Page 15 - Florida Sentinel 3-28-17

Sports
Adrian Peterson 'In No Rush' To Find New Team
The Final Four: UNC-Chapel Hill V. Oregon And South Carolina V. Gonzaga
BEAUTY UNLIMITED
SHANISE
You have to really be special to be granted a second view- ing. This week, Shanise is our Beauty Unlimited feature. Shanise is working on expanding her portfolio so she is very open to different genres, styles of modeling and photo shoots. She says although she’s looking to expand herself, she will do the same for others in return any way she can. Thanks to Shanise for appearing as this week’s Beauty Un- limited feature.
Stare hard at your March Madness brackets because the weekend is over and we are down to the Final Four.
When South Carolina faces Gonzaga in the NCAA final four playoffs in Arizona on Saturday, it will be the
first time both the seventh- seeded Gamecocks and the No. 1 seeded Bulldogs have played their way into the semifinals.
The Oregon Ducks, which haven't been to the final four since they won the very first
tournament back in 1939, will have to outplay the UNC Tarheels who were last in the Final Four, well, last year, and has, according to the Los Angeles Times, made more Final Four appearances than any other team.
2017 NCAA Final Four Schedule
SATURDAY, APRIL 1
6:09 p.m., CBS: No. 1 Gonzaga vs. No. 7 South Carolina
Announcers: Jim Nantz / Bill Raftery / Grant Hill / Tracy Wolfson
8:49 p.m., CBS: No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 3 Oregon
Announcers: Jim Nantz / Bill Raftery / Grant Hill / Tracy Wolfson
Kobe Bryant On Hand For Shaq O'Neal’s Statue Unveiling
On stage,
Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant sat side by side, wearing suits and smiles, whis- pering in each other's ears and laughing. They praised each other, embraced mul- tiple times and spoke so fondly of champi- onships won just a decade and a half ago.
Speaking at the unveiling of his statue Friday night at Staples Center, Shaquille O'Neal said of former teammate Kobe Bryant, "We pushed each other. We had our battles, had our times, but we always had respect for each other."
In all, they looked
like old friends, not
like former teammates whose bitter feud split
apart one of the most domi- nant NBA duos in history.
lost to the Detroit Pistons. After they clashed plenty along the way, O'Neal was traded to the Miami Heat, where he won a title in 2006.
Of the seven speakers on stage, Bryant was one of the last to address the crowd -- just before O'Neal's children and then O'Neal. The leg-
endary Lakers guard, who re- tired last April after 20 sea- sons with the team, called O'Neal "the most dominant player I've ever seen" and re- called that while the jovial O'Neal liked to joke around, he also had a competitive side that emerged whenever he stepped onto the court.
Adrian Peterson has heard the chatter. He's lis- tened to the talking heads, read the tweets and seen the rumors.
And apparently late Friday night, he had enough of all of
it.
The former Minnesota
Vikings superstar running back -- who the team officially moved on from last week -- took to Twitter to voice his dis- pleasure with what people are saying about him, his future and what he wants in his next team.
"YOU CAN'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ OR HEAR PEOPLE," Peter- son wrote in a statement. "The last thing I'm worried about is playing ball this com- ing season ... that WILL HAP- PEN! It's not all about the money as EVERYONE is spec- ulating here lately. You'd think these analysts spoke to me di- rectly. When you don't know what's going on people will say anything to create or make a story! How prideful is it for me
ADRIAN PETERSON
to put out ... I won't play for anything less than 8 million!
"But see, when you don't know a person or what they stand for it's easy to paint YOUR OWN PICTURE. Un- fortunately, this is the world we live in! Here is something straight from the horse's mouth ... finding the best fit & helping a team in a major way win a championship is my main objective! I'm in no rush. Let me eliminate questions or speculation as to why... I be- lieve whole heartedly my God will land me right where I need to be to accomplish what I've asked from him PERIOD."
The Los Angeles Lakers icons reunited Friday as a 1,500-pound bronze statue depicting O'Neal dunking was unveiled at Star Plaza outside Staples Center, where O'Neal and Bryant won three consecutive titles to- gether in the early 2000s.
"Some people thought the odds of Kobe Bryant show- ing up today were the same as Shaq sinking a free throw," Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar said.
O'Neal said afterward that it "meant a lot" that Bryant attended the event, which featured many Lakers icons, including their ex-Lak- ers coach, Phil Jackson, former Lakers player and ex- ecutive Jerry West, guard Elgin Baylor, Abdul-Jab- bar and many of O'Neal's former teammates.
"Definitely couldn't have done it without him," O'Neal said, speaking of Bryant. "We will always go down in history as the most enig- matic, controversial, domi- nant one-two punch ever created."
The two were teammates on the Lakers from 1996 to 2004 and won titles in 2000, 2001 and 2002. They also reached the NBA Finals to- gether in 2004, when they
TUESDAY, MARCH 28, 2017 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 15