Newcomer to German first division Bundesliga team VFL Wolfsburg defender Cristian Zaccardo from Italy poses for a photo on July 18, 2008 in the western German city of Wolfsburg. Wolfsburg will start the 2008/2009 season with a match against Cologne on August 16. AFP PHOTO DDP / RONNY HARTMANN GERMANY OUT (Photo credit should read RONNY HARTMANN/AFP/Getty Images)
AC Milan’s Brazilian star Kaka, seen here in March 2008, is set to move to English Premier League side Chelsea on a world-record transfer of 80 million pounds (100m euros, 160m dollars).
OKLAHOMA CITY – An American Airlines flight from Boston to Los Angeles was diverted to Oklahoma City on Friday after a passenger stripped nude and later tried to open an emergency exit door before being subdued by members of a professional soccer team and others, the FBI said.
Members of the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer were among those who grabbed the passenger near an exit door, FBI spokesman Gary Johnson said. Tie wraps were placed on the man, whose name was not immediately released. He was taken into custody in Oklahoma City and placed under psychiatric evaluation, Johnson said.
American Flight 725, a Boeing 757, arrived in Oklahoma City at 1:35 p.m. CDT and was back in the air an hour later, said American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith. It landed without further incident at Los Angeles International Airport at 3:13 p.m. PDT.
Craig Tornberg, the soccer team’s general manager, said he confronted the man as soon as he saw him emerge naked from one of the plane’s restrooms.
“I said he should get back into the bathroom and put on his clothes,” Tornberg said after the plane landed in Los Angeles. “He said something strange to me. He said, ‘I don’t hear you. I don’t see you.’ ”
Tornberg said the man complied and got dressed but a few minutes later “made a beeline for the emergency door.”
Tornberg said he, assistant coach Gwynne Williams and Michael Burns, the team’s vice president for player personnel, grabbed the man and forced him into a seat while a flight attendant tied him up.
“It was strange, but when he put his hands on the exit door – that brought it to another level,” Burns said. “Clearly, he wasn’t thinking straight.”
The pilot diverted the flight to Will Rogers World Airport where the man was removed.
“He was taken into custody by the Oklahoma City Police Department and taken to a crisis center for a mental evaluation,” Johnson said.
Shortly before the incident, Tornberg said he saw the man, described as clean-cut and in his early 20s, crying and “talking a lot of gibberish.”
The soccer team was on its way to Southern California for a game on Sunday against Chivas USA at California State University, Fullerton. Its members were among 151 passengers and seven crew members on the flight.
As passengers left the plane in Los Angeles, several indicated they had taken the incident in stride.
Gillian Callaghan, who was traveling with her 12-year-old son, said she never panicked because the flight crew seemed to keep things well under control. She said she felt sorry for the man.
“He was just having some troubles, confused, not a scary guy,” she said.
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Associated Press writer Raquel Maria Dillon in Los Angeles contributed to this story.
The Giants reached agreement on Tuesday with guard Chris Snee on a six-year extension that ties him to the team through 2014, NFL Network’s Adam Schefter is reporting.
The deal will make Snee — who started every game for the Super Bowl champion Giants in 2007 — one of the five highest paid guards in the game.
Snee, who has been a regular starter for the Giants since 2004, is the son-in-law of Giants head coach Tom Coughlin, who also signed an extension this offseason.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Titans defensive end Jevon Kearse said Tuesday he can’t talk about his recent DUI arrest.
Jevon Kearse, DE
Tennessee Titans
2007 Statistics:
Games/Starts: 14/8
Tackles: 12
Sacks: 3.5
“I cannot speak on this incident at this present time, but as soon as I can, I will be sure to let everyone know,” Kearse told reporters after the day’s offseason practice.
The 31-year-old was stopped at 4:42 a.m. on Sunday morning by Vanderbilt University police after they saw the SUV he was driving weaving across the road.
After failing a field sobriety test and refusing a breathalyzer test, Kearse was taken to the Metro Nashville Criminal Justice Center where he was booked on the DUI charge.
Asked if it was difficult to concentrate on football with the charges pending, Kearse said, “It’s tough, but I’m still thinking positive out here. I can’t bring it onto the football field, because this is my job. I’ve got to handle this (practice) first and foremost”
Kearse invoked a line from his agent when asked if he was disappointed about young fans seeing him involved in such an incident.
