Miami may declare ?Shapiro 12? ineligible, for the time being

Making the morning rounds.

? This is going to hurt us more than it does you. At least 12 current players implicated in the sprawling Nevin Shapiro scandal at Miami are expected to be declared ineligible by the university within the next week, according to the Miami Herald, in hopes of having them reinstated by the NCAA in time for the Hurricanes' Sept. 5 opener at Maryland. The move would not mean permanent ineligibility or even an "admission of guilt": It's more of a proactive step to ward off a harsher reaction if the NCAA rules the players ineligible later on. As an anonymous source told the Herald, "If those players aren't first declared ineligible, then reinstated, before they participate and they're found to have violated rules, the school will be in much deeper trouble."

Based on Shapiro's statements and corroborating witnesses, Yahoo! Sports' bombshell report named a dozen current 'Canes as beneficiaries of improper benefits (click on a player's name for specifics): Safety Ray-Ray Armstrong, wide receiver Travis Benjamin, defensive end Dyron Dye, defensive tackle Marcus Fortson, quarterback Jacory Harris, wide receiver Aldarius Johnson, cornerback JoJo Nicolas, defensive end Adewale Ojomo, linebacker Sean Spence, safety Vaughn Telemaque and defensive end Olivier Vernon. Altogether, that list includes the starting quarterback, his leading returning receiver and seven returning starters on defense, including two preseason All-ACC picks, all of whom remain in limbo. [Miami Herald]

? Tough break. The injury plague that struck down Purdue's starting quarterback, starting tailback and leading receiver last year returned Wednesday with a vengeance, sidelining sophomore quarterback Rob Henry for the upcoming season with an ACL tear in his right knee. Henry started seven games last year after Robert Marve went down with an early ACL injury, held on to the No. 1 job in the spring and was expected to split time with Marve this fall as the better runner of the two.

As of Tuesday, though, Marve said ongoing rehab on his knee would probably cost him the first month of the season, leaving junior Caleb TerBush and sophomore Sean Robinson to duke it out in the meantime. "The time process has been a little longer than I thought and I'm not in any rush," Marve told the Indianapolis Star. "I'm trying to get ready for Big Ten ball." [Associated Press, Indianapolis Star]

? Law & Order: Baton Rouge, Part One. Baton Rouge police searched the apartment of LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson and obtained a DNA swab Wednesday in its ongoing, intensely scrutinized investigation into a bar fight involving multiple Tiger players last week. Witnesses have implicated Jefferson, specifically, for allegedly kicking a Marine in the head during the scuffle, which sent four people to the hospital ?�one of whom reportedly suffered several fractured vertebrae.

Officers left Jefferson's pad with several bags of evidence ("He gave us 100 percent cooperation," said a police spokesman) but any charges and/or arrests are still pending. In the meantime, even LSU fans are starting to have a little fun with this. [Associated Press, Baton Rouge Advocate]

? Law & Order: Baton Rouge, Part Two. While the police were assembling the case against one group of Tiger players, the East Baton Rouge Parish district attorney's office was standing up for another, filing charges Wednesday against two men who allegedly pulled a gun on quarterback Zach Mettenberger and defensive end Sam Montgomery during a fight in June. According to a campus police report, 22-year-old Marcus Adams pointed a gun at Montgomery as the latter fought with Robert Davis, 31, and then at Mettenberger when he tried to intervene. Adams and Davis were both charged with once count each of aggravated assault with a firearm,�illegal use of a firearm and �carrying a weapon on campus and simple battery. [Times Picayune]

? Don't get ahead of yourself, kid. USC has named true freshman Cody Kessler as the top backup to starting quarterback Matt Barkley, at least temporarily putting Kessler at the front of the line of succession if Barkley opts for the NFL after this season. With redshirt freshman Jesse Scroggins out following wrist surgery, Kessler out-dueled fellow noob Max Wittek for the No. 2 job, though coach Lane Kiffin said he'd prefer to redshirt both of them if possible and stage a "wide open" competition after Barkley's departure ? whenever that happens to be. "There's just all kinds of scenarios that can pop up," Kiffin said. "The best one is to keep the No. 1 guy healthy, hopefully win some games and let (walk-on John) Manoogian hand the ball off at the end." [Orange County Register]

Quickly? Finally, someone agrees to carry the Longhorn Network. ? Danny Sheridan confirms he met with the NCAA about the elusive Cam Newton "bag man." ? Arkansas loses a freshman linebacker to a foot injury. ? Virginia Tech quarterback Ricardo Young is transferring to New Mexico, yet more proof of Mike Locksley's recruiting schwerve in Washington, D.C. ? Central Michigan suspends a pair of defensive starters for the start of the season. ? Mark Richt is not impressed with his team's effort against "Boise State." ? Florida's poor practice has Will Muschamp out for blood. ? Ready or not, Colt Lyerla is going to get his shot for Oregon. ? And it's not a playoff, but I wouldn't mind seeing the Mark Cuban Invitational become a reality.

