RIP Steve… Here is some information in the developing story around McNair’s death. From CBC.ca:
Nashville police say a woman found shot to death with former NFL star Steve McNair recently purchased a gun, according to a report in The Tennessean newspaper.
Sahel Kazemi and the former Tennessee Titans quarterback were found dead on Saturday in a condominium owned by McNair.
Kazemi, 20, died Saturday of a single gunshot wound to the head alongside McNair, who had two gunshots to the head and two to the chest. The gun was found under Kazemi’s body.
“We believe the pistol recovered from the apartment was purchased by Kazemi,” police spokesman Don Aaron told The Tennessean.
Aaron said testing to determine if gunshot residue was present on Kazemi’s hands has not yet been completed.
U.S. federal law prohibits anyone under 21 from purchasing a handgun.
From CNN.com:
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) — Los Angeles Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart was among three people killed in a crash in Fullerton, California, early Thursday, according to the team and a hospital spokesman.
Adenhart, 22, from Silver Spring, Maryland, died at UC Irvine Medical Center, according to spokesman John Murray.
“The Angels family has suffered a tremendous loss today,” Tony Reagins, the team’s general manager, said in a written statement. “We are deeply saddened and shocked by this tragic loss. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Nick’s family, friends, loved ones and fans.”
One person was arrested in connection with the three-vehicle accident that occurred about 12:23 a.m. Thursday in Fullerton, south of Los Angeles. Witnesses say a red minivan ran a red light and struck two vehicles at a Fullerton intersection, police Lt. Craig Brower told CNN.
One of the vehicles, a gray Mitsubishi, slammed into a power pole, Brower said. Two of its passengers were dead at the scene, he said. The other two were transported to UC Irvine Medical Center.
Murray said Adenhart underwent surgery and died at the hospital, but did not know if he died during or after the procedure. Brower said the remaining passenger was in critical condition.
The Angels said the two dead at the scene included the female driver of the Mitsubishi and another male. No other members of the Angels organization were involved, the team said.
A passenger in the minivan was taken to a hospital with minor injuries, Brower said. The third vehicle sustained minor damage, and its driver was unhurt, he said. Police did not identify any of the dead.
The minivan’s driver fled the scene and was later arrested, Brower said. Andrew Thomas Gallo, 22, of Riverside will face charges of manslaughter, felony driving under the influence and hit-and-run, he said.
Footage from the scene showed the minivan with a smashed front end and the Mitsubishi, which was heavily damaged. Debris littered the intersection where the crash took place, and it was cordoned off with yellow police tape.
Adenhart is survived by his father, Jim, and mother, Janet, the Angels’ statement said.
“Nick’s family expresses sincere gratitude for all the help the Angels have provided,” the family said in a statement released by the team.
“He lived his dream and was blessed to be part of an organization comprised of such warm, caring and compassionate people. The Angels were his extended family. Thanks to all of Nick’s loyal supporters and fans throughout his career. He will always be in everyone’s hearts forever.”
Funeral and memorial arrangements were pending, the team said.
Adenhart pitched in a game against the Oakland A’s Wednesday night in Anaheim, California, making what was characterized as a “brilliant effort” despite the Angels’ 6-4 loss, according to Major League Baseball’s Web site, MLB.com.
In his fourth major league start, Adenhart pitched a scoreless six innings, allowing seven hits, three walks and five strikeouts.
“I thought he pitched a terrific game,” manager Mike Scioscia told MLB.com after the game and before the crash took place. “He gave us a chance to win. He has better tools out there now. He pitched ahead a lot and was able to get back in counts and put guys away.”
“It felt good to work out of some jams early,” Adenhart told MLB.com. “My curveball was really working for me, and then my change came on later when I felt I needed it.”
MLBPA Executive Director Donald Fehr issued the following statement:
“We were shaken and deeply saddened when we learned about the terrible accident that claimed the lives of Nick Adenhart and others. Just hours before the accident, Nick demonstrated his passion for baseball and his prospects for a very bright future when he pitched six scoreless innings for the Angels. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Nick’s family, his teammates, the Angels organization and his many friends and fans; it is very painful to lose a son, a teammate and a friend under these circumstances, and we also extend our deepest condolences to the families and friends of the other victims of the crash.”
The Angels drafted Adenhart in the 14th round of the June 2004 draft, according to the team statement. He was in his fifth professional season and made the Angels Opening Day Roster for the first time.
“Adenhart earned his spot in the Angels rotation via a spring training in which he recorded a 3-0 record and a 3.12 ERA over the course of six starts,” the team statement said. “During that span, he struck out 18 while allowing only five base on balls.”
Adenhart made his major league debut May 1, 2008, against Oakland, the team said. At the time, he was the youngest active-roster pitcher in the majors.
Adenhart was a 2004 graduate of Williamsport High School in Williamsport, Maryland. His baseball coach there, Rod Steiner, told CNN affiliate WHAG, “After watching last night, as well as he pitched … things seemed to be going so smooth. This is the last thing that you ever imagine.”
