Paul Pierce called Kevin Garnett to sell him on playing for the Brooklyn Nets

Story by: Eric Freeman of Balls don’t lie

The Brooklyn Nets have made several major moves (and spent lots of money) this offseason to improve their chances at competing for an NBA title, especially with regards to their blockbuster trade with the Boston Celtics to obtain Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Jason Terry. On Tuesday, the Nets introduced that trio at a press conference (and streamed it outside Barclays Center for anyone who wanted to brave the heat). It was a typical affair, full of smiles and excitement over what the future holds.

Like many huge NBA deals, though, it almost didn’t happen. According to Pierce, Garnett was not certain if he wished to waive his no-trade clause to play for Brooklyn. So, like anyone trying to become part of a winner would, the longtime Celtics star called KG to convince him to agree to the trade. From Chris Forsberg for ESPNBoston.com:
“It was a situation where [the Celtics] were going to make a move, and once the deal with the Clippers didn’t go through for [Garnett], it was like, the Celtics were trading me, Doc was leaving, so what was left for Kevin?” explained Pierce. “I talked to [new Nets coach] Jason Kidd, and he was warming me to the fact of coming to Brooklyn, then he started warming me to the fact that they were trying to get Kevin, too.

“That’s when I called Kevin and asked him what he thought about coming to Brooklyn, he immediately said, ‘Well, what pieces are they going to give up? Who is going to be left? Is it going to be possible for us to win a championship?’ He was excited when I talked to him after warming him up, just to have the opportunity to come and win a championship and be alongside a young prospect like Brook Lopez, who he can try to take to the next level. And once I warmed him up to that, he was all in for it.” […]

“It was one long, long phone call,” Pierce said with a laugh. “Probably like an hour-and-a-half, two hours. I just remember I was standing outside and it was 100 degrees, and I just remember after the phone call I was dripping sweat.

“I was like, ‘Do you understand what’s going on in Boston? [A potential trade to the] Clippers thing appears to be dead. So what do you think, big fella? I know you don’t want to retire. I know you don’t want to retire. You have too much in the tank, you love the game too much. Sometimes you just have to tell Kevin to sit back and think about it. He reacts to everything. Like his initial reaction to everything is, ‘No.’ [You say,] ‘Kevin I got a $100 million,’ [And he replies,] ‘No.’ Then he has to sit back and think about it and then once he warms up to it, he makes his decision, and that’s about anything.

“I knew his initial reaction was going to be against it, but I knew this was going to be a long conversation, too.”

For Garnett’s part, he agreed with Pierce that a change might be necessary. “I don’t like change much. When I commit to something, I like to go all-out,” he said. ” It’s unfortunate. Obviously, when I saw the Doc Rivers situation I knew that the writing was on the wall even before then. It was tough leaving Rondo and other things, but this is a new chapter with new things to embrace, and that’s what I’m doing.

Pierce made a good, logical argument for the switch. On the other hand, Garnett has never been one to assess a situation according to an objectively agreed upon list of pros and cons. It took him several seasons to decide to leave the Minnesota Timberwolves even when they were a regular lottery participant, and he has generally approached his career as an emotional experience. If anything, it’s a little surprising that it only took Pierce one phone call — no matter how long it was — to get the job done.

But the difficulty of convincing Garnett should help us remember that changing teams isn’t so simple as cutting all ties with one and investing fully in another. Garnett went through a lot with the Celtics, winning his first (and only) championship in 2008 and staying in contention for several years beyond that moment. Plus, anyone will build meaningful relationships with teammates, coaches, and other staff members over six seasons. Leaving that situation is tough, even if the franchise was no longer able to produce the level of success Garnett desires.

It’s a reaction worth considering the next time commentators and fans bemoan players’ inability to hate their opponents with the same fervor of past eras. With player movement at an all-time high for reasons both within and outside of their control, it’s not so sensible to consider the other team on the floor as evil adversaries. That team probably includes a few old teammates, and may even be a new employer sooner rather than later.

