Jodie Kelly, a horse dressage rider from a well-known family in Destin, has been sued by a woman who says she relied upon Kelly's opinion in buying a $38,000 horse that proved to be lame.
The plaintiff is also from Destin -- Victoria Guennewig, who in 2007 was shopping for a horse with which to train for the sport of dressage. After Guennewig became interested in a horse kept in a farm near Wellington, she hired Kelly, a decorated rider who trains horses in Destin, as well as in Loxahatchee, at Checkered Flag Farms.
Since the sport requires a horse to have perfect form and make precise movements, its physical health was a crucial factor. Kelly was to perform a pre-purchase examination
It wasn't so long ago that Wisconsin had five dog tracks, second only to Florida in terms of total live-racing facilities. This week, the operators of the Dairyland Greyhound Park in Kenosha announced that the track will end racing on New Year's Eve. This will mark the end of greyhound racing in the state.
Apparently the track has lost $17 million over the past seven years. And it's not totally clear yet what will become of all the dogs.
Antiracing groups like the Massachusetts-based GREY2K USA are delighted. "New Year's Eve will be a very special one for the greyhounds this year," GREY2K's president, Christine Dorchak, told me. Dairyland joins Raynham Park in Massachusetts and Phoenix Greyhound Park, which will both cease live racing the same day.
Last night, your forgotten Florida Panthers did something they've been doing a lot lately: They went on the road and beat the hell out of someone. In this case, the Buffalo Sabres, 6-2. It was the team's fourth victory in the past five road games.
Suddenly, a team that started the season by winning just two of its first ten games, which lost its best defenseman (Jay Bouwmeester) in the offseason, then lost its best scorer (David Booth) to a concussion, on October 26, has put together one of the league's most improbable hot streaks. Since October 30, the Panthers have won six of nine.
But here's the thing: The team does not have a home ice advantage -- probably because it hardly has any fans attend its games at the BankAtlantic.
Santonio Holmes is from Belle Glade, and now that he's a Super Bowl MVP wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers, you'd imagine that his life in that crime-ridden, rundown berg is a distant memory. But according to the Post-Gazette, Holmes thinks of home every time he washes his hands. One of them has a tattoo that says "Muck." The other is tattooed: "City."
Muck City, apparently, is the unflattering nickname Belle Glade has earned among its survivors.
"I always refer back to everything I did as a kid growing up, where I came from -- Belle Glade. I even have it tattooed on my hands, Muck City," he said earlier this week, showing his Super Bowl XLIII MVP hands. "So definitely I'm always reminded of where I came from, where I grew up, just how rough it was. It's right there, visible to me, every day."
A Canadian teenager who is among the leading contenders for an Olympic gold in men's figure skating has taken his practice regimen south. Patrick Chan, winner of the gold men in the Four Continents and
Canadian Figure Skating Championships earlier this year, recently relocated from his training camp in Orlando, and he now calls the brand new Palm Beach Ice Works home.
"It's awesome here," he says of the training facility in West Palm Beach. "The lifestyle is much better than in Orlando. As a high performance athlete, comfort comes first."
You can catch Chan triple axelling six days a week, nine hours a day, preparing for next year's Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
"The countdown has begun," Chan says. "The Winter Olympics are about 95 days away, so I'm working hard every day."
This weekend, Hollywood Beach will swarm with impossibly ripped humans, all here for the NPC National Bodybuilding, Figure & Bikini Championships, which is making its annual appearance at South Florida's Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa. For rubberneckers who can't fathom how a person can get that muscular, the answer's in the fitness supplement booths.
More than 60 sports-related companies have flocked to the event, the better to showcase their most injected popular products. Tickets for the November 20-21 HGH extravaganza range from $35 to $125 and can be purchased at nationalbodybuilding.com or at the door.
This is footage from Saturday's fight between South Florida's own Glen Johnson (in gold) and "Bad" Chad Dawson. For most of the fight, Dawson, age 27 and undefeated, floated around Johnson, who will turn 41 in January. Johnson never made strong contact with Dawson and in the end looked worn down. Yesterday we put up a post wondering if this loss was going to be the last time we saw the "Road Warrior" in action.
Apparently Johnson was having similar thoughts. I spoke to him last night about the fight, his immediate thoughts after the loss (the 13th of his career), and his plans for the future.
