Freddie Mitchell might be doing some hard time

I know the name Freddie Mitchell might elicit some laughs from hardcore NFL fans. If you're a Philadelphia Eagles fan you might get a stream of expletives. Mitchell, the former Eagles first round pick and receiver was a colossal bust, sans the playoff game against Minnesota during the Eagles' Super Bowl run.

After the Eagles let him go, there hasn't been too much news regarding good ole Fred X. You know what they say no news is good news. Well, Mitchell has gotten himself in a bit of trouble with the IRS and it isn't for tax evasion. Mitchell is facing some serious prison time for federal tax fraud charges.


Mitchell and two other people, Jamie Russ-Walls and Richard Walls, face federal charges in the case in Florida, in an indictment obtained by Fox 29.


The indictment filed by the U.S. attorney in Orlando, Fla., says a company set up by Mitchell, Chameleon Enterprises, was involved in the alleged scam.


The target of a scheme was a professional athlete with the initials A.G., who investigators said had no knowledge of the scheme, but paid for a firm connected with Mitchell to do his taxes.


According to the indictment, the plan was to file for false federal tax returns electronically.


Jamie Russ-Walls and Richard Walls allegedly filed the tax returns, claiming refunds ranging from $170,000 to $1.9 million. The two men also attached false documents to support the refund claims, the indictment says.


The men enlisted Mitchell to recruit professional athletes as tax-return customers.


That is something serious and Mitchell could wind doing some hard time if he's convicted of the charges. Mitchell might really have to become Fred X if he winds up having to do some time in the pokey.

Somewhere there are some Eagles fans laughing hysterically.



   
  

Lay off of LeBron

In the past I've been critical of Miami Heat forward LeBron James. Mostly because of the clouded judgement which many sports fans have viewed him with since he signed with the Heat. I didn't have a dislike of James because he signed with Miami, it's just the way he did it.

Since then his game has been scrutnized. Since James has become part of the 'big 3' in Miami, everyone has talked about how he disappears in the fourth quarter or how he defers to Dwayne Wade or passes to a lesser player for a key shot. You know what I think? I think everyone needs to lay off of James and just let him play his game.

I've never seen a player having an MVP type season get picked on so much for what he doesn't do. Everyone wants James to take over in key moments. He has to a certain extent in his career. But James has always looked to make his teammates better. That's just how he is. He was like that in his first NBA game and he is now. He is clearly the most talented player on the court so there are many who view James as a disappointment sometimes.

I don't view him as a disappointment. I view him as a player that wants his teammates to shine just as much as he does. When he came into the league, I saw that in his game. He played a little like Magic Johnson, always looking for his teammates. I also saw that he didn't have a killer instinct. It just wasn't in his makeup. But he is so supremely talented that it doesn't matter.

I get tired of hearing about how he passes to his teammates at key junctures of the game. Like against the Atlanta Hawks Friday night he passed off to Udonis Haslem for the game winner. Haslem missed the shot and James was criticized yet again. Think about it, maybe Haslem had an easier shot than the one he might've taken. Haslem was the open man, but if James takes the shot and misses then you'd hear how he fails in the clutch. No one was criticizing Michael Jordan for passing to John Paxson in the Finals. Paxson nailed the shot,  but everyone would've said it was Paxson's fault for not making the shot rather than Jordan passed up a game winner.

Look at James for what he is. A one of a kind basketball player. A player that is so much better than everyone but looks to get everyone involved. A team player. He'll never be the cold blooded assassin type player. He leaves that role to Wade. Just let James play his game and watch how good he truly is instead of dissecting his every move and picking him apart.

Cousins says he wants to stay in Sacramento

For all the headaches he provides, DeMarcus Cousins is a good basketball player. To me he's a younger version of Zach Randolph as troubling as that might sound. He does come with less off court baggage. The young big man can flat out play and provided that he's surrounded by a good team he'd probably less of a headache. Instead he's in Sacramento with teammates just as young as he is and not much veteran leadership. Good thing head coach Keith Smart appears to have broken through to the young man.

