Manziel’s corporation files lawsuit to protect Johnny Football
Tivy Fight Never Dies
While Texas A&M Johnny Manziel is unable to make money off the phrase “Johnny Football” until after he leaves College Station for the NFL, he has taken the requisite steps needed to protect his name and likeness from crafty retailers looking to make a quick buck off his ever-growing popularity.
Manziel’s corporation, JMAN2 Enterprises, filed a lawsuit last week against a Texas man who was selling shirts with the phrase “Keep Calm and Johnny Football,” according to a report in The Southeast Texas Record, a legal journal.
The defendant, Eric Vaughn, “is accused of trademark infringement under the Lanham Act, Texas unfair competition, including right of publicity, palming off and misappropriation.”
JMAN2 Enterprises is asking for an injunction against further sales of the shirt and “an award of damages for the unlawful sale of goods, exemplary damages, attorney’s fees, interest, and court costs.”
Manziel licensed “Johnny Football” during the 2012 season, when he made an enormous, coast-to-coast impact as a redshirt freshman, and recently filed an entry with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the phrase.
Kevin Sumlin takes championship belt at WWE event
How many championship belts does Nick Saban have hanging in his office at Alabama? Zero.
Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin, on the other hand, can add a strange yet unique achievement to his coaching résumé: World Wrestling Entertainment Honorary Champion.
Cheerleader makes incredible half-court shot
During halftime of William Carey’s NAIA hoops game Thursday night, Ashlee Arnau, a cheerleader made a half-court shot in epic, acrobatic fashion. Nothing but net.
Radio announcer feuds with referee live on air
Saint Louis play-by-play announcer Bob Ramsey didn’t agree with a foul called against the Billikens Dwayne Evans during game against VCU.
“They’re going to call a cheap foul on Evans and I’ll tell you what,” Ramsey started to say on the live broadcast.
The referee, Bo Borowski, probably wished he didn’t start to jaw with the WXOS (ESPN) radio announcer, who didn’t back down one bit.
“Stay away from me,” Ramsey said, putting his hand near the official’s face.
Katherine Webb, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar & Louie Anderson do the Harlem Shake
Combine a celebrity diving show and an odd internet meme dance craze, and you have this video, perhaps it’s worst one yet. Thanks Katherine Webb, Louie Anderson, Ndamukong Suh, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in a Darth Vader mask.
Florida Atlantic football stadium to be named after private prison company
Owlcatraz
For more than two years, Florida Atlantic University has been searching for the name of a corporate sponsor to adorn its new 30,000-seat, palm-ringed football stadium.
The public university on Wednesday announced an unconventional partner: the nation’s second-largest operator of for-profit prisons, the GEO Group Inc. The newly christened GEO Group Stadium came as part of a $6 million donation from the prison company’s charitable foundation, which will be paid out to Florida Atlantic over 12 years.
Critics of the private prison industry said the donation to a public university in Florida falls in line with efforts to gain influence with state and local public officials who decide whether to hand out contracts.
“The company is dependent on public dollars for all of its profits,” said Bob Libal, executive director of Grassroots Leadership, a criminal justice advocacy group. “When you look at other things that GEO gives to, it’s generally in communities where they either have contracts or are seeking contracts, and certainly Florida is a state where GEO has tremendous interest.”
For the last three election cycles, the GEO Group has donated more than $1.2 million to the Florida Republican Party. Republicans in the state legislature last year came close to approving a massive expansion of private prisons in south Florida, a deal that the GEO Group mentioned frequently in calls with investors.
Father beats son for liking Oklahoma University over Oklahoma State
Jerk Of The Year
Gannon Mendez a father from Perkins, Okla. beat his son because the child rooted for Oklahoma University instead of Oklahoma State University. Gannon, 42, was charged with child abuse for allegedly striking his 9-year-old boy with a wooden paddle, KFOR-TV reported.
Investigators are claiming that this was not the first child abuse instance. An affidavit said Mendez allegedly would force the young boy to run until he vomited, and wake him up throughout the night to do pushups, according to KOCO Eyewitness News 5.
Mendez has a history as a controversial OSU booster.
According to a 2011 FoxSports.com story, OSU banned its football players from making contact with Mendez after he allegedly gave them “impermissible extra benefits.”
The 9-year old was taken to Payne County Youth Shelter.
Baseball game turns into snowball fight
There may be no worse group to engage in a snowball fight than two dugouts-worth of bored baseball players. The game was intended to pit Gardner-Webb and Dayton against one another in Boiling Springs, N.C. — opens with both teams idly standing near the stadium’s infield, a fresh coat of snow blanketing the ground.