Ricky Williams, Ronnie Brown, and wounded warriors
Despite some public relations issues in the past, I think Ricky Williams is a pretty kickass guy. And no matter what you think of him, yesterday he did a kickass thing:
Ricky took fellow Dolphins running back Ronnie Brown, some Dolphins cheerleaders, and 20 local wounded military veterans, and went to lunch at Duffy's in Plantation. He also gave each of them tickets to this Sunday's game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and vouchers for a hot dog, popcorn, and a soda.
Williams, whose grandfather was in the Navy, grew up close to a naval base in San Diego where his mother worked. Of his offering, he said:
Glen Johnson training after the first Dawson fight.
Boxing fans may have seen the last fight from a legendary South Florida pugilist this weekend. Glen "Road Warrior" Johnson, the light heavyweight who will turn 41 years old in January, finally got his rematch against undefeated 27-year-old phenom "Bad" Chad Dawson in Hartford, Connecticut, on Saturday.
Johnson looked good in the first few rounds, but by the fourth, he was all defense all the time -- a shift from the blue-collar boxer's usual approach, which often picks up intensity in the middle rounds.
Dawson manhandled Johnson, who wore long, bright yellow trunks for the fight. The judges were unanimous in their decision for Dawson, though two judges scored it a close fight. (The third judge and the audience seemed to think Dawson dominated.)
UPDATE: Glen Johnson says he is not retiring. Read about it here.
Now that Chad Henne has twice dusted the rival Jets this year and revived what looked like an atrocious season, sports outlets all over South Florida are discussing the man. They debate his arm strength, his ability to lead a team, his fit in this offense, his Marino-ness. Some have crowned him the franchise savior.
Most sensible sports writers would tell you they wouldn't want to judge him so early. They wouldn't want to wax poetic on the work of such a young player, no matter how impressive his wins might seem.
Not here though. Waxing poetic sounds just fine to us. So, in honor of number seven in aqua and orange, seven haikus about Chad Henne:
ESPN's Jeremy Schaap (the best sports journalist in television for our money) put together a fantastic package on the former Yankees catcher and one-time World Series hero that included Leyritz's first televised remarks about the drunk driving accident that killed a Fort Lauderdale woman two days after Christmas 2007.
Three hours after the crash, Leyritz's blood-alcohol level was .14, nearly twice the legal limit. Fredia Veitch, the mother who died on the scene, had a .18 at the time of the wreck. Though he is charged with DUI Manslaughter, Leyritz put the blame on Veitch.
For a third-hand manager, Joe Girardi's doing pretty well for himself. In 2006, the Marlins fired the feisty Girardi after he got a verbal altercation with team owner Jeffrey Loria. Then Girardi's longtime team, the Chicago Cubs had a chance to hire him, instead opting for the more experienced Lou Piniella. This year, those two franchises missed the post-season. Girardi's one win away from a World Series crown.
Fans must remember that 2006 season, when Girardi gave the low budget team an extreme makeover, including a no facial hair policy,
much like that of his New York Yankees. A catcher
during his own playing days, Girardi's adept at using
pitchers, and an expert communicator -- traits he displayed while managing the Marlins. The team made it stunningly close to landing the wild card during a season no one expected them to compete into September. Shortly after Girardi was fired he won the league's manager of the year award.
They wear Speedos when it's 50 degrees. They're pushy in person and even pushier in a car. Then there's those nauseating accents... With November, the snowbirds are back in town, and the New York variety have something to celebrate: Their beloved New York Yankees have finally made it through to the World Series, a feat not accomplished since losing the 2003 Series to our Florida Marlins.
Among that crowd of Yankees is one who used to wear the actual pinstripes: Whitey Ford, who pitched the Yankees to the 1950 World Series. The now-81-year-old retiree's been offering Yankees-Phillies commentary from the comfort of his Fort Lauderdale home -- a property search shows he owns a modest condo on north Fort Lauderdale Beach. Ford declined an invitation to the game one first-pitch ceremony, due to a bout with the flu.
Coach Slick making a wish list, checking it twice.
The Heat season is officially upon us again, and judging by the very small sample size thus far, Miami will go 82-0 and Dwyane Wade will finally secure the MV3. Most experts have them finishing fourth or fifth in the division and either barely making or missing the playoffs.
There are many story lines facing the Heat this season: Will D-Wade leave after this season? Will Beasley perform post-rehab? Will off-season additions Quinten Richardson and Carlos Arroyo supply enough depth to compete in the now-stacked East? Will the team still be haunted by the slow, stilted mummy wearing a Jermaine O'Neal jersey last year?
