Singleton has no regrets about spending $10,000 in lottery

The multistate Mega Millions lottery reached staggering proportions with a jackpot of $640 million. There were three winners in Maryland, Illinois, and Kansas, but Washington Wizards rookie Chris Singleton wasn't among the three.

No dice after dropping $10,000 on lottery tickets. I guess professional athletes have lottery dreams too. Even after spending an absurd amount of money for the tickets, Singleton has no regrets about the money he spent.


Washington Wizards rookie Chris Singleton says it was worth it to buy $10,000 worth of tickets for last week's Mega Millions lottery, adding it was "either that or blowing it in the clubs."


Singleton didn't win a share of the record-breaking top prize, but he said Monday that he did win some money. He's not sure how much because he hasn't gone through all of his tickets yet.


My only beef is that athletes and entertainers shouldn't play to let someone needy have a better shot at winning the top prize.

William Andrews jailed on child support charges

Former Atlanta Falcons running back William Andrews was jailed in Cobb County Friday on a civil contempt charge.

Andrews, 56, of Alpharetta, allegedly failed to pay child support and was arrested Thursday afternoon by a Cobb County deputy, a spokeswoman for the sheriff's office told the AJC. Andrews was being held without bond Friday afternoon.


Andrews' criminal record includes arrests in Gwinnett, Cobb and DeKalb counties, records show.

On Sept. 19, 2004, the day the former Falcons running back was inducted into the Ring of Honor, he was in the Cobb County jail for contempt of court after failing to pay child support. Andrews spent much of 2006 in the DeKalb County Jail on theft by taking charges in an alleged loan fraud case.


Andrews was one of the better running backs in the league during the early 1980's and had a bruising style until a knee injury cut his career short after five productive seasons.

Bruce Pearl and Jimmy Collins call a truce

After a decades long grudge, former Illinois basketball assistant Jimmy Collins has forgiven former Tennessee head basketball coach, Bruce Pearl.

I wouldn't exactly call Collins forgiving Pearl but he did accept Pearl's apology when the two ran into each other in New Orleans Friday night.

If you don't know the story I'll give a cliff notes version of it. Pearl was an assistant at Iowa back in 1989 and Collins was an assistant at Illinois. Both schools were in a heated recruiting battle over the services of Chicago native Deon Thomas.

Pearl secretly recorded a conversation where Collins alledgedly offered thomas $80,000 and a Chevy Blazer. Illinois was hit with probation, Pearl and Collins were never on good terms, and Pearl eventually climbed the coaching ladder to Tennessee while Collins could only land the top job at Illinois-Chicago. Collins never bit his tongue when asked how he felt about Pearl and held a serious grudge against him. 

Eventually Pearl was done in at Tennessee for his own recruiting troubles and lying to NCAA investigators in a classic case of what goes around comes around.

Now it seems the two have made amends this past weekend.


"I saw Jimmy just before dinner about 7 p.m. on Friday; I put my hand out, and he shook it," Pearl, the former Tennessee men's basketball coach, said Sunday. "I told him I'm really sorry about what we all went through, and that Deon Thomas was a victim and there were a lot of victims.


"My apology was it was unfortunate it happened, and it hurt people, ultimately, including me."

" ... I looked up, he was walking toward me," Collins told ESPNChicago.com. "When he got to me, he started to apologize for what had happened. He made it clear that he was young and didn't understand things. He ended up saying he really felt bad because he knew Deon Thomas got hurt.

"The truth of the matter was it was fine. It was a guy who had gone through some changes, and as he's gotten older, he realized some things were wrong, and he apologized for it."

"I let it go; there's nothing I can do with what happened then," he said. "I'm not going around with a lot of hate in my heart. I'm not going to hold a grudge all your life."

I can see why Collins was cold as ice to Pearl, but it was the unspoken oath that Pearl broke that caused the rift between the two. Maybe after what Pearl went through at the end of his Tennessee tenure he could see what he did wrong. At least he reached out to Collins and wanted to make it right.

Book by private eye says O.J. Simpson didn't committ murder

This just in. Celebrity private eye, William Dear says that O.J. Simpson wasn't the killer in the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.

Dear's book, “O.J. Is Innocent and I Can Prove It”, says that the real killer was O.J.'s oldest son, Jason.

Seriously, is this an April Fool's joke or something? I don't know, but Dear theorized why O.J. was innocent and  Jason was the one they should've been looking for.

Dear has spent 17 years de-constructing the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman on the night of June 12, 1994.


Digging through his prime suspect’s trash and abandoned storage locker, Dear says a treasure trove of circumstantial evidence points to the 41-year-old son.


According to Dear, among the items he found in the locker were a hunting knife, owned by the “overlooked suspect,” that forensic experts believe is the murder weapon never found by investigators and photos of Jason wearing knit caps similar to one at the crime scene that failed to be linked to his dad.