Yasiel Puig hit with $12 million lawsuit, accused of being ‘informant’ for Cuban government

Story by Mark Townsend of Big league stew

It won’t always be smooth sailing for Yasiel Puig. According to Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times, the Dodgers rookie sensation is being sued for $12 million by Miguel Angel Corbacho Daudinot, who claims Puig knowingly made false allegations against him and gave false testimony during his 2010 trial in Cuba.

Puig’s testimony helped lead to a guilty verdict that resulted in Corbacho Daudinot receiving a seven-year prison sentence. Corbacho Daudinot is now seeking damages for “prolonged arbitrary detention and torture” and through his lawyers has filed his complaint in a federal district court in Florida.

Here’s more from Hernandez:

The complaint refers to Puig and his mother as “informants” for the government.

Puig and his mother testified in a 2010 trial in which Corbacho Daudinot was convicted of human trafficking – basically, of plotting Puig’s escape from Cuba. Corbacho Daudinot denies he ever offered to help Puig defect.

Corbacho Daudinot alleges that Puig knowingly made false claims against him to demonstrate allegiance to the Cuban government, and be reinstated in the country’s top baseball league and national-team program. According to the suit, Puig was demoted to his Cuban league team’s developmental squad because the government suspected him of wanting to flee the island.

The lawyers representing Corbacho Daudinot filed similar lawsuits last year against Cincinnati Reds pitcher Aroldis Chapman on behalf of different plaintiffs.

Yahoo! Sports Jeff Passan recently wrote about Puig’s numerous attempts to defect from Cuba. It’s a worthwhile read that sheds light on the process Puig had to go through before finally defecting successfully in June 2012.
As for Corbacho Daudinot, after serving 3 1/2 years of his sentence in prison, he’ll serve the next 3 1/2 under Cuba’s “provisional liberty” program, which means he’s free but his travel is restricted and he cannot return home to the Dominican Republic, where he’s a permanent resident. Corbacho Daudinot’s lawyers also contest their client is in poor mental and physical health because of his incarceration.

Though he remains in Cuba, Corbacho Daudinot was able to file his lawsuit in Florida under the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991.

I’m not much of a legal expert, so I’m not exactly sure what the next step will be in this case, but we’ll definitely keep an eye on it and let you know as the story either unfolds or quietly fades away.

Mingo remains unsigned by Browns, as team reaches deal with two others

CLEVELAND (AP) — First-round draft pick Barkevious Mingo remains the only unsigned Browns rookie after the club finalized four-year contracts with two others Friday.

On the day rookies reported for training camp, the Browns reached deals with cornerback Leon McFadden and troubled defensive lineman Armonty Bryant.

McFadden, a third-round pick from San Diego State, is expected to compete for the starting job opposite mainstay Joe Haden. The 5-foot-9, 195-pound McFadden was selected 68th overall by the Browns, who need a starter after they decided not to re-sign veteran Sheldon Brown after last season. McFadden spent spring practices with the second-team defense as Buster Skrine and Chris Owens split time with the starters.

Bryant was arrested on drunken-driving charges shortly after he was drafted by Cleveland in April out of East Central (Okla.) University. The 6-foot-4, 265-pound Bryant also was arrested on a felony drug charge while in school.

Bryant vowed at last month’s NFL rookie symposium to reward the team for its faith in him.

Mingo, the No. 6 overall selection in April, is the lone member of Cleveland’s 2013 rookie class not under contract. The former LSU star is set to receive a deal worth slightly more than the four-year, $16.26 million contract Dallas cornerback Morris Claiborne, the sixth pick in 2012 – and Mingo’s former college teammate – signed last year. But the Browns and Mingo’s agent are at odds over ”offset” language in the pact, protection in case he is released before his contract expires.

The Browns are hopeful they can have Mingo signed in time for new coach Rob Chudzinski’s first training camp practice on July 25.

