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CB Majors nets 3-year contract from Chicago

(05/05/08 2:14am)

Following in the footsteps of former teammates Tracy Porter and James Hardy, former IU cornerback Leslie Majors signed a free-agent contract to play for the Chicago Bears.\nThe South Holland, Ill. native will hope to play for the team he grew up watching as he was one of 10 free-agent rookies to sign a contract with the Bears. Majors signed a three-year contract worth $310,000, the NFL league minimum for a rookie.\n“It’s a great experience,” said Majors, who feels Chicago is the best situation for him. “It’s like a dream come true. It’s just like a movie where it ends in a happy ending.”\nMajors’ agent, Keith Conrad, said he was not solely looking at the Bears. The Baltimore Ravens, Indianapolis Colts, Houston Texans and Detroit Lions all expressed interest in the cornerback.\n“I was more concerned with getting him into a cover-2 defensive scheme where he could come in and support the run,” Conrad said.\nConrad said he expected a team to draft Majors in one of the late rounds of the draft. With nearly every pick in the seventh round he got a call. But at the end of the day, no team picked up the former Hoosier and Majors had to sign a free-agent contract instead.\n“Undrafted is a hard way to go, the odds are against you,”Conrad said. “But I’ll play the hand dealt with Leslie Majors any day.”\nLast year, Majors recorded 62 tackles and picked off two passes including a spectacular grab against Minnesota on Oct. 6. For his career, he intercepted three passes and played all four years at cornerback, starting opposite of Porter last year.\nMajors will have to compete for a spot in an accomplished backfield on the Bears, including players such as Nathan Vasher and Charles Tillman. Currently, Chicago has eight cornerbacks competing to make the roster.\n“At this point, there’s always going to be eight or nine that come into camp,” Conrad said. “The facts are that he’s going to have to beat somebody out of the job, but we were confident that he’s going to get a shot.”\nConrad also said the Bears like Majors’ speed, possibly keeping him as a compliment to wide receiver Devin Hester on kickoff returns.\n“I just want to get on the field,” Majors said. “Wherever they need me, that’s where I want to be.”\nAside from Majors, several other former Hoosiers are attempting to make the jump to the NFL. Fullback Josiah Sears is also trying out for the Bears, while long snapper Tim Bugg will try out with the Cincinnati Bengals and the New York Giants. Neither player has signed a contract.\nBugg, the No. 1 rated long snapper in the NFL Draft, had a possibility of being selected in the late rounds but none of the 32 teams took a chance on him.\nAlongside Porter, Sears was one of IU’s two captains last year. The 257-pound fullback played in all 13 games and recorded 261 all-purpose yards and scored six touchdowns.

https://www.idsnews.com/article/2008/05/cb-majors-nets-3-year-contract-from-chicago

New Orleans drafts Porter with the 40th overall pick in the NFL Draft

(04/30/08 4:00am)

Tracy Porter sat in his home with family and friends in front of his TV in Port Allen, La.\nNeither nervous nor annoyed after falling lower than he was projected in the 2008 NFL Draft, Porter simply waited for a life-changing phone call. With the 40th pick, the New Orleans Saints offered him the chance to play at home.\n“It’s like a dream come true,” Porter said. “It’s like growing up in Bloomington and wanting to play for IU. It was magical for me.”\nThe former IU cornerback was a little disappointed that he was not picked sooner – he believed he was a “first-round caliber player” – but said he was gratified to find a spot on a team.\n“In the end, the NFL is the NFL,” Porter said, “so as long as your name is called, you’re in.”\nPorter played in all four of his years at IU, recording 212 tackles, nabbing 16 interceptions and returning three touchdowns. But his versatility as a special teams return-man made him an intriguing prospect for NFL teams. Though he thought he could have gone in the first 31 picks, most analysts had Porter as an early second-round pick.\nPlaying for the Saints, Porter returns to his native Louisiana. He fills a need on the New Orleans team, who made a run at the Super Bowl two years ago, finishing just short in a loss to the Chicago Bears in the NFC Championship game.\n“I know we have the potential here in New Orleans to be a Super Bowl-caliber team,” Porter said. “We just have to put a few missing pieces together and once we come together, I definitely think this team will in fact be in the Super Bowl.”\nHe said he has not had a chance to look at the style of the team’s defense but said the Saints assured him of the similarity between them and IU.\nSaints coach Sean Payton said in a statement that he is familiar with Porter through his connections with late-IU coach Terry Hoeppner, citing his return abilities and ball skills as major pluses.\n“You scout this player from when he arrived at Indiana, all the way through his senior year, he’s done a lot of the things that we would look for in our corners,” Payton said in the statement. “We were excited.”\nFinishing 7-9 in the NFC South last year, New Orleans offers Porter a chance to make an immediate impact next year. Not surprisingly, the 5-foot-11 defensive back believes he can be a key contributor as well.\n“The coaches feel that way, otherwise they wouldn’t have drafted me,” Porter said. “But like I told the coach, ‘If you draft me, I’ll do whatever it takes to get on the football field.’ If that means playing special teams or defense, I’ll do either or.”\nWhile many first- or second-round draft picks will enter the contract negotiation process shortly, Porter has other things on his mind for the time being. Returning to school today, he said he will finish his exams and graduate on Saturday before heading to minicamp on May 8.\nHis agent, Paul Lawrence, said Porter has not expressed any specifics with his future contract. Because the process varies from team to team, he said, there is no timetable to begin the contract negotiations.\n“Tracy had a very good visit with the Saints, so we knew that they were a team that was very interested in him,” Lawrence said. “He’s happy to be going home.”\nAs for what number he will wear, No. 9 is already taken by one of the Saints’ permanent fixtures – two-time Pro Bowl quarterback Drew Brees. Instead, he will go with No. 27, if he can, because two plus seven equals nine.\n“It’s an experience like no other,” Porter said. “I’ve been waiting for it,\ndreaming for it. Now that it’s here, it’s time to hit the ground running.”

