From Out Magazine:

It was a Friday evening in Fort Lauderdale, warm and clear, like so many that 12-year-old Michael Irvin had experienced growing up in southern Florida. He was riding in a car with his father, Walter, a roofer by trade who spent what little spare time he had operating as the local Primitive Baptist minister. The two were heading home after an errand that was a regular payday ritual: Walter would drive into town to buy cigars and then drop off money with Michael's grandmother to help with her bills. It was the late 1970s, a time of strife in America, and young Michael had already seen a lot in his low-income neighborhood. But nothing prepared him for what happened next.

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From Finding Dulcinea:

Arthur Ashe accomplished a great many firsts in his tennis career. He was the first African-American to win the National Junior Indoor tennis title and the first to be selected to the U.S. Davis Cup team. In 1968, he became the first black man to win the U.S. Open, doing so as an amateur in the first year the tournament allowed professional players.

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From the Washington Post:

Michael Vick is back in Nike's good graces. "We have re-signed Michael Vick as a Nike athlete," Megan Saalfeld, a Nike spokeswoman, confirmed to CNN in an e-mail.

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From ESPN:

NBA union chief Billy Hunter said Thursday afternoon that NBA owners are locking out the players after failing to reach a new collective bargaining agreement. "It's obvious the lockout will happen tonight," he said. With this latest action, two of four major professional sports in the United States are locked out. The NFL locked out its players in March, and the two sides have been in discussions this week, trying to work toward a new deal.

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"First of all, I'm not a fan of Twitter. Nothing against their program or what they have, but as an athlete I think you need to get off twitter. All these social networks of you tweeting about you watching a game when you want to be playing in it, but you're mad you're not playing in it, so you're gonna criticize someone that's playing in it. I don't believe that that's the right deal. That's not professional by any means and you know we are all in a fraternity, so if you see a guy who's struggling this isn't the time to jump on him or kick him while he's down because that same guy will come against you and kinda blast your team out the water, so I think for an athlete to be 'twittering' is the wrong move. It's one of those things to leave to the fans and let them comment on certain things, but athletes need to get off Twitter."


-- Washington Redskins quarterback Donovan McNabb opens up on the unprofessionalism of athletes using social media networks to vent about their playing time. (ESPN's Waddle & Silvy)

From the Washington Post:

When Tyson Gay pulled out of the 100 and 200 meters at the U.S. track and field championships last week, black clouds all but settled over the American sprint world. Track aficionados lamented the loss of the only serious U.S. challenger to Jamaican Usain Bolt at the world track and field championships in Daegu, South Korea, this summer. Walter Dix considered that thinking utter nonsense. After quietly wrapping up an impressive U.S. title double Sunday with a victory in the men's 200-meter final, he boldly declared that he is the guy who will bring down Bolt.

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From NPR:

As the NFL tries working through its lockout, one professional football player decided to teach youth from grades one through 12. In April, Denver Broncos safety David Bruton became a substitute social studies and math teacher at Jane Chance Elementary School and Miamisburg High School (his alma mater) in Ohio.

Bruton says he got the idea from his high school coach and teachers. Why did they think he was teacher material? Bruton says maybe it was because he performed well during his own high school and college years, and he had what it took to be a role model. His patience and persistence also helps, he says.

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From the Guardian:

The Cleveland Cavaliers selected the Duke point guard Kyrie Irving with the first overall pick in the NBA draft, as they set about rebuilding a team that set new standards for sporting failure last season. A slick ball handler with size and speed, the Australia-born Irving is expected to be an immediate contributor when he joins a Cavaliers team that crumbled last season after LeBron James spurned them to sign with the Miami Heat.

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From the Los Angeles Times:

Former USC football player Lonnie White has admitted to accepting $14,000 in illegal payments during his four years at the school in the 1980s. White, who worked as a sportswriter at the Los Angeles Times from 1987 to 2008, made the confession Wednesday in a first-person story for the Daily, saying most of the money came from selling the four season tickets provided to every scholarship player. Those tickets are not to be sold.

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From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

The wife of former NBA star Allen Iverson has re-filed for divorce, an attorney told the AJC. Tawanna Iverson initially filed for divorce March 2, 2010, in Fulton County Superior Court, citing that her marriage was "irretrievably broken." The announcement came a week after Allen Iverson announced he was leaving the Philadelphia 76ers for the rest of the season to be with a sick daughter. The couple has five children.

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