Cam Newton siad he's innocent

AUBURN, Ala. -- Auburn quarterback Cam Newton says he "didn't do anything wrong" amid allegations that a man tried to secure payment from Mississippi State during the Heisman Trophy hopeful's recruitment.
Newton said Friday just before stepping on the bus to the team's hotel in Montgomery ahead of Saturday's game with Chattanooga that he's "sure the smoke will settle." He says he's holding up just fine, that he's had "worse days."




A person familiar with the situation told the Associated Press on Friday that Auburn has had "no contact whatsoever" with a man who allegedly tried to secure payment from Mississippi State during the recruitment of Newton.

ESPN.com reported Thursday a teammate of John Bond, a Mississippi State quarterback in the 1980s, contacted Bond soon after Newton's official visit to the school during the Ole Miss game in December. He said he was representing Newton and soliciting a six-figure payment.
Sources told ESPN.com Bond's former teammate is Kenny Rogers, who played at Mississippi State from 1982 to '85. Bond told ESPN.com that the former teammate told him other schools had already offered $200,000, but since Newton really liked Mississippi State and had a relationship with head coach Dan Mullen dating to when both were at Florida, Mississippi State could get him for $180,000.
"He said it would take some cash to get Cam," Bond said. "I called our athletic director, Greg Byrne, and he took it from there. That was pretty much it."

Rogers denied having solicited Newton to Mississippi State in an interview with ESPN 103.3 FM in Dallas. Rogers has a company called Elite Football Preparation, which holds camps in Alabama, Chicago and Mississippi, and matches football prospects with colleges.
"A school never paid me for a kid and alumni never paid me for a kid. Period. Point blank," Rogers said.

Rogers said he hasn't talked to his former teammate, Bond, "in 20 years or more."
"This is crazy, I can't believe it," he said of the allegations.
Rogers has separately come under scrutiny from the NFL Players Association and the NCAA.
The NFLPA has issued a disciplinary complaint against contract adviser Ian Greengross, and spokesman George Atallah told The Associated Press on Friday that the union would be looking into Rogers' involvement with players as well. THE NFLPA identified Rogers as a recruiter for Greengross.
Greengross was cited for "violating numerous provisions of the NFLPA's agent regulations while recruiting and representing players," and, according to the union, is responsible for the actions of his recruiters, employees and associates.
Auburn, in the meantime, has not received a letter of inquiry from the sport's governing body, the person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Friday on condition of anonymity.
The person said Newton's eligibility "has at no point been in jeopardy." Newton will play Saturday vs. Chattanooga.
"We have been made aware of the allegation. Unfortunately, we cannot comment at this time," Auburn assistant athletic director, media relations Kirk Sampson said on Thursday. "However, Cam Newton is eligible to play football at Auburn."
Cecil Newton, Cam's father, denied any wrongdoing in an interview with ESPN.com on Thursday.
"If Rogers tried to solicit money from Mississippi State, he did it on his own, without our knowledge," Cecil Newton said.
Cecil Newton is pastor of Holy Zion Center of Deliverance, a small church located in a commercial building in Newnan, Ga., southwest of Atlanta.
Documents obtained Friday by The Associated Press through an open records request show the city has been pressuring the minister to make some $50,000 in repairs to the structure since June 2008. An inspector found multiple problems, including a lack of smoke detectors, sprinklers and rear exits; moldy insulation; faulty wiring; rotting wooden doors and broken windows.
An abandoned structure needed to be demolished behind the church building, according to a letter from the city, and the grass had to be cut because of safety hazards to the public.
The city issued the first of three separate permits for work at the site in May 2009, records show. The town's newspaper, The Times-Herald, quoted Cecil Newton as telling the City Council in September 2009 that the church had the money for the repairs.
But it wasn't until last month that city officials agreed to take the structure off a list of buildings that could be condemned and demolished.
Cecil Newton would not say where his church got the money to perform the improvements required by the city.
"I'm not going to get into something like that," he told The Associated Press in a brief telephone interview Friday.
A person familiar with the situation says Auburn is "extremely confident there was no wrongdoing" during its recruitment Newton because the school has found "nothing inappropriate" after reviewing his father's bank records.
Auburn's compliance office reviewed personal and church bank records of Cecil Newton, as well as phone and e-mail records of the Tigers' football staff, the person told The Associated Press Friday night on the condition of anonymity.
The person said the Southeastern Conference told Auburn months ago of allegations that a man tried to solicit payment from Mississippi State during that school's recruitment of Newton.