Earlier this year there was a reported rift between Cousins and former coach Paul Westphal. Then there was Lakers center Andrew Bynum saying he felt bad for Cousins for having to play in Sacramento. Reports were saying he was trying to force himself out of Sactown. Despite the troubling season Cousins has continued to perform and says he wants to remain in Sacramento.

“Sacramento is where I want to be,’’ he said. “I want to bring the organization back, help the organization get started back winning. I love the city of Sacramento. That’s where I want to be. End of story.


“We can dig a hole, throw that topic in there, cover it with dirt, pack it down. I want to be in Sacramento. End of story.’’  


Don't worry Sacramento, DeMarcus is in it for the long haul. Now about those Tyreke Evans rumors.  

Epstein blames Chicago bars and nightlife for past failures

Anyone that has been to the city of Chicago knows that there is a bustling nightlife there. Apparently new Chicago Cubs president Theo Epstein knows it as well.

Epstein has credited the local bars and nightlife for ruining the careers of players of Cubs past. He also blamed it for the team's inability to win. I'm sure the billy goat, black cat, and Leon Durham might have something to say about it. Epstein is trying to change the culture there and bring a title to the Cubs and end the long suffering curse, just like in Boston.

Epstein says he's not going to tolerate Cubs players hanging out into the wee hours of the night.

"It's been a factor in ruining some careers," the team president said. "And I'm sure it's been an impediment to the Cubs in winning. ... The approach we're going to have is the opposite of laissez faire. We're not just going to say, 'Oh, that's the way it is. This is Chicago. Boys will be boys. I'm sure they're going to get enough sleep and I'm sure they'll show up the next day ready to play.'


"That's a failure on the organization's part. We have to take a very proactive approach in setting a high standard." 


Sheriff Epstein will be laying down the law. Hey at least outfielder Reed Johnson has his back.


"It's important for young players to recognize that you need to get your sleep," veteran outfielder Reed Johnson said. "This is your career. This is what you do for a livelihood. You need to treat it that way, especially in our park. You don't have that extra 10 hours when you wake up in the morning to get ready for that 7 o'clock night game.


"You've got to be able to get into that routine. ... I know I'm in bed probably by 9, 10 o'clock at night to get ready for that day game."

"If you do it year after year after year, it's definitely going to catch up with you," Johnson said. "You've got to nip that in the bud and get it under control. It's the best thing, not only for the player's career but for the team as well. We're going to need everybody at their best to put up as many wins as we can get."

For Epsteins sake he better hope this translates into more wins or some of the players who are having their "off field activities" taken away from them will be grumbling saying it doesn't make a difference if their out partying or getting a good night's sleep. 

Mayweather says he offered Pacquiao $40 million for fight

There is a lot of talk about how Floyd Mayweather is ducking Manny Pacquiao, but if you ask Mayweather he'll tell you he's done all he could to make it happen in the past few months. Mayweather seems to be over the drug testing flap that initially put the superfight out to pasture. Now it's all about the money.

Mayweather won't give Pacquiao a 50-50 split and told Bob Costas that he offered $40 million to Pacquiao for a May 5th date. Manny balked and now Mayweather will fight Miguel Cotto instead.


"I tried to get it done. I tried to get it done for May 5th," Mayweather told NBC Sports' Bob Costas on "Costas Tonight." 


"It would have been Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, but, I got turned down."


Mayweather explained why he won't give Manny the 50-50 split. The main reason is that he feels Pacquiao's buy rates aren't high enough to garner a split.




"Absolutely not. I'm not giving up the split. I'm not. I can't. I can't afford to," Mayweather said. "I gave this sport my whole life. I have record-breaking numbers that I've done. He has no record-breaking numbers.

"I had done my homework, seen what he was used to making in big fights. I offered him $40 million. I told him I would wire him $20 (million) within 72 hours. I keep 100 percent of the revenue. So why would I even give a guy 50-50? 


