A little harsh aren’t we..

Dear Cleveland, All Of Northeast Ohio and Cleveland Cavaliers Supporters Wherever You May Be Tonight;

As you now know, our former hero, who grew up in the very region that he deserted this evening, is no longer a Cleveland Cavalier.

This was announced with a several day, narcissistic, self-promotional build-up culminating with a national TV special of his “decision” unlike anything ever “witnessed” in the history of sports and probably the history of entertainment.

Clearly, this is bitterly disappointing to all of us.

The good news is that the ownership team and the rest of the hard-working, loyal, and driven staff over here at your hometown Cavaliers have not betrayed you nor NEVER will betray you.

There is so much more to tell you about the events of the recent past and our more than exciting future. Over the next several days and weeks, we will be communicating much of that to you.

You simply don’t deserve this kind of cowardly betrayal.

You have given so much and deserve so much more.

In the meantime, I want to make one statement to you tonight:

“I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER ‘KING’ WINS ONE”

You can take it to the bank.

If you thought we were motivated before tonight to bring the hardware to Cleveland, I can tell you that this shameful display of selfishness and betrayal by one of our very own has shifted our “motivation” to previously unknown and previously never experienced levels.

Some people think they should go to heaven but NOT have to die to get there.

Sorry, but that’s simply not how it works.

This shocking act of disloyalty from our home grown “chosen one” sends the exact opposite lesson of what we would want our children to learn. And “who” we would want them to grow-up to become.

But the good news is that this heartless and callous action can only serve as the antidote to the so-called “curse” on Cleveland, Ohio.

The self-declared former “King” will be taking the “curse” with him down south. And until he d

So a little after 9:00pm est, twitter, facebook and blogs bubbled over with information all about the man of the hour…Raul Gonzalez Blanco… ok, ok, Lebron James….Seconds after his annoucement, twitter went hot full of jokes i.e.  I’m gonna watch #lebrondecision tonite just in case Kanye interrupts to remind us that Jordan was the best basketball player ever and FB comments i.e. wut a dumb decision lebron they just tryin to take my LAKERS out of the ship but that aint gonna happen..we still gonna get our 3peat!!! Anywhoo… it was no Michael Jackson internet shut down… but I am wondering what the spikes in communication were… Oh and for all of you who might of went to sleep early? The full story is below check out the video too, Cleveland reaction:

N.B.A.’s Season of Suspense Ends as James Chooses Heat

From the New York Times

By HOWARD BECK

Cleveland Reaction:

From the fanhouse website

By: Jay Mariotti

LOS ANGELES — If I were Dan Rooney about now, I’d be demanding that my name be removed from the so-called Rooney Rule. He was integral in establishing the rule seven years ago in the spirit of diversity, to provide legitimate NFL opportunities for minority candidates who deserved to be considered for head-coaching and executive positions. It was named for Rooney, one of the league’s smartest and most progressive men, because he was offering chances to minorities with the Pittsburgh Steelers back when other owners still were employing good-old-boy practices.

But something very wrong and troubling has happened of late. The Rooney Rule has been twisted into a hokey euphemism for the token interview, a sign that those same good-old-boys are alive and not well. I’m not saying that Leslie Frazier (pictured), defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings, is more worthy of the Seattle Seahaws’ coaching position than Pete Carroll, who twice has been an NFL head coach and is coming off a rousingly successful reign at USC. Nor am I saying that Jerry Gray, an assistant coach with the Washington Redskins, should have been offered the head-coaching position in D.C. over Mike Shanahan, a two-time Super Bowl champion who might make the Hall of Fame if he revives a dog franchise.

