Saints ledger details bounties

The NFL has obtained a ‘ledger’ that the New Orleans Saints kept during the team’s alleged pay-for-play bounty program, Yahoo! Sports reported Friday. The written documentation details weekly earnings for players in the team’s bounty system.

The NFL has been adamant that it has proof the Saints employed a bounty program, but hasn’t publicly released any of it. The documentation of specific bounty payments could be a key piece of evidence against the players involved in the system as they appeal their suspensions.
“Cart-offs” a hit that results in an opponent being helped off the field would earn $1,000 and “whacks” punishing tackleswould earn $400 were awarded to defensive players, and deducted $100 for “mental errors,” according to the report. Players would encourage the recipients to put the money back into the pool to potentially increase winnings.

According  the Yahoo! Sports report, the NFL shared portions of the documents at meetings with people who were under investigation.The documents do not prove that money exchanged hands, the ledger does imply that it existed

Terrell Owens Kicked Off Team

 Terrell Owens  It's being reported that the Indoor Football League's Allen Wranglers told T.O. that he had 48 hours to get out of the house and give back the 2012 Jeep Cherokee that the team had provided in exchange for his whopping severance check of $50. The Wranglers are upset with Owens for missing two away games and a charity event, but Owens says he wasn't obligated to travel and the publicist gave him the wrong date for the event. This whole mess may end up in court, where that measly check won't amount to much when it comes to paying legal fees

Detriot Red Wings' Nicklas Lidstrom retires

The four-time Stanley Cup champion and seven-time Norris Trophy winner as the league's best defenseman fought back tears as he made the announcement.
''My drive and motivation are not where they to need to be to play at this level,'' Lidstrom said.

The 42-year-old Swede set an NHL record by playing 1,564 games with a single team. He had put retirement on hold in each of the previous two years by signing one-year contracts.
''I've been dreading this day since I became manager in 1997,'' Red Wings general manager Ken Holland said.

Lidstrom had 34 points and a plus-21 rating that ranked among the league leaders last season. He had 264 career goals with 1,142 points and a 450-plus rating. After being incredibly durable for 19 seasons, he missed a career-high 11 games with a bruised right ankle and was out for another game with the flu.

''That didn't sway me one way or another,'' Lidstrom said. ''A couple weeks after the season is over, you start working out. Once I started doing that I didn't have the push I need and I can't cheat myself.''
He plans to move his family to Sweden and hopes to have an off-ice role with the Red Wings.
''Retiring today allows me to walk away with pride, rather than have the game walk away from me,'' said Lidstrom, whose oldest of four sons went to Sweden two years ago to attend school and play hockey.

Defenseman Brad Stuart, who was his teammate the past four-plus seasons, said he was amazed at Lidstrom's ability to make the right play on almost every shift game after game

''I've played with great players who made mistakes, but I can't think of one game when I thought, `Nick just didn't have it tonight,''' Stuart said during this year's one-series postseason. ''He's that same, steady, amazing defenseman every night. I think I've seen him out of breath maybe three or four times in a few years because he's so smart, he gets himself in the right position to make a play.''
The four-time Olympian also scored the gold-medal winning goal for Sweden over Finland in 2006. He became the first European-born captain to win a Stanley Cup in 2008, six years after being the first from Europe to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoffs MVP.

His  body is chiseled thanks to a year-round workout that includes exercise before practice and after games along with a sensible diet that includes only occasional slices of pizza and fast food. Lidstrom's teammates call him ''The Perfect Human,'' in part because he's as humble as he is successful on the ice.

''It's one of the most emotional days in Red Wings history with Nick retiring and all you people showing your respect for such a high-quality individual,'' Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch said at a packed news conference that included a slew of team employees wearing Lidstrom's No. 5 red jersey with a winged wheel.A/P

Hornets Land Top Lottery Pick

New owner, and now a new star player. The future suddenly looks bright for the New Orleans Hornets.
Meanwhile, it was yet another loss - in a historic season full of them - for Michael Jordan and the Charlotte Bobcats.
The Hornets, recently sold by the NBA to Saints owner Tom Benson, won the NBA's draft lottery Wednesday and the No. 1 pick overall - which they almost certainly will use to pick Kentucky star Anthony Davis.
At least that's what the consensus college player of the year is expecting. Moments after the Hornets won the lottery, Davis said he was looking forward to playing professionally in the place where he led the Wildcats to a national championship in April.
The good news for the Hornets comes after a difficult season in which they traded All-Star Chris Paul and a couple of years in limbo where they couldn't do much to upgrade the roster while the league was looking for a buyer.
''Just a first step for us to winning it all,'' Benson said in a TV interview after the lottery.
The Hornets moved up from the fourth spot, where they had a 13.7 percent chance, to earn the pick.
''Everything was surreal once they announced the fourth pick,'' said Hornets coach Monty Williams, who represented the team on stage. ''I said `This is pretty cool.' I knew my wife and kids were home praying that things would go well and they did.''
The Bobcats, after going 7-59 for the worst winning percentage in NBA history, fell to the No. 2 pick. Washington will pick third and Cleveland fell one spot to fourth.

