RTC Director

LeBron James answers Serge Ibaka

LeBron James and Serge Ibaka were both on the NBA's All-Defensive Team this season, but Ibaka is not impressed with James' skills on that end of the court.

Ibaka, the Oklahoma City Thunder's power forward, said Monday that James was "not a good defender" and that "he can play defense for two or three minutes but not 48 minutes." James responded to the comments before Tuesday's Game 4 of the NBA Finals.

"I don't really care what he says, he's stupid," James said. "Everyone says something to me every series, then (the media) tries to get a quote. It's stupid."

Ibaka made the comments to The Palm Beach Post.

"LeBron can't play (Kevin Durant) one-on-one. They're playing good defense like a team," Ibaka told the newspaper.

In addition to the Finals, James and Ibaka likely will face off this summer at the Olympics. Ibaka plays for the Spanish national team, expected to be the most serious challenger to Team USA's bid to repeat as gold medalists.

The Heat have been rotating defenders on Durant, who is averaging 31 points on 57 percent shooting in the series, but James was his primary defender in the fourth quarter of the Heat's 91-85 Game 3 victory on Sunday. Durant was 1-of-5 shooting in the quarter with James guarding him.

"For me as a defender, I just try to make plays and try to keep my body in front of a great player," James said. "First of all, I'm not playing 48 minutes, and Kevin's not playing 48 minutes. I'm not guarding him for 48 minutes. When I'm on him, I'm just trying to make it tough for him to make shots, which he's going to make."

In other Thunder-Heat player beef news, Heat forward Chris Bosh said there's no longer any bad blood between him and Durant. Last year Durant referred to Bosh when he said, "There are a lot of fake tough guys in this league, and he's one of them," after the two got in an exchange on the court at a game in Oklahoma City.

"We squashed that at the last All-Star Game," Bosh said Tuesday.

ESPN

by RTC Director

Sandusky's wife testifies for defense

Jerry Sandusky's wife testified Tuesday that she remembers most of the men who told a jury that her husband sexually abused them, but she said he never had inappropriate contact with them as boys.

She also said the basement where the boys would stay wasn't soundproof, a statement that contradicted one man's testimony that he screamed during an assault but couldn't be heard.

Defense lawyers called the former Penn State assistant football coach's wife to the witness stand Tuesday after they went after two investigators, suggesting that police shared details among accusers and planted the seeds of the alleged victims' evolving accounts of abuse.

The jury also heard from a psychologist who testified that Sandusky has a personality disorder that might explain the "creepy" letters he sent to one of his accusers. The defense also offered more testimony touting Jerry Sandusky's reputation as a family man and community stalwart.

Sandusky is charged with 51 criminal counts related to 10 alleged victims over a 15-year span. He's accused of engaging in illegal sexual contact ranging from fondling to forced oral and anal sex.

Dottie Sandusky has stood by her husband, posting his bail, accompanying him to court proceedings and issuing a statement in December that proclaimed his innocence and said that accusers were making up their stories. She is not charged in the case.

In her testimony, she said she knew several of the accusers, some well. Some of them, she said, were "clingy" around her husband while another was "charming." Nearly all would stay overnight in the Sandusky home and her husband "would tell them good night," she said.

One witness testified last week that he was attacked by Jerry Sandusky in the basement of the ex-coach's home and cried out for help when Dottie Sandusky was upstairs. She, however, said the basement was not soundproof and she would have been able to hear shouting if she was upstairs.

She also rebutted one victim's claim that Sandusky tried to engage in oral sex with him while in a hotel bathroom at the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, Texas. The man said the assault was interrupted when Dottie Sandusky walked into an adjoining room.

"They were just standing ... in a hallway kind of thing... they had their clothes on, they were fully clothed," she said.

The psychologist, Elliot Atkins, told jurors that he diagnosed Sandusky with histrionic personality disorder after talking with the ex-coach for six hours.

People with the disorder often interact with others in inappropriately seductive ways and don't feel comfortable unless they're the center of attention, Atkins explained.

