Page 14 - Florida Sentinel 12-20-16 Online Edition

Sports
Winston, Bucs Still In Playoff Push After Loss To Cowboys
Warrick Dunn In 19th Year Of Helping Single Parents Own Homes
Over the last 19 years, the for- mer NFL running back has helped more than 150 parents.
For weeks, Rickita Burney made lists of things she needed to buy for her new home, the very first she’s owned.
Cleaning supplies, of course. A lawn mower and rakes to keep the yard neat. Furniture, partic- ularly for her bedroom as well as her son and daughter’s rooms. Dishes and pans and all the other kitchen staples.
And then there were those things you never think about, like tools and duct tape and ice cube trays for the refrigerator.
But her family and friends kept telling her to wait. Move in and then see what you need.
“I had saved my money,” Burney said. “I wasn’t thinking there was going to be anything here.”
Imagine, then, Burney's sur- prise when she and her kids walked into their new home last month and found it fully fur- nished through Warrick Dunn’s Homes for the Holidays program, which honors the for- mer NFL star’s late mother by giving a head start to economi- cally disadvantaged single par- ents who are first-time home owners.
Burney’s mouth dropped open and her son, Khali, 12, buried his face in his hands when they saw their house had already been made into a home.
Every room furnished and decorated, the pieces selected to match the preferences they’d given in a questionnaire they didn’t quite understand at the time. Pots, pans and dinnerware. Food in the cupboards and the refrigerator. Toiletries and clean- ing supplies. A new computer.
Even books and board games near a decked-out Christmas tree.
On Tuesday, Dunn will pres- ent the 153rd home through Homes for the Holidays, which the former Tampa Bay and At- lanta running back describes as “a hand up, not a handout.”
While Dunn donates a check for a portion of the down pay- ment on the houses, that might be the least significant part of the program, now in its 19th year and in 15 cities across the coun- try.
Dunn and his foundation partner with community organi- zations – often Habitat for Hu- manity – to identify single parents who are already working toward home ownership. In ad- dition to sweat equity in building or rehabbing their homes, there is a required class in financial lit- eracy as well as one on being a new homeowner, which covers everything from dealing with homeowners’ associations to how to repair drywall.
Another One-Handed Catch, TD For Giants' Odell Beckham, Jr. Play
Jameis Winston and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers aren't quite ready for prime time.
They also aren't out of the playoff chase because of a tough loss that ended their five-game winning streak, the longest since their Super Bowl-winning season of 2002.
"We've just got to keep win- ning, see how it plays out," Winston said after a 26-20 loss at the NFC-leading Dallas Cowboys in his first Sunday night game.
The Buccaneers (8-6), who couldn't muster a comeback in the fourth quarter after eras- ing a 17-3 deficit and taking a 20-17 lead, dropped a game behind Atlanta in the NFC South with two games left to play.
After Winston threw touchdown passes to Adam Humphries and Cameron Brate in the third quarter, Tampa Bay had only one first down on their five possessions in the fourth quarter.
The Bucs punted with just over 2 minutes left after Win- ston was sacked and had two incompletions.
Ezekiel Elliott, the rookie leading the NFL in rushing, then had a 15-yard run before the Cowboys (12-2) were forced to punt with 1:38 left.
With the Bucs at their own 11, Winston had an 11-yard completion for their only first down in the final quarter be- fore an incompletion and fum- ble they recovered and then two more incompletions.
"We had a chance in the fourth quarter. We're not playing for chances, we're playing for keeps here," first- year Tampa Bay coach Dirk Koetter said. "I can only hope that this experience will help us."
Elliott rushed for a career- high 159 yards, including a 2- yard TD when he celebrated
JAMEIS WINSTON
by jumping into an oversized Salvation Army red kettle in front of the stands.
While the Cowboys closed in on home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs, the Bucs are currently outside the NFC's top six.
Tampa Bay split its two games with division-leading Atlanta. The Bucs go to New Orleans next weekend before closing the regular season at home against Carolina — those are the two teams be- hind them in the division.
"I'm not sure of all the sce- narios yet," Koetter said. "Right now, Dallas is the No. 1 seed. We came to their place and didn't play our best game."
Dallas bounced back after their franchise-record 11- game winning streak ended, hanging on after Winston had rallied the Bucs.
Winston threw for 247 yards and two touchdowns but had four turnovers, in- cluding an interception that led to Dan Bailey's 38-yard field goal that gave Dallas a 23-20 lead early in the fourth quarter.
