Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert reacts during the first half of Game 6 of the NBA Eastern Conference basketball finals against the Miami Heat in Indianapolis, Saturday, June 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert reacts during the first half of Game 6 of the NBA Eastern Conference basketball finals against the Miami Heat in Indianapolis, Saturday, June 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert reacts on the bench during the second half of Game 6 of the NBA Eastern Conference basketball finals against the Miami Heat in Indianapolis, Saturday, June 1, 2013. Pacers won 91-77. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) ? Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert apologized Sunday morning for using a gay slur and cursing during his news conference after Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals.
About 12 hours after he made the comments, the team issued a statement from Hibbert in which he said he was sorry for his "insensitive remarks."
"They were disrespectful and offensive and not a reflection of my personal views," he said in the statement. "I used a slang term that is not appropriate in any setting, private or public, and the language I used definitely has no place in a public forum, especially over live television."
After Saturday night's win, Hibbert ended a response to a question about his defense on Miami's LeBron James with "no homo," a phrase that implies fear of appearing gay. He also called reporters an offensive term.
Before departing for Miami, where Game 7 will be played Monday night, Pacers coach Frank Vogel told reporters he had already spoken with Hibbert and described the 2012 All-Star center as "contrite." Players were not available Sunday.
With the series tied at 3 and a trip to the NBA Finals at stake Monday, distractions are the last thing this young Pacers squad needs as it tries to prevent the Heat from making what many expected to be a stroll into their third straight NBA Finals. The Pacers have appeared in the finals only once, in 2000, when they lost in six games to the Los Angeles Lakers.
So Vogel did what he could to calm down the brewing controversy while still backing the big man who has given Indiana this chance by routinely beating up the defending NBA champions inside.
"It's simple. I support him. I know he's not that person and that it was a mistake," Vogel said. "He knows he's wrong. I didn't have to tell him that and we all love and support him."
Hibbert could be disciplined by the NBA, though he said Saturday night that he didn't care if he got fined.
In his statement Sunday, he said, "I sincerely have deep regret over my choice of words last night."
Hibbert had drawn a key charge on James in Indiana's 91-77 victory that evened the series and lamented not providing enough help defensively to teammate Paul George on James in Game 3.
Hibbert was later asked why he finished so low in voting for Defensive Player of the Year, telling reporters that it was "because y'all (expletives) don't watch us play throughout the year, to tell you the truth."
The 7-foot-2 Hibbert's star turn has been a major reason Indiana has pushed the defending champion Heat to a Game 7. He has averaged 22.8 points and 10.8 rebounds in the series, up from 11.9 points and 8.3 rebounds in the regular season.
But now, suddenly, the Pacers' big man who has been the talk of the series has become the center of attention for a different reason.
"Obviously, he made a great mistake. He feels horribly about it," Vogel said. "I told him, basically, that we've got to move on from it."
Danny Van Haute was one of a few insiders celebrating Freddie Rodriguez's nationals win on Monday. Photo: Casey B. Gibson | www.cbgphoto.com
At the U.S. professional national championships in 2010, a 21-year old rider on the developmental Livestrong cycling team, Ben King, broke away less than four miles in and held on to win the 115-mile race. In 2011, a former collegiate running star, Mathew Busche, 26, beat 16-time Tour de France finisher George Hincapie, 38, in a whisper-thin sprint. In 2012, Timmy Duggan, 29, who?d suffered a near career-ending head injury four years earlier, won solo, arms wide across the line.
?The three consecutive victories fed a narrative of a domestic cycling scene emerging from an era dogged by doping. The wins seemed to be evidence of a new, clean generation of American pros, whose time had finally come.
?Then, at the 2013 Volkswagen USA Cycling Professional Road and Time Trial National Championships on Monday, Jelly Belly-Kenda?s Fred Rodriguez, 39, outsprinted a select group of top domestic racers and up-and-coming European-based pros to win his record fourth national title. ?I?m back!? Rodriguez shouted as he crossed the line. The win inspired a slew of stories about an aging pro, claiming one last major victory. It also left a lingering sense that ghosts of cycling?s past had returned.
In the 2000s, racing for major teams like Mapei and Lotto, Rodriguez had placed second at Milan San-Remo and won a stage of the Giro d?Italia. He had gone toe-to-toe with top European sprinters like Mario Cipollini and Alessandro Petacchi, who?ve since been implicated in doping scandals or suspended outright.