"Often these are people who did not have as much success in relationships -- emotional or romantic -- (and) relationships in life," he said, responding to questions from Sandusky lawyer Joe Amendola.

According to the National Institutes of Health, histrionic personality disorder occurs more often in women than in men.

Sandusky's attorney is hoping to convince jurors that the disorder could explain his client's letters to the accuser known as Victim 4 and other interaction that prosecutors allege show his grooming of victims.

A prosecution psychologist, John Sebastian O'Brien II, however, testified that Sandusky was a man who juggled many tasks at once, something not akin to the disorder.

"I don't see anything in any of that information to suggest he was a person with a personality disorder that caused him any problems," O'Brien said.

Amendola also questioned two state police investigators about what details they shared during interviews with the alleged victims, in particular with Victim 4.

Amendola asked retired Cpl. Joseph Leiter if investigators told interviewees about others who had stepped forward.

"In some of our interviews ... we did tell them," he said.

Asked why, Leiter said it was to let possible victims know they were not alone.

"Each of these accusers was very, very seriously injured, and very concerned, and we had told them -- especially prior to going to the grand jury -- that they wouldn't be alone, that there were others," Leiter said.

Leiter said that did not include sharing individual accusers' recollections of abuse, such as specific sex acts.

"We never told them what anyone else had ever told us," he said.

But Amendola later read Leiter portions of an interview transcript in which the investigator told the accuser that others had reported abuse that progressed to oral sex and rape.

Victim 4, now 28, testified last week that Sandusky sexually abused him in the locker-room showers and in hotels for five years while trying to ensure his silence with gifts and trips to bowl games.

On the stand, he admitted that he lied to police and his own lawyer about the alleged abuse, saying he had "denied it forever." But he testified calmly and firmly, saying Sandusky performed oral sex on him and sent him "creepy love letters."

The man's attorney, Ben Andreozzi, also was called to the stand and asked about a discussion he had with investigators during a break in an interview with his client.

On a difficult-to-hear recording of the discussion, Andreozzi and Leiter can be heard talking about the investigation while the accuser is out of the room.

Andreozzi acknowledged to jurors that a guilty verdict in Sandusky's trial could have an impact on his client if he files a civil lawsuit, but he told the court that hadn't been decided yet.

Andreozzi also denied coaching his client on what to say to investigators.

"He viewed Jerry as a father figure to him. It's been extremely difficult talking about this publicly," Andreozzi said.

The defense appeared to catch one of the investigators in a lie after recalling him to the stand.

Trooper Scott Rossman said that he hadn't spoken to Leiter about their testimony after he first left the stand Tuesday, but Leiter said they had talked about it.

Meanwhile, another witness told jurors she knew Victim 4 through her brother and that he had a reputation for "dishonesty and embellished stories." The woman, who said her brother was the alleged victim's best friend, is an Iraq war veteran who suffered a brain injury before she was discharged.

The defense also called former New York Jets linebacker Lance Mehl, who played for the Nittany Lions in the 1970s.

ESPN

by RTC Director

Bolt listed 63 on Forbes’ money making list

The world’s fastest man Jamaica’s Usain Bolt is listed at number 63 on Forbes magazine’s list of the 100 highest-paid sports personalities over the past year.

The Olympic champion and world record-holding sprinter made 12.96 million pounds, just a quarter of highest paid sports star, boxer Floyd Mayweather.

Bolt, who is the most high-profile star going into the London 2012 Olympics, also brought in less than half of golfer Phil Mickelson’s 30.51 million pounds.

Mayweather has overtaken Tiger Woods at the top.

Mayweather, currently serving a three-month jail sentence for domestic assault, made 54.25 million pounds - a figure bolstered by promoting his own fights.

Golfing legend Woods dropped to third having received 37.92 millions with boxer Manny Pacquiao rising to second on earnings of 39.57 million pounds.

David Beckham is eighth on the list. He is the highest paid footballer with earnings 29.36 million pounds.

by RTC Director