WTF: Geno Auriemma
I like big butts and I can not lie
UConn womens basketball coach Geno Auriemma passed by Baylor’s head coach Kim Mulkey and slapped her on the butt. Auriemma confirmed it to the the Connecticut Post’s
“She was staring at my butt and she was commenting on it and I said, ‘Really? How about yours?’ and she went, `Yeah, look at it,’ and I went (slap), I’ll teach you a lesson,’’ Auriemma said, jokingly. `And then she started talking about how she only dated Italians her whole life and that she wanted me to set her up with some Italians and I said `The Italians I send to see you aren’t going to date you.’’
Johnny Manziel taking only online classes at Texas A&M
Tivy Fight Never Dies
Johnny Manziel has become the big man off campus. The Texas A&M quarterback and Heisman winner said Monday night at the Davey O’Brien Award reception that all of his classes for this semester are online.
Manziel also told reporters at the reception that he’s only on campus once every month.
Manziel is well within his rights to tackle his course load online. He even tried to take an English course on campus this semester but had to drop it when his peers requests for photos and autographs became too much.
“I didn’t think anything of it, and it kind of turned into a little more of a big deal than I thought,” Manziel said, according to the Associated Press.
Manziel’s various outings since winning the Heisman sitting courtside at NBA games, attending the Super Bowl, being in Austin for Wale concert and being photographed at Mardi Gras have been well documented, and being under a microscope has taken a toll on him.
“I know plenty of friends who went down to Mardi Gras to New Orleans and other guys who went to the Super Bowl too,” Manziel said. “I was down there with other college football guys too, so I don’t know, people like to give me a hard time more than others. There’s college kids doing what I’m doing all around the country. People just think I’m going wild with it, when it’s not like that.”
Former NC State coach arrested on tax charges
ask 'em if they'd take a post-dated check
Former North Carolina State basketball coach Sidney Lowe was arrested Monday and charged with failing to file his North Carolina state income taxes for three years.
Lowe, currently an assistant with the NBA’s Utah Jazz, didn’t file returns in 2009, 2010 and 2011 – the last three years he coached the Wolfpack, according to the state Department of Revenue. He was booked at the Wake County jail Monday and released on a $10,000 unsecured bond on the misdemeanor charges.
Lowe was not with the Jazz when they returned to practice Monday night after the All-Star break, but head coach Tyrone Corbin said Lowe should return soon.
“It’s a personal matter,” said Corbin, who indicated he had spoken with Lowe. “We’ll deal with it. He’ll make a statement at some point, but it’s a personal matter.”
Corbin said he doesn’t believe Lowe’s arrest will affect the team as it gears up for a stretch run toward the playoffs.
At N.C. State, Lowe was paid a base salary of around $210,000 per year. That was boosted to $760,000 with television and radio commitments, and with bonuses and endorsements could have been up to $900,000 a year. A contract settlement after his 2011 resignation was expected to pay Lowe around $900,000, athletic director Debbie Yow said then.
Duke mascot head stolen placed on spike on UNC campus
Game Of Thrones
The head of Duke’s Blue Devil mascot was stolen and placed on a pole above a University of North Carolina campus store prior to the teams Wednesday night showdown in Durham.
It’s evidently the latest prank in a long-running battle between the Tobacco Road rivals.
Last year, Duke students dressed Chapel Hill’s famous “Silent Sam” statue in a variety of Blue Devils gear. His head, mercifully, remained intact.
Duke basketball fans maintain the greatest act in the prank war was in 1998 when four students stole Michael Jordan’s retired jersey from the rafters of the Dean Dome and hung it inside Cameron Indoor Stadium.
NCAA tells Boise State they can’t wear all blue uniforms anymore
Boise State Rule
The issue of Boise State not being able to wear all-blue uniforms on its blue turf is a really big deal in Idaho. When the Mountain West banned it for the 2012 season, MW commissioner Craig Thompson spent way more time than you’d expect at the conference’s preseason media days answering questions about it.
Part of the negotiations for Boise State to remain in the Mountain West and not go to the Big East was that the uniform restriction be lifted. So just when Boise State was ready to go back to the all-blue uniforms at home, the NCAA has rained on the Broncos party.
The NCAA Football Rules Committee made many proposals when it met this week, and tucked near the end of the NCAA website’s story on the proposals was this one:
To require teams to have either their jersey or pants contrast in color to the playing field.
Teams that wear green, like Baylor, Colorado State or South Florida to name a few, are also affected.
Under the proposal, they will be restricted from wearing all-green uniforms on their green fields. The rule will have to be approved by the Playing Rules Oversight Panel.
Florida Gators student section does the Harlem Shake during game
During their blowout win over the Kentucky Wildcats, the Florida Gators decided to have a little fun during one of the second half timeouts. The Cheerleaders, the Dazzlers,the mascot Albert and the Rowdy Reptiles decided to do the Harlem Shake.
