Hitting up the casino or playing online bingo on occasion is not a bad thing. That is, if you know how to control yourself. These football players have had major debts with casinos or have had a gambling addiction.
Art Schlichter – Went to Miami Trace High School in Bloomingburg, Ohio. Schlicter was a key player for the school and caught the eye of Ohio State football decision-makers in 1978. By 1982, he was the quarter back for the Baltimore Cults (later on known as the Indiana Colts). By the end of that season, he was already $700,000 in gambling debt. The extent of his NFL career ended in 1987.
Adam Jones – Went to Westlake High School in Atlanta, GA. Jones’ school has been known to create many athletes drafted to the NFL. In 2002, he was selected to attend West Virginia University to be the college’s cornerback. From there, he went on to be a key player for the Tennessee Titans; he later on signed a contract with the Dallas Cowboys. Jones was criminally charged with having $20,000 owed to Caesars Palace.
Rodney Landingham – Former cornerback of the University of Nevada, Reno. In 2004, Landingham was charged with two accounts of bank robbery and two accounts of using a firearm. This was the result of his gambling addiction and has been imprisoned due to his actions.
Steve Halpin – Mesquite High School football coach in Mesquite, TX. Back in 2007, Halpin pawned the school’s sports equipment to use as gambling money and would get the equipment back before they were gone for good. For over a year, he pawned 270 items which totaled a little over $2,000.
Are these any different than celebrities who gamble in WSOP? Or are they on the same level?
Former NFL football player Adam Jones, also known as “Pacman” by his fans, settled a large gambling debt with a Las Vegas casino in mid 2008. What has he been up to since then?
Adam Jones was drafted to the Tennessee Titans for the 2005 NFL season. Since then, he has had numerous accounts with the law. One of the bigger ones was a shooting controversy in a Las Vegas strip club where he allegedly hurt a stripper by smashing her head on the stage. He and his group were escorted out of the facility only to have one of his men come back in to “shoot up the club.” Jones was acquitted of the charges.
The next big felony that Jones faced was his failure to pay back a $20,000 gambling debt owed to Caesars Palace. Nevada has a strict bad check law. Those who owe money to casinos have 90 days from when they were given a notice by the bad check unit to pay the full amount. If the 90 days have passed and debtors still have outstanding balance, casinos have the right to press criminal charges. This was what happened to Jones. He needed to pay back two $5,000 markers and one $10,000 marker.
Jones is known to be a nuisance in the NFL; he doesn’t stop getting into trouble. Right after his contract was over with the Titans, he signed another one with the Dallas Cowboys. Even though he was playing for one of the biggest and baddest teams in the leagues, his rap sheet kept him from playing a full season. Jones was not able to resign with the Cowboys and has not had any other team choose him to this day. However, he is still out there trying to gain brownie points with the league.
Men are men and boys are boys, but when it comes to football, boys become men, and men become boys. Actually, there’s no age difference when it comes to football. Passions become mellower as people become mature, but the fire deep inside remains the same. It’s just that as we age, we become more refined in the way we show our passions. We become nostalgic about things we were passionate about when we were younger. This is the general rule, and it applies to all facets of life, except—football! Most of us are as rabidly passionate about football as we were in our growing years. However, while the younger ones can just go out, play the game, and feed their passions, we are stuck with boring things like raising a family and making a living.
Nevertheless, we can still feed our hunger for the game and stay in touch by keeping the memories alive. One way of doing that is by collecting football memorabilia. Rewind a few years– don’t you remember how you traded caps with the logo of your favorite teams with your friends, or how you fought with your best friend over a picture card of your favorite football star? Well, you can do that again now. However, this time you won’t have to fight over the stuff because you can create your own football memorabilia and keep them for yourself.
Whether you’re a grown up or a kid who eats, walks and sleeps football, you have so many online companies that can print whatever you want on any clothing accessory you want. Would you like the names of your all-time favorite players on your t-shirts? On the other hand, do you want the logo of your favorite NFL team on your cap? All you grown-ups; go and get a Jim Brown picture printed on your pillow, or make a list of your ten all-time favorite football players, and have them printed on your sweat shirt. Kids can go to the games wearing Indianapolis Colts hats or New England Patriots t-shirts. Kids will absolutely love to get a picture of LaDainian Tomlinson or Adrian Peterson printed on their sweatshirts, and wear them to play.
Create your own football memorabilia as you have a choice now that never existed many years ago. You don’t have to fight no more or pay through your nose to get your favorite team or player up close to you. There are so many t-shirt printing companies online now, which can print any of your favorite football stuff on t-shirts, sweat shirts, hats, or even your pillow covers. There is no need for you to part with your football memories, ever again!
There are quite a lot of football video games out there vying with each other to capture the gaming market in the football games segment. Games such as Madden 08, NCAA Football 08, All Pro Football 2K8, NFL Head Coach, NFL Street 3, Backyard Football2007, Arena Football and Football Mogul 07 head the rankings in terms of sales and popularity. Choosing the best one out of this list is quite hard, but we’ve made a small comparison of 3 games on this list such as Madden, NCAA Football 2K8 and All Pro Football 2K8, based on user reviews, to help you make a selection.
Especially once you add Tecmo Bowl or even SUPER TECMO BOWL into the mix!!
Madden 08 by Electronic Arts seems to be a popular choice among gamers of-late (even gamers who play online games). Madden 08 can be played, both, on Xbox and Playstation consoles, but the versions for Xbox 360 and PS3 looks more like arcade games. However, there definitely are some roster updates in the new version and gaming purists will not mind the extra spend on the latest version.