What was shamefully evident in both cases, though, is that Frazier and Gray were used as minority-interview pawns in the much bigger process of hiring marquee names. The Seahawks were embarrassingly ignorant and/or defiant of the Rooney Rule, cutting a deal in principle with Carroll for two jobs — team president and coach — before meeting Saturday morning with Frazier. When Frazier balked at the idea of interviewing for a filled position, as well he should have, the watchdog group known as the Fritz Pollard Alliance protested that the Seahawks weren’t compliant with the Rooney Rule and said it would fight the idea of Carroll getting both positions. That forced the Seahawks to backtrack late Saturday and clarify that Carroll only was being named coach, which just complicates Carroll’s wish for complete personnel control and forced him into another meeting Sunday with Seahawks CEO Tod Leiweke. As for Gray, he was interviewed for the Redskins head-coaching job by owner Dan Snyder while Jim Zorn still was in the position. It meant Snyder used Gray while showing no respect for Zorn in his grand scheme of landing Shanahan, a high-profile head coach, once the regular season was done.

If teams aren’t serious about their interviews with certain minority candidates, why waste their time and sabotage the intent of the Rooney Rule? Or why even have such a rule at all when it seems, in the minds of some owners, to be more of a logistical pain in the butt than a sincere attempt to raise the profiles of minority candidates? The last two days have been an exercise in tragicomedy, with furious backtracking being performed by Leiweke, Carroll and even John Wooten, chairman of the Pollard Alliance. Which is why it was important for Tony Dungy, perhaps the most prominent and influential black voice in sports, to use his NBC microphone as a way of speaking out against the Rooney Rule’s violators.

“That is not what the Rooney Rule is supposed to be, [that] you make up your mind and then interview a candidate for it anyway just to satisfy the rule,” Dungy said. “If the Jerry Gray situation is the way it has been described as happening, I don’t think it was fair. I don’t think I would ever interview for a job if my boss was not out of the job. I don’t blame Jerry; it’s the position he was put in, if it happened that way.”

This was in direct contract to the wishy-washy conclusions of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who hopped into the owners’ communal bed and defended the Seahawks and Redskins. “They have in both cases — I can assure you they have complied with the rule with the information that I have,” Goodell told reporters. “I mean, I’ve been in contact with them, so they’ve been in compliance. I can’t give all the details, but they’re in compliance.”

How can he say that without the lie-detector buzzing? Carroll officially accepted the head-coaching position in Seattle on Sunday night, reportedly notifying his players via a text message, and it’s obvious the Seahawks pursued him without first considering the Rooney Rule. Check out the timeline: Jim Mora Jr. was fired Friday, Carroll immediately was reported to have cut a deal with the Seahawks on Friday night, Frazier finally agreed to an interview with Leiweke on Saturday morning and Carroll laid low for a day and a half before his deal was finalized Sunday. The Washington timeline also was indicting: Gray was interviewed just before Zorn was dismissed, allowing Snyder a quick pursuit and signing of Shanahan while the Rooney Rule requirement was fulfilled.

“The idea of the rule is to slow down the process and get teams to do their homework and investigate a lot of candidates, not just minority candidates,” Dungy said. “You [go] through the process, and in doing that, sometimes you uncover people.”

It should surprise no one that Rooney and the Steelers did just that in unearthing a little-known Minnesota defensive coordinator named Mike Tomlin, who was hired in 2007 over two Pittsburgh coordinators, Ken Whisenhunt and Russ Grimm. The result was a Super Bowl title for Tomlin, an African-American, in his second season. Whisenhunt and Grimm fled to Arizona, where they reached the Super Bowl last season and remain alive this postseason. But tell me who was the better hire?

The hue and cry over the Seattle situation was strong enough Sunday that the NFL continued to defend the Rooney Rule.

“The rule has been effective, teams are complying and it has produced its intended positive results,” league spokesman Greg Aiello said. “Before the Rooney Rule, interviews with minority head coaching and GM candidates that are conducted now might never have taken place. Since the Rooney Rule, there has been an exceptional increase in the number of minority coaches who have had interviews, and there are far more minority coaches in the NFL, including head coaches, than in years past.”

