Rumor: Two NFL Draft Prospects Test Positive For Marijuana

 Picture from Kelly Lambert's photo blog

Editor's note: this is only a rumor. When Justin Houston of Georgia, and Christian Ballard of Iowa tumbled down Gil Brandt's and the National Football Post's big boards, they didn't really give an explanation. Now, it may have came to light.

Jay Glazer reports on twitter that Iowa defensive lineman Christian Ballard and Georgia 4-3 defensive end/3-4 outside linebacker Justin Houston both failed drug tests at the NFL combine for marijuana.

Testing positive at the NFL combine can tell you one thing. These players are just downright stupid. They know they are going to the NFL combine well in advance of the February date, and they know damn well they are going to be drug tested at it. How long marijuana can stay in your system is kind of up in the air, but it can stay in there for as little as two days, to as long as a month depending on your metabolism and other factors. It just means that these guys, for whatever reason, risked testing positive before the biggest job interview they will ever face in their entire lives.

Before this positive test, Justin Houston was regarded as a mid to late first round draft choice, and Christian Ballard has been commonly placed in the second round. It should be known that back in 2009 Justin Houston was suspended 2 games by the Bulldog program for testing positive for marijuana.

Of course this is misinformation season, so take these tests can be taken with a grain of salt. Last year a draft website incorrectly stated that not Packers OLB Clay Matthews and Texans LB Brian Cushing tested positive for PED's. Officials came out and said that the positive test reports were lies, but Cushing tested positive later and was suspended 4 games by the NFL.

2011 NFL Draft Mike Mayock Cam Newton Blast Irresponsible

Just when it looks like the rhetoric leading up to the 2011 NFL Draft was subsiding, NFL Network's Mike Mayock got on The Dan Patrick Show to start it back up again. Mayock's statement - that "I just don't know if he cares enough" - about Newton was plainly irresponsible, given he'd not shared it with the Heisman Trophy winner, and wasn't based on any substantial evidence.

Rather than issue any really valuable view of the National Champion, Mayock managed to dig up concerns that much of the criticism of Newton prior to the 2011 NFL Draft is because he's black.

NFL Network Analyst and legendary NFL defensive tackle Warren Sapp hit the ceiling, saying "What has Cam done that people feel he doesn't want to be great?" It's a good question to ask Mayock, but the Twitter-verse wasn't waiting. It erupted in protest; here are some of the tweets:

AubOrange Justin Lee
Does Mike Mayock have any "gut feelings" about any of the white quarterbacks?

Twyc3 THE REAL ME
Mike Mayock needs to get a fucking clue. Cam Newton throw 14 more red then Gabbert and ran 4 over 1500yds and 25 tds he the 1st place winner

Akeiro85 Akinola Fashola
I'm sorry mike mayock your my boy but give cam newton a chance! @nfl I hope he goes no.1 and proves all his haters wrong!

Swandawg62 Dan Swanson
@PaulPabst Warren Sapp just sprung a leak over Mike Mayock's comments on today's show regarding Cam Newton. Go… (cont) http://deck.ly/~Ng82W

C_DA_KID C.J.
@QBKILLA I'm glad u called out Mike Mayock on Cam Newton, if it was Gabbert he wouldn't have said that shit.

It's interesting that the USA Today picked up the anti-Cam Newton statement by Mayock, but not Warren Sapp's counter-blast. This space attacked the USA Today for a very racist take on Newton a few weeks ago.

This 2011 NFL Draft just may be the first one with so many openly race-tinged points of view expressed about one NFL Draft prospect. Sad.

Stay tuned.

2011 NFL Draft Prospects with Checkered Pasts

Here's a list of NFL prospects for this upcoming draft who have had run-ins with the law during college. Will the Bengals or Raiders draft every single one? Are Bengals and Raiders are criminals jokes getting old? Only time will tell.

Kenrick Ellis - DT - Hampton: booted from South Carolina for multiple violations of unspecified team rules. IT's rumored that the team rules violated were due to multiple failed drug tests.