"Every game in the NFL is a must win," Brate said. "It gets amplified here at the end of the year. It's a great oppor- tunity for us. We put ourselves in a good spot. Things didn't go our way today, but if we win our last two, we feel like we have a good chance of making the playoffs.
Another week, another game with an Odell Beck- ham, Jr. one-handed catch and touchdown. Another week in which he sets team and league records.
Beckham iced the New York Giants' 16-7 victory over the Detroit Lions on Sunday with a one-handed touch- down grab in the fourth quarter. He finished with six catches for 64 yards and the score, and now has 10 touch- down catches in his last 10 games.
Beckham has at least 10 touchdowns in each of his three professional seasons. He becomes the first player in NFL history with 80+ catches and 1,000 yards re- ceiving in each of his first three years.
Odell Beckham, Jr.
helps hand the Giants a 16-7 victory over the Lions with a TD in the fourth quarter, giv-
ODELL BECKHAM, JR.
ing him 10 TD catches in his last 10 games. And he expects more.
"I hate saying it like this and I hope it doesn't get taken wrong, but
I'm very greedy with my- self," Beckham said. "I ex- pect more out of myself, no matter what it is. It's almost never enough. It's unfair for me to do that but it's just how I've always been. It's never going to be enough for me in a sense. I just need a way to find that balance."
Bernard Hopkins Knocked Out Of Ring By Joe Smith, Jr. In Retirement Fight
We pause now to remember sportscaster Craig Sager, who died Thursday at age 65 after a long battle with cancer.
Outspoken to the end, he recently gave his last TV inter- view to Jim Axelrod:
For years Craig Sager was among America’s best-known sportscasters -- a favorite of both players and fans for his engaging way of reporting and his flashy way of dressing.
His sports coats weren’t loud -- they were a deafening roar. as player advised Sager, “You take this outfit home, and you burn it.”
But recently Sager took his place as perhaps America’s best-known cancer patient, honored this year at the ESPYs -- the Oscars of the sports world -- for the courage he demonstrated in his har- rowing two-and-a-half year battle against leukemia.
“I will continue to keep fighting, sucking the marrow out of life as life sucks the marrow out of me,” he said.
Axelrod asked Sager, “You’ve become perhaps America’s highest-profile can- cer patient. Do you ever think about that?”
“Not in those terms, no,” Sager laughed.
He’d just finished his third bone marrow transplant at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston when Axelrod sat down with him in October -- Sager resplendent in a flow- ery-black-and-blue number. Cancer could mess with a lot, but never with Sager’s style.
“I’m fighting not only for myself and my family, but I feel I am fighting for every- body who has cancer,” he said.
CRAIG SAGER
He spent more than 40 years relentlessly looking for scoops -- the guy in the trenchcoat not to be denied at home plate when Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run.
But at 65 the cancer left his familiar face a touch less fa- miliar. He faced his dire diag- nosis with strength and determination, moved by his newly-found capacity to in- spire.
Axelrod asked, “Is there a way in which you look at this battle and can see the bless- ings?”
“Absolutely,” Sager replied. “The response that I’ve gotten where people say, ‘Oh, I’ve been a negative per- son all my life, and you’ve changed my life, and now, I’m more positive, and I’m hap- pier.’”
Last month, he published a book: “Living Out Loud,” combining a charmingly light- hearted look at his career with the most serious lessons about life Sager had gleaned from facing death.
Axelrod said, “I thought this was the key sentence of the whole thing: ‘Funny how time takes on new meaning when others tell you that you don’t have much of it left.’”
Saturday was supposed to be a celebration.
A farewell to one of the greatest fighters of all time.
After seven competitive close rounds, it was anyone's fight. But then, as he always does, Father Time came call- ing.
Bernard Hopkins laid on the concrete floor, and immediately, team members and security rushed to check on him.
Shock washed over the audience of 6,513 at The Forum.
One month shy of his 52nd birthday, the legend was laying on the ropes when Joe Smith, Jr., landed six unanswered punches, the last of which
BERNARD HOPKINS sent Hopkins flying out of
the squared circle, the back of his bald head the first body part to collide with the concrete floor.
After all, Hopkins had never been knocked out. Referee Jack Reiss admin- istered a 20-count — the customary ruling for a fighter knocked out of the ring — and finally, it was all over.
Craig Sager: ‘Every Day Is Just A Canvas Waiting To Be Painted’
PAGE 14 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2016