The school and the campus police are currently playing dumb, refusing to release any details about the fight and the athletic department similarly won't say why the players were given the boot. But witness told the campus newspaper that one of the guys involved in the Sunday night brawl had dreadlocks, so that pretty much cinches it. Also, Winston is a violent idiot so everyone knows he had to be involved.

As you may recall, Winston (pictured in this bittersweet moment) went to jail this summer after beating up an MSU hockey player—the player missed the whole season as a result—and was reinstated to the football team the day he was released. It's really heartwarming to see a young man make the most of his second chance. Mark Dantonio's sparkling judgment remains unblemished.

Winston, Jenrette removed from team; police, MSU silent [The State News]

A witness called Bridgeville police at 1:09 p.m. after a suspect, who was supposed to have been walking the dog, was kicking it down the street instead, according to a police affidavit.

Ms. Gielarowski told police her boyfriend kicked the dog because the pup would not walk with them. When the near lifeless dog no longer was able to move, Mr. Woodson walked away from it and his girlfriend, she told police.

[...]

"He admitted the dog would not behave prior to the Steelers game and that he became upset at it," according to the affidavit.

The girlfriend originally gave police a false name and then lied to protect her dog-killer boyfriend, because that's what loving the Steelers does to people. They become blood-thirsty puppy-hating dickheads. Lots of dogs misbehave before Ravens and Bengals games, but they don't get to stomped to death, do they? Heck, the whole state of Pennsylvania is suspect at this point.

Seriously, though, this guy is a prick.

Police: Man kills puppy misbehaving before Steelers game [Post-Gazette]

These two men are obviously fans of Wrangler Jeans, but their fighting styles show that they have clearly not learned the lessons taught to them by their hero. When locked in a life or death struggle with a crafty opponent ... you should wait until he's not looking and then hit him in the knees. Man can't stand, he can't fight.

Now some wishy-washy types will try to tell you that such a strategy is "illegal" or "ill-advised" or "endangering another man's career with a pointless preseason block." Don't listen to those people. You play the game to win, even when you're only playing to learn who needs to be cut from the third string. Heck, knocking Eugene Wilson out of commission just makes the Texans job easier!

Favre's illegal block draws mixed reviews [Star Tribune]
'MNF' crew criticizes Brett Favre after controversial block - The Huddle: Football News from the NFL [USA Today]
Brett Favre tries to end former Patriots safety Eugene Wilson's season with ugly cheap shot [Examiner]

* * * * *

Tuesday is here. Yes, even in Canada.

The movie tells the story of the Luis Resto-Billy Collins Jr. fight from 1983, when the journeyman Resto pummeled the undefeated Collins beyond recognition. Immediately after the fight, it was discovered that most of the padding had been taken out of Resto gloves. He and his trainer, Panama Lewis, spent two-and-a-half years in jail each, and were both banned from the sport for life. Less than a year after the fight, his career ruined and his life in shambles, Collins drove his car off a road and died.

The documentary focuses mainly on Resto, who got out of jail and then saw his life getting even worse. He never got his fighting license back and couldn't even get certified as a cornerman. His wife left him, his kids grew up without him, and he struggled along the bottom layer of the boxing game ever since. Throughout the course of the film, Resto—who had always denied any involvement with the glove tampering—comes to terms with his own role in the fateful fight, as he desperately reaches out for any lifeline that will pull his life back together.

In this early scene, he meets Panama for the first time since getting out of jail over 20 years earlier and confronts him about the gloves. Lewis also continues to deny any wrongdoing and promises that as soon as he gets back on his feet, he will help Resto out. In case, you hadn't noticed Lewis is covered in gold. Every finger on both hands, both his wrists and neck are swimming in jewelry. He's been back on his feet for a long time. Even though Lewis was banned as a cornerman he still makes money training top end fighters, while Resto spent ten years living in the basement of a gym.

Watching Lewis and Resto move through the shady underbelly of boxing, the whole movie is just a stunning reminder that boxing is run by some of the most corrupt and selfish people that walk the Earth. A boxing match between two well-matched contenders is a sight to behold, but it's hard to show any support for pugilism when you stop to think about what everyone involved had to do to get there. Or where they will end up, once they've outlived their usefulness. Rightly or wrongly, Lewis comes off as the consummate con-artist a man who casually threw away Collins' and then Resto's, lives in search of a big payday. The film is not entirely objective, but you don't have to know much about boxing to know that Lewis is not alone.

