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Friday, October 17, 2008

Source: Pacman weighing alcohol treatment plans

Adam "Pacman" Jones is weighing his post-suspension options, including the possibility of entering an alcohol treatment facility in the Dallas area on an inpatient basis, a source told ESPN's Ed Werder on Thursday.

Earlier reports -- which appeared in The Dallas Morning News and were confirmed by a source to ESPN -- that the Cowboys cornerback already had entered a rehabilitation program were incorrect.

According to a source, the NFL -- which on Tuesday suspended Jones indefinitely following an alcohol-related scuffle last week with a bodyguard assigned to protect him -- has given Jones specific options regarding treatment.

Jones remains in Dallas, where he is discussing with his advisers -- who are communicating with team owner Jerry Jones -- on how to comply with treatment parameters, a source told Werder.

The same person said it's likely Adam Jones will choose to enter an alcohol-treatment facility approved by the league on an inpatient basis in the next 48 hours. Jerry Jones has remained supportive of his player and indicated he is willing to have him return to the Cowboys if NFL commissioner Roger Goodell reinstates him, the source said.

Jerry Jones revealed last week, according to Werder, that Adam Jones had just completed his mandatory involvement in the NFL substance-abuse program and had been tested three times per week for two years without a single positive result. According to a source, Werder reported, Adam Jones was committed to that program because of alleged marijuana use. Asked at a news conference Thursday whether he regretted trading for the player known more for off-field incidents than interceptions, Jerry Jones said: "I don't. I knew the risk. I do. Most situations have inherent risks." "I regret the negative publicity for the Cowboys and I regret the negative publicity for the NFL," Jones was quoted as saying by The Dallas Morning News."On the other hand, financially there hasn't been any risk significantly certainly. He played in six ballgames for the Dallas Cowboys and played well. I know others thought he could've played better, but he played well." Adam Jones was described as initially being devastated by his suspension but has become encouraged that he did not receive a lifetime ban that had been feared. "He first was seeing the glass as half-empty,'' a source told Werder. "He's now looking at it as half-full. He's in a positive frame of mind.'' Several Cowboys players said they would welcome his return.
Busy day in Big D

NFL.com Video

Jerry Jones on Adam Jones' suspension and Roy Williams' trade.

"It's unfortunate, but as far as I know it's a four-game suspension,'' Terrell Owens said. "When he comes back we will welcome him back. And other than that we have just got to keep plugging away. I have reached out to him and I am pretty sure he is going through a tough time, so he's gonna take this time to reflect and get his focus back and try to get him back after his four-game suspension.

"It's unfortunate. We can't really dwell on who is not here. We have to worry about the people who are here. But we still love Pacman like a brother and a teammate.'' "I wish him well,'' added Cowboys wide receiver Patrick Crayton said. "You know it's one of those things that you hope he gets it." Adam Jones, who is being mentored by former Cowboys cornerback Deion Sanders, missed the entire 2007 season for violations of the NFL's personal conduct policy. He can apply for reinstatement after four games. In his return to the NFL with the Cowboys, Jones kept a higher profile than the Cowboys preferred but stayed away from trouble. That ended when someone called 911 to report a disturbance in the bathroom of an upscale Dallas hotel on Oct. 7. Police showed up after the scuffle ended, and the bodyguard didn't want to press charges. The bodyguard was part of a Cowboys-hired security detail to be with the player at all times. Jerry Jones said that security is no longer being provided, though he didn't explain if it was because of the suspension or the scuffle that led to it. On Wednesday, Dallas television station WFAA reported police are now raising questions about an officer's report of the scuffle. The department's command staff believes the officer intentionally omitted key details in his report -- including the name Adam Jones. Dallas police commanders are worried because -- according to a memo to Chief David Kunkle -- the "vagueness" of the report could "cast doubt on his [the officer] and the department's credibility," WFAA reported. Jerry Jones said he didn't suspend the cornerback because he didn't violate any terms of his deal with the team. But Goodell said Adam Jones again ran afoul of the NFL's personal conduct policy.

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Official price of some Super Bowl tickets now $1K for first time

NEW YORK -- The official price of Super Bowl tickets will reach $1,000 for the first time this season.

The NFL confirmed Thursday that 25 percent of the tickets for the Feb. 1 game in Tampa will be priced at $1,000. It also announced it will drop the price of 1,000 tickets at Raymond James Stadium by $200 to $500, the first time the league has cut prices for a Super Bowl.

Tickets for last year's game in Glendale, Ariz., between the New England Patriots and New York Giants were priced at $700 and $900, up from $600 and $700 the year before.

Overall, the official price for 17,000 suite and club seats will be $1,000 each. Another 53,000 tickets will go for $800, with the remaining 1,000 at $500.

At last year's game, the average price of tickets on StubHub, the online resellers, was $4,300.

Ticket prices for the first Super Bowl, played at the Los Angeles Coliseum 43 years ago, were $6, $10 and $12. They went over the $100 mark in 1988 and have increased regularly since.

