up the criminal justice system is, causing me to start grinding my teeth again. But then I think: “O.J.’s in jail, trying to fend off the advances of Stickpin Bubba,” and I start to feel better again.
It’s amazing to me that, in a pre-9/11 world, the question of “where were you when O.J. ran?” was basically my generation’s version of the JFK assassination. How gloriously naive we were back then. I was home on summer break from college, having just returned from playing some basketball with my friends and sitting slack-jawed with my Mom as the whole thing unfolded. Now the whole thing seems like some dated bit of pop trivia - except for when Fred Goldman pops up to remind you that real people died, and he’d really like to see O.J.’s stuff get sold so he can get some of his money.
Matt Millen’s reputation isn’t as far in the gutter as O.J.’s, but after destroying any shred of hope that the Detroit Lions might have had for winning in the next 20 years, it isn’t good. Which makes you wonder how much credibility he’ll have working as an analyst for the NFL Network this season. But don’t worry, Matt: Don Banks from SPORTS ILLUSTRATED is here to help, with what I assume was meant to be a puff piece on Millen but turns out to be a master class in unintentional comedy.
First off, Banks’ main premise is that the stage is set for Millen to have a huge comeback - like Richard Nixon. Yeah, Nixon. Not Frank Sinatra or John Travolta or even Anvil, but Richard Nixon. A good rule of thumb: if you are comparing your interview subject to Richard Nixon in any way, you probably aren’t doing yourself any favors. At least he didn’t compare him to Hitler (that only happens in Detroit).
But it turns out that Matt Millen “admits to being something of a Nixon buff.” Of course he is. And much like Tricky Dick, Millen seems to see himself as the perpetual victim:
“I don’t go backwards,” Millen said. “I just don’t think like that. There’s nothing I can do about [Detroit]. All I can do is from here on out. I understand. In Detroit, they need a bad guy. I was a bad guy. I was to blame for the fall of the auto industry and the housing market. Somehow, I had something to do with [Detroit mayor] Kwame Kilpatrick [resigning], although I’m not sure what. But that’s what happens when you lose in this game. You give everyone a cheap and easy story to jump on.”
Right, because your gross incompetence in leading the Lions to the worst eight-year record in modern NFL history was “cheap and easy” and not at all deserved. Come on. I liked Millen a lot as an analyst, but to try and whitewash his awful tenure in Detroit is simply insane. But Banks seems to think that Millen’s career as an executive might not be over:
I’m intrigued with the idea that Millen, in this era of ultra-short attention spans and a 24/7 news cycle, can put his head down, go back to work at the TV and radio gigs he once excelled at, and re-emerge some day soon with a different reputation and image than he engenders today. I not only think it could happen, I’m convinced it will happen.
Don Banks is clearly off of his meds. Just hang tight there, Don: the men with the white jackets will be there soon to take you back to the funny farm. The idea that a team would be stupid enough to let Matt Millen anywhere near their personnel department is nuts. But then again, as long as Cincinnati is still in the league, anything is possible.
Finally, the Day of the Lakers wrapped up in Los Angeles with Kobe Bryant appearing on the “Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” to discuss winning his fourth NBA title. Nothing earth-shattering happened (no Triumph the Insult Comic Dog coming on to ask about Colorado), but there were a few decent moments. And seriously, Kobe couldn’t be bothered to get out of his tracksuit for the interview?:
More sports news to consider whether it’s OK to laugh at this window washer’s Wile E. Coyote-like tumble as he fell six stories before bouncing off a lower roof since somehow he lived to tell the tale:
Congratulations to Ivan Rodriguez for breaking Carlton Fisk’s record with his 2,227th game caught on Wednesday night for the Houston Astros as they lost to his old team the Texas Rangers. Fisk was even nice enough to send a congratulatory note, although calling Rodriguez “the other Pudge” seems a bit like a backhanded swipe.
The Marines have been called to Bethpage Black to help with the U.S. Open. No, they aren’t there to take down anyone who shouts “You Da Man!” on sight (too bad): they are there to help keep track of wayward golfers as they leave the course during practice rounds.
Are you ready for some Canadian football? A 110-yard party? The CFL exhibition season opened up today, giving Adrian McPhersontime to shake the off-season rust. TSN has a season preview, in case your newsstand doesn’t carry the slate of CFL preview magazines.
In the world of silly PR stunts, Cash4Gold put out a press release offering to melt the Stanley Cup down for the Pittsburgh Penguins if they want some extra money. Don’t let the NHL get wind of this idea: they might take it seriously.
There’s a new fighting style - supposedly gleaned from prison brawls and street fights - called “52 Blocks” that is on the verge of becoming the next big thing in martial arts. Here’s a training video from one of the guys mentioned in the NEW YORK TIMES story:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYhAWtJEydk]
Arkansas used a two-out, two-run homer in the ninth inning to send their College World Series elimination game against Virginia to extra innings, and then won it with a double in the 12th. Their reward? A date with unbeaten LSU.
Back in the middle of April, I got a letter in the mail from Comcast. It told me that as a subscriber to their sports package that includes the NFL Network, they were going to offer me a deal. On May 1st of 2009 they were going to stop carrying the NFL Network because they were evil and trying to take all of my money from me, and Comcast didn’t want to stand for it. As a way of helping me recover from the raping of my wallet, they were going to give me a chance for faster internet for a year, or Starz free for a year.
Well, I already have the high-speed internet, so it looked like Starz was going to be my choice.
Now that I was happy to make it. After all, Comcast wasn’t treating my wallet very nicely either. Sure, the NFL Network wanted a couple bucks per household, but they weren’t the ones making me pay $10 a month for a package featuring the NFL Network, which I wanted, and a whole bunch of other channels I didn’t. So I was pretty unhappy about Comcast yanking the station I wanted, as I’m sure many NFL fans were. Well, thankfully I won’t be getting Starz anytime soon because both sides have come to an agreement.
