Owens says Romo had 'a hand' in him leaving the Cowboys

Terrell Owens left the Dallas Cowboys under a black cloud. According to Owens it was a cloud of suspicion as to why he left Dallas. That cloud was Tony Romo. Owens believes that Romo helped grease the skids on his way out of Dallas.

In a radio interview on The Ben and Skin Show [KESN-FM] 103.3 in Dallas, Owens said he believes that Romo "had a hand" in him leaving the Cowboys.

"With that situation, dude, I've kind of lost my respect for that situation," Owens told The Ben and Skin Show [KESN-FM] 103.3 in Dallas. "Man, that's a guy I shed tears for, I went to bat for. Then obviously, ultimately I'm not in Dallas anymore and I know he definitely had a hand in that. So, again, it's one of those things that you just kind of have to bite your tongue and keep moving on, you know what I mean? 

Owens went on about how he and the other receivers weren't being targeted as much as tight end Jason Witten.



"It wasn't just me," Owens said. "I was just a voice. Sometimes I said things that a lot of people thought. I just happened to be one of those guys that really voiced their opinion. I wasn't the only one that felt that way. There were games where other guys were open. I wasn't saying that to get the ball thrown to me a lot more times. I was all about winning. During the course of the games, if you watch the film, there were other guys that were open that didn't get the ball. That was my thing.


"I think that's what's really misconstrued is that my passion and things that I say can be viewed that I'm being selfish and it's all about me, but my goal has always been about winning a championship, and I think if you really ask my teammates that, they'll really convey that and they'll tell you honestly that's what I'm about."


No mention on how he dropped passes that were thrown to him.

I believe all Owens wanted to do was win but he didn't know how to go about being a winning teammate. When things went wrong he opted to throw his teammates under the bus and not take accountability for his own actions. Owens spoke for the receivers as a whole but since he spoke and was the loudest voice he got the blame. Sometimes it's best to keep your mouth shut and let things play out.

Sapp says it was bankruptcy or jail

Much has been made of Warren Sapp filing bankruptcy and his $6.7 million of debt. I'm pretty sure it wasn't easy for him, considering the lifestyle he was living. but you gotta do what you gotta do. And for Warren the choice was easy. File bankruptcy or go to jail.

"Do you think I wanted to declare bankruptcy?'' Sapp said. "Do you think if there was any other way possible I would have done it? It was either this or go to jail. Those were my choices.'' 

Sapp explained that a construction deal gone bad helped contribute to some of his financial problems. The failed deal resulted in Sapp having his earnings from the NFL Network garnished for 11 months.


The idea was to build low-income housing in Fort Pierce in 2005. Sapp said the original agreement was the houses would not be built until a buyer had been approved for a mortgage, but one of his partners approved the construction of three houses so there would be something to market. But 2005 was not a good time for real estate, and the houses went unsold.


"It didn't go well,'' said Sapp, who has a condo in Hollywood, Fla. "At the end of the day, we owed them a million dollars, and the two numb- - - - put their heads in the sand. They went after me.''


Because of the debt, Sapp's earnings from the NFL Network — 100 percent, he said — were garnished for 11 months. That meant his bills went unpaid, causing the debt spiral that led to his Chapter 7 filing.


"You tell me what to do,'' Sapp said. "Do you keep working without a check? If you don't pay your child support, you go to jail. This wasn't something I wanted to do. This was something I had to do.''


There also are reports about his missing Super Bowl ring. Sapp says he misplaced it and others are skeptical of the claim. I have to side with Sapp since others have had their rings lost, misplaced, or stolen, so it's not like it hasn't happened before.


“Is it so unbelievable that I misplaced my ring?” Sapp said.  “I wore it for 365 days, and we had a 7-9 season [in Tampa Bay in 2003] and I went to Oakland and I took it off.  You never saw me with it anywhere.  The only time I brought it out was when the NFL Network wanted us to wear it.


“We were at the Super Bowl, and I thought I handed it to someone, and he said I didn’t.  I checked my luggage to see if it was in a side pocket.  I checked my suit to see if I put it somewhere.  What was I going to do?  Yell and scream because I lost a ring?  That ring didn’t make me a champion.  Derrick Brooks, Simeon Rice, Ronde Barber, Brian Kelly, Dwight Smith.  That crew made me a champion.”