We at The Juice wanted to put together some sort of preview for this young season. Instead of the dry "Here's your starting line-up. Here are the big games. Here's a mediocre prediction we'll back away from soon" type of preview, we did a little (imaginary) investigating and found a list of five super-secret, extra-special goals team president Pat Riley has for the upcoming season.
What you won't find on this list are items like: "Sign Dwyane Wade." Because that's no secret at all.
Jeff Owens, a Sunrise native who wants to punish his home state school.
So many talented high school football players in South Florida. So few South Florida universities. And when some of those players must leave the state to play college ball, it breeds resentment. It also adds some extra hostility to games like today's between the Gators and the Georgia Bulldogs.
"I wanted to get out of the state," said fifth-year senior defensive tackle Jeff Owens, from Sunrise, Fla., located in South Florida. "Florida had a new coaching staff coming in, so you didn't know what to expect. I went with someone that I knew would be committed and had a long tradition here and I loved Georgia."
Three other players with a Florida ax to grind in today's heavyweight SEC bout: tight end Michael Moore from Fort Lauderdale, kicker Blair Walsh from Boca Raton, and defensive tackle Geno Atkins from Pembroke Pines.
It may be a little early to anoint Tony Sparano the savior of the franchise, but at the very least he's made the Dolphins fun to watch again. And he definitely un-did the damage to a previously proud tradition of upper-lip hair inflicted by one Dave Wanndstedt.
Juice hereby awards Sparano with the region's silver medal 'stache.
The countdown is a Juice effort to encourage our fellow locals to participate in the Movember fund-raising drive, whereby men grow mustaches in the month of November to benefit prostate cancer. Here's the fifth, fourth, and third most celebrated mustaches in the bi-county area.
Meet Daniel Bachove. As that Philadelphia Daily News story attests, the 31-year-old Fort Lauderdale resident and Philadelphia native won a lottery for tickets to watch the Phillies play the Yankees in the World Series. And he's bringing his great-great aunt, 95-year-old Harriette Gubel.
What have you done for your great-great aunt lately?
But that act of generosity may not be quite enough to satisfy Gubel. The young lady, who was born when William H. Taft was president, may have a romantic designs on the Phillies' manager.
It's a number, yes. It's also a signal from your body that it's time to chill.
America loves a fierce competitor. And we have a particular soft spot for athletes who prove to be impervious to the ravages of old age. That's why swimmer Dara Torres, who lives in Parkland, emerged as one of the biggest stars of the 2008 Summer Olympics. At 41, she's the oldest female American swimmer to ever compete in the Olympics.
Torres has already retired twice before, and surely that Olympics was her last -- except now she's mulling over another Olympic bid, this time at age 45, following the radical surgery she had last week in Boston. That operation involved actually cutting her shins so that she could be given new cartilage to replace her own damaged batch.
There's a fine line between cheering an athlete and enabling an addiction. If we haven't crossed it with Torres, we're getting close.
Tyrone Carter, celebrating the Steelers' 2009 Super Bowl victory over the Arizona Cardinals
Where do you start with the Tyrone Carter story? Probably in Pompano Beach, where he was one of five children in a three-bedroom home, raised by his grandmother because his parents had drug problems. A child of his own by his junior year in high school, then another by another woman after he followed a football scholarship offer to the University of Minnesota. And during that same time as a student, his wife April. After Carter was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2004, the family built a home in Wellington and were supposed to live happily after.
With three failing companies swamped by bankruptcy proceedings in Florida, Bernie needed a break. And he got one. Bernie Kosar is rejoining the NFL team he took to the playoffs in his first five seasons as a player.
Although the details of the arrangement remain vague, it appears the Weston resident and former U. Miami and Cleveland Browns quarterback will be an adviser to Browns owner Randy Lerner, based on this Yahoo Sports report. Football advising, we presume. Not financial advising.
You're the hometown boy, David Clowney, so we want to root for you -- even though you play for the Jets. But why do you have to make it so hard?
This month, Clowney has sparked controversy by complaining about coaching decisions in Twitter posts. Not a wise move for a football club still smarting from Keyshawn Johnson's "Give me the damn ball" refrain a decade ago.
But Clowney is also liable to alienate part of his local cheering section. A Queens native, he spent formative years in South Florida, attending Atlantic High School in Delray Beach. Clowney attended college at Virginia Tech (a University of Miami rival), and after being drafted by the Jets, he burned the Dolphins for 72 yards earlier this month in his best game as a pro.
