Alabama in trouble with NCAA

http://www.seattlepi.com/scorecard/cfootballnews.asp?articleID=260071

Birmingham, AL (Sports Network) - The Alabama football program will reportedly be forced to vacate a number of wins from 2005-07 as a result of NCAA violations of textbook distribution policy.

The Birmingham News reported Thursday that the NCAA will announce the ruling at 3 p.m. (et). The report said the number of wins is at least 10, and that the NCAA will both place Alabama on three years' probation and fine the school.

The newspaper said the school, which was already on probation when the infractions occurred, must vacate all wins during the time frame in which implicated players were involved. Alabama suspended five players in 2007 after it was discovered they were involved in the acquisition of free textbooks for friends.

Because they were suspended prior to the team's win against Tennessee on October 20, 2007, the News reported Alabama will not have to vacate that victory or its bowl win over Colorado later in the year.

The paper reported several other Alabama sports were involved and will need to vacate individual records; about 200 athletes in all were involved over a four-year period.

Lakers all over Magic again

This may be over in four -

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/gameTrax?gameId=2009060713&refreshRate=30

Pacman a Cowboy??

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4240457

Is there going to be an Adam "Pacman" Jones sequel in Dallas? According to a published report, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones recently said he's considering bringing the controversial cornerback back, although he calls it a long shot.


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Reached by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram after the George Strait concert than opened the new Cowboys stadium on Saturday night, Jones asked the reporter: "Would you beat me up too bad if I brought back Adam?"

The Cowboys released Pacman Jones in February. Jones was suspended for six games by the NFL after an alcohol-related scuffle in October with a team-provided bodyguard at a Dallas hotel.

In the Star-Telegram report, Jones said he now blames the fight on the bodyguard. He also reportedly said that he's not worried about any off-the-field issues with Pacman Jones.

The cornerback came to Dallas after being suspended for the entire 2007 season following multiple off-field incidents while with the Tennessee Titans. The Cowboys acquired him in a trade during the draft in April, and commissioner Roger Goodell cleared him to play at the end of the preseason.

Expected to give the Cowboys a boost on defense and special teams, Jones had 31 tackles and no interceptions in his nine games (six starts). He averaged only 4.5 yards on his 21 punt returns, with a long of 18 yards.

However, in the Star-Telegram report, Jones said that Pacman Jones graded out as the Cowboys' best cornerback.

Before coming to Dallas, Jones was arrested six times and involved in 12 instances requiring police intervention after Tennessee drafted him in the first round in 2005.

The Cowboys traded for him anyway, despite the 2007 suspension.

Lebron claims to be happy - he is still not Kobe (and not Jordan!!)

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/9631362/LeBron-happy-in-Cleveland-despite-loss

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio (AP) - LeBron James finally talked about not making the NBA Finals, and insists Cleveland's loss to Orlando will not impact his future with the Cavaliers.

James stormed out of Amway Arena without speaking to the media Saturday night after the Cavs were eliminated with a 103-90 loss to the Magic in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals.

James, who averaged 38.5 points, 8.3 rebounds and 8.2 assists against Orlando, said Sunday he hasn't given any thought to signing a contract extension with the Cavs this summer. James can become a free agent next season.

Cleveland can offer the extension on July 18 — the three-year anniversary of him signing his previous deal.

"I don't know," James said when asked if he'll sign. "I haven't thought about it just yet. I'm just going to take time off from basketball and not think about contracts or the game period. I'll relax with my family we'll figure out once it comes from them."

The league MVP, who also did not shake hands with Olympic teammate Dwight Howard or congratulate any Orlando players as he left the floor, said that he's happy in Cleveland and feels the Cavs made major progress this season.

KC loses 16 out of 21 - maybe George Brett should make a comeback

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/al/2009-06-01-2349225691_x.htm

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — After beginning the year on such a promising note, the Kansas City Royals must feel trapped in a cruel and savage time warp.
It's no longer 2009. It's 2005. They're not the sexy pick to win the AL Central any more. They're stumblebums again, hopeless also-rans in the midst of another long, dreary 100-loss season.

In what almost seemed like an act of mercy, the schedule gave the Royals an off day Monday, time to collect their thoughts before launching a nine-game road trip immediately following a three-game sweep in Kauffman Stadium by the Chicago White Sox. When did that last happen? In 2005.