Cleveland previously signed its two other draft picks, Notre Dame safety Jamoris Slaughter and Chadron State guard Garrett Gilkey.

..

Packers will retire Favre’s number….Someday

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — The Green Bay Packers will definitely retire Brett Favre’s No. 4.
It just won’t happen during the upcoming 2013 season.

Speaking Tuesday after his annual meeting with reporters to discuss the team’s finances, Packers president/CEO Mark Murphy made it clear that retiring Favre’s number and reconciling with the future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback is important to the franchise.

But when asked if Favre could have his number retired this season, Murphy replied, ”I don’t anticipate that, no.”

Murphy did not rule out the quarterback making an appearance at Lambeau Field in another capacity, however, perhaps as an honorary captain or as part of the alumni weekend festivities ‘

‘We’ll see,” Murphy said.

A cornerstone of the Packers renaissance in the 1990s, Favre was revered in the state after he led Green Bay to the Super Bowl title following the 1996 season. But he tested the patience of fans and franchise alike with his annual retirement watch late in his career, and his decision to retire and then unretire in 2008 prompted perhaps the messiest divorce in state history. The Packers had already made Aaron Rodgers the starter, and wound up trading Favre to the Jets during training camp.

After a year with the Jets, Favre infuriated fans further by signing with NFC North rival Minnesota.

But Rodgers helped smooth the way for a reconciliation between Favre and the Packers, sharing the stage with his predecessor at the NFL Honors awards ceremony in New Orleans in February. Murphy, who has been in contact with Favre since then, said again Tuesday that the appearance was a ”first step.

”Murphy recently said the team wants to make sure Favre’s number is retired before he would enter the Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2016, assuming he is a first-ballot selections.

”We’re definitely going to retire his number. I really feel strongly that he deserves it,” Murphy said. ”(But) the timing has to be right.”

Asked what the holdup is if both sides are talking, and what would constitute the timing being right, Murphy was vague.
”I can’t tell you exactly what time might be right,” he said. ”But I am optimistic that you will see it.

”We want to be an NFL team where all of our former players feel good about coming back. And he’s a big part of that.”

Lions veteran slotback Jackson in line to start again after long wait

SURREY, B.C. – Paris Jackson has no difficulty remembering the last time he started a CFL game.

It was in 2009.

Barring any unforeseen changes, he will finally start at slotback again Saturday as his B.C. Lions visit the Edmonton Eskimos.

“Man, I’ve been waiting for that for three years,” said Jackson, an 11-year veteran who has spent his entire career with the Lions, after a practice this week.

“I’ll be very emotional.”

Jackson is slated to replace Shawn Gore, who suffered a head injury in a win over Toronto last week. Gore is going through the league’s concussion protocol.

In the past four seasons, Jackson, 32, has battled negative perceptions about his age and speed. The Vancouver native’s career was first derailed by a wonky knee, and then Lions general manager Wally Buono launched a youth movement in the receiving corps.

In 2011, a day after the Lions won the Grey Cup, Jackson stood before reporters talking — and feeling — like he had played his last game as a Lion.

“I didn’t think I was going to be with the team,” he said. “I knew I was still going to play, because I still had that passion in my heart, that drive.”

But Buono, the club’s former coach, and current head coach Mike Benevides appreciated the way Jackson persevered through his minimal playing time without complaint in the championship season. So they gave him another chance.

The B.C. bosses also considered that he had undergone arthroscopic knee surgery in each of the previous two off-seasons.

Playing largely on special teams, he recorded just seven receptions for 117 yards in 2011, and caught just 10 passes for 127 in 2012 as the Lions reached the Western Final.

“It’s been hard,” he said about his limited playing opportunities. “But these young guys, I see the talent in them, and I totally understand, because I was in the same situation eight, nine years ago trying to take someone’s spot.”

Now, he has outlasted Geroy Simon, a future hall of famer who was traded to Saskatchewan in the off-season.