https://www.idsnews.com/article/2008/04/new-orleans-drafts-porter-with-the-40th-overall-pick-in-the-nfl-draft

Hoosier help

(04/16/08 6:25am)

The dim fluorescent lights make the Hoosier Hills Food Bank warehouse an undesirable place on a day like today. Vacant from a lack of food, Hoosier Hills Executive Director Julio Alonso looks over his uninviting depot, sadly realizing this is one of the trying times over the course of a year.\nWithin the last two years, Hoosier Hills has had to begin to buy food rather than rely on donations – food Indiana desperately needs.\nWhile the donations have increased over the years – partially because of the success of Hoosier Hills’ food drives such as the Soup Bowl, which earned almost $70,000 in 2007 – so has the number of Hoosiers going hungry.\n“The demand has just been going through the roof, and it’s been really hard for us to keep up,” Alonso said. “We’re not unusual; we’re hearing this from food banks across \nthe country.” \nHunger pangs

https://www.idsnews.com/article/2008/04/hoosier-help

Ellis, other IU players give thoughts on surprise coaching decision

(04/02/08 7:42am)

Students gawked at the basketball game on court five at the School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation building Tuesday night.\nRunning up and down the floor, messing around, were five members of the IU men’s basketball team alongside former Hoosier guard A.J. Ratliff.\nOnly hours after ESPN.com reported IU planned to hire Marquette coach Tom Crean by the end of the night, freshman guard Jordan Crawford, junior forward DeAndre Thomas and freshman center Eli Holman played basketball in the HPER as IU prepared to announce its fourth head coach in eight years. But the players who most eyes in the school turned to were former junior forward Jamarcus Ellis and former sophomore guard Armon Bassett, whom IU interim head coach Dan Dakich recently dismissed from the team.\n“I never had plans to leave,” Ellis said. “It was just – Dakich being the head coach – we didn’t see eye-to-eye on things, so I thought the best thing for me was to part ways and get my academics right.\n“I never left the team, I quit,” he added. “So there really wasn’t that we got kicked off, we quit. I’m looking forward to still being a Hoosier. I never had intentions on leaving – that wasn’t even an option.”\nThomas agreed, also saying Ellis and Bassett quit the team instead of Dakich telling them to leave.\n“They went with what they believed in,” Thomas said. “They thought something wasn’t right, so they stood up for themselves. They came to me before that and wanted something to change.”\nJ.D. Campbell, IU athletics spokesman, announced Tuesday that Ellis and Bassett had been kicked off the team for missing a mandatory meeting and missing their subsequent punishment. \nWhether or not Ellis and Bassett quit or were kicked off, their removal from the team was the culmination of a year many IU students, alumni and Hoosier fans dearly want to forget.\nBut with Crean now taking the helm in Assembly Hall, Ellis and Thomas both gave positive reactions to the new coach.\n“I just know he’s a good coach and what he did with Marquette,” Ellis said. “I know he can come over and do a great job here.”\nWhen asked if he heard Crean was the new head coach, Thomas was surprised and said he did not realize a new coach had been hired.\n“He’ll be a good coach out here,” Thomas said. “He coached a couple of my friends ... I think he’ll do a good job here. We’ve got some great players and great kids, and he doesn’t have anything to worry about.”\nIn nine seasons at Marquette, Crean amassed a record of 190-96, including a Final Four trip in 2003 with current Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade. This year, Stanford ousted the Golden Eagles from the tournament in the second round of the NCAA Tournament after the Cardinal made the game-winning shot with 1.3 seconds left.\nWhile the media reported Crean was a possible coach, other high-profile coaches were supposedly considered for the job, including Tennessee’s Bruce Pearl, Louisville’s Rick Pitino and Xavier’s Sean Miller. Earlier in the day, rumors flew that IU had hired University of Nevada, Las Vegas coach Lon Kruger.\n“He’s not as much of a high-caliber coach,” a semi-enthusiastic Ratliff said, “but he’s the biggest name coach who would take the job under the conditions right now.”\nHolman did not address Crean’s hiring directly, but talked about his future at IU briefly before returning to the court.\n“I’ll know by next Wednesday,” Holman said when asked whether or not he will return to the Hoosiers next year. “I’ll give anybody a chance.”\nUltimately, Thomas said he wants the controversy to end and return to focusing on basketball.\n“We just want to get coached, that’s all,” Thomas said. “Now he’s here, so we’re going to work hard for him.”