“In the words of Drew Rosenhaus, ‘Next question,’” Kearse said.
The response drew a laugh from reporters, but the incident was clearly not a joking matter to Titans coach Jeff Fisher.
“I did speak with Jevon and I can say that clearly the entire organization is disappointed in the incident,” Fisher said. “But that doesn’t mean we’re going to stop what we’re doing.
“We’re going to continue to do what we’ve done. … We’re going to continue with the seminars and the tapes and the life skills presentations and the discussions that we have.”
Fisher said the arrest is another mark against the Titans, which has had to endure a number of embarrassing off-field incidents over the past few seasons, many relating to recently traded cornerback Adam Jones.
“What they’ll see happening is because the organization has had another incident, you’ll go back and list all the others and his name will go to the top, and those guys who were involved as far back as 10 years ago, unfortunately, will resurface again,” Fisher said. “That’s part of it. That’s the world we live in. But the only way can eliminate that is to eliminate the incidents.”
LAS VEGAS — One man was arrested and a second was sought Tuesday in a robbery and beating that left NFL player Javon Walker unconscious on a side street after a long night of partying at Las Vegas nightclubs, police said.
Javon Walker, WR
Oakland Raiders
Career Statistics:
Receptions: 252
Yards: 3,815
Touchdowns: 30
Seasons: 6
Arfat Fadel, 30, of Las Vegas, was accused of multiple felonies, including kidnapping, robbery, battery and conspiracy in a June 16 robbery that police Lt. Clinton Nichols said netted some $3,000 in cash from Walker and $100,000 worth of his jewelry.
The loot has not been recovered, he said.
“Mr. Walker was in town to have a good time, as many of our visitors to Las Vegas do,” Nichols said.
“As he will readily admit, he probably had a little too much to drink and he did not pick up on the clues that Mr. Fadel was someone he probably should not have been with,” Nichols said.
Police released a booking photo of Fadel and a black-and-white surveillance videotape image of the other alleged assailant who they said they believed was still in Las Vegas.
“The suspects knew who Mr. Walker was. He did not know who they were,” Nichols said. “Whether they were part of his entourage or not remains to be seen.”
Nichols said Walker got out of one vehicle he was riding in with friends and got into Fadels’s black Range Rover with Fadel and the other man before he was assaulted and robbed.
“He willingly got in the vehicle on his own,” Nichols said of Walker, 29, a well-muscled 6-foot-3, 215-pound wide receiver. “We’re unsure why.”
Nichols said during a news conference that the two men were seen in some of the crowded nightclubs where Walker was shown on surveillance videotapes partying from about 9 p.m. June 15, until shortly before he was found unconscious at 7:19 a.m. the next morning about a block east of the Las Vegas Strip.
Police said Walker was hospitalized for treatment of a moderate concussion and significant facial injuries.
Walker was released by the Broncos last February and was signed by the Oakland Raiders to a six-year, $55 million deal.
The team declined comment. Walker’s agent, Kennard McGuire of Richmond, Texas, did not immediately respond to messages.
Fadel was booked on the Walker case while he was being held at the Clark County jail on unrelated kidnapping and battery domestic violence charges after an arrest Friday, jail records show.
He was due in a Las Vegas court Wednesday morning. It was not immediately clear if he was represented by a lawyer, and police Sgt. John Loretto said Fadel refused interview requests.
Nichols said Fadel had a record that included “a variety of criminal charges” in California, New York, Michigan and Nevada. He did not specify the charges.
Walker “assumed these people were friendly or responsible,” Nichols said, “and unfortunately, they turned out not to be.”
Records show Fadel pleaded guilty in April in Las Vegas to malicious destruction of property, a gross misdemeanor, and was given a suspended six-month jail sentence. Fadel also promised to pay $579.44 in restitution, move to New York and provide proof of employment there, court records show.
Fadel’s lawyer in that case, Osvaldo Fumo, declined comment Tuesday. He said he had not been hired to represent Fadel in the Walker case.
Walker, a former first-round 2001 draft pick by the Green Bay Packers, was traded to the Denver Broncos in 2006. He sought a fresh start after Broncos teammate Darrent Williams died in his arms in the back of a limousine on New Year’s Day 2007 after a drive-by shooting in downtown Denver.