And Jackson is showing that he has potential for more, depending on how long Gore is out.

Jackson filled in for him admirably against the Argos, posting four receptions. During one stretch, he caught a pair of back-to-back passes — something else he had not done for a while.

“Oh, man, it felt great,” he said. “It’s been three years. I sat down on the sideline after that. I didn’t really realize it’s been three years since I got back-to-back catches.”

Jackson dismisses a suggestion that he is like a cat with nine lives. He attributes his career revival to hard work, dedication and his willingness to be a leader for young receivers like Gore, Courtney Taylor and Nick Moore.

“You really can see that I’m back to how I used to be,” said Jackson, who has shed down to 210 pounds from 225 or 235 in order to reduce pressure on his knee.

“I’m confident, I’m healthy and, at the end of the day, I don’t believe in nine lives. I’ve been in this league for 11 years. I’ve been a starter for a lot of those years, and they wanted to go young. Now, Geroy’s not here and we’ve got Shawn Gore hurt and a couple other guys could be banged up a little bit.

“So it’s time for a veteran guy like me to step up.”

Gore’s injury is one of a number that the Lions are facing as they try to improve on their 1-1 record in the young season. Linebacker Adam Bighill (ankle) is also out after getting hurt against Toronto, and centre Angus Reid (back) and kicker Paul McCallum (groin) have yet to play this season.

But Benevides has no qualms about inserting Jackson, who was Buono’s first draft pick (sixth overall) when the GM moved to B.C. from Calgary.

“Paris is a pro,” said Benevides, a former Stampeders assistant. “He’s been here as long as any of us have, since 2003. … Paris Jackson is a tremendous player, and he’s going to be great for us.”

Accordingly, quarterback Travis Lulay is not worried about any disruptions to the offence.

“Paris is a luxury to have, having a veteran guy coming off the bench,” said Lulay. “If your depth isn’t good and you have a starter get hurt, sometimes you wonder about that. As a quarterback, you can second-guess if the guy knows what he’s doing, if he’s going to be in the right spot. But with Paris, that’s just not the case.”

Jackson took a pay cut after the 2011 season and has been gradually increasing his salary while playing on yearly contracts.

“If my role can increase and money can increase, then I’ll be here,” he said. “If it decreases, then there’s no need for me to be here.”

At the moment, there is a need, and he is determined to fill it.

“Now, I’ve just got make sure I get as many reps as I can to catch back up to a few years that I’ve lost,” he said.

Hernandez release is simply the Patriots way

Credit to Les Carpenter

The moment Aaron Hernandez took that perp walk from his home to the police car , he was no longer useful to the New England Patriots. He might have caught 175 passes the last three years, the team’s other tight end – the dancing one – might be sidelined for months with yet another surgery, and the Patriots might not have another elite tight end on their roster opening weekend, but they did not need Aaron Hernandez’s problem in their locker room anymore.

A murder investigation and all that comes with it isn’t worth a few catches down the sideline.

In the past, an NFL team might have carried a player such as Hernandez along, letting a trial play out and not taking a stand. But this is a different NFL. Image matters. And the Patriots, for all the risks they have taken on players who have been in trouble in the past, want nothing to do with a player facing months of live television with a breaking news bar across the bottom of the screen.

Expect the NFL to suspend Aaron Hernandez. Wednesday’s arrest all but made that a certainty. Even if the charges end up being dropped, the handcuffs disappear and he is allowed to return to the North Attleboro, Mass., home we can now picture with our eyes closed, the league will punish him. It hates situations like this. It detests having its players attached to killings. And on Wednesday, it woke to two such story lines: Hernandez and that of an undrafted Browns rookie linebacker Ausar Walcott, who allegedly punched a man in the head and wound up with an attempted murder charge. The sponsors don’t like situations like this. And the NFL loves its sponsors.