If that weren't enough, in a recent article in Newsday, Clowney anointed Delray the murder capital of Florida.
Thomas at the press conference announcing his hire at FIU
Back in April, it was a curious move: Isiah Thomas taking the job as basketball coach at Florida International University. Since retiring as one of the game's best-ever point guards, the former Detroit Piston had been a basketball executive and pro coach. He bombed at both, but still it didn't seem so bad that he had to settle for a college coaching job at a mid-major program like FIU's. (No offense, Panthers.)
But deep within this Miami Herald article about Thomas' feud with Magic Johnson, there may be a clue about what led him to our neck of the woods.
It has been a tough week for Thomas. His mother, Mary, had a heart attack in Fort Lauderdale last week and was released from the hospital Thursday.
Broward County's a popular place for retired athletes -- for better, and in Jim Leyritz's case, for worse. Count Errict Rhett in that former category. The former Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back, who starred at the University of Florida and, before that, at McArthur High School in Hollywood.
Recently, Rhett gave an expansive interview to a fan website of his alma mater, GatorCountry.com, in which discussed his memories from the university and the charitable work he's performed during his retirement in Broward.
Indisputable evidence that this ex-Dolphins clergyman is a born-again Bears fan
God only knows how good he is in the pulpit, but there's no doubting Rev. Greg Barrette is a master of self-promotion. Several years ago, when he was a pastor in Delray Beach, he landed a gig performing the invocation at a Dolphins game:
In front of 80,000 fans, he asked God to watch over both teams but added, "Don't forget, our guys are in the aqua and orange."
Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Tribune recounts that moment in a column about Barrette from this weekend . But now that Barrette has moved to the Chicago area, he's calling in religious favors for a new team, giving instructions to Bears fans about how to pray for their team without effectively bringing a curse upon the opposing team.
The uproar over Rush Limbaugh's bungled bid to buy the St. Louis Rams wouldn't be complete without a mention of his membership in Palm Beach's oldest and most exclusive country club, the Everglades Club.
Palm Beach's infamous bloviater was kicked out of a group trying to buy the Rams after several black NFL players objected to the deal. Shockingly, they weren't thrilled to have an owner who has said the NFL "all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips" or that "all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson."
To make matters worse, Page Six, the New York Post's infamous gossip column,
Former Dolphin and Chicago Bear Marty Booker postponed his Pines retirement to play for the Falcons.
What is it about Pembroke Pines that makes retired athletes flock there? We've told you about Kenny Anderson, the former New Jersey Nets star who recently invited a slew of his illegitimate children to the city, as well as Deon Thomas, the University of Illinois great who became a star in European basketball and retired to Pembroke Pines before taking a job to coach a community college in suburban St. Louis. Now you can count former Miami Dolphins wide receiver Marty Booker in that club -- at least until he got a phone call from a coach in Atlanta.
At age 33, Booker had played his last game for the Chicago Bears and was packing up his home there for a retirement in Pembroke Pines. But Terry Robiskie, who coached Booker with the Dolphins and was now a coach for the Falcons, had just watched one of his receivers go down with an injury. He wanted see whether he could coax Booker out of South Florida.
That's Boca Raton native and American soccer star Jozy Altidore in an interview he gave late last night to ESPN after the U.S. earned a 2-2 tie against Costa Rica. In doing so, the Americans won the draw, after having qualified earlier for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
The match came after Altidore's close friend and teammate, Charlie Davies, was badly injured in a one-car accident early Tuesday morning near Washington, D.C. The team also had to play a man down during the second half after its best defensive player, Oguchi Onyewu, went down with a knee injury.
It's lewd. It's crude. It's a few years old. And damn, it's funny. In a press conference this afternoon, the Miami Dolphins new resident badass, Chad Henne, discussed some disparaging comments made by Jets players after Monday night's amazing come-from-behind victory. The remarks were nothing compared to a song created by Ohio State University fans while Henne played for rival Michigan. (Henne went 0-4 against OSU during his college career.)
"If you haven't heard that, it's a pretty good song," Henne told reporters. ""My fiancé actually has it on her iPod and she listens to it. She loves it. We just joke around, it's a good one."
This is the song. Lyrics, which include speculation on Henne's sexual abilities, after the jump.
Contributors: Eric Barton, Michelle Centrone, Deirdra Funcheon, Keith Hollar, John Linn, Michael J. Mooney, Bob Norman, Lisa Rab, Nicole Rodriguez, Gail Shepherd.
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