Future HOF Randy Johnson wins 299

http://www.ajc.com/business/content/sports/braves/stories/2009/05/28/braves_giants.html

San Francisco — He’s 45 and not quite as ferocious as he was when he threw 100-mph fastballs, but Randy Johnson showed Wednesday night that he still can manhandle the Braves.

The Giants’ giant left-hander notched his 299th career win with six innings of three-hit, one-run ball, leading San Francisco to a 6-3 win that completed a series sweep against the Braves at AT&T Park.

Randy can still win — we didn’t rough him up at all,” said manager Bobby Cox, whose Braves had won five of their last six at home before coming to San Francisco and being swept by the Giants for the first time since 2003.

Chipper Jones, playing with a sprained right big toe, went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts, the first time the Braves third baseman whiffed four times in 2,060 major league games. Three of his strikeouts were against Johnson, who had given up a career-high six home runs to Jones in 33 at-bats before Wednesday.

“He just caught me at a good time,” said Jones, who tried to take his first Golden Sombrero (four strikeouts in a game) in stride, given the circumstances. “You just write it off as an 0-for-4 and try not to think about the punchouts.”

Braves starter Kenshin Kawakami (3-6) was charged with four runs (three earned), nine hits and four walks in 5-2/3 innings. His control wasn’t anywhere close to what it had been five days earlier, when he threw eight scoreless innings with three hits and no walks to beat Toronto and ace Roy Halladay.

Kawakami had been 2-2 with a 2.63 ERA in four May starts before Wednesday.

“I was aware [Johnson] was close to 300 wins,” he said through a translator. “It’s really a disappointment that I couldn’t pitch the way I wanted to today.”

Johnson (4-4) had five strikeouts with no walks while improving to 3-0 with a microscopic 0.64 ERA in his past four starts against the Braves, a stretch that began with his 13-strikeout perfect game at Atlanta in 2004.

The 6-foot-10 pitcher was 2-5 in eight starts against the Braves before that.

On striking out Jones three times, Johnson said: “We’re still not even. He’s still got some real good numbers against me.”

Jones struck out with a runner at third and one out in the fourth inning, and struck out with a runner on first to end the sixth with the Braves trailing 2-1. He nearly buckled from pain while swinging at strike three on the latter at-bat.

He missed four starts before returning to the lineup Tuesday. The 37-year-old switch-hitter was asked after Wednesday’s game if it was painful to swing.

“Right-handed, yes,” Jones said. “Left-handed, no. Right-handed, it’s tough on me right now. I have no back foot, not back side, and I can’t push off. I’m lunging real bad. It made everything Randy threw tonight 4 or 5 miles [per hour] harder.”

Johnson’s last start against the Braves before Wednesday was a win on May 24, 2008. Since then, he was 10-13 with a 4.47 ERA in 31 starts against everyone else.

Pinch-hitter Garret Anderson’s two-run, two-out single in the seventh inning trimmed the lead to 4-3, but the Braves stranded two in the inning, and the Giants added two runs against reliever Eric O’Flaherty on four consecutive hits in bottom of the seventh.

It was the Giants’ first sweep against the Braves since an August 2003 series at AT&T Park, where the Braves’ 12-21 record is their worst this decade at any ballpark where they’ve played at least 15 games.

The Braves are 9-15 against Giants since beginning of 2006 season, including seven losses in their past eight games at the ballpark by the bay.

Their seven-game trip continues Thursday in Phoenix with the opener of a four-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Casey Kotchman’s two-out RBI single in the sixth cut the lead to 2-1, after Jordan Schafer led off with a single and advanced on a Kawakami sacrifice.

Until Anderson’s two-out single in the seventh, the Braves had scored only three runs in the first 24 innings of the series.

In all three games, the Giants scored two or more runs before the Braves got on the board, including a 2-0 lead after three innings Wednesday.

The Giants got a run in the second inning after Fred Lewis drew a leadoff walk, stole second and advanced on a wild pitch — a scenario that’s happened too often lately with Braves pitchers. He scored on Juan Uribe’s single.

They scored their second run on an unsual play in the third inning, a double steal that probably deserved an asterisk.

They had runners on first and third with one out when Edgar Renteria stole second. Braves catcher David Ross threw to the base, and second baseman Martin Prado came up to catch it and throw back to keep Aaron Rowand from scoring.

