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Bengals Jason Shirley Found Guilty of DUI Despite His Interesting Defense

Posted: Nov 12th 2008 12:26PM by Sportz Assassin (author feed)
Filed under: Bengals, AFC North, NFL Police Blotter

The Bengals Jason Shirley isn't a famous football player (he doesn't get to play), but his trial for DUI is quite interesting.

To recap: last October while he was at Fresno State, Shirley was arrested for driving his car into an apartment building and then driving off. Turns out that he shockingly failed a breathalyzer test.

Despite the Bengals' claim to stay away from problem players, they decided to draft him several months later.

In Shirley's first trial, Fresno State coach Pat Hill took the stand and testified that Shirley suffered a concussion during a game against Nevada. The defense was that the concussion caused Shirley to make these bad decisions. That ended in a mistrial.

Continue Reading Bengals Jason Shirley Found Guilty of DUI Despite His Interesting Defense

Bengals Draft Pick Uses a Concussion as Defense for Driving Into an Apartment Complex

Posted: Jun 4th 2008 12:46PM by Sportz Assassin (author feed)
Filed under: Bengals, AFC North, Fresno State Football, NFL Police Blotter

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You may remember there was some buzz when the Bengals drafted Fresno State DT Jason Shirley. Shirley, up to that time, was best known for driving drunk and smashing his car into an apartment building.

Well, the court case for that incident has started (Shirley faces four misdemeanor charges) and the defense seems to suggest that a concussion he suffered during a game may have contributed to all of this.

Dr. William Carveth, an official team doctor the past three seasons, testified that the concussion Shirley sustained days before he drove a car into a townhome complex in the late night hours of Oct. 8 could have compounded the effects of the alcohol he drank that night and affected his decision making, emotional stability and ability to follow directions.

Carveth met with Shirley on the afternoon of Oct. 8, two days after Shirley sustained a concussion in the Bulldogs' game against Nevada. At that time, Carveth reported Shirley had "a mild, if any, concussion."

Now, that second paragraph is interesting. October 8th was the night that Shirley plowed his car into that apartment building. In more testimony, Carveth stated that Shirley continued to have pain and ... a month later ... Carveth wrote a letter to the school saying he had a "moderate" concussion (Shirley was trying to get reinstated to Fresno State).

The defense also brought out Fresno State head coach Pat Hill, two FSU basketball players and a track and field athlete. They also had the apartment complex manager state that the lights around the accident scene had been out.

As I type this, the case is in the jury's hands.

Iowa's Kirk Ferentz Isn't Interested in Ravens Coaching Job

Posted: Jan 5th 2008 11:40AM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: Ravens, AFC North, NFL Coaching

2 COMMENTS

I
t seems the Ravens head-coaching job has a way of discouraging would-be candidates from leaving their current gigs. Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels announced a few days ago that he's not interested in interviewing for head-coaching positions this off-season, and now, Kirk Ferentz says he's staying at Iowa.

Ferentz, along with Fresno State's Pat Hill, are annually the hot names in college coaching most sought after by NFL teams. Bobby Petrino was once on this list, but that little experiment didn't last the season. Maybe the Petrino debacle scared Ferentz off, or maybe -- and this is a crazy notion, I know -- he likes his current set up.

"I've got a great job here, and with that being said, I'm sure Baltimore will get a top-notch coach," Ferentz told The Sun. "They have three great people in Eric [DeCosta, director of college scouting], George [Kokinis, director of pro personnel] and Ozzie [Newsome, general manager] and have great ownership in place."

Whatever, he's not leaving, which means Rob Chudzinski's chances of landing Brian Billick's old job just went from three to four percent. If 27 other guys drop out, it's his.

Ferentz also mentioned that his son will be a freshman offensive lineman at Iowa in the fall, and that also has a lot to do with his decision to stay. Good for him. I know the NFL is the pinnacle for, well, everybody. But some people are very happy with their current lot in life, even if it's not in the National Football League.

Forget FEMA, If You Need Sandbags Filled, Ask Nebraska

Posted: Sep 6th 2006 3:05PM by Brian Grummell (author feed)
Filed under: Big 12

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"Nebraska Hopes to Avoid 'Trap Game' Against Nicholls State".

That's the headline on a SportsTicker news service story today. The headline writer must think college football fans out there are incredibly stupid. Worse, it's possibly the most outrageous case of sandbagging since Lou Holtz left the sidelines for the studio. Nebraska coach Bill Callahan isn't quoted in the brief story about the Huskers' opponent this weekend, so we don't know if Nebraska had a hand in the story. But I smell a terrible attempt at sandbagging. Bill, you got no game, if true!

Keep in mind Nebraska ragdolled poor Louisiana Tech 49-10 last weekend. That's the same Louisiana Tech program that has twice played Nicholls State in its history and crushed them by the average score of 43.5 to 19. Nicholls State is a I-AA school, not even scraping the bottom of D-I where Louisiana Tech hangs out. And somebody had the audacity to call that scrimmage a trap game.

This all very well has to do with Nebraska's much-hyped trip to Los Angeles to play USC in less than two weeks. The Husker faithful have been frothing about that game for eight months now, ever since defeating Michigan in the Alamo Bowl. This pathetic attempt to sandbag the weak sister tune-up game is hilariously transparent.

Come on Nebraska, you can do better than that. At least with last year's USC/Fresno State game, Fresno Pat Hill had no issue being honest about his lusting after such an opportunity to play USC and deliver a huge win for the Bulldog program.

Nevada, Fresno State Exorcising Demons

Posted: Sep 1st 2006 11:01AM by Brian Grummell (author feed)
Filed under: WAC

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Tonight's game between the Nevada Wolfpack and home favorite Fresno State Bulldogs (8 p.m., ESPN) is the rarest of rare WAC battles: an opening week prime-time affair before a national audience. Both squads had successful seasons last year and went bowling, but the storyline here is that they both view this opener as a proving ground.

At one point last season Fresno State was 9-1 and nearly 10-1, after nearly toppling No. 1 USC. Before that game, one pundit penned, "if the Bulldogs upset the Trojans, it would be the greatest thing to happen to the San Joaquin Valley since irrigation". Obviously the buildup for that game was too much as Fresno State put all its emotional eggs into the USC basket. After the disappointing loss, they tumbled downhill with three more losses including a 31-24 disappointment against Tulsa in the Liberty Bowl.

Nevada is looking to overcome its own disappointments, having been routed in consecutive season openers against Louisiana Tech (38-21) and Washington State (55-21). The Wolf Pack eventually recovered, finishing the season 9-3 and WAC champions thanks to an upset victory over Pat Hill's Bulldogs in the season finale. However, the 'Pack is still smarting about those opening losses, and coach Chris Ault promises for a more focused effort this time around.