Newton decided to leave Florida following a November 2008 arrest after he bought a stolen computer. The charges were dropped last December when he completed a pretrial intervention program for first-time offenders.
Auburn fans have quickly rallied to Newton's defense in the recruiting scandal. A Facebook page supporting the quarterback gained more than 7,400 members less than a day after it was created.


http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5768636

Allegations surrounding Cam Newton have been the main talks around college football for a few weeks now. The front-runner Heisman Trophy Quarterback from Auburn is all over the media and facing investigation because of people accusing him of his college choice being a matter of money. He claims he didn’t do anything wrong along with his father and they have obtained a lawyer. However, illegal recruiting is one of the most deviant acts in sports today and is hidden throughout many big-time division one programs. I saw it happen first hand when I went to WVU my first three semesters. So many big time athletes want a little extra when they are making a college choice. We also discussed earlier in the semester that illegal recruiting is one of the top abuses in intercollegiate sports. Newton was also accused of academic cheating when he went to school at Florida. All of this recent negative attention has society looking at Newton as a bad person and cheater. In the chapter about deviance in the book it discusses academic cheating. It suggests that athletes cheat more often because they have to obtain certain grades to stay on the team. I believe this is very true and Cam Newton directly relates to this because he was caught three times at Florida.

National Youth Basketball Program Comes to Sacramento

SACRAMENTO, CA, November 8, 2010 -- The Sacramento Kings have joined several NBA teams in offering a unique youth program to area boys and girls ages 4 to 18. The National Basketball Academy will run a specially-developed youth basketball program including camps, clinics, tournaments and youth basketball training beginning in the fall of 2010.
“We’re pleased to have this opportunity to pair with the Kings to bring a quality program to the area,” said the National Basketball Academy’s Shane Kline-Ruminski, who played professional basketball overseas before launching the company in 2002. “Our experience with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic, Minnesota Timberwolves, Los Angeles Clippers, New Orleans Hornets and the Houston Rockets has helped us refine our programming to the point where we can provide unparalleled training and programs while keeping it fun for the kids.”
The company will work with local schools and recreation programs to bring camps into communities throughout the area. The program, titled the “Sacramento Kings Youth Program,” will begin this year with clinics, skill and performance training programs and six to eight summer camps and will have programming available every month throughout the year. Every participant will receive tickets for Kings games as well as great basketball instruction.
To learn more about the National Basketball Academy, visit www.thebasketballacademy.com.

http://www.nba.com/kings/news/national_youth_basketball_program_release.html

The Sacramento Kings recently joined several other NBA teams to offer a youth basketball programs to kids ages 4 to 18. It is run by the National Basketball academy and gets under in Sacramento this fall. This relates to a couple topics we discussed in the first half of the semester. The first is sports being a good way to keep kids out of trouble and away from violence. It is also a way for kids to learn interactive skills and maintain fitness through camps, clinics and tournaments. On the other side of the story though, I believe this is a way to view these athletes as role models. It doesn’t necessarily make them one just by participating in this good gesture, but by doing so it gives the kids someone to look up to who is of higher status. Chapter 5 of the text is dedicated to Sports and Children. It talks about informal games and children having fun while participating in them. This program that the Kings are participating in is a great example of this because the kids are having fun by participating with kids their age but receiving instruction from people they look up to. They don’t have to face the pressures of their parents and coaches, \but they get to enjoy themselves in a fun atmosphere. The text also states that informal games help children learn to cooperate and express themselves through a wider range of movements than they would try to if coaches were evaluating them. This is the whole concept of the program to let the kids enjoy themselves without facing all the negative aspects of youth sports seen in the world today.

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UC Berkeley to cut 5 sports teams to lower costs

BERKELEY, Calif. — In its latest move to cut costs, the University of California, Berkeley, is eliminating five of its intercollegiate sports programs, including its championship men's rugby team, officials said Tuesday.