Oddly, a day after criticizing the Seahawks for their mishandling of the Frazier interview and their premature anointing of Carroll, Wooten also was sounding like a pro-management honk. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times on Saturday, he had issued a warning to the Seahawks suggesting Leiweke was lying: “Our position is, if Pete Carroll comes there as the head coach, he will only be in charge of the 53-man roster. That’s the extent of his authority. Because of their commitment to swear that to us, we have agreed to let them interview Leslie Frazier. They can hire Pete Carroll if they want. But he cannot be anything more than a head coach. He does not have control of the draft. He does not have control of the trades. He does not have the last word on anything other than the 53 men he puts out on that field each and every week. If there’s any violation of anything else, you can rest assured — and I’ve already alerted the NFL office on this — it would mean that Tod Leiweke would have been dishonest with us and would have violated the Rooney Rule.”

All it took was one call from Carroll on Saturday night for Wooten to do an about-face. Never mind that Carroll, in telling Wooten he had no deal with Seattle, was employing semantics and playing a political game to woo an old football colleague to his side. Wooten was naive enough to buy into the game anyway. “[Carroll] said, ‘I wouldn’t try to be disruptive to what you’re trying to do, and I support what you’re trying to do,’ ” Wooten told ESPN.com. “He said, ‘I feel comfortable at USC, and if the deal isn’t what I want it to be, I’ll just stay right here at Southern Cal. But I need to talk to Seattle to clear up any issues.’ He said he never would get into any arrangement that would cause controversy or undermine the Fritz Pollard Alliance. As long as I’ve known Pete Carroll over the years, he’s been honest. I take him at his word.”

Twenty-four hours later, Carroll announced the deal he had all along.

And Snyder? Wooten insists the Redskins were clean, too, in the Gray affair.

“Do we have to fight and safeguard against shenanigans? Yes. People try to play as close to the line as they can,” Wooten said. “We say to our guys, ‘Don’t let people use you. We all know what a legitimate interview is.’ [But] I told Jerry that Dan Snyder went about it the right way. He called the commissioner, and the commissioner called me. The thing that bothered me with Jerry is he didn’t stand up and say, ‘Dan Snyder came to me and asked me would I be interested in being coach of the Redskins?’ He’s the owner and knows what will happen with his team.”

If Carroll truly was serious at some point about returning to USC, it might have shocked him that the Trojans were in hot pursuit of Oregon State head coach Mike Riley. As Troy burns amid the Reggie Bush and Joe McKnight scandals, there is considerable disarray among recruits who may not honor their USC commitments. One such star is All-American Kyle Prater, a 6-5 receiver from suburban Chicago, who postponed a trip to Los Angeles in which he was supposed to officially sign and begin class enrollment proceedings. Another in limbo is running back Dillon Baxter, who verbally committed to USC as a freshman. Carroll left USC at the worst possible time, which may have been part of his scheme.

Wisely, Riley was said to be leaning toward remaining at Oregon State with a lifetime deal, not wanting to deal with the ramifications of probation and other problems at USC. His bosses were only happy to pursue a deal that will fulfill Riley’s wish to be the Joe Paterno of Corvallis. Where USC goes from here, who knows? But Barry Switzer, of all people, was quick to weigh in that Carroll left the better job for an inferior job. What Switzer fails to acknowledge is that Carrroll’s program is sinking in sleaze and that he’s bailing before the NCAA weighs in with substantial penalites in the Bush case. That’s what this is about, of course, Carroll bailing on his sullied creation as it fades into a scandalous rut.

“I don’t think SC falls down. We’re too good. We do things well,” USC athletic director Mike Garrett told ESPN. “We’ve had a great history, 11 national championships, we’ve produced a lot of excellent student-athletes and I don’t think that will stop. All you can do is address the allegations and go from there. But we feel we run a good program and we always try to do the right thing.”

