Vernon Davis, Maryland's tight end and one of the top picks in the NFL Draft is causing many GM's to change who's near the top of their leader boards.
At 6'3 263 pounds and posting a blazzing 4.38 time in the 40-yard dash, Davis is not only an even better athlete than last year's TE pick Matt Jones, who went to Jacksonville, but unlike Jones played at that position in college, rather than being converted to it.
Several teams can benefit from Davis' right away: the Titans, 49ers, Packers, and Raiders for starters. It's not likely he's last beyond the 4th pick.
Here's a video of Vernon Davis at work:
Monday, April 24, 2006
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Reggie Bush's Parents Abruptly Move From Home - Yahoo! Sports Robinson Reports House May Have Been Purchased By Bush's Agent
This will not impact his Draft position, but it may harm his level of expenses. Nice work by Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports
Yahoo! Sports report: Reggie Bush's family home
By Charles Robinson, Yahoo! Sports
April 23, 2006
SPRING VALLEY, Calif. – In this sprawling hilltop community with a breathtaking view of Sweetwater Lake, it was no secret who lived in the 3,000-square-foot house at the corner of Apple Street and Luther Avenue.
That home, residents would tell you, was where Reggie Bush's family lived.
That is, until this weekend, when the family abruptly packed up and vacated the residence – less than 24 hours after Yahoo! Sports approached Bush's mother about information linking the property to Michael Michaels, a man who is alleged to have tried to play a role in steering Bush toward an agent and who also has ties to a sports marketing company.
Days before Bush is expected to be the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft, unanswered questions about the residence and how his mother, stepfather and brother came to live in it within the last year have prompted the University of Southern California to refer the matter to the Pacific-10 Conference for an investigation.
NCAA statutes prohibit student-athletes or their families from receiving extra benefits from professional sports agents, marketing companies or their representatives. A breach of these statutes could result in an athlete being ruled ineligible, and games in which they played could be forfeited.
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USC finished 12-1 last season, its 35-game winning streak and national championship bid both ending with a loss in the Rose Bowl to Texas. Bush, a junior running back, won the Heisman Trophy and elected to skip his senior season and turn pro in January.
In response to reporters' questions about the matter late last week, USC athletic department officials said they would look into it.
"Rather than jumping to conclusions, we need to determine the facts before commenting on this report," Trojans athletic director Mike Garrett said in a statement released by the school on Friday. "We have asked the Pac-10 to look into this."
State records show the Apple Street home was built in late 2004 and early 2005, then purchased by Michaels on March 29, 2005 for $757,500. Around that time, neighbors say Bush's family moved in. Whether they had visited the house while it was being built is unknown, but there is an inscription in one of the cement slabs in the driveway reading "The Griffins '05."
Michaels is the only person who has been listed on the deed to the home.
Bush's mother, Denise Griffin, was approached in the driveway of the house on Thursday, but declined to comment.
"I have absolutely nothing to say," Griffin said when asked about ownership of the property, which is where Bush's mother, stepfather LaMar and brother Jovan lived during USC's 2005 season.
Before moving to the house on Apple Lane, Bush's family was listed as living in an apartment elsewhere in Spring Valley, a community located about 13 miles east of San Diego.
At some point after Bush's family moved into the residence, Michaels and an associate named Lloyd Lake are said to have contacted San Diego-based sports agent David Caravantes and offered to facilitate Bush's recruitment. A source with intimate knowledge of the meeting said it took place during the 2005 college football season and that Michaels was looking for a local agent to handle the contract negotiations for players he intended to sign to his marketing firm.
Michaels and Lake told Caravantes they were planning to start a sports marketing agency with Bush as their anchor client. It was also during this meeting that Michaels and Lake mentioned the potential name of the agency: New Era Sports & Entertainment.
The pitch to Caravantes was said to have been simple: He would be Bush's agent and Michaels' marketing creation would handle the promotion of the USC star. At some point after pitching this idea, Michaels informed Caravantes that Bush's family was living in a home Michaels owned. Caravantes isn't believed to have met with Bush and was never considered to be in the mix before the USC star hired Reebok adviser Mike Ornstein and agent Joel Segal of Worldwide Football Inc. as his representatives.
Repeated attempts to reach Segal and Bush were unsuccessful.
While it's unclear what official role Michaels played in New Era Sports, indications are that the company barely got off the ground – if at all. According to corporation filings in California, paperwork for New Era Sports & Entertainment was drawn up on Nov. 23, 2005, and records list the business address in Los Angeles under an attorney named Phillip M. Smith Jr.
Contacted late last week, Smith Jr. refused to talk about New Era Sports – even declining to give public details such as a phone number for the company, where the New Era offices were located or who was serving as the company's current president or manager.
