Mark Kerrigan was acquitted of manslaughter in the death of his father- apparently agreeing in his defense that his dad died of his history of heart disease problems. The jury deliberated for a total of 17 hours over three days.
Kerrigan was convicted of assault and battery in a January 2010 fight with his father Daniel Kerrigan at the family's home north of Boston.
"My family has never believed at all that my brother had anything to do with my father's death, and he would, my dad would, never have wanted any of this," Nancy Kerrigan said outside the courthouse.
Nancy and her mother plan to give what are referred to as "victim impact statements" when Mark is sentenced tomorrow. He faces a maximum 2½ years in prison on the 2010 charges...
Yeah, we all remember one of the most painful sportscasts in the history of the world.
Fresh from Ball State University's J-School, Brian Collins gave us a catchphrase unintentionally during his Pacers highlights...
And a lot of us use it as a work these days and a tip of the hat for what the industry can be at times...
Daniel Tosh actually did something funny and worthwhile after his completely unfunny and inappropriate rant about Nick Saban and the Tuscaloosa tornado...
He found Collins to give us an update on the story and on Collins since then...
Russell Wilson spent his off day Tuesday from the Asheville Tourists in the Class A South Atlantic League down in Auburn, Alabama checking out the Tigers. Even though Wilson has cashed a six figure check from the Colorado Rockies he can't stay away from football. Wilson is searching for a school to play for because NC State head coach Tom O'Brien made it clear that junior Mike Glennon is his starting quarterback.
Those of us in the OSG HQ know how talented Russell Wilson is, he's third in the ACC in career touchdown passes with 76 and threw for 3,563 yards last season.
We are also imagining Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn getting his hands on Wilson for a year. Might up the win total a bit for the 2010 BCS national champions.
While Wilson is shopping around for a new school to play one ACC head coach isn't impressed. Duke head coach David Cutcliffe said this Tuesday on Mark and Mike on 620 the Buzz.
"He's a tremendous player, it'll work. I'm just uninspired by that type thing. Russell Wilson is an N.C. State football player and should leave it at that. Where is he an alum from when that happens? I don't know," Cutcliffe said.
"The intent of that rule is that truly if someone wants a graduate degree from somewhere and it's not offered at their school you can immediately be eligible. I just think that's abuse of a rule. And he's a great young man. I'm very proud that he's from our conference and tremendous representative and I hate for anybody not to have a chance. But I just personally don't like that. I don't like guys all of the sudden getting waivers...and I hate to say this but it's abuse on transfer when a family member is sick and then they waive the year of transition. Appeals bother me, they seem to be funny. All of that is easily approved is what I'm getting at."
As for the Rockies well if Wilson decides to play football this fall then a portion of his $250,000 signing bonus must be returned.
“It's a significant portion he would have to return,” Marc Gustafson, the Rockies' senior director of player development told the Asheville Citizen-Times.
Wilson did notify the Tourists that he intended to go to Auburn in persuit of resuming his football career.
“He called (Monday night) and said a lot of (college football) teams were courting him,” Gustafson said. “He said he doesn't know what he wants to do, so right now, it's all speculation.”
Does Wilson have a major league baseball career? Maybe but his focus isn't entirely there. Russell Wilson still wants to play football even on the professional level.
The death of former Kansas City Royals pitcher Paul Splittorff won't register as big as Harmon Killebrew's but for Royals fans and those in the Midwest that watched Royals baseball growing up it's a big loss.
The man know as "Splitt" died Wednesday morning after a battle with oral cancer and melanoma, he was 64.
Splittorff became the face of the Royals pitching staff from it's infancy to their quick success in the American League during the 1970's. He became the franchises first 20 game winner in 1973. He was a "Yankee Killer" never losing to the Yankees in the ALCS even though the Royals could never get past the Bronx Bombers until 1980 when the Royals finally broke through.
