Former draft bust Akili Smith has a surprising new path
Former draft bust Akili Smith has a surprising new path
Akili Smith found the NFL to be tough going. (Getty Images) LostLettermen.com is a college football and men’s basketball site. Today, we check in on the current whereabouts of NFL draft bust Akili Smith. Former Oregon quarterback Akili Smith isn’t where anyone thought he would be 13 years after he was selected with the third overall pick in the 1999 NFL Draft: Slogging toward the finish line of finally getting his college degree. “I gotta do a Spanish or a math (classes), so I’m thinking that’s going to take about a year and a half. So I should be done here in the next couple years,” Smith recently said by phone. More from LostLettermen.com • NFL Draft’s Top 10 memorable moments• Ray Lewis’ son commits to Miami (FL)• Joe Montana selling house for $35M•Flutie’s daughter: Pats cheerleader Smith, now 36, never finished his degree as a senior at the University of Oregon when he realized he would make millions as a high NFL draft pick. He’s now finishing what he started, taking classes last semester and planning to chip away over the summer at the 20 remaining credits he needs at a junior college in his native San Diego. In order to receive his diploma, Smith will eventually move back to Eugene to finish his requirements now over a decade removed from his exploits on the gridiron. [Related: NFL draft's 50 biggest busts: Where are they now?] In the meantime, Smith is the quarterbacks coach at St. Augustine High School in his hometown. He is also setting up a football company called “Akili Smith Training” in the area. Of course, this isn’t the path scouts foresaw for Smith prior to the 1999 draft. A junior college transfer that dominated as a senior for the Ducks, draft pundits drooled over Smith’s cannon arm and athleticism leading up to the draft despite the fact Smith had just 11 starts for Oregon. (Getty Images)But Smith wasn’t ready for the fame, fortune and attention afforded to high draft picks. He flamed out of the NFL after just four seasons and five career touchdown passes with the Cincinnati Bengals and has admitted he partied and drank too hard to succeed. His football career finally came to a close in 2007 after stints in NFL Europe and the CFL. Smith has vowed to work hard toward a degree that will help him become more attractive for significant college or NFL coaching jobs and appears at ease with the label of an “NFL draft bust.” “[Being called a bust] used to really bother me about three, four years ago. But now when I look back on it, it doesn’t really bother me no more. I know that it was me that did it,” Smith said. [Related: Mark Rypien's daughter, Angela, takes talents to new Lingerie team] “Now, was the [Bengals] organization where it needed to be at that time? No. Marvin Lewis and the Browns [ownership] have done a great job getting it where it’s supposed to be, getting it in the right direction, where it needs to be. “But it’s still my fault for the off-the-field shenanigans that I was doing. I can hold my head up high now and deal with it.” The ex-quarterback said that he ran away from the pressures in Cincinnati, where he was deemed a savior for a franchise that hadn’t made the playoffs since 1990 with Boomer Esiason under center. “You have to run towards your problems, address them and get them fixed,” Smith said. [Related: Ex-Bengal Ki-Jana Carter now running… sanitation company?] At this point in his life, Smith said he wants to relay that message to young football players and help them avoid the pitfalls that led to him falling short of his advanced billing. Smith has some advice for the young quarterbacks that will be selected in this month’s NFL draft — and he speaks from experience. “I think these guys need to stay in their respective [NFL] cities, stay at the facility, stay in their community, stay at the local YMCA and things of that nature to try to build that brand depending on what team you play for,” Smith said. “Then obviously you can pop on home or head down to South Beach or something like that, then get back … because you are now part of that NFL team, that corporation. That’s the biggest thing that I didn’t understand.” According to Sports Illustrated in 2009, Smith would fly back and forth between Cincinnati and San Diego answering calls from “multiple women, my boys, club promoters” and living a life on the party scene. He called himself an “embarrassment.” [Related: NFL draft bust Tony Mandarich goes from lineman to cameraman] As for Smith’s future after graduation, he said he will reach back out to Cal head Jeff Tedford, his former college offensive coordinator for whom he was an administrative assistant in 2010, and Oregon, a program he heaped praise upon for its success under coach Chip Kelly. Smith certainly offers a unique perspective to young players. “I can show you how to get there and I can show you how to get yourself out of there,” Smith said. And he might be able to do it in more than one language. Most popular on LostLettermen.com:• PHOTO: Ryan Tannehill’s model fiancee turning heads• VIDEO: RB crashes during NFL combine 40-yard dash• PHOTO: ESPN’s Jenn Brown gets hitched to actor• PHOTOS: Football helmet design concepts go viral on web• Stars Behind Bars: Ex-football standouts now in prison
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Orozco adds Winter Cup title to resume (AP)
Orozco adds Winter Cup title to resume (AP)