Cam Newton - QB - Auburn: Arrested after being found with a stolen laptop from a UF student. He painted over the laptop and wrote "CAM NEWTON" on it, which must have been to show it was his. Later left UF to not be suspended/expelled for academic cheating/

Ryan Mallett - QB - Arkansas: Arrested for Public Intoxication in 2009 after transferring from Michigan. Has rampant rumors of "drug addiction"

Jimmy Smith - CB - Colorado: failed a drug test back in 2007, and had two charges of minor in possession during his time with the Buffs.

Mitch Mustain - QB - Mizzou: After transferring to USC from Arkansas, he was arrested for selling prescription drugs on CraigsList.

Chris Rucker - CB - Michigan State: Went to jail when he received the second DUI of his Spartans career last October. The newest one he was also given a warning for leaving the scene of a property damage accident. Also suspended with many other Michigan State players in connection with an on campus brawl.

Derrell Johnson-Koulianos - WR - Iowa: Arrested on 7 charges, including: four counts of possession of controlled substances, two counts of unlawful possession of prescription drugs and one count of keeping a drug house. During a search they found police found cocaine, marijuana, prescription drugs (pamoate, diazepam, hydromorphone hydrochloride and zolpidem tartrate pills), scales, $3,000 cash, and other items used in selling drugs.

Blaine Gabbert - QB - Missouri: Was involved in a drunk pizza parlor brawl that left his brother, teammate Tyler Gabbert with a broken nose, and LB Andrew Gachkar requiring stitches in his hand. Underage at the time, no charges were brought up even though they had "varying levels of intoxication".

Robert Aurich - LB - UMD: Arrested after being shitfaced wasted in which he kicked and shoved police who were trying to get him out of a bar. He even challenged the police, "Do you think you can take me to the ground? I’ll beat you up right now."

Brandon Hogan - CB - WVU: Arrested for DUI after driving on the wrong side of the road last September, and disorderly conduct/public urination back in April of last year.

Niles Paul - WR - Nebraska: Arrested for MIP and Public Urination last June, and for DUI, Driving under a suspended license, and MIP  in April of 2009.

Kyle Theret - S - Minnesota: Arrested for DUI after police saw him strike a parked car and pulling away.

Terrance Toliver - WR - LSU: Arrested for disturbing the peace by fistic encounter; disturbing the peace by public intoxication and resisting an officer March of last year.

Mike Hartline - QB - Kentucky: Arrested last December for second degree disorderly conduct, alcohol intoxication in a public place, and failure to notify the department of transportation of an address change after a woman called police saying that he had assaulted her.

Scooter Berry - DL - WVU: Arrested for Public Intoxication and Disorderly Conduct in October of 2009.

Jock Sanders - WR - WVU: Arrested for DUI when he crossed the yellow lines in February of 2009, and before that for an assault outside of a club.

Justin Houston - DE/OLB - Georgia: Suspended 2 games by the Bulldogs for failing drug tests.

Noel Devine - RB - WVU: Arrested in 2008 for assault in a battery that occurred outside of a club. Allegedly stole one of Deion Sanders' vehicles, a Cadillac Escalade, and drove it to the airport after he had been living with Sanders.

Rickey Thenarse - S - Nebraska: Arrested last December and suspended for their bowl game when he was found passed out in a car and charged with DUI, impeding traffic, and driving on a suspended license.

Trevor Hankins - P - Arizona State: Arrested for DUI last November when he made an illegal U-Turn when he "lost his wallet"

Mikel LeShoure - RB - Illinois: In 2008 a fight with teammate Wide Receiver Jeff Cumberland left him with a broken jaw, and he was suspended for violation of team rules the very next year.

Martez Wilson - LB - Illinois: Was involved in a bar fight, which he eventually lost via stabbing.

Quan Sturdivant - LB - UNC: Along with NCAA Violations, he was arrested for marijuana possession. Charge was eventually dropped in a deferred prosecution agreement.

Mark Dell - WR - Michigan State: Suspended along with Chris Rucker and many others in connection with an on campus brawl.

Scott Lutrus - LB - UCONN: Arrested for interfering with an officer after he fought with an officer after they were called to an on campus fight. Charges were later dropped.

Obie Ezeh - LB - Michigan: Arrested for OWI after he stuck a light pole.

Titus Young - WR - Boise State: Charged with MIP, suspended for most of 2008 season for violation of team rules.

