Florida Sentinel Bulletin

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — The Chicago Bears released veteran defensive tackle Tommie Harris on Monday, cutting loose a three-time Pro Bowl pick who had struggled in recent years because of injuries.

A Pro Bowl pick from 2005 to 2007, Harris was limited by knee and hamstring problems the past few years and never regained his old disruptive form. He had signed a four-year, $40 million extension in June 2008 and was locked in through 2012, but the Bears decided to cut him after several ineffective seasons.

INDIANAPOLIS — Cam Newton followed through on his pledge to participate in drills at the NFL scouting combine on Sunday, and he won mixed reactions.

Newton turned scouts’ heads when he ran the 40 yard dash in 4.59 seconds, which tied Washington’s Jake Locker for the third-fastest time among quarterbacks, tied for the best broad jump at 10 feet, 6 inches and had a 35-inch vertical jump.

But the Heisman Trophy winner from Auburn struggled with his accuracy in the throwing drills.

Newton, who worked with unfamiliar receivers in his throwing drills, flouted the advice a lot of agents advise their quarterbacks: to skip the passing portion of the combine and save those drills for campus workouts with receivers they know.

Newton completed 11 of his 21 throwing attempts. His ball sailed on 10-yard out patterns, 15-yard ins and fly patterns. He threw with pinpoint accuracy on all three of his 12-yard hooks, and completed two of three Z-out passes.

After watching Newton’s display, retired quarterback and ESPN analyst Trent Dilfer remarked, “The ceiling is so astronomically high for this player, Cam Newton, that the scouts, the GMs, the coaches are really going to be slobbering about the prospects of having him on their team.

It was 3 o’clock last Friday morning when Alicia Duerson’s iPhone flashed with a text message from her ex-husband, Dave Duerson in Florida.
She was confused when she woke up and read the words.

“The text said that he loved me and he loved the kids and for me to love the kids,” she recalled. “And that he thought there was something wrong with the left side of his brain and for me to please get his brain to the NFL.”

She sent the text to her son, Tregg, and together they tried to get a hold of Dave Duerson, but there was no answer. Hours later, his body was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the chest.

Despite a well-publicized domestic dispute, divorce and personal bankruptcy, his family believes it was his failing health that led the former Pro Bowl Safety for the Chicago Bears to take his own life.

“He was tortured inside,” she said.

Duerson says she and her ex-husband remained very good friends despite the split.

“Financially, Dave was dealing with it,” she insists. “I don’t think it was to the point he would take his life. He’d already been through the tough part of it. It couldn’t have been just that.”

Suddenly it became clearer, as Alicia Duerson recalled a situation recently when they were having coffee together in suburban Chicago. Duerson told his ex-wife about vision and memory problems.

He talked to me a lot about blurred vision, and he had to go somewhere in the city and he couldn’t remember how to get there. It was frustrating for him that he couldn’t remember how to get there,” she recalled.

Dave Duerson served on the NFL’s Board awarding benefits to former players. He was intimately aware of the symptoms of dementia caused by multiple hits to the head. His own father suffered from Alzheimer’s disease before passing away last year. Yet he never reached out to get his own help. Not to his friends, his family or his closest teammates.

“No, no,” Alicia said, shaking her head at the pride her ex-husband exhibited. “Dave was a very private and closed person.”

TORONTO — Ricky Bell, an NFL defensive back who went on to play in the CFL and won a Grey Cup with Calgary in 2001, has died. He was 36.

He died Feb. 17 in Columbia, S.C., although no cause was given, Leevy’s Funeral Home in Columbia said. Bell’s mother, Florence Bell, and girlfriend,Tanisha Means, would not comment on the cause.

Bell was a captain at North Carolina State and played three seasons in the NFL with Jacksonville and Chicago. He spent one season in NFL Europe and another in the XFL before joining the CFL in 2001.

In Canada, he played for Calgary, Ottawa, Winnipeg and Montreal before leaving the league in 2007. His career ended in 2008 with the Arena Football League’s Georgia Force.

SAN FRANCISCO — Federal prosecutors are fighting to show the jury in Barry Bonds’ perjury trial a trove of evidence alleging the slugger mistreated his wife, girlfriends and other people around him.

They submitted in a court filing Tuesday grand jury transcripts and interviews investigators conducted with several witnesses that they plan to call during the trial scheduled to start March 21.

The witnesses include Bonds’ former mistress, Kimberly Bell, his personal doctor and a childhood friend who served as his assistant and personal shopper during his playing days.

LAS VEGAS — Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones has been sentenced to probation and 200 hours of community service under a plea deal for his role in a 2007 strip club melee in Las Vegas.

Clark County courts spokeswoman Mary Ann Price said Jones received a suspended sentence on Thursday and was also ordered to receive anger management counseling. The sentence requires Jones to undergo random drug testing.

Jones told the Las Vegas Sun after the sentencing that he’s glad to finally have the case behind him.

Prosecutors say the shooting left a club employee paralyzed and two others wounded.

Jones pleaded no contest in 2007 to a gross misdemeanor of conspiracy to commit disorderly conduct. His deal reduced two felony coercion charges. Jones has denied having a role in the shooting.

INDIANAPOLIS — The Chicago Bears have extended coach Lovie Smith’s contract by two years through the 2013 season.

Smith led the Bears to the NFC Championship game this past season, where they lost to the Green Bay Packers. He led the Bears to the Super Bowl after the 2006 season. In seven seasons, he has a 66-52 record.

General manager Jerry Angelo had said last month that the Bears planned to sign Smith to an extension. Smith said Friday at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis that he was happy to get the deal done.

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder weren’t content with just being top-tier playoff contenders, swapping starters Thursday in a surprising deadline deal.

The Celtics sought a throwback to their style of play during their 2008 championship run, sending center Kendrick Perkins to Oklahoma City and acquiring forward Jeff Green and center Nenad Krstic.

“I’m just as surprised as everyone else was,’’ said LeBron James, whose Miami Heat started the day tied with Boston for the best record in the Eastern Conference.

The Celtics also dealt three-time slam dunk champion Nate Robinson to the Thunder and received a 2012 first-round draft pick and cash in the deal that was approved by the NBA about five hours after the trade deadline. The draft pick was previously owned by the Los Angeles Clippers.

MIAMI — With the game on the line, LeBron James got past Carmelo Anthony.

Not Amare Stoudemire, however.

And just like that, the New York Knicks – with defense, no less – knocked off the Miami Heat.

Chauncey Billups made the go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:01 left, Stoudemire blocked James’ layup try with 7 seconds remaining to protect a one-point lead, and the Knicks finished with a 13-2 run to beat the Heat 91-86 on Sunday night.

“The bigger the game, the bigger the stage, the bigger they play,” Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said.

Anthony scored 29 points and Stoudemire added 16 points and 10 rebounds. Billups had 16 points for the Knicks, who rallied from a 15-point, first-half deficit and improved to 2-1 since the megatrade with Denver that dramatically changed their roster.