Brice's Blog

Florida’s sophomore quarterback Tim Tebow became the first underclassman in college football history to win the Heisman Trophy Saturday night in New York.

Tebow collected 1,957 total points, including 462 first place votes. Arkansas’ Darren McFadden finished second in the voting for the second consecutive year with 1,703 votes. Hawaii’s Colt Brennan and Missouri’s Chase Daniel finished third and fourth in the voting.

"It's surreal a little bit," Tebow said, according to the Associated Press. "It's just overwhelming."

Tebow set records for his performance on the field this season, which helped propel him to the Heisman Trophy.

Tebow became the first player in college football history to throw and rush for 20 touchdowns. Tebow, a quarterback, also rushed for more touchdowns than any Heisman winning running back has. According to the Kansas City Star, Tebow’s 22 rushing touchdowns is also a Southeastern Conference record.

Tebow also became the third player from the University of Florida to win the award. Steve Spurrier won the Heisman Trophy in 1966 and Danny Wuerffel in 1996.

Posted by Brice Lehner at 11:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

O.J. Simpson pleaded not guilty Wednesday in Las Vegas to charges of armed robbery and kidnapping resulting from a September altercation.

Simpson and his two co-defendants, Charles Ehrlich and Clarence Stewart, all pleaded not guilty to the charges and have been scheduled for trial on April 7,2008.

The charges where filed after the three, along with three others, allegedly stole sports memorabilia from a man at a Las Vegas hotel.

The other three individuals not standing trial in April all agreed to plead guilty and testify against Simpson, Ehrlich and Stewart, according to BBC.

According to the New York Times, two of three that entered the plea deal carried guns during the alleged robbery.

The three could face up to life in prison if convicted.

Posted by Brice Lehner at 9:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A 20-year-old Maryland man died early Sunday after police used a Taser on him to try and break up a fight in Frederick, MD.

According to the Associated Press, a group of four people were fighting when police arrived at the scene, and the man fell to the ground unconscious after being shocked by the Taser, said a police spokesperson.

According to CNN, the man was pronounced dead after being taken to Frederick Memorial Hospital.

The officer involved has been placed on administrative leave with pay pending an investigation into the incident, according to the Associated Press.

According to CNN, Amnesty International reported that more than 150 have died after having a Taser used on them since June 2001.

Posted by Brice Lehner at 10:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A Texas man sat in a bathtub with 87 rattlesnakes Monday for 45 minutes, all to break his previous record set in 1999 by 12 snakes.

Jackie Bibby, who is known as the “Texas Snake Man,� had the record certified by Guinness World Record officials Monday.

"The key to not biting is for me to stay still,� Bibby said, according to the Associated Press. “Rapid movement scares a rattlesnake. If you move real slow and gentle, that doesn't seem to bother them."

According to the Associated Press, no snakes bit Bibby, despite them crawling under his arms and between his legs.

Bibby is no stranger to setting unique records with snakes. BBC reports that he set another record in 2006 for holding 10 rattlesnakes by their tails in his mouth.

"I have set several world records in that bathtub," Bibby said, according to the Associated Press.

Posted by Brice Lehner at 11:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A Central Florida man is being accused of punching the body of an 18-year-old murder victim at his funeral last Friday, according to local police.

Timothy Cleary of Apopka, Florida walked towards the casket during the service with his hands up and began punching the body, police said, according to WKMG.

According to WKMG, mourners then began to tackle Cleary while others called 911. Others at the church broke the windows of a car believed to belong to Cleary following the brawl, reports WFTV.

Cleary “just started smashing the boy’s face,� said Sandra Richardson, who witnessed the incident, according to WFTV.

WKMG reports the motive for the attack is not known, and KFTV reports the police do not believe the attack on the body has any connection to the 18-year-old’s murder.

Posted by Brice Lehner at 5:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The first NFL regular season game ever to be played in London ended Sunday with the New York Giants beating the Miami Dolphins 13-10.

The crowd of 81,176, according to BBC, packed into Wembley Stadium watched as the Giants recorded their sixth consecutive victory, while dropping the Dolphins to 0-8 for the first time in franchise history.

The crowd did express their displeasure with the Giants at the end of the game for kneeling the ball to run out the clock following a botched onside kick attempt by the Dolphins. Kneeling the ball at the end of a game to do this is a very common tactic in the game.

The trip to London got mixed reaction from players and coaches.

"I'll be glad to give my opinion to the commissioner with the issues that came up," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said.

According to the Associated Press, most of those issues included the transportation, the fact of flying that
far to play the game, and the jet lag from the long flight.

"We won, so obviously it was worth it," Giants defensive lineman Osi Umenyiora said. Umenyiora was born in London.

Posted by Brice Lehner at 5:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Joe Torre rejected a one-year contract offer to remain with the New York Yankees as manager for the 2008 season, according to reports.

The contract offer included a base salary of $5 million, with additional bonuses structured into the contract Torre could have earned based on the team’s performance. The bonuses could have added another $3 million to the deal, according to reports.

The base salary offer of the contract was $2.5 million less than Torre made in the 2007 season, making the offer a 33 percent pay cut.