Walker later said then-teammate Brandon Marshall and his cousin exchanged angry words with two men who confronted Williams and his group after taking offense when Marshall sprayed them with champagne.
COLLEGE PARK, Ga. — A scar sits on the back of Charles Grant’s neck, reminding the New Orleans Saints defensive end that catastrophe can hit at anytime — regardless of star status.
“Whoever put it on me, I have no hate in my heart because I believe in the man upstairs who is a higher power than just Charles,” said Grant while conducting a youth football clinic near Atlanta on Friday.
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| Otto Greule Jr / Getty Images |
| Saints defensive end Charles Grant is working on an autobiography that he hopes will provide a private look at his life. |
“Anything can happen at anytime,” Grant said.
Grant said he has learned from the night in early February that ended with disaster. He was stabbed in the neck and charged with involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a pregnant woman following an altercation at a nightclub in southwest Georgia.
Friday was the first time Grant has spoken since he was charged by a grand jury and Laquient Macklin was charged with felony murder and killing a fetus in the shooting death of 23-year-old Korynda Reed.
Grant’s Athens-based lawyer, Ed Tolley, said Grant didn’t shoot a gun and didn’t have a gun at the Feb. 3 incident at Pokey’s club in Blakely, about 20 miles north of Grant’s hometown of Colquitt.
Grant posted a $10,000 bond after his indictment in May. Tolley said Grant entered a plea of not guilty and waived his right to arraignment. A preliminary hearing has not been scheduled.
Grant insists the injury and involuntary manslaughter charge won’t affect his status with the Saints. Last year, he signed a seven-year contract extension worth $63 million with incentives.
Grant said he is confident about his case, saying “it’s in the hands of the Lord.” He said he is working on an autobiography, titled “The Gravel Road,” which he hopes to finish by next year.
“This book will let kids see that it’s not just football we live and get overnight,” Grant said. “This is about putting the words to the people so they can understand who Charles Grant really is.”
On Friday, Grant and 12 other NFL players helped more than 250 boys in football drills. The clinic is part of Grant’s S.A.C.K Success Foundation, an outreach program to provide resources for at-risk, inner city kids.
The NFL players also spoke about making good decisions in difficult situations.
“It’s a lot of bad things going on in this world,” said Detroit Lions lineman George Foster, who played with Grant at the University of Georgia. “We just wanted to let them know about how to love one another. Then we’ll be better off.”
In 2007, Grant collected 2 1/2 sacks while starting 14 games for New Orleans. He has 38 1/2 sacks in his six-year career.
Grant didn’t comment about the details of his legal case. He said the scar on his neck symbolizes another phase of his life where he has experienced strife.
Grant said he has watched his brother die in his arms, never met his father and walks around with a third-degree burn on his left inner leg from a fireplace incident when he was 4 years old.
“I’ve been through a lot in my life,” he said. “I’m still learning about life. And every day, I’m learning something new. I think I’m in the position to tell a kid about what I’ve been through.”
Marshawn Evans, who manages Grant’s foundation, said most people regard him as humble.
“He grew up with modest means,” Evans said. “It’s everything for him to come out and help these kids today, because he didn’t have these same privileges when he grew up.”
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo Bills running back Marshawn Lynch is expected to plead guilty next week to an unspecified charge stemming from a hit-and-run accident involving his SUV, Erie County District Attorney Frank Clark said Friday.
Marshawn Lynch, RB
Buffalo Bills
2007 Statistics:
Carries: 280
Yards: 1,115
Touchdowns: 7
Clark declined to detail the charge but said a tentative plea agreement assumes Lynch was driving his 2008 Porsche Cayenne when it hit a woman crossing a Buffalo intersection early May 31, leaving the victim with a bruised hip and in need of stitches.
There was one other person in the SUV at the time, Clark said. He would not say who it was.
The announcement of an “agreement in principle” between lawyers came as a grand jury was scheduled to begin hearing testimony in the case. Several Bills players and front-office employees were subpoenaed by investigators frustrated by Lynch’s refusal to speak with them.
The prosecutor said he does not fault Lynch for exercising his right to stay silent, but acknowledged that his office and the Buffalo police could have used the nearly three weeks spent on the headline-grabbing Lynch case on more serious crimes.
