Orono native teaching Malaysia physical education teachers
DAPHNE, Ala.— Orono native Sean Casey is part of a team of instructors who are spending two weeks teaching in the United States Sports Academy’s new pilot program, which is retraining 1,000 of Malaysia’s physical education teachers.
Casey is participating with a group of 14 experienced physical education teachers who are taking part from Dec. 1-9 to help deliver the program. There are seven full-time instructors in the country for a six-month period.
Casey is CEO of Emerylane Educational Services and served as a college athletic director for 20 years at Dickinson State University and University of Maine-Machias where he was also the men’s basketball coach.
Patriots DE Cunningham suspended 4 games
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — New England Patriots defensive end Jermaine Cunningham has been suspended by the NFL for four games without pay for violating its policy on performance-enhancing substances.
The league’s announcement Monday did not specify the substance. The Patriots had no immediate reaction.
Cunningham, a 2010 second-round draft pick from Florida, can return to the active roster on Dec. 24, one day after the Patriots play at Jacksonville. He had a season-high six tackles in his only start in last Thursday’s 49-19 win at the New York Jets
He started in place of rookie Chandler Jones, out with an ankle injury.
New England visits Miami on Sunday. Patriots rookie running back Brandon Bolden’s four-game suspension for violating the same NFL policy ends after that game.
US federal mediators to join NHL labor talks
WASHINGTON — Federal mediators are entering the stalled NHL labor talks, with the season’s first 2½ months already lost because of the lockout.
George Cohen, director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, said Monday the parties had agreed to use the agency. He assigned three mediators to assist in negotiations — deputy director Scot Beckenbaugh, director of mediation services John Sweeney and Commissioner Guy Serota.
“While we have no particular level of expectation going into this process, we welcome a new approach in trying to reach a resolution of the ongoing labor dispute at the earliest possible date,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said.
Cohen has worked with the players’ associations for Major League Baseball, helping end the 1994-95 strike as an outside counsel, and the NBA. He was an adviser to the NHL players’ union before joining the FMCS three years ago.
Cohen mediated during the 2010 negotiations in Major League Soccer and 2011 talks in the NFL and NBA, along with this year’s dispute between the NFL and its on-field officials.
NFL won’t suspend Suh for low blow against Schaub
DETROIT — The NFL has decided not to suspend Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh for his actions against Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub.
League spokesman Greg Aiello announced the decision Monday on his Twitter account, adding the “incident’ will be reviewed for a potential fine.
Suh’s left cleat connected with Schaub’s groin area after he threw a pass in the first quarter of last Thursday’s game. The defensive tackle was on his chest after being taken down by an offensive lineman and extended his left foot to hit Schaub below the belt.
Suh was suspended for two games a year ago after he was ejected for stomping on the right arm of Green Bay offensive lineman Evan Dietrich-Smith during a game on Thanksgiving.
Jets’ Ryan thinks Tebow will be ready to play
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Rex Ryan expects Tim Tebow to be “ready to go” for the New York Jets’ next game.
Whether the backup quarterback actually plays Sunday against Arizona is another matter.
Tebow is recovering from two broken ribs that kept him on the sideline last Thursday night in New York’s 49-19 loss to New England. He was in uniform but didn’t play, with Ryan saying he could have come in but would have been used only in an emergency. Tebow revealed after the game that he was injured two weeks ago at Seattle.
“I’m not expecting anything to change as far as his availability, but we’ll see how the week goes, to see if there’s any significant change or anything else,” Ryan said Monday. “I know he was active for the game, but we’ll see. I know he’s getting treatment and things like that.”
Initial X-rays after the game against the Seahawks were negative, and Tebow played three snaps at St. Louis last week. Ryan said that the limited playing time was more a product of the Rams showing certain defensive looks than the injury. When the pain worsened early last week, Tebow underwent an MRI exam and CT scan, which revealed the fractures.
Tebow was listed as questionable for the game against the Patriots, but was made active — instead of third-stringer Greg McElroy — after speaking with Ryan and undergoing a pregame evaluation. Tebow refused any pain-killing injections before the game.
IOC chief backs plan for 4-year doping bans
AMSTERDAM — IOC President Jacques Rogge supports proposals to double the length of doping bans to four years as a way of keeping drug cheats out of the Olympics.
The World Anti-Doping Agency is planning to raise the penalty from two to four years for serious drug violations in the next version of the global anti-doping code, which comes up for approval next year and goes into effect in 2015.
“We are waiting for the final text but already what is on the table today is something that is heartening for us,” Rogge said Monday at conference in Amsterdam.
Rogge said the proposal “is something that satisfies us in that it endorses increasing sanctioning for what I would call heavy doping.”
He said the change would be in line with the International Olympic Committee’s previous failed attempt to bar any athlete slapped with a ban of more than six months from competing in the subsequent Olympics.
The so-called “Osaka Rule” was thrown out last year by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on grounds that the sanction represented a second penalty for the same offense and did not comply with the WADA code.
WADA’s proposed four-year bans should serve the same purpose as the IOC rule.
Embree disappointed in quick hook
BOULDER, Colo. — A choked-up Jon Embree used his farewell news conference Monday to address several University of Colorado football players in attendance, telling them to keep up the good fight.
Embree said six of his coaches offered to resign in order for him to keep his job.
Embree was fired Sunday with three years left on the five-year contract he signed nearly two years ago. He’s due a $1.5 million buyout. He suggested he got a raw deal, pointing out that he only got 1 1-2 recruiting classes.
Even coming off the worst season in the program’s 123-year history, Embree’s quick hook took his players by surprise.
Cubs hire Rob Deer as assistant hitting coach
CHICAGO — The Chicago Cubs have hired former Milwaukee Brewers slugger Rob Deer as an assistant hitting coach.
Deer, who has spent time as a roving hitting instructor for San Diego, hit 230 home runs in 11 major league seasons. He played with Cubs manager Dale Sveum in Milwaukee and will work under hitting coach James Rowson.