Charlotte had a 25 percent chance of grabbing the No. 1 pick, but instead will have to take the best player after Davis, possibly his teammate, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.
The team with the worst record hasn't won since Orlando drafted Dwight Howard in 2004.
''We will still take the best player available and when you win seven games you have a lot of holes,'' Bobcats general manager Rich Cho said. ''From a competitive standpoint and for anyone who has played sports or been competitive, you want to win and be No. 1. We know we're still going to get a good player.''
Cho and team vice chairman Curtis Polk said they hadn't heard from Jordan, the Bobcats owner.
''Being No. 2 isn't terrible. We'll be fine,'' Polk said.
The league bought the Hornets from owner George Shinn in December 2010 and the sale to Benson was completed in April. The NBA was criticized for the conflict of interest of a league owning a franchise, particularly when Commissioner David Stern blocked a trade that would have sent Paul to the Lakers in December, then approved another that landed Paul with the Clippers.

The ownership uncertainty hindered the Hornets, but they were in a celebrating mood Wednesday after earning the No. 1 pick for the first time since 1991, when they were still in Charlotte and took Larry Johnson.
General manager Dell Demps said he pumped his fist in the room where the drawing took place after seeing that the balls had been drawn in the Hornets' favor.
''When our combination came up, it was an exciting feeling,'' he said. ''I got an incredible rush. ... We knew what the odds were. We hoped for the best. It was nothing we could control. We're just happy.''
The Hornets, who went 21-45, also have the No. 10 pick. They played hard at the end of the season even as it reduced their lottery odds, winning eight of their final 13 games with a young roster.
''Obviously, we're very excited,'' Demps said. ''This is a great day for the city of New Orleans, our fans. ... This is the start of a new beginning.

Though they didn't officially say it, it's expected to start with Davis, one of the most dominant defensive college players in years who was Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four even as he went 1 for 10 from the field in the championship game. He blocked a record-tying six shots and had 16 rebounds and three steals in the Wildcats' 67-59 victory over Kansas.
''Davis is not LeBron. He's not Tim Duncan. But they were young once and Tim had four years of college,'' Williams said.
The Nets were the other big loser when they stayed in the No. 6 spot. They owed their pick to Portland for this season's Gerald Wallace trade unless they moved into the top three.
The Cavs beat the odds last year and moved up to take Kyrie Irving, the eventual Rookie of the Year, and tried to follow the same formula. Nick Gilbert, the 15-year-old son of owner Dan Gilbert, was back on the podium in his bow tie, and the Cavs' traveling party that included Dan Gilbert, and former Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar and current Browns players Josh Cribbs and Joe Haden sported the same dress.
But there was no repeat, as the Cavs went backward this time.
''Still feel very good about number4 pick,'' Dan Gilbert wrote on his Twitter page. ''We are getting a great player there and good additions w/our other 3 picks. I believe.''a/p press

L.A Kings Take Game 1

Kopitar faked a backhand shot, put the puck on his forehand and beat Martin Brodeur.
Los Angeles has won all nine of its road games in the playoffs, an NHL record. The Kings are now one win shy of the NHL record for postseason road victories.

More importantly, they are three wins away from the franchise's first NHL title. They have won 11 consecutive road playoff games dating back to last season.
Colin Fraser scored in the first period for the Kings, the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference who beat the top three teams to get to their first Stanley Cup Finals since 1993

Anton Volchenkov tied it late in the second period for New Jersey, the East's sixth seed.
Kopitar took a pass by Justin Williams from along the left wing boards and skated in alone on Brodeur. As soon as he rifled the puck into the net, he raised his hands and banged himself into the boards, facing the crowd off to Brodeur's right.

The veteran goaltender dejectedly skated off to the locker room as the rest of the Kings piled on Kopitar.
Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick finished with 17 saves in what was a relatively easy night. Brodeur had 23 saves as the Devils lost in overtime for just the second time this postseason; they have won four times. LA is 3-0 in overtime this spring.

The Devils had two great chances to take the lead early in the third period, and for a split second it appeared they went ahead with 16:02 to play in regulation when Zach Parise scored off a wild goal-mouth scramble.

While the horns went off and the fans celebrated, referee Dan O'Halloran quickly waved off the goal.
It was reviewed in Toronto and replay clearly showed Parise swept the puck into the net with his hand.
Defenseman Mark Fayne was probably kicking himself six minutes later when he missed a wide-open net from the edge of the crease in what was the Devils' best period of the night.