LAS VEGAS (AP)—The former Olympic champion is one and done. Paul Hamm struggled big-time Thursday in his first gymnastics meet in four years—a day that started poorly and got even worse after he left the gym. Hours after his below-par performance at the Winter Cup Challenge, a second round of gymnasts took to the floor and knocked Hamm to a tie for 48th place in the standings, denying him one of the 42 spots for Saturday’s finals. An unfathomable result for the man who used to be known as the world’s best gymnast, but is now simply another guy with a dream of making the London Olympics—and a lot of work in front of him to get there. “This has been one of my weaker performances of my career,” Hamm said. “It’s disappointing for sure. I’m not happy. I just have to be constructive here. It’s all I can really do.” The 2004 all-around Olympic champion fell off the pommel horse early, landed hard on the floor exercise late and mixed in more wobbles and bobbles than he usually throws out there in a year. Performing in four of six events, the 29-year-old from Wisconsin scored higher than 13.9 on only one of them—a frustrating day for an athlete not used to giving performances like this in public. “He came up to me and said, `Man, I don’t feel like myself today,”’ said Jonathan Horton, another past national champion, who has been training with Hamm for the last three weeks. Granted, this event is viewed by almost everyone in gymnastics as a warm-up for the more important stuff to come on the road to London. And Hamm has only been training for eight months since tearing up his right shoulder—injuries that have ended many a career in this sport. Still, after a day that fell well below his own lowered expectations, the man who used to define excellence found himself in spots that were once unthinkable. Not only did he miss the final 42, he now must wait to see if he’ll earn one of three wildcard spots on the 15-man national team to be named at the end of the weekend. Not making that team won’t eliminate him from contention for the Olympics, but it would deprive him of some funding opportunities and chances to compete for the U.S. in international events. Hamm said he would continue to train either way. “Paul, whether he makes the national team or doesn’t make the national team, he’s a big-picture guy,” said four-time national champion John Roethlisberger, who is on the men’s program committee. “I’m not going to say it doesn’t matter. But this is a step on the road. Tomorrow, for him, he’s going to go back in the gym. Maybe there will be a little more fire in his belly, but there’s fire in his belly already.” Save his high-flying vault—where he scored a 15.4 for his roundoff into a front flip with a full twist—this was not a pretty day. He opened the meet on the pommel horse and was the last competitor in the gym to go during the first rotation. The judges, slow on the draw, held him up for more than a minute, and when Hamm finally did get the green light, he grabbed onto the pommels for five, six, seven seconds, then jumped onto the horse and back into the world of competitive gymnastics. Less than 10 seconds later, though, he slipped and was back on the ground. “Pommel horse and parallel bars, I goofed up a skill early in the routines and that just kind of set me off on a bad path for the rest of it,” Hamm said. Leading after the first day was Chris Brooks, an alternate from the team that finished third at last year’s world championships. Next were John Orozco and reigning national champion Danell Leyva, both members of the bronze-medal team that has potential, Hamm says, to do even better this year in London. Horton worked on only one event, the pommel horse, and struggled to a score of 12.25. He’s overcoming a broken left foot and is scheduled to get the pins out next Tuesday. “It wasn’t a great routine today, but people saw my upgrades,” Horton said. “People with a trained eye see I’m swinging better pommel horse. The national coordinator and the national coaches see what I’m doing in training and I’m not behind at all.” Of course, training and competition are two different animals, and Hamm was the first to admit that. “Today, I just felt more fatigued than I usually would in competition,” he said. “Then on top of it, there’s the nervousness and all the other elements that might throw you off. It was enough to get you off track.” Hamm scored 13.9 on floor (good for ninth on the event), 13.05 on pommel horse (12th) and 13.4 on bars (17th). Through all the struggles, however, he did show glimmers of the kind of gymnast he can be—the kind of gymnast he has been inside the training gym for the last few months, if reports from his camp, along with his video Facebook posts, are to be believed. His flairs on the floor were as big and exciting as anyone’s, legs kicking high above his shoulders and bringing audible gasps from every corner of the small arena. And there are still the precise lines of his handstands, the explosiveness of his leaps, the businesslike attitude of everything he does, that bring back memories of the champion he once was—and hopes to be again. On this day, though, it was hard not to think back to four years ago. Back then, Hamm was returning from a lengthy break, hoping to defend his Olympic title. The quest began at the same meet, in the same city, in the same gym. He won that meet by a whopping 7.25 points. After the first day—a day in which he looked every bit the champion—Hamm was asked to grade himself. He gave himself an `A-minus.’ Same question, four years later: “Definitely in the `D’ range today,” he said. “I’m not happy. I’m frustrated. Today’s been very frustrating to me.”