https://www.idsnews.com/article/2008/04/ellis-other-iu-players-give-thoughts-on-surprise-coaching-decision

The boy legend hangs it up

(03/06/08 6:03am)

The iconic image of a 27-year-old Brett Favre basking in the glory of his only Super Bowl title is the perfect way to remember him now that he’s announced his retirement.\nAs a boy.\nThat is how Favre played the game. Unlike the superstars of today, football was his life, his religion. It certainly was not a business. If Vince Lombardi ever knew him, he’d love him, for Favre encapsulates Lombardi’s version of the Trinity (God, family and the Green Bay Packers).\nAnd like Lombardi, Favre will go down in history not as a great player and not even as an icon. He will go down in the annals of history as a legend – a title earned by only a select few in sports. We will speak of him in the same breath as Johnny Unitas, Red Grange and Walter Payton.\nLet’s face it, there will never be another Brett Favre.\nFor a grueling 17 years, he played his heart out – every game, every down. Cal Ripken, Jr. may have been baseball’s Iron Man, but he didn’t have to endure the physical wear and tear football players do. Favre played 253 straight regular-season games – nearly 16 years straight. If you want to include the playoffs, go ahead and bump that number up to 275. Factor in all the injuries the average quarterback endures over the course of his career, and if you’re not combing that figure over in disbelief, then there’s something seriously wrong with you.\nHad he come back for year No. 18, he certainly could have led the Packers to the playoffs again. Who knows? Maybe he could have taken them back to the promised land and played for the Pack’s first title since 1997. After all, who wouldn’t feel good after seeing Favre, the epitome of the average Joe, flash that boyish smile one more time, knowing he genuinely loves playing the game and playing it the right way?\nMechanically speaking, he played the game horrendously wrong. A typical Favre play consisted of a hard play-action fake to the running back, then scrambling while throwing off his back foot into triple coverage. Amazingly, he completed that feat more often than not. \nHis arm, which is still stronger than those of a good chunk of the quarterbacks in the NFL, should have its own case at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. That thing should be frozen and embalmed so generation after generation can witness its greatness.\nEven though that arm can still throw, Favre’s head and heart aren’t where they need to be for him to continue wearing green and yellow on Sundays.\nIt’s not as if he doesn’t love the game anymore. Simply put, he’s tired, and deservedly so. When you don’t miss a day of work for 16-plus years (including the playoffs), you’re entitled to a little bit of rest.\nSo that’s what he’s going to do. He’s going to take a little rest. Only he’s not going to come back. And that boy, who loved to play the game, will be frozen in history and revered for all he did for football.

https://www.idsnews.com/article/2008/03/the-boy-legend-hangs-it-up

The geography of Newcomer

(02/07/08 5:00am)

