Florida Sentinel Bulletin

NFL star Nnamdi Asomugha distinguishes himself both on and off the field. The Philadelphia Eagles player was featured on The Today Show’s Extra Yard for his passion for helping others.

Dubbed “Senator” by his teammates, Asomugha earned the nickname for the great work that he does within California and other communities across the country. Coming from a family that stressed the importance of education, he started the Asamugha College Tour for Scholars. Each year, 12 students are granted the opportunity to visit universities across the country thanks to the program.

LOS ANGELES — Ron Artest’s bid to become Mr. World Peace was delayed, but not denied.

A court commissioner granted the Lakers forward’s request to officially change his name to Metta World Peace on Friday, three weeks after the bid was blocked because Artest had unpaid traffic tickets.

Artest, 31, did not attend a brief hearing Friday. Superior court spokeswoman Patricia Kelly said that Artest’s new last name will be World Peace.

His publicist, Courtney Barnes, said the player chose Metta because it is a traditional Buddhist word that means loving and kindness toward all.

“Changing my name was meant to inspire and bring youth together all around the world,” World Peace said in a statement released after the hearing. “After this short delay, my tickets have been paid and I’m glad that it is now official.”

He requested the change in June, citing only personal reasons. He is scheduled to appear on the next season of “Dancing With the Stars.”

Although the Tampa Bay Buccaneers opened their 2011 campaign with a 27-20 loss to the Detroit Lions last week, perhaps you can draw some relief in the fact the other three NFC South teams lost their season openers.

This Sunday, the Bucs will hit the road to face Donovan McNabb and the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings also lost their season opener to the San Diego Chargers, 24-17.
Buccaneer head coach, Raheem Morris, was not a happy man after Sunday’s defeat, but remained optimistic that his young team will turn things round.

Last week against the Lions, the Buccaneer offense and defense looked unprepared, although the offense started coming around in the fourth quarter.

Buc quarterback Josh Freeman will be fired up and expects a much better performance form himself and his teammates than last week. Both he and Coach Morris want to see better run blocking so they can take advantage of the bruising style of LeGarrett Blount. They also would like to see the defense do a better job against the run, a problem that has plagued the Bucs for the past two seasons.

This game will be televised and kickoff will be at 1 p. m.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The wife of former baseball star Manny Ramirez calmly told a sheriff’s dispatcher in a 911 call that her husband had struck her at their suburban home.

“My husband just hit me,” Juliana Ramirez says on the tape released Tuesday by the Broward Sheriff’s Office.

Juliana then says she was struck on her face and head and has a bump on her head. But she also declined medical attention.

Manny Ramirez was arrested Monday on a domestic battery charge. The former World Series MVP was released Tuesday on $2,500 bail. He declined to comment to reporters.

Ramirez retired in April from the Tampa Bay Rays after he tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance. He could have faced a 100-game suspension for a second violation of Major League Baseball’s drug policy.

NEW YORK — Grief counselors are helping a New York City high school come to grips with the loss of a basketball star who was fatally shot in the housing project where she lived.

Eighteen-year-old Tayshana Murphy was gunned down at about 4:15 a.m. Sunday in the Grant Houses in upper Manhattan. Police have made no arrests.

Murphy was in her senior year at Murry Bergtraum High School for Business Careers and was a nationally ranked guard on the girls basketball team.

A spokeswoman for Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said grief counselors were at the school Monday. Walcott visited to pay his respects to Murphy’s teammates and coach.

Witnesses said they believe the gunmen mistook Murphy for someone who had been involved in an assault earlier Sunday.

LAS VEGAS — Floyd Mayweather, Jr. leans forward. He’s talking to HBO’s Max Kellerman and sitting directly across from his next opponent, Victor Ortiz.
“…what I always tell them…”

The cocky smirk makes the day’s thousandth appearance, and the Mayweather haters brace themselves for what’s coming next. “They put 41 in front of me …”
Mayweather leisurely leans back as if surveying his kingdom. “…and 41 came up short.”

On cue comes that million-dollar smile that his fans love and his haters hate. In addition to hating what he said and how he said it, the haters seethingly despise the truth of what he just said.

This Saturday, September 17th 2011 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, Floyd “Money” Mayweather (41W, 0L) will face off against the young and hungry “Vicious” Victor Ortiz (29W, 2L and 2D).

This is one of Mayweather’s most interesting fights in a long time. It’s interesting because of who he’s fighting… well, more to the point, because of certain traits that the fighter he’s mixing it up with has.

Let’s look at the top intriguing factors that have boxing fans chatting:

“Ortiz is younger, bigger, stronger and hungrier. Mayweather has been out of the ring for almost a year and a half-AND he’s 34 years old.

Sentinel picks Mayweather in a unanimous decision.

NEW YORK — Michael Jordan has been fined by the NBA for making comments about the league’s ongoing collective bargaining process.

NBA spokesman Tim Frank confirmed the penalty for the Charlotte Bobcats owner on Monday, but said the league doesn’t comment on the total. ESPN.com reported the fine was $100,000.

In an interview last month with Australia’s Herald Sun, Jordan said the NBA’s current model was “broken” and called for revenue sharing for small market teams such as his Bobcats and the Milwaukee Bucks, whom Australian Andrew Bogut plays for. The Hall of Famer added that he knows “owners are not going to move off what we feel is very necessary for us to get a deal in place where we can coexist as partners.”

The NBA prohibits owners from speaking publicly about the labor situation.

ATLANTA  — A federal jury is hearing a lawsuit filed by a retired NBA All-Star who claims a ritzy Atlanta restaurant discriminated against him and a friend when waiters insisted they give up their seats to white women.

Joe Barry Carroll played parts of 10 seasons in the NBA for several teams in the 1980s. He and attorney, Joseph Shaw, are suing the Tavern at Phipps. They will try to prove during the trial that began Monday that the restaurant has a systematic plan to discourage Black patrons. The two men, who are Black, said they were removed by security guards when they refused to leave their seats.

The restaurant has said it often asks men to give up their seats to women at the bar and has denied the discrimination accusations.

On Sunday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers wanted badly to defeat the Detroit Lions. The Lions had kept them out of the playoffs in 2010 when the Bucs lost 23-20. It was anticipated that the Bucs, especially with the new draft picks, would handle the Lions and make the crowd at Raymond James Stadium yell for more.

But, it didn’t turn out like that. The Bucs lost their season opener 27-20, and the game was never really competitive.

The Buccaneer offense looked pitiful for three quarters, and the defense looked worse for the entire game.

On a day the Bucs were supposed to honor the late Lee Roy Selmon, they looked like they were never really prepared for the Lions. Buc quarterback Josh Freeman finished the evening completing 28 of 43 passes for 257 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception. His counterpart, Matthew Stafford, finished 24 of 33 for 305 yards, 3 touchdowns and 1 interception.

The leading ground gainer for the Bucs was Freeman who gained 26 yards on four carries. LeGarrett Blount ran 5 times for 15 yards, and Earnest Graham carried the ball 6 times for 13 yards.
Detroit’s ground game totaled 126 yards and the Bucs could only muster 56 yards.

Calvin “Megatron” Johnson had 6 catches for 88 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The Buccaneer touchdowns came from an interception by Aqib Talib and a 5-yard pass to Mike Williams.

Next week the Bucs travel to Minnesota to face the Vikings in a 1 p. m. game that will be televised locally. The Bucs didn’t lose any ground in the NFC South, because the Saints, Falcons, and Panthers also lost their season openers.