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Is another college coach in the state of Kansas about to lose his job for striking or abusing his players. From AP-
Kansas State’s Frank Martin is a fiery old-school screamer who expects his players to play with the same kind of passion he coaches with.
That passion got the better of Martin on Saturday — and he feels bad about it.
Caught up in the heat of a tight road game, Martin hit senior Chris Merriewether on the arm with the back of his hand late in a 74-68 loss to Missouri for Kansas State (No. 10 ESPN/USA Today, No. 11 AP). Martin wasted little time in apologizing, telling reporters he was wrong before taking questions during his postgame news conference.
“That’s a mistake on my part,” Martin said. “I’m an old-school guy, but I understand the times are real sensitive now. I love him. I don’t know what to tell you. It’s wrong on my part and is completely out of line and has no part in the game. I need to apologize for that.”
Martin’s swipe came during a timeout with 1:17 left after a turnover by Merriewether led to a foul at the other end.
Before Marcus Denmon hit one of two free throws to put Missouri up 66-63, Martin called timeout and gathered his team in front of the bench. He immediately started screaming at Merriewether and flicked the back of his hand at the senior, striking him on the arm with his fingers.
The crowd at Kansas State’s end of the floor reacted and Martin, realizing he had made a mistake, flipped his hand again, appearing as if he were trying to high-five Merriewether.
Martin sought out Merriewether in the locker room after the game and apologized for popping him.
The quick and immediate apology by Martin(He’s Cuban-American and was born in Florida) may just end up saving his job. I’m not an advocate of zero tolerance rules because so often they are really no brains rules.
No question, he is intense. Volatile, even. While Martin has proven he can coach, something many doubted, he must now prove he can control his temper. Currie may have accepted Martin’s apology, but the K-State AD surely can’t accept another such outburst.
Kevin Haskin of the Topeka Capital-Journal writes-
No question, he is intense. Volatile, even. While Martin has proven he can coach, something many doubted, he must now prove he can control his temper. Currie may have accepted Martin’s apology, but the K-State AD surely can’t accept another such outburst.
At least Martin was quick to address his sideline indiscretion and appropriately confronted it head on. The matter was handled swiftly, and properly, especially based on Merriewether’s own reaction.
KSU should investigate and if Martin doesn’t have a history of previous incidents, let him off this time with a warning.
Update- Togo has pulls out of”>decided to play after all. Their goverment is also asking for an apology from Angola and Africa Cup officials.
The rest of my original post is below
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The attack on their team bus by gunmen resulted in three deaths. From AP-
Hosting the African Cup of Nations was Angola’s chance to show it is recovering from decades of war, but tragedy struck as gunmen sprayed bullets at Togo’s national team, killing three people and forcing its withdrawal from the soccer tournament.
Africa’s main soccer tournament was expected to open as planned on Sunday, even though players from other countries expressed shock at the ambush on the Togo team bus as it traveled through Angola’s restive oil-rich Cabinda province.
“We have goose bumps … who knows what is going to happen to us,” Amade Chababe, assistant coach to the Mozambique national football team, told AP Television News as the squad passed through Johannesburg en route to Angola on Saturday.
In South Africa, the local organizing committee of the World Cup said the attack had no relevance to the upcoming global sports event that starts in June. Spokesman Rich Mkhondo said FIFA views Friday’s attack as an isolated incident that could have happened anywhere in the world.
That’s a awfully dumb thing to say. How many machine attacks on buses full of athletes have happened in other parts of the world. I’m too far away to know if this is an isolated incident but will note that a violent civil war took place in Angola starting in 1975 and that it lasted almost 30 years.
The attack in Angola, a former Portuguese colony, killed an assistant coach, a team spokesperson and the bus driver, according to the team and the Togolese government.
“Despite this, the championship will go on,” Angola’s sports minister, Goncalves Muandumba, said.
In 1961 the entire U.S. Figure skating team was killed in a plane crash as they traveled to the World Figure Skating Championships. As a result the World Championships were canceled that year. How many of the other participants really want to go on after this tragedy. Won’t any victory feel bittersweet in the end?