When folksinger Carrie Newcomer discovered her authentic Hoosier voice, she felt more comfortable with her writing and singing. The voice, which Newcomer describes as "a polite firebrand" is showcased on her 10th studio album The Geography of Light. It was recorded at Bloomington's AirTime Recording Studio.\n"(I) may be saying things that are radical, powerful and authentic but there is a certain kind of good-heartedness to it," Newcomer said.\nCarrie Newcomer will be performing her country-folk style of music Feb. 9 at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. The show is a CD-release concert for The Geography of Light.\nNewcomer is currently on a nationwide tour that encompasses New York and Boston, among other cities.\nNewcomer is originally from Elkhart, Ind., but she moved to Bloomington in 1990 to be close to her ailing mother. Nearly two decades later, Newcomer still lives in Bloomington, and said the community inspires much of her work. \nHer song "Geodes" off Geography of Light is an example of how her music is inspired by Bloomington and Southern Indiana. \n"Around here we throw geodes in our gardens / They're as common as the rain or corn silk in July / Unpretentious browns and greys the stain of Indiana Clay."\n"('Geodes') is a statement of faith for me," Newcomer said. "Geodes are such a wonderful metaphor, and they're so commonplace here in Southern Indiana," she said.\n"They look like funky brown rocks from the outside, and then there's this amazing, sparkling center to them." \nNewcomer writes about other topics as well in her newest album, such as modern Internet connections. \nThe final track "Don't Push Send" is a deliberate departure from the album's stripped-down, slow-tempo songs. It features many strings and a sing-along beat. The song was inspired by stories Newcomer heard on the road about e-mail messaging gone awry. She said we are living in a world where we are easily connected to the Internet but at the same time more isolated from people than ever. \nThe song chronicles men and women who send e-mails in either aggravated or inebriated states of mind and the consequences that follow. \nThrough popular demand by her fans, the song has spurned the Web site dontpushsend.com that will be up later this month, Newcomer said. On the site, fans can download the song for free and post embarrassing e-mails they have either sent or received.\nThe goal of the Web site is to present the simple idea that "human beings are funny," Newcomer said. \nAfter a dozen albums in the last 15 years, Newcomer is a veteran writer and storyteller. She is involved in creative-writing workshops on college campuses such as Duke and Harvard and also conducted a workshop at an Indiana women's correctional facility. But she said she will always be an artist and songwriter before a teacher.\n"A song has to unfold in a very elegant way," Newcomer said. "It needs to be powerful, poetic and condensed. Something about that format makes me happy." \nBefore her tour begins, Newcomer reflected on herself and her growth as an artist.\n"What I find as an artist and a person, when I pay attention, when I peel back the layers of all these distractions and I get down to what really matters, that's where my life happens, that's where my art happens and that's where I see miracles," Newcomer said.

https://www.idsnews.com/article/2008/02/the-geography-of-newcomer

Root, root root for the underdog

(02/05/08 5:20am)

Somebody pinch me.\nIs it real? Did this actually happen? The answer to both of those questions is quite possibly the most depressing “yes” of my life.\nI sat in my room, staring at the ceiling, wondering how in the world my beloved Patriots could lose 17-14 to the Giants in the Super Bowl. \nNo title for Randy Moss. No Super Bowl parade through the streets of Boston. No perfect season.\nInstead, the Patriots lost to Eli “Bleeping” Manning.\nIt took awhile to find the words to describe how excruciating this loss is. While most Hoosiers on campus rejoiced, knowing the team they viewed as evil choked on the world’s biggest stage, I felt sick — an indescribable emptiness. It’s not that we lost — it’s how New England’s run at a perfect season was ruined. After the game ended, I had to take a long walk to sort out everything that transpired. In the end, it still didn’t make sense.\nThroughout the year, the Pats blew out opponent after opponent, all the while deflecting accusations of Spygate and running up the score. These guys didn’t care. They were on a mission. That mission failed.\nEven Mr. Cool, the unflappable Tom Brady, couldn’t orchestrate a last-minute comeback. Instead, he watched Manning — a quarterback known more for his brother than his playoff heroics — lead the Giants on an 83-yard drive, capped by a Plaxico Burress touchdown.\nAnd for two years in a row, a Manning was named the Super Bowl MVP.\nWhen you experience a loss like this, you try to reach out to anyone and everyone who will help console you. Colts fans can relate — it’s the same thing they suffered through before Peyton clutched the Lombardi Trophy. Only that consolation isn’t there. Everywhere you turn it’s all the same. For the next week, ESPN will replay highlights, debate how the Giants won and force the entire New England area to ignore SportsCenter.\nThanks to the writers’ strike, there goes 95 percent of my regular programming.\nWhile I listen to the most depressing songs on my iPod (“Sunday, Bloody Sunday,” “Ain’t no Sunshine,” and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” come to mind), my Giant-loving fraternity brothers are rocking out to “Celebration” and “We Are The Champions.”\nBut as hard as it may for Patriots fans to accept the loss, you have to feel some sort of happiness for New York and its fans.\nOnly let me state for the record that never in my life did I envision typing the previous line.\nLike everyone says, we love the underdog. It’s the foundation America was built on. Unless the opposing team is your rival, how could you not take pleasure out of an upset? How could you not feel good when the 1969 New York Jets (17-point underdogs) roughed up Johnny Unitas and the Colts? Or when the 2001 Pats knocked off the “Greatest Show on Turf?” What about the “Miracle on Ice” at Lake Placid in the 1980 Olympics?\nOf course I’m hurt. I’m in pain. It’s like the Beatles broke up all over again (Except now I’m alive.) But as the cliche goes, there is always next year and maybe 365 days from now, Mercury Morris and Don Shula will be throwing bottles of champagne across the room instead of getting sloshed off the bubbly. \nUntil then, I’ll just have to regroup and wait for August, knowing that so many key guys on this team will be gone. One of the greatest teams assembled, all but a memory.\nAll I have to say is kudos to the Giants — America’s underdog. It’s what we all love to see.\nAnd what I hated to watch.