Asked why he wouldn't provide such information, Smith ended the brief telephone conversation, saying, "That's really not an issue that I want to deal with." He has failed to return multiple follow-up messages left at his office.
Further attempts to identify New Era produced a single web page with a company logo (http://newerasports.tv/) that contains no active links to indicate where New Era is located, what services are provided or how the company could be contacted. Searches also produced the internet blogs of three self-proclaimed employees of New Era Sports. One such blog included the company logo of New Era and pictures of several NFL players. That blog was taken down shortly after Yahoo! Sports obtained a hard-copy of the page.
Contacted about his alleged meeting with Michaels, Caravantes declined to comment.
Michaels – who is a member of the Sycuan Indian Tribe and works as a business development officer for the tribe's development corporation – failed to return multiple phone calls and was unavailable when Yahoo! Sports visited his home on three occasions this weekend.
The Sycuan tribe, which owns a casino and resort and is engaged in a number of business enterprises in the San Diego area, denied any knowledge of Michaels' relationship with the Bush family.
"The tribe is not aware of his involvement," said spokesman Adam Day, who had been approved to speak for the Sycuan's tribal government. "Any involvement that he has in this situation is his personal involvement. It has no connection or correlation to the tribe, its businesses or Mike's employment by the tribal development corporation.
"What tribal members do on their own time is their own business. It's not the business of the tribe."
Back at the house on Apple Street on Saturday afternoon, the moving trucks had come and gone. A flier offering cleaning services for movers was hung on the front door, and all the shades had been drawn shut. Through a garage window, only a few empty cardboard boxes and straggling trinkets were visible.
Across the street, neighbor Grant Sitton could only shrug.
"I don't know, I guess it didn't work out," Sitton said. "Oh well. They have a big payday coming next week anyway."
Charles Robinson is the national NFL writer for Yahoo! Sports. Send him a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.
Yahoo! Sports report: Reggie Bush's family home
By Charles Robinson, Yahoo! Sports
April 23, 2006
SPRING VALLEY, Calif. – In this sprawling hilltop community with a breathtaking view of Sweetwater Lake, it was no secret who lived in the 3,000-square-foot house at the corner of Apple Street and Luther Avenue.
That home, residents would tell you, was where Reggie Bush's family lived.
That is, until this weekend, when the family abruptly packed up and vacated the residence – less than 24 hours after Yahoo! Sports approached Bush's mother about information linking the property to Michael Michaels, a man who is alleged to have tried to play a role in steering Bush toward an agent and who also has ties to a sports marketing company.
Days before Bush is expected to be the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft, unanswered questions about the residence and how his mother, stepfather and brother came to live in it within the last year have prompted the University of Southern California to refer the matter to the Pacific-10 Conference for an investigation.
NCAA statutes prohibit student-athletes or their families from receiving extra benefits from professional sports agents, marketing companies or their representatives. A breach of these statutes could result in an athlete being ruled ineligible, and games in which they played could be forfeited.
ADVERTISEMENT
USC finished 12-1 last season, its 35-game winning streak and national championship bid both ending with a loss in the Rose Bowl to Texas. Bush, a junior running back, won the Heisman Trophy and elected to skip his senior season and turn pro in January.
In response to reporters' questions about the matter late last week, USC athletic department officials said they would look into it.
"Rather than jumping to conclusions, we need to determine the facts before commenting on this report," Trojans athletic director Mike Garrett said in a statement released by the school on Friday. "We have asked the Pac-10 to look into this."
State records show the Apple Street home was built in late 2004 and early 2005, then purchased by Michaels on March 29, 2005 for $757,500. Around that time, neighbors say Bush's family moved in. Whether they had visited the house while it was being built is unknown, but there is an inscription in one of the cement slabs in the driveway reading "The Griffins '05."
Michaels is the only person who has been listed on the deed to the home.
Bush's mother, Denise Griffin, was approached in the driveway of the house on Thursday, but declined to comment.
"I have absolutely nothing to say," Griffin said when asked about ownership of the property, which is where Bush's mother, stepfather LaMar and brother Jovan lived during USC's 2005 season.
Before moving to the house on Apple Lane, Bush's family was listed as living in an apartment elsewhere in Spring Valley, a community located about 13 miles east of San Diego.
At some point after Bush's family moved into the residence, Michaels and an associate named Lloyd Lake are said to have contacted San Diego-based sports agent David Caravantes and offered to facilitate Bush's recruitment. A source with intimate knowledge of the meeting said it took place during the 2005 college football season and that Michaels was looking for a local agent to handle the contract negotiations for players he intended to sign to his marketing firm.
Michaels and Lake told Caravantes they were planning to start a sports marketing agency with Bush as their anchor client. It was also during this meeting that Michaels and Lake mentioned the potential name of the agency: New Era Sports & Entertainment.