He remembered Adenhart as a hard worker who knew he wanted to be a major-league pitcher while still in high school, and worked hard to achieve that goal, despite a setback when he had to undergo shoulder surgery.
He said area residents who didn’t even know Adenhart followed his career and cheered him on. “He touched a lot of lives.”
– CNN’s Rosalina Nieves and Irving Last contributed to this report.
After her father was murdered during halftime at one of her games Tierra Rogers questions her love of basketball.
Terray Rogers, an anti-violence activist and a constant and visible presence at Tierra’s basketball games, was shot while smoking a cigarette outside during halftime. Police feel Terray was targetted since his friend was not harmed.
Tierra told a writer from ESPN that she has ” her own inner conflict to deal with, and it had to do with basketball. One option was just flat-out quitting, and her coach at Sacred Heart, Harrigan, says he wouldn’t have blamed her. Terray had been slain 100 yards from the gym, and many times Harrigan imagined Tierra turning in her uniform, imagined her saying, Coach, I don’t know if I can walk through these doors every day, knowing my father was killed across the street.
Maybe it will take weeks, maybe months, maybe years. She already has committed to play collegiately at Cal because when she visited campus alone on parents’ weekend — breaking down in tears — she appreciated the way coach Joanne Boyle comforted her. She just tries to plod forward. She still takes the Muni bus to Guy’s gym.”
Nine months later, the motive behind her father’s murder remains a mystery and the police investigation continues.
When we say sport is war, we don’t usually think of horse racing, but reading this, I can’t help but think that horse racing is pretty tough. From FOX Sports:
Eight Belles is dead. She broke two ankles after finishing second in the Kentucky Derby, and since horses can’t live after that kind of injury (for various reasons), she was euthanized on the track.
Eight Belles is dead. It is strangely appropriate that the second-place finisher is the one who died.
If Big Brown had broken his ankles after winning, he would have been the biggest story in America this morning. There would be many calls to rethink the sport of horse racing. There would be a national conversation about whether horse racing is a worthy sporting endeavor or unfit for a civilized society.
If a horse had broken his ankles after finishing last, it would have been one paragraph in newspaper stories — a footnote. Fans would not have paid much attention, because it would be easy to separate the death from the reason we watch the Kentucky Derby — to see who wins.
But when the second-place finisher breaks down and must be euthanized on the track, it becomes a nasty little thought that you can’t get out of your head. You might just find yourself blocking it out and concentrating on the winner, but that will only bring guilt.
Watch more:
35-year old athletes don’t drop dead, do they?
The captain of a Scottish Premier League soccer team died Saturday, collapsing during a game just as he was about to leave the field for a substitute.
Phil O’Donnell, a 35-year-old midfielder for Motherwell, fell to the ground at Fir Park and was carried off on a stretcher and taken by ambulance to a hospital.
Read more.
Sevilla midfielder Antonio Puerta died Tuesday, three days after collapsing on the field during his team’s Spanish league match against Getafe.
Puerta died of “multiple organ failure stemming from prolonged cardiac arrest” and subsequent coronary problems, Virgen del Rocio Hospital director Gimeno Guerrero said in a statement.
The 22-year-old Puerta had been in an intensive care unit since Saturday and had been given assisted ventilation but his condition worsened Tuesday, the hospital said.
Puerta lost consciousness and fell near his own goal Saturday in the 31st minute, but was able to walk off minutes later after being treated by team doctors. But doctors said he had a heart attack in the locker room, and at least one more in the emergency room of the Seville hospital where he was taken.
“The Professional Football League wishes to pass on its most sincere condolences to the family of Antonio Puerta,” the league said in a statement. “It has also declared the next day of league play to be one of official mourning and asked all its affiliated teams to observe a minute’s silence before the games.”
Read more.
Chris Benoit was one tough athlete, but I guess there were some issues beneath the surface, because allegedly, he was involved in a murder suicide.
Our condolences to everyone involved:
A professional wrestling superstar, Chris Benoit, was found dead alongside the bodies of his wife and 7-year-old son and police are treating the case as a possible murder-suicide, authorities said on Tuesday.
Benoit and his wife and young son were discovered on Monday afternoon inside their home in Fayetteville, Georgia, an Atlanta suburb.
Investigators have not disclosed exactly how the three died. But Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard said investigators were not seeking any suspects outside the home where Benoit apparently took his own life after killing his wife and son.
“We’re viewing it at the moment as a murder-suicide,” Ballard told CNN.
“We aren’t foreclosing the possibility that it might be a triple murder but our belief at the present time is that there is no killer at large,” he added.
Benoit’s employer, World Wrestling Entertainment, said in a statement on its Web site that he canceled two events in Texas over the weekend, citing an undisclosed family emergency.
Benoit then sent “several curious text messages” to friends early Sunday morning and this prompted authorities to check on Benoit and his family at their home, the statement said.
Nicknamed “The Rabid Wolverine” and “The Canadian Crippler,” Benoit for two decades has been one of the leading international stars of professional wrestling, which presents choreographed matches involving often outlandish wrestlers.
Benoit began his career in his native Canada more than 20 years ago and wrestled in Japan before moving back to North America.
Read more.
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