Author: Anthony Stalter (Page 348 of 1503)

      Albert Haynesworth rips Redskins following preseason loss

      August 22, 2010 /
      Washington Redskins' Albert Haynesworth is seen on the sidelines as the Redskins play a pre-season game against the Buffalo Bills at FedEx Field in Washington on August 13, 2010. UPI/Kevin Dietsch Photo via Newscom

      Following the Redskins’ 23-3 loss to the Ravens on Saturday night in which he didn’t play until the third quarter, Albert Haynesworth ripped the team in 90-second post game locker room interview.

      From CSN Washington:

      Haynesworth said he wasn’t injured enough to be held out of practice last Wednesday and Thursday.

      “I was told I had ‘headaches’ or whatever and that’s why I couldn’t go out and practice,” he said. “I think it was a little bit more than that.”

      Haynesworth added: “[Headaches] was part of that but it wasn’t all of it. They left out a lot of stuff.”

      Asked for specifics, he said: “You would have to ask them.”

      Haynesworth said the Redskins were holding him out of practice as punishment for skipping the OTAs and mini-camps.

      “I guess to make me look bad for not going to their offseason conditioning program,” he said. “Next year, I’m not coming either. I’ll be with my trainer again and come back in the same shape I’m in and feel good about myself.”

      Haynesworth did not play in the first half against Baltimore and was upset he was on the field in the second half.

      “I’m a ninth year pro,” he said. “I don’t think I should have been out there in the third quarter, but having ‘headaches’ again, that’s what they wanted to do.”

      It sounds like both sides are playing the power-trip game right now. Mike Shanahan doesn’t want to just give Haynesworth back his starting job (which is why the DT didn’t play until the third quarter last night), while Haynesworth probably feels like he’s done enough to move forward and put the offseason mess behind him.

      Either way, there’s obviously still a lot of tension between Haynesworth and Shanahan and neither of them are ready to sit down to a Sunday picnic together and share their feelings. At some point though, Shanahan is going to have to turn this into a positive situation and move forward because Haynesworth gives the team their best chance of winning. When he’s on top of his game (which includes him not being a malcontent), he’s the Skins’ best defender.

      External Sports, NFL

      Documents show that J. Edgar Hoover tracked Alabama’s Bear Bryant

      August 21, 2010 /
      28th February 1961: American President John F Kennedy (1917 - 1963) at the White House with his brother Attorney General Robert Kennedy (1925 - 1968) and head of the FBI J Edgar Hoover (1895 - 1972). (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

      Former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover secretly kept an eye on a civil lawsuit filed by blacks against legendary Alabama head coach Bear Bryant starting in 1969.

      From ESPN.com:

      Documents released to The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act show that for almost two years, agents tracked the suit filed by a prominent black lawyer against Bryant, the University of Alabama and others to make Bryant recruit black football players.

      Building a file, agents followed the court docket and snipped stories from newspapers about the case, sending the findings to the agency’s office responsible for investigating civil rights crimes.

      The FBI won’t explain why it was interested in a civil lawsuit by a black student organization against a prominent white football coach. The agency kept track of possible civil rights violations and often monitored public figures and civil rights leaders under Hoover.

      But one of the FBI forms in the Bryant file is marked twice with a handwritten capital “H” — a clear indication that Hoover both saw the document and approved of the snooping, said author Curt Gentry, who wrote “J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets,” a definitive biography on Hoover and the FBI under his leadership.

      Per the article, Bryant had black players on his team as non-scholarship, walk-ons, but it wasn’t until five months after the federal suit was filed that ‘Bama signed its first black football player to an actual scholarship (Wilbur Jackson).

      It’s interesting that Hoover had files on high-ranking sports profiles, although as the article notes, he had dirt on everybody – actors, authors, pool cleaners, etc.

      College Football, External Sports

      Report: Roger Clemens turned down plea agreement

      August 21, 2010 /
      New York Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens testifies before a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on the Mitchell Report and its allegations that Clemens used performance enhancing drugs on Capitol Hill in Washington on February 13, 2008. (UPI Photo/Kevin Dietsch) Photo via Newscom Photo via Newscom

      According to a report by ESPN.com, Roger Clemens was offered a plea agreement but his attorney Rusty Hardin said that his client declined the offer.

      “The government made a recommendation [for a plea agreement] and we declined,” Hardin said. “I will tell you the recommendation they made was a very good one if he was guilty. And if he was guilty we would have jumped on it. Everybody has all this great solicitous advice, all the media and you guys — ESPN. Nobody is answering the question: What if he didn’t do it, what should he have done? And everybody wants him to confess.

      “I have even heard people suggest that even if he didn’t do it he should have said he did so that everybody will move on. That is a helluva commentary.”

