Featured Stories | Larry Brown Sports

Sean Avery calls Martin Brodeur ‘fatso’ after Dancing With the Stars comment

March 27, 2014 By Steve DelVecchio 1 Comment

Sean Avery appeared on the latest season of “Dancing With the Stars” for just one week before being voted off. He and partner Karina Smirnoff were one of two pairs that were given the boot after week one, and New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur seemed to enjoy his former nemesis being eliminated so soon.

On Wednesday, Brodeur told NJ.com’s Randy Miller that he has never watched “Dancing With the Stars” but heard Avery didn’t do so hot.

“I didn’t watch – I don’t watch those shows – but I was watching NHL Network and they mentioned it,” Brodeur said. “What more could he do to embarrass himself? There it is!”

Several years ago, the NHL had to create a rule called the “Avery Rule” after the former New York Rangers goon stood in front of Brodeur facing him while waving his stick like a madman. Avery was attempting to screen Brodeur, but he wasn’t even paying attention to the play or anything behind him. They have no been fond of each other since.

Deadspin pointed out that Avery fired back at Brodeur on Twitter Thursday.

Embarrassing is when u sleep with the #Nanny and get caught :)

— Sean Avery (@imseanavery) March 27, 2014

Woke up beside a super model? Awesome, bro. The supermodel he would be referring to is his fiancee Hilary Rhoda, who is obviously a great catch but there’s no need to go middle school here. Avery blamed the producers of “Dancing With the Stars” for his early exit from the show, which should surprise no one.

Filed Under: Featured Stories, Hockey Tagged With: Martin Brodeur, Sean Avery

Dez Bryant furious with reporter Calvin Watkins for writing ‘Dez Rules’ story

March 26, 2014 By Larry Brown Leave a Comment

Dez Bryant is furious with ESPN’s Dallas Cowboys reporter Calvin Watkins over a story the writer published on Tuesday that says the wide receiver is still under a close watch by the team.

According to the article published by Watkins, Dez must adhere to the following guidelines:

- A midnight curfew. If he’s going to miss curfew, team officials must know in advance.
- No alcohol.
- He can’t attend strip clubs and can attend nightclubs only if they are approved by the team and he has a security team with him.
- He must attend counseling sessions twice a week.
- A rotating three-man security team will leave one man with Bryant at all times.
- Members of the security team will drive Bryant to practices, games and team functions.

These “Dez Rules” were established during the 2012 offseason when Bryant, who was known for having off-field issues, was charged with allegedly assaulting his mother. Bryant has managed to stay out of trouble since then, which could be why he was so upset with Watkins for writing the article.

Apparently upset over the negative article which makes it seem like Bryant needs to be watched over like a child, the Cowboys receiver fired off a nasty tweet at Watkins, which he has since deleted:

Even if Bryant deleted the tweet, just the fact that he sent it shows he still has a short fuse and some growing up to do. That definitely wasn’t the way to handle the situation.

Tweet via @DennisHowell
Helmet smack to Black Sports Online

Filed Under: Featured Stories, Football Tagged With: Calvin Watkins, Dez Bryant

Phil Jackson left Knicks’ loss to Lakers early to walk his dog

March 26, 2014 By Steve DelVecchio Leave a Comment

After stringing together a nice little eight-game win streak earlier this month, the New York Knicks have now lost back-to-back games. They are three games behind the Atlanta Hawks for the No. 8 spot in the Eastern Conference with just 11 games remaining, which means one losing streak could end New York’s season. Even Phil Jackson couldn’t bring himself to watch his new team’s latest loss.

The Los Angeles Lakers destroyed the Knicks by a score of 127-96 on Tuesday night. New York gave up 51 points in the third quarter, which was a franchise record and the most the Lakers have ever scored in one quarter in their team’s history. Jackson left the game with about nine minutes remaining and Billy Witz of the New York Times caught up with him.

“It was awful, huh?” Jackson said as he left his luxury suite.

Jackson told Witz that he texted his fiancee Jeanne Buss to meet him outside the Staples Center. When he eventually made his way to his car with Buss in the passenger seat, the Zen Master was asked what he had planned for the rest of the evening.

“I think I’ll walk to dog,” he replied.

Make no mistake about it — Jackson was disgusted. He can come up with all the quirky responses he wants, but getting blown out by the Lakers like that stings a little worse than it would against any other team. So did watching his team give up 51 points in 12 minutes.

“51 points,” Jackson said. “When it’s 35 points you start to get worried. When it’s a 51-point quarter, that’s really awful.”

The Knicks are within striking distance of the playoffs, but that doesn’t seem to have created a great sense of optimism surrounding the team.

“We’re in a talent hunt,” Jackson added. “We have to bring in talent.”

Expect some big changes in New York this offseason with Phil running the show.

Filed Under: Basketball, Featured Stories Tagged With: Phil Jackson

Charlie Strong won’t let Texas players flash hook ‘em Horns sign yet

March 26, 2014 By Steve DelVecchio Leave a Comment

Just four short years ago, Texas was competing for a BCS National Championship behind Heisman Trophy candidate Colt McCoy. Since that game, the Longhorns have compiled a record of 30-17, which is nothing to brag about for a team that was once considered a national powerhouse. Charlie Strong hopes to bring a winning tradition back to Austin.

In order to do so, Strong is trying to change the culture that Mack Brown left behind. According to ESPN.com’s Max Olson, that includes everything from making players walk to practice to not allowing them to throw up the “hook ‘em Horns” hand gesture.