When Splittorff's career ended after the 1984 season he became a broadcaster for not only the Royals, but Big 12 basketball.
Royals fans and baseball fans in the Midwest are mourning the loss of "Splitt".
Here's an interview with Splittorff in September 2010.
You know, it's a funny thing about the NBA. It's a business where if you have ever been a head coach, you will always have a shot at being a head coach any time a job comes up.
No, they don't think outside the box very often.
The Los Angeles Times is reporting the L.A Lakers are set to hire former Cleveland Cavaliers coach Mike Brown as their next head coach. Brown would replace the retiring Phil Jackson.
Other job candidates appeared to be former Houston and Sacramento head coach Rick Adelman and Lakers assistant Brian Shaw.
More from the LA Times their own selves RIGHT HERE
We aren't sure we get this, though we don't necessarily have to. Brown did a decent job in Cleveland, but he had LeBron James there too. It was his first head coaching gig. He got the Cavs to the NBA finals once...in 2007, but could never get back.
We think the Lakers could do better, because whether they like it or not, they are going to need a roster overhaul. They were exposed during the playoffs this year as an old, slow team. We are very curious to see how Brown, and team G.M Mitch Kupchak plan on dealing with that.
Here's Mike Brown doing what all good unemployed coaches do until they get their next job, work as a game analyst for ESPN:
We were watching this last night, but fell asleep before it ended, unfortunately because it sounds like it was pretty darn exciting.
The Vancouver Canucks used a lucky break to tie the game with :14 seconds left in the game and then won it on Kevin Bieska's rebound shot with just under 10-minutes left in the 2nd overtime period.
The win sent the Canucks to the Stanley Cup Finals for only the 3rd time in their existence.
There were lots of heroes. Roberto Luongo made 54 saves and kept his team close. Forward Ryan Kesler tying the game after getting hurt and skating off the ice midway through the second period. And Bieska, who seemed to always be in the middle of things for Vancouver, found himself at the right place at the right time Tuesday night.
Vancouver will await the winner of the Boston/Tampa Bay series and it now confirms that we'll be getting a cross-continent Stanley Cup Finals series, no matter who else is in it.
And while he hasn't vanquished them from the Eastern Conference finals yet, he's now only one game away from doing it.
LeBron James scored 35 points, Chris Bosh chipped in 22 and the Heat took care of the young Chicago Bulls in game 4 of their series Tuesday night, winning 101-93 in OT.
The Heat did what was necessary to win. The hit each of their final 24 free throws in the game. They played defense too, limiting league MVP Derrick Rose to 23 points, and it took Rose 27 shots to get those points.
Game 5 in the series comes Thursday night, as the Bulls try to stave off elimination in Chicago.
And leave it to Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed to make a statement when he knows it's too late for anyone to, short of "The Balkan," keep the Thrashers and/or own all three properties and get them away from Atlanta Spirit...
Here's Jennifer Leslie with hizzoner...
Well timed, sir... Enjoy the wake you're creating...
Who says NASCAR drivers are conservative when driving around town anyway? That's just a myth? The reason we say that....NASCAR driver Kyle Busch, apparently got pulled over Tuesday afternoon in Statesville, North Carolina. He was speeding.
Want to know how fast he was going? Well, the speed limit on Perth Church Road where he was pulled over is 45 mph. Busch, was clocked at 128 mph.
Now granted Busch has driven much, much faster than that while at work. He wasn't at work. He was charged with careless and reckless driving and speeding and may lose his license.
Busch is already in some hot water with NASCAR after his little "Incident" with Kevin Harvick back in Richmond a couple weeks ago. And yes, Busch is on NASCAR "Probation" because of it. Don't expect this to impact that.
Here's Busch getting a bit salty, chasing after Jimmy Johnson:
Just what the McCourts need these days- another lawsuit...