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Matt Hinton is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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Japan?s Masanori Murakami joined the majors 47 years ago Thursday

The first Japanese-born player in the major leagues left American baseball 30 years before the first star from Japan emerged here. Masanori Murakami came over from the Nankai Hawks to the San Francisco Giants in 1964, and pitched his first major league game on Sept. 1 of that season.

He pitched two seasons in the United States and then returned to Japan. He was the last Japanese player to move from Nippon Professional Baseball to the majors until 1995, when Hideo Nomo (who turned 43 Wednesday) came over to the Los Angeles Dodgers ?� touching off "Nomo Mania," winning the NL Rookie of the Year Award and finishing fourth in Cy Young voting.

(Nomo wasn't actually the second major leaguer born in Japan. Three players,�Bobby Fenwick, Steve Chitren and Jim Bowie ? who combined for 111 games played between them ? were born in Japan to American parents. Fenwick was the son of an American father and a Japanese-American mother of Okinawan descent.)

[Related: An older post by 'Duk with more details about Murakami]

Murakami was an anomalous early pioneer whose struggles may have decreased, rather than increased, the likelihood of other Japanese players playing in the majors. But he nonetheless was a trailblazer of the Pacific Rim. He began his career as auspiciously as anyone ever could, with a Joba Chamberlain-like 11 scoreless innings before being touched up for three runs in a four-inning long stint in his last appearance of the 1964 season.

But then his life got complicated.

Murakami had signed with the Nankai Hawks while he was still in high school. (His high school won the prestigious Koshien tournament, which later elevated Daisuke Matsuzaka to superstardom.) After pitching just two innings in the 1963 season, he was viewed as quite raw and relatively unpromising, and so he was swapped to the Giants in the U.S., where the Hawks expected him to train in the low minors and then return (though the contract stipulated that the Giants could buy out his contract from the Hawks for $10,000).

However, he pitched so well in San Francisco's system that he blew through the low minors and earned a call-up in August, when he was just 20 years old. On the season, in Class A Fresno and the majors, he combined to pitch 121 innings with a 12-7 record and a 1.79 ERA ? almost entirely in relief. Understandably, the Giants didn't want him to go back to Japan ? but his homeland didn't want to lose him, either.

Murakami was born in 1944, raised by an overbearing father who had spent World War II in Manchuria and other parts of what's now China. His father wanted Murakami to study medicine, not baseball. So, he began to play the game in secret, but throughout his career was overwhelmed by a sense of responsibility and guilt.

When the Hawks called him back to Japan after the 1964 season and asked him to sign a contract with them, he signed, even though the Giants had already paid $10,000 to purchase his contract. Now he had run afoul of leagues on both sides of the Pacific, each of which asserted complete authority over where a player played.

(The reserve clause in American baseball ended in 1975, thanks in large part to the struggles of�Curt Flood, whose life was likely shortened by the fight; in Japan, players' freedom to come to America was achieved in the late 1990s, after the struggles of� Nomo (pictured), Alfonso Soriano and ?� especially ? Hideki Irabu.

Eventually, a compromise was reached: Murakami would return to San Francisco for the '65 season, but thereafter he would pitch in Japan. His 1965 season was good, but nowhere near as transcendent as the past year, as he posted a 3.75 ERA in 74.1 innings. In spacious Candlestick Park at the height of the era of the pitcher, that performance was actually slightly below league average.

He went back to Japan at the end of the season and pitched 17 more seasons, switching between starting and relief, achieving good but not stellar results; his career 3.64 ERA in Japan is slightly higher than his career 3.43 ERA in America.

He also carried around a sense of what might have been in recalling his relationship with Kazuto Tsuruoka, Nankai's manager and an NPB legend.

"If I had returned to the Major Leagues, I would have realized my dream, but I would have betrayed Mr. Tsuruoka. Yet, because I kept my promise to Mr. Tsuruoka, I forever carry this sense of regret."

Pictured above: On the left, Murakami as a rookie at Shea Stadium in 1964. On the right, Murakami being welcomed at a Giants game in 2008.