“They’ll get it back one of these days,” Strong said.

Strong was a Longhorn for a matter of hours before he was already throwing up the “hook ‘em Horns” at his introductory press conference. In fact, same of his former Louisville players criticized him and called him fake because of it. The Horns gesture is one of the first things recruits do when they decide to play ball at Texas, but apparently Strong feels it needs to be earned.

Strong also makes players take the half-mile trek from their dorms to the practice facility on foot. They used to be able to catch a bus. He has put an open-door policy into effect and is often spotted chatting football with several players at a time inside his office.

Culture change is one thing, but I’m not sure how I would feel about being told to not use the “hook ‘em Horns” gesture. In my opinion, starting positions are something a player has to earn. Taking pride in your school is not.

Filed Under: College Football, Featured Stories Tagged With: Charlie Strong, Texas Longhorns Football

Reggie McKenzie: Jared Veldheer didn’t want to play for Raiders

March 25, 2014 By Larry Brown 2 Comments

The Oakland Raiders have been criticized for losing Jared Veldheer as much as they’ve been criticized for their botched Rodger Saffold contract. But team GM Reggie McKenzie told the San Francisco Chronicle’s Vic Tafur that Veldheer signing with the Arizona Cardinals in free agency wasn’t an issue of the Raiders not trying to retain him.

“Losing Veldheer was a blow to me,” McKenzie told Tafur. “He didn’t want to come back. It wasn’t about finances.”

Veldheer (pictured at far left), who was a third-round pick of the Raiders in 2010, signed a five-year, $35 million deal with the Cardinals, who went 10-6 last season.

“The kid didn’t want to play for the Raiders anymore, and I struggled with that.”

McKenzie also said that defensive lineman Lamarr Houston chose to sign with the Chicago Bears instead of staying in Oakland because he believed they were a better team.

When McKenzie said he “struggled with that,” he could have been talking about the franchise tag. The Raiders had the ability to retain Veldheer by franchise tagging him, but McKenzie may have decided it wasn’t worth it either for financial reasons, or because keeping someone who does not want to be on your team is unhealthy for the locker room.

Whatever the case, this is another embarrassing sign for the Raiders and their fans and another reason why they need to turn it around.

H/T Around the League

Filed Under: Featured Stories, Football Tagged With: Jared Veldheer, Oakland Raiders

ESPN spoke with Bob Knight over rape comment

March 25, 2014 By Larry Brown 1 Comment

ESPN says it spoke with Bob Knight about his comment Tuesday that the NBA has “raped” college basketball.

“We spoke with him. ESPN regrets the use of the word,” the network said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, Knight was appearing on “Mike and Mike in the Morning” when he described what the NBA has done to college basketball by drafting talented freshman as raping the sport.

“If I were involved with the NBA I wouldn’t want a 19-year-old or a 20-year-old kid, to bring into all the travel and all the problems that exist in the NBA. I would want a much more mature kid. I would want a kid that maybe I’ve been watching on another team and now he’s 21, 22 years old instead of 18 or 19, and I might trade for that kid. On top of it all, the NBA does a tremendous, gigantic disservice to college basketball. It’s as though they’ve raped college basketball in my opinion,” he said, via Sporting News.

“Major League Baseball has the best idea of all. Three years before they’ll take a kid out of college, then they have a minor league system that they put the kids in. I’m sure that if the NBA followed the same thing, there would be a lot of kids in a minor league system that still were not good enough to play in the major NBA.”

This was not the first time Knight was criticized for his casual use of the word.

In 1998, Knight was asked by NBC News correspondent Connie Chung how he handled stress.

“I think that if rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it,” Knight said.

Indiana’s president at the time said the comment was in “very poor taste” and did not represent the school.

What else can you say about it besides that Bob Knight is just a jerk? I’m really not sure what he adds for ESPN and I don’t understand why they would continue to use him.

Filed Under: Featured Stories, Media Tagged With: Bob Knight

Shaq being investigated for allegedly attacking TNT co-worker

March 25, 2014 By Steve DelVecchio Leave a Comment

Shaquille O’Neal is reportedly under investigation by Atlanta police for allegedly assaulting a co-worker. According to a police report obtained by WSB-TV’s Ryan Young, Shaq has been accused of tackling fellow Turner Studios employee Robert Williams at work last year and injuring his back.

O’Neal has not been charged with anything. Sources told Young Williams suffered serious injuries.

“(The co-worker) alleged Shaquille O’Neal tackled him to the ground causing injury to his back while they were at work at Turner Studios,” Atlanta Police Department Sgt. Greg Lyon said. “I don’t know the extent of his injury, but I have heard that as well, that his injuries were severe to his back.”

Shaq’s attorney Dennis Roach said the incident was simply a matter of friendly “horseplay” and that no one intended for anyone else to get injured. Williams’ attorney said Robert is currently recovering from surgery and denied that the injury resulted from horseplay.

“He does state emphatically, that the permanent injuries he received were not the result of participation in any form of ‘horseplay,’” he said in a statement.

If there’s one thing we know about Shaq, it’s that he loves to mess around. Look no further than the comments Phil Jackson made about him recently for evidence of that. We don’t know what happened to Williams, but it’s hard to imagine the 7-foot-1 Shaq attacked him in a violent manner. We’ll just have to wait to see what the investigation reveals.

H/T Pro Basketball Talk

Filed Under: Everything Else, Featured Stories Tagged With: Shaq