Florida Sentinel Bulletin

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — The sun was bright, the breeze was blowing and smiles were abundant as the Minnesota Vikings wrapped up their offseason program.

Percy Harvin was back on the field Thursday morning, laughing with teammates and participating fully in the last practice of minicamp. That frustration with the organization he described sternly, but vaguely earlier in the week was not apparent by his demeanor.

Harvin’s request to be traded, followed by his absence Wednesday afternoon from the mandatory session, was shelved for a while even if it’s unresolved.

“It’s a new day today,” head coach Leslie Frazier said, ever eager to try to avoid talking about his star wide receiver’s still-unexplained discontent. “The fact that he was engaged and working to help us win, that’s where my focus is. Just glad that he was participating in what we’re doing. You move forward.

A hobbled LeBron James hit the go-ahead three-pointer with 2:51 to play as the Miami Heat rallied to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 104-98 to move within one victory of the NBA title.

James had 26 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds, while Dwyane Wade and Mario Chalmers each scored 25 points for the Heat — who took a 3-1 stranglehold on the best-of-seven championship series.

“Four or five plays, that’s what this series is coming down to,” said Miami coach Erik Spoelstra.

“This is competition at its fiercest.”

Adidas has been under recent fire for their new ‘handcuffs’ shoe design. Features on the shoe resembled slave shackles to some critics.

Adidas responded to the uproar and released a statement to MSNBC, saying, “The design of the JS Roundhouse Mid is nothing more than the designer Jeremy Scott’s outrageous and unique take on fashion and has nothing to do with slavery.”

Ok, now what?

With his court date in June, almost two months after the NFL draft, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers decided to grab Mark Barron and Eric Wright just in case authorities found cornerback, Aqib Talib, guilty.

Talib was scheduled to stand trial June 25th in Garland, Texas for allegedly pistol whipping Shannon Billings, 42, and firing shots at him during an incident on March 11, 2011. Billings was the live-in boyfriend of Talib’s sister, Saran.

Billings is currently in jail as a repeat sex offender.

On Monday, prosecutors announced all of the charges against Talib had been dismissed. The dismissal of the charges means Talib’s legal issues appear to be behind him. It also means he can begin the 2012 season under new head coach, Greg Schiano.

Talib has one year remaining on his five year, $14 million contract, and will earn $1.852 million this season.

Wide receiver Percy Harvin stood on the sidelines on Tuesday during a Minnesota Vikings minicamp. That was expected, as he’s still recovering from shoulder surgery, but the organization probably didn’t expect Harvin to tell the media that he was unhappy with his current situation with the Vikings.

On Wednesday morning that Harvin has requested a trade from the Vikings, but that the request will not likely be granted.

“I’ll just put it this way — it’s a lot of different things that have to be sorted out. Just haven’t been real happy lately. So, we’ve got a couple things to work on. I’m here in the classroom, so we’ll go from here,” Harvin said.

Professional basketball star Tony Parker says he suffered a scratched retina on one of his eyes during a New York City nightclub brawl involving singer Chris Brown and members of hip-hop star Drake’s entourage.

The guard for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association, wearing dark sunglasses, described the incident Friday in Paris during a news conference posted on YouTube. He said he expects to be sidelined for about a week while the French team prepares for the Summer Olympics.

Parker said he was wearing a “therapeutic” contact lens and had to go to an emergency room for treatment after arriving in Paris.

Parker said: “I was with my friend Chris Brown and me and my friends took some punches, so I’ll be missing the start of the French team because I can’t do anything for a week except keep the lens in and then take drops.”

Police said Brown, his girlfriend and his bodyguard were among several people injured during the bottle-hurling fight early Thursday at W.i.P in SoHo.

Parker said “they started throwing bottles everywhere. I don’t know what happened. At first it was OK, but then it started getting worse and when the plane landed it was really hurting so I went straight to the ER.”

LeBron James had 29 points and 14 rebounds and Dwyane Wade finished with 25 points and seven assists as the Miami Heat beat Oklahoma City 91-85 to take a 2-1 series lead in the NBA finals.

Wade sank two free throws with 13 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to cap the scoring for the Heat, who are in the finals for the second year in a row and trying to win their first championship since 2006.

“We had enough stops, enough timely scores and we were still able to get some free throws down the stretch to find a way to grind out a win,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said.

CLEVELAND  – A Nevada jury has ruled that Cincinnati Bengals defensive back Adam “Pacman” Jones must pay $11.6 million to three plaintiffs for his role in a 2007 shooting incident at a Las Vegas strip club.

The Clark County jury on Friday awarded Thomas Urbanski $9.6 million in compensatory damages for a gunshot injury that left him paralyzed from the waist down, according to online court records. Urbanski was the manager of the Minxx club.

Aaron Cudwort, a bouncer at the club, was awarded $1 million in compensatory damages and $600,000 in punitive damages for injury in the shooting.

Urbanski’s wife, Kathleen, was awarded $750,000 for loss of consortium.

The awards stem from an altercation in February 2007 when Jones, who was with the NFL’s Tennessee Titans at the time, was in Las Vegas during the National Basketball Association’s All-Star weekend.

SAN FRANCISCO — What began as a promising quest for a 15th major championship dissolved into disappointment Sunday for Tiger Woods in the 112th U.S. Open at the Olympic Club in San Francisco.

After sharing the 36-hole lead, Woods went backwards the last two rounds. He followed up Saturday’s 5-over-par 75 with a 73 Sunday and tied for 21st at 7-over 287, six strokes behind winner Webb Simpson.

“Yesterday, I was just a touch off,” Woods said. “That’s fine. I’m still in the ballgame. Today, I just got off to a horrific start and just never got it going early, and unfortunately I put myself out of it.”