Dear questions why his suspect was never interviewed by police nor his fingerprints or DNA compared to unidentified ones at the crime scene.


Jason battled with “intermittent rage disorder” and assaulted his girlfriend two months prior to the murders, Dear claims.


He also contends that Jason confesses to having a Jekyll-and-Hyde personality and heavy drug use and cryptically declares “that this is the year of the knife for me” in his diary.


He could be right and I've always said that if O.J. didn't do it he knew who did. Maybe he put Jason up to it. I just don't know.

The worse part of it is that the families of Brown and Goldman have to think about this tragedy once again.

Luck's tutor says the Colts would be making a mistake by taking Griffin

Even with owner Jim Irsay saying that it's "up in the air" about whether the Indianapolis Colts select Robert Griffin III or Andrew Luck, I'd bet good money that the Colts select Luck with the first overall pick of the NFL Draft on April 26.

It almost seems like a foregone conclusion, but there are some that think the Colts should select Griffin over Luck. ESPN's Merill Hoge and NFL Films' Greg Cosell are amongst those in support of Griffin.

Andrew Luck's private quarterback coach, George Whitfield thinks if the Colts don't select Luck they'll be making a mistake. Remember that Whitfield also worked with Carolina's Cam Newton before the draft and he ended up being the top pick in last year's draft. So he might know what he's talking about.

"If they over-think this, they're going to make a mistake they'll regret for years,'' said George Whitfield Jr., Luck's private quarterbacks coach.

"He's constantly being categorized as being safe, the sure thing, almost to the point where it's a negative like there's a ceiling, no apparent way for him to get better,'' Whitfield said. "It's like they're describing a girl you've never seen as smart, witty, funny, consistent, without saying anything about her physically. It almost feels like they're looking at him as the guy with the least amount of negatives.

"Let me tell you: He's far from a finished product. He's very far along, but there are still things he's working on mechanically and there are lots of things he'll get better at by being in the NFL. People are now seeing him throw those intermediate and perimeter passes, and those are throws he's been dying to make. You don't think David Shaw (Luck's coach at Stanford) didn't want to make more of those perimeter throws or go downtown more during the season? But look at Stanford's skill position guys. You can only spend within the budget you have.

"But he's athletic. He's cat quick. He's strong. People are saying he's a prototypical pocket passer, like they're putting him in this category. But there's a lot more he can do.''

In my opinion, I think the Colts will select Luck and although I think both will contribute to their teams, Griffin is set up more for immediate success if he lands in Washington as expected. It's just unfair that Luck is going to be looked upon as the savior since I don't think he's cut out for that role. He'll be good, I just don't think Colts fans should expect the best out of him just yet.

    

Jacob Pullen isn't happy about Kansas State hiring Bruce Weber

You can call former Kansas State guard Jacob Pullen a bitter man if you want. He just stated how he felt about Kansas State's hiring of former Illinois coach Bruce Weber.

The hiring was a surprise, considering that no one knew who Kansas State had on their radar and how quiet their search was after Frank Martin bolted for South Carolina.

Pullen. who is the school's all time scoring leader took to Twitter to rip Weber's hiring and his recruiting. Remember that Pullen is a Chicago guy and Weber didn't take full advantage of the fertile recruiting area.

"I support kstate for life no matter what but I'm not a Bruce Webber fan and I think Kstate can do a lot better," Pullen tweeted early Saturday. "Bruce Webber didn't think I was good enough to play at Illinois and I don't think he is good enough to coach at Kansas State."


Pullen may come off as bitter but there could be some truth to what he said. He's also saying what many Kansas State fans are thinking right now.

 

Charles Rogers is a wanted man

Every time the name Charles Rogers is brought up, it's usually associated with bad news. The former first round bust and Michigan State and Detroit Lions receiver constantly found himself in trouble. He should be the poster boy for wasted talent, even though Ryan Leaf might have something to say about that.

The latest news on Rogers is that he's wanted by Saginaw police on two separate warrants.


Former Lions and Michigan State receiver Charles Rogers has yet to turn himself in on two warrants seeking his arrest in Saginaw, WJRT-TV reported.


Rogers, 30, is charged with five misdemeanors in two unrelated incidents.


Rogers is charged with making a malicious phone call and conspiring to commit a crime in March, and possessing marijuana, an open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle, and driving on a suspended license in December.


The marijuana charge carries a maximum sentence of one year in jail, while the phone call charge carries a six-month maximum sentence.

Rogers has turned out to be a fine member of society. I say that in jest. I know there are Michigan football fans that will use Rogers as fuel for Michigan State jokes. This isn't a Michigan vs. Michigan State issue. It's about someone who wasted a gift, squandered money, and hasn't been a functional member of society. Anyone aspiring to be a pro athlete should use Rogers as a cautionary tale of what not to do when it comes to  off field decisions.