Jabaal Sheard - DE/OLB - Pittsburgh: Charged with  charged with aggravated assault, resisting arrest, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct when he got into a fight, threw a man through a window while police batoned him, jumped on the bloody man and started pounding him before being subdued with Pepper Spray.

Jon Baldwin - WR - Pittsburgh: Charged with misdemeanor indecent assault stemming from an incident with a female on a bus.

Adrian Clayborn - DL - Iowa: Charged with misdemeanor charge of assault causing bodily injury after he confronted a Taxi driver who honked at him during a traffic jam.

Judge Nelson LIfts Lockout,..but is it really Over??

A commentary(short) By Dr. Football(Dr. Bill Chachkes)

Late today Judge Susan Richard Nelson effectively ended almost 6 week long Lockout between the NFL players and the NFL owners. Almost as soon as the result was public, the NFL released the following statement:

(From NFLMedia.com)

NFL STATEMENT



"We will promptly seek a stay from Judge Nelson pending an expedited appeal to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. We believe that federal law bars injunctions in labor disputes. We are confident that the Eighth Circuit will agree. But we also believe that this dispute will inevitably end with a collective bargaining agreement, which would be in the best interests of players, clubs and fans. We can reach a fair agreement only if we continue negotiations toward that goal."

So who has really won, If both sides claim a victory? Well, the fans for one have at least a temporary stay of execution with regard to the 2011 season. The Judge is saying that once again, the owners are wrong to expect "indentured servitude" to continue, that Athletes DO have rights as humans. Rights to a safe(at least as safe as possible) work place, and maybe it's finally time for the Pre-1993 Players to get some help with medical costs and a better pension........

Maybe.....

So what happens now? Most likely if the NFL loses on appeal(maybe) and they are forced to begin "offseason activities" as usual, within a few days after the next ruling the 2010 rules will be in place for player movement and free agency will begin in at least some form.... Giants Defensive Lineman Osi UMenyiora said in his released statement “A win for the players and for the fans." Several Teams' Players Association reps are telling players tonight that until another judge grants the NFL a stay, they can go back to their facilities and work out and get treatment....
Maybe.....

Then the owners and players can get back to the table and get a new deal done before training camp......

Maybe.....

Oh how I hate when the legal system invades sports....

Mcdonald's Beating Arrest - Chrissy Lee Polis Hate Crime Victim

This, yet another update in a beating case that this blogger calls an American Tragedy. An arrest has been made in the McDonald's Baltimore County Beating of Chrissy Lee Polis. A girl by the name of Teonna Monae Brown was taken into custody and charged with first - and second - degree assault. And investigators are still, as of this writing, working to determine if Brown should be convicted of a hate crime.

Frankly, now that Chrissy Lee Polis has talked to the media, it does look clearly like a hate crime from this space and because she's transexual. (I also have to add that, in an earlier blog post, I used the term "tranny," but while it was taken by some as derogatory, it was not used that way or intended to be; the term was learned by this blogger by someone who is herself transexual - part of the wonderful diversity of San Francisco Bay Area life. Regardless of the term, what happened to Chrissy Lee Polis on April 18th is at issue, and that was completely wrong.)

The question in all of this is "Where are Teonna Monae Brown's parents?" According to reports, Brown is but 14 years old. She's obviously a juvenile. Her parents should shoulder some blame for her actions.

McDonald's Is At Fault

I totally disagree with the people who say McDonald's Restaurant is not at fault, and Chrissy Lee Polis herself, who said "They stood there - six McDonald's employees - and all did nothing." So, since they work for McDonald's Corporation, the firm has to pay the price. Moreover, Ms. Polis herself wants to sue McDonald's.

So those who say that McDonald's should not be at fault - tell that to Chrissy Lee Polis.

There's a lot of ugliness coming from this, from people looking to blame anyone black, to people making awful comments on YouTube about Chrissy Lee Polis herself, to... Well, it goes on.

Everyone needs to take a deep breath and stop and think. Because there's little of that, that has been done here thus far.

As I've said before, and will say again, a lot of teenagers act like this in 2011 - not just black teenagers. Moreover, a lot of the profiles of commenters on YouTube.com report them to be between 17 to 28 years old - just around the same age range as the girls involved in the Chrissy Lee Polis beating, from attacker to victim. And the majority of commenters are typing pretty vile stuff. But it's come to the point where there comments are countered by those from more reasoned minds.