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press

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India v Australia 2nd Test

Sachin Tendulkar
Tendulkar has been playing Test cricket for India since 1989

India's Sachin Tendulkar has set a new record for the most runs scored by a batsman in Test cricket, overtaking the mark set by West Indies' Brian Lara.

Tendulkar, 35, scored the 15 extra runs he needed to overtake Lara's aggregate of 11,953 on day one of the second Test against Australia in Mohali.

Already the holder of a record 39 centuries in 151 Tests, Tendulkar hit the landmark runs off Peter Siddle.

A rapturous but sparse crowd in the Punjabi city stood to applaud him.

Afterwards, having been dismissed for 88 - and becoming the first man to 12,000 runs - he said: "It's definitely the biggest milestone because it's taken me 19 years to get - it's not something that can happen overnight.

"The journey has been fantastic. There have been ups and downs. So many times there have been stones thrown and you have to turn them into milestones.

"I knew I was 14 runs short [when Friday's innings started]. I have just been trying to focus on the game but whoever I see in front of me they have an opportunity to remind me.

"I decided to keep it simple and keep watching the ball."

Tendulkar insisted he had no plans to end his career in the immediate future.

"As long as I'm enjoying it I will play. I don't need X, Y or Z to tell me when I should stop or continue. When I started playing nobody told me that. So nobody need to tell me now either," he added.

He spent the tea interval on 13 not out, just one run away from Lara's record. But after the 20-minute break he hit his first ball for three down to third man and saluted the crowd before the Australian fielders went to shake his hand.

Tendulkar celebrates record achievement

Fireworks were set off around the ground.

India's President Pratibha Patil later said Tendulkar had "given joy to millions of Indians", while the country's Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, described the batsman as a genius.

"I congratulate Sachin Tendulkar on becoming the highest run-scorer in Test cricket," said Singh.

"Sachin is truly worthy of the mantle of the greatest run-scorer in Tests. I have been following his cricket and there is no doubt that he is a genius."

Former India captain Kapil Dev says his compatriot is a hero to a cricket-loving nation and admire the way he has dealt with the adoration.

"I think he is one of the finest batsmen the world has ever seen," said Dev, who was once the world's leading wicket-taker.

"Millions of people in this country love him. Every kid wants to be come Sachin Tendulkar.

"He has set a standard for those young people to follow him. The country needs heroes like him.

"It is not easy to play for 19 years with the pressure he has had throughout his career. People love him. He can't go out, do the things he wants to do.

LEADING TEST RUN-SCORERS
SR Tendulkar (India): 12,027
BC Lara (ICC/W Indies): 11,953
AR Border (Aus): 11,174
SR Waugh (Aus): 10,927
R Dravid (ICC/India): 10,302
RT Ponting (Aus): 10,239
SM Gavaskar (India): 10,122
Names in bold current players

"Every simple thing he does in his life, people notice. Hats off to him for still coming forward to play cricket."

It was fitting that Tendulkar established the new mark against Australia, the overwhelmingly dominant team of his era - and a side against whom he has achieved distinguished success.

A prodigy as a youth, his century as a 19-year old on an ultra-fast wicket in Perth is often regarded one of the best innings ever to have been played in Australia.

He was only 16 when he made his Test debut, in 1989 and scored his first Test hundred, a match-saving one against England at Old Trafford, a year later.

Tendulkar was regarded by the late Sir Don Bradman as the one batsman of the modern era who most reminded him of himself.

A tremendous performer in the one-day arena, Tendulkar is also the highest scorer and century-maker in that format.

Former England batsman Geoff Boycott, who became the first Englishman to score more than 8,000 Test runs, breaking West Indies all-rounder Sir Garry Sobers' batting record in the process, told BBC Radio 5 Live that Tendulkar will hold the record for years to come.

But the 67-year-old still regards Bradman as the greatest batsman the game has seen, saying: "There's none of us who have come near him."

"Tendulkar's handled publicity very well. In India where they're mad on cricket it'd be easy to get sucked into it, but he's managed to keep a private life and kept that at arms length from his public life and it's nice for him," said Boycott.

"There'll always be people who break records because nowadays they play more Test matches than ever, more one-day internationals.

"It was inevitable that people like Lara and Tendulkar - two of the great players of the last few years - would break records of some distinction almost every other year or two.

"I broke Garry Sobers' record and I said at the time that if you play enough Test matches and you're pretty good at what you do then you'll break records.

"But it didn't make me a better player than Garry Sobers and it won't make Tendulkar a better player than Bradman, a genius - the best batsmen of the lot."

Former England batsman Allan Lamb paid tribute to Tendulkar's feat, telling BBC Radio 5 Live: "He's very classical. He's a batter who keeps very still at the wicket. That's something that every youngster is told to do.

"He's got all the shots in the book. He can play all round the wicket and he's got a lot of time to play his shots, and that's what makes him such a great player.

"Lara got his runs in 131 Test matches, so you've got to say that's an incredible achievement.

"Tendulkar's probably not the player he was two or three years ago, so he will probably hang up his boots in a year or so. But then you've got Ricky Ponting steaming up from the back so I don't know how long the Indians will hold that record."

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