If there was any humor in the Carroll soap opera, it came from his former quarterback Mark Sanchez. Remember when Carroll criticized Sanchez for entering the NFL draft last year, claiming he wasn’t ready for the pros? “The facts are so strong against this decision. After analyzing all the information, the truth is there, he should have stayed for another year,” Carroll said then. “He lost out on a chance to fully prepare himself. The facts are, there’s a 62 percent failure rate for underclassman quarterbacks.” Sanchez playfully fired back after playing a near-flawless game in beating Cincinnati in the wild-card round of the AFC playoffs.

“I just wanted everybody to know I completely disagree with his decision,” Sanchez said of Carroll’s move to Seattle. “Statistics show that it’s not a good choice. I talk to Coach a bunch. I told him I was going to hammer him about it. I wish him the best, whatever happens, whether he stays in school or not.”

Carroll is gone, aching to prove he can succeed as an NFL head coach after failures with the Patriots and Jets. This time around, you sense he’ll be less a rah-rah, as he was at USC, and more a tough guy with a hands-on approach toward defense, his specialty. In the meantime, we only can hope that Goodell, thrilled that his compelling playoffs are earning huge TV ratings, doesn’t go soft on the Rooney Rule when he is so tough on player conduct and other issues.

This is the true test of the commissioner’s character. And so far, he’d hiding behind a convenient veneer.

From ESPN

I thought it was an interesting perspective on this news story….. let me know what ya’ll think?

From The Los Angeles Times

By Mark Heisler

Reports that Washington teammates Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton had guns in the dressing room — and may even have pointed them at each other — set off so many alarms, it’s hard to know where to begin.

We’ll have to forgo common sense since it obviously doesn’t apply here.The way to avoid trouble is to avoid trouble, as opposed to (reportedly) carrying guns they produced in an argument about a bet Arenas supposedly hadn’t paid off. With young stars at dizzying heights of fame and differing levels of maturity, there’s nothing common about sense with former New York Giants receiver Plaxico Burress sitting in jail for possessing an illegal firearm that went off by accident in a club, hitting him in the thigh. It barely matters now whether the New York Post story, the only one reporting the players actually drew their guns, is confirmed or not. As the most sensational version, it eclipsed all others and is now the one thing everyone has heard.

The Post quoted Kendrick “Bookie Ball” Long, a friend of Crittenton’s, who Long says told him the story. However, the Post attributed its report that the players drew their guns to “league security sources.”No one else has confirmed it. Since the “league security sources” place the blame entirely on Arenas, it wouldn’t be hard to believe the Post may have had one source who’s close to Crittenton, not two. Of course, whether the players drew or not, it was still too close for comfort. As much as the league would like to bar carrying weapons, as it bars skiing, it would be unconstitutional.

If you haven’t heard, a powerful lobby protects the right to bear arms, and it’s a lot more aggressive than any safeguarding skiers’ rights. In fact, the NBA is a gun culture. New Jersey’s Devin Harris claims 60% to 75% of players carry guns. Charles Barkley recently said he carries a gun, noting: “People know we got money, they know our schedule, but I feel safer with it. I’ve carried a gun since 1984. I understand it’s dangerous, I understand if I pull it, I better use it. But I’ve never, ever come close to using it.” Arenas has already acknowledged putting three pistols in the safe in his Verizon Center locker — to keep them away from his young children, he said.
As a violation of NBA rules in a sensational case, that should get him at least a month’s suspension, no matter what else they find.

If this doesn’t match the awful spectacle of the televised Auburn Hills melee, this one could have been tragic, not just devastating. It’s already a blow to the league, in which Arenas had a place in everyone’s heart, wacky or not. The NBA featured his freewheeling blog on its website. In a town that doted on the Redskins and barely knew the Wizards existed, the Washington Post’s Mike Wilbon said Arenas had long since become the most popular local athlete. Nevertheless, to know Arenas is to know how long he has been riding for such a fall.