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NFC Conference Betting – Vikings at Saints
NFC Conference Betting – Vikings at Saints
Minnesota Vikings at New Orleans Saints Betting Odds – Game Pick Banner -Online Sports Bettingat Bodog Sportsbook NFL Football Game Picks Super Bowl 46 ATS Pick Super Bowl MVP Odds Weird Super Bowl 46 Prop Bets Giants at 49ers ATS Pick Ravens vs. Patriots Spread Pick Broncos vs. Patriots Spread Pick NY Giants vs. Green Bay ATS Pick Houston vs. Baltimore ATS Pick New Orleans vs. San Francisco ATS Pick Pittsburgh vs. Denver ATS Pick Atlanta vs. NY Giants ATS Pick Detroit vs. New Orleans ATS Pick Cincinnati vs. Houston ATS Pick Bettors Toolbox 2011 NFL Betting Trends 2011 Strength Of Schedule Free Office Football Picks NFL Handicapper’s Database Weather Forecasts NFL Future Odds AFC East Odds AFC West Odds AFC South Odds AFC North Odds NFC West Odds NFC East Odds NFC South Odds NFC North Odds Super Bowl Odds Rookie of the Year Odds Top Defensive Rookie Most Passing Yards Most Rushing Yards Most Receiving Yards NFL Handicapping Halftime Betting Tips Strategy for Wagering NFL Totals Sandwhich Game Handicapping Theory 8 Myths about Betting on Football NFL Key Numbers Halftime Betting Preseason Betting Football Gambling – How to Win Overlooked Handicapping Tools NFL Betting Basics
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Kvitova keeps semi loss in perspective (AP)
Kvitova keeps semi loss in perspective (AP)
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP)—Bob Bryan plays for his record 12th Grand Slam doubles title with his brother Mike on Saturday, but he’s advising wife Michelle not to watch on television at home in Miami. He doesn’t want her to go into labor until he’s back in the country. The couple is expecting the birth of their first child—a girl—and Michelle’s due date just happens to fall on the same day as the doubles final. “I’ve been telling her, ‘Don’t watch the matches, it will get your heart rate going and you might spit that baby out,”’ Bob Bryan said after the brothers’ tight semifinal win on Thursday. “She knows she’s a few days away from me coming home. She’s not going to risk it, not now.” Bryan almost caught an earlier flight back to Florida. The top-seeded brothers had to fight off a match point and rally from a 5-2 deficit in the third-set tiebreaker to beat Robert Lindstedt of Sweden and Horia Tecau of Romania. “I think we maybe got a little lucky,” Mike Bryan said. “Played kind of our best tennis at the very end.” The brothers were coming off a tough, three-set quarterfinal win over Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski of Poland that didn’t finish until 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday because they followed the 4-hour-plus men’s singles quarterfinal between Rafael Nadal and Tomas Berdych at Rod Laver Arena. “It was tough to sleep last night because we were used to being up,” Mike Bryan said. The Americans now play the unseeded pairing of Leander Paes of India and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic in the final for a chance to make history. They’re currently level at 11 career Grand Slam titles with the Australian doubles team of Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge, known at home as the “Woodies.” “They’ve always seemed like they’ve been happy for us and our success,” Bob Bryan said. “They seem very secure with their own achievements and career. They’ve had an amazingly decorated history on the court.” Whatever happens on Saturday, Bob Bryan will be on the first flight out of Melbourne on Sunday morning. “(Michelle’s) been so happy and supportive of what we’re doing,” Bob Bryan said. “That makes it really easy.” ——— RANKINGS SHUFFLE: If Maria Sharapova wins the Australian Open title on Saturday, she’ll rise to the top of the women’s rankings for the fifth time in her career. The 24-year-old Russian has only been No. 1 for a total of 17 weeks in her lengthy career, but those stints at the top have come in three different seasons. Sharapova first reached No. 1 on Aug. 22, 2005, but lost it a week later to Lindsay Davenport. The Russian then moved back into the top spot on Sept. 12 and held it for six more weeks before Davenport supplanted her again. Sharapova returned to No. 1 for seven weeks after losing the Australian Open final to Serena Williams in 2007, and again for three weeks in May 2008 when then-No. 1 Justine Henin retired and took her name off the rankings. Sharapova must beat Victoria Azarenka in the final Saturday to get the ranking back; if Azarenka wins, she’ll become No. 1 for the first time in her career. Current No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, who lost in the quarterfinals, will fall out of the top spot when the new rankings are released next week after spending 67 weeks as No. 1. She’s projected to fall to No. 4, behind Sharapova, Azarenka and Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova. Defending champion Kim Clijsters, meanwhile, is expected to fall from No. 14 to approximately No. 30-32 after her loss to Azarenka in the semifinals. ——— AUSTRALIA’S GOT TALENT: Bernard Tomic isn’t the only tennis phenom Australia is getting excited about. Luke Saville, the world’s top-ranked male junior player, advanced to the semifinals of the boys’ singles competition at the Australian Open with a 7-5, 7-5 victory over Kyle Edmund of Britain on Thursday. Saville, who turns 18 on Feb. 1, is aiming for his second junior Grand Slam title. He captured the Wimbledon junior crown last July and also made the 2011 Australian Open final. The 19-year-old Tomic, who made it to the fourth round of the men’s singles draw this year, was the last Australian champion in the boys’ event in 2008. Saville said after his match Thursday that he doesn’t feel any pressure coming in as the top seed. “Obviously everyone is kind of shooting for me now, trying to take me down, but from a young age I’ve kind of been top in Australia for my age group … so I’ve experienced that feeling of being the top dog,” he said. Saville plays 17-year-old Adam Pavlasek of the Czech Republic in the semifinals Friday. Pavlasek may have a famous face in his corner for the match— he’s dating Petra Kvitova, who lost in the women’s semifinals on Thursday. When asked if she’d stick around to watch her boyfriend play, Kvitova said, “Maybe tomorrow.”