?Though Rodriguez was never publicly implicated or suspended, he competed during an era we now know, especially in the wake of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency?s damning Armstrong investigation, was rife with cheaters from our own soil. And on Monday, when he crossed the line first in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee, many people weren?t happy.
One rider crossed the line in a frenzy and yelled, ?Anyone but him.? Another pleaded to his soigneur, ?Please, tell me Freddie didn?t win.? On Facebook, a racer wrote, ?The entire field put their head down in disappointment.?
To be clear, sprinters, especially those who are uneasily shaken by steep hills, are often unpopular in the peloton. They suck wheel. They sit on. They win, a lot.
But in the discontent over Rodriguez?s victory, there was a deeper implication. In the online race recaps, many commenters lauded the victory by ?Fast Freddie.? Others wrote insinuating jabs, like, ?Not normal.?
?I felt a certain sinking in my stomach, too. In this new era of U.S. bike racing, one assumed to be much cleaner, we can?t help but treat impressive performances with a certain level of suspicion. Though I?d rooted for Rodriguez a decade ago, it was hard for me to cheer for him now. I wondered if another young, clean racer had been cheated. But I also wondered, was it fair for me to feel that way about Freddie?
Rodriguez, who?s raced domestically since joining the former bad boy outfit Rock Racing in 2008, had failed to sign with another domestic pro team after Exergy folded last November. Without a pro contract, he competed for the amateur Predator Carbon Repair team, and partook in a handful of national races like the Merco Cycling Classic, Redlands Classic, and Silver City?s Tour of the Gila, where he?d scored a few top-10 finishes.
Three weeks out from nationals, Rodriguez finally came to an agreement with Danny Van Haute, the director of Jelly Belly, who had been courting him since March. ?That?s when I really focused,? said Rodriguez, who told me he?d also been participating in grand fondos and charity rides to maintain his fitness. ?I went back to what?s always worked for me, doing four- to five-hour zone 2 rides, holding upwards of 300 watts at the end of the ride.?
Rodriguez said he?d adopted a vegan diet, which had helped him lower his weight previously in his career, and brought a conservative strategy to racing nationals. ?I knew I would be lacking race intensity, so I made sure to limit the number of accelerations I had to make during the race,? he said.
?I was not at 100 percent of my fitness,? Rodriguez told me.
?When I asked Van Haute about Rodriguez?s victory, he initially berated me for bringing up the fact that, you know, Freddie had successfully competed against this previous generation of dirty racers. ?I did my research before signing him, there?s not one mention!? Van Haute said. ?That era?s over, and so is this conversation.? Then, after he?d cooled down and apologized, Van Haute explained that it was fresh legs and smart team riding that snared Jelly Belly the victory.
?Freddie didn?t make it over the mountain with the strongest climbers,? Van Haute explained. As the leaders raced away, Rodriguez implored his teammates to stay with him. With no cohesion in the front group, Jelly Belly chased them down.
?Finally, on a media conference call hosted by USA Cycling Thursday afternoon, I asked Rodriguez himself about, what I felt, was the elephant in the room. ?As you know, many pro cycling fans are jaded and cynical,? I started.
?After your win at pro nationals, rightfully or wrongfully, there was some suspicion, and I?m wondering how you respond to that?? I continued, anxiously.
?You know, there?s always going to be,? Rodriguez said. Then he stopped. Then he started again. ?I look at this as a social problem, and I hate that just our sport has been thrown under the bus,? Rodriguez said. ?You look at life, you look at politics, you look at business, you look at anywhere there?s been success, and there?s always going to be people willing to take it to the next level.?
?Our goal as people, as athletes, as the majority,? Rodriguez said. ?Is to show there?s better ways of doing it.? (I later found Rodriguez gave a very similar response on Competitor Radio, only more eloquently, and less taken by surprise.)
Rodriguez went on to explain how his European victories had been hard fought, and described his work with the Fast Freddie Foundation to instill kids with life lessons through cycling. ?It?s hurtful what?s happened in our sport, and it?s made me doubt what?s real,? Rodriguez said. Then he asked, ?What is real??
?I feel lucky I was able to compete at a high level,? Rodriguez said.