Probably, the best way to go to the Super Bowl or any other big game is not by flying first class or by going in your brand new sports car. No matter what the distance is or odds involved, your RV is the best bet if you want the game to be one big party. This idea might sound farfetched for people that don’t have the time and for people living in the other end of the country. But truth be told—there’s nothing like RV-tailgating all the way to the stadium or venue. Gather a couple of friends or even a few families and tailgate all the way to the venue in caravans (like in old western movies with horse drawn carriages) and see how it feels to enjoy the game as well as life in one go. But don’t forget your RV insurance.
The whole tailgating thing is not about the thrill of going close behind one another on the road; it’s about partying, making new friends, the bonhomie and camaraderie and just having a good time. Today, tailgating has evolved from simple motorized processions of many automobiles one behind the other in close proximity… to a tradition. Pre-game or post-game, a party in the parking lot with all the RVs parked together, each one resembling a home with doors wide open, with the smell of barbequed and grilled steaks and chickens in the air and plenty of beer around, represents a single community of sport loving people that also like to celebrate life.
Tailgating is for people who consider the game bigger than life as well as for people that think life is one big game. So, the next time you’re going to the games, go in your RV. Don’t have an RV? Rent one!
The super bowl fever is fast catching up, and it’s party-time for all the crazy football fans out there. A good way to add spice to the game watching on television is to make a football pool for family and friends. A keenly contested game on the television, chips and cookies to munch, great company with family and friends and a little betting on the side, just like the real “NFL betting” can only make things hot and more interesting. Making a football pool is a pretty cool idea if you want the NFL games come alive for you in your living rooms as the results of the games will mean much more than game results. A little wager always helps to add seriousness and excitement to the games. To set the ball rolling, you need a few essential things like colored pens, construction paper or cardboard, marker pens, poster boards, and of course, the television. Now, you’ve everything you need to make your grid and start the pool.
According to a report published by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in March 2009, admissions for treatments of painkiller abuse are on the rise in the United States. The Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) for the year 2007 found that among all admissions for substance abuse treatments, painkiller abuse treatment admissions rose from 1% in 1997 to 5% in 2007. This is an alarming cause for worry as constant use of painkillers can lead to equally undesirable addictions and health risks such as those of non-prescription drugs. The field of sports is an area where painkiller abuse has become rampant due to the frequent injuries and related pain sports persons are exposed to on an almost daily basis. The added pressure of having to play with pain because of high competition in the field, leads these athletes to rely on painkillers to play without pain, and to extend their playing careers.
The National Football League (NFL), America’s most highly paid and competitive professional football league has its own share of prescription drug abus problems. A recent newspaper report mentioned that as many as 10% of 1500 NFL players surveyed had serious painkiller problems. Although, the NFL has a strict anti painkiller abuse policy that forbids any use of un-prescribed anti-inflammatory and pain killing medicines, many players find ways to circumnavigate and cheat the system. In fact, the prevalence of painkiller abuse is so widespread in the NFL today, the authorities are devising methods to detect and punish the guilty.
Since most teams carry with them a team of doctors and physiotherapists, the players sometimes have access to painkillers, which they can easily get by faking an injury or by exaggerating it. Most coaches, managers, doctors and support staffs of the teams deny that the players can gain access by unlawful means; revelations made by some players prove quite the opposite. Take the case of the Philadelphia Eagles defensive linesman Sam Rayburn, who played for the eagles in 2003-3006, and who was arrested in March 2009 for forging prescriptions for controlled drugs. He disclosed during the course of an inquiry that he could get access to painkillers through his team doctors from time to time. He admitted that he was self medicating himself with painkillers during the period he played for the eagles, and admitted that his medication slowly led him into an addiction that he couldn’t shake off.
Sam Rayburn’s is not a case in isolation; Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre was treated for Vicodin—a prescription painkiller—in 1996, and he came back from his treatment and led the Packers to victory in the Super Bowl. There are many more players that are coming into the open with their painkiller dependency problems. However, there are players who still get prescription painkillers by trading match tickets with pharmaceutical companies’ executives—a charge denied by the players as well as the pharmaceutical companies. The NFL retirement plan that provides disability & drug rehab benefits for players diagnosed with addiction problems doesn’t help the case of anti-abuse strategies.
No doubt, the demands of high-pressure professional sports can lead to injuries that sometimes can be even fatal, but what really worries the authorities now is the fact that players themselves try to shorten their life span trying to extend their playing span.
If you’re like me you cant wait until the fantasy football season starts, and the good news that it’s right around the corner. In the meantime check out our friends over at PigskinAddiction.com for their year round coverage of the NFL and the single best and funniest fantasy football draft guide I have ever read.
I’ve been a member of the message board at PigskinAddiction for about eight years now and it’s a great community to talk about whats going on in the world of football, what options are best for your fantasy football team or anything that’s on your mind. Next time you’re looking for some great fantasy football advice head over to PigskinAddiction.com, you’ll be glad you did.
Former Falcons quarterback Michael Vick agreed to pay the Atlanta Falcons a settlement of $6.5 million as part of his bankruptcy proceedings.
The Falcons still own the rights to Vick’s contract and are actively shopping the former star who is serving a sentence for running a dog fighting ring, but by trade or by release Vick apparently does not factor in to the Falcons future plans.
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