Yankees general manager Brain Cashman said it was, “A Difficult Day,� according to ESPN.

Torre flew to Tampa Bay early Thursday with Yankees officials where he rejected the offer proposed by George Steinbrenner and the Yankees, according to the New York Times.

The Yankees made the postseason all 12 years Torre managed the team, including ten division titles and four World Series championships. The last championship, however, was in 2000.

According to the Associated Press, Yankees bench coach Don Mattingly is the top candidate to replace Torre as manager, providing the team does not make Torre another offer. Other top names being considered include Bobby Valentine, Tony La Russa and Joe Girardi.

Posted by Brice Lehner at 7:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

U.K. rock band Radiohead released their new album Wednesday with an unusual approach to selling it - letting the fans decide how much they want to pay for it.

The album In Rainbows, which is the band’s seventh studio album, is only available on the band’s website, displays the text “It’s up to you� at the price screen. Fans can choose to pay nothing for the album, and anywhere up to £99.00.

The album will not be released in stores on made available through Apple’s iTunes. However, a physical copy of the album is made available for order on the band’s website that is shipped to fans in December.

This new approach, according to the Washington Post, could compel fans to distance themselves from illegal downloading and instead pay the band what they feel their music really is worth.

According to BBC, the average cost for an album in the U.K. is about £8.92. It remains to be seen whether the experiment by the band is a success or a failure.

Posted by Brice Lehner at 10:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

At least five people where killed in a shooting rampage early Sunday morning in northern Wisconsin, according to a county supervisor.

The shootings occurred around 3 a.m. Sunday, according to witnesses, in the town of Crandon, located just over 200 miles north of Milwaukee. Crandon is a town of around 2,000 people, according to CNN.

The gunfire broke out in a house with around seven young people present at the time, according to FOX news. Their ages range from 16 to 21. Six were killed in the shootings and one remains in critical condition.

The shooter was Tyler Peterson, 20, a local law enforcement officer. Peterson worked as a full-time county sheriff and part-time Crandon officer, according to Police chief John Dennee, reports the Associated Press.

Peterson was eventually shot and killed by authorities following the incident, according to the Associated Press.

"It's a pretty tragic situation here," said Tom Vollmar, Forest County supervisor.

Posted by Brice Lehner at 9:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick failed a drug test for marijuana earlier this month.

Vick failed a drug test taken on September 13th, court document from the Eastern District of Virginia shows, according to CNN. The positive test is not only a violation of the NFL’s substance abuse policy, but it is also violates the conditions of Vick’s release as he awaits sentencing in December on federal dog fighting charges, according to the Associated Press, reports Yahoo!.
Vick’s positive test came just 17 days after entering his guilty plea on dog fighting charges in federal court. Part of his release, according to the Associated Press, including submitting to random drug testing and being confined to his home in Virginia from 10 p.m. through 6 a.m.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, this latest setback for Vick will not have an immediate impact on his NFL suspension. “This doesn't affect his status in the league because he is indefinitely suspended,� NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said.

This is not the first time Vick’s name has been mentioned with the possibility of marijuana use. In January, Vick was stopped at by security at Miami International Airport for a suspicious water bottle. The water bottle contained a secret compartment which, according to a police report, “contained a amount of dark particulant and a pungent aroma closely associated with marijuana.� Vick denied the compartment was used to transport marijuana.

No charges were filed in the water bottle incident.

Posted by Brice Lehner at 9:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Floyd Landis lost his appeal against the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency Thursday when arbitrators upheld the lab results taken during the 2006 Tour de France, which showed him testing positive for synthetic testosterone. Landis has to forfeit his Tour de France title and will be banned from cycling until January 2009.

Landis has repeatedly denied using testosterone.

He appealed the test results based on mishandled lab samples by the French lab that reported him positive for testosterone, according to BBC.

Landis can appeal one step further, to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. If he does not get the ruling overturned by that final appeal, however, Landis will be the first person in the 105 years of the race to have his title taken away from doping charges, according to the Associated Press.

"For the Panel to find in favor of USADA when, with respect to so many issues, USADA did not manage to prove even the most basic parts of their case, shows that this system is fundamentally flawed. I am innocent, and we proved I am innocent,� Landis said, according to the Associated Press.

According to BBC, Landis has one month to decide whether or not he will appeal one last time.

Posted by Brice Lehner at 3:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The passenger jet crashed at Phuket International Airport on Sunday just as it was about to land, killing at least 87 of the 130 people on board. The survivors were being treated at a nearby hospital for a number of different injuries, according to Reuters.

According to FOX News, flight OG269, which took off from Bangkok, crashed as it was landing in very heavy rain.

Many of the survivors escaped the wreckage by climbing out of an emergency exit onto the wing, according to CNN.
"I saw passengers engulfed in fire as I stepped over them on way out of the plane, I was afraid that the airplane was going to explode so I ran away,� survivor Parinwit Chusaeng told the Nation television channel, according to FOX News.

The official cause of the crash is not known at this time, and Reuters reports that the pilot was experienced. It is not known if the pilots were among the survivors.

Posted by Brice Lehner at 1:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)