AFC Injuries
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS - Starting linebacker Tedy Bruschi (leg), starting tight end Christian Fauria (leg) and reserve fullback Patrick Pass (ankle) are probable for Sunday's game against Carolina. Offensive lineman Damien Woody (knee), long snapper Sean McDermott (shoulder), offensive tackle Adrian Klemm (ankle), fullback Fred McCrary (leg), wide receiver David Patten (knee), linebacker Rosevelt Colvin (fractured hip), guards Mike Compton (foot) and Steve Neal (shoulder), center Gene Mruczkowski (leg) and quarterback Kliff Kingsbury (arm) are on injured reserve.
posted by Anonymous @ 11:54 AM
Miami's Thomas has knee surgery
Miami Dolphins linebacker Zach Thomas underwent knee surgery on Friday.
The successful procedure was performed to repair a tear of the lateral meniscus in his left knee.
Thomas will begin rehab and will be evaluated just before the team begins training camp on July 31.
The five-time Pro Bowl selection has led the Dolphins in tackles in seven of the past eight seasons, including the 2003 campaign when he made 184 stops -- 113 of which were solo. He also had three interceptions, two fumble recoveries and one sack last season.
Are the Arizona Cardinals being WORKED or are they WIMPS?
The Arizona Cardinals have ended their off-season workouts a week early after a group of players complained to the the union that the team had violated league rules by working the players too hard.
NFL Executive Vice President Harold Henderson and Players Association Executive Director Gene Upshaw said the team violated rules on the intensity level and tempo of drills during voluntary workouts under new coach Dennis Green.
As a result, the Cardinals have forfeited the final week of their off-season program, which was scheduled to run through Friday. The team reports to training camp in Flagstaff Aug. 1.
The Cardinals are the second team this year to give up voluntary workouts because of contract violations.
The New York Giants, who also have a new coach, Tom Coughlin, were told in May that the team had to give up two days of their offseason program because of violations on the length of workouts and the scheduling of classroom sessions.
Hamilton County vs. Cincinnati Bengals'
Hamilton County can pursue a lawsuit challenging the Cincinnati Bengals' lease for the stadium that county taxpayers paid to build, a federal judge ruled Monday.
The lawsuit alleges that the Bengals and the National Football League used their monopoly and the Bengals' threat to move to another city to coerce construction of the 65,000-seat stadium and to extract highly favorable lease terms.
The $458 million stadium opened in 2000. It was built with proceeds from a half-cent sales tax increase that county voters approved in 1996.
The Bengals and the NFL have denied wrongdoing and are fighting the lawsuit. The team had no comment on the judge's ruling, spokesman P.J. Combs said. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello also declined comment.
In February, the judge rejected a request by the NFL and the Bengals to dismiss the lawsuit.
The county's lawyer, Stanley Chesley, said Monday he plans to seek financial records from the Bengals and take statements from team officials, including owner Mike Brown. Chesley said he also would seek to take a statement from Bob Bedinghaus, a former Hamilton County commissioner who backed the stadium sales tax increase and now works for the Bengals after losing a re-election campaign in 2000.
A judge dismissed the case in state court, but Spiegel said the case should be heard in federal court. The county will replace Davis as the plaintiff.
Portune and fellow county commissioner Phil Heimlich voted in March to have the county pursue the lawsuit.
Miami football player arrested
Rolle is also charged with resisting an officer without violence and disorderly conduct. Rolle, who is scheduled for a court hearing in August, had two interceptions and 47 tackles last season. He announced in January that he would pass up a chance at the NFL Draft to return for his senior season.
In Loving Memory of the Steerlers' Mom.
Stephanie Porter was not a coach. She did not teach players how to take a handoff, how to run a fade pattern, how to make a tackle. She didn't condition their bodies, didn't condition their mind.
All she did was soothe their souls.
And she did it every day. Right from her perch at the end of the cafeteria line.
"If things were rough, she was always helpful," Bettis said. "That's a beautiful thing. She came in every day and she was always upbeat. That's not something you see all the time."
Many of the Steelers' players hadn't seen her in more than a month, since the end of minicamp. And they probably weren't going to see her again until they returned from training camp at St. Vincent College ... unless she came up to see her boys -- that's what she called them -- in Latrobe.
Since the Steelers' opened their South Side training/office complex in 2000, Porter was one of four full-time service attendants in the cafeteria. Sometimes she was behind the buffet glass, filling the plates for players, coaches and front-office employees. Lately, though, she sat on a stool and ran the cash register, her mobility limited by several knee procedures.
"To the guys she was more of a mother figure," Bettis said. "She looked after us. ... If it was something you weren't supposed to be eating, she stayed on you for that.
"She was the real deal," Stewart said. "She went to that length for everyone. It won't be the same around there, I'll guarantee you that. She was special. She always was in my book."
Stephanie Porter will be missed by all...but her boys will feel the emptiness of her presence.
No NFL in Toronto.
Toronto's dream of securing a National Football League franchise is being hampered by, of all things, the amount of parking spots for buses at SkyDome. At least, that's the conclusion of the stadium's owners.
The fate of the NFL in Toronto has emerged in a bitter lawsuit between Sportsco International LP, the owner of SkyDome, and Stadium Corporation of Ontario, the provincial government agency that built the facility.
As for the NFL allegations, Stadium Corp. replied in its filing: “The National Football League has no current plans to expand beyond a 32-team league, and the NFL has previously indicated that SkyDome does not have sufficient seating to support an existing or expansion NFL franchise.”
One sports industry source called Sportsco's argument “silly.” The source said the main concern for the NFL in awarding a new franchise is stadium ownership. The league wants teams to own the stadiums in which they play, which means Toronto would have to build a football-only venue. SkyDome probably could not accommodate an NFL team, the source added, because it was built for Canadian football.
EX-Redskin player on probation for drug possession.
Former Washington Redskins offensive lineman George Starke was sentenced Monday to one year's probation and a $50 US fine for drug possession. Starke was also ordered to attend drug rehabilitation.
District of Columbia police stopped Starke on May 14 when an officer noticed he was not wearing his seat belt, according to charging documents. He was also charged with driving on a suspended license, and a search of the car revealed seven grams of cocaine, prosecutors said.
Starke, 58, initially denied the allegations, saying the car was taken from the motor pool of the Excel Institute Automotive Program, a trade school he runs for troubled teens.
But at a hearing last month, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanour charge of crack cocaine possession. Afterward, Starke told reporters the drugs were not his, and that he pleaded guilty to avoid the expense of a trial. That upset a D.C. Superior Court judge, who on Monday asked Starke if he possessed crack cocaine at the time of his arrest. He admitted he had.
Starke had nothing to say to reporters on his way out of court Monday.
Starke played left tackle for the Redskins from 1973-84. He was a member of the "Hogs," the team's celebrated offensive line.