Cal's baseball, men's and women's gymnastics, and women's lacrosse teams will no longer represent the university in intercollegiate competition after this academic year, officials said.

The men's rugby team, which has won 25 national championships since 1980, will move into a new category called "varsity club sport," which officials say will allow the team to continue playing and competing on campus but become financially self-sustaining.

Reducing the number of intercollegiate teams from 29 to 24 will save an estimated $4 million a year and affect 163 of the school's more than 800 student-athletes, as well as 13 full-time coaches.

After the teams are eliminated, the university will continue to honor promised scholarships to the affected students or help them transfer to other schools if they want to pursue their athletic careers, officials said.

UC Berkeley administrators said they decided to cut the five teams after considering a variety of factors, including cost, student diversity, impact on donations and compliance with Title IX, the federal law that requires gender equity in school sports and other activities.

"Clearly, this is a painful outcome after months of deliberations, analysis and the examination of every viable alternative," UC Berkeley director of athletics Sandy Barbour said in a statement. "I deeply regret the impact this will have on so many valued members of our community."

UC Berkeley is the latest public university in California to cut sports teams after the state slashed funding to higher education to close its massive budget deficit.

In April, UC Davis announced it was eliminating four of its 27 intercollegiate sports programs - women's rowing, men's wrestling, men's swimming and diving, and men's indoor track and field - this academic year. Those program cuts affected about 150 students and seven coaches.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/college/7222261.html

The University of California recently eliminated five of its intercollegiate sports teams to save an estimated $4 million dollars per year. This topic can relate to Title IX regulations and the discussion we had about state budget cuts in high school and college sports. The university cut men’s baseball and rugby, women’s lacrosse and men’s and women’s gymnastics. By cutting three women’s and two men’s teams it shows the university is concerned in complying with Title IX. The school said that this was one of the reasons why the cuts were made. We said in class that research shows that spending money on big time college sports increased four times faster than academic budgets at colleges and universities, but now with the economy down we see many schools making reductions to their athletic budgets. On the other hand, the book has a large four page section relating to Title IX. It prohibits gender discrimination and benefits women in sports although many of them don’t know anything about it. Many of the schools today making cuts in sports are related budget issues but they also have Title IX in consideration. They have to consider it because it is a U.S. law and federal funds can be withdrawn from a school engaging in gender discrimination.

Industry faces unique challenges in regulating use of drugs

 

Published November 08, 2010 : Page 19

Horse racing goes hand and hoof with gambling. While it used to be the primary outlet for betting, the sport now competes with various forms of gambling for the entertainment dollar. Unsurprisingly, this competition, together with the creation of many legal gambling forums, results in more races and lengthened racing seasons.

As stakes increased, so did pressure to perform. Horse doping is the illegal application of a substance to improve the horse’s natural capacities prior to a race. Whether horse doping has always been a serious problem kept hidden or whether the issue has recently peaked because of the increased performance pressure characteristic to athletes in other sports, the industry now faces federal demands to curb the sport’s drug use.

On the eve of this year’s Kentucky Derby, thoroughbred industry leaders received letters from U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., and U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., demanding answers pertaining to the uniformity of medication rules, current practices of enforcement, and the industry’s efforts to collect injury data.

Recent major events spawned controversy over questionable enforcement practices in the racing industry. In the 2006 Preakness Stakes, Barbaro suffered severe injuries and a breakdown, which eventually led to his euthanization. Then, in the 2008 Kentucky Derby, there was the dramatic breakdown of the filly Eight Belles. She was euthanized on the track soon after finishing second to Big Brown, shocking the viewing public.

In 2008 and 2009 alone the following headlines appeared in articles: “New Jersey Race Horses Test Positive for Doping,” “Horse Trainer Steve Asmussen Suspended After Horse Tests Positive,” “Big Brown Trainer Admits Giving Horse Steroids: Report,” “Dubai Prince Banned Over Steroids For Horse,” and “Queen in Doping Scandal: Royal Racehorse Fails Drugs Test.” Clearly horse doping wasn’t just a national issue, but a global one. Yet the racing industry lags behind other major sporting bodies in effectively confronting the drug problem.

GETTY IMAGES

High-profile injuries and
breakdowns, such as Barbaro’s
at the 2006 Preakness, led to
increased scrutiny of horse
racing.

