Florida Sentinel Bulletin

Most of the children probably didn’t realize Tampa has hosted four Super Bowls. On Friday, though, all they needed to know was that a nice man brought them presents.

The man with the gifts was former Buccaneers coach Tony Dungy, who visited St. Joseph Children’s Hospital as part of Super Baskets of Hope.

In the weeks before and after each Super Bowl, the program delivers hundreds of gift baskets to hospitalized children in each of the 32 cities that host an NFL team.

LAS VEGAS — President Barack Obama lauded Muhammad Ali Saturday as he joined some of the country’s most famous people in offering birthday wishes to the boxer known simply as “The Greatest.”

“Happy birthday, champ,” Pres. Obama told Ali through a video message, saying he wished he could have attended a swanky dinner gala in Las Vegas featuring some of the biggest names in sports, film, television and music.

“As a fighter, you were something spectacular,” Pres. Obama told Ali, who turned 70 last month. “You shocked the world, and you inspired it, too. And even after all the titles and legendary bouts, you’re still doing it.”

The gala’s 2,000 attendees were there to celebrate Ali’s life and generate millions of dollars for brain research, a mission Ali’s family says is important to him in part because of his nearly 30-year battle with Parkinson’s disease.

A set of gloves Ali used to defeat Floyd Patterson in 1965 in Las Vegas — the first heavyweight title fight in Sin City — sold for $1.1 million. It came with one of the original posters used to promote the fight, which had Muhammad Ali’s chosen name as a subscript to Cassius Clay, the name he was born with. When Ali converted to Islam, many people resisted calling him by his new name.

Ali entered the room and sat at a table with his family before bidding began on the gloves.

PHOENIX — Kobe Bryant lashed out at Los Angeles Lakers management Sunday night for leaving teammate Pau Gasol wondering whether he’s about to be traded.

In a postgame monologue punctuated by a couple of profanities, Bryant said the Lakers either need to trade Gasol or come out and say it won’t happen.

Bryant’s comments came in the aftermath of a 102-90 loss at Phoenix on Sunday night. He said he doesn’t want Gasol to be traded, but it’s unfair for his teammate to try to play when he doesn’t know if he’ll be somewhere else the following day.

As Bryant put it: “If they’re going to do something, I wish they would just … do it.”

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — The Minnesota Vikings need wide receivers. Just not Randy Moss.

Given the trouble he caused during his second stint with the team, a memorable month in the 2010 season, the disinterest in bringing back one of the most popular players among Vikings fans in franchise history comes as no surprise.

But general manager Rick Spielman confirmed Thursday the Vikings “will be moving on” without Moss.

The 35-year-old Moss didn’t play last season, but he announced this week he plans to return to the NFL, assuming a team will have him.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have announced they have hired Jimmy Raye as Senior Offensive Assistant.

With more than 30 years of experience in the NFL, Coach Raye has attained a wealth of knowledge that will be an invaluable resource to t he coaches and players of the Buccaneers.

Raye’s coaching career has spanned 40 seasons, including 34 in the NFL, two of them was as offensive coordinator with the Bucs from 1985-1986. Raeye has served as offensive coordinator for the St. Louis Rams, New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs, Washington Redskins, Oakland Raiders, and San Francisco 49ers. He was also a senior offensive assistant with the New York Jets. During his first stint with the Rams, Raye orchestrated a rushing attack that resulted in Eric Dickerson’s NFL record 2,105 rushing yards in 1984.

In 2009, 49ers running back Frank Gore had one of his best seasons, rushing for 1,120 yards and 10 touchdowns on 229 carries while adding three touchdowns and 406 yards on 52 receptions in just 14 games.

Former NFL player Christ Draft, 35, has been in the news a lot recently because of the tragic death of his wife, Lakeasha Monique Rutledge.

Draft, who died from lung cancer on Dec. 27, just a month after the couple were married. Draft says his wife was not a smoker. She found out about the cancer when it was in stage 4 and had no symptoms beforehand.

True to his spirit as founder of the Chris Draft Family Foundation, which seeks to uplift communities, Draft is now turning his attention to detecting lung cancer earlier.

He and his late wife founded Team Draft, which he launched at the Super Bowl.

FORT WORTH, TX  — Authorities arrested 17 students at Texas Christian University on Wednesday as part of a six-month drug sting, an especially embarrassing blow to the school because it included four members of the high-profile football team.

Arrest warrants painted a startling picture of the Horned Frogs, with a handful of players who allegedly arranged marijuana sales after class or around practice and who told police that most of the team had failed a surprise drug test just two weeks ago.

According to police, players sold undercover officers marijuana during the season and as recently as last week.

The 17 people arrested were caught making “hand-to-hand” sales of marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy and prescription drugs to undercover officers, police said. They said the bust followed an investigation prompted by complaints from students, parents and others.

Three prominent defensive players on the team were arrested: linebacker Tanner Brock, the leading tackler two seasons ago, defensive tackle D.J. Yendrey and cornerback Devin Johnson. The other player is offensive lineman Ty Horn.

LeBron James got into a verbal altercation with a heckler who brought up the rumor that former teammate, Delonte West had sex with LeBron’s mother during a game between the Miami Heat and the Washington Wizards.

According to reports, security had to intervene during the altercation between James and the heckler, Bob Moore.

Yahoo Sports reports:
LeBron was waiting alone in the backcourt when fan Bob Moore made a comment to LeBron about Delonte West and LeBron’s mom.

According to Moore, LeBron said “The only reason you talk sh!t is because you know I can’t come off the court right now and beat your ass…Also according to Moore, LeBron continued “But if I had a free pass, I’d kick your ass right now…Moore replied “I’m right here baby.”

Boxing great Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is making news for commentary unrelated to the sport he dominates.

Thursday afternoon, Mayweather tweeted that New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin’s hype is due to his Chinese and Taiwanese heritage. The current WBC welterweight champion also said Black players put up similar numbers to Lin and do not receive the same credit.

Lin, who was recently named Eastern Conference player of the week, has led the Knicks to four straight wins. He’s averaged 27.3 points and 8.3 assists over the four-game span and exceeded his teammates and most fans’ expectations.

Mayweather has more than 2 million followers on Twitter.