Dolores Hope, wife of Bob Hope, dies at 102

Dolores Hope, wife of comedian Bob Hope, died on Monday, September 19, at age of 102. She passed away at her home near Los Angeles. Funeral services will be private and she is set to be buried next to her husband, who died at age 100 in 2003, the family's spokesperson said in a statement obtained by OnTheRedCarpet.com. The two were married for almost 70 years. Dolores Hope was Bob Hope's second wife. She is survived by two of their four adopted children - daughter Linda and son William, three grandchildren and one great-grandson. Dolores Hope was born Dolores DeFina in Harlem, New York in 1909 and was a singer and a philanthropist. She put her music career on hold to raise her family but joined her husband on his USO trips to entertain U.S. troops. She later returned to singing at age 83 and recorded several albums and performed in New York with Rosemary Clooney, actor George Clooney's aunt, who died in 2002. Flowers will be placed on her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard, on Monday afternoon, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce said in a statement. (Pictured: Dolores Hope appears in an undated photo provided by her spokesperson on Sept. 19, 2011.)

Singer John Mayer cancels concerts due to ailment

Acoustic rocker John Mayer has bowed out of a series of concerts after suffering from "something next to my vocal cords called a granuloma," he said in a statement released Friday.
The singer and songwriter said he had undergone months of monitoring, but the condition -- a small area of tissue inflammation that most often occurs in the lungs -- had prevented him from going ahead with the performances.
"I'm bummed to have to bow out of both the iheartradio Music Festival in Las Vegas and an appearance with Tony Bennett in Los Angeles," he said in the statement. "I know there were people depending on me to be there and I'm sorry that I can't be on those stages."
Mayer's soon-to-be-released album "Born and Raised" also will be delayed.
It's "complete as far as music recording, song selection, and in some cases mixing," he said. "But because of this condition I couldn't finish singing on several of the tracks."
The album, as a result, will be released next year "instead of this fall or winter."
"This is a temporary setback, though I'm not sure how long or short a period of time it will be," he said. "I've got the best doctors in the country looking after me and I will be singing and touring again as soon as I get the all clear."
Mayer said he plans to spend the down time writing and composing, and "kicking an empty soup can around the West Village."

Steve Javie retiring as NBA referee

Although NBA referees, after agreeing to a new five-year contract earlier this week, are assured of returning whenever the league resumes play, veteran Steve Javie will not be among them.

Javie, rated as one of the league's top officials during the past 15 years, is retiring because of an arthritic right knee.

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Steve Javie, one of the NBA's top officials, won't return due to a bad knee.
The injury forced him to miss the end of the 2009-2010 season, but he returned last fall with the hope of making it to the 25-year mark as an NBA referee.

He accomplished that, but filed his retirement papers when the pain in his right knee and his doctors convinced him a 26th year was not realistic.

An NBA referee must submit his papers within 30 days of the last Finals game if he does not plan to return.

Javie worked both Games 1 and 6 of the 2011 Finals, making him one of six referees to officiate two games. It is an honor reserved for the league's highest-rated referees and reflects that Javie is going out on top.

"I would like to stay at it and end it on my own terms, but in a way I feel as if I'm doing that in that I got to work that 25th year," he said. "Adrenaline is an amazing drug. The two weeks after the season, the knee was so painful I couldn't believe it. My doctor said it was because the adrenaline from the season had finally worn off. Every time I start to think maybe I still could do it, my knee has let me know, one way or another, that I can't."

Javie's father, Stan, was an NFL field judge and back judge for 29 years and counseled his son that it was better to leave while your work is still respected "than to be one of those guys that hangs on and everybody says it's a shame he's still working, and we have some of those," Javie said.

"I would like to keep a hand in basketball, as a consultant for the NBA or somewhere else, but I also have the foundation that my wife and I started and I'm looking forward to doing more with that," he said.

The Javie Foundation for Charity has been raising money for abused and abandoned kids and homeless men in the Philadelphia area for the past 13 years.

During the previous NBA lockout, in 1999, Javie was one of 15 referees charged with income-tax evasion for downgrading plane tickets provided by the league and not reporting the funds saved. Javie, alone, pleaded not guilty and won his case. "You have to fight for your name," he said at the time.

Bob Delaney, who also reached the 25-year milestone last season, is retiring as well, a decision he announced at the start of last season.

But 71-year-old Dick Bavetta, the league's oldest official, has not filed and apparently plans to return for a 37th season, according to several sources.

Newton leads NFL, Panthers' rookies

Cam Newton may be the highest profile rookie in the NFL with the season getting underway this weekend, but he’s got some company regarding the green factor on his own team.

The Carolina Panthers made Newton the top pick in last April’s NFL draft after he won the Heisman Trophy and led Auburn to the national championship. The Panthers saw the 6-foot-5, 245-pound Newton’s physical attributes and their mouths watered. They also regarded his winning nature and felt taking him with the top pick was a no-brainer.

