Do You Want Me To Pass It? No! Do You Want Me To Save Your Homes From Foreclosure? Yes!

It's amazing how far we have come from the "Shaq Diesel" days. Now, instead of dropping rap tracks or thunderous dunks, The Big Aristotle wants to drop some cash to help Orlando homeowners avoid foreclosure. Fortunately, Shaq has been much more successful at real estate investing than he ever was at free throw shooting.

Shaquille O'Neal says he wants to build a legacy -- literally -- in Orlando.

The NBA star said he is working on plans for real-estate-development projects in Orlando, with an eye toward helping those who are facing foreclosure on their homes.

"I want to come in not to kick them out, but to work with them and save them so they can stay in their homes," O'Neal told the Orlando Sentinel during an impromptu stop Tuesday at Orlando City Hall.

Attorney Mark NeJame, who arranged the visit along with longtime friend and Realtor Curtis Cooper, said the star center wants to buy the mortgages of homeowners who have slipped into foreclosure because of high interest rates. He would sell the homes back to those troubled buyers with more affordable terms, hoping to make a small profit.

So the homeowners get better terms, and Shaq effectively becomes their bank? Sounds like a good deal to me! Seriously, if he can help out the economy in Orlando by providing some relief to struggling homeowners, then I'm all for it. Besides, it's apparent that Shaq has a pretty good idea of what he would be getting into.

It wouldn't be O'Neal's first foray into real estate. In 2006, he announced the formation of The O'Neal Group to pursue commercial and residential development. At the time, the new company said O'Neal had amassed a real-estate portfolio valued at $50 million during his time in the NBA.

His ventures range from carwashes and strip malls to a financial stake in Metropolitan Miami, a luxury development under construction in downtown Miami that will include what's billed as the tallest residential tower south of New York.

He is also a partner in the 24 Hour Fitness chain, and there are plans for one of the gyms to anchor part of the SoDo mixed-use development being built south of downtown Orlando.

He's got the experience and the capital to assist with a serious problem that cities all over the country are facing. Hopefully, his plan holds up, and he can implement it in the somewhat near future. Otherwise, Orlando residents might add this to a list that already includes "poor free throw shooting" and "bolted to Los Angeles" as reasons they're not big fans of The Big Cactus.

Lance Armstrong Never Had This Problem

With all of the crashes in this year's Tour de France, and there have been some nasty ones, it seems like bicycling isn't as safe as I remember it. It always seemed like you started out on a Big Wheels type contraption, moved on to something bigger with training wheels, took the training wheels off of that and ended up rocking a cool 10, 12, whatever speed or a fancy BMX bike. Nowadays, you have to worry about cars, dogs, other bicyclists and deer. Yes, deer.

This morning, a bicyclist riding on Walt Disney Property in Orlando was hit by a deer during an early morning bike ride.

"Jeffrey Norberry, 56, was biking this morning along a secluded area on Walt Disney World property when a deer ran across the roadway and collided with him head-on, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Norberry, who was wearing a helmet, flipped over the handle bars of his bike and the deer before crashing to the ground shortly before 3 a.m.

The man ws taken to Celebration Hospital with minor injuries."

Daaaamn! I guess it's a good thing he was wearing his helmet, or it could have been a lot worse. Imagine having your cause of death listed as "bicycle collision with deer". Talk about embarrassing.

The All-American Football League: Taking Graduates Of Your Favorite College, Leaving Phone Messages

An onslaught by the common cold has precluded any updates(unlike Disturbed, I am not down with the sickness), but I have managed to post up one golden nugget.

While Mark Cuban's idea for a football league got a good amount of press, the All-American Football League has flown under the radar a bit more. However, the marketing efforts are starting to pick up steam as it approaches the proposed launch date next April.

The league is doing its best to embrace the college atmosphere, which is probably to be somewhat expected since it's being created by guys like Cedric Dempsey(former NCAA president) and Doug Dickey(former University of Tennessee AD). Supposedly the league is even going to have "colleges' bands and cheerleaders" attending games(FAMU FTW!).