The pitch to Caravantes was said to have been simple: He would be Bush's agent and Michaels' marketing creation would handle the promotion of the USC star. At some point after pitching this idea, Michaels informed Caravantes that Bush's family was living in a home Michaels owned. Caravantes isn't believed to have met with Bush and was never considered to be in the mix before the USC star hired Reebok adviser Mike Ornstein and agent Joel Segal of Worldwide Football Inc. as his representatives.
Repeated attempts to reach Segal and Bush were unsuccessful.
While it's unclear what official role Michaels played in New Era Sports, indications are that the company barely got off the ground – if at all. According to corporation filings in California, paperwork for New Era Sports & Entertainment was drawn up on Nov. 23, 2005, and records list the business address in Los Angeles under an attorney named Phillip M. Smith Jr.
Contacted late last week, Smith Jr. refused to talk about New Era Sports – even declining to give public details such as a phone number for the company, where the New Era offices were located or who was serving as the company's current president or manager.
Asked why he wouldn't provide such information, Smith ended the brief telephone conversation, saying, "That's really not an issue that I want to deal with." He has failed to return multiple follow-up messages left at his office.
Further attempts to identify New Era produced a single web page with a company logo (http://newerasports.tv/) that contains no active links to indicate where New Era is located, what services are provided or how the company could be contacted. Searches also produced the internet blogs of three self-proclaimed employees of New Era Sports. One such blog included the company logo of New Era and pictures of several NFL players. That blog was taken down shortly after Yahoo! Sports obtained a hard-copy of the page.
Contacted about his alleged meeting with Michaels, Caravantes declined to comment.
Michaels – who is a member of the Sycuan Indian Tribe and works as a business development officer for the tribe's development corporation – failed to return multiple phone calls and was unavailable when Yahoo! Sports visited his home on three occasions this weekend.
The Sycuan tribe, which owns a casino and resort and is engaged in a number of business enterprises in the San Diego area, denied any knowledge of Michaels' relationship with the Bush family.
"The tribe is not aware of his involvement," said spokesman Adam Day, who had been approved to speak for the Sycuan's tribal government. "Any involvement that he has in this situation is his personal involvement. It has no connection or correlation to the tribe, its businesses or Mike's employment by the tribal development corporation.
"What tribal members do on their own time is their own business. It's not the business of the tribe."
Back at the house on Apple Street on Saturday afternoon, the moving trucks had come and gone. A flier offering cleaning services for movers was hung on the front door, and all the shades had been drawn shut. Through a garage window, only a few empty cardboard boxes and straggling trinkets were visible.
Across the street, neighbor Grant Sitton could only shrug.
"I don't know, I guess it didn't work out," Sitton said. "Oh well. They have a big payday coming next week anyway."
Charles Robinson is the national NFL writer for Yahoo! Sports. Send him a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.
Fired CIA Operative Mary McCarthy Was A Democratic Supporter (Yeah!)
Just One Minute Blog has a great expose on the contributions of fired CIA operative Mary McCarthy
Fired CIA Operative Mary McCarthy Was A Democratic Supporter (Yeah!)
Just One Minute Blog has a great expose on the contributions of fired CIA operative Mary McCarthy
Letterman's Top Ten Bush Moments - He Forgot The China Press Conference
I must open by stating that I do feel sorry for President Bush in that he's only human and can't be enjoying the constant stream of negative information and views on his presidency. That written, we all do funny things, and in America, the president is not immune from coverage of his more comedic moments, especially as he presents them for us.
David Letterman presents the "Top Ten" Moments of President George W. Bush. The Letterman video is below. But Letterman totally forgot the one time President Bush was holding a press conference and China and tried to litterally escape the media via a door that didn't open for him!
That video's below this one and both are from You Tube:
Here's the now famous China Press Conference Video:
David Letterman presents the "Top Ten" Moments of President George W. Bush. The Letterman video is below. But Letterman totally forgot the one time President Bush was holding a press conference and China and tried to litterally escape the media via a door that didn't open for him!
That video's below this one and both are from You Tube:
Here's the now famous China Press Conference Video:
Saturday, April 22, 2006
NFL COMMISSIONER SEARCH COMMITTEE HIRES KORN / FERRY FOR SEARCH PROCESS
I guess Roger Goodell -- while still the front runner -- isn't out of the woods yet.
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
NFL-25 4/21/06
COMMITTEE SELECTS KORN/FERRY INTERNATIONAL
TO ASSIST IN SEARCH FOR NEW COMMISSIONER
The eight-member ownership committee leading the search for a new NFL
commissioner has selected the executive search firm of Korn/Ferry International to assist in
the process, committee co-chairs Jerry Richardson and Dan Rooney announced today.