So if Hernandez can’t play, why would the Patriots want him? Hernandez probably should have known his time with the team was done when team officials shooed him from their facility last week as helicopters hovered overhead and an armada of camera crews set up in the parking lot. Hernandez might have caught 18 touchdown passes in his time with New England. He might have been a critical piece in getting the Patriots to one Super Bowl and a game away from another, but he had nothing more to offer than constant distraction and Bill Belichick wanted nothing to do with that.

The irony in all this is that no coach is better prepared to handle such turmoil. Nobody stares down a media mob better than Belichick. Nobody is more willing to invite a commotion and let it blunder about his locker room if he believes the target of the disruption will help the Patriots’ cause.

Just a week before the helicopters targeted their cameras on Hernandez’s white SUV and the daily stakeout set up on the tight end’s lawn, Belichick made the curious move of adding Tim Tebow, who might be the ultimate of all media distractions. In the time that Hernandez, for the most part, quietly developed into a dependable pass-catcher, Tebow became his own beat. Reporters were dispatched to Denver and then to the Jets to cover nothing but him. Tebow’s first minicamp practice with New England drew a media crowd like none the Patriots had seen for a June workout in short pants and numberless jerseys. It’s hard to imagine another team taking on an ordeal like Tebow, especially when Tebow is probably the team’s third quarterback.

But on Belichick’s team, Tebow has something to offer. Maybe he will be an occasional running option at quarterback. Maybe he will play some running back or catch passes. Maybe he will be nothing but a unique scout team quarterback who can give New England’s defense a different look in a league that is going more and more to mobile quarterbacks. Whatever Tebow’s purpose, he will have a purpose. He will justify the extra cameras in the locker room every Wednesday and Thursday afternoon. He will aid the Patrots’ cause.

Hernandez, sure to be handcuffed by the league now that he has been handcuffed by the police, had nothing left to give the Patriots. His selection in the fourth round of the 2010 NFL draft was a clever move. The Patriots made him a star. He helped them win a lot of games, but a big part of the vaunted Patriot Way is to not be overrun by nostalgia. When a player has served his usefulness he is gone. If Wes Welker – by all accounts a wonderful representative of all the Patriots were supposed to be about – could be allowed to leave, Hernandez was certainly expendable.

No way was the NFL going to let Aaron Hernandez be on the field for New England’s first game. No way did he have any value left to the Patriots.

No way was he worth a spot in the locker room.

That too is the Patriot Way.

Lions running back Harris wants to take on more of a leadership role

Courtesy of Monte Stewart of the Canadian Press:

SURREY, B.C. – Some key players are gone from the B.C. Lions, but Andrew Harris will not forget them anytime soon.

Harris wants to be more of a leader — on and off the field — this CFL season as a result of the departures of star slotback Geroy Simon and others. But the Lions running back is keeping his goals to himself as he attempts to improve on a stellar 2012 campaign.

“At every level I’ve played at, no matter what sport I’ve been in, I’ve been a leader and a captain,” said Harris. “Now that I’m accomplished at this level, I expect to be that leader and want to be that leader.

“It’s not as a vocal leader in the change room, but I feel that I’m a leader in my play.”

Harris can lead by example Friday night as the Lions host the Edmonton Eskimos in the final CFL pre-season game for both teams. After sitting out the first exhibition contest in Calgary, Harris will play into the third quarter as coach Mike Benevides attempts to get his veterans ready for the regular season.

“I’m sure I’ll be playing quite a bit (Friday),” said Harris, who bulked up with more muscle in the off-season. “It’s just good to get the rhythm, get the reps going.

“Even in Game 1, I can still recall from last year, you’re just not as sharp as you were last year in Week 20. So it’s just good to get as many reps and touches as possible. Every time you’re touching the football, you’re getting better.”

Harris, once a longshot to make the team at any position let alone the premier tailback spot, had plenty of touches and showed considerable improvement last season. He helped the Lions finish in first place in the West Division with a 13-5 mark before being upset by the Calgary Stampeders in the Western Final. He led the CFL in yards from scrimmage with 1,830, becoming the first Canadian to do so since Terry Evanshen back in 1967.