From CBS News

(CBS) When you’ve spent your life as one of the best basketball players who ever lived – winning championships in high school, in college and in the pros, scoring more points than anyone else and immortalized in sports history and on film – you don’t expect to come suddenly face-to-face with your mortality.

“I started having hot flashes and sweats,” Kareem Abdul-Jabbar told CBS News correspondent Jeff Greenfield. “And I wasn’t a candidate for menopause, you know? So, trying to figure out what that was all about.”

In the middle of a busy life – best-selling author, special coach for the L.A. Lakers, parent – Abdul-Jabbar learned last December that he had a rare form of cancer.

“What I have is P.H. positive chronic myeloid leukemia, which is an aberration in your white blood cells,” Abdul-Jabbar said.

Watch an Extended Version of this Interview

Abdul-Jabbar lost a grandfather to colon cancer and almost lost his father to the same illness. But for Abdul-Jabbar, the news was a lot less grim.

“Ten years ago, this was a very serious, life-threatening diagnosis,” said Dr. Michael Schuster of New York Presbyterian Hospital. “The only treatment was a bone marrow transplant. Patients now take a pill a day and can eliminate every molecular trace of the disease.”

That hopeful diagnosis is why Abdul-Jabbar is now using his high visibility to go public about his illness.

“Sending this message out there, it’s a message of hope. That’s what it’s intended to be,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “It’s not intended to be just a grim announcement. I want people to understand that I intend to continue living and doing all the things that I love to do up until the end. And the end is by no means rushing up on me.”

From the abc.com website

written by: By MARTIN BASHIR and ROXANNA SHERWOOD

Football players are getting bigger. The game is getting faster. Now, the chorus of concern is getting louder. At least four recent studies have raised serious questions about the impact of pro football on the brains of players. But are they being driven mad by the game?

Research finds that high-impact football may lead to brain injuries.

(Courtesy Garrett Webster)

Garrett Webster treasures every memory of his father, legendary Pittsburgh Steeler Mike Webster.

“These [rings] are, I guess you could say what my dad got back for giving his life, three Super Bowl rings and a Hall of Fame ring,” Garrett Webster said. “My dad was everyone I wanted to be. I mean he was smart, funny and he was caring and loving. To me he was Iron Mike. …”

“Iron” Mike Webster, as he was known, was a seemingly indestructible center for the Steelers during the 1970s and ’80s. He played 150 straight games, winning four Super Bowls. He was selected to the Pro Bowl nine times.

Dr. Julian Bailes, chairman of neurosurgery at the West Virginia University Hospitals, was team doctor toward the end of Webster’s playing career.

“He was the consummate professional, one of the greatest players on perhaps the greatest team ever,” he said. “And he was the leader; he was the center of the line and was the focal point. And I think he was the spiritual leader in many ways of that team.”

That’s why nobody could understand Mike Webster’s behavior after he retired from the game at age 38.

Quirky Behavior Incomprehensible to Friends

Mike Webster’s life began to disintegrate. He started living out of a truck, used a Taser gun to ease his back pain and put Super Glue on his teeth. His behavior was incomprehensible to friends and family — and its connection to the game he loved seemed unclear. Mike Webster was never known to have suffered a single documented concussion during 17 years of pro football.

On a cold September morning in 2002, just after his 50th birthday, Mike Webster died.

Dr. Bennet Omalu, a neuropathologist who grew up in Nigeria and was qualified to practice in the United States, was working as a medical examiner in Pittsburgh at the time of Webster’s death and performed the autopsy. He confirmed that Webster had died of a heart attack.

“However, a question kept on lingering in my mind. The heart attack could not explain his life after football. I had to provide an explanation for that,” Omalu told “Nightline.” “I took out his brain, and I was extremely disappointed when I opened up his skull and his brain looked normal. His brain looked like a perfect textbook picture of a normal brain.”