It is perfectly understandable why Togo felt the need to withdraw. I don’t understand why this soccer tournament has to go on after this tragedy instead of being postponed.
The team is scheduled to take part in the 16-team African Cup of Nations Championship. From AP-
Gunmen in an area plagued by separatist violence opened fire Friday on a bus carrying Togo’s national soccer team to a tournament in this southwest African country, wounding at least six people including two players, an official said.
Some players said they wanted to pull out of the African Cup of Nations tournament following the violence, but an official in Angola said it would go ahead as planned.
Togo’s bus in a convoy from Congo was six miles across the border in Angola when it came under fire. The bus driver died in the 30-minute ambush, according to Togo captain Emmanuel Adebayor, who was not hurt.
One player said they were ‘machine gunned like dogs’. Some players have expressed a desire to leave. I hope they don’t and pray the two wounded team members make a speedy recovery.
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OTB Sports linked with Togo pulls out of Africa Cup of Nations tournament...
He pitched for the Minnesota Twins and Florida Marlins last season and is currently under contract to the Los Angeles Dodgers. From AP-
Relief pitcher Luis Ayala was unharmed during an apparent attempted kidnapping by gunmen at his home in the northern Mexico state of Sinaloa.
Martin Robles, a spokesman for the state prosecutors’ office, said investigators believed Ayala was the intended victim, whom police prevented from being abducted.
Robles said gunmen in three vehicles forced their way into Ayala’s home near the city of Los Mochis on Monday by shooting open the door.
Police arrived at the scene after receiving a call to an emergency number, and soldiers dispatched to the scene apparently scared off the assailants.
Ayala’s family was unhurt but police found him in handcuffs when they arrived.
With the drug related violent crime rampant there at the moment, Mexico might be the last country in this hemisphere I’d want to visit.
Were they the last professional athletes to be arrested in 2009? From AP-
Detroit Tigers catcher Gerald Laird and his younger brother, New York Yankees infield prospect Brandon Laird, were arrested following a brawl in the lounge area of Phoenix’s NBA arena, according to police.
Phoenix police said Gerald Laird, 30, was cited for assault Wednesday night and 22-year-old Brandon Laird was cited for disorderly conduct. Police said the Lairds and a third man were arrested at U.S. Airways Center after the fight during the Phoenix Suns-Boston Celtics game.
Police said arena security previously contacted the group of men about their loud behavior. Two of the men were allowed back into the lounge after a conversation with security, but a melee broke out shortly afterward and the Laird brothers allegedly assaulted the security guards.
Brandon Laird is a infield prospect in the New York Yankees farm system.
A former 7th round pick out of Florida, McCray is currently in his second season playing for the Saints. From AP-
New Orleans Saints defensive end Bobby McCray was arrested early Tuesday and charged with driving while intoxicated and other counts, police said.
Police spokesman Gary Flot says McCray, 28, was stopped by an officer who saw him speeding about 4:30 a.m. Tuesday. He was booked into Orleans Parish Prison on charges of driving while intoxicated, speeding, careless operation of a motor vehicle and not having his vehicle registration with him.
A jail spokesman said McCray was released on his own recognizance around 7 a.m.
McCray refused to take a Breathalyzer test, police spokesman Janssen Valencia said.
“You have the right to refuse the test, but it has consequences,” Valencia said. “Those include arrest and losing your license.”
I’ve never understood how a country that has a constitutional ammendment protecting those accused of a crime from incriminating themselves, then penalizes those who refuse to incriminate themselves. Which is what a person refusing a Breathalyzer test is doing. Does anyone else see the paradox?
I’ve heard many a tale of coach abuse of college athletes, but never imprisonment or kidnapping. From ESPN-
Texas Tech coach Mike Leach has been suspended while the school investigates complaints from a player and his family about treatment after an injury.
The school said in a release Monday defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill will be the interim coach and lead the team in the Valero Alamo Bowl on Jan. 2 against Michigan State. McNeill will remain in charge of the team until the investigation is complete.
The player, Adam James, is a redshirt sophomore wide receiver for the Red Raiders and the son of ESPN college football analyst Craig James.