Looks like the Stow family is taking the Los Angeles Dodgers to court. Bryan Stow's family has hired an attorney based out of Los Angeles. The suit brought forth by the family claims the Dodgers "inappropriately exposed Stow to the criminal acts of third parties -- and failed to respond in a timely manner after the beating."
The HQ would like to see about that first part ((we assume through the lack of security present at the ballpark in general during a heated rivalry such as Dodgers-Giants)), and not having appropriate security would bring about the cause-and-effect the lawsuit seems to hold as its logic in the second part...
Stow was beaten by two men during opening day weekend at Dodger Stadium. One suspect was taken into custody over the weekend, but the LAPD is looking for a second suspect and a woman who was reportedly with the first two suspects.
Here's Cecilia Vega's report at the time of the arrest...
Not really surprising anyone, Danica Patrick who has been purposefully coy about her future plans, looks like she is headed to the Nationwide Series full-time in 2012 before heading to the Sprint Cup in 2013.
Who, specifically, will she be driving for...??? Dunno...
Her contracts for both Andretti and JR Motorsports are both up after this season, and she looks like to be the mother of all free agents for the silly season...
Here's Linda Cohn with the guy who broke the story, Terry Blount...
One note... she wants the resources to run in the Indy 500 as well next year- regardless of who she runs for in the NASCAR ranks...
This is just plain weird. We'd say that something like this wouldn't be legal in most Sports, but this is Indy Car racing and they quite honestly do bizarre things sometimes.
Apparently, coming off a disappointing qualifying week for the Indy 500, a couple of "Big Name" car owners pulled off a swap. Ryan Hunter-Reay, a driver for Michael Andretti, who didn't qualify for the race when he was bumped on the final qualifying run by teammate Marco Andretti, will still get to race.
The reason...his team owner, Michael Andretti, bought him a spot driving a car for A.J Foyt's team, bumping the driver of that car, Bruno Junqueria from that ride.
This, needless to say, isn't going over really well in, well, nobody likes the smell of it.
Bob Kravitz of IndyStar.com says this sets "A Dangerous Precedent", read about it RIGHT HERE
And Kravitz is right. Really, what is the point of qualifying if you can just buy a ride? That's pretty much what happened here.
The fact that Andretti's cars were horrible in qualifying, that's their own fault. There should be no allowance for anyone trying to buy a ride.
It's things like this that took the fun out of the Indy 500, many years ago. When we were young, it was a great specatcle on Memorial Day weekend. Must watch TV on Sunday's. Now, it's gone. Done. The rest of the racing world passed it by 20-years ago.
Sure, a large part of that was the incompetence and over-sized ego of Tony George who split the Indy Car series in two with some ridiculous rules, chasing some of the best drivers away from the series, but it was also some really odd decisions within the series itself.
This was supposed to be the 1st year of reconciliation at the 500, when all the best drivers would be there. And most of them are. But it really takes some of the seriousness or legitimacy out of it when you hear about stories like this. The series should be ridiculed over this and for me, I really haven't watched or considered this a big event in many, many years.
The TV story from WISH-TV in Indianapolis, where the race is still considered a big deal:
Whenever you sit in the lower section at a baseball game there is a warning posted "Please pay attention to the game, foul balls can enter this area" or something like that.
Apparently, former president and former owner of the Texas Rangers George W. Bush has people that worry about that for him.
Last night in a game against the Chicago White Sox, Rangers 3rd baseman Adrian Beltre hits a high, foul ball right toward W's box. It pretty much headed right toward him, along with White Sox catcher A.J Pierzynski who was trying to catch it.
A.J didn't get to the ball, it was out of play, but in landed in the back of his box. Pierzynski couldn't resist the chance to chat up the former prez.
There are comebacks...and then there are "COMEBACKS". Last night, what Dallas did in the 4th quarter against Oklahoma City would qualify as the "All-Caps" version.
Down 15 points in the 4th quarter, the Mavericks staged a furious comeback led by Dirk Nowitzki, who tied the game with a pair of free throws with just over 6 seconds left in the 4th quarter.
