Fast Break
Football
Wadsworth defies long odds
Nearly seven years have passed since Andre Wadsworth last appeared in the NFL, and six since he was told he would never play again.
Yet there he was Saturday on the New York Jets’ sideline at Hempstead, N.Y., helmet in hand, awaiting his next set of plays. After 13 knee operations, Wadsworth is healthy enough to compete for an outside linebacker position.
“I love football,” Wadsworth, 32, said after a voluntary team workout. “Why do people think it’s crazy to do this? I know in life you can be a businessman or whatever you want to do after football. You can do it until you die. But in football, you can’t do it until you die.”
Wadsworth was a Florida State star and the No. 3 overall pick by the Arizona Cardinals in the 1998 draft. Hampered by knee problems, he appeared in just 36 games in three seasons.
In 2001, Arizona opted to not pick up the last three years of his six-year, $42.1 million contract and released him. The odds seemed stacked against him when medical professionals said he’d never play again.
“Every doctor said it,” Wadsworth said. “I mean, every doctor.”
Football
Friends remember Hill
As he stood near the casket of late New England Patriots teammate Marquise Hill, defensive lineman Jarvis Green swallowed hard, took some deep breaths and offered a few fond memories to Hill’s grieving relatives.
“He made everybody laugh,” Green said. “The first time I met him he made me laugh and the last time I talked to him he made me laugh. He worked hard. He gave his all. … That’s the kind of person he was.”
Hill, a 24-year-old father of a 2-year-old son, was buried in New Orleans, nearly a week after his death in a personal watercraft accident on Lake Pontchartrain.
The former LSU defensive end had won the hearts of numerous college and pro teammates who remembered him as a strong, caring and vibrant man who improved the lives of those who knew him.
Nearly the entire Patriots team, including coach Bill Belichick and his assistants, attended his wake on Friday.
Running
Wear blue suede running shoes
The Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon at San Diego turns 10 today, and Elvis will be there to help celebrate.
Of course, he’s been there from the start.
When the gun went off for the inaugural Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in 1998, duathlon champion Kenny Sousa jetted into the lead, dressed as Elvis in a white jumpsuit, wig and sunglasses.
With that, a tradition was born. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon features bands that play along the route and Elvis impersonators who burst into the lead through the first several blocks.