Since 2008, most states have revised their laws to prohibit use of anabolic steroids (already banned by most other major sporting bodies, including the International Olympic Committee, FIFA, UEFA, all major professional golf tours, the NFL, NHL, NBA, Major League Baseball and the European Athletic Association), but some states still allow for greater threshold amounts of substances than others. Before Pennsylvania banned anabolic steroids in April 2008, it conducted anonymous tests. The results were astounding, showing nearly two-thirds of horses tested positive.

Clearly, deterrence of drug use was not a priority until recently. Regardless of the timing or reasons behind doping, it was time for more effective regulation. The industry changed almost overnight, though apparently not enough to appease federal overseers. At the time of the 2008 Kentucky Derby, only 12 of 38 racing states had banned steroids. Today 35 states have, representing more than 99 percent of the races involved in betting.

The Racing Medication and Testing Consortium has been a front-runner in trying to unify horse racing regulations. In 2008, the consortium adopted model rules regulating racehorse anabolic steroid use. The rule established certain thresholds of four anabolic steroids and completely banned the use of all others. The four steroids— stanozolol, boldenone, nandrolone, and testosterone — are tracked through testing urine and blood levels. All states have not identically “adopted” the language from the model rule, however. For example:

Kentucky doesn’t include stanozolol on its list; only the other three anabolic steroids are listed with specified permissible concentration levels.

The California Horse Racing Board sets allowable threshold levels of all four anabolic steroids. California is more stringent in its therapeutic treatment allowance for stanozolol. The steroid’s use is subject to board approval. Even after approval, other administrative thresholds must still be satisfied.

Maryland, home to the Preakness, the second leg of the Triple Crown, also sets threshold permissible levels for all four anabolic steroids including stanozolol.

New York, like Maryland and Kentucky, has incentive to regulate anabolic steroid use because there is more focus and pressure on these states as each hosts a Triple Crown race. In May 2008, New York passed its own steroid regulation and set threshold levels for all four substances.

Recently, a new Racing Medication and Testing Consortium movement in the industry looks to increase restrictions on nonsteroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Where should legislators draw the finish line for future regulation? If regulations tighten too much, some trainers and owners will not adhere to the rules, and the sport could falter as more trainers would likely suffer heavy sanctions.

One important consideration in comparing horse doping regulations with those of other professional sports is the separable nature of horse from trainer. Often horses cross state lines, are apart from their trainers, or are susceptible to acts committed by an independent owner. Such lack of control, as compared with athletes, who generally manage substances entering their bodies, raises fairness questions in the sanctioning process.

Nevertheless, the model rules hold a trainer “responsible for the condition of horses entered in an official workout or race and … for the presence of any prohibited drug, medication, or other substance.” Unless the trainer is in the unique position of working with a talking horse like Mr. Ed, it is almost impossible to know everything. If the trainers are not familiar with various allowances of therapeutic treatment for horses among different states this oversight can be challenging, making strict compliance with the rules extraordinarily difficult.

Another major distinction between other professional sports and horse racing is the heightened expense resulting from suspension. A suspended equestrian’s horse still requires care when subsidies can’t be received. Costs can easily exceed $25,000 a year when considering expenses for horse feed, veterinary care, hoof-care and shoeing services, and dietary supplements. Thus, additional sanctions should be carefully enacted, especially in an industry facing the financial challenges characteristic of today’s economy.

While it is certain that the industry is preserving the decision-making power of each state’s horse racing commission and responding to federal pressure, whether new regulations of NSAIDs at the urging of the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium will swiftly spread through state horse racing law remains to be seen. The potential impact of such regulations would be a large stride toward creating rule uniformity and bringing integrity to a sport too often marred by negative speculation and uncertainty.