“This, at its worst, is a vehicle and traffic misdemeanor. In the hierarchy of criminal conduct, this is certainly in the bottom third,” he said.
Lynch, 22, was the Bills’ first-round draft pick in 2007. His lawyer, Michael Caffery, did not immediately respond to Clark’s announcement Friday. Earlier in the day he said by phone he was working toward a resolution. A message left with the player’s agent was not immediately returned.
Clark said Lynch, who left town after a Bills minicamp last week, is expected to appear in a Buffalo courtroom in the middle of next week.
“He is going to be back here. He is going to be in Buffalo. He is going to confront the matter directly. He’s going to do whatever he has to do to resolve it and then he’s going to make a statement,” he said.
Although the accident has been under investigation since the end of May, plea negotiations began moving quickly forward late last week after Buffalo Bills team lawyers got involved, according to Clark. Bills chief operating officer Russ Brandon was among those served with a subpoena.
Bills spokesman Scott Berchtold said the organization was aware of Clark’s comments, “but will maintain our position that we will not comment until the process has been fully completed.”
Clark said there was no reason to believe the delay in resolving the case affected the outcome.
“I think that the way this will be resolved will be in line with the way most of these cases are resolved and probably very much in line with the way it might have been resolved had all of this come together sooner,” he said.
LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Tommie Harris says the talks that led to his four-year, $40 million contract with the Chicago Bears were businesslike and “classy.”
The extension includes $27 million over the first three years, reports NFL Network’s Adam Schefter. It also includes $18 million in guaranteed bonuses, which will make Harris one of the highest-paid defensive tackles in NFL history and keep him with the team through 2012.
Speaking at a morning news conference at Halas Hall, the defensive tackle said he and Bears management kept negotiations private in reaching a deal that will keep him with Chicago through 2012.
Tommie Harris, DT
Chicago Bears
Height: 6-3
Weight: 295
College: Oklahoma
Experience: 4
Games/Starts: 60/56
That differs from what has happened between the team and linebackers Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs. They’ve both gone public with complaints and either hinted or threatened holdouts.
“We didn’t try to go out there and talk about one another or dispute different things, and I feel like we did it all in-house,” Harris said.
“I would never go out and talk about the Bears in front of the media or disrespect my team,” added Harris, whose deal was the richest ever for the Bears in terms of dollars per year.
Harris started 56 of his 60 career NFL games and recorded 208 tackles during his four seasons with the Bears. The three-time Pro Bowler had 13 total sacks over the last two seasons — ranking him second among defensive tackles.
Now the Bears must turn their attention to the pending negotiations of Urlacher and Devin Hester. Both are under contract beyond 2008, and general manager Jerry Angelo would like to reach deals on contract extensions before training camp begins next month.
“The timetable is when we’re in the offseason. This is the time to talk business and do these things,” said Angelo, who reached deals for contract extensions with defensive end Alex Brown and kicker Robbie Gould during the offseason.
NEW YORK — Former New York Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi has been hired as a consultant to the NFL and will co-chair a new general managers advisory committee.
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| Evan Pinkus / National Football League |
| Ernie Accorsi served as general manager for nine of his 14 seasons with the New York Giants. |
NFL executive vice president Ray Anderson said Monday that Accorsi will focus on assisting the league in monitoring compliance with rules and policies, and achieving better communication with senior club football personnel.
Accorsi retired from the Giants after the 2006 season following a 35-year NFL career, the last 14 with the Giants, including nine as general manager. He also served as general manager of the Cleveland Browns (1985-92) and Baltimore Colts (1982-83).
The new advisory committee will provide advice on protecting and supporting the integrity of the game, expanded use of technology, player development and scouting opportunities, and ways to improve the Pro Bowl, Scouting Combine, NFL Draft and preseason.
Anderson will co-chair the new general managers committee with Accorsi.
The committee also will include Jerry Angelo (Chicago Bears), Kevin Colbert (Pittsburgh Steelers), Rod Graves (Arizona Cardinals), James Harris (Jacksonville Jaguars), Tom Heckert (Philadelphia Eagles), Marty Hurney (Carolina Panthers), Mickey Loomis (New Orleans Saints), Carl Peterson (Kansas City Chiefs), Jerry Reese (Giants), Tim Ruskell (Seattle Seahawks), Rick Smith (Houston Texans) and Mike Tannenbaum (New York Jets).