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Knicks’ Anthony, Lin questionable; no Amare update
The New York Knicks say Carmelo Anthony and Jeremy Lin are questionable for Wednesday night’s home game against Orlando because of injuries.
The Knicks didn’t provide an update on forward Amare Stoudemire, who traveled to Miami for a second opinion on his injured back. The Knicks said Monday he was out indefinitely with a bulging disk but wouldn’t need surgery.
Lin also sat out Monday’s victory over Milwaukee with a sore left knee. Anthony scored 28 points despite straining his right groin.
Anthony was slowed by a groin problem earlier this season but said this injury didn’t feel as bad. He left the game immediately following the Feb. 6 injury but was able to return to the game this time and play through it.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
MLB approves Dodgers’ finalists
Major League Baseball owners have unanimously approved the three remaining groups bidding to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers from Frank McCourt, setting up a final private auction for the bankrupt team.
A person familiar with the call, speaking on condition of anonymity because no announcement was made, said the vote took place during a teleconference Tuesday. McCourt and his advisers will conduct negotiations and select the winner in the coming days.
One group is led by former Los Angeles Lakers star Magic Johnson; another by Stan Kroenke, whose family properties include the St. Louis Rams; and the last by Steven Cohen, a hedge fund founder who is a limited partner in the New York Mets.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Payton seeks Parcells’ counsel about Saints’ plan
Sean Payton has planned the New Orleans Saints’ offseason, done some work on the upcoming draft and jotted down ideas for the start of training camp.
And now, with his season-long suspension set to begin Sunday, he is checking to see if mentor Bill Parcells would run the team while he serves his penalty for allowing a Saints assistant coach and players to operate a crunch-for-cash bounty system.
Speaking publicly for the first time since the Saints were sanctioned for targeting specific opponents, Payton said Tuesday he will soon decide whether to appeal his suspension, something Commissioner Roger Goodell said he would allow.
Payton also said he was meeting with Parcells, who lives near Palm Beach, site of the NFL meetings, to discuss the plan for the season.
“For me to be down here, if I didn’t call him or try to set up a time to see him, I’d probably get his wrath,” Payton said.
Payton said he, general manager Mickey Loomis — who is facing an eight-game suspension — and team owner Tom Benson are weighing a number of scenarios. Among them: Does Parcells want to coach?
If he appeals, and he has until Monday, Goodell said he would “probably” allow him to continue working past the intended start of his suspension. Goodell also said he would expedite the appeal process and his decision, meaning Payton might only get a few more days of work before having to step aside.
The NFL’s investigation in New Orleans found that Payton initially lied to league investigators about the existence of a bounty and instructed his defensive assistants to do the same.
Payton twice apologized for his role in an enterprise that offered payouts for knocking out opponents, saying he takes “full responsibility” for a system that operated for three years under his watch.
As many as 27 players could also be sanctioned for their role in the scandal.
“As the head coach, anything that happens in the framework of your team and your program, you’re responsible for,” Payton said. “And that’s a lesson I’ve learned. And it’s one that it’s easy to get carried away, in regards to a certain side of the ball or more involved offensively or defensively. And that’s something that I regret.”
Payton said he was confident he will coach the Saints again in 2013, and that his biggest challenge was realizing that for the first time in 39 years, he may not have an active role in football as a player or coach.
“You go through a range of emotions that kind of hit you,” Payton said. “You’re disappointed. You’re disappointed in yourself that it got to this point. I think we’re trained as coaches to begin preparation right away. I find myself reflecting on it, and you go through a lot of emotions.”
Asked if he might work in broadcasting this season, Payton said anyone in his position would keep their options open. He said he hasn’t been in touch with Gregg Williams, the former Saints defensive coordinator who ran the bounty system and was suspended indefinitely. Asked if bounties were what he envisioned when he asked Williams to build a defense, he replied,
“No, obviously not.”
Much of the conversation revolved around Parcells, the two-time Super Bowl winner who hired Payton as an offensive assistant in Dallas in 2003 and was a finalist for the Hall of Fame this season.
“He’s a great teacher,” Payton said. “Certainly I’m biased, having worked with him. But he’s a Hall of Fame head coach. And I would also say there’s some things probably set up in the framework of our program that would be exactly how he would have set those things up had he been the head coach here in `06. So there’s some carry-over that way.”
