NFL Capsules: NFL wives shop to aid needy at holiday season
NOVI, Mich. — Week by week, the wives of NFL players watch their husbands take their lumps in the fight for a win.
This week, Detroit Lions wives and other members of the group Off The Field go shopping to make sure lumps of coal don't greet needy children this holiday season.
It's the third year for the charity project called Dream Drive, sponsored by the Salvation Army and the Sam's Club retail chain, part of Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
"With the economy, it's always a need to give back," Tamiko McKenzie, wife of ex-player Keith McKenzie, said Tuesday. Her husband played for Green Bay, Cleveland, Chicago and Buffalo and now is linebackers coach at Wayne State University in Detroit.
During the event, the women "will hit the aisles of Sam's Club to fill baskets with clothes, household products and toys to brighten the season for the local families," organizers said in a statement.
In southeastern Michigan, the shopping event takes place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday at a Sam's Club in Novi.
Joining Tamiko McKenzie are Kim Porcher, ex-wife of former Lions player Robert Porcher; Chanita Foster, wife of free-agent ex-Lions player George Foster; and the wives of active Detroit players — Brooke Sims (Ernie Sims), Janelle Foote (Larry Foote) and Vanessa Bullocks (Daniel Bullocks).
The Salvation Army is choosing about 10 Detroit-area families to get the holiday gifts. Other NFL cities participating in Dream Drive are Atlanta, Buffalo, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Miami and Phoenix.
Wives of current and retired NFL players founded Off the Field in 2006.
NFL owner named to SC athletic hall
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Houston Texas owner Bob McNair and Grand Slam tennis champion Stan Smith head a group of eight named to the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame.
Others in the 2010 class announced Tuesday are former Clemson and NBA standout Horace Grant and Olympic gold-medal winning swimmer Courtney Shealy Hart.
In addition, former major leaguer Wayne Tolleson of Spartanburg, ex-Clemson offensive lineman Joe Bostic, Furman men’s tennis coach Paul Scarpa and former South Carolina defensive back Bill Currier.
The group will be inducted into the hall on May 24.
Smith, who lives in Hilton Head, won the U.S. Open in 1971 and Wimbledon a year later. He also won five Grand Slam doubles titles.
McNair is a 1958 graduate of the University of South Carolina.
Burress seeks furlough, N.Y. prosecutors to oppose
NEW YORK — Former Super Bowl star Plaxico Burress wants to get a break from prison, but prosecutors said Tuesday they will likely try to block his bid for work release because he hasn’t served enough time.
The former New York Giant applied for a work furlough — which would let him spend some portion of his time at home — on Nov. 25, about two months into his two-year sentence for carrying an unlicensed gun that went off and wounded him at a Manhattan nightclub. State prison system officials are expected to decide on his request next month.
Prosecutors said the bullet narrowly missed a security guard, and they insisted on at least a two-year prison term. A quick furlough would send "a very bad message," Manhattan Chief Assistant District Attorney Mark Dwyer said Tuesday.
"It’s too early," he said.
Burress’ lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, declined to comment.
Statistically, Burress’ effort is a long shot. Less than 5 percent of the more than 31,500 work release applications statewide were granted last year, according to the state Department of Correctional Services.
Under state law, inmates convicted of nonviolent offenses can apply for work furloughs within two years of their release dates. Burress pleaded guilty in August to a form of attempted criminal possession of a weapon that allows him to be eligible for work release, state corrections spokeswoman Linda Foglia said.
Officials deciding on furloughs weigh factors including the inmate’s crime, his prison behavior and any opposition to the release, she said.
Burress, then a Giants receiver, was at the Latin Quarter nightclub in November 2008 with a .40-caliber gun tucked into his waistband. He later said he was concerned for his safety because a teammate had been held up at gunpoint elsewhere days before. The weapon slipped down Burress’ leg and fired, injuring his right thigh.
The gun wasn’t licensed in New York or New Jersey, where Burress lived; his Florida concealed-weapons permit had expired.
Sentenced in September, Burress is now being held in protective custody at an upstate prison because of his notoriety.
Inmates on work release generally get to spend several days and nights each week out of prison working and reconnecting with their families; the exact arrangements vary for each inmate. Some are allowed out full-time for the last few months of their sentence, Foglia said.
It’s unclear what work Burress, 32, might do if given a furlough. The Giants released him in April, and the NFL has suspended him for the duration of his sentence.
Burress, who caught the Giants’ winning touchdown over the New England Patriots in the final minute of the 2008 Super Bowl, has said he hopes to play again.
-- Jennifer Peltz
NFL fines Ochocinco $30K for poncho, sombrero
Chad Ochocinco is donating dinero to the NFL yet again.
