Florida Sentinel Bulletin

ORLANDO — Police in Orlando want to talk to New England Patriots safety Brandon Meriweather about a shooting that injured two men outside a bar near his hometown, authorities said Thursday.

The 27-year-old player was at the shooting in the early morning hours of Feb. 28 in Apopka, Fla., Orange County Sheriff’s department spokesman Capt. Angelo.

Nieves said at a news conference.

Nieves said 24-year-old Quentin Taylor and 23-year-old Nico Stanley were both injured. Taylor was shot in the face and Stanley was grazed by a bullet.

The spokesman said there was some sort of altercation before the shooting and that an attorney who says he re-presents Meriweather would like to set up an interview. So far it hasn’t been scheduled.

Sunday Tiger Woods fired a final-round 6-under-par 66 on Sunday to jump up the leaderboard in the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship at Doral. Beginning the last round tied for 30th, he climbed to a tie for 10th with a 72-hole score of 8-under 280. The 66 was Woods’ lowest PGA Tour score since a final-round 63 in the Deutsche Bank Championship in 2009. It was also tied for Woods’ lowest round of the year with a second-round 66 at the Omega Dubai Desert Challenge in February.

“I hit a lot of good shots out there today,” Woods said of his seven-birdie, one-bogey performance. “When I did miss it, I knew exactly what the fix was and was able to rectify it.”

After struggling on the grainy greens the first two rounds, Woods switched from his trusty Scotty Cameron putter to a Nike Method mallet putter Saturday and Sunday. It made for a quick improvement, as he used 28 putts Saturday and only 25 on Sunday.

“I’m peaking at the right time,” laughed Woods.

In his hotel room the morning after, Muhammad Ali nursed a swollen jaw as the room service waiter arrived with breakfast and good wishes for the man he called champ.

“I’m not the champ,” Ali corrected him. “Joe Frazier is the champ.”

Indeed he was, and if anyone needed a reminder the morning papers provided it with a picture as shocking to Ali’s adoring fans as his defeat the night before. There was Ali glassy-eyed and struggling to get up from the canvas in the 15th round as Frazier walked to a neutral corner more certain than ever of victory.

It was 40 years ago Tuesday that Ali and Frazier met at Madison Square Garden in a fight so big it was simply referred to as The Fight. It was Frazier’s heavyweight title that was on the line, but a lot of boxing fans still considered Ali the champion because he was stripped of the title and sent into boxing exile for refusing to be drafted.

Frazier was undefeated and in his prime, a relentless aggressor with a vicious left hook. Ali, in just his third fight since the 3-1/2-year layoff, was a polarizing figure who was hated by some just as much as he was loved by others.

They would go on to meet two more times, including the memorable Thrilla in Manilla. But nothing could match the stakes that March night at the Garden, where Frank Sinatra shot pictures at ringside, celebrities jockeyed for prime seats, and almost as many men as women wore full-length fur coats.

The $3.8 million Denver mansion of former NBA all-star, Allen Iverson has fallen into foreclosure after Iverson stopped making the payments.

Iverson let the six-bedroom, nine-bathroom home fall into foreclosure owing an outstanding balance of $2,572,914.
The home is expected to be sold by the bank in early April for a price that “is close” to the asking price of $2.85 million.

Iverson was playing with Besiktas of the Turkish League but left the team midway through the season due to a calcium deposit discovered in his right leg.

He is reportedly back in the United States awaiting surgery.

Tiger Woods said Monday that he is almost ready to move from Orlando to his new Jupiter Island, Fla., mansion.

“Pretty soon, I’ll be moving into my new home in Jupiter, Fla. I’m excited about that and even more excited about my new practice facility. It’s phenomenal. Working with my team, I designed the short-game facility and oversaw its construction. It features four greens, six bunkers with different depths and kinds of sand, a video center and a putting studio. If no wind is blowing, the longest club I can hit is a 7-iron. It’s also set up so I can hit shots out of my second-story studio.”

Woods will play at the WGC Cadillac Championship at the Doral resort in Miami this week, his first event since losing in the first round of the Accenture Match Play Championship in Tucson last month.

AUBURN, Ala. — Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton waited more than four hours while his Auburn teammates went through their drills at pro day.

Then came the 48-minute grand finale, where the quarterback once again put his arm and footwork on display before dozens of NFL officials. Newton felt he had plenty to prove after drawing less-than-rave reviews for his throwing session at the combine.

“Every single day I feel like I have coaching pointers,” the 6-foot-5, 248-pounder said. “The combine was no different. I left there not happy with my performance, but came out today and wanted to focus on the things I didn’t do well at the combine.”

That means making passes on patterns like comebacks, posts and out routes and being more consistent in making the transition from the spread to prostyle offenses. His performance drew some nice reviews.

There were 125 NFL officials, including five head coaches, at the 5 1/2-hour pro day, Auburn said. That includes new Carolina coach Ron Rivera, whose team has the first overall pick that some buzz has indicated might go to either Newton or Auburn defensive tackle Nick Fairley.

Newton and Fairley both participated only in the position drills and let their 40 times and other performances from the combine stand.

When Ravens safety Tom Zbikowski isn’t playing football, he’s boxing. In fact, he has a fight in Las Vegas this weekend. Hopefully, he’ll have another fight down the road as Zbikowski challenged Chad Ochocinco to a fight.

Tiki Barber had it all figured out.

The New York Giants running back stepped away from the NFL in 2007 at the peak of his football career to pursue a role in broadcasting. Despite critics who questioned why Barber would leave $8.3 million on the table and retire.
Barber was approaching age 32. Barber landed a role as a correspondent for NBC’s Today and Football Night In America.

Enter Traci Lynn Johnson.

The 23-year-old blonde was an intern at NBC and caught the eye of Barber, who was married to his college sweetheart, Ginny. The couple had two children together and two more on the way when Barber left his 8-months-pregnant wife for Johnson last April.

It would mark the beginning of a hellacious three months for Barber, who not only saw his personal life spiral out of his control, but his career as well. Prior to his divorce, Barber was notified his contract wasn’t going to be renewed at Football Night In America. But once Barber became “Page Six” fodder, NBC quietly pulled the plug from his contract, citing he had violated the morality clause.

With his $300,000 NBC salary gone, Barber was reportedly so broke that he couldn’t afford a divorce settlement.

Fast forward to Tuesday when Barber’s agent, Mark Lepselter, announced the 35-year-old had filed papers with the league office to come out of retirement and attempt to revive his football career.

Talk about sleeping with the enemy, Shaun Gayle, who played for the 1985 Chicago Bears Super Bowl Champions, testified at the murder trial of the woman accused of killing his pregnant girlfriend and his unborn child.

Marni Yang of Chicago is accused of  killing Rhoni Reuter and the unborn baby in 2007.

Gayle acknowledged he first encountered Yang in 2005 and formed a business relationship that led to them becoming sexual partners.

Yang plead not guilty to first-degree murder and intentional homicide of an unborn child.

Prosecutors described the killing as “cold, calculated and premeditated.” Defense attorneys argue investigators never considered other suspects.