Archives for February 2016

'I can’t be certain of this, but I may have been the last person to ever do a full-length interview with O.J. before his life came crashing down in remarkably stunning fashion. As you see by the date of my conversation with him, eight days later on June 12, Simpson murdered — OK, I guess we have to say allegedly because he was acquitted — his ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and her friend, Ron Goldman.'

'Gathers has run into some trouble off the court. He was arrested for shoplifting at a Wal Mart last June, but he's stayed out of trouble since then. Gathers, who hasn't played football since middle school, told ESPN that he's been working on his routes and has a pair of cleats ready.'

'Burns, a former Clemson rower, was diagnosed with a rare form of ovarian cancer on Dec. 9. A few days later, she and Steward got engaged.'

'Manuel almost definitely won’t be in Buffalo beyond next season, and there’s a chance he could be moved or released before then.'

'"Whenever my name is interjected in conversation in Buffalo, things are a bit solemn, pretty serious," Norwood said. "This is an opportunity to lighten up and maybe have a little fun, join in and see a few people. It will be good to see Andre up there and have a little fun."'

'“We’re fortunate enough defensively with Rex, he’s gonna use the guy to his strengths. He plays so many multiple looks, so anybody we take he’ll be able to fit him in,” Monos told the Howard Simon Show. “We don’t have specifics that we’re looking for a certain guy that he’ll fit this 3-4 defense, or he’ll fit a 4-3. We just know ‘this is what he can do well,’ and use him like that.”'

'Burns got engaged to Steward last year, and started the Fight Like a Girl campaign, which can be found here, to raise money for women battling ovarian cancer. At the time of this post, the campaign had raised $2,421 towards the cause.'

'“My biggest hope for her is they let her be great where she’s great," Smith said at the Senior Bowl last week. "Don’t try to make her something that she’s not. If they made me coach a quarterback, I would suck. I would be horrible. Right? I don’t know anything about being a great quarterback. I was a linebacker. If you made me someone who yelled at players as a disciplinarian, that’s not going to work either. They would flick me aside and say, ‘What is this little woman doing?’ You have to be authentic.'

'“You know, I grew up a Buffalo fan. A Buffalo Bills fan," Cotchery said. "We don’t have any professional teams in Alabama. So I had to pick a team and Buffalo was my team growing up. I was born in ’82 and became a fan when I was 7. That’s when they started the run.”'

'"Definitely. Definitely," Smith said. "You still have Julius Peppers having multiple sack years. You know? Those are two guys I put in the same category. I call them anomalies. Men like them two don't come around too often. Three-hundred-pound men who you can't even tell are 300 pounds — all muscle, speed and power."'

'"One thing I know about Rex Ryan is he knows how to coach defense," Scott said. "I’m confident saying he’s one of the best defensive minds in the game today. So I don’t question his ability to coach and expire. Listen. The difference between the Buffalo Bills this year and Rex’s first year with the Jets is that he brought people over who could help deliver his message in the locker room. He didn’t bring a Jim Leonard over. He didn’t bring a Marques Douglas. He didn’t bring myself over.'

'“I don’t look back on those years and think, ‘Oh, those are the four years we lost the Super Bowl,’” he said. “If you’re a fan of a team, what do you want them to do? You want them to win. Think about those four years, we had an awful lot of excitement being fans of the Buffalo Bills. Sure, we lost four Super Bowls, but there wasn’t any other team that was winning more than we were. Think about all those games we won.”'

'Clearly, there will be gender-related challenges along the way, but hopefully, she’ll meet less resistance than did Bogdan. In a time when women enjoyed fewer opportunities, she had to deal with sexism, as well as charges of nepotism. Bogdan understood that being the boss’ daughter afforded her an opportunity she otherwise might not have had. “It has enabled me to get my foot in the door,” she said. “And because I’m the owner’s daughter, I know people at least have to listen to my opinion.”'

'Rico Gathers is a 6-8, 275 pound senior forward on the Bears basketball team. He was an AP Honorable-Mention All-American last season as well as being named First Team All Big-12. He’s viewed most likely as a defensive end, or possibly a tight end if he were to get a shot at professional football.'

'"I feel there's a lot of things we could do better," Clay said. "The biggest thing is executing more consistently. I feel like we have a lot of guys, a lot of weapons and plays to be the top offense in the league which is our goal. I feel like, at times, we definitely looked like the number one offense and other times we didn't. Going forward, if we could execute on a more consistent basis, that would help."'