The Cincinnati Bengals receiver is being fined $30,000 for his latest stunt — donning a poncho and sombrero after scoring a touchdown this weekend — a person in the NFL told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the league has not made any announcement about the fine. The punishment was first reported by ESPN.com.
Ochocinco wore a gray poncho and black sombrero after catching a TD pass in Cincinnati’s 23-13 victory over the Detroit Lions on Sunday.
The receiver legally changed his name last year from Chad Johnson to a loose translation in Spanish of his uniform number, 85. "Ochocinco" literally means "eight five."
On his Twitter account, Ochocinco posted Tuesday: "Dear NFL League Office ... being great means having fun n celebrating. I’ve written a letter of apology to yall."
This fine comes about a month after Ochocinco was docked $20,000 and reprimanded by the NFL for pretending to bribe an official a dollar.
While one of his catches was being reviewed during Cincinnati’s 17-7 victory over Baltimore on Nov. 8, Ochocinco held a dollar bill in his right hand at his side but didn’t give it to the official, who motioned for him to stay away.
When that fine was handed down, the league sent Ochocinco a letter citing rules that prohibit abusive, threatening or insulting language or gestures toward officials. That letter also noted that players are prohibited from taking items onto the field that are not a part of their uniform.
-- Howard Fendrich
NFL awarding $1.5 million in research grants
NEW YORK — The NFL’s charitable foundation is awarding $1.5 million in grants to support medical research on subjects such as artery blockage in retired players, stem cell usage for tendon repair and heat stress risks.
The league announced Tuesday that 11 organizations will receive grants.
None of this year’s recipients plan studies on concussions. Joe Browne, the NFL’s executive vice president of communications and public affairs, notes that the league office and NFL Charities have combined to fund more than $5 million in ongoing research on brain injuries in the last decade.
More than 75 requests for grants were made this year. A four-member panel of medical experts makes recommendations to the NFL Charities board.
Minnesota-Carolina to remain night game Dec. 20
NEW YORK — The Minnesota-Carolina matchup Dec. 20 will remain the NFL’s Sunday night game even though NBC had the option to choose another one.
The league said Tuesday that the Green Bay-Pittsburgh game that day will start at 4:15 p.m. EST instead of 1 p.m.
The league’s flexible scheduling policy allows it to change the Sunday night game to select a better matchup starting in Week 11.
The Vikings are 10-2 entering this weekend’s meeting with Cincinnati. The Panthers are 5-7 before playing at New England.
Injuries
Season over, future unclear, for Redskins’ Portis
ASHBURN, Va. — The season is over for Washington Redskins running back Clinton Portis. Now he’s left to contemplate where he might play next — and whether he will play again.
Portis was in a reflective mood Tuesday after the Redskins placed him on injured reserve. Doctors have yet to clear him from a concussion he suffered a month ago, and he sounded like a player with a very opened-ended future.
"I think I’ll get well," Portis said on his weekly radio appearance on ESPN980. "I have to put the time into rehabbing and continuing to do what the doctors say, but at the same time, to have the opportunity to play for eight years and play and compete and not miss many games ... if it’s my time and I look back today, I think I had a great career. No one wants to finish on an injury, but at the same time I enjoyed it and I would love to come back."
Portis was hurt in a helmet-to-helmet hit against Atlanta on Nov. 8 and since struggled with vision problems and dizziness. He spent Monday and Tuesday making a return visit to a specialist in Pittsburgh.
"They told me they weren’t going to clear me," Portis said, "and that I needed to go see an optometrist and get my eye better. ... Doc feared if I took another hit like that, it could get worse."
Portis’ season ends with a career-low 494 yards rushing on 124 carries and one touchdown. Although only 28, he already has 2,176 carries, third most in the NFL since entering the league in 2002, and was already showing signs of wear and tear before the concussion.
Both the Redskins and Portis’ agent gave upbeat assessments Tuesday about the running back’s playing prospects. Team executive vice president of football operations Vinny Cerrato issued a statement that said: "Clinton’s prognosis is good and we expect him to make a full recovery and return to the Redskins."
Portis’ representative, Drew Rosenhaus, said via Twitter that he’s been assured by Portis’ doctors of a complete recovery by the 2010 season and that he is "very optimistic" about Portis’ future with the Redskins.
But the Redskins are also 3-9, and owner Dan Snyder is expected to make major changes in the offseason.
"Do I think there will be change? I do," Portis said. "And if I’m part of that change would I be sad and devastated? I won’t. I think I’m appreciative of everything Mr. Snyder and the Washington Redskins have done for me, the opportunities they gave me.
