Morning Briefing: Florida State apologizes for Martin Luther King Jr. tweet

The Florida State football team found itself in hot water when its recruiting Twitter account sent out a tweet of an image of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. altered to appear as if he was doing the school’s tomahawk chop. The King quote “If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way” was included with the image.

Some people were offended it would trivialize King’s birthday by having him appear to be a Florida State fan while others were offended that it would have him do what some consider a racially insensitive chant.

Florida State deleted the tweet and then apologized on the same account.

“In a well-intentioned effort to recognize Martin Luther King, Jr. on this special day, a member of our recruiting staff created a graphic using one of Dr. King’s quotes – ‘If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.’ The quote resonated with our program’s Do Something mantra.

“However, in our attempt to more closely connect the message to FSU, we foolishly posted a graphic that was not in line with our intent. We are sorry for missing the mark in our attempt to celebrate Dr. King’s legacy.”

Romodamus

Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and current NFL analyst Tony Romo has developed quite a reputation for predicting plays, even at times seeming to know what audible a quarterback is calling while at the line. He is so good at it, that athletes from other sports are noticing.

After Sunday’s New England Patriots-Kansas City Chiefs game, free agent baseball star Bryce Harper sent Romo a tweet that said, “Just called Tony Romo to see where I’m going to play next year.” Romo responded a little while later with “Well….. looks like you’ll be playing for the Texas Rangers on opening day.”

There are baseball fans in Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angeles who are hoping that isn’t true.

That’s a short list

Muggsy Bogues, a standout NBA player mainly for the Charlotte Hornets despite being only 5-feet-3, 135 pounds, is making the media rounds to promote the fact that Charlotte is hosting the All-Star game this season. Ben Rohrbach of Yahoo Sports asked Bogues to list his all-time starting lineup of players under 6 feet tall. Here’s who Bogues picked.

Spud Webb (5-6), Earl Boykins (5-5), Isaiah Thomas (5-9), Nate Robinson (5-9) and Michael Adams (5-10).

No paparazzi

Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra shook hands with Boston Celtics general manager Danny Ainge before the two teams played earlier Monday, and Spoelstra suddenly seemed to realize that his boss is Pat Riley, noted Celtics and Ainge hater.

While shaking hands, Spoelstra said to Ainge, “Don’t send a picture of that to Pat.”

Ainge responded, “I have pictures of Pat shaking my hand.”

Lifesaver

Former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum was on a beach in Torrance on Sunday when he noticed two people struggling in the water.

Werdum told AgFight.com, “When we saw the fireman’s car, the car stopped in front of us. I said I was going to help and Karine [Werdum’s wife] was in doubt, because it was dangerous, but when I looked, they had two little heads in the sea shouting ‘help.’ They were very far, about 70 meters in. When the lifeguard picked up the board alone, I took off my coat and ran off.

“I took the orange buoy, I crossed it in the chest and I arrived with him, a little ahead still. I told him to get the girl, who was screaming a lot, and I got the boy, who was soft already. I was able to catch him and we went towards the beach... Wow, the heart was the million, it’s an extreme situation, the heart goes to a million. It’s worse than fighting. It does not even come close.”

There is video of the incident online on YouTube.