Harlem Globetrotters to Retire Curly Neal's Jersey
Basketball legend Curly Neal is going to have his number 22 retired by the Harlem Globetrotters at the Madison Square Garden. This event will take place as part of the Globetrotters' current "Magic As Ever" World Tour, during the team's performance in New York on Feb. 15 at 7:00 p.m. Curly will be the fifth Globetrotter to have his jersey number retired, joining Wilt Chamberlain (13), Meadowlark Lemon (36), Marques Haynes (20) and Goose Tatum (50).
One of the truly magical dribblers and shooters ever to pick up a ball, Curly captured the imagination of fans worldwide, playing in more than 6,000 games in 97 countries with the Globetrotters. Number 22 played for 22 seasons in the red, white and blue, from 1963 to 1985. Curly Neal is still sporting his trademark shaved head, wide smile and infectious laugh.
Curly was part of one of the most extraordinary eras in the team's history, appearing on several popular television programs and specials, including ABC's Wide World of Sports, The Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine and The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island. He was also immortalized in animation on The Harlem Globetrotters cartoon series and on episodes of Scooby Doo.
"Curly Neal represents the purity of sport and everything that is great about the Globetrotters and the game of basketball," said Globetrotters CEO Kurt Schneider. "He helped build this organization into a worldwide phenomenon, and we are proud to bestow this honor upon him. He truly personifies wholesome family entertainment and elicits fond memories for millions of fans around the world."
This shouldn't have been any doubts about this at all but there were some concerns. New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has confirmed that he will be playing in the Super Bowl against the New York Giants. It would have been an absolute shocker if he were to sit out. The cast - whatever that was about - isn't something that was going to prevent him from playing. His ankle is feeling fine. Now that we now he is playing it is time to return to the hype.
The Super Bowl is February 3rd so where's Tom Brady? The AP reports that Tom Brady hasn't been at practice lately. This follows a recent photograph of Tom Brady wearing a foot cast or protective foot boot.
For the second consecutive day, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady wasn't in the locker room or at practice when reporters and cameramen were allowed inside Friday.
During the 45-minute period in the locker room, several cameramen lingered near his locker, but he didn't show up. Nor was he there for the first 12 minutes of practice that the media were allowed to watch.
Asked if he could say whether Brady would practice Friday, New England coach Bill Belichick said, "Not now. We'll see."
Brady was photographed in New York on Monday wearing a protective boot on his right foot. He took it off later in the day and hasn't been photographed wearing it since. He reportedly has a minor high ankle sprain that isn't expected to keep him out of the Super Bowl against the New York Giants on Feb. 3.
New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick has refused to talk about Brady's mysterious cast. An ESPN story calls it "perhaps the most famous walking cast in sports history."
MSNBC reports on footballs being made for the upcoming Super Bowl game. Dozens of the footballs will be made for the game. There are also 100 commemorative footballs.
Xavier sinks 16 three pointers in a win over Virginia. This was a school record for Xavier. That's a lot of threes but a single player once made more in a single game.
The Giants defeated the Dallas Cowboys 21-17. They will be advancing towards the Super Bowl and not the Cowboys. There is one person that is definitely not to blame and that is actress/singer Jessica Simpson. She wore a pink version of quarterback Tony Romo's jersey (shown on right) to a game that the cowboys lost and a lot of people oddly blamed the loss on her. She wasn't in attendance (as far as we know) at the Cowboys-Giants game which means the Jessica Jinx is over. However, there were lots of blonde women in the stands wearing pink Romo jerseys reports MSNBC.
"I'll take the blame and I'll take the criticism here," Romo said. "That's why we're put in these positions."
There were plenty of blonde women in the stands wearing pink Romo jerseys Sunday, but the woman who made them famous wasn't believed to be among them. Her publicist said earlier in the week she was working on a new album and would not be at the game.
On Dec. 16, Simpson proudly displayed her shirt to television cameras during the Cowboys' game against Philadelphia. Romo injured his throwing thumb and had one of his worst games of the season that day. What they didn't know - or didn't care about - was that she'd attended other Cowboys games and he played just fine.
Then came the fuss about Romo's trip to Mexico leading up to the Giants game.
Dallas had 13 wins in the regular season so they were the favorite going into the game but they couldn't find a way to win it despite a good opportunity near the end of the game.
It finally came down to this: the Cowboys had 1:50 left to go 48 yards.
A Brett Favre-esque scrambling shovel pass to Jason Witten got the Cowboys to the 22 with 31 seconds left, then came more mistakes - another false start, a short pass that forced Dallas to use its final timeout and a pair of poor throws, a ball in the end zone that Patrick Crayton seemed to give up on before futilely speeding up and the final play, caught by McQuarters.
The Giants will face Green Bay in the conference finals.
Marion Jones is going to serve six months in jail for perjury - for lying about her steroid use at the Sydney Games. Jones had already been stripped of her five medals - she won three gold medals in the 2000 Olympic Games and become a celebrity appearing on the cover of Vogue. The BBC reports that there had always been accusations of steroid use surrounding Jones but she never admitted it until last year.
But in October of last year, an emotional Jones pleaded guilty to lying about her steroid use to US investigators, admitting that she had taken steroids ahead of the Sydney Games.
She retired from the sport and the IOC stripped Jones of her five Olympic medals and erased the American's results dating from September 2000.
In 1984, a nine-year-old Jones had written "I'm going to be an Olympic champion" on her bedroom blackboard.
But for jailed Jones her Olympic dreams, past and present, are well and truly over.
Sports Illustrated has a Marion Jones timeline here. This timeline ends in 2000 but an entry on Infoplease has a couple paragraphs on Jones' life from 2000 to 2007 including her struggles at the 2004 Olympics. The Wikipedia entry is also very informative.
Team Flight Brothers gives you a sample of T-Dub's dunks. T-Dub is only five foot nine but he can do a 540 w/ 2hands, 360 between the legs and a number of other impressive dunks. Here's the video.
Basketball legend Curly Neal is going to have his number 22 retired by the 
The Giants defeated the Dallas Cowboys 21-17. They will be advancing towards the Super Bowl and not the Cowboys. There is one person that is definitely not to blame and that is actress/singer Jessica Simpson. She wore a pink version of quarterback Tony Romo's jersey (shown on right) to a game that the cowboys lost and a lot of people oddly blamed the loss on her. She wasn't in attendance (as far as we know) at the Cowboys-Giants game which means the Jessica Jinx is over. However, there were lots of blonde women in the stands wearing pink Romo jerseys 
Marion Jones is going to 