University of Miami tests entire baseball team for HGH due to strength coach
TALENT
A person with knowledge of the situation tells The Associated Press that Miami’s baseball team has been tested for performance-enhancing drug use, including human growth hormone.
Results have not arrived, according to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the university has not authorized the information’s release. Miami’s drug policy includes random steroid testing, but not HGH.
The team’s strength coach, Jimmy Goins, showed up in the records of the Miami-based Biogenesis clinic along with the names of many former University of Miami players who have since moved on to the major leagues.
350 LB. running back has wheels
David Fangupo, the 6’2″, 350 lb. star running back of Kealakehe high school, is not your average running back. He is 350 lbs. as a high school senior, and this kid can fly. He has committed to Hawaii for his advanced education.
Woody Hayes used a turtle to bite his penis to motivate Ohio State’s staff
Insane
Woody Hayes once demonstrated proper toughness to Ohio State’s coaching staff by having a turtle bite his penis. Hayes was fired from his post with the Buckeyes in December 1978, shortly after punching a Clemson player during a 17-15 Gator Bowl loss to the Tigers.
He was replaced by Earle Bruce, who Urban Meyer, the current OSU coach who served as an assistant under Bruce from 1986-87. Just after Meyer’s arrival in Columbus, Bruce brought in Hayes, then 73, to give his thoughts on where the program stood heading into the 1986 season. Hayes brought with him a turtle.
Meyer, speaking at the annual Ohio coaches convention, recounted the wildest coaching story ever heard. Said Meyer, via CoachingSearch.com:
“So I guess Ohio State had lost the bowl game, so Earle Bruce brings in Woody Hayes. I had been there just a week and I’m thinking, ‘Holy, this is Coach Hayes.’ I’m sitting in the back. Coach Hayes was not healthy at the time, but stands up and starts laying into the coaching staff about toughness. That we have no toughness in the program. That’s why we lost the game. On and on and screaming, this old guy pounding the table. He says, ‘We have no toughness, and the reason is because you’re not tough. No one on this staff is tough enough, and that’s a problem.’”Here comes the turtle. Meyer continued:
“He reaches down and grabs this box, slides the top and there was something in the box moving around. He reaches in and he pulls out this turtle. He reaches down, this turtle’s snapping and he says, ‘I’m going to show you toughness.’ He unzips his pants and takes out whatever he takes out. The turtle reaches up and snaps at him. You see the veins and the sweat (on Hayes). He screams at the coaches, ‘That’s toughness! That’s [expletive] toughness!’ He reaches down, pokes the turtle right in the eye and it falls off. He wipes the sweat off his forehead and says, ‘That’s the problem. We don’t have anybody in this room tough enough to do that right there.’”And the punch line, which is amazing. Meyer:
“(One assistant) raises his hand and says, ‘Coach, I’d do this. Just promise not to poke me in the eye.’”As said earlier, Woody Hayes once demonstrated proper toughness to Ohio State’s coaching staff by having a turtle bite his private parts. It worked: OSU went 10-3 in 1986, winning more than nine games for the first time since 1979, and capped its season with a 28-12 win over Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl.
Katherine Webb’s Sports Illustrated photos are HOT
TALENT
Katherine Webb nearly broke the Internet a few weeks ago when she surfaced during the BCS National Championship game, and she seems to have done it again. The girlfriend of A.J. McCarron did a photo shoot for Sports Illustrated and it is absolutely wonderful. All photos were photographed by Troy Robertson.
Father of Alabama signee father arrested after 16 years on run
Roll Tide
Many sports fans knew a few things about Reuben Foster. We knew he was a top linebacker prospect and that he got an Auburn tattoo before decommitting and signing to play with Alabama. But many of us did not know that his father was a fugitive who escaped jail in 1996 after being indicted for shooting him and his mother.
US Marshals said they captured Danny Foster, 41, in Miami. He shot his wife, Inita Barry Paige, in 1996 while she was holding Reuben, who was 18 months old at the time. Danny Foster was indicted in Alabama, fled to California where he was caught and extradited back to Randolph County. He escaped jail and has been a fugitive since Dec. 1996. Foster was found in Florida where he had assumed a new identity, living as Jefferson McClendon.
Paige was shot in the back and suffered a collapsed lung from the shooting.
Foster seemed to be happy about his father’s capture. He wrote the following on his Twitter account:
“Tears pooring!!! Never knew him but ain’t nothin like a real father when you keep asking Foster side where your dad at and they lie about!!!”
“I knew he was out there but his family had to be hiding him!! I ask about you daddy every time we was with your family but they said you was dead”
Associated Press issues Manti Te’o correction for girlfriend stories
Catfished
The Associated Press has issued a blanket correction for stories that referenced Manti Te’o's girlfriend. The Notre Dame football player made headlines last year when his girlfriend Lennay Kekua reportedly died. In January, it was revealed that Te’o's girlfriend never existed. Te’o claimed that he was the victim of a hoax, and a man named Ronaiah Tuiasosopo has spoken out as the person behind the elaborate scheme.