Rowand held up, but Prado’s throw to the plate was low and bounced off Ross and back to the grass in front of the plate. When Ross went to pick it up, he slipped. Rowand seized the opportunity to race home, scoring just in front of the tag after Ross recovered and lunged to the plate.

Right fielder Jeff Francoeur prevented the Giants from making it a 3-0 lead in the fifth, when he fired a throw to the plate to nail heavy-footed catcher Bengie Molina trying to score from second on Travis Ishikawa’s two-out single.

For my women fans - Tom Brady is back

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/peter_king/05/26/tom.brady/

For one morning last week the field house next to Gillette Stadium was Tom Brady's personal playground. Joining the 31-year-old quarterback were the four receivers he hopes will be on the field with him for the Patriots' first series of the 2009 season, on Sept. 14 against the Bills. Brady split Randy Moss and Joey Galloway outside the numbers and lined up Wes Welker and Greg Lewis in the slots, then they jogged through some of the new pass plays that New England will be installing in training camp. It had been 32 weeks since Brady's left knee was surgically reconstructed, and he moved straight ahead, laterally and backward with no pain. No one brought up the injury. Brady didn't stop to think,

Hey, my knee feels great. They just worked through the routes, and Brady wondered, When we run this play against Buffalo, how will the defense respond?

"Come on!" Moss said before Brady called the last of the 25 or so plays they ran. "Make this a hard one!"

Moss likes to be challenged, and he's one of the best in the game at reading his quarterback's subtle signals. Moss showed that in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLII when, after seeing a simple nod from Brady, he adjusted his route, cut inside the cornerback and caught a six-yard touchdown pass to put the Patriots up 14-10 over the Giants. This time Brady called one of the new plays with a hand signal; to further test Moss, he quick-snapped and backpedaled, seeing if his receivers would figure out what to do.

Moss guessed wrong, walking off the line of scrimmage confused. "What are you doing?" Brady yelled.

"I don't know," Moss said. "What [play] is it?"

Brady called out the name, then said, triumphantly, "I'm going home! I got Moss today! I got you!"

Even Moss had to laugh.

This week, when New England starts full-roster organized training activities (OTAs), Brady will step into the huddle with the entire offense for the first time since he tore his left anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament in the 2008 season opener. (Last week's sessions were for rookies, free agents and select veterans returning from injury, with Brady and his top receivers working in seclusion.) The quarterback acts and sounds as if he wished the Buffalo game were tomorrow. In his first extended interview since he got hurt, Brady told SI that his recovery is on schedule, he's running and cutting without pain or restricted movement, and he has no ill effects from two follow-up procedures to flush out a postop staph infection in the knee. In fact, calling the last eight months "the halftime of my career," Brady said, "I want to play another 10 years."

He was convincing when he said he was "as confident as anyone could be that I'll be ready to play, back to playing normally, when the seasons starts. I've done everything I could to push myself, sometimes too hard. Right now, I'm doing everything. Literally everything. There's nothing I can't do."

With his voice rising as he leaned forward in his chair, Brady said that playing 10 more seasons "is a big goal of mine, a very big goal. I want to play until I'm 41. And if I get to that point and still feel good, I'll keep playing. I mean, what the hell else am I going to do? I don't like anything else.

"People say, 'What will you do if you don't play football?' Why would I even think of doing anything else? What would I do instead of run out in front of 80,000 people and command 52 guys and be around guys I consider brothers and be one of the real gladiators? Why would I ever want to do anything else? It's so hard to think of anything that would match what I do: Fly to the moon? Jump out of planes? Bungee-jump off cliffs? None of that s--- matters to me. I want to play this game I love, be with my wife and son, and enjoy life."

Impassioned, fiery, a little defiant -- it was a side of Tom Brady the public hasn't often seen. Truth is, the public hasn't seen much of Brady at all since the injury, save for the few images taken with the long telephoto lenses of the paparazzi -- sharing an ice cream cone in Brazil with his new wife, supermodel Gisele Bündchen; strolling on the beach with his toddler son, Jack; golfing with the Entourage cast; catching a Celtics playoff game with Bündchen. Brady has jealously guarded his privacy; and those close to him, including coach Bill Belichick and the rest of the Patriots staff, have helped him do so.