AREA
AREA
Scrappers have
new promotion
NILES — This summer the Mahoning Valley Scrappers will introduce a new promotion for home Monday games at Eastwood Field.
The Scrappers will have an all-you-can-eat menu on Mondays. For one set price fans will receive a game ticket and an unlimited menu of food, snacks, drinks and candy.
For details call (330) 505-0000.
NATION
Steelers say taping
didn’t affect games
PITTSBURGH — The New England Patriots’ taping of opposing coach’s signals did not affect the outcome of games against the Steelers, including two AFC Championship games, Steelers chairman Dan Rooney said Friday.
“We consider the tapes of our coaching staff during our games against the New England Patriots to be a non-issue,” Rooney said in a statement. “In our opinion, they had no impact on the results of those games.”
Rooney’s comments were fueled by remarks Thursday by U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who has questioned whether the NFL has properly handled allegations that Patriots coach Bill Belichick had assistants videotape opponents’ signals.
NFL officials indicate the Patriots taped the Steelers’ coaches during AFC Championship games at the end of the 2001 and 2004 seasons, and during regular season games in 2002 and 2004, Specter said. The Steelers lost all but the 2004 regular season game.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell fined Belichick $500,000 and the Patriots $250,000 and docked the team a first-round draft pick.
Specter has criticized Goodell for destroying the tapes after the league’s internal investigation. But Rooney said Goodell and the league took the “appropriate action” in punishing the Patriots.
Beech shelved
PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Penguins center Kris Beech was placed on injured reserve Friday with a broken right wrist and will be out indefinitely.
To fill Beech’s spot on the roster, the Penguins recalled forwards Connor James and Chris Minard from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League. Defenseman Alex Goligoski was returned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Beech, who played only four games since returning to the Penguins last month, was injured while being checked into the boards by Carolina defenseman Glen Wesley on Thursday night. Beech, who initially joined the Penguins in the 2001 trade that sent former NHL scoring champion Jaromir Jagr to Washington, has been with four NHL organizations this season.
He began the season with the Blue Jackets’ Syracuse farm club before being called up by Columbus.
Modin scores pair;
Jackets win in rout
DETROIT — Fredrik Modin scored twice and the Columbus Jackets beat the Red Wings 5-1 on Friday night, handing NHL-leading Detroit its fifth-straight loss.
Rick Nash had a goal and two assists and Nikolai Zherdev added a goal and an assist for Columbus. Ron Hainsey scored the other goal and Dick Tarnstrom had two assists.
Pavel Datsyuk scored for the Red Wings and Chris Osgood stopped nine shots before being pulled.
Columbus jumped out to a 3-0 first period lead. Nash opened the scoring with his 30th goal when he put in a rebound on the power play 7:29 into the game. Modin made it 2-0 with 6:55 left in the first period when he skated between Brett Lebda and Andreas Lilja, who fell. Modin went in alone and beat Osgood. Zherdev scored on a backhand shot from the slot with 5:01 left in the opening period for his 23rd goal.
More taping news
NEW ORLEANS — A lawsuit filed Friday by a former St. Louis Rams player and others seeks millions of dollars in damages from the alleged taping of Rams practices by the New England Patriots before the 2002 Super Bowl.
The $100 million suit, filed on behalf of former Rams player Willie Gary in U.S. District Court in New Orleans, names the Patriots, team owner Robert Kraft and head coach Bill Belichick.
All-star game
NEW ORLEANS — As the charter bus turned right on to Lizardi Street and descended into this city’s crippled Lower Ninth Ward, the lighthearted mood on board turned serious and sobering.
Through the windows on both sides, LeBron James, Steve Nash, Jason Kidd and other NBA All-Stars viewed unimaginable devastation. Suddenly, those horrific TV images and photographs burst to life.
Quaint, two-story homes once submerged in 25 feet of water still sit abandoned or boarded shut. Other houses bear the spray-painted Xs and numbers signifying rescues that were sometimes too late.
This is where Hurricane Katrina first left her mark in 2005, and where she endures 21⁄2 years later.
Steroids update
SAN FRANCISCO — A judge overseeing the BALCO steroids case in has ruled against the government and says BALCO founder Victor Conte and Barry Bonds’ personal trainer, Greg Anderson, can keep evidence prosecutors turned over to them from the investigation.
Federal prosecutors wanted the two convicted steroids dealers to return the documents. U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston turned them down.
Anderson spent most of last year in jail for refusing to testify against Bonds. He was released after the indictment against Bonds on perjury and obstruction of justice charges was unsealed.
Vindicator staff/wire reports