If Parcells returned to the sideline, he may have to wait another five years before becoming eligible for the Hall of Fame again. Parcells, who turns 71 in August, may not want to wait that long. Asked by Sports Illustrated on Monday if he had a desire to coach another team, Parcells said, “I don’t think so.”
In addition to the penalties for Payton and Loomis, the league suspended assistant head coach Joe Vitt for six games. Goodell also fined the Saints $500,000 and took away second-round draft choices in 2012 and 2013.
Payton said he didn’t want the scandal to “taint or tarnish” his team’s recent success.
“We’ll get through this,” he said. “This will be a challenge. … You know, we’ve gone through a lot of adversity and we’ve won a lot of games in really a short window of time. And I know our players are leaders both within the locker room and the coaching staff will look at this as a challenge and a little bit as an opportunity.”
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Dwyane Wade writing book on fatherhood
Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat is becoming an author.
William Morrow announced plans Wednesday to publish “A Father First: How My Life Became Bigger than Basketball,” to be released in September. The book talks in part about Wade’s struggles growing up in Chicago and how he’s incorporating some of the lessons he learned into raising his own family.
Wade tells The Associated Press that it was “therapeutic” to open up about certain elements of his life.
Wade was awarded sole custody of his two sons in March 2011 after a long court battle with his ex-wife, who remains in the boys’ lives. The 2006 NBA finals MVP and eight-time All-Star says he hopes the book shows his fans a side of him they haven’t already seen.
Morrow is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
NY’s Warm Winter
Whitney Houston Cause of Death Revealed — Cocaine Found in System | TMZ.com
Whitney Houston had cocaine in her system when she died — this according to the L.A. County Coroner.
The L.A. County Coroner has just released the singer’s official cause of death –accidental drowning … but the report also notes heart disease and cocaine use were contributing factors to Whitney’s demise.
A source connected to the investigation tells us it is “very possible” Whitney had a heart attack that caused her to lose consciousness and drown. The heart attack may have been triggered by hardening of the arteries as a result of cocaine use…
Read More: Whitney Houston Cause of Death Revealed — Cocaine Found in System | TMZ.com.
Jets, Broncos complete trade for QB Tim Tebow
The Broncos and the Jets have completed a trade to send quarterback Tim Tebow to New York.
The deal hit a snag earlier Wednesday when the Jets apparently balked at repaying Denver more than $5 million for a salary advance due Tebow. ESPN reported that the two sides had agreed to split that cost.
The Broncos also will receive fourth- and sixth-round draft picks, while New York gets a seventh-rounder — all in 2012 — as agreed to in the initial deal.
Denver started shopping Tebow after signing Peyton Manning, and the Jets were considered a long shot as late as Tuesday night. But New York went after Tebow, envisioning him as a versatile complement to starter Mark Sanchez, who received a $40.5 million contract extension, with $20.5 million guaranteed, earlier this month. The Jets also had pursued Manning.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Dunk of the Night: Morris is everywhere!
Trayvon Martin’s Mother ‘Cannot Eat,’ While Lawyer Expresses Concerns Over Grand Jury
As state and federal authorities join the probe into the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, his mother, Sabrina Fulton, said that the investigation won’t matter unless the result is the arrest and prosecution of George Zimmerman, who police said confessed to shooting Martin.
“I think it’s progress that so much is being done and I think they are starting to open their eyes,” Fulton told Huffington Post BlackVoices this afternoon, in reference to the Justice Department and the FBI. “I truly believe they are going to arrest him.”
“Until they do, I cannot eat, I cannot sleep and I cannot relax. Not until he’s arrested,” she said.
Police said Zimmerman, 28, a self-appointed neighborhood watchman, shot and killed Martin Feb. 26 in Sanford, Fla., an Orlando suburb where Martin’s father lives. Martin, a native of Miami, was visiting his father, returning from a nearby store when Zimmerman saw him and thought he looked suspicious. At some point, Zimmerman followed Martin, confronted him and then shot him in the chest, according the Sanford police…
Read more: Trayvon Martin’s Mother ‘Cannot Eat,’ While Lawyer Expresses Concerns Over Grand Jury.