HBO: ASSAULT IN THE RING [Re-air schedule @ HBO.com]

In 2002, Mandarich was engaged to Sharra Ferbrache, a model/spokesanchorperson and at one time the host of some sort of monster truck TV show. They split up, but according to a lawsuit filed in Arizona last week, Mandarich came into possession of certain "intimate sexual pictures and videos of plaintiff that were to be kept personal and completely and totally private between them." Believe it or not, he didn't dispose of them when they broke up. Then a website magically popped up last year under her name, allegedly registered by a company owned by Mandarich and his new wife (he's a bit of a web entrepreneur) and those pictures and videos were all over it! What a coincidence.

Ferbrache says the site is a ploy by Tony and his wife, Charlavan (that's her on the right), to humiliate her by making hardcore porn the first thing that comes up in a search engine. I guess it worked. Judging by the size of the genitalia involved, I'm going to say Tony is not the other performer in these photos, but it's not clear where the pictures came from or what their original purpose really was. Perhaps they were test shoots for Tony and Char's "boudoir photography" business. Now that I've planted the vision of Tony Mandarich coming into your bedroom to taking provocative photos of your wife, you may stop reading until the dry heaves have subsided.

The site that the lawsuit covers is amazingly still live, but I think I'm going to go ahead and not to link to it, because if the allegations are true then Mandarich is an ever bigger world-class prick than previously believed, so why do him any favors? And two, you know where the Google is. (UPDATE: Site is now down anyway.)

Ex-Fiancee Claims NFL Guy Played Dirty [Courthouse News]

UPDATE: Reached for comment, Mandarich Media Group emails:

I have received no notification that I am involved in any lawsuit from any attorney or court. Until I do I have no comment on her allegations. However, she has proven herself to be very unstable since we split up 7 years ago, so nothing she does or says surprises me anymore.

Tony

Do with that what you will.

The people who clean up Camden Yards after games, and keep it one of the most gorgeous, most profitable stadiums in baseball are barely making a living wage.

The UWA, a human rights group founded by homeless day laborers in Baltimore, represents 800 low-wage workers who make up the pool of the 100-120 people who keep Camden Yards clean. Stadium workers—the people who clean out the bathroom stalls, sweep up the small mountains of cigarette butts and make the Camden Yards experience as pristine as promised—make poverty wages, just $7 an hour.

Because they are doing "day labor," members of the UWA who show up to work are sent home if they're not needed. The wages are so low, and the job so "flexible," that some workers live in homeless shelters. One worker was kicked out of public housing because her pay that month couldn't match the monthly rent. ... The UWA claims that in 2004 Angelos promised to make up the difference in a living wage out of his own deep pockets. It's a promise he has failed to keep.

By the way, Kris Benson is making nearly $8 million for the Orioles this season.

Cleaning Up After The Orioles [The Nation]

But the NFL sees what you don't see: It sees dirty copyright swindlers!

The NFL is telling Fall Creek Baptist Church that its plans to use a wall projector to show the game at a party for church members and guests would violate copyright laws. NFL officials spotted a promotion of Fall Creek's "Super Bowl Bash" on the church Web site last week and sent pastor John D. Newland a letter — via FedEx overnight — demanding the party be canceled.

Initially, the league objected to the church's plan to charge partygoers a fee to attend and that the church used the license-protected words "Super Bowl" in its promotions. Newland told the NFL his church would not charge partygoers — the fee had been intended only to pay for snacks — and that it would drop the use of the forbidden words.

But the NFL wouldn't bite. It objected to the church's plans to use a projector to show the game on what effectively was a 12-foot-wide screen. It said the law limits the church to one TV no bigger than 55 inches.

Yeah. They TOTALLY DESERVED IT TOO. Honestly, the Fall Creek Baptist Church is lucky the NFL lets them live.

NFL Lawyers Sack Church's Game Plan [Indianapolis Star]
The Fall Creek Baptist Church [Official Site]