Follow Alex on Twitter ? @AlexRemington ? and engage The Stew on Facebook

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Police claim Zach Randolph invited a drug dealer to his party gone wrong

Here's the good news. Portland area police say they believe that Memphis Grizzlies forward (and sometimes Portland resident) Zach Randolph did not beat a suspected drug dealer over the head with a pool cue over the weekend.

Beyond that? It's not looking too good for Z-Bo, who had apparently cleaned his off-court life around in the two years since he was traded to Memphis.

Police suspect that Randolph invited a gentleman by the name of James Ruben Beasley to a party at his West Linn, Ore., mansion early on Sunday morning, with the expectation that Beasley would be selling marijuana to his party guests. Randolph and his friends were celebrating into wee hours following a chartered cruise on the Willamette River.

The Oregonian has been all over this investigation, and it can ably take it from here:

"Mr. Beasley said four to seven people jumped him and beat him bloody with pool cues," said Sgt. James Rhodes, Clackamas County Sheriff's Office spokesman.

But Beasley didn't call 9-1-1. Instead, he left and went to a local hospital, where he was treated for head wounds and released.

At 2 p.m. Saturday, he called police. Clackamas County sheriff's detectives met Beasley in Portland and interviewed him. Based on what he told them, the detectives obtained a search warrant for Randolph's home to seek evidence of an assault and drug activities.

"He said he knew Zach Randolph and that he was not involved (in the beating)," Rhodes said. "Therefore, he was not a suspect."

Though there wasn't a struggle to search Randolph's home later on Sunday, one officer described Randolph's party-goers as being "less than welcoming" even after the police showed up with a signed warrant. And once they did get inside, while drugs weren't found on the premises, police allegedly did find broken pool cues and blood evidence in which to work with.

Randolph's time in Portland wasn't much to be proud of, off the court. He was charged with a physical assault, named in a sexual assault case, was cited for DUI and famously punched teammate Ruben Patterson in the face during practice. And though he's changed quite a bit after playing on four teams in two years between Portland, New York, Los Angeles (Clippers) and Memphis, Randolph was named as a kingpin of sorts regarding an Indianapolis-based marijuana trade in 2010.

This flies in the face of the Randolph who personally paid for the electric and heating bills of hundreds of Memphis-area families last winter, just the tip of the iceberg regarding Zach's charitable contributions. After a good stint staying away from this sort of nonsense, though, it looks possible that Randolph has dived right back in. Perhaps he just took a break from getting caught.

Whatever the timeline, it's an unfortunate step back.

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Remembering Wade Belak, a true NHL fan favorite

Wade Belak was the reason I watch the NHL.

Not Wade specifically, but players like Wade. He embodied the rough stuff that first drew me to the game: The fights and fighters and the warrior code that went with them.

He embodied the unpredictable nature of the game: How loud did the arena get when Belak ? career shooting percentage of 3.8 percent ? scored any of his eight career goals?

He embodied what it meant to be a fan favorite, from his mischievous charisma ? remember when he said he wouldn't piss on Sean Avery if he were on fire? ? to his interaction with the paying customers. He was a player who averaged 7 minutes and 18 seconds a game in his 549 career appearances, but damn if you couldn't locate him from the cheap seats every time he hit the ice.

We love hockey because of its character. We also love it because of its characters.

We've probably all made a joke or two at the expense of Wade Belak's career at some point in our fandom, but it wasn't scorn: It was a knowing appreciation of the guy's uncanny ability to endear himself to a fan base and work his ass off despite his limitations.

Belak was found dead in a Toronto condo on Wednesday, leaving this world at just 35 years old and leaving behind two daughters ages 7 and 5.

I'm 34. My daughter's 15 months old. I held her a little tighter tonight as I attempted to fathom how distraught, disconnected, desolate and defeated one must feel to leave a child behind. It's beyond my mental capacity to comprehend it.

So now it's the summer of Boogaard and Rypien and Belak, and the only people more annoying than the ones drawing conclusions about hockey based on these deaths are the ones fretting around those conclusions being drawn. It's a trend, it's a tragedy; hockey fans can already hear the ticking clock of "60 Minutes" preparing some sweeping condemnation of the NHL for allowing these deaths to occur.

Let'em have at it. They'll say what they want, conclude what they will. It's on us, on the League and on its players to find causes, solutions, a way to save lives.

I've seen less demonization of enforcers today than I've seen pleas for the NHL and the NHLPA to rethink and revamp their approach to mental health ? and not just the kind that involves concussion protocols.