Determined to find answers, Omalu got permission to continue studying Webster’s brain. After months of painstaking microscopic analysis, a whole new scientific account began to unravel. Omalu said what he found was nothing less than a new medical condition.

Researcher: Blows to Head Kill Brain Cells, Lead to Dysfunction

Omalu compared a region of the brain of a normal, middle-aged individual to a football player’s. His analysis showed an accumulation of brown staining in the football player’s brain.

The brown blotches mark the accumulation of tau protein — an abnormal substance that can emerge within the brain after repeated blows to the head. It’s known to kill off brain cells, ultimately leading to cognitive dysfunction, even dementia, Omalu said. It’s rare to find accumulation in the brain of a 90-year-old — but at the time it was almost unheard of in a man of 50.

Omalu said that scientific papers have suggested that as few as three major head impacts can result in the abnormalities.

“One individual may just have one major impact to the head. Another individual may have two, another individual may have 1,000 before they will develop this disease,” Omalu said.

In the absence of any title for his discovery, he called the disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. He wrote up his findings and sent them to the prestigious academic journal Neurosurgery.

But there was a swift reaction. Several doctors on a committee convened by the NFL to study brain trauma demanded its retraction. But the journal was satisfied with Omalu’s work and refused.

“I thought it was my responsibility as a physician. I’ve seen something unique to report to the general scientific community,” Omalu said.

A few months later, Omalu would receive the body of another storied football player. His findings were the same.

“This is how diseases are discovered and identified. So I published the second case. Oh, newspapers, some doctors went to the press. In fact they were insinuating I was practicing voodoo medicine,” Omalu told “Nightline.” “They called me names — preposterous, unscientific methods. But again, you seek the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Bailes was the first and most senior clinician in the country to support Omalu’s research.

“I reviewed Dr. Omalu’s publication, the first one, the sentinel case of Mike Webster. It obviously struck a chord with me because I felt that I knew Mike very well professionally and personally,” he said. “The letter of retraction demanded by the NFL was also unusual, and I thought inappropriate, and I thought they had missed the point.”

There was now no stopping Omalu. A third body was delivered to his laboratory. Omalu noticed that all of his cases displayed common symptoms, including memory loss, insomnia, alcohol use, drug use and diminished executive functioning, or the loss of the ability to engage in complex mental functioning like business investments and money management. They were paranoid, exhibited manic depressive episodes, breakdown in social relationships and had criminal tendencies, he said.

Helmets Provide ‘False Sense of Security’

Since the discovery, Omalu has gone on to study the brains of 7 other retired pro football players postmortem. Along with Bailes, he is beginning to understand how these microscopic injuries may occur at the point of collision.

“Two major things — one is the helmet and the cranium suddenly stop, but nonetheless the brain continues forward, hits the inside of the skull, it bounces back and hits the back of the skull and maybe reverberated a second time. In addition, there is rotator effects where there is a rotation, and that also is a very common way that fibers get torn,” Bailes said.

The NFL and several manufacturers have focused resources on improving helmet safety. But helmets, Bailes said, may now be part of the problem.

“The helmet has given a false sense of security, and I think for many players it has been a weapon. It has led paradoxically, unfortunately, ironically, to some of the injuries that we are currently seeing,” he told “Nightline.” I think the helmet as it has evolved in parallel, has led paradoxically to players sticking their head in with a false sense of security.”

And while helmets cannot protect the brain within the skull, there is a further problem: What about players like Webster who never experience a career-ending concussion but instead suffer the cumulative effects of up to 50 head collisions per game, season after season?

“I think there is a phenomenon called subconcussive impacts, a subconcussive blow? the question it begs is: does that lead to microscopic damage? Can it lead to that?” Bailes said. “We don’t have that definitive answer. But we’ve got several linemen who did not have career-ending concussions, who were later found at an earlier age to have extensive brain damage.”

