The Port Arthur News
July 19, 2008 10:01 pm
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Lamar University football coach Ray Woodard already has a pretty good idea who the Cardinals opponent first opponent will be when the school resumes football in 2010. Woodard, who played in the Port Arthur News Newspapers in Education golf tournament Friday at Belle Oaks, says he already has eight contracts out for the 2010 season. A few of the first-year opponents will likely include current Southland Conference teams. Woodard, by the way, is anxious to speak at service club luncheons in Mid and South County about his plans for the Cardinals program. He can be reached at 880-7609 . . . Tiger Woods, laid up in Florida after knee surgery, wasn’t able to inch closer to Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 major golf championships at the British Open but he did manage to pad his strangehold on the most all-time ESPY awards for an individual. Although the ESPYs are being televised tonight (8 p.m., ESPN), the actual ceremonies were Wednesday night in Los Angeles and Tiger was tops in three categories — Male Athlete, Best Championship Performance and Golfer of the Year. He now has 21 ESPYs. Main reason to watch tonight, of course, is to see Port Arthuran Kevin Everett receive the Jimmy V ESPY for Perservance. The reception he gets is appropriately special.
Training camp opens for the Kansas City Chiefs this week but Memorial’s Jamaal Charles may not be there. The Chiefs, who have a well-documented history of playing contract hardball with draft choices, had signed just six of their 12 picks as of Friday. Unsigned were the teams’s two first rounders, their second round selection and two of their three choices in the third round. While NFL training camps are needlessly long, especially for veteran players, it never helps for rookies to come in late . . . One Port Arthuran who figures to be in camp on time is Charles’ former Memorial teammate James Johnson. Johnson, the No. 3 rusher in the Big 12 last season, signed as a free agent with Cincinnati and the Bengals really liked what they saw during mini camps. Based on newspaper reports, and what Cincy coach Marvin Lewis has been saying about him, it appears Johnson has an excellent chance to make the final roster. His biggest problem may be name recognition. The Bengals have four other Johnsons — Chad, Rudi, Jeremy and Brandon — and two of them play in the backfield . . . Nederland ex Micah Mosley, who is penciled in as North Texas’ starting running back after a steller freshman season, made the Mosley family proud for more than just his football. The Sun Belt Conference recently announced its Commissioner’s List of athletes who posted a 3.5 grade average or better. Mosley, whose major is Engineering, was on it.
The Houston Rockets organization really has to be holding its collective breath over Yao Ming’s seemingly premature return to competitive basketball. Yao, whose stress fracture of the left foot is reportedly 80 percent healed, played 12 minutes Thursday night for the Chinese National team in an Olympics warmup game. He scored 11 points and grabbed four rebounds in 12 minutes. The pressure on Yao to play has to be intense in China, but it’s going to be devastating if he reinjures the foot . . . Believe it or not, there is one school in college sports that isn’t willing to sell its soul, or inconvenience its boosters, for a king size check. The University of New Mexico recently rejected a $1.8 million offer to move its Sept. 6 home game against Texas A&M to San Antonio. AD Paul Krebs, who initially gave thumbs down to $1.5 million, said he turned down the increased offer because it would have been selling out the school’s fan base. How refreshing. New Mexico, of course, is quarterbacked by Memorial ex Donovan Porterie . . . Florida has surpassed Texas has the No. 1 exporter of Division 1 schoolboy football talent. According to Texas Football magazine, Florida is sending 202 players to 68 out-of-state schools while Texas is farming out 193 to 64 schools. Texas, however, still has the edge in most D1 signees — 370 to 350. California is third at 346, then the number drops to 161 for Georgia and 145 for Ohio.
Greg Norman, who raised eyebrows with his impressive start in the British Open, recently signed off on an eye-opening divorce settlement. Norman, now married to former tennis star Chris Everett, saw a net worth that was reportedly $500 million take a $103 million hit. Included in the settlement with ex-wife Laura was a $50 million up-front payment, $30.2 million spread over the next 15 years and $17.5 million from the sale of the couple’s Jupiter Island mansion. Take note, Alex Rodridguez . . . Among the collateral damage from the Roger Clemens steroid saga is the Roger Clemens Award to the top pitcher in college baseball. Instead of being presented at a gala, fund-raising dinner in Houston, which helped the Greater Houston Baseball Association raise $300,000 for charity the past four years, the award is being presented in a private ceremony. While Clemens news has been on the back burner of late, word is that the feds are leaving no stone unturned in an attempt to nail the arrogant ex Astro on perjury charges . . . Don’t think I’ve ever seen a potentially nastier situation between a team a and a star player than what’s brewing between Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers. Favre has put Green Bay in a no-win situation that could haunt the franchise for years. Reaction has been more mixed among Packer fans than you’d think, given Favre’s god-like status, but there can be no winners in this deal. Young QB Aaron Rodgers is undoubtedly the big loser.
Biggest recruiting coup of the year didn’t belong to any of the national football or basketball powers, but to the Wake Forest women’s golf team. Wake landed a talented young lady by the name of Cheyenne Woods. Yes, there is a connection to that other golfing Woods. He’s Uncle Tiger to Cheyenne. Can you imagine the promotional and fund-raising opportunties, not to mention Nike equipment, for a school whose most famous golfing ex is Arnold Palmer ? ? ? While the Houston Astros organization is said to be suffering from a lack of first-rate talent at its top minor league league teams, at least those clubs perform in first-class facilities. The Minor League News recently named Whatburger Field, the home of Houston’s AA Corpus Christi Hooks, the best minor league ball park in the nation. Runnerup to Whatburger Field was Dell Diamond, home of the Astros AAA operation in Round Rock. Dell Diamond had been named No. 1 the previous two years . . . Neither the Astros or Texas Rangers are likely to be in the playoffs, but they could wind up housing both of baseball’s most valuable players for the 2008 season. A mid-season poll released in Wedesday’s USA Today had the Astros Lance Berkman running slightly ahead of Philadelphia’s Chase Utley and St. Louis’ Albert Pujols in the NL. Texas’ Josh Hamilton, meanwhile, was a runaway leader over Justin Morneau of the Minnesota Twins. Two Lone Star MVPs in the same year would be quite a coup.
Sports editor Bob West can be e-mailed at rdwest@usa.net. His Sportsrap radio show airs Mondays at 7:05 p.m. on KLVI (560-AM).
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