A source close to the family told ESPN’s Joe Schad that James sustained a concussion on Dec. 16, was examined on Dec. 17 and told not to practice due to a concussion and an elevated heart rate. The source said Leach called a trainer and directed him to move James “to the darkest place, to clean out the equipment and to make sure that he could not sit or lean. He was confined for three hours.”
According to the source, Leach told the trainer, two days later, to “put [James] in the darkest, tightest spot. It was in an electrical closet, again, with a guard posted outside.”
An attorney for Leach said that while James was secluded twice, the circumstances were not as portrayed in that account.
If Leach had James involuntarily confined under any circumstances, he just shouldn’t be fired but criminally prosecuted. He had no right to imprison anyone for any length of time.
The Lubbock Avalanche Journal has more-
Leach had until Monday to write an apology and when he did not, the university felt it had to take action.
“This was not taken lightly,†the source said, adding that Leach did not show any signs of remorse or did not say he wouldn’t do it again. The player suffered a concussion at practice on Dec. 16 and Leach thought the player was faking.
The article went on to say Leach didn’t have James confined just once but twice. Texas Tech should fire this idiot and Texas prosecutors bring him up on criminal charges. Leach should spend some time behind bars and be shown how it feels to be imprisoned and have your rights taken away.
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OTB Sports linked with Texas Tech fires Coach Mike Leach...
The incident occurred a little over 24 hours before his team was supposed to play in the Hawaii Bowl. From AP-
A Nevada linebacker who did not play in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl after he was dismissed by the team had been arrested days earlier on suspicion of shoplifting.
Honolulu police say Andre Davis was detained this week by security at a Waikiki store before he was turned over to authorities.
Nevada coach Chris Ault said Wednesday that Davis had been dismissed from the program for violating team and athletic department policy although he did not disclose the exact violation.
Davis apologized to his team and family in an interview with Hawaii’s KGMB-KHNL news station Wednesday after posting bail.
Whomever the AP hack writer who did this article, gives the distinct impression that the reason for Davis arrest wasn’t known at least to the wire service till Christmas day. That is when this article was originated.
Unless AP’s Honolulu office had no one working since December 23rd, I’m not buying they didn’t know of the arrest of Andre Davis. As the article above states, the player appeared on television on December 24th. During ESPN’s broadcast of the Hawaii Bowl, announcers made at least one mention of Davis’ arrest. That’s how I knew about it. Also the Honolulu Advertiser, one of Oahu’s two major newspapers, had the news no later than Wednesday afternoon.
I’ll also point out that AP regularly copies(or someone less critical would rewrites) the work of local reporters and then puts it out as the work of the wire service. Here’s just one example of AP doing just that, and getting the facts wrong in the process. Based on that Associated Press had to know the real reason for Davis’ dismissal by Nevada.
He also stole a car shortly after taking part in the Skate America competition. From AP-
Police said Russian figure skater Andrei Lutai stole a car and drove it while drunk after finishing 10th overall in the Skate America competition in Lake Placid.
Police said the car was stolen from a service station lot late Sunday night. A garage employee followed the car and called police.
Sgt. Carol Hayes said officers pulled over the 23-year-old Lutai, of St. Petersburg, a few minutes later.
Police have charged Lutai with grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, unauthorized use of a vehicle and aggravated driving while intoxicated.
In other skating news, Yu-Na Kim won the female portion of the Skate America competition. She remains the heavy favorite to win the gold at next year’s Olympics.
I’m so glad a country who has never had a President convicted of war crimes takes enforcing the law against all its citizens seriously. From AP-
Serbian President Boris Tadic faces a fine for allegedly drinking champagne at a stadium with his sports minister and the head of the soccer federation.
Judge Zoran Pasalic said Tuesday the three are requested to appear in court on Dec. 1.
Drinking alcohol at and around sports venues is illegal in Serbia and fines range from $150 to $1,500.
Police filed misdemeanor charges against all three officials after photos were published of them holding glasses filled with champagne after Serbia’s 5-0 victory over Romania last month in World Cup qualifying.
Tadic said he drank no champagne and just made a toast. I don’t care, throw the book at him.
You can turn off the snark now.
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