NFL Implements Safety Regulations

“Nightline” spoke to Dr. Joseph Maroon, a neurosurgeon and current doctor for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who represents the NFL. He’s also a member of the NFL Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee.

When asked if he was concerned about that area where an individual isn’t concussed but nevertheless has taken repeated blows to the head, Maroon said it’s an area that should be more carefully examined.

“I think that’s an important observation and consideration. Absolutely, I think that’s an important new emphasis on what happens to the brain and head in football,” Maroon said.

The NFL says it has implemented several safety regulations to protect players in the event of an overt concussion.

“It clearly has instituted educational programs to inform the athletes, the players, the coaches, and the trainers, of just what is a concussion and of the long term consequences of concussion,” said Maroon. “It’s instituted a whistle-blower hotline so that if any athlete feels like he is being pushed back into play too soon, he can directly report this anonymously to the NFL.”

In a statement provided to “Nightline,” the NFL said: “We have more resources than ever devoted to the care of this injury and to the education of players and their families, as well as coaches and team personnel. … Hundreds of thousands of people have played football and other sports without experiencing any problem of this type. There continues to be considerable debate within the medical community on the precise long-term effects of concussions and how they relate to other risk factors, including pre-existing conditions or family history.”

But the issue of subconcussive blows to the head is far more problematic to address because no method of measuring them currently exists.

“I think there is yet more to learn. And I think the phenomenon of subconcussive impacts is important to understand,” Bailes said.

Brain Injuries in Football Players

A phone survey commissioned by the NFL and completed at the University of Michigan found that pro football players are 19 times more likely to be diagnosed with dementia, Alzheimer’s disease or other memory-related illness than the same 30- to 49-year-old-age group in the general population.

But the NFL has since dismissed those findings as unscientific, pointing out that the survey makes no link between concussions and memory disorders and has now funded a study due out next year that looks at the long-term effects in the brain of its retired players.

For Omalu and Bailes, the evidence is already there — etched in the brain tissue under their microscopes.

“I believe that football is the greatest sport in the world, and I played it for 10 years and I have children and if they want to play it, they can play it, and I think there are so many, many benefits of football, any organized sport,” he said. “We are trying to draw attention to what we believe is a real finding. I think it’s irrefutable. I don’t think any physicians in this country or worldwide have refuted the findings that Bennet Omalu first discovered. Let’s, if we can agree upon that, let’s move on to making it safer and trying to prevent it.”

“They should have been more acknowledging, should have been more proactive, but the truth is that this story is over with — Mike Webster is not coming back,” said his son. “Now, let’s learn from the Mike Webster mistake.”

Webster is spoken of in hushed tones by the faithful fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers. His heroic status on the field made him legendary. Perhaps his greatest legacy will not be the games he won, but the way his life was lost.

“I am building toward my father’s legacy to the game being that no family has to go through what our family went through,” Garrett Webster said. “That is what I want his legacy to be. … It’s funny, for all the Super Bowls, and all the things he has, his legacy is going to be greater in death than it was ever in life, and that is just … I am so honored by that.”

AP Photo/Photo courtesy of Rush Limbaugh
R.B. FALLSTROM,AP Sports Writer

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh has been dropped from a group seeking to buy the St. Louis Rams. Limbaugh was to be a limited partner in a bid led by St. Louis Blues chairman Dave Checketts, but Checketts said in a statement Wednesday that Limbaugh’s participation had complicated the effort. The group will move forward without him.

Checketts said he will have no further comment on the bid process. Limbaugh did not immediately respond to an e-mail sent late Wednesday seeking comment on Checketts’ decision.

Limbaugh said on his radio show earlier Wednesday that he had been inundated with e-mails from listeners who supported him in the bid.

“This is not about the NFL, it’s not about the St. Louis Rams, it’s not about me,” Limbaugh said. “This is about the ongoing effort by the left in this country, wherever you find them, in the media, the Democrat Party, or wherever, to destroy conservatism, to prevent the mainstreaming of anyone who is prominent as a conservative.