Finally, anyone who claims this blogger can't deal with what happened and call society for what it is, doesn't read my stuff:  Oakland uptown beating shows young black male problem.

Stay tuned.

Big Talent From the Small Schools

(the 11th Installment of the "Pro Draft Report" presented by Football Reporters)

Big Talent from the Small Schools

By Jay Horn-Special Contributor-Football Reporters Online



The 2011 Draft is jam-packed with talented players from non-FBS schools. 56 players from ‘small schools’ (Divisions 1-AA, 2, 3, and NAIA) where invited to this year’s NFL Combine. The conventional wisdom is shifting from the day when scouts only looked at a couple standouts from these lower-tier divisions. Recently, a number of impact players have come from “less” than the Division-1 farm system.



In 2008, Brandon Carr from perennial D-II power Grand Valley State broke in as a starting cornerback for the KC Chiefs after being taken in the 5th round, in 2009 RB Bernard Scott was a 6th round pick from Abilene Christian who dazzled the NFL in his rookie season with big kick-off returns and steady production in the backfield for the Cincinnati Bengals. Also that year, WR Johnny Knox, Scott’s teammate at ACU, has been extremely productive since entering the League as a 5th round pick with the Bears. Another ACU product, OT J’Marcus Webb, was taken in the 7th round and has earned a starting role with the Bears as well.



Last year, some of the NFL’s most exciting rookies came from ‘small schools.’ D-2 Tiffin Dragons RB Chris Ivory (who played only four games as a senior after suffering a broken leg) became a starter for the defending World Champion New Orleans Saints. GLIAC standout offensive tackle Jered Veldheer from Hillsdale, was taken in the 3rd round by the Raiders and was a fixture on the o-line starting at both center and tackle. Perhaps one of the best ‘feel good stories’ of this year was the success of former Chadron State and Harlon Hill winner RB Danny Woodhead. Originally drafted by the Jets and signed in 2008, Woodhead was cut, re-signed to the practice squad, then cut again and signed by the Patriots in 2010. He became one of the Patriots most productive offensive players, finishing the season with a career high 547 rushing yards on just 97 carries (5.64 per carry) and a TD. He also had 379 yards receiving on 34 catches with 5 TDs. His yards per rush was a Patriots team record and fourth in the NFL.



Who be this year’s Ivory, Veldheer or Woodhead? Here is a sampling of a few of the possibilities in the 2011 Draft:



OFFENSIVE PLAYERS:



OT Ben Ijalana – Villanova 6’ 3.6” 319 – 5.30 – 2nd-3rd round



WR Edmund Gates – ACU 5’ 11.5” 189 – 4.37 – 3rd - 5th round



RB Taiwan Jones – Eastern Washington - 5’ 11.4” – 4.40 – 3rd – 5th round


OG – Will Rackley – Lehigh - 6’ 3.3” 307 – 5.20 – 3rd - 5th round



C – Brandon Fusco – Slippery Rock – 6’ 4.1” 302 – 5.25 – 4th – 6th round



TE – Schuyler Oordt – Northern Iowa – 6’ 6.0” 261 – 5th – 7th Round



OT – David Mims – Virginia Union – 6’ 8.2 335 – 5.58 – 5th – 7th round



QB – Pat Devlin – Delaware – 6’ 3.3” 226 – 4.82 – 6th – 7th round



DEFENSIVE PLAYERS:



DT Kendrick Ellis – Hampton 6’ 5.0” 336 – 5.05 – 4th – 6th round



CB Korey Lindsey-Woods – Southern Illinois – 5’ 10.1 181 – 4.45 – 5th – 7th round



CB Buster Skrine – Chattanooga – 5’ 9.5 186 – 4.37 – 5th – 7th round



CB Ryan Jones – Northwest Missouri State – 5’ 11.0 197 – 4.42 – 4th – 6th round



DT Cedric Thornton – Southern Arkansas 6’ 3.5” 299 – 5.91 – 7th round - UDFA

Do Hotels Really Get Digital Media Marketing?

