THE GOOD....THE BAD....THE UGLY

Enjoy a few stories within the sports world:


LIFE SAVING TAKEDOWN



BY Kerry Burke, Christian Red and Leo Standora
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Saturday, April 24th 2010

Tampa Bay Rays broadcaster Kevin Kennedy and seven other men subdued a mentally disturbed man Friday after he went bonkers on a cross-country flight.

"I am going to bring this plane down!" 46-year-old Stanley Sheffield shrieked as he splashed sleepy passengers on a red-eye Delta Air Lines flight with water from a plastic bottle.

"You need to land this plane or I'm going to blow it up," he said on the Los Angeles-to-Tampa flight. "I will blow up this plane and take you all with me."

He then strode toward the cockpit door, shouting, "Get behind me, Satan!"

The commotion on the flight with 107 passengers and crew woke the dozing Kennedy, who made eye contact with other men in first class. They wordlessly agreed to take action.

"When I stood up, he kind of stared me down," the 55-year-old Kennedy said. "I was probably 4 feet from him.

"As soon as he started to go for the cockpit door, we charged. We took him down. We tied him up," Kennedy said. "But it was not an easy takedown. We finally got him hogtied with seat belt extensions from the plane."

Kennedy said Sheffield broke free twice, snapping one of the extensions and a leather belt before finally giving up.

Sheffield's former wife told the Daily News he's bipolar and has been in and out of mental institutions for the past five years.

"This is a whole new level for his illness," said Mary Sheffield, 46, of Brandon, Fla. "I wouldn't imagine him doing anything like this in a million years. He's been committed three times, but he's never harmed anyone."

"It was the real deal," Kennedy said before the Rays' game against Toronto on Friday night. "There wasn't time to think, just react. When somebody says they're going to blow up the plane, there's no fooling around."

The pilot landed in Albuquerque, where Sheffield was taken into custody and charged with interference with flight crew members and attempted destruction of an aircraft. A federal judge ordered him held pending a hearing Monday.

FBI investigators said they don't believe the incident was related to terrorism.




THE BAD NEWS PIRATES



By Chuck Finder, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Monday, April 26, 2010

At least the fan came prepared. Scott Dilworth, a Munhall native whose family transplanted to Texas because of an oil job a quarter-century ago, wore a gold-on-black Pirates T-shirt that bore the No. 18 and a prediction across its shoulders: Consecutive.

"It's self-explanatory," Dilworth, 42, said of the number made recognizable in years past by Andy Van Slyke and Jason Kendall, though in this instance representative of the record-shattering losing streak so many portend to reach 18 in this 2010 Pirates season. "I'm actually surprised MLB.com let me order it. I knew they have a lot of rules about obscene stuff. ... They sent it to me, and I'm like, 'All right.' "

Despite his higher expectations, this day was a little better for one guy 60 feet, 6 inches in front of Minute Maid Park home plate.

He watched fastball after fastball give the Astros difficulty in a 1-2-3 first inning -- only his fourth in the 11 innings he worked to date.

Then the Astros did a number on starter Charlie Morton and his breaking pitches plus slipping fastball command, not so different from what Arizona, San Francisco and Milwaukee did to him previously. Houston handed Morton his fourth loss in four starts. They touched him for five hits, five earned runs, two walks, one Lance Berkman homer and a hit batsman in 17 plate appearances.

Morton and manager John Russell left this game and Houston with the same belief: All is not wrong.

"I do feel there were positive strides taken," said Morton, whose five runs allowed actually constitute his lowest of the season so far -- after nine, eight and six, in order. "The first inning went well. Even after Berkman hit that home run [to lead off the second], I still felt like I was being aggressive. I think later on it just ... the fastball command wasn't where I wanted it to be. That's the key to having my fastball in the zone, getting ahead."

Morton tried using a narrow plan of attack, throwing a steady diet of 92- to 94-mph fastballs the entire first inning and into the second.

"I didn't see anything that I needed to alter," he said. "Obviously, in retrospect, the Berkman home run, I probably should've thrown something off-speed or just made a better pitch. I was trying to go in, and I threw it up and away."

Pirates management isn't about to throw Morton from the rotation, into the garage or to Class AAA. He will stay in that spot, starting every fifth day, Russell said: "Still working through some things. Saw some improvements today. He's just got to piece it all together.

"He wanted to establish some [early fastball] command, which I thought he did. As the game went along, he just couldn't maintain, started getting behind a little bit. We'll continue to work and get him where he needs to be."

Read more at:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10116/1053409-63.stm




HOW MUCH FOR A NIGHT?



BY Michael Silver
Apr 27, 12:45 pm EDT

On the second day of 2008, Jeff Ireland got the type of big-time NFL gig he’d always wanted, leaving the Dallas Cowboys’ personnel department to serve under football czar Bill Parcells as the Miami Dolphins’ general manager.

By all accounts, he is very good at evaluating talent. Unfortunately, his people skills aren’t nearly as accomplished. From what I can tell, Ireland seems like a strong candidate to be decreed the biggest jerk in the history of job interviewers.

I wonder how Sandi would feel about the story I’m about to share, one which simultaneously illustrates the Dolphins’ organizational arrogance and the NFL’s complete disconnect from society when it comes to such things as respect, decorum and class.

In fairness to Ireland, the Dolphins’ habitually brusque treatment of their current and prospective players is purely a Parcells production. Unfortunately for the general manager, he’s about to be unmasked as an A-list A-hole.

Last Wednesday, the night before he was selected 24th overall by the Cowboys, former Oklahoma State wide receiver Dez Bryant(notes) told me that during one of his predraft visits, a high-level executive of one NFL franchise had asked him if his mother, Angela, was a prostitute.

“No, my mom is not a prostitute,” said Bryant, whose background – including his mother’s lifestyle and past legal troubles – was under great scrutiny prior to the draft. “I got mad – really mad – but I didn’t show it.”

The offender was Ireland, whose franchise apparently holds nothing sacred in regards to its evaluations of potential employees.

In recent weeks, we’ve heard about some preposterous questions that have been tossed at this year’s top draft prospects, including one team’s query to defensive tackle Gerald McCoy(notes) during an interview at the NFL scouting combine: Do you play in a G-string or a jock strap? (Creepy.)

Safety Myron Rolle(notes), who passed up his senior season at Florida State to accept a Rhodes Scholarship, said he was asked by the Bucs what it felt like to desert his team. (Ignorant.)


to read more on the story and this scum bag follow the link:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ms-trippintuesday042710