Associated Press is now asking editors to make the following correction to stories that mentioned the death of Te’o's girlfriend:
In a Sept. 15, 2012, story about Notre Dame’s college football victory over Michigan State that highlighted linebacker Manti Te’o's performance, The Associated Press erroneously reported that he played in the game a few days after the death of his girlfriend, who had a long battle with leukemia. Other AP stories through Jan. 3, 2013, also contained references to the girlfriend’s death, including some directly quoting Te’o and his father, Brian Te’o, about how he played through personal grief. On Jan. 16, Notre Dame officials and Manti Te’o said there was never a girlfriend or a death, and that Te’o was victimized in a hoax. Others have since come forward to say Te’o was duped in a series of phone calls and online messages purporting to be from a girl he never met in person.
Arkansas recruit’s mother hires Johnnie Cochran’s law firm
Come On Mom
Plantation, Florida running back Alex Collins was able to have his father sign his National Letter of Intent, allowing the five-star recruit to join Arkansas 2013 recruiting class, his strange recruitment might have one more hurdle to overcome.
Shortly before Collins’ announcement Thursday, a law firm announced that his mother, Andrea McDonald, had retained its services “to represent the family’s interests” as she contemplated her son’s athletic future.
McDonald’s representation, The Cochran Firm, was founded by attorney Johnnie Cochran, who famously represented O.J. Simpson in his 1995 murder trial. Theoretically, the firm could attempt to invalidate the letter of intent Collins and his father submitted to Arkansas.
“Our client’s initial intentions remain unchanged,” Jack Paris, McDonald’s attorney, said in a statement. “She is a loving and caring mother who only wants her son to choose a university without any outside and inappropriate influences. Ms. McDonald hopes all NCAA rules and regulations were followed during today’s signing.”
A prospect younger than 21 cannot submit an official, binding letter of intent without a legal guardian’s signature. Collins was prevented from signing with Arkansas on Wednesday after his mother confiscated his signing papers and disappeared. His mother preferred that Collins stay closer to home and choose Miami (Fla.), where he was once verbally committed.
While McDonald’s legal team could attempt to nullify Collins’ letter of intent, doing so wouldn’t have an impact on the running back’s commitment, said John Infante, the former assistant director of compliance at Colorado State University who runs the Bylaw Blog for AthleticScholarships.net.
“Basically, the scholarship agreement binds the school to the player. The NLI binds the player to the school. So as long as he has a valid scholarship agreement and applies to and is admitted to Arkansas, he’s going to get his scholarship to go to Arkansas.”
Michigan signee says he’s going to be Ohio State fan until he dies
Buckeye Posters In Dorm Room
Reon Dawson is a senior cornerback who was once committed to Illinois, but decided to sign with Michigan despite being an Ohio State Buckeye fan. Unlike grown men that take their fandom way too serious, Dawson was put his fandom aside and make the best decision for himself. But he wanted to make it known just how much he loves the Buckeyes.
“I never did see that,” said the Trotwood-Madison High School senior cornerback who “flipped” from a verbal commitment to Illinois to eventually sign with Michigan.
“Until I die, I’m gonna be a Buckeye fan even though I’m going to Michigan. When we play OSU I’m gonna still bring my ‘A’ game. But, I love Ohio State.”
Texas Tech fans fax Tommy Tuberville menu of restaurant he left recruits at
Hungry
Back in December Texas Tech head coach Tommy Tuberville left a group of recruits at dinner the day before accepting the head job at Cincinnati. The story was a hot topic for a day or two. Most of us moved on and forgot about Tuberville’s handling of the situation, but apparently Texas Tech fans haven’t. And to show Tuberville that they haven’t forgotten, a few of them decided to fax Tuberville the menu of the 50 Yard Line Steakhouse (the place where this all went down) during Signing Day.
Here’s what the fax cover page said:
Date: 2-06-2013
From: Texas Tech Nation
To: Tommy Tuberville and staff.
MEMO Was thinking of you. . . We will miss you . . . Here is an intent letter to remember us by
Signed XoXXOOxxoo WreckEmTech
Alabama recruit signs national letter of intent dressed as Nick Saban
Less Permanent Route
Five-star recruit Reuben Foster paid a little homage to Nick Saban yesterday when he signed his National Letter of Intent to play for the Crimson Tide dressed as his soon-to-be head coach. The future Alabama linebacker showed up for National Signing Day wearing the signature straw hat and an Alabama vest similar to the one that Saban dons at every practice.
If you don’t remember Foster, he’s the recruit that flip-flopped between Alabama and Auburn a bunch of times and got a huge Auburn tattoo on his forearm before finally deciding he wanted to go to Alabama.