Joining Newton in their first true NFL experiences when the Carolina Panthers visit the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday (4 p.m. EST) are six other rookies. Newton is excited, and he knows everything will be amped up much higher than in preseason games.

“Going from the preseason to the regular season, every game counts now,” Newton said this week. “Everybody’s going to have a different swagger about themselves.”

Newton is rare in that he’s a rookie starting his pro debut, and even rarer that he’s doing so as a quarterback. With the franchise tag already essentially emblazoned on his shoulders, that’s a lot of pressure for someone who started only 13 games in major college football.

But Newton won’t allow himself to get psyched out.

“I imagined nothing,” he said, when asked what he thought his first game week would be like. “I’m just happy that I have the ability that I am playing and that I’m starting in this league.”

Familiarity will accompany Newton on his first road trip, as a former Auburn teammate, Lee Ziemba, is also making his professional debut. Ziemba, an offensive tackle selected in the seventh round, helped protect Newton during last season’s magical run for the War Eagles.

The other rookies making the trip are third-round picks Sione Fua, a defensive tackle from Stanford, and Terrell McClain, a defensive tackle from South Florida, offensive guard Byron Bell (New Mexico), cornerback Josh Thomas (Buffalo), and wide receiver Kealoha Pilares (Hawaii).

Bell and Thomas were signed as undrafted free agents, while Pilares was a fifth-round selection.

Carolina will rely heavily on Fua and McClain along the defensive interior. It’s a rough place for rookies to acclimate themselves to the next level, and the Panthers will suffer as the pair go through growing pains.

Panthers head coach Ron Rivera doesn’t want excuses, he wants his guys to perform, regardless of their experience level.

“Well, they’re professionals,” he said about the young bigs who will start up front. “That’s just the way it is. I am concerned, obviously, because they lack experience. But, they’re professional football players, and I expect them to perform and maintain and do their jobs.”

Pilares’ speed and ability to run through and by would-be tacklers helped earn him a spot on the roster. He’s listed third on the depth chart, which makes him the team’s fifth receiver, but he has the potential to move up to the fourth or even third spot before long. He will also return some punts.

Darvin Adams, WR (Auburn), Bryant Browning, G (Ohio State), Kendric Burney, CB (North Carolina), Thomas Keiser, DE (Stanford), Greg Smith, TE (Texas), and Lawrence Wilson, LB (Connecticut), are all rookies on the 8-man practice squad. Zach Williams, an offensive lineman from Washington State, is on the injured reserve list.

The football universe knows the Carolina Panthers will rely on rookie Cam Newton, but he isn’t the only newbie being counted on to produce if the team is going to exceed expectations.

ets betting big that Plaxico Burress still has it

If the quarterback down the turnpike hadn’t gone from behind bars to the middle of the MVP conversation last season, the return of Plaxico Burress to the NFL might carry a bit more of the air of the unknown, the scent of a novelty act.
Instead, there is an oddly immediate precedent as the 34-year-old wide receiver comes back to professional football after missing two seasons while serving a prison sentence. While Burress was pondering post patterns during his time at Sing Sing, Michael Vick came back with the Philaelphia Eagles, gradually emerging from behind Donovan McNabb and Kevin Kolb to emerge as a more polished version of his old highlight-reel self.
Now it’s Burress to the Jets after two years away. When he last played, Burress was less than a year removed from his Super Bowl-winning catch against the Patriots. He had a brand-new, big-money contract and the Giants were 12-1 and in great shape for a championship repeat. All that disappeared when Burress accidentally shot himself in a night club.
“A guy that was ready for a second opportunity,” said his new teammate Santonio Holmes. “He was pretty much in his prime, really reaching his peak.”
Burress is not Vick. He’s five years older than Vick was in 2009, plays a different position, is a different type of athlete. The speed and quickness that always made Vick special is the type of skill more likely to fade with inactivity and age. But Burress was never a quicksilver wide receiver. His 6-foot-5 height set him apart, and the man didn’t shrink.
Before the Jets played the Cincinnati Bengals in their second preseason game, coach Rex Ryan approached Cincinnati coach Marvin Lewis, the defensive coordinator in Baltimore when Ryan was an assistant there and Burress was playing for the division rival Steelers.
“Hey, Marv,” Ryan said, “look how big this guy is.”
That’s the primary reason that Burress is here, that the Jets snuck in and swept him up with a guaranteed one-year deal while he was on his way to the West Coast after meeting with the Giants.
Last season the Jets were dismal in the red zone, 28th in efficiency in the NFL. And the closer he got to the end zone, the worse quarterback Mark Sanchez got. Sanchez completed just 47.7 percent of his passes inside the 20 and 29.6 percent inside the 10.
Burress is supposed to be the solution to that.
“It’s a nice bit of insurance there having a big player like that, a big body, somebody who knows how to use his body,” said Sanchez. “He’s a great target.”
“He’s got that mismatch every time he goes up,” said Ryan after Burress caught a touchdown pass diving for a fade in the end zone against the Bengals in his first action as a Jet. “You see we beat cover one and we beat cover zero throwing the ball up to him and I don’t care who you are playing corner, you could be Willie Brown or Darrelle Revis out there, it’s gonna be tough.”
Ryan needs to be right. The Jets may be betting their season that Burress can be the player he was three years ago and lift their passing game up from the bottom half of the league.
They let Braylon Edwards walk, choosing Burress instead. Edwards ended up with a one-year deal in San Francisco for around the same money the Jets gave Burress. Last season Edwards led the Jets with 17.1 yards per catch and seven touchdown catches.
They agreed to release steady veteran Jerricho Cotchery, a reliable receiver who apparently tired of all the new faces — Holmes, Edwards, Burress, Derrick Mason — brought in to play ahead of him through the years.
Mason is the 37-year-old who will step into Cotchery’s No. 3 spot, his numbers steadily declining since he caught a career-high 103 passes in 2007.
And while the Jets were chasing cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha in the opening days of the free-agent frenzy, versatile fourth receiver Brad Smith bolted for Buffalo.
The Jets didn’t bring in Burress to be a complementary guy or a No. 3 receiver. They’re expecting a receiver dangerous enough to keep the pressure off Holmes. They’re expecting Burress to be the player he was three and four years ago.
Not surprisingly, Ryan sees big things coming.
“We’ve got a lot of weapons,” said Ryan. “I think it’s gonna be something when you put Plaxico out there with Santonio and Derrick Mason. That’s gonna be a special group I think.”
The start was promising enough. In his Jets debut against the Bengals, Burress closed the first half with a spectacular catch, laying out to grab a 26-yard fade over the shoulder.
“Once a ballplayer,” said Holmes, “always a ballplayer.”
That was preseason. Sunday against the Cowboys, the Jets will start to find out if Burress was worth it.
“It’s football,” said Burress. “It feels normal. Nothing about the game has changed.”