?Are you upset that people might view you as being part of this generation of dirty racers, even though you, as you say, weren?t?? I asked.
?Yeah! Of course,? Rodriguez said. ?It?s hurtful. They don?t know how hard I?ve had to fight for everything I?ve done. They don?t know my life.?
Karen from Pedal Dancer piped in to ask Freddie a question, and I was left to contemplate what I?d learned, if I?d learned anything. So I went back and watched the finish of the national road race that Pedal Dancer had posted on its website.
I saw Phil Gaimon?s (Bissell) cadence slowing after a long solo breakaway, and Matthew Busche (RadioShack-Leopard) implausibly sacrificing himself to bring Gaimon back. Ben Jacques-Maynes (Jamis-Hagens Berman) surging early. Rodriguez accelerating for his wheel. A long, downhill sprint. Freddie?s arms in the air. Kiel Reijnen (UnitedHealthcare) banging his handlebars.
The course was only 100 miles long, and it wasn?t out of the question for a racer without WorldTour miles in his legs to hang at the end. Rodriguez?s performance didn?t make me feel uneasy, only his perhaps unfair implication by association with a now-tainted time in American cycling. A time for which we?ll always be reminded, as much as we want to usher in the sport?s new heroes.
As the conference call with Rodriguez wound to a close, someone asked him if he?d change anything about the Chattanooga course. ?Yes,? he said, make it longer.
Ian Dille is a freelance journalist based in Austin, Texas. A former professional cyclist and graduate of the University of Texas School of Journalism, his areas of interest and expertise include health and fitness, travel, environmental and social issues ? plus, of course, beer. However, he?ll report on just about anything, given the opportunity (bring on the muckraking). He is a contributing writer for VeloNews and Bicycling Magazine, and currently races on the road as an elite-level amateur.
FILED UNDER: Commentary / RoadTAGS: doping / Freddie Rodriguez / Lance Armstrong doping / USA Cycling Professional National Championship
SMITHFIELD, Va. (AP) ? You can't go far in this historic southeastern Virginia town without seeing a pig.
A herd of life-size swine statues lines its downtown, an ornament of a piglet wearing a bandanna adorns a front lawn, hams hang in storefronts and a pickup truck flaunts the license plate "PIG TIME."
The home of the world's largest pork producer and maker of famous Smithfield hams is divided in its reaction to news that the company agreed to be bought by a Chinese company. The reception is as mixed as whether the locals favor salt-cured or sugar-cured ham.
Smithfield Foods Inc. agreed to a $4.72 billion offer from Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd., the majority shareholder in China's largest meat processor. The deal, which would be the largest takeover of a U.S. company by a Chinese firm, still faces a federal regulatory review and Smithfield shareholder approval.
Steps from the site where the company was founded in 1936, residents in the "Ham Capital of the World" greet each other on a main street lined with white picket fences and Victorian-style homes, and welcome a neighbor back from a recent trip out of town. Just down the road, workers shuffle into the company's packing plants for their shifts.
Looking out on the street that's lined with antique cars every weekend, locals frequent Smithfield Gourmet Bakery and Beanery, grabbing their morning coffee and pastry. Some are shocked that "China would own our Smithfield," said Carolyn Burke, a longtime resident who owns the eatery.
"It's Smithfield ham, it's not China ham," Burke said.
And she's right: Pork produced here for more than 300 years became so popular that many places in the 1930s tried to pass off their ham as Smithfield ham, which led to branding each ham so customers knew it was authentic. The state even passed a since-revised law in 1926, stating the "Smithfield ham" moniker could only be used for cuts of peanut-fed hogs processed and salt-cured in the town limits.
The town also is home to the world's oldest cured ham from 1902 at the Isle of Wight museum ? complete with its own brass collar around the hock.
As important as the pork itself is Smithfield Foods, which employs about 3,800 people in Virginia. In its most recent fiscal year, it brought in sales of more than $13 billion and made a profit of $361 million.
The company, its founding family ? the Luters ? and those who work there donate time and money to the community, funding parks, public restrooms and other projects.
"You either have a family member who works there, or has worked there, or you had a summer job there. It's just such a part of our community," said Sheila Gwaltney, the director of a local arts center and a more-than-40-year resident whose husband's family has been in the area since 1666. "Smithfield has been so good for the town."