Harris also posted the sixth-best rushing total in CFL history by a Canadian, running for 1,112 yards en route to earning league and division all-star honours for the first time in his career. He also recorded 75 receptions that ranked sixth in the league.

But as he enters his fourth season of active duty with the Lions, the former B.C. territorial protection wants more.

To achieve his goals, Harris will break the schedule down into smaller chunks and attempt to achieve his marks in each.

“Last year, I did everything,” he said. “I hit my goals. This year, I’m splitting my season up into three sections, because I battled so hard to have an end point, and 18 games is a long season.

“So this year, I set it up into three different areas, and every six games I want to hit those standards.”

But don’t try to get him to discuss any targets.

“I’m not going to talk about them, because when you do hit them, it’s in the headline,” he said. “And when you don’t, people talk about it, and you’re kind of held accountable. So for me, it’s just an internal goal.”

While Harris has high expectations of himself, coach Benevides does, too. But the coach is not worried about the 26-year-old Winnipeg native’s ability to live up to his own or the team’s demands.

In order to be dynamic in the CFL, said Benevides, a team has to be able to deploy a running back that is effective as a receiver and can also rush the ball and block effectively, and Harris has the necessary qualities.

“If he just does what he does, and protect the football, we’ll be fine,” Benevides said.

But the Lions coach doesn’t want Harris to place any high leadership expectations on himself. As his game matures, he must grow into a leadership role naturally even as the Lions attempt to replace leaders like Simon, who was traded to Saskatchewan, and Arland Bruce III, who was released and signed as a free agent with Montreal.

“Don’t change who you are,” said Benevides. “The leadership voids will fill themselves either the way you act, by the way you perform, by the way you’re a pro (or) by the way you study.

“So while I appreciate the fact that he feels that responsibility, as I’ve told every single player on that field: Don’t try and be something you’re not.”

Meanwhile, Matt Norman will try to be something he was not last season — a starting centre — when the Lions take the field against the Eskimos. Norman, a second-year pro who played guard last season, is being groomed as Angus Reid’s eventual replacement in the middle of the offensive line.

But he is getting a chance to learn more quickly than expected because Reid has not yet recovered from a back injury that kept him out for most of training camp.

As a result of Norman’s move to centre, rookie Kirby Fabien will play right guard. Fabien, a first-round draft choice (seventh overall) in 2012, has impressed thus far after electing to return to the University of Calgary last season instead of turning pro.

The rookie’s presence in the starting lineup, although necessary due to Reid’s injury, runs counter to Benevides’ desire to give his veterans considerable playing time.

“I’ve got to get these guys going,” said Benevides.

Notes: Another rookie, Matt Albright, a 21-year-old Dartmouth, N.S., native out of St. Mary’s University, will serve as the Lions’ backup centre. … Former Lion Mike Reilly is slated to start at quarterback for the Eskimos.

Aboriginal players Levi Horn and J.R. LaRose could make B.C. a unique pro team

Courtesy of Andrew Bucholtz of 55 yard line

CFL players come in from all sorts of backgrounds, and that often makes for an interesting mix in training camps between Canadians, Americans, rookies trying to figure out this league and established veterans who know how Canadian football works.

Players often form connections beyond just their status, though, as they often come from the same areas or have played with or against teammates in the NCAA or CIS ranks. Sometimes, the connections are even more interesting than that, and that’s the case with B.C. Lions’ offensive line prospect Levi Horn and safety J.R. LaRose.

As Lowell Ullrich writes, the two have a partly-shared heritage, and one that could make the Lions an anomaly in pro sports if both make the roster:

Horn is a registered member of a branch of the Cheyenne tribe, and so much wants to make the roster of the CFL team so he can keep giving back. Not just for a wife and child back home in Missoula, Mont., but for the native Americans who see him as a hero simply for what he has already accomplished. …

That Horn might be able to make a difference, playing as a backup offensive lineman for the Lions alongside Cree safety J.R. LaRose, on what would be the only pro team in North America currently with two native roster players, would be nothing short of historic.