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Bolt to run at Rome’s Golden Gala in May (AP)
Bolt to run at Rome’s Golden Gala in May (AP)
ROME (AP)—Usain Bolt will run the 100 meters at the Golden Gala in Rome again this year as he prepares to defend three sprint titles at the London Olympics two months later. Organizers of the May 31 meet announced the Jamaican’s participation on Thursday. “I’m training hard, the offseason has been good. Everything is going according to plan. The aim is to defend my Olympic titles in London,” Bolt said in a statement provided by Rome organizers. “Rome’s race will be a good early season test and tell me what I need to do on the way to the Olympic Games.” Bolt made his season debut in Rome last year, winning the 100 in 9.91 seconds to narrowly beat former world record-holder Asafa Powell. Tyson Gay (left) ended Usain Bolt’s two-year unbeaten streak last August.(Getty Images) Bolt has also confirmed he will run the 100 at another Diamond League meet in Oslo on June 7. Rome is the first European meet of the Diamond League season, which opens in Doha, Qatar on May 11. Another meet is scheduled in Shanghai on May 19, then Rome is the third stop. Heats for the 100 at the London Games begin Aug. 4. At the 2008 Beijing Games, Bolt swept the 100 and 200 sprints and helped Jamaica to gold in the 4×100 relay—all in world-record times. He then improved his 100 (9.58 seconds) and 200 (19.19) records at the 2009 world championships in Berlin. At last year’s worlds in Daegu, South Korea, Bolt was eliminated from the 100 final for a false start but he then won the 200 in 19.40 and helped Jamaica to another world record (37.04) in the relay. Bolt has said he also wants to run the 4×400 in London and become the first male athlete since Carl Lewis at the 1984 Los Angeles Games to win four gold medals in track and field at the Olympics. Finland’s Paavo Nurmi won five at the 1924 Paris Games.
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Dodoo to head Ghana Olympic Committee (AP)
Dodoo to head Ghana Olympic Committee (AP)
ACCRA, Ghana (AP)—Former African triple jump champion Francis Dodoo was named the new president of the troubled Ghana Olympic Committee on Sunday following an unruly election process marred by claims of fraud and watched over by armed guards. The 51-year-old Dodoo, who competed at the 1992 and ’96 Olympic Games, has pledged to bring stability to the GOC after Ghana was suspended from the International Olympic Committee earlier this year because of government interference. But soon after Dodoo won the election, Frank Appiah—who was voted out as first vice president—told The Associated Press he would be part of a group filing protest with the IOC, saying the vote was “not properly conducted” and held when some of the candidates had left the congress venue. Ghana was suspended by the IOC in January after then-president B.T. Baba was voted out in favor of Dodoo in an election allegedly influenced by Ghana’s government, which apparently favored Dodoo. Ghana made changes to its legislation to adhere to IOC rules—which do not allow governments to interfere in the elections of sports bodies—and the country was readmitted to the Olympic body in August on condition it hold a new vote. The latest vote, which started on Saturday and ran into the early hours of Sunday, was overseen by Joao Manuel da Costa Alegre Afonso of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa, who was an observer for the IOC. Afonso was forced to suspend the session late on Saturday, with delegates shouting at each other over disagreements with nominations for various positions and armed security guards watching to keep order during the congress in an Accra hotel. The session resumed after 2 1/2 hours to elect Dodoo—the head of the Ghana Athletics Association—as GOC president. Dodoo won 38 votes against two for Kojo Adu-Asare and none for Emile Missodey in results announced on Sunday. Baba was stepping down as president and not on the ballot. Deborah Cubagee was elected first vice president with 39 votes to one for Appiah, but Appiah claimed afterward the voting process was unfair. “We shall make a protest to the IOC because the election was held after some of us who had nominated ourselves to stand for position had left the congress grounds,” he said.
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