As far as prospective players, the only stipulation is that the participant must have graduated from a 4-year college or university in the state where the team is based. In that respect, it is very different from the XFL, AFL or the proposed Cuban Football League that are seen by many as just using NFL castoffs. While most of the guys eventually paid to play in the AAFL probably did participate in the NFL, for a short time at least, using only "homegrown" talent(no Marcus Thomas, not that kind of homegrown) will help add to the college-like atmosphere that they're hoping to create. Also, seeing guys who were once fierce rivals come together in a team setting to beat another state's team will just add to the buzz. Right now, the plan is to have the league be comprised of eight teams.

Also, the AAFL isn't trying to compete directly with any existing football leagues in terms of scheduling. The games will be played in the spring into the summer, and won't try to go head-to-head with the NFL, NCAA or even high school. They've also got a set up in place where the games will be played at "universities known for college football"(the University of Florida is already on-board), and the games could be broadcasted on a private netowrk with no commercials. Though, there's no TV deal just yet.

Since tryouts are slated to begin tomorrow, July 3, receiving a phone call today regarding a scrimmage between former Gators and Vols piqued my interest. As did the tailgating encouragement, though college football fans don't usually need too much encouragement in that department. Anyway, here's the message that was left on my answer machine today. Replace the University of Florida fanfare with your favorite school's, and let me know if it increases your interest. I am curious how they got my telelphone number, as I don't contribute enough(know of any blog related opportunities? hit me up!) to be considered a big time booster by any means.

AAFL Phone Message

Chris Benoit Was A Former Customer Of Signature Pharmacy

Back in February when I first wrote about Signature Pharmacy in Orlando being raided as part of a steroid investigation I said "stay tuned because I have a feeling that more and more athletes are going to be named in the coming weeks". At that point, L.A. Angels outfielder Gary Matthews Jr. and Richard Rydze, a physician for the Pittsburgh Steelers, were the biggest names tied to Signature Pharmacy. Since then, Jason Grimsley, Jose Canseco and Evander Holyfield had been the only other athletes tied to Signature. Until today.

It was reported today that Chris Benoit, the WWE superstar that killed his wife and child then hanged himself over the past weekend, was a customer of Signature Pharmacy.

"After learning about the tragic deaths over the weekend, we were able to confirm that professional wrestler Christopher Benoit received packages from Signature Pharmacy and MedXLife," Albany County District Attorney P. David Soares said in a written statement.

It hasn't been made public yet how long Benoit was a customer of Signature, or how many "packages" he received from them. Though, it's been stated that officials knew that Signature was a steroid supplier since 2004, and they suuposedly did $40 million in business last year, so Benoit could have been involved to a large degree.

This isn't going to help Signature's case at all because a large amount of the media coverage so far has focused on whether "roid rage" caused Benoit to commit these horrible acts. Here's a sample of what the various major news outlets are reporting with regard to the Benoit tragedy:

CNN: 'Roid-rage' questions surround Benoit murder-suicide

FOXNews: Wrestler Chris Benoit Double Murder-Suicide: Was It 'Roid Rage'?

MSNBC: Cops eye 'roid rage' in wrestler's murder suicide

As you can see, the media is hitting the steroid angle pretty hard, and after asking the question of "was it 'roid rage?" they'll probably move on to "where did Benoit get his steroids?". Especially if toxicology reports come back showing large amounts of steroids in his system at the time of the murders. None of which bears well for Signature Pharmacy's founders.

Even Mickey Mouse Hates The Criminoles

Recently, Disney has been trying to crack down on what it calls "ganglike activity" taking place at its Downtown Disney attraction. In case you've never been there, it's an open space with lots of shops, restaurants and entertainment venues. Disney has a no-loitering policy in place there, though it seems like it would be somewhat difficult to enforce due to the way it's set up.

Over the past two weekends, Disney really "turned up the heat", and ended up issuing 48 warnings in that timespan. They also ejected and permanently banned 46 people during that time. It turns out that four of the people ejected and banned are top football prospects for the Florida State Seminoles.

"Walt Disney World ejected four of Florida State University's top football prospects from Downtown Disney last weekend under its anti-gang, no-loitering policy.

The four, including the son of a Disney manager and the son of a Philadelphia civil-rights lawyer, were banned for life from Disney World property late Friday.

A Disney spokeswoman said the youths were expelled because they had been loitering for an extended period and refused to leave when Disney security told them to."

The four kids are going to be seniors this fall, and have all made oral commitments to play for FSU. They are:

Vincent Williams: #10 ranked inside linebