Categories
Jacksonville Jaguars

Matt Jones gets busted with cocaine in Arkansas

Sure, being a pro athlete sounds great and wonderful, but they have lives full of stress, demands, headaches and tons of physical activity. Sound familiar? Everything except the physical activity, of course. They might get paid millions more, but, in reality, they deal with the same crap as us normal folks, but just on a higher level. So, some guys decide to turn to drugs to help cope with the pressures of everyday life and, just like millions of others, they get busted for it. See, they’re not so different. At least, Matt Jones and Brad Miller aren’t so different.

Jaguars wide receiver Matt Jones has been arrested on cocaine charges in Arkansas.

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office says officers arrested Jones and two other men as they sat in a Toyota 4Runner in an unlit parking lot in a known drug area.

The preliminary arrest report shows an officer saw Jones sitting in the back seat of the car with a white card with a white powdery substance on it, and a credit card in his other hand.

The officer said he opened the door and asked Jones to “put his hands where he could see them.”

Authorities say Jones didn’t comply right away and hid his left hand. The officer drew his gun and ordered Jones out of the vehicle. Jones got out and the officer put him in handcuffs.

Oh, Matt, Matt, Matt. A 4Runner in an unlit parking lot in a known drug area? That’s just asking for trouble, shouldn’t be long until we get one of these from Mr. Jones: a public apology.

Kings center Brad Miller has been suspended for the first five games of the 2008-09 season after violating terms of the NBA/NBPA Anti-Drug Program, the league announced Thursday.

“I want to apologize to my family, teammates, fans and entire Kings organization, ” Miller said in a statement released by the team. “I made a mistake. It was an error in judgment and I’m very sorry. I regret it deeply. It’s something I won’t and can’t take lightly. I hope to bounce back from this as a better person and I’m excited about the upcoming season.”

Huh, we never would have figured sitting out five games for the Kings would be considered a punishment. Sounds like a good way to avoid participating in the first five losses of the season to us.

Links:

[FirstCoastNews.com]: Jaguars WR Matt Jones Arrested on Cocaine Charges in Arkansas
[SacBee.com]: NBA suspends Kings’ Miller for violating anti-drug program

Categories
Atlanta Braves

Odds and Ends: Clearing up this whole Craig Sager thing

Craig Sager,the NBA sideline reporter with the ridiculous wardrobe, has been getting a lot of play today because it was mentioned that he was one of the people running alongside Hank Aaron when he broke Babe Ruth’s record. You’ve probably seen the clip 1,000 times by now but it’s below if you have been living under a rock for the past 20 years.

Anyway, the problem is that some bloggers think Sager’s one of the two fans who ran alongside Aaron around 2nd base. No no no. Sager is the creepy guy in the white trench coat that runs with Aaron from third to home and waiting to to interview him.

Just thought we’d clear that up.

In other news…

[Hockey Rants]: Mike York’s Wife will kick your ass

[Can’t Stop the Bleeding]: Dough Christie and his wife have a book coming out.

[6ABC]: NJ officials want Rutgers to redesign its logo.

[KDSK]: Video of door coming off plane in Fred Taylor African safari incident

[Our book of Scrap]: This Almost Makes Me Wish I Was A Gators Fan (Almost)

Categories
Jacksonville Jaguars

Fred Taylor almost went sky diving without a parachute



Wonder if these guys were piloting
at the time?

Do you hate flying as much as we do? After experiencing some seriously disturbing in-air disturbances while visiting Africa, we’re guessing that Jaguars running back Fred Taylor does.

Taylor had been touring Zambia and Zimbabwe and all those other Z-countries in South Africa with his wife and his buddies Samari Rolle, Lito Sheppard and their lil’ ladies. Everything had been going swimmingly for group of tourists until the dreaded “Samari safari.” On the way back from checking out the wildlife, the 15-seat, single-propeller plane’s door flew open at about 6,000 feet and caused a panic amongst the normally cool pro ballers.

I thought that was it,” Taylor said Monday following the final day of Jacksonville’s three-day minicamp. “I put my head down and started praying. The runway was about two miles away, but it seemed like it took 10 or 15 minutes to get there.”

Taylor joked that it was the first time he felt like he was near death “since I was playing for (coach Tom) Coughlin.

Maybe Taylor should spring for a little safer accommodation on his next journey to a third world country. After all, it’s not like the guy can’t travel in style; the Jaguars just gave him a three-year extension worth $23 million. But things could have been much worse; what if there had been a bunch of killer snakes on the plane?

Links:

[CBS Sportsline]: Jaguars’ Taylor Gets Scare In Africa
[Gainesville.com]: Ex-Gators get scare during Africa trip

Categories
New York Yankees

Odds and Ends: Yankees fans aren’t delusional at all

ESPN had an interesting poll on how the addition of Roger Clemens affects their postseason chances. A majority of voters (48%) said they’d miss the playoffs while 17% though they will be World Series Champs. What’s interesting is that only in 3 states do a majority of folks feel that the Yankees will be champions at year’s end: New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Delusion in a powerful force. (via be Recruited)

In other news…

[Jacksonville.com]: Goodell’s personal conduct policy claims another victim

[SI.com]: Mets fan who was crushed by a fat man is suing the Mets

[The Offside]: It’s a good thing he didn’t get a hot beef injection

[Wizard of Odds]: Our favorite entry into the Wiz’s great billboard competition

[Larry Brown Sports]: His soul probably still stinks

And finally, Malaysian officials are planning on dumping 196,00 cans of confiscated beer down the drain. It’s as if a million sports fans cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced.

Categories
Jacksonville Jaguars

Khalif Barnes doesn’t hate white cops — just the one who arrested him

After being picked up for driving drunk in Jacksonville back in November, Jaguars offensive tackle Khalif Barnes decided to let the Jacksonville law enforcement know exactly how he felt about them. And apparently, he feels like Jacksonville is not too far away from burning crosses and wearing white sheets and calls the arresting officer a “KKK devil that hates all colored people.”

This is unbelievable, man, unbelievable being a pro athlete in Jacksonville. I can’t wait to get out of here. Can’t wait,” Barnes said while handcuffed in the back of a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office patrol car. “Especially if you’re black.”

About 20 minutes later, still in the patrol car, he said, “Of all the places in the — world that I came to this — hick town. They — hate us here. Why you even want to have a pro team here? What’s the use? They don’t even — respect you.

Luckily for us all of us Barnes tirade was caught on tape by a camera positioned in the back seat of the officers car. Barnes’ alcohol level was at .12 which is over the Florida limit of .08, but his lawyers are arguing, as Barnes did in the video, that the officer did not have enough probable cause to arrest him.

But even if he gets off the hook for the drunken driving charge, there’s no court that can recant what he had to say in the back of that patrol car. And cops tend to hold grudges against people who call them racist, so Barnes might want to consider calling a limo the next time he gets a bit tipsy. And fans have been know to hold grudges as well, so be prepared for the boos to rain down the next time he takes the field in that “hick town.”

Links:

[Jacksonville.com]: Arrest video shows Jaguars lineman blasting city, cops