      Hardin reiterated he and his staff have drilled Clemens on the need to fess up, if he did steroids or human growth hormone.

      “He’s been told from the beginning if he did it he ought to do exactly what Andy [Pettitte] did. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that. And everybody assumes it is his arrogance and his ego that kept him from doing it.

      “He wasn’t the greatest witness before Congress, I understand that. But I got to tell you, we’ve sat on him probably for 100 of our hours over the last two-and-a-half years, always with the same thing: ‘If you did it, the best thing to do is just admit it and move on and we’ll deal with it.’ He has never, ever wavered.”

      Talk about rolling the dice. If he’s guilty and he didn’t accept this deal when he had the chance, then he’s absolutely out of his mind. The government has essentially given him a nice out and he decided not to take it, so he’s either truly innocent or clinically insane.

      I will give Clemens this – he has maintained his innocence throughout this whole ordeal. He’s never wavered in his denial about talking steroids and obviously he’s willing to go to extreme measures to prove his innocence. One would think that if he were guilty, he would have taken the deal and then faced the public scrutiny to avoid jail time.

      Of course, I wouldn’t put it past Clemens to go to jail and maintain his innocence, rather than accept a plea agreement and admit that he’s been lying this entire time. Even if he’s proven guilty in the court of law, he could continue to tell the public that he never juiced and that he was screwed by the judicial system.

      What a mess.

      External Sports, MLB

      Vincent Jackson to the Seahawks – pipedream or reality?

      August 21, 2010 /
      SAN DIEGO - JANUARY 17: Wide receiver Vincent Jackson #83 of the San Diego Chargers stands on the field during AFC Divisional Playoff Game against the New York Jets at Qualcomm Stadium on January 17, 2010 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Donald Miralle/Getty Images)

      Multiple sources claim that the Chargers have granted the Seahawks permission to discuss a contract with unsigned wide receiver Vincent Jackson, who is currently holding out because San Diego won’t give him a long-term deal.

      But will a trade between these two teams ever get off the ground?

      According to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Tribune, Jackson is seeking $30 million guaranteed on a five-year, $50 million contact. Will the Hawks be willing to fork over that kind of money and the compensation it’ll take to acquire him from San Diego? There’s no doubt that they could use an upgrade at receiver and Jackson gives them the deep threat that they covet, but that’s a steep price to pay.

      The Broncos were able to acquire two second round picks from the Dolphins for Brandon Marshall, so that’ll likely be a starting point for the Chargers and Seahawks when discussing Jackson’s worth. Granted, Jackson has to serve a three-game suspension at the start of the season and has yet to report to camp this summer, but he proved how productive he could be last year so two second rounders isn’t unreasonable. He’s also in the prime of his career and there’s little doubt that he has the ability to live up to what Seattle would have to part with in order to acquire him.

      But will a deal get done or will GM A.J. Smith continue to play hardball with V-Jax until the receiver finally gives in and plays on a one-year tender? It appears as though Jackson is willing to holdout well into the regular season, but these situations usually have a way of working themselves out in the end.

      Stay tuned.

      External Sports, NFL

      Marlins’ Ronny Paulino suspended 50 games for PED use

      August 20, 2010 /
      Florida Marlins catcher Ronny Paulino (R) celebrates with pitcher Burke Badenhop their victory over the Washington Nationals after their MLB National League baseball game in Washington August 10, 2010. REUTERS/Larry Downing (UNITED STATES - Tags: SPORT BASEBALL)

      According to a report by MLB.com, Marlins’ catcher Ronny Paulino was suspended 50 games on Friday for testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance.

      Paulino says the drug was a dietary pill to control his weight and will not appeal the suspension.

      “To control my weight this season, I used a dietary pill,” Paulino said in a statement released by the Marlins. “Regretfully, I recently learned that the dietary pill contained a substance banned under Major League Baseball’s drug policy. I am ashamed and saddened for disappointing and distracting my family, my teammates, the entire Florida Marlins organization and baseball fans. My heartfelt and most sincere apology.”

      The last Major Leaguer suspended for testing positive under MLB’s Drug Policy was Reds starter Edinson Volquez on April 20. Volquez wound up serving his 50-game suspension while on the disabled list. Prior to Volquez, Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez received a 50-game penalty in May 2009.

      It’s good to see Paulino own up to the situation and not appeal the suspension. It’s akin to getting pulled over for speeding and even though you know you’re in the wrong, you challenge the police officer that pulled you over. Just take the ticket like a man and slow down.

      Are dietary pills and HGH in the same category when it comes to giving a player an advantage on the field? Absolutely not, but the bottom line is that they’re both on the banned substance list and players have to take responsibility for what they putting into their bodies.

      External Sports, MLB

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