“In my life, has anyone called me a liar?  Why would I start now?  Someone told me something that John Adams supposedly said.  Facts are stubborn,” Sapp said.  “I like facts.”


Sapp may be down, but not out. He's embarrassed but not broken up about his financial situation.

 "When you live like I do,'' he said, "you know where you are and what you have to do. I'm not at war with me. I promise you this. I will never go to jail.''

"This is just another situation I have to get myself out of,'' he said. "I grew up without cable and without air conditioning. Things aren't that bad yet.

"This isn't as tough a situation as when I came out of college, and there were reports of seven positive drug tests, and I was a 21-year-old man. I was coming to the worst franchise in pro football, and Sam Wyche was running a five-ring circus, and my teammates were calling me 'super-rook' because they didn't want me here. You stick a diamond in a pile of s- - - and it's still a diamond.

"If there is air in my lungs, I'll find a way.''

Sapp has a strong personality that may rub some the wrong way, but he'll be damned if he lets this keep him down. He considers this another obstacle in the game of life.

Nate Burleson says Fairley and Leshoure need to tighten up

With off-season workouts and the NFL draft right around the corner, the Detroit Lions are reeling from off-field distractions. Marijuana arrests to Mikel Leshoure and Nick Fairley to be specific. The arrests gives Lions fans plenty to be nervous about. The Lions look to be headed in the right direction and they turn into the Cincinnati Bengals.

Nate Burleson isn't one to take this lightly. In an interview on the NFL Network Burleson let it be known that he plans having a talk with the youngsters to let them know that kind of behavior won't be tolerated.

“I’m just going to say tighten up,” Burleson said during an appearance on "Total Access" Thursday on NFL Network. “We’ve done too much to get to where we’re at. There’s been a black cloud hanging over Detroit for so long, so for us to go from 6-10 to 10-6 and feel like we’re heading in the right direction and just a few mistakes happen, we’ve got to tell the young guys to get it together.


“But here’s the thing, I really believe that, in the analogy of football, you’ve got to fumble in order to have great ball security. So in life, these guys got to stumble a little bit. And you know as a young guy in the league, you’re going to make those mistakes and hopefully this is just one thing that happens and doesn’t happen again for a lot of these guys.”  

Fairley and Leshoure weren't the only ones to run afoul of the law. Ndamukong Suh had his episode of the "Fast and the Furious", and fellow 2011 rookie Johnny Culbreath  paid a fine after being arrested for possession of the drug in a South Carolina hotel in January.

“I’m a little bit different, I don’t want to put people on blast in front of the team,” Burleson said. “Sometimes you’re going to need to do that. Or a certain guy, certain situations, they need to feel that embarrassment of everybody looking down on them. But some of these guys that we saw on the board, these are good young men and I know that they’re passionate about being professional athletes, it’s just that they make mistakes.”


“Obviously, when you talk to a young guy and he doesn’t listen, the old-school method is physical confrontation,” Burleson said. “I came (into the NFL in) ‘03 and some of these vets, they put your hands on you before they let you damage what they helped build. But I don’t think we’re going to get to that. And also coaches might say we’re just going to sit the guy down, we’re going to take the guy away from him and then see how he responds.”

At this point in the team's development, the Lions don't need players to be acting like hooligans off the field.

Is Golden State a potential landing spot for Lamar Odom?

After going through a turbulent season and being exiled from the Dallas Mavericks, Lamar Odom will be a free agent and will be looking to catch on with another NBA team. Despite being a headcase and having some baggage, Odom will be a highly sought after player. Not in a Deron Williams sense but there will be plenty of teams vying for his services.

One of those teams could be the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors are rebuilding once again and don't look like a natural fit for Odom. All in all, it might be a long shot, but don't be quick to dismiss the notion of Odom in a Warriors uniform. Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that the Warriors' secret weapon could be assistant coach Jerry DeGregorio.

"DeGregorio coached Odom in high school, college and the pros and has been like a father to him since Odom was a 16-year-old prospect from South Jamaica, Queens, N.Y. DeGregorio was the best man in Odom's September 2009 wedding to Khloe Kardashian. In his best-man speech, DeGregorio asked Kardashian to make the same vow that Odom's grandmother asked of DeGregorio before she died. Since Odom has no brothers or sisters and his mother died when he was 12, his grandmother asked DeGregorio to promise to watch over her baby." 