The Mavs dominated the extra period, pulling away for a 112-105 win and taking a 3-1 lead in the best of 7, Western Confernce finals series.
Kevin Durant had 29 points, Russell Westbrook 19 and 8 assists, but when it counted, nobody could stop Dirk.
Dallas has a chance to close out the series tomorrow (Wed.) night in Dallas and quite honestly, it will take a monumental effort from the young...and apparently still learning Thunder, to do anything about it.
Could they be your first participant? The Boston Bruins used some clutch goaltending from Tim Thomas and goals from Nathan Horton, Brad Marchand and an empty netter from Rich Perverly to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-1 and take a 3-2 lead in their best of seven series.
The Bruins got their 3 goals on only 19 shots and had to rely on Thomas standing on his head while making 33 saves. Simon Gagne got the Lightnings only goal, scoring just 69 seconds into the game.
It seems we're doing a lot of this for the spring and summer...
You've seen all the damage done by the tornado that took out at least 75-percent of the town of Joplin. Over 100 are known dead, some are still missing, and now another town has to pick up and start over...
A press conference took place today to explain the scope of the damage from an academic stand-point...
Superintendent CJ Huff gets to share the bad news...
Obviously, there are no classes planned for the rest of the intended school year... But the goal to rebuild is a great task and one Joplin plans to take on full bore.
Among his money quotes... "It's very difficult when you have an owner not willing to spend the money, or have a solid interest in the team itself."
And, from Tim Tucker at the AJC, the time period that soon-to-be-ex San Diego Padres owner John Moores had to negotiate exclusively with Spirit is wiped off the books.
"We no longer have an exclusivity," Gearon told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "It was ended by mutual agreement after preliminary discussions."
Eklund and his HockeyBuzz-ness are relaying that the only way that True North fails in getting a team to Winnipeg is by not making an appointed season ticket number of 14,000. True North is also saying, through Eklund's sources, that they want it written in the deal that Spirit won't get a dime until that marker is achieved.
1800 UPDATE: In what may be another sign of the coming hockey demise in town, the flagship radio station for the Thrashers broadcasts, WCNN-AM/680TheFan, has let go all associated, on-air personnel that were not directly under contract with Atlanta Spirit itself. Remember what we were telling you about good people now having to find work because of the abject hubris of others...???
A Massachusetts jury has begun deliberations in the manslaughter trial of the brother of Olympic skater Nancy Kerrigan, Mark, who is charged in the death of his father Daniel back in 2010.
Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Keeley told the jury an "angry, mean, nasty, drunk" ((meaning Mark)) caused his father's death when he allegedly grabbed him around the neck, fracturing cartilage in his larynx and triggering his heart failure.
Kerrigan's defense attorney told the jury that heart disease caused Daniel Kerrigan's death. That's been the defense's story ((and the family's story)) all along and it hasn't changed...
Sinclair Broadcast says it has bought the "Ring of Honor" wrestling outfit and will start showing matches on its stations in September as part of their new programming additions.
ROH has a weekly TV show and also does the standard amount of PPV and DVD sales like everyone else...
Steve Marks, chief operating officer of Sinclair's television group, says the deal gives Sinclair multiple revenue streams, such as "advertising, product sponsorships, Internet pay-per-view, live wrestling tour events and sales of DVDs and other merchandise."
Sinclair owns 58 television stations in 35 markets, most of them in the eastern half of the U.S., as well as Texas, Oklahoma and Nevada and they may eventually syndicate Ring of Honor themselves to other non-Sinclair markets.
The HQ shudders at the thought of the folks that tried the whole "Media Central" idea getting into wrestling syndication. But for Sinclair, the bottom line is cheap entertainment... just like cheap news...
Here's your latest video wire from ROH their ownselves... They don't discuss the sale... ((HT: RingOfHonor))