NBA, players union meeting Wednesday

NBA Commissioner David Stern and union representatives including Lakers guard Derek Fisher are scheduled to attend another bargaining session Wednesday in New York in an effort to end the two-month-old lockout, sources reported Tuesday.

The parties met last week for the second time since the lockout took effect. The players have agreed to accept a smaller percentage of league income but have balked at the league's proposed $2-billion total salary cap after earning $2.15 billion last season.

The scheduled opening of training camp is the first week of October.

Both sides continued to be reluctant to assess the tone of the talks despite some reports that there was momentum to strike a deal. Stern told reporters after last week's meeting that there was "clearly enough time" to save regular-season games that are set to begin Nov. 1.

"I could see it going either way," former MVP guard Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns told the Canadian Press on Tuesday. "It looks like right now we probably won't start on time.

"Hopefully, as we start to get into the time of year where everyone is missing basketball, we can start to concede on some points that each other are looking for and find a middle ground. That would be the best of both worlds."

Wednesday's meeting could spawn follow-up sessions later this week, sources have reported to Associated Press.

Veterans, agents concerned Pryor ban could set bad precedent

The playing status of Oakland Raiders quarterback Terrelle Pryor remains up in the air, as does the appeal of the five-game suspension he was assessed after the NFL allowed him to enter the August supplemental draft.

The league was informed of Pryor's intent to appeal the suspension and related discipline on Aug. 25, and on Aug. 31, the NFL Players Association was invited to lodge its objections to the punishments levied by commissioner Roger Goodell.


No formal letter of appeal is necessary in this case, as the email from Pryor's camp notifying the league of the intent to appeal is considered the appeal.

The Raiders selected Pryor in the third round of the supplemental draft on August 22 and are in favor of the appeal in hopes of, at the very least, reducing the restrictions on Pryor, according to a league source.

The next step in the process, according to the source, is for Goodell to set a hearing date, though Pryor could pull the plug on the appeal at any time. Pryor has been apprised in the last few days of the status of the appeal, while continuing working with the Raiders.

The league declined comment on the matter on Monday night.

Concerns from veteran players and agents over the NFL enforcing NCAA penalties are the driving force behind the appeal at this point, with figures in those areas concerned that a dangerous precedent could be set. In December, Pryor was suspended for the first five games of the 2011 college season by the NCAA for accepting improper benefits and selling awards, a penalty that might seem to mirror the NFL's punishment, though the league's contention has been that the two are not directly related.

Pryor's coach at Ohio State, Jim Tressel, was also set to serve a five-game suspension at the beginning of 2011, before resigning on Memorial Day, which led to Pryor leaving school to pursue an NFL career. Tressel has since been hired by the Colts as a game-day consultant. Tressel and the team released a statement on Monday saying that the coach will sit out the first six weeks of the season.

The position of the veteran players and agents is that the NFL shouldn't be involved in NCAA punishments in either case.

The process of Pryor getting into the supplemental draft was handled over the first two weeks of August, primarily between the quarterback's camp and the commissioner's office. The decision to suspend Pryor for five games was Goodell's, with the player's right to appeal written into the verdict. Part of the commissioner's ruling that Pryor's camp fought hard for was his right to be at his new team's facility, and participate in meetings -- something that was granted.