Rob Lowe Stands By His Reporting; Lacrosse is the Druggiest College Sport
Today in sports: Rob Lowe defends his Peyton Manning retirement scoop, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco cannot recklessly ride his skateboard in peace, and the inventor of the football flak jacket has died.
RELATED: Rob Lowe: Investigative Sports Reporter
Rob Lowe is aggressively defending his Peyton Manning-is-retiring Twitter scoop, telling NFL Network's Rich Eisen that he got the information about Manning's retirement from "a pretty darn good source." While we want to live in a world where Rob Lowe scooped the entire pro football media fraternity about the future of one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history, we wish the information came from a damn good source, or even a darn good one. That 'pretty' has us wondering if the tidbit came from the proverbial guy who knows a guy who sold Colts owner Jim Irsay a guitar pick that once belonged to Jimmy Page. [NFL.com]
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According to a hugely depressing profile in this month's issue of GQ, former all-pro wide receiver Terrell Owens is broke, incredulous that no NFL team wants to sign a 37-year-old wide receiver with bad knees, and willing to do just about anything for a paycheck, especially if it will let him continue to plot his NFL comeback. Owens has responded to this unflattering portrayal by announcing that he's going to play for the Allen Wranglers of the Indoor Football League. He's also a part owner of the suburban Dallas club, which means he'll be signing his own paychecks, which is exactly the kind of business logic you don't want to display when GQ is saying you're out of money and out of touch with where you stand professionally. [ESPN]
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How did Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco spend his playoff bye week? By riding a skateboard for the first time in his life around his driveway. But before you could say "Bad idea, Joseph" or even "Vrooom--vrooom!" one of his neighbors reported him to Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome, who understandably was not pleased. This raises several interesting questions. Is Joe Flacco 8-years-old? And how are all residents of Baltimore supplied with Ozzie Newsome's contact information? [Baltimore Sun]
RELATED: Basketball Courts Are Just Too Slippery These Days
Congratulations Division I men's lacrosse players: according to data collected by the NCAA, you lead all college athletes in "the use of amphetamines, anabolic steroids, cocaine, marijuana and narcotics." The survey, comprised of anonymous responses supplied by more than 20,000 NCAA athletes, found out that a whopping 48.5 percent of college laxers used marijuana, ahead of the 29.5 percent of soccer players who copped to using pot. "Meanwhile," Bloomberg notes, "9.7 percent of lacrosse players said they used cocaine compared to 3.8 percent of ice hockey players and 3.7 percent of wrestlers." The silver lining: according to the survey, golfers smoke more and hockey players drink slightly more alcohol. [Bloomberg]
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Byron Donzis, the man who invented the quarterback flak jacket and allowed people to hit him in the stomach with baseball bats to prove that it worked, has died. He was 79. Houston Oilers quarterback Dan Pastorini credited the vest with helping him throw for 290 yards in a playoff win over the Miami Dolphins in 1978, just weeks after it looked like he was lost for the season with three broken ribs. Though the materials used in protective padding have evolved, Donzis's basic concept-- a lightweight, form-fitting piece of gear that would diffuse the impact from a direct hit to the knee, shoulder, or ribs -- hasn't changed, and his armor is now standard for players at all levels of the game. His New York Times obituary notes that he also invented an alcohol-based fuel made from spoiled bananas and "fermented in a solar device." [The New York Times]
