Pittsburgh Steelers Get A Bomb Threat and more[Sports Week]
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The NFL owners get ready for the start of free agency, an autistic water boy shatters a basketball record, and more. Stephen Brandt writes.  Whomever that jerk was who decided to call in the bomb threat, you got what you wanted – your time in the sun. Members of the Pittsburgh Steelers were evacuated from a movie theater on Wednesday night after a bomb threat interrupted a private screening of last month's Super Bowl victory, police said.Authorities evacuated the Loews Cineplex at The Waterfront in Homestead PA after the threat was received from an anonymous caller to 911, Homestead Police Chief Chris Deasy said. ”It said there was a bomb that was going to go off at a Loews theater,” Deasy said. The caller had a male voice and made no reference to the Steelers, Deasy added later. Minutes after the call at 8:03 pm, police escorted the players out of the theater and searched the premises using at least one bomb-sniffing dog. They found no evidence of a bomb. An estimated 1,000 moviegoers were also told to leave the cineplex. NFL Owners Talk Players NFL owners will try to find labor peace before the start of free agency and they’re hoping to avoid the mass dumping of veterans for salary-cap reasons. The owners and the players are being greedy right now, the perfect way to ruin a great sport – way to go! The owners were scheduled to meet in New York on Thursday, looking to reach an agreement with the players' union that could add $10 million to $15 million to a 2006 salary cap that currently is $94.5 million. However without it, some teams could be forced into wholesale cuts to get beneath the cap by midnight. Free agency starts Friday. The NFL extended the deadline for teams to terminate contracts and request waivers on players for six hours, from 4 pm to 10 pm on Thursday. However, that didn’t make teams’ days any easier. The NFL said in a statement Wednesday that the management council executive committee unanimously rejected the union's latest proposal “as a basis for further negotiations.” “Without an agreement with the union on an extension, the league year will begin as scheduled at midnight Thursday under the current terms of the CBA,” the statement said. Autistic Student Breaks Record Now that we have the bad stories out of the way, let’s take a look at the feel good story of the week. At Greece Athena High School in Rochester New York, they are still talking about J-Mac's big night. The soon-to-be graduating senior made his varsity basketball debut, and did in four minutes what many people will be remember for a lifetime. As a student assistant, or what other schools call “water boy” Jason McElwain helps out the team. All that changed on Wednesday night, when Coach Jim Johnson decided to give Jason his shot to suit up and play. ”He said this was my senior present, my chance to get out on the floor as an actual basketball player for the night,” Jason said. “J-Mac” as he's known, is medically diagnosed as highly functioning autistic. He is loved by his teammates and fellow students and they all came to the game with his face on signs. When J-Mac entered the game, they went crazy. “My emotions started running wild. I actually sat down and I started to tear up and thought, ‘Oh my God, this is happening,’” Coach Johnson said. Jason got a pass and took a shot. He missed badly. ”His first possession, he gets the ball and takes a shot and misses by six feet. I put my hands in my head and thought, ‘Please, Lord, just get him a basket,’” Johnson said. One minute later, he got his hoop – a three-pointer that got the fans going. ”I was very excited. The team was excited. Everyone was excited,” Jason said. But J-Mac wasn't done. He kept shooting and kept hitting – another three, then another, and yet another. ”I was on fire. I was hotter than a pistol,” Jason said. When he was done, he had hit a team record, tying for six three-pointers. The crowd stormed the court and put Jason on their shoulders. Athletic Director Randy Hutto said, “It was one of those special moments that as an athletic director, I thought, ‘If I retired today, this would be the one thing that I talked about forever.’” |
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