http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/article/67343

As we discussed in class, drug use in sport and society is reaching endemic proportions. On the sports side it is mainly performance enhancing drugs for athletes to get that extra edge. We discussed many of the new drug testing strategies used in pro-sports such as the NHL, NBA, MLB and NFL. Everyone knows that most of these sports face problems with athletes using PED’s, however until I read the SBJ a few weeks ago I never would have guessed that it was a problem in horse racing. How would you even go about testing a horse for steroids? This is a good question and the issue of doping in horse racing is rising recently. In 2008 only 12 of 38 racing states had banned steroids, but now 99% have a ban because of the issue. This can directly relate to the four major sports we discussed in class because the use of steroids arose as a larger issue in the past five to ten years. Restrictions and testing changes have been just made recently so it is understandable that the issue in horse racing arose later. Most of the big racing states have all banned the four major steroids, however, Kentucky doesn’t include stanozolol on their list. I see why this has become a bigger issue because a horse’s performance can be greatly increased by using these substances, and the horses directly affect wagering which is a huge business in horse racing. This issue can also relate to Chapter 6 of the text relating to deviance in sports. Using steroids or performance enhancing drugs is deviant and unfair. The book states that it is difficult to define performance enhancing substances because they can include so many things such as caffeine as we talked about in class. However, in horse racing there are only four major steroids that have been used and tested for. The text states how the effective anti-drug enforcement arose in 2004 in baseball and it is now just rising in horse racing. The horses don’t know what’s going into their bodies, so their trainers are the deviant ones at fault in this issue.

Braylon Edwards charged with DUI

NEW YORK -- New York Jets wide receiver Braylon Edwards was arrested Tuesday on charges of driving while intoxicated after officers pulled him over because his SUV had excessive tinting on its windows, police said.
Officers on the lookout for vehicle violations like excessive tinting or missing registration stickers pulled over Edwards' Land Rover on Manhattan's West Side at about 5:15 a.m. ET and noticed a strong smell of alcohol, chief NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said.
Edwards was given a breath test at the scene and another at a police station. His blood alcohol level was .16, twice the legal limit, officials said. There were four other people in the SUV at the time.
The Jets expressed their disappointment in the receiver in a statement Tuesday from general manager Mike Tannenbaum.

"We are very disappointed in Braylon's actions this morning. The Player Protect program is in place for our organization to prevent this situation. Braylon is aware of this program and showed poor judgment," Tannenbaum said.
"We are reviewing the information with the league and will impose the appropriate disciplinary measures."
The Player Protect program provides a 24-hour driving service exclusively for professional athletes. The company also provides security, if requested, from current or former law-enforcement agents.
If a player wants a lift home, he can call anytime and will be driven home in a luxury SUV or a Mercedes limo or an executive limo van.
The Jets, through their player development program, distributed leaflets on the Player Protect program to every player on the team. It informs them they aren't charged for the service, and the club picks up the expense.
Edwards, who caught a touchdown pass and two-point conversion on Sunday in the Jets' 28-14 victory against the New England Patriots, is currently in police custody and will be arraigned later Tuesday.
Edwards' attorney, Peter Frankel, acknowledged that the specifics of the case as laid out by authorities were accurate, saying: "That's my understanding, yes." But he quickly added: "I can't really get into anything that happened."
Frankel, who has represented imprisoned former Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress in his attempts to gain work release, said Edwards would not be available to the media. "We just want to get him out," he said. "I'm sure he's absolutely exhausted and he wants to go back to his home and his teammates."
Ira Judelson, a New York City-based bail bondsman, was at the courthouse Tuesday and indicated that he had been instructed to pay whatever bail is necessary to keep Edwards out of jail.
During his weekly spot on WFAN-AM on Tuesday morning, Jets wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery said Edwards attended a Monday night event in support of Cotchery's nonprofit foundation benefiting underprivileged youth in Manhattan.
Cotchery said several teammates were there, and the event ran from 6:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. on Manhattan's West Side.
It's not clear where Edwards was coming from when he was pulled over.
The Jets acquired Edwards, a former first-round pick out of Michigan in 2005, from the Cleveland Browns only days after he was accused of punching a man outside a Cleveland nightclub in October 2009.
The victim was an acquaintance of LeBron James'. Edwards pleaded not guilty at the time, but he ended up pleading no contest to misdemeanor aggravated disorderly conduct. He received probation and a $1,000 fine.
Pending the outcome of the New York City case, Edwards may have to return to Cleveland to face a possible probation violation, which could carry jail time. The Cleveland Municipal Court judge handling his case has been notified of his New York arrest, court spokesman Ed Ferenc said.
Edwards was required to make the plea in the Cleveland case in person, and it took him away from the Jets for a day as they prepared for a playoff game on Jan. 12. At the time, the Jets feared he would be slapped with a one-game suspension from the NFL, but they learned in late June that there would be no sanction from the league.
If Edwards is convicted on his DUI charge, or pleads no contest, he likely will be subject to the league's personal conduct policy and face a possible suspension, a league source clarified late Monday.
Edwards currently can only be disciplined under the league's substance abuse policy, in which he faces a maximum fine of $50,000 under terms of the collective bargaining agreement.
However, Edwards' misdemeanor disorderly conduct conviction in Ohio stemming from his altercation outside a Cleveland nightclub in October resulted in a previously undisclosed fine of his first game check of an estimated $200,000, even though he was not suspended by commissioner Roger Goodell, the source said.
A conviction or no contest plea to DWI likely would be viewed as a second violation of the personal conduct policy, a league official said.
Edwards' big game Sunday was overshadowed by a taunting penalty he received after his touchdown.
On Monday, Edwards was chastised by coach Rex Ryan -- publicly and privately. In a team meeting, Ryan announced that he was prepared to give Edwards a game ball for his performance, but he decided against it because of the penalty.
"I love the way he played -- he was really into it -- but you're killing us," Ryan told reporters. "You can't put the team in that kind of jeopardy. I appreciate how passionate he is, but you don't want to be selfish. That's basically what that is."