“I’ve got a lot of people cheering for me,” Horn said.

The two players connected almost immediately at the start of Lions training camp. If anyone could relate to the rookie, even one who is 6-7 and 330 pounds, it was LaRose, whose father was deported at an early age. He was raised by a single mother on welfare in a family where drug addiction was widespread.

Football was the only father figure to Horn, whose mother raised three children on her own while battling lupus since she was in high school. Weighing nearly 12 pounds at birth, the game was a natural draw, except for the fact he couldn’t afford proper equipment. A 6-4, 240-pounder in grade eight, he started by playing basketball because his high school coach bought him a pair of sneakers.

Both Horn and LaRose have gone through some tough times, but both have shown they’ve got the capability to play football at a high level. LaRose came into the league following an impressive junior career with the Edmonton Huskies. He’s spent eight seasons in the CFL and suffered innumerable injuries along the way, but he finally has an excellent chance to win a starting job thanks to Cauchy Muamba’s departure for Winnipeg.

Meanwhile, Horn started off as a tight end at the University of Oregon, then switched to offensive line. He transferred to Montana and starred on the line there, and he’s since spent two years with the NFL’s Chicago Bears, plus a stint with the Minnesota Vikings and a brief time with the Arena Football League’s Spokane Shock. Both certainly could have the potential to make the Lions’ roster, although LaRose obviously will have an easier time of it given his CFL experience and his non-import status.

Offensive lineman Levi Horn has a chance to make the Lions this year.Horn and LaRose may have an interesting opportunity to shine a light on aboriginal issues, too, and they could provide a reminder that many of those issues are far from settled. Assembly of First Nations national chief Shawn Atleo told Postmedia News’ Michael Woods that “Progress, where we can see it, feels way too slow” in a story published Monday, five years after prime minister Stephen Harper officially apologized for the residential school system that was active in Canada until the mid-20th century. In advance of June 21’s National Aboriginal Day, UBC journalism professor and CBC reporter Duncan McCue recently wrote about how aboriginal people are underrepresented in both journalism as a profession and as interviewees of journalists. There are a lot of notable aboriginal stories out there, and one particularly interesting one centres around the continued existence of the NFL’s Washington Redskins (a story that’s also touched Canada: Atleo and others have called for the youth football Nepean Redskins to change their name, but that hasn’t happened yet). When Ullrich asked Horn about the Washington situation (which has recently seen members of the U.S. Congress lobbying team owner Daniel Snyder to change the name), he received a notable response:

“Just because racism is normalized to us it doesn’t make it right. Redskins is a racist, offensive word. If you called me a redskin right now, we’re done. Why name a team that way?”

There’s a different perspective than what you see in most CFL player interviews, and that speaks to what might be so special if both LaRose and Horn make this team. They’ll succeed or fail based on their skill, of course, and that’s how it should be. If the Lions do become the first North American pro team to have two aboriginal players on their roster at the same time, though, that’s a unique situation, and one that should be celebrated; it’s also one that might shine a brighter light onto ongoing aboriginal issues. Both Horn and LaRose work to help aboriginal kids (LaRose speaks to children on reserves across Western Canada during the offseason, while Horn has been involved in everything from presidential fitness initiatives to diabetes awareness and research), and Horn told Ullrich he and LaRose can be inspirations to others from aboriginal backgrounds:

“I feel like me, (LaRose), this generation and the friends I know, it’s time to turn it around and we’re the people to do it. This generation needs to bring up our youth and show them it can be done,” Horn said.

“Think of the big picture: That’s what the native thinking needs to be. Go out, but come back and help. Don’t go out and get lost (in society). Get your bleep together. It’s hard work and we got to do it.”