"I'm not just the highest paid guy in the sport of boxing. I'm the highest paid athlete."

To Mayweather's credit he's trying to do something, so all the chatter about him ducking Pacquiao should quiet down. I think Mayweather has seen enough of Pacquiao to find some weaknesses to exploit. People tend to forget that Mayweather is a top notch ring general.

If the hold up id over money it would be a shame that it would be the reason why this fight doesn't happen. Is $40 million not enough. Please. You never saw Roberto Duran or Marvin Hagler say that enough wasn't being offered to take a fight.

Hearns says Pacquaio and Mayweather should "go for it"

Back in the day there wasn't a problem to get a match made in the sport of boxing. I grew up in an era of great heavyweights with a stellar middleweight/welterweight class. Fighters had no problem taking on a megafight. You  think Marvin Hagler had any second thoughts about fighting Thomas Hearns? No. It seemed that the only fighter that ducked anyone was Sugar Ray Leonard. That's another story for a different day.

Thomas Hearns fought in what is considered to be a golden age of boxing, especially the welterweight and middleweight classes. So when he hears about all this posturing and bull about why Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao won't fight, he'll say they should just "go for it".

 Hearns said Mayweather and Pacquiao need to “put it all on the line and go for it.”


“We believed in taking on all comers,” Hearns said. “Every fight wasn’t necessarily a good fight, but to us we knew we had to take the fight in order to move on. If we didn’t take a fight, we couldn’t move ahead.


“We knew we had to perform because if we didn’t do that, another man would get up on us. We never wanted anybody to have the upper hand over us. You wanted to have the upper hand.”


In other words, they were willing to take on the best to be the best because that's where the big money was. Hearns believes that Mayweather and Pacquiao will settle their differences, but every time you look up one of the two are fighting someone else. Hearns wouldn't say he's disappointed but would like the two to come together.

It’s not my concern,” he said. 


Hearns endured some tough losses but doesn't look back on his career with any regrets.


“If not, just think how fights would have been different,” he said. “You wouldn’t have had the chance to see all the fights you saw. You wouldn’t have had a chance to have all the thrills from seeing us fight, me and Ray Leonard and Marvin Hagler and Roberto Duran. You would have never seen that.


“I thank God because God allowed that to happen in my time and I fought great fights.”


Too bad enough boxers today don't have the same mindset about taking on all comers.

Jalen Rose wants the banners back up in 2013

The Ed martin scandal kept a black cloud over the Michigan basketball program for over a decade. That cloud is now finally being lifted and Michigan basketball is relevant once again.

The violations from the Fab Five era and a handful of others resulted in probation and shame. The administration took down the Final Four banners, a Big Ten tournament banner and vacated wins from those years. The university also disassociated itself from players involved in the scandal, mainly Chris Webber, the late Robert Traylor, Maurice Taylor, and Louis Bullock among others until 2013.

Jalen Rose played on the Fab Five teams and is now an analyst for ESPN. Rose was a commentator for the Illinois-Michigan game tonight and had some things to say about the immediate future regarding the Michigan program. He wants to see those banners back up.

“Of course, I’m a Michigan fan. I’m an alumnus, I have an endowment at the University,” he said tonight before broadcasting the Michigan-Illinois game at Assembly Hall. “I bleed maize and blue. I want our banners back up in January 2013. Of course I do.”



Looking up at the large ring of honor at Assembly Hall and seeing dozens of banners for a program with less history than U-M got him going.


“Look around this arena, see how they appreciate their players, what they brought to the table,” he said. “Ninety percent of those guys, you don’t even know who they are. That’s an appreciation they show their players. Michigan has retired (five) jerseys in their lifetime, been to six Final Fours and I was playing in two of them.”


“I hope so, I think so, I have a lot of faith,” he said. “I really like Mary Sue Coleman, the president and obviously Dave Brandon, the AD.”


Rose can keep hoping because I think the current administration won't want to bring up the past. I would like to see the banners restored, but I just don't think that'll happen. They'll probably stay locked up in the basement of the library.