Tyson Nash, a former NHL pugilist now serving as an announcer for the Phoenix Coyotes, tweeted:

And Theo Fleury, who knows a thing or two about hockey and depression, offered this advice:

Other reactions to Wade Belak's passing, first from Bruce Arthur:

And that was Wade. Like Boogaard, Belak was born in Saskatoon, and he smiled and cracked wise as he clung tenaciously to the edge of the National Hockey League. Once, when I asked him if he ever got special treatment in Toronto as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs, he grinned and said, "I've got a sick table at McDonald's, that's about it." When he was traded to Florida at the trade deadline after everyone had spent the week speculating about Mats Sundin, he said to TSN, "I blame Mats." When asked once about his numerous tattoos, he said, "Yeah, I'll be 60 or 70, all wrinkled and hangin' out at the old folks' home. But I'll look tough, and I'll be getting all the women."

He was, in other words, a real person, and seemed so comfortable in his own increasingly inked skin.

From Jon S. of Puckin' Eh:

Our first night in California my friend Ray and I found ourselves drinking at the Saddle Ranch under the allure of a mechanic bull. Early in the evening the DJ played New Orleans Is Sinking by the Tragically Hip and it immediately ousted the other Canadian in the bar, Wade Belak.

My friend felt compelled to buy the other Canadian a shot of Tequila, it was then that we learned who Wade was, at that time a defenseman for the Calgary Flames. Wade invited us to join his table and we spent the evening downing tequila, riding the mechanical bull, and listening to his stories about life in the NHL.

While the night was hazy for all of us, and when we left Wade was close to passing out at the table, I learned that night what an incredibly friendly, open, down to earth guy that Wade Belak was. I would never meet Wade Belak again, but would be left with one of my better drinking stories

Finally, here's a collection of tweets from NHL players and writers about Belak's passing, as they remember the Colorado Avalanche, Calgary Flames, Toronto Maple Leafs, Florida Panthers and Nashville Predators fan favorite:

Check out the memorial Facebook page for Belak here.

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Ready to return? Stephen Strasburg excels in fifth rehab start

Stephen Strasburg sure looks ready.

Pitching for Class AAA Syracuse, the Washington Nationals' prized right-hander struck out seven batters in five innings while allowing one run on two hits against Rochester on Saturday. He set down 15 straight batters at one point. It was Strasburg's fifth rehab start as he continues his return from Tommy John surgery.

Strasburg was perfect through his first five innings before giving up two straight singles to begin the sixth inning. He was removed from the game at that point, having thrown 64 pitches, including 47 for strikes. It was the longest outing of his rehab assignment thus far.

The Nationals' ace-in-waiting seemed pretty happy with his performance, judging from his postgame comments to the media (video here):

"I'll let the numbers do the talking," Strasburg said, when asked how his elbow felt. "It felt great."

And the numbers speak for Strasburg quite well. He faced better competition, too.�Strasburg's first four appearances were against Class A batters, and he didn't look terribly impressive (0-1, 6.75 ERA in 9 1/3 innings). Building up strength and working on pitches were far more important than results.

So does Strasburg's performance against more-seasoned opposition mean we'll be seeing him pitch for the big league club in September?

Nats manager Davey Johnson says Strasburg won't pitch for his team before Sept. 6. That means at least one more rehab start is in Strasburg's future, with four days of rest putting him on schedule for Sept. 1.

The Washington Post's Dave Sheinin writes that Strasburg probably will pitch for Class AA Harrisburg, as they'll be the Nats' only minor league affiliate playing at home that day. But MLB.com's Bill Ladson reports that Strasburg is expected to stay with Syracuse and pitch at Buffalo for his next start.

Wherever his rehab takes him next, Strasburg's return to the majors seems closer than ever.

Follow Ian on Twitter ?�@iancass ? and engage�The Stew on Facebook

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Danny Briere, Mike Richards revisit the Dry Island

One of the oddest, saddest, most unintentionally hilarious stories of the hockey summer was the "Dry Island" fiasco for the Philadelphia Flyers.

To recap: Dan Gross, a society columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News, was told by two unnamed players about a plan by coach Peter Laviolette to have members of the team abstain from drinking for a month. From the Daily News:

Shortly after his arrival in December 2009, coach Peter Laviolette instituted what players came to call the "Dry Island." Laviolette asked team members to commit to not drinking for a month, and each player was asked to write his number on a locker room board as a pledge. No. 17 (Carter) and No. 18 (Richards) were absent from the board on the first Dry Island, as well as the estimated five more times the policy was instituted.

