Page 23 - Florida Sentinel 4-29-16 Bookstore Edition

Sports
Jameis Winston On Losing Weight: You Have To Show The Guys You’re Working
Mike Tirico’s Move Will Cause Major Changes At NBC, ESPN
Tampa Bay Buccaneers All-Pro quarterback Jameis Winston’s physical condi- tion has been the talk of Buc- caneers minicamp this week with wide receiver Mike Evans asking where Win- ston’s belly went since lest season and cornerback Johnthan Banks chiming in that Winston looks like he should be running drills with the rest of the second- ary.
“This guy was fat last year,” Banks said. “He came back looking like a DB. You can tell Jameis worked his tail off.”
JAMEIS WINSTON Banks went on to praise
Winston’s leadership, say- ing “he’s going to be one of those Peyton Manning- type guys” and Winston pointed to his weight loss as a way he wants to help set the
right example for everyone on the roster.
“As a quarterback, you have to show these guys that you’re working,” Winston said. “I didn’t want to come back and have them say, ‘Oh, Jameis looks the exact same.’ I had to give them something to talk about, right?”
Winston added that if you look good then “you play good.” If Winston’s play im- proves along with his appear- ance, the Bucs will be pretty happy with where things are headed with their franchise quarterback.
Mike Tirico joined ESPN in 1991, a 24-year-old Syra- cuse University graduate who immediately established him- self in Bristol, Conn., as a star on the rise.
During his 25 years at ESPN, Tirico developed into one of the most versatile voices in sports broadcasting, morphing easily from college basketball to golf to the NBA.
For the last 10 years, he has been the voice of Monday Night Football. He also put in many hours as both a play- by-play voice and host on ESPN Radio.
Most people in-house at ESPN believed the 49-year- old was a company lifer, and understandably so—he owned the best portfolio for any announcer along with Chris Fowler. But on Mon- day afternoon, Sports Busi- ness Daily’s John Ourand reported a story that will have major reverberations at mul- tiple sports networks: Ourand reported via multi- ple sources that Tirico is leaving ESPN for NBC Sports.
The possibilities at NBC
MIKE TIRICO
Sports for Tirico, whose ESPN deal ends this summer, are massive. Ourand re- ported that Tirico is ex- pected to be the lead play-by-play voice on NBC’s new Thursday Night Football package of five late-season games. The current contract of Al Michaels, the long- time voice of football for NBC, ends after the 2017–18 NFL season.
Michaels will be 73 at the end of his contact, but he also remains sharper than ever. At NBC, Tirico could eventually call a Super Bowl, something that he wouldn’t have been able to do at ESPN. NBC Sports suits will have a tough decision to make, especially given they now have two NFL packages.
Former Raider Bust Jamarcus Russell Now Willing To ‘Play For Free’
The Raiders didn’t exactly get their money worth when they signed JaMarcus Rus- sell to a 6-year, $61 million deal after the 2007 NFL draft, but they could get a much better bargain if they want to give him another chance under center.
Russell is willing to play for free, according to an in- terview for an upcoming video piece for Sports Illus- trated. The magazine reports that the former #1 pick wrote to every team last season asking for another chance.
Despite his reputation as the biggest bust of the Al Davis era, Russell says he
JAMARCUS RUSSELL
did things right as a pro and still has the fire to compete in the NFL.
“You might see me back,” he told SI. “You never know, man. You never know... Whatever it is—I can be a water boy and work my way into a scout team. It doesn’t
matter. I’ll go play for free.” Russell played only three years of his original deal be- fore the Raiders cut him loose. A 2013 comeback at- tempt failed. The SI video preview suggests he spends most of his time now looking out at a lake and wondering
why the phone isn’t ringing.
Blake Griffin To Miss Rest Of Postseason; Chris Paul Has Surgery On Hand
BLAKE GRIFFIN And CHRIS PAUL
Blake Griffin will miss the remainder of the postseason and Chris Paul will be out in- definitely, the Los Angeles Clippers announced Tuesday.
Griffin aggravated a left quadriceps injury in Game 4 of the team’s first-round series against the Portland Trail Blaz- ers on Monday night. An MRI revealed no further structural damage, and the team said he’ll be ready for the start of train- ing camp.
Paul, meanwhile, under- went surgery Tuesday morning in Los Angeles to repair a right hand fracture that he suffered in the third quarter of Monday night’s game. Team sources in- dicated the recovery time for Paul is four to six weeks, meaning the Clippers would have to advance to the confer- ence finals or NBA Finals for the first time in franchise his- tory for him to return this post- season.
Stephen Curry Is Expected Back
From His Injury Sooner Than
The Warriors Are Letting On
After Stephen Curry took a scary fall in Game 4 of the Golden State Warriors' first- round series with the Houston Rockets, an MRI revealed on Monday that he had a Grade 1 MCL sprain.
The team announced that Curry would be reevaluated in two weeks.
While it was generally a positive prognosis — Curry didn't tear his MCL — it wasn't great news, either. Losing Curry for any amount of time in the playoffs is not ideal, and "reevaluated" in two weeks was not assurance that he would return in two weeks.
But, according to ESPN's Brian Windhorst, the War- riors might be happier with the results of the MRI than they're letting on. During an
STEPHEN CURRY
appearance on "SportsCen- ter," Windhorst said that he's been told that the War- riors are "thrilled" with the prognosis.
"I actually think the War- riors are not saying it, but I think that they're optimistic that Steph is going to be back sooner than later," Wind- horst said. "I think that MRI, from what I've been told, had the best possible news the Warriors could have gotten.
PAGE 14-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016