The Kings had their chances, too, with Brodeur making two outstanding saves about 10 seconds apart. He made a stacked-pad save on a one-timer by defenseman Drew Doughty from 30 feet after a drop pass from Mike Richards. A turnover seconds later set up Dustin Penner for a shot from the left circle.
The Kings came into the finals after steamrolling the top three seeds in the Western Conference in just 14 games, and they made the Devils look ordinary in the first 40 minutes, holding them to nine shots.
But a fluke goal by Volchenkov tied the game with 1:12 left in the second.

Volchenkov took a shot from the left point that Quick kicked away in front. The puck went airborne, avoided Devils forward Patrik Elias in front and hit off the shoulder of Kings defenseman Slava Voynov before going into the net.
Until then, Fraser's first career playoff goal was beginning to look like the winner.
It was a typical Kings' goal, created off the forecheck - by the fourth line, no less.
Jordan Nolan checked New Jersey's Andy Greene behind the Devils' net, outfought him for the puck and found Fraser between the circles for a shot that beat Brodeur 9:56 into the game.
The Kings had chances to extend the lead, but Brodeur, who was the difference in the Devils' victory over the rival Rangers in the conference finals, made three good saves. The best stop by the 40-year-old, three-time Cup winner came on the opening shift of the second period when he blocked Kopitar point blank on the edge of the crease.
Kopitar, of course, would get one past Brodeur much later in the evening.
Brodeur also stopped forward Jeff Carter from in close and made a big pad stop on Penner in the second.
The Devils were held without a shot for more than 14 minutes of the period before Parise was credited with one on a short-handed attempt in which the puck rolled off his stick into the crease.
Quick, who wasn't very busy in the first two periods, made his best save with a glove stop on Dainius Zubrus from the left circle after a turnover.

However, New Jersey managed to tie it on Volchenkov's strange goal.a/p press

Tim Tebow Has Girlfriend?

Tim Tebow and Olympic runner Lolo Jones have a couple of things in common.
Both are world-class athletes who take their training very seriously. Also, both have expressed a desire to remain virgins until marriage.

So when Tebow's teammate Nick Mangold suggested on Twitter that the two should get together as a "match made in heaven," it seemed like an innocent joke.

Jones, however, raised the stakes by responding to Mangold with the insinuation that Tebow might already be spoken for.

Miami Dolphins On Hard Knocks This Summer

Head Coach Joe Philbin confirmed the news after this morning’s OTA session, revealing that fans around the world will now get an up close and personal look at training camp. The Dolphins were chosen by the National Football League and HBO to be that team that will allow the cameras to go behind the scenes for five one-hour episodes debuting Tuesday, August 7th, and running each subsequent Tuesday.

“Number one it was a football decision and it was made by the football operations staff,” Philbin said. “Our owner, Steve Ross, supported our decision but in no way, shape or form forced us to make this decision. I’m personally very excited about it and I shared my thoughts about it with our football team this morning. It’s a football show and it’s a show that’s going to showcase our players and the great group of men that we have assembled here in Miami as they go through training camp.

“The second thing is I think it’s a great opportunity for us to connect with our fans and to the people that aren’t going to be able to come out here on a daily basis in 110-degree heat index weather and watch our guys participate in training camp. The third thing is I think it’s a chance for us to show the new direction, the identity of this football team, where we’re headed and at the same time also connect with our past and the great history, tradition and heritage that we have here in Miami.”

For more than a decade, the popular cable television series has given fans a new perspective on the nation’s most popular sport and has consistently drawn high ratings. It’s allowed the viewer to feel as if he or she is on the sideline and in the locker room with the team.

Philbin isn’t concerned about any perceived distractions because he reminded his team that there are cameras everywhere on Sunday afternoon during game day. He doesn’t plan to do anything different in practice or the meeting rooms just because the cameras are there.

“I think the number one thing in coaching from a philosophical standpoint is that you have to be yourself,” said Philbin, who is in his first year as a head coach in the league. “Probably 20 years from now it will be a lot of fun to watch but I’ve never seen the show. That’s the truth and I certainly wasn’t necessarily auditioning for it. The easy answer would have been to say no but we thought it was in the best interest of the organization at this point to do it.”

Four current members of the Dolphins have been on Hard Knocks in the past – defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle when he was with the Cincinnati Bengals, quarterback David Garrard general manager Jeff Ireland  and linebacker Jamaal Westerman

“On the 40th anniversary of the greatest season in NFL history – Don Shula’s perfect ’72 Dolphins – it is perfectly fitting that Hard Knocks is heading to Miami to capture the start of a new era for one of the league’s proudest teams,” said NFL Films president Steve Sabol. “After Hard Knocks’ hiatus last summer, I know our team at NFL Films can’t wait to get back on the field.”by andykent