Florida Sentinel Bulletin

BUCHAREST, ROMANIA — A man was arrested Monday in the killing of Chauncey Hardy, a former basketball player at Sacred Heart in Connecticut who prosecutors say was punched in the face by the boyfriend of a woman Hardy was with in a bar.

Ionut Adrian Tanasoaia surrendered to police and will be in custody for 29 days while he awaits trial. He is accused of beating up Hardy in a bar in the southern Romanian city of Giurgiu on Saturday night.

Hardy died shortly after surgery Sunday in Bucharest. The 23-year-old player sustained severe head injuries and was in a coma when admitted to the hospital in Giurgiu, where he played for CSS Giurgiu and was celebrating a victory over rival Dinamo Bucharest.

Hardy was punched after he playfully put his cap on a woman’s head, prosecutors said. They added that the woman’s boyfriend objected to the gesture, and Hardy tried to show he didn’t understand Romanian. Tanasoaia then allegedly punched Hardy on the chin and he fell to the ground.

A preliminary autopsy revealed a massive hemorrhage and broken skull. Giurgiu county hospital spokeswoman Elisabeta Bene said Monday that doctors initially suspected Hardy was in a coma because he had been drinking. She said his condition deteriorated a few hours later and he was transferred to a hospital in Bucharest.

Last year, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers traveled to the west coast to fact the San Francisco 49ers, and came back to Tampa with a 21-0 shutout victory.

On Sunday, The Bucs not only didn’t come close to that kind of performance, but took several steps back in their progress.

The Bucs were soundly beaten 48-3 by the 49ers, and every phase of their game plan was taken apart by the 49ers.

Buccaneer head coach Raheem Morris, along with some of his players, had trouble keeping his composure and was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Normally steady quarterback, Josh Freeman, looked rather shaky, recoding 187 yards on 17 for 33 passing, and adding to his interception total with two more.

The Buc ground game that had began to reveal itself over the past two weeks, was completely shut down with LeGarrette Blount carrying the ball 10 times for 34 yards. Blount left the game early with a leg injury, and defensive tackle Gerald McCoy was also carted off with a serious ankle injury.

The 49ers recorded three sacks while their quarterback, Alex Smith, was never put on the ground.

The 45-point margin of victory for the 49ers was their largest since a 48-0 win over the Rams in 1997 with Joe Montana at quarterback.

This Sunday, the Bucs will host their division rival, the New Orleans Saints, at Raymond James Stadium. Kickoff will be at 4:15 p. m.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has saluted the 1985 Chicago Bears, his hometown team, for winning the Super Bowl a quarter century ago.

Key players on the team, fabled for their on-field performances and off-field high-jinx, appeared on a sun washed South Lawn of the White House Friday to hear Pres. Obama declare: “This is as much fun as I will have as President of the United States.”

Among those in attendance was then Bears Coach Mike Ditka, who turned down Republican entreaties in 2004 to run against Pres. Obama for the U.S. Senate. Good thing, Pres. Obama joked. “I would have been terrible on ESPN.”

The team did not get the usual White House recognition in 1986, an oversight attributed to the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, which occurred days after that Super Bowl game.

OAKLAND, CA — Al Davis was a rebel with a cause — “Just win, baby” he exhorted his beloved Oakland Raiders. And as the NFL well knows, he was also a rebel with a subpoena.

Davis, who bucked league authority time and again and won three Super Bowl titles during his half-century in professional football, died Saturday. He was 82.

The Hall of Famer died at his home in Oakland, the team said. The cause of death was not immediately disclosed.

Davis was one of the most important figures in pro football history from his role in the development of the AFL, the merger with the NFL and the success he built on the field with the Raiders.

Elected in 1992 to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Davis was a trailblazer during his half-century in professional football. He hired the first black head coach of the modern era – Art Shell in 1988.

He hired the first Latino coach, Tom Flores; and the first woman CEO, Amy Trask. And he was infallibly loyal to his players and officials: to be a Raider was to be a Raider for life.

Texas authorities completed their extradition of a Fort Washington, Md. man accused of impersonating a professional football player.

Stephan Pittman, 33 was sent back to Texas for violating his probation stemming from a 2009 sexual assault case in Dallas. Pittman is accused of impersonating Philadelphia Eagles backup quarterback Vince Young and swindling a D.C. woman out of $2,500.

He’s been charged with first-degree felony fraud.

A woman says Pittman posed as Young, saying he wanted her to get involved with his foundation, but needed a donation of $5,000. She eventually agreed to donate half that amount.

A spokesman with the U.S. attorney’s office said the fraud charges in D.C. will stand.

HOUSTON — Prosecutors have dropped a marijuana possession charge against NBA veteran Marcus Camby after his arrest during a traffic stop in suburban Houston.

Camby was arrested last month after police in Pearland said they found less than two ounces of the drug inside a Porsche he was driving. Also arrested was Camby’s cousin, Kendal Johnson, who was in the vehicle.

Brazoria County District Attorney Jeri Yenne said Thursday that Camby’s charge was dropped this week after Johnson said the marijuana was his. Johnson, who lives in Connecticut, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a misdemeanor possession charge and was fined $1,500.

Camby’s attorney, Randall Novak, said his client committed no crime. Camby, who has a home in Pearland, played last season with the Portland Trail Blazers.

After last season, the Tampa Bay Rays lost top closer, Soriano, top reliever, Benoit, slugger, Martinez, base stealing deluxe, Carl Crawford and their starting shortstop. All of these players left to go to teams with big checkbooks. The Rays replaced these players with names like: Fuld, Peralta, Gomes, Jennings and Kotchman.

Heck, who are these guys? Well, the Rays took these players and contended for the Division Championship and came back from nine games to make the American League playoffs.

The Rays ran out of steam and loss close games to the powerful Texas Rangers (3-1).

Congratulations go out to the Rays for an outstanding patchwork season.

Tampa Bay coach Raheem Morris has a lot to savor after the Buccaneers’ third straight victory of the season Monday night.

In the 24-17 win over the struggling Indianapolis Colts, the team overcame more than 100 yards in penalties, and showed the kind of late-game resolve they’ll need to make a run to the playoffs.

The Buccaneers’ schedule gets tough – including two games with co-NFC South leader New Orleans in the next month – and fixing lingering issues are just as much on their minds.

Offensively that means running the ball as well as they did Monday and eliminating penalties that take points off the scoreboard and could end up being costly in close games.

“Survive and advance. That’s what we’re after,” Morris said. “The thing you want to do is come out and run the football, control the game, and we did a nice job of that.

MIAMI — For the past year, Angel Rosado cheered for what LeBron James and Dwyane Wade were doing with the Miami Heat. On Monday, the roles shifted.

When James and Wade tweeted their appreciation just past midnight Monday to fans who were camping out at Florida International with hopes of getting the best tickets to Saturday’s South Florida All-Star Classic, it was Rosado they were talking about. The 23-year-old man and his wife were the very first to arrive at FIU to get in line, just over 16 hours before tickets actually went on sale.

They’ll be on separate teams Saturday at FIU, which figures to be the site of quite an NBA spectacle.