https://www.idsnews.com/article/2008/02/root-root-root-for-the-underdog

Unlucky 13

(01/07/08 5:17am)

Fifteen minutes into the game, the Hoosiers' magical run was over. \nWith the desert sun slowly slipping away into the Arizona night, so did the Hoosiers hopes of winning their first bowl game since 1991. \nInstead of capping their season with the win Hoosier nation has dreamt of for 16 years, Oklahoma State handed IU a heartbreaking loss – a 49-33 blowout at Sun Devil Stadium. \n“It’s disappointing any time you lose a football game, but we played hard and we didn’t quit,” said senior fullback Josiah Sears. “We fell short there, but that’s part of life.” \nEarly on, it looked as if the prognosticators were right when they declared the Insight Bowl a high-scoring affair. A 43-yard Austin Starr field goal gave the Hoosiers early success, but the Cowboys quickly answered with a touchdown. \nOklahoma State’s offensive success continued when the Hoosiers stalled. Mike Gundy’s team scored on its first five possessions of the game – all touchdowns. \nFollowing their first score, the Cowboys went for the jugular when IU’s offense stalled once again. \nQuarterback Zac Robinson found receiver Dez Bryant on a 24-yard pass to make the score 14-3, and ran it in himself from 7 yards out a mere three minutes later. By the end of the first quarter, the Hoosiers already found themselves in an 18-point hole. \nRobinson threw for a second touchdown and ran in another in the second quarter. At the end of the half, the Cowboys were up 35-10. \n“They just controlled the early part of the game,” said IU coach Bill Lynch. “And offensively, we didn’t get any flow.” \nSears agreed, saying the Hoosiers were not as in sync during the opening minutes. \n“They came out ready to play and we came out a little flat,” he said. “I don’t know why, and I’m not going to try and make excuses.” \nJust like they had done many times throughout the year, the Hoosiers gave their fans a glimpse of how good they can actually be. In the second half alone, IU put up 23 points, but it was too late. \nForcing Oklahoma State to punt for the first time, the Hoosiers took advantage of terrific field position, and put together a scoring drive, set up by a reception from an unlikely receiver – Austin Starr. \nWith most of the offensive line lined up on the left side of the field on fourth down, sophomore quarterback Kellen Lewis took the snap with Starr lined up to his right. Lewis rolled out of the pocket and threw to Starr, who juked several defenders to get the first down. Two plays later, Lewis ran it in for the score. \n“When we did it in practice, it was supposed to go a lot easier than that,” Starr said. “I wasn’t supposed to juke out three players.” \nBut after gaining some newfound momentum, the Hoosiers succumbed once again to the Cowboys when Bryant caught his second touchdown pass. By the end of the game, Oklahoma State had racked up 513 yards of total offense. \nAll the while, the Cowboy defense targeted junior wide receiver James Hardy, and held the Hoosiers' weapon to five catches for 50 yards. \n“Me and the corners had a couple of conversations out there,” Hardy said jokingly after the game. “They explained to me a little bit what was going on.” \nOklahoma State played with an intensity that overwhelmed a Hoosier team that was new to the idea of playing in a bowl game. Having a stalwart effort from their defense in the first half, the Cowboys saw an easy road to the Insight Bowl championship and took it. \nBut knowing most of their team is returning is encouraging to the Hoosiers. In their minds, they’ve taken the first step. Next year, they will be making even greater strides. \n“We have said over and over again, that we’re going to look back at it and this group of seniors got this thing going,” Lynch said. "That’s the sad part of it, but I think it’s going to be the beginning of something really, really good.”

https://www.idsnews.com/article/2008/01/unlucky-13
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