Two men arrested trying steal ivy from Wrigley Field

Two Pennsylvanian men allegedly squeezed through a window at Wrigley Field early Sunday to grab ivy from the outfield.

Chicago police responded to Wrigley Field, at 1060 W. Addison St., about 3:45 a.m. after security guards saw two men on surveillance video walking through the ball park, police News Affairs John Mirabelli said.

They had apparently entered by squeezing through a barred window, Mirabelli said. One of the men was 6 feet and 170 pounds and the second man was 6-feet-3 and 180 pounds.

Kevin Burge and Steven Gudknecht, both 25, of Chalfont, Pa., were each charged with a misdemeanor count of criminal trespass, Mirabelli said.

The men apparently wanted to take a couple pieces of ivy from the outfield walls, Cubs spokesman Julian Green said. There was no property damage and nothing was stolen.

"This is not the first time that something like this has happened," said Green about previous attempts of trespassers to steal ivy.

You can add these guys to the list of dumb criminals.

Both men are expected in court on Sept. 26.

Palo dismissed from Iowa State basketball team

Iowa State senior guard Bubu Palo, who missed most of last season due to suspension, was dismissed from the Cyclones’s program on Saturday, the school announced.

Palo, a 6-1 guard from Ames, was suspended 18 games last season after second degree sexual abuse charges were filed against him in May, 2012.

The charge was later dropped, but Palo was also subject to the school’s code of conduct policy.

Initially, he was found innocent of a violation of that code of conduct, but that finding was appealed by an unknown party this summer.

The original decision was then overturned and, according to the release, “the university has determined Palo can no longer be a member of the basketball team.”

Palo’s dismissal leaves three point guards to contend for a position played by Korie Lucious last season — Marshall transfer DeAndre Kane, freshman Monte Morris and holdover Naz Long.

FCS teams aren't pushovers anymore

Towson over Connecticut. North Dakota State over Kansas State. Eastern Washington over Oregon State and McNeese State over South Florida.  

Those games were scheduled as "gimmies" for teams in the FBS Subdivision. Instead they were ambushed by their FCS opponents.

Not to say all FCS are bad teams because some of them are champions or playoff contenders in their classification. But the FBS teams are supposed to be head and shoulders, at least talentwise, above teams in the FCS. Maybe that's not the case anymore as we should've learned when Appalachian State stunned a Michigan team thought to be a contender for the national championship. If that wasn't enough two weeks later James Madison walked into Blacksburg, Virginia and beat 13th ranked Virginia Tech.    

FBS teams shouldn't be looking ahead when they schedule the FCS schools anymore. Most of the time the FBS teams will win but in some cases there will be some stunners. The biggest this week was Eastern Washington beating 25th ranked Oregon State. FCS champion North Dakota State beat a highly regarded Kansas State team coming off a BCS bowl berth. McNeese State ran roughshod over South Florida, 53-21. I know South Florida isn't a powerhouse but still.

I guess this falls into the let this be a lesson to you category. FCS teams aren't the pushovers we thought they were.

Seneca Wallace says he was used by the 49ers

The San Francisco 49ers waived quarterback Seneca Wallace amid reports that Wallace had planned on retiring. That's the way the 49ers tell it.

Wallace tells it a different way. He says that he wasn't a fit in San Francisco and that he's still willing to play if a team takes a chance on him. He also told reporters that he was used by the 49ers to get Colt McCoy to take a pay cut.  

“I have not retired,” Wallace said in a phone interview with the Des Moines Register. “I have just removed myself from the San Francisco situation because it wasn’t a perfect fit for me.” 


“I’ve been around this game long enough where I can see what’s going on,” Wallace said, “and I realized right away the reason they brought me here was to get Colt to take a pay cut.” 

“San Francisco wasn’t the best place for me,” Wallace said. “I have no hard feelings toward San Francisco. It’s just the nature of the business.” 

49ers coach Jim Harbaugh had announced that Wallace was retiring before the team's final preseason game against the San Diego Chargers. Wallace did not travel with the team.

“It’s something that was his decision,” Harbaugh said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. “He felt strongly about it. I don’t talk people out of that. I’ve never seen it done on game day, but I wish him well.” 

Wallace seemed to be caught off guard by Harbaugh's assumption that he was retiring.

“For him to come out and say that, ‘Hey, Seneca’s planning on his retirement’ ... I don’t think that’s even 100 percent fair for him to come out and say that because I don’t even know him,” Wallace said. “I think that should be my decision.” 

In the meantime Wallace wii take a  wait and see approach with his future. He still would like to play and with the way quarterbacks get injured nowdays he could find himself back in the game.

Gary Payton says he nearly quit basketball as a rookie

It's hard to picture Gary Payton wanting to quit playing basketball early in his career, but it almost happened. Payton says that he was so down during his early years with the Seattle Supersonics that he contemplated giving up the game. 

Payton admitted that he struggled in his first two years under coach K.C. Jones, that if there wasn't a coaching change he might've quit playing. In his third year George Karl replaced K.C. Jones and Payton became one of the top guards in the NBA.

 “I was thinking about it,” Payton said in a phone conversation from his home in Las Vegas. “I was like, ‘What am I out here for? This isn’t even what I want to do. I’m not happy.’ I didn’t want to do anything….

“If we wouldn’t have changed coaches (from K.C. Jones to George Karl),” Payton said, “I would have probably said, ‘Yo, you know what? I want to end this. I don’t want to do this anymore because I’m not happy.’ If they would have stayed with the same coach, I would have probably just shut it down. They would have tried to trade me or I would have told them I don’t want to play there anymore.

“I went to my agent, I went to my father, I just said, ‘I don’t know. I don’t know if I’m good enough to play in this league. I’ve got a coach who wants to play me in the first and the third quarter. He has no confidence in me.’ They told me the same thing. ‘You’ve got to stick it out. You’ve got to be the guy who you’re supposed to be. You’re tough. You’re this.’ My father was like, ‘Are you crazy? If you quit, I’m gonna get in your (body).’ Stuff like that.”

I remember Gary’s struggles. He was on the brink of being labeled a bust then Karl got hired and his career begin to take off. He clearly wasn't the player he was at Oregon State until he was able to play in a system that fit his talents.


 

"It Girl" of the week: Dana Lee

This week's "It Girl" of the week is Dana Lee.

Deion Sanders is unhappy about Johnny Manziel's suspension

Today Texas A&M quarterback received a half game suspension from the NCAA for the autograph for pay allegations that had been floating around for the past few months.

The NCAA released a statement saying "that there is no evidence that quarterback Johnny Manziel received money in exchange for autographs, based on currently available information and statements by Manziel.”

Nice job with the swift punitive judgement. I don't know how others feel but former NFL All-Pro Deion Sanders isn't happy at all with the NCAA's decision.

If you can recall Sanders had dinner with receiver Dez Bryant when Bryant was at Oklahoma State. Bryant lied about it and was suspended for an entire season. So naturally Sanders voiced his displeasure with the NCAA.

1. DeionSanders ‏@DeionSanders2h

   Can we investigate the investigators? @DezBryant got suspended a season 4 lying about a dinner that wasnt a violation & Manziel gets a half.

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Maybe someone should ask A.J Green how he feels about the non suspension that Manziel received. I bet the Miami Hurricanes wished the NCAA would act as swiftly as they did for Texas A&M and Manziel.

The punishment is toothless and the NCAA rulebook is outdated. Sanders might want to be careful before the NCAA drops the hammer on his son and his SMU teammates.