Adult soccer player’s attack leaves ref critical

LIVONIA, Mich. (AP) — A Detroit-area soccer player faces a felony assault charge on accusations he critically injured a referee when he punched him during an adult-league match.

Baseel Abdul-Amir Saad surrendered Monday and was arraigned in Livonia District Court a charge of assault with intent to do great bodily harm. A judge set his bond at $500,000 and scheduled a probable-cause hearing July 10.

Defense lawyer Brian Berry tells The Associated Press that his client cooperated with police and isn’t guilty of the charge.

He says he and Saad send “prayers out to the referee and his family.”

Police say Saad punched the unnamed referee in the head after the referee indicated he planned to eject the 36-year-old Dearborn resident from a game Sunday.

The referee was in critical condition Monday afternoon.

 

 

Johnny Football now has

‘Johnny Footlong’ hot dog

AKRON, Ohio (AP) — Johnny Football meet Johnny hot dog.

A minor league baseball team in Ohio now has a hot dog on its menu in honor of Johnny Football.

The Akron RubberDucks say the “Johnny Footlong” is a tribute to Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel.

The hot dog is topped with Texas chili, shredded pepper jack cheese and hot sauce. It costs $8.

The Browns play just up the road from Akron and selected the Heisman Trophy winner from Texas A&M in the spring draft.

 

 

Ex-Texas Tech player

facing felony charge

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — A former Texas Tech football player faces felony assault charges after he was accused of hitting one of the school’s women’s basketball players at the university’s recreation center.

A Texas Tech Police Department offense report released Monday accuses freshman Nigel Bethel II of “causing serious bodily injury” by hitting Amber Battles on Saturday. The one-page report states the attack included “hands, fists, feet, etc.”

Efforts to reach Bethel were unsuccessful. The highly regarded defensive back from Miami was released from custody pending formal charges by the Lubbock County district attorney’s office.

Bethel was dismissed from the football team on Sunday.

Athletics spokesman Blayne Beal said Bethel is being allowed to complete his summer school session.

Battle led the Lady Raiders last season with 16.4 points per game.

 

 

Astros seek hackers who

released trade info

HOUSTON (AP) — The Houston Astros say they have been the victims of hackers who accessed their servers and published months of internal trade talks on the Internet.

General manager Jeff Luhnow says “it was an illegal activity and we’re going to pursue it and try and find out who did it and prosecute.”

He says they learned of the breach about a month ago. The team responded on Monday after the web site Deadspin.com published a story about the breach.

Among the items involved talks with Miami to trade 2012 top overall pick Carlos Correa and rookie George Springer for Marlins star slugger Giancarlo Stanton.

Luhnow says some of the information was accurate and some was not, but he wouldn’t discuss what portions fell into which category.

 

 

Signed ticket from Gehrig

retirement hits auction

NEW YORK (AP) — A ticket stub signed by Lou Gehrig on July 4, 1939 — the day he retired from baseball — is going on the auction block.

Heritage Auctions says more than 60,000 tickets to the game at Yankee Stadium were sold. Only two are known to have survived.

Of the two, only the mezzanine box ticket was signed by Gehrig. It’s estimated to bring over $100,000 at the Aug. 1 sale in Cleveland.

The owner is an unidentified collector.

Gehrig retired after being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, now known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. In his farewell speech that day, he said, “I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.”

Heritage’s director of sports memorabilia, Chris Ivy, calls it “the most significant baseball ticket in the world.”