With its namesake and well-being on the line, Smithfield native and Mayor T. Carter Williams, 71, hopes the pending sale doesn't compromise the town's identity.
"They say that everything's going to stay the same, and we all just hope that it does," he said. His wife, Connie, works at Taste of Smithfield, a hometown restaurant the company opened about a year ago to showcase its products. "We'll just see where it ends up, time will tell."
In an interview with The Associated Press, Smithfield Foods CEO Larry Pope said the move showed "the globalization of the world and how it affects small-town America."
"But Smithfield, Virginia, has nothing to worry about," Pope said. "We're in a mature market ... and to continue to grow we have to look at opportunities outside the United States."
Bob Barnes, who worked as an accountant at Smithfield Foods for about 10 years before retiring, sees only "good things happening" for the company that has had its share of ups and downs over the years.
Pork producers such as Smithfield have been caught in a tug of war with consumers. The company needs to raise prices to offset rising commodity costs, namely the corn it uses for feed. But consumers are still extremely sensitive to price changes in the current economy. By raising prices, Smithfield risks cutting into its sales should consumers cut back or buy cheaper meats, such as chicken. In 2009, Smithfield Foods posted its first annual loss since 1975, and again in 2010, but has since rebounded. And one of its largest shareholders had been pushing Smithfield to consider splitting itself up in recent months.
"Somebody's gotta own it," Barnes said. "It's just money. It doesn't bother me as long as it doesn't change our philosophy, our life, our politics (and) it doesn't shut down places."
Gwaltney agreed: "When you think about it, that should be very good economically for the company ... and what's good for the company is good for us."
There is at least one drawback that residents note: They'll soon be unable to own Smithfield stock ? a tangible piece of the company named after the town that pork built.
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Michael Felberbaum can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/MLFelberbaum
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More than a quarter of women believe there is nothing they can do to reduce their risk of breast cancer, according to a survey.
A YouGov poll for Breakthrough Breast Cancer found an "alarming" number of women in Scotland were unaware that lifestyle changes can help protect against the disease.
However, nearly three-quarters said they would change their lifestyles if they knew it would reduce their risk of breast cancer.
Two-fifths (40%) do not know that regular physical activity can reduce the risk, the charity said.
Around a third (36%) are unaware a healthy weight can help prevent breast cancer and two-fifths (41%) do not know that drinking alcohol regularly can increase the chances of getting the disease.
Breakthrough Breast Cancer is calling for a greater focus on prevention in light of its survey findings.
James Jopling, the charity's director for Scotland, said it is worrying that more than a quarter of the women they surveyed have a fatalistic view of the disease.
"Changes to lifestyle such as being physically active, reducing the amount of alcohol you regularly drink and maintaining a healthy weight can all help women to stack the odds against developing breast cancer," he said.
"Encouragingly though, the survey also tells us that nearly three-quarters of Scottish women (74%) would make changes in lifestyle if they knew they could reduce their risk of developing breast cancer.
"We are calling on the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland to consider innovative ways to communicate risk reducing messages to women in Scotland. One way would be to inform women at appropriate opportunities such as when attending breast screening appointments."
More than 4,500 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in Scotland each year, although survival rates are improving, the charity said.
Professor Annie Anderson, co-director at the University of Dundee's Centre for Research in Cancer Prevention and Screening, supports having a greater emphasis on prevention.
"We know that cancer is often cited as the biggest fear of people in Scotland and the UK, and when we ask people what they think causes cancer they often say 'fate, just bad luck'," she said.
"But we know it is an interaction between genetics, lifestyle and the wider factors that influence our choices around eating, drinking and being physically active. This is the message about the preventability of cancer that needs more attention."
The YouGov survey of 557 women was carried out online in April.
Sony CEO Kaz Hirai had some good news to deliver on stage at D11 -- for US fans, at least. According to him, the Xperia Z, which currently serves as the company's flagship smartphone, is expected to arrive on a US carrier shortly. Unfortunately that's the extent of the details Kaz was willing to offer up, as we expect he wants to give the unnamed operator the opportunity to make the announcement itself. With that said, we have our suspicions that T-Mobile may be involved, thanks to its recent appearance in the FCC with T-Mobile radios. He did, however, mention that this success story is in part thanks to the company's increased marketing efforts in this part of the globe. We'll keep you updated with the news as it trickles out.