“Therefore, this is about the future of the United States of America and what kind of country we’re going to have.”

Limbaugh’s bid ran into opposition from within the image-conscious NFL on Tuesday when Colts owner Jim Irsay said he would vote against the radio personality. Commissioner Roger Goodell said the commentator’s “divisive” comments would not be tolerated from any NFL insider.

The league tries to avoid getting snared in controversial issues outside sports, which has caused Limbaugh trouble in the past. In 2003, he was forced to resign from ESPN’s Sunday night football broadcast after saying of Philadelphia’s Donovan McNabb: “I think what we’ve had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well.”

The Rams had no comment, reissuing a statement from Oct. 5 in which owner Chip Rosenbloom said a review of the team’s ownership was under way and the club will make an announcement when it’s over.

Checketts, the chairman of SCP Worldwide, announced that Limbaugh had been dumped toward the end of a news release.

“It has become clear that his involvement in our group has become a complication and a distraction to our intentions; endangering our bid to keep the team in St. Louis,” Checketts said. “As such, we have decided to move forward without him and hope it will eventually lead us to a successful conclusion.”

The move was hailed by the Rev. Al Sharpton, one of the most vocal critics of Limbaugh’s bid.

“It is a moral victory for all Americans — especially the players that have been unfairly castigated by Rush Limbaugh,” Sharpton said in a statement. “This decision will also uphold the unifying standards of major sports.”

Sharpton added in a telephone interview that major sports leagues shouldn’t welcome owners who are “divisive and incendiary.”

Every major pro sports franchise has dealings with its community, he said. “It’s unfair for taxpayers to be underwriting people who denigrate them,” he said.

Checketts said Limbaugh would have not had any say in the direction of the franchise “or in any decisions regarding personnel or operations.”

Before getting dropped, Limbaugh said he had no intention of backing out.

“I’m not even thinking of caving,” he said. “I am not a caver. Pioneers take the arrows. We are pioneers. It’s a sad thing that our country, over 200 years old now, needs pioneers all over again, but we do.”

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP – In this Sept. 12, 2009, photo, Southern California running back Stafon Johnson runs for a touchdown against …

LOS ANGELES – Southern California tailback Stafon Johnson probably wouldn’t have survived his weightlifting accident without his muscular athlete’s neck, which helped maintain his airway when a weight bar crashed down on it, a doctor said Tuesday.

Johnson could communicate non-verbally with his family members and teammates on Tuesday morning, less than 24 hours after his bench-pressing accident in the Trojans’ weight room. The bar crushed his neck and larynx, which required seven hours of surgery.

Johnson’s fitness helped him survive, said Dr. Gudata Hinika, the trauma medical director at California Hospital Medical Center.

Johnson is unlikely to play again for USC, but coach Pete Carroll is grateful for the team leader’s improved health.

“He’s not talking, but he was doing his wave and writing,” Carroll said. “It’s very uplifting for his mom and his family and all the guys who got a chance to go down there.”

Hinika said Johnson is recovering well and is in stable condition. Johnson, who was taken away from USC’s campus wearing a neck brace, woke up Tuesday morning after undergoing an emergency tracheotomy, followed by reconstructive surgery.

Johnson’s mother, Kim Mallory, happened to be working at the same downtown Los Angeles hospital where her son was transported Monday.

It’s unclear when Johnson will be able to speak again, but he’s expected to fully recover. The news was greeted with sighs of relief at USC’s Heritage Hall, where the seventh-ranked Trojans gathered before Tuesday’s practice in preparation for Saturday’s key game at No. 24 California.

“We’re connected. This is a very tight program and a very tight team,” Carroll said. “Stafon has been a spiritual leader and a leader on the field for a long time here. We’re going to do everything we can to support him and his family. This morning, everyone has been encouraged.”

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Associated Press writer Shaya Tayefe Mohajer contributed to this report.