Florida Sentinel Bulletin

NEW YORK — Ndamu-kong Suh will get his appeals hearing right away.

On Thursday afternoon, Suh will present his appeal of his two-game suspension for stomping Packers guard Evan Dietrich-Smith to Art Shell. The league handed out the suspension Tuesday, but Suh immediately appealed.

Shell is a joint appointee of the NFL and the players’ association for such cases.

A person familiar with the process said on Wednesday about the hearing, which will be held by conference call.

Suh stomped on Dietrich-Smith during Detroit’s Thanksgiving Day loss to the Packers and was ejected. Should he lose the appeal, he will miss Sunday’s game at New Orleans and the Lions’ Dec. 11 home game against Minnesota.

The NBA has informed teams that all games through Dec. 15 have been canceled.

The most recent collective bargaining proposal sent to the players detailed a 72-game 2011-12 NBA season that would begin on Dec. 15. The NBPA made the decision to reject that offer from the owners, and have begun to make efforts to disband their union. In doing so, they plan to try to take talks of a new collective bargaining agreement out of the negotiating room and into the courts.

Until now, NBA commissioner David Stern had only officially only canceled NBA games through Dec. 1. During an interview Stern made it clear that with the NBA players’ recent actions, the possibility of any season in 2011-12 is becoming increasingly unlikely.

NEW YORK — Former NBA guard Cuttino Mobley filed a lawsuit against Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, accusing the New York Knicks of pressuring him to retire as a way to save approximately $19 million.

Mobley retired because of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a heart disease, shortly after the Knicks acquired him from the Los Angeles Clippers on Nov. 21, 2008. He knew he had an irregularity with the heart, but an MRI exam the team ordered after his physical revealed the more serious condition.

The lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York contends the Knicks knew of Mobley’s condition, but pushed to make the trade anyway, then sent him to specialists they knew would oppose him playing, so insurance could pay his contract and it wouldn’t count against the luxury tax.

MILAN – Venus Williams plans to make her comeback in an exhibition match against her sister, Serena in Colombia on Wednesday after being forced to pull out of the U.S. Open because of an immune system disease.

Venus said that she has changed her diet to fill it with vegetables after being diagnosed with Sjogren’s syndrome, which can cause fatigue and joint pain.

The Williams sisters will play Italian pair, Francesca Schiavone and Flavia Pennetta in another exhibition match in Milan on Dec. 3.

Former NBA star, Shaquille O’Neal has gotten married to his reality TV star fiance, Nikki “Hoopz” Alexander.

A source said that the two didn’t plan on a big wedding, nor did they tell anyone about what they were about to do. They instead, went and got married.

The source also claims that Alexander didn’t sign a prenup before the two got married, so Shaq looks to lose a lot if his marriage to Hoopz ends on a nasty note.

The two were seen on Tuesday walking around New York City.

HOUSTON — Suspended Green Bay Packers defensive lineman Johnny Jolly was sentenced to six years in prison Thursday for violating the terms of his probation for a drug conviction.

State District Judge Denise Bradley imposed the sentence despite tearful pleas from Jolly and his mother, Phyllis Jolly, to allow the 6-foot-3, 325-pound lineman to be treated for his addiction to codeine instead of going to prison. Jolly’s aunt, agent and drug counselor also testified on his behalf.

“I want to go to rehab to get help,” Jolly told the judge as he wiped away tears.

Penn State plans to remove Joe Paterno’s statue from outside Beaver Sadium over Thanksgiving break. Students were reportedly informed of the Paterno statue removal by Penn State professors.

The statue lists beneath Paterno’s name “Educator. Coach. Humanitarian.”

The 84-year-old legend and winningest coach in Division I football was recently fired by Penn State’s Board of Trustees for his lack of action in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

NEW YORK — NBA players rejected the league’s latest offer Monday and began disbanding the union, likely jeopardizing the season.

Billy Hunter said players were not prepared to agree to David Stern’s ultimatum to accept the current proposal or face a worse one, saying they thought it was “extremely unfair.” And they’re aware what this battle might cost them.

But it’s risky. The league already has filed a pre-emptive lawsuit seeking to prove the lockout is legal and contends that without a union that collectively bargained them, the players’ guaranteed contracts could legally be voided.

Stern, who is a lawyer, had urged players to take the deal on the table, saying it’s the best the NBA could offer and advised that decertification is not a winning strategy.

Players ignored that warning, choosing instead to dissolve its union, giving them a chance to win several billion dollars in triple damages in an antitrust lawsuit.

Derek Fisher, flanked at a press conference by dozens of players including Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony, said the decision was unanimous. But there were surely players throughout the league who would have preferred union leadership put the proposal to a vote of the full membership instead.

Hunter said the NBPA was in the process of converting to a trade association and that all players will be represented in a class-action suit against the NBA by attorneys Jeffrey Kessler and David Boise – who were on opposite sides of the NFL labor dispute, Kessler working for the players, Boise for the league.

There will be no fight between welterweight champions Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr..

Both Leonard Ellerbe, one of Mayweather’s advisors, and Richard Schaefer, Golden Boy Promotions CEO, said that Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank was not interested in negotiating a fight.

“We have been informed that Bob Arum is not interested in pursuing a fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao at this time.”

Mayweather returned to the ring in September after a 16-month layoff and knocked out Victor Ortiz. Pacquio beat rival Juan Manuel Marquez in a controversial majority decision on Saturday night.

Schaefer said that he received the news that Arum was not interested in a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight from retired federal judge Daniel Weinstein, who has worked closely with both sides to settle issues in recent years.