Update: David Beren from TmoNews grabbed a few shots of the Xperia Z with T-Mo branding, which certainly adds credence to our suspicions that the Z will wind up with the UnCarrier.
President Barack Obama, joined by college students, delivers Rose Garden remarks on student loans May 31. (Pablo??
President Barack Obama on Friday publicly called on Congress to prevent Stafford student loan interest rates from doubling this summer.
The president, who spent time on the 2012 campaign trail speaking out against a rate increase, spoke in the Rose Garden on Friday surrounded by college students. He pressed Congress to extend current rates or work toward a compromise to avoid the increase?3.4 to 6.8 percent?set to take effect July 1.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have said reforms are needed, but they are divided over the solution.
"Higher education cannot be a luxury for a privileged few," Obama said on Friday. He noted, as he has in the past, that it was only nine years ago that he and his wife, Michelle, finally paid off their student loans, which he said cost more than his mortgage. "And we were lucky," he said, noting they had "more resources than many." And this, he added, was around the time the first couple planned to start saving for their daughters' college funds.
Obama had warned on the 2012 campaign trail that allowing rates to double would cost the average student borrower $1,000 for each year of college over the life of the loan. Stafford loans are offered to low- and middle-income students. That added cost could greatly affect families weighing the expense of college, as well as put recent graduates in difficult positions, especially given the current tough economic climate, experts say.
[Related: More Yahoo News coverage of the student loan debate]
When interest rates were scheduled to double last summer, Congress, facing public pressure, passed a bill to stop that from happening. Obama signed it into law last year. But ahead of this year's July 1 expiration, Washington finds itself in the same situation.
"If this sounds like d?j? vu all over again, it's because it is," Obama said on Friday. He called on Americans to once again pressure Congress to act.
The Republican-led House has already acted. House members passed a student loan plan offered by Republican Rep. John Kline of Minnesota, chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. His proposal ties rates on student loans to the interest on the 10-year Treasury rate. But the White House and many Democrats take issue with that plan because interest rates would change annually.
"The House bill isn?t smart, and it isn?t fair," Obama said. He once again noted that interest rates would change annually under Kline's proposal, which also would eliminate "safeguards for lower-income families."
Several Democrats have offered their own proposals in Congress, as has the president.
Obama outlined his proposal in his budget this year. Like Kline's plan, it calls for tying rates on student loans to the interest on a 10-year Treasury note, but it locks in those rates for the life of the loan.
Some student loan advocates criticize the president's proposal because it doesn't provide a cap on those rates?something included in Kline's plan.
Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell chalked Friday's event up to politics.
"With the President and Congressional Republicans in agreement on the need to provide a permanent reform to address the increase in interest rates on new student loans, no one should be fooled by today?s campaign-style event at the White House," the Kentucky lawmaker said in a statement. "House Republicans have already passed legislation that would prevent a rate hike, and Senate Republicans have proposed a solution similar to one the President himself called for in this year?s budget. Here?s one issue where the two parties can and should find quick agreement.
"Unfortunately, the President appears more interested in needlessly stoking partisan divisions in Washington than helping young Americans avoid a higher interest rate on their student loans," he continued.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, in a statement on Friday noted that Kline's plan mirrors the president's and said the differences between the two "are small." Boehner then took issue with the president's event, which he argued stokes partisanship.
"With time so short and the differences between our proposals so slight, today?s event was misguided and deeply disappointing," he said. "A president who promised young people he would reject petty partisanship, today practiced it himself. If he really wants to shield students from higher rates, he should work with his former colleagues in the Senate to act. That?s what our students deserve."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., following Obama's remarks on Friday, announced in a statement that the House legislation is a "nonstarter" and that the Senate next week will vote on a Democratic-backed plan offered by Reid and Democratic Sens. Tom Harkin of Iowa and Jack Reed of Rhode Island. That proposal extends the 3.4 percent interest rate for two years while Congress works on a long-term solution.
?I hope my Senate Republican colleagues will put politics aside and join us in providing middle-class families with the security of knowing they won't be forced to pay thousands more for student loans on July 1st. This is exactly the kind of common-sense proposal we need to keep our economy growing," Reid said in a statement Friday.