"I’m 28, man. I’m not going to be devastated: ‘Oh, man, football is over.’ I enjoyed it. I had fun doing it. I gave everything I had doing it. I did it to the best of my ability. The day that I sit down and I look back on my career I think I will enjoy the highlights. If I get to continue and I’m not in D.C. and I have to play for someone else, I will give it all I got there as well."
-- Joseph White
Bucs place KR Clifton Smith on injured reserve
TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa Bay kick returner Clifton Smith will miss the rest of the season after his second concussion in less than two months.
The second-year pro was placed on injured reserve Tuesday, two days after he was hurt making a tackle on the opening kickoff of Sunday’s 16-6 loss at Carolina.
His first concussion happened during an Oct. 18 game against the Panthers, when he was hit trying to make a fair catch on a punt.
Smith was a Pro Bowl kick returner as a rookie. He’s second in the NFL in kickoff return average (29.1 yards) and 10th in punt return average (10.1) this season.
The Bucs promoted running back Kareem Huggins from the practice squad to fill the roster opening.
The move was announced on the team’s day off.
On Monday, coach Raheem Morris was asked if the Bucs would take a cautious approach with Smith’s second concussion.
"That’s a no-brainer. ... I don’t want to speak out of turn but I’m sure there will be with what’s going on with concussions and our society as far as the NFL," Morris said.
Polamalu uncertain about playing again this season
PITTSBURGH — With the Pittsburgh Steelers fast running out of games and his left knee still not healed, star safety Troy Polamalu isn’t certain if he will be back this season.
Polamalu is hopeful of playing again in 2009, but he said Tuesday there is no definitive date for his return.
Polamalu’s latest injury, to his posterior cruciate ligament, was initially expected to be less severe than the anterior cruciate ligament injury that kept him out of the Steelers’ second through fifth games. But he won’t play Thursday night in Cleveland, the fourth consecutive game he’s missed with his latest injury.
With 10 days off until the next game, there is a chance the five-time Pro Bowl player could be ready to play Dec. 20 against Green Bay. However, Polamalu hasn’t been cleared to practice, much less play.
-- Alan Robinson
Player Moves
Redskins cut Suisham after latest miss, sign Gano
ASHBURN, Va. — The chip-shot miss against the New Orleans Saints has cost Washington Redskins kicker Shaun Suisham his job.
Suisham, the most accurate kicker in franchise history, was cut Tuesday by the Redskins, who replaced him with Graham Gano from the United Football League.
Suisham made his first 13 field goal attempts this season, but he had vital misses from 39 and 50 yards in the 7-6 loss to Dallas three games ago and was wide right Sunday on a 23-yarder that would have sealed a victory over the unbeaten Saints. New Orleans rallied to win 33-30 in overtime.
Suisham made 18 of 21 attempts this season and 81 of 101 since joining the Redskins in 2006. His 80.2 percent success rate is the best career mark for any Redskins kicker with more than a half-dozen attempts.
"We’ve let a good kicker go down the road," coach Jim Zorn said on his weekly radio show on ESPN980. "Shaun has performed very well. I know he’ll just be upset. He should be, but yet there’s an accountability there. We’ll all end up being accountable for our season, no question about it."
Gano kicked the winning field goal in overtime for the Las Vegas Locomotives in the first UFL title game last month. He is from Florida State and spent training camp with the Baltimore Ravens.
Giants signed DB London Fryar to practice squad
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The New York Giants have signed the son of former NFL standout Irving Fryar to their practice squad.
The Giants announced Tuesday that defensive back London Fryar was signed to their practice squad. He will take the place of fellow defensive back Vince Anderson, who was placed on the practice squad-injured list.
Fryar was signed as a rookie free agent by the Kansas City Chiefs on May 8 and was waived on Sept. 4. He played in 42 games with 34 starts at Western Michigan. He is a native of Jobstown, N.J., near Philadelphia. His father, Irving, played 17 seasons in the NFL as a wide receiver.
Arena Football
Arena football returns to Cleveland
CLEVELAND — The Gladiators are re-entering the arena.
Cleveland will again have an arena football team as the Cleveland Gladiators will return as members of the Arena Football One League in 2010. The team previously played in the now-defunct Arena League.
Cleveland’s franchise will retain its nickname, logo and red, black and white colors and play its games at Quicken Loans Arena.
The team said it will be joined by former AFL markets Arizona, Chicago, Dallas, Orlando and Utah. Others clubs include Alabama, Bossier-Shreveport, Iowa, Jacksonville, Milwaukee, Oklahoma City, Spokane and Tulsa.
Former Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar will again be in the team’s front office.
