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Giants’ rookie Chad Jones suffers career-threatening injuries in car wreck

In what can only be described as a horrific car wreck, New York Giants’ rookie Chad Jones suffered career-threatening injuries when he slammed his SUV into a streetcar pole in New Orleans early Friday morning.

WDSU 6 in New Orleans has the details:

The crash happened around 5 a.m. on Carrollton Avenue in New Orleans, in front of the Home Depot.

WDSU has learned that Jones’ most serious injuries are to his left ankle and leg. A source close to the situation describes the injury as “dire,” noting that amputation of the leg is a possibility.

The same source said Jones did not sustain any serious injuries to his upper body and that the situation was not life-threatening.

New Orleans police spokeswoman Shereese Harper said Jones was driving his 2010 Range Rover on North Carrollton, headed toward Canal Street, when he lost control and hit a streetcar pole.

Emergency crews had to cut him out of the vehicle, Harper said. Two other people in the car were not badly injured.

Jones was taken to a local hospital, where he was in critical condition and was in surgery Friday morning, Harper said.

Here’s hoping Jones makes a full recovery and he can walk again. Reports earlier in the day stated that doctors had saved his left leg, but amputation still hasn’t been ruled out. From the looks of the photos, it’s fortunate that everyone made it out without any life-threatening injuries.

Nobody currently knows how the accident happened or if Jones was being a reckless driver. It’s also unclear at this point whether or not he had been drinking before the accident, so it’s not fair to speculate if he was driving while inebriated. I’ll update this post as more information is released.

Did ESPN do a good job covering the draft?

The Big Lead says ESPN’s coverage was unimpressive.

We’ll get into some detail below, but here are our main gripes with ESPN’s 2010 NBA draft coverage: 1) College players are being drafted, so why are NBA analysts the ones doing most of the talking?; 2) Far too much LeBron/free agency talk (a smattering was inevitable, but it was relentless; food for thought – Does the NBA need to consider pushing up free agency or pushing back the draft?); 3) there was zero energy from the ESPN talking heads. Maybe it was just a dull, predictable draft, or perhaps the flurry of trades killed whatever flow the draft could have had. But in a word, last night was dull. Was there even one distinguishable moment?

There are two separate issues here: 1) the predictability of the draft, especially the early picks, and 2) the quality of the coverage.

The first part of the draft was a snoozer, and that pretty much made the whole night a snoozer. Chad Ford nailed the top 8 picks, and there were no trades, so there were no surprises. After the marquee names are off the board, the draft became a grind, and that’s not really ESPN’s fault.

I thought Van Gundy was funny when given the opportunity and did a decent job adding levity to a night that needed it. Like TBL goes on to say, Jay Bilas needs a foil, someone to argue picks with, so ESPN should bring in another college scout type to play McShay to his Kiper. One NBA guy (JVG) is enough. He can put the pick into perspective and discuss the free agency rumors that are bouncing around.

Looking back on Joe Horn’s career

As a fan, there was always something that drove me absolutely nuts about Joe Horn. I couldn’t figure out why until later in his career, but looking back I think the answer was simple: He always made plays when they mattered most.

According to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Horn will retire after signing a contract with the Saints, who elected him into their Hall of Fame earlier this spring. He’ll hang ‘em up with 603 receptions, 8,744 receiving yards, 58 touchdowns and four Pro Bowl appearances to his credit.

Compared to other receiving greats, there wasn’t anything uniquely special about Horn, although he certainly had enough speed, intelligence and playmaking ability to torch defensive backs every Sunday. He also had incredibly soft hands, which is something that is often overlooked in today’s day and age, where 40 times for receivers often carry more importance to scouts.

Granted, even some Saint fans won’t miss him. He was a controversial player at times, always ready to speak his mind and his attitude rubbed some the wrong way. He’ll also probably be more remembered for his cell phone touchdown celebration than for his play on the field. But in the end, his contributions (especially during the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged season of 2005 when he became the unofficial spokesperson for the team) to the Saints far outweigh whatever negative attention he may have brought to himself throughout his career. He was a leader on a team that desperately lacked that trait for many years and he’ll always have a place in Saints history.

In the end, Horn won’t be remembered as a great receiver. But for those that watched him play (whether you rooted for him or hoped he would trip over a pylon and be swallowed whole by the turf), he left an impression.

LeBron headed to Chicago?

Adrian Wojnarowski writes that William “World Wide Wes” Wesley may be tipping LeBron’s hand.

To listen to World Wide Wes, LeBron will never look back on Cleveland. “He’s up out of there,” is the way he tells it to people, but LeBron’s Akron crew has to tsk-tsk such public talk because they all live in Northeast Ohio, and maybe always will. “We’re going to Chicago,” William Wesley tells people, “and Chris Bosh is coming, too.”

The Bulls believe they’re going to get James, and that’s why they so confidently cleared the cap room needed to sign James and Bosh. The Bulls think they’re getting James and Toronto’s Chris Bosh, that the supporting cast of Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah make them the most attractive destination. Nevertheless, the biggest myth of free agency, some executives pursuing James say, is that recruiting Bosh is telltale to the cause. “Bosh is attaching himself more to LeBron, than LeBron is to him,” one official said.

Of course, that’s not a direct quote from Wesley. Wojnarowski is paraphrasing what Wesley has apparently been telling people. But this flies in the face of what Wesley told a radio show just nine days ago that he hadn’t “even conversated” with LeBron about his future. So unless Wesley has had a strategy session with LeBron in the last nine days and came to the conclusion that Chicago is the place to be, someone isn’t telling the truth.

If LeBron does indeed land in the Windy City, it will put his decision to change jersey numbers into a new light. If he had been planning a move to MJ’s team the whole time, it makes sense to announce the number change early, so it seems like he’s choosing to make the change (out of respect for His Airness) instead of being forced to make the change.

Don’t laugh — this is perfectly plausible. This is LeBron we’re talking about.

As for Bosh, the notion that he’s “attaching himself to LeBron” contradicts just about everything he has said over the past few weeks. He has publicly stated at least twice that he doesn’t want to be a sidekick.


Photo from fOTOGLIF

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