Korn/Ferry International (NYSE:KFY) is one of the world’s leading executive recruiters,
having conducted more than 100,000 senior-level searches since its founding in 1969. Based
in Los Angeles, Korn/Ferry has 70 offices worldwide and has worked with many of the world’s
top companies. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Paul Reilly will lead Korn/Ferry’s team
on the NFL search.
The members of the search committee, in addition to Richardson and Rooney, are Al
Davis of the Oakland Raiders, Lamar Hunt of the Kansas City Chiefs, Woody Johnson of the
New York Jets, Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys, Robert Kraft of the New England Patriots,
and Mike McCaskey of the Chicago Bears.
The committee will consider in the search process individuals of diverse experiences
both inside and outside the NFL and assist the league’s full ownership in reaching a
consensus on the person to be chosen as the league’s next commissioner. The selection of a
new commissioner requires the approval of 22 of 32 clubs.
The committee will report to the clubs on a regular basis during the search process,
including at a regularly scheduled league meeting on May 23-24 in Denver.
Paul Tagliabue, who has served as NFL commissioner since 1989, announced on
March 20 that he is retiring.
# # #
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
NFL-25 4/21/06
COMMITTEE SELECTS KORN/FERRY INTERNATIONAL
TO ASSIST IN SEARCH FOR NEW COMMISSIONER
The eight-member ownership committee leading the search for a new NFL
commissioner has selected the executive search firm of Korn/Ferry International to assist in
the process, committee co-chairs Jerry Richardson and Dan Rooney announced today.
Korn/Ferry International (NYSE:KFY) is one of the world’s leading executive recruiters,
having conducted more than 100,000 senior-level searches since its founding in 1969. Based
in Los Angeles, Korn/Ferry has 70 offices worldwide and has worked with many of the world’s
top companies. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Paul Reilly will lead Korn/Ferry’s team
on the NFL search.
The members of the search committee, in addition to Richardson and Rooney, are Al
Davis of the Oakland Raiders, Lamar Hunt of the Kansas City Chiefs, Woody Johnson of the
New York Jets, Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys, Robert Kraft of the New England Patriots,
and Mike McCaskey of the Chicago Bears.
The committee will consider in the search process individuals of diverse experiences
both inside and outside the NFL and assist the league’s full ownership in reaching a
consensus on the person to be chosen as the league’s next commissioner. The selection of a
new commissioner requires the approval of 22 of 32 clubs.
The committee will report to the clubs on a regular basis during the search process,
including at a regularly scheduled league meeting on May 23-24 in Denver.
Paul Tagliabue, who has served as NFL commissioner since 1989, announced on
March 20 that he is retiring.
# # #
Lavar Arrington Becomes A NY Giant; Signs Deal For 7-Years At $49 Million - AP
NEW YORK -- LaVar Arrington signed with the New York Giants on Saturday, giving him a chance to play twice a year against his former team and helping fill a huge gap at linebacker for the NFC East champions.
Arrington agreed to a $49 million, seven-year deal late Friday, according to Kevin Poston, one of his agents. Poston didn't say how much was guaranteed but Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi indicated that it includes performance bonuses.
Arrington reportedly had been seeking as much as $18 million guaranteed and a $58 million deal, one reason Arrington stayed on the market while dozens of other players signed during the first few weeks of the free-agent period.
"We needed a big, power player to add to our defense and LaVar Arrington is that," Accorsi said. "He has a presence about him and he makes us a better football team.
"The agreement is a fair deal for the player and a fair deal for the organization."
Arrington, the third overall pick in the 2000 draft and a three-time Pro Bowler, bought his way out of Washington in March for $4.4 million after a tempestuous final two seasons in which he suffered from knee injuries and was benched by defensive coordinator Gregg Williams for freelancing. He took a physical with the Giants on Thursday to ensure that his knees were healthy.
He joins a defense that features the defensive end tandem of Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora, who last year combined for 26 sacks. Both made the Pro Bowl and Umenyiora, in his third year, was an All-Pro.
Arrington also fills a huge hole for the Giants, who lost all three starting linebackers late last season to injuries and went into the playoffs with a backup and two recently signed free agents.
Last week, the Giants signed free agent Brandon Short, who played for them from 2000-2003. The addition of Arrington means the team could turn its attention to another position in the first round of next week's draft, perhaps cornerback or defensive tackle.
Poston said Green Bay, Jacksonville and Miami all were in the running for the 27-year-old Arrington. But in the end, he said, his client decided that he wanted to play against Washington twice a season and for Tim Lewis, New York's defensive coordinator.
"It came down to LaVar feeling most comfortable going to a good team in a familiar division with a defensive coordinator that he loves," Poston said.
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