June 21
Akron Beacon Journal
columnist Patrick McManamon
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I never realized how tough it was to deal with NFL teams until I started covering other leagues. The NBA and Major League Baseball have an entirely different culture when it comes to dealing with the media. In baseball, players, coaches and managers talk 162 games a year - and for several weeks of spring training. In the NBA, accessibility is a given. It's a story when a star does not talk to the media. Consider LeBron James. It was gigantic national news when he did not talk one time this year. What's weird is the same fans who criticized James for one mistake will shrug off an NFL player's decision not to talk after dropping a key pass that would have won a game. I know, because I've ..."
June 20
Cleveland Plain Dealer
columnist Bill Livingston
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When Phil Jackson coached the Los Angeles Lakers to the NBA championship the other day, it wasn't the last hurrah for big-name coaches. But there hasn't exactly been a hallelujah chorus from them either. An ex-player as coach commands respect, the saying goes, because he knows what the players are going through. In the times when he's not coaching, he's on television analyzing. Doug Collins shuttled back and forth from the sideline to the broadcast booth for years. Bill Cowher will probably return to the NFL. The ultimate celebrity coach was Mike Ditka. He wasn't much of a coach in New Orleans, his last stop. But he was Mike Ditka, who sold tickets and Had Been There. Lately, however, ..."
June 18
Cleveland Plain Dealer
columnist Bill Livingston
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The Browns' Donte Stallworth will spend 30 days in jail for killing a man in Miami when he drove his Bentley luxury automobile while drunk. The family of Mario Reyes, the dead man, will spend the rest of their lives without a husband and father. This is the result when Bentleys full of money meet the legal system. Sentences are moderated in severity. Incarceration becomes an inconvenience. Stallworth also lost his driver's license and faces two years of house arrest, followed by eight years of probation. Two years is a long time between access to a car so Stallworth can go pick up his laundry. But he can always hand the keys to his $179,000 car to a flunky, provided he promises to be ..."
June 18
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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The question - repeated countless times on Twitter, sportstalk radio and across the Internet the last 24 hours - goes like this: How can Donte' Stallworth get 30 days while Michael Vick got 23 months? Stallworth, the Cleveland Browns wide receiver, pleaded guilty Tuesday to DUI manslaughter for killing pedestrian Mario Reyes while driving drunk in his black 2005 Bentley in Miami. Stallworth also reached a confidential financial settlement with the family of the 59-year-old construction worker. Vick served 19 months in federal prison for bankrolling a dogfighting operation, and is under home confinement until July 20. The Falcons released their former superstar quarterback last week. The ..."
June 14
New Orleans Times-Picayune
columnist Jeff Duncan
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Before May 16, Saints teammates Usama Young and Jammal Brown had little in common other than occupation. Brown plays offense. Young plays defense. Brown's a two-time Pro Bowler. Young's a third-year reserve trying to make his way in the league at a new position. The hulking 6-foot-6 Brown wears his hair closely cropped and his jester's personality on his sleeve. The lithe 6-foot Young likes his hair in shoulder-length braids and bears a quiet demeanor. But now they share this: They're both college graduates. On May 16, the Saints teammates received their college diplomas, Young from Kent State and Brown from Oklahoma. Four states and 1,000 miles from each other, their motives were ..."