Jets punter Steve Weatherford wasn't happy with his teammate's situation.
"It's obviously disappointing because he's a big part of our team offensively," he said on ESPN's "SportsCenter" on Tuesday.
This might be Edwards' final season with the Jets. In the offseason, he signed a one-year tender for $6.05 million, and he's due to become an unrestricted free agent in 2011.
The Jets were heavily criticized in the offseason for acquiring players with off-the-field issues. They traded for wide receiver Santonio Holmes even though he was facing a four-game suspension for violating the league's substance-abuse policy. He has served two games.
Also, they traded for cornerback Antonio Cromartie, whose tenure with the San Diego Chargers was tainted by paternity issues. At the time of the trade, in March, Cromartie had fathered seven children from six different women and was late on $25,000 in child-support payments. To help Cromartie, the Jets fronted him $500,000 of his $1.1 million salary.
If Edwards isn't active for Sunday night's game in Miami, the Jets would be without two of their top three receivers. They have only three other receivers on the roster: Cotchery, Brad Smith and David Clowney.
They could look to re-sign veteran Laveranues Coles.

http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/nfl/news/story?id=5598872

As we know and mentioned in class, about two months ago Jets WR Braylon Edwards was charged with a DUI. This directly relates to two different issues and topics that we discussed in class. The more recent issue is athletes being deviant in sports. Being deviant is an act or person that differs from the norm, especially behavior or attitudes that idffer from acceptable behavior. Edwards is definitely deviant relating to this issue and other issues he previously encountered with the Cleveland Browns. When Dr. Higgs asked us to give an example of athletes who are deviant many of the answers were athletes who can't stay out of the media for getting in trouble like Mike Vick, Edwards and Mike Tyson. We also looked at some statistics of the amount of athletes who have been arrested and the number was very high for those who are getting paid so much. Felony rates among adult athletes don't seem to be out of control, but they constitute a problem. The Edwards incident also relates to a topic discussed in chapter seven of the book. The topic discusses violence off the field among athletes. It discuess how their violence off the field could be related to the violence on the field saying, "Felony arrestes among pro and college athletes may or may not be rising, but better reporting makes it clear that many of them cannot turn off their aggressive behavior at the buzzer." It also quotes a former NFL player who says making the transition from a violent playing field to life off the field is not easy for most players. This may be the case but after being punished once you would think that a player would learn his lesson. However, many athletes like Edwards can't stay out of trouble and continue their deviant acts off the playing field. What surpised me the most is how Edwards was hardly punished for this act by the league or his team. There was no punishment from the league and the Jets only sat him out for the first quarter of the next game after the incident. I think this is a key factor in the situation because by not punishing an athlete for a deviant act doesn't help him to learn anything from the situation, and will make it more prone to happen again. This incident also relates to a topic we discussed earlier in the semester about athletes as role models. Athletes should set a good example for kids in this country by leading by example and staying out of trouble, however Edwards in no way does this. As we discussed in class many professional athletes today are questionable role models.

