Lawyer regrets tip to Tressel
The Columbus, Ohio, lawyer who tipped off Ohio State Coach Jim Tressel that two of his players were involved in a federal drug trafficking case has received death threats and now says he regrets ever contacting Tressel.
“I’m not the Judas in this situation. You know, I feel like Peter, but I’m not the Judas,” attorney Christopher Cicero said in an interview Friday with ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” and reported on ESPN.com.
Tressel has admitted he violated NCAA rules by not disclosing information that Cicero e-mailed to him. He repeatedly refrained from telling Ohio State’s compliance department or his superiors about potential NCAA bylaw violations involving some of his players.
Four Auburn football players -- Mike McNeil, Antonio Goodwin, Shaun Kitchens and Dakota Mosley -- have been kicked off the team after being arrested early Friday morning on charges of robbery, burglary and theft of property.
Gary Wichard, the longtime NFL player agent who was suspended last year for his role in a recruiting scandal at North Carolina, died Friday at his home in Westlake Village from diabetes and pancreatic cancer. He was 60.
An agent since 1980, Wichard’s NFL clients included Dwight Freeney, Jason Taylor, Antonio Cromartie, Elvis Dumervil, Terrell Suggs and Darren Sproles.
On Friday, seven months after his investment group bought the team, the American League champion Texas Rangers abruptly announced that Chuck Greenberg was leaving the club.
Growing differences between the charismatic chief executive, team President Nolan Ryan and board co-chairmen Ray Davis and Bob Simpson had been an ongoing issue out of the public eye and led to Greenberg’s departure. The principals did not disclose what those differences were.
Ryan will add the title of CEO and oversee baseball and business operations, reporting directly to the team’s board of directors.
The Sparks hired Joe Bryant and Sandy Brondello as assistant coaches, the team announced.
Bryant was first hired by the team as an assistant coach under Henry Bibby in 2005. He was promoted to head coach with five games remaining in the season and went 4-1 while the Sparks finished with a 17-17 record.
He returned as head coach in 2006 and led the team to a 25-9 record and an appearance in the Western Conference finals. Most recently, Bryant, the father of Lakers star Kobe Bryant, has been coaching Rera Kamuy Hokkaido, a Japanese first-division men’s team.
-- Melissa Rohlin
Olympic champion Hannah Kearney of the United States won the World Cup moguls event at Are, Sweden, and the women’s season title. Canada’s Alexandre Bilodeau was the men’s moguls winner.
Shani Davis of the United States and Irene Wust of the Netherlands won gold medals at the speedskating world championships at Inzell, Germany. Davis won at 1,000 meters, bouncing back from his loss in the 1,500 a day earlier. He captured his sixth world title by beating two Dutchmen, Kjeld Nuis and Stefan Groothuis.
Wust grabbed her second title in two days, leading a Dutch medal sweep in the 1,500. There was another victory for the Netherlands when Bob de Jong took the 5,000.