There's no quibble with the statement that social media, Internet marketing, blogging, micro-blogging, video-blogging (Save The Flip!) and SEO have all impacted the hotel industry, especially in the United States and Asia and Europe. But the ultimate case study example has not been done that shows how all of these siz aspects of digital media can be combined into one powerful event-related tool.

Or has it?

It has. And by this blogger at Zennie62.com and now Zennie62blog.com, several times, last year.

The reason I'm blogging about it, is because I'm not sure it was completely valued by the potential client this time around. I'm blogging about it because it's a novel sponsorship relationship that can really help a hotel brand's online visibility, especially if the hotel knows how to value it.

The approach calls for the following: a blogger with video channels, and interconnected Twitter, and Facebook pages, a large base of followers and subscribers, and a large set other social networking platforms, preferably interconnected, and a blog or website that's listed on Google News, Google Blog Search, Technorati.com, and other directories, and social bookmarking accounts on platforms like Reddit.com.

This approach works best for big events, like Comic Con the Oscars or The Grammys, or The Super Bowl or the NFL Draft. What the hotel has to understand is they're sponsoring the blogger, giving the person a room for multiple nights, in exchange for getting the hotel's name associated with coverage about the event during that period when the event is “hot:” searched for so much that it's a top trend.

(For example, "nfl mock draft" is a Google Trends sixth ranked search as of this update.)

(I also figured out a way to incorporate Twitter tweets into the effort for 2011. Follow Zennie62 at Twitter.com)

So, if someone does a search for "NFL Draft 2010" they're likely to find a news blog post with the hotel's name and website link in the first paragraph, as well as a video that also mentions the hotel as a sponsor. Moreover, for every celebrity or athlete that's at the event, the hotel's name and website enjoy that much additional exposure. Indeed, it's visibility that lasts well beyond the life of the event.

The one problem with hotels is some managers, interested in the quick-buck for the moment, either don't see or want to see the value of this approach. They generally want to know that your efforts are going to cause a hotel room sale the next day, when that's not how the marketing dynamic works.

What hotel people must understand is that the blogger is laying a platform online that's a lot like a billboard: you know there are a lot of people who can see it, you just have to make sure it's up and well-positioned so they can. Over time, the idea of using the hotel is placed in the head of the consumer.

It's up to the hotel to know how to track their exposure, or ask the blogger to set up a system for them to do so. One way is to make sure the hotel mangers sign up for Google Alerts, an app that sends an email of all of the blogs and stories that have the hotels keywords of concern pop-up. A good marketing effort can make a hotel's Google Alerts pop and ping like a pinball machine.

The second tool is the real time web traffic reporting system, so the hotel manager can see how web traffic is impacted, and under what conditions. The links from the blog will show up in the traffic report, as well as other location-based data about the potential patrons who saw the blog and clicked on it, then the website link.

The hotel could go a step beyond that and have a contest that asks the reader to do something: make a purchase of a room for a future event based on the use of a code associated with the blogger's event, or something like that.

But whatever the case, it's the hotel's job to track this for the next year after the event, because the blogger's planted this seed that will grow in some way.

The simple rule here is this: the more content produced, the more the hotel benefits from it. Period. In the case of one event last year, I produced 8 videos and 10 blog posts, that's 18 basic items of content that includes the name and website links of the hotel brand. And if the content is properly produced, it appears at the top of Google News for that topic for that day, creating buzz the hotel would have normally not seen related to that event.

What's bothersome to this blogger is that this approach is not completely understood and seen as a viable alternative to traditional forms of marketing sponsorship, and is well-worth the complementary room. The blogger benefits by being able to actually cover a story on-the-scene and make valuable content related to it.

What the blogger is also essentially doing is building a whole new website, a large one, to the hotel's benefit. A website of the size of 18 pages can cost upwards of $4,000 on the open market. It makes no sense to ask the blogger to pay the hotel for working for the hotel for a sponsorship openly presented to the public.

Getting hotel managers who “get” this is still “hit” or “miss,” as my experience shows. But the good news is many of the hotel's public relations people do.

Hopefully this blog posts helps to change some minds in the hotel industry.

(As a closing note, having a variation of this that calls just for banner ads, and not what's outlined here, is a no-no. The idea of this approach is that the hotel's name is seen in searches related to the event "forever" after the event. That can't happen with just a banner ad.)