FOR THE RECORD
| DIED |
At 60 of undisclosed causes, former 49ers defensive end Cleveland Elam. A star at Tennessee State, which won the Black College National Championship in Elam's junior year, he went to San Francisco in the fourth round of the 1975 draft. There Elam (above) would team with Cedrick Hardman, Tommy Hart and Jimmy Webb to form the vaunted Gold Rush defensive line, which led the league in sacks in '76. A Pro Bowler that year and again in '77, when he had a team-high 17½ sacks, Elam retired at 27, in '79, due to knee injuries sustained during his lone season in Detroit. He later owned a cleaning service.
| KILLED |
In last Friday's shootings at a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colo., sports blogger and aspiring sportscaster Jessica Redfield. Twelve people were killed and another 58 injured when a lone gunman—James Holmes, 24, who was arrested—allegedly opened fire in a crowded theater 15 minutes into the movie. Redfield (below), also 24, had been interning at sports radio station KKFN-FM 104.3 in Denver and had recently received media credentials to cover the Avalanche; before that she interned at the You Can Play Project, an organization that promotes the acceptance of gay athletes. In a bitter twist of fate Redfield had also been present at Toronto's Eaton Centre last June when a shooter killed one mallgoer and injured seven others, but she had stepped outside moments before the attack because of what she described as a "funny feeling." Colorado State football recruit Zack Golditch, 17, was injured in the Aurora shooting but is expected to make a full recovery.
| APPROVED |
By the NBA Board of Governors, a proposal to add a 2.5-by-2.5-inch advertising patch to the left shoulder of jerseys beginning in 2013--14. The board will not actually vote on the proposal until its next meeting, in September, but deputy commissioner Adam Silver said last week that support was nearly unanimous. Using projections from European soccer, where teams advertise on uniforms, NBA officials have estimated that the patches, which teams would sell on their own and which would be featured both on players' jerseys and on the replicas sold to fans, could generate roughly $100 million in revenue. The NBA would become the first of the four major U.S. professional sports to permit advertising on uniforms.
| ENDORSED |
By President Barack Obama, a campaign to observe a moment of silence at the opening ceremony in London for the 11 Israeli coaches and athletes who were gunned down by terrorists at the 1972 Munich Games. The families of the victims have called over the years for an official commemoration of the tragedy, and going into the 40th anniversary there has been a groundswell of support: In May the Israeli government and two members of the U.S. Congress implored the IOC to act, and a recent Change.org petition started by Ankie Spitzer, widow of slain Israeli fencing coach Andrei Spitzer, has garnered more than 100,000 signatures. IOC president Jacques Rogge says he took Obama's support into consideration, but his decision to forgo a moment of silence at the opening ceremony will stand. Instead, on Monday the IOC held a surprise tribute in the Olympic Village as Rogge marked the anniversary and held a moment of silence in commemoration.
| ARRESTED |
And charged with misdemeanor family violence, which carries a penalty of up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine, Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant. According to the police report, on July 14, Bryant (above) allegedly struck his mother in the face with a ball cap, grabbed her and ripped her shirt and bra. Angela Bryant, 37, can be heard on a 911 call saying that her son "tried to kill me.... I can't keep letting him do this." Dez Bryant, 23, turned himself in two days later, after police issued a warrant for his arrest, and is free on bond. (Bryant and the Cowboys declined to comment.) The arrest is Bryant's first, but it is the latest in a series of off-the-field problems he has had. In January he was detained by police, although not charged, after an alleged fight at a Miami Beach nightclub; in March 2011 he was temporarily banned from a Dallas mall for inappropriate language and attire, and he was issued a criminal-trespass warning for refusing to leave. He has also been sued twice for unpaid debts. Angela Bryant has several drug convictions on record.
| DIED |
At 90 of prostate cancer, baseball historian and former SI senior writer and senior editor Robert W. Creamer. A combat veteran of World War II who worked in advertising after his discharge, he was hired as a writer at SI's founding in 1954 and was associated with the magazine for the rest of his life. Creamer (below) was an acclaimed author who wrote biographies of Babe Ruth and Casey Stengel that Washington Post book critic Jonathan Yardley hailed as the two best sports biographies ever. He was also a commentator in Ken Burns's multipart television documentary Baseball in '94. At SI, Creamer was a gentlemanly presence, a graceful writer and a meticulous editor who mentored younger colleagues with a gentle touch. Former SI managing editor John Papanek recalls that it was Creamer who gave him his first writing assignment, in '74. "Bob took me into his office and heavily edited it, patiently explaining the clear purpose behind each pencil stroke," Papanek says. "When he finished and it read perfectly, he said, 'John, you really did a beautiful job.' It was like Rembrandt lavishing praise on the guy who delivered the paint."
GO FIGURE
29
Children born (by 16 women) to Philander Rodman Jr., the 71-year-old father of former NBA forward Dennis Rodman. Last week in Manila, Dennis met his dad—who has been living in the Philippines—for the first time in 42 years.
4:00:00
Time it took two buses of arriving Olympic athletes and officials to travel the 22.9 miles last week from London's Heathrow Airport to the Olympic Village after drivers got lost.
2:06:32
Olympic men's record in the marathon (set in 2008 by Kenya's Samuel Kamau Wanjiru), which is a bit longer than the Heathrow-to-Olympic Village route.
450,000
Number of unsold tickets to Olympic soccer events, causing organizers last week to cut capacity at most stadiums in half—some 500,000 seats in all.
$125
Cost of one of the bottles of 2007 Cabernet being sold by former NFL receiver Keyshawn Johnson under his new label, KJ1, which touts the wine as having a "purple core with electric pink highlights ... and overtones of ripe black cherry."
SPORTS INJURY STUPIDITY METER
Taking stock of the athletic world's latest hapless hurts
WHOOPS
Jonathan Lucroy
Brewers C
Wife dropped suitcase on, broke hand
Kyrie Irving
Cavs PG
Broke hand hitting a wall
DADGUMMIT
Hanley Ramirez
Marlins 3B
Cut hand hitting an electric fan
@#$%!
Adrian Gonzalez
Red Sox 1B
Hurt back while greeting a child
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FRANK RIPPON/WIREIMAGE.COM (ELAM)
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AP (REDFIELD)
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DAVID PRICE/ARSENAL FC/GETTY IMAGES (SOCCER PLAYER)
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JOHN BIEVER (LUCROY)
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JOHN BIEVER (IRVING)
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BRAD MANGIN (RAMIREZ)
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DAMIAN STROHMEYER (GONZALEZ)
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JOHN IACONO (CREAMER)
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RONALD MARTINEZ/GETTY IMAGES (BRYANT)