LeBron James Reveals Racist Tweets directed at Him

During an interview with CNN's Soledad O'Brien last month, LeBron James was asked whether he felt race was a factor in the backlash he's received since signing with the Miami Heat.

"I think so at times. It's always, you know, a race factor," he replied.

That short answer sparked a lot of discussion, including a great deal of criticism, from fans and media members alike. After all, playing the "race card" seemed like a cop-out, especially for those whose criticism of James was directed at the manner in which he revealed his decision -- a self-aggrandizing television special -- than his actual decision to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Complicating matters was the fact that James refused to clarify his comments the next day. "I'm not going to go back on my words,'' James said. "People are looking too far into it. I said what I had to say and I'll continue to move on.''

On Tuesday, James may have unintentionally offered some long-awaited context to his answer, retweeting an offensive and racist message directed to him on Twitter -- an edited screenshot of which can be seen below.

The RyanOutrich account from which the offensive tweet has since been deleted, but a search engine cache of RyanOutrich's Twitter page (warning: the page contains offensive language and may not be safe for work), which indicates the user is from Strongsville, a town 30 minutes south of Cleveland, Ohio, shows that the tweet cited above was just one of a barrage of racist -- and overtly threatening -- tweets directed at James. Included in the rant was this: "U have til the end of the day to RT me and if u dont....tomorrow u will not wake up happy...or al i ve".

James followed his retweet with a message of his own: "U see world how people feel! Just use it as extra motivation in whatever u do best! No one can stop your dreams from becoming reality!"
After Miami's practice on Wednesday, James further explained why he shared the message. "I just want you guys to see it also," James said, as cited by Brian Windhorst. "To see what type of words that are said toward me and towards us as professional athletes. Everybody thinks it is a bed of roses and it's not."

Even though James didn't connect his decision to share the racist tweet with his response on CNN, it's likely that this isn't the first time someone has directed such venom in his direction. Twitter's "@replies" are publicly viewable, but usually only when directly searching for them, which makes it easy to overlook the volume of hateful messages James, or any prominent athlete, may receive.

James is often perceived to be insulated from outside criticism, perhaps oblivious to the more nuanced objections to his actions. But Twitter offers a direct, unfiltered connection to the general public. So regardless of whether you agree with the notion that race has influenced the mainstream media's reaction to James' decision to sign with Miami, it's impossible to deny that James hasn't been exposed to blatant racism via social media.

http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/10/20/lebron-james-reveals-racist-tweets-directed-at-him/

The LeBron James free agency signing over the summer created a lot of controversy to say the least. There were many different opinions among fans across the country on his decision to sign in Miami alongside Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. In the negative response he received from doing so he was convinced it was mostly due to race. Fans responded and tweeted comments that were very stereotypical towards the African American race. We discussed this topic very deeply in class because it was a huge issue in sports in the mid-1900s and still is somewhat today. We defined many words that relate to this issue such as race and discrimination which also tie into Lebron’s controversy. I believe he placed this upon himself and it doesn’t have to do so much with race as the media made it seem like. By not letting Cleveland know he would be leaving made many fans outraged his incident by calling him selfish and many other words that are more harmful to him. Also, I believe by making such a big deal of the signing by televising it on ESPN and covering it so much contributed to the fans and media being upset with him. Like we talked about in class, I don’t believe race in sport is as big of an issue as it once was, but we do “group” athletes among race. It isn’t really fair and it may have been a completely different situation if this was a white athlete. When asked whether he felt race was a factor in the backlash he’s received since signing with the Miami Heat he said, “I think so at times. It’s always, you know, a race factor. This issue directly relates to Chapter 9 in the text titled: Race and Ethnicity. Racial Ideology in the United States emerged in the 17^th and 18^th centuries through slavery. Racial discrimination continued in our country and was showed in sports greatly throughout the 1900s. It still goes on to an extent today and the text states that there is a challenge of escaping racial ideology in sports. Because of this and also the poor way LeBron James went about his free agent signing is why he received such negative attention.