Terrell Owens thinks he’d be a good fit for the Kansas City Chiefs

Courtesy of Jeff Rosen of the Kansas City Star

Terrell Owens, the loquacious wide receiver known as much for his flamboyant antics as he was for turning out thousand-yard seasons, is seeking another comeback.

Now 39, Owens said on an NFL radio interview today that he still feels he has something to offer an NFL team — perhaps even the Chiefs.

That’s right. The 15-year veteran who last wore an NFL uniform during the 2012 presason before being cut by the Seattle Seahawks told the NFL Network’s “NFL AM” show that he hasn’t yet heard from another potential suitor, but the Chiefs or Vikings could be good fits because they employ the West Coast Offense … not to mention the fact that Andy Reid, for whom Owens played in Philadelphia, now coaches here in Kansas City.

Thus far, though, all T.O. has heard in return are crickets.
“Nothing as of right now,” Owens said on the broadcast. “So I understand the process; obviously teams are really taking a closer look in evaluating their younger players. Being a free agent, I understand that later in the months as training camp starts, they’ll start looking for veterans.”

Could Owens be the kind of veteran the Chiefs bring aboard as summer heats up and opening kickoff approaches? Could Alex Smith really be scanning the field this fall and drop a pass into the hands of Owens? After all, behind star pass-catcher Dwayne Bowe, the Chiefs’ roster includes a lot of newbies, unrealized potential and neon-flashing question marks.

In a report on the radio interview posted today by Dan Hanzus, who writes for NFL.com’s Around the League site, Owens said he feels the lack of interest in his services stems more from punishment for his actions earlier in his career than an inability to compete at nearly 40 years of age. Past antics included feuding with his starting quarterbacks to showboating on the Dallas Cowboys’ midfield star.

There’s no denying that Owens was once one of the best receivers in the league. He has played regular-season games for the 49ers, Eagles, Cowboys, Bills and Bengals. In 2010, his last full season in the NFL, he had 72 catches for 983 yards and nine touchdowns.
Owens nine times produced thousand-yard seasons, and eight times scored double-digit touchdowns. But he sat out the 2011 season, and the Seahawks didn’t see enough potential in him last year to keep him past training camp.

“It’s all politics,” he said. “I think a lot of it has to do with my reputation, things that I’ve done early in my career.
“I’m a changed person, I’m a bit more mature then I was in years past and I think if anybody out there can look past that, and look what I can bring to the team than some of the things that happened in the past, I can look past it and maybe they could and I could go in and help a team develop some of those younger guys.”
He says he’ll retire if no team shows interest this season.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/06/12/4288794/terrell-owens-says-hed-be-a-good.html#storylink=cpy

Kraft says Putin stole 2005 Super Bowl ring

Courtesy of Terry McCormick of the national football post

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft wanted to set the record straight about giving Russian president Vladimir Putin his 2005 Super Bowl ring.

Basically, Kraft says Putin pocketed the ring, valued at around $25,000, after looking at it during a visit in 2005, according to the New York Daily News.

That’s not all. Kraft also said Putin commented that he could “kill someone with this ring,” according to Kraft’s statement to a crowd at Carnegie Hall’s Medal of Excellence gala.

“I took out the ring and showed it to [Putin], and he put it on and he goes, ‘I can kill someone with this ring,’ ” Kraft said.“I put my hand out and he put it in his pocket, and three KGB guys got around him and walked out.”

Kraft said he wanted to get the ring back, but was told by President George W. Bush that doing so might strain U.S.-Russian relations. So the Patriots owner decided to be a, well, patriot, of sorts by letting the ring go.

“‘It would really be in the best interest of US-Soviet relations if you meant to give the ring as a present,” Kraft said Bush told him.

But, Kraft said, “I really didn’t [want to]. I had an emotional tie to the ring, it has my name on it. I don’t want to see it on eBay. There was a pause on the other end of the line, and the voice repeated, ‘It would really be in the best interest if you meant to give the ring as a present.’ ”