The news emerged after Jeff Carter and Mike Richards were traded from the Flyers to the Columbus Blue Jackets and Los Angeles Kings respectively, their "hard-partying ways" cited by observers as a catalyst for the team breaking up the dressing room.

The Flyers, as expected, have downplayed the entire "Dry Island" thing ? something that continued on Toronto sports radio this morning.

Danny Briere of the Flyers joined host Joey Vendetta on Sportsnet Radio 590 and was asked if the "Dry Island" thing was blown out of proportion? Said Briere:

"You hit it right on the nose when you said people were trying to make a bigger story out of it. It really wasn't much of a deal. Our coach came in and said, 'I'm not drinking, I'm trying to lose weight, I'm not drinking for the next month. If you want to join me, put your number on the board.' Nobody was forced, and we had about half the team that was on it and half the team that weren't.

"It certainly wasn't a big deal to anybody. It was just a commitment to better yourself for a few. Some guys do it that way, some guys do it in the gym, some guys do it after practice ? we all have our ways. It certainly wasn't a big deal to us.

"The person who got that out there created a big riot for nothing. I felt bad for Mike and Jeff for being thrown under the bus like that, because it certainly wasn't a big deal."

As for Richards, out from under the bus and now in Los Angeles, it all comes back to how terrible the Philadelphia media was to him.

"Sometimes you go to the rink have to defend yourself and your teammates instead of focusing on the game," Richards lamented early on in his interview with Sportsnet 590, somehow failing to equate one having to do with the other.

As for Dry Island, here's how Richards explains it:

"It started out being more of a joke around the locker room. Something that we could do as a team, or joke around as a team, is to have something to joke around about.

"There was a handful of guys that did it ? mostly younger rookie guys, first year or second year players. Then it went from being a fun thing to somehow getting out and then just exploding. Turned something that was really nothing into a big deal. It happens with the bloggers and the people in Philadelphia blowing things out of proportion.

"I did an interview last week and said I really have no regrets leaving Philadelphia, especially going out on that Dry Island thing."

While we are fond of Briere's explanation that this was an experimental weight loss program for Peter Laviolette, we also can't help but think it might have been a way to try and alter the lifestyle choices for a few of the players in the Flyers' locker room.

Was it blown out of the proportion? Well, we'll concede to the guys in the room on this one that it was.

Was it just a joke that had little to do with problems inside that room? On this, we'll say two things: There's always a kernel of truth in comedy, and Mike Richards is now an LA King.

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Colts owner Irsay tweets news of Kerry Collins signing

Those in and out of Indianapolis who are wondering just how much Peyton Manning's neck issues could prevent him from continuing his best-active consecutive-games streak just got some extra reason to be concerned. Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay, a burgeoning social media news source for those interested in his team, tweeted on Wednesday morning that the Colts had agreed to terms with veteran quarterback Kerry Collins.

It's interesting that Irsay did this while head coach Jim Caldwell was in a press conference with local media ? and Caldwell said nothing about the signing during his time at the podium. From Tom James of the Terre Haute Tribune-Star:

So much for being in the loop!

Collins, a 17-year veteran who had originally decided to retire in July�has some serious connection to the Colts ? Indianapolis team president Bill Polian drafted Collins in the first round of the 1995 when he was with the Carolina Panthers, and Caldwell was Collins' quarterbacks coach at Penn State.

The move to get Collins ? or some other veteran quarterback ? is vital, because the Colts are so young and untried at the position behind Manning. Between backups Curtis Painter, Dan Orlovsky and Mike Hartline, there's precious little experience and even less production.

Collins has plenty of both. Now that he's active again, he's got the second-most career passing yards of any active player (40,441), behind only Manning's 54,828. It's believed to be the first time in NFL history that the two active passing yardage leaders played for the same team.

Of course, the news really isn't about Collins ? it's about the possibility that Manning could miss his first regular-season start since he came into the NFL as the first overall pick in 1998. Manning has not sufficiently recovered from a May procedure to repair a disk-related injury in his neck to play at all in the preseason, and for the first time in well over a decade, there have been questions about who will take the ball from under center for the Colts when the games count.

Manning signed a five-year, $90 million contract extension after the lockout was over. He has started 208 straight regular-season games in his career, second-only to Brett Favre's 298. Irsay had tweeted out some missives about possibly acquiring Favre in Manning's place, but those turned out to be more in fun.

The Collins signing indicates that things have become rather serious for the Colts.

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