DeGregorio was an assistant at Rhode Island, which accepted Odom when his scholarship to UNLV was lost because of paperwork and testing questions. DeGregorio was an assistant with the Clippers when Odom averaged a career-high 17.2 points in 2000-01 and was the first person called when Odom's 6 1/2-month-old son, Jayden, died because of SIDS in 2006.

After this season in Dallas, I couldn't see Odom in Golden State. If DeGregorio has as much pull as Simmons states in his article it could become a reality. The Warriors would have to trade a few pieces or have him sign for the mid-level exception, but the DeGregorio connection could bring Odom to the Bay area.

Charles Rogers threatened to kill his mother over $100,000

Former Detroit Lions wide receiver Charles Rogers was in court last week over multiple warrants in his native Saginaw. Rogers pleaded not guilty in to five misdemeanor charges levied against him.

One of the charges included making a malicious phone call to his mother Cathy Rogers. According to a police report, Rogers threatened to kill his mother over a $100,000 debt.


Cathy Rogers reported to police threatening calls from Charles, his uncle Ronie Rogers and his aunt Debbie Rogers. Cathy, Ronie and Debbie are siblings.


Charles Rogers reportedly threatened to “blow her mouth out” and said that he was willing to do "the time” he would face.


In 2008 an arbitrator ruled that Rogers must pay back $8.5 million to the Detroit Lions, which was later reduced to $6.1 million. That could be the reason he's fighting over $100,000.

Rose not happy with Mary Sue Coleman

The Fab Five era was the most storied period of time for the University of Michigan basketball program. You either loved them or hated them. but they were must see tv. Even though the era was sullied by the Ed Martin scandal, no one will ever forget them.

Due to the aforementioned scandal, the school forfeited wins from the that time period. They also removed the team's Final Four banners from 1992 and 1993. Technically, Michigan can return the two Fab Five's 1992 and 1993 Final Four banners to its rafters in 2013, when the school's disassociation period with Chris Webber ends.   

Jalen Rose has been doing a lot of politicking, trying to get the school to put the banners back up when 2013 rolls around. There hasn't been any talk about it until today when school president Mary Sue Coleman said the banners won't be going up anytime soon.

During a fireside chat with students Wednesday, Coleman said "I don't think they'll ever go back up."  


When that statement made it's way back to Rose, he wasn't too happy with it.

"I saw that U of Michigan has no plans to put back up our hoops banners," Rose tweeted. "Should I do like most of its former BBallers & never return?"


"Or should I ask for the $250k I donated for my Endowed Scholarship back & move it to another school? Stay tuned."


I can understand that it is the moral and ethical thing to do, but what those players did off the court had nothing to do what they did on the court. I still have memories of them going to the Final Four as freshman and sophomores. I remember the dazzling dunks and underrated team play. Love it or hate it, those memories will always be with me. Just like when Reggie Bush had to surrender his Heisman, I don't agree with it. The house he was hooked up with had nothing to do with that memorable touchdown run against Fresno State. Even though there was no wrongdoing uncovered, do you think UNLV is giving back that championship from 1990? No.

I speak from both sides of the fence on this topic because I believe that in some way shape or form, everyone cheats. While Coleman is doing the honorable thing, the banners should go back up in the future.

Red Wings' Helm out for playoffs

The Detroit Red Wings got word Thursday that forward Darren Helm would be lost for the remainder of the season after undergoing successful surgery to repair lacerated tendons on his right forearm.

Helm suffered the injury when he was cut by the skate of Nashville’s Alexander Radulov in the first period of Wednesday night’s Western Conference quarterfinals.

“He’s an important guy,” Red Wings general manager Ken Holland said. “I’m disappointed for Darren because he worked real hard to be back for the playoffs.


“He plays with tremendous passion and determination. I know how much he loves this game. It’s a big loss, but that’s playoff hockey.”

The injury is without a doubt a big loss for Detroit who relies heavily on Helm’s speed and fore checking ability, especially on the power play. It’s also ironic considering Helm was injured off the skate of a player in Radulov who many have questioned whether or not he should even be playing for Nashville given he just completed a season in the KHL.

Helm is expected to make a full recovery and be ready for the beginning of next season.

With Helm being gone, Babcock will more than likely move Justin Abdelkader up to the third line center, move Emmerton back down to fourth line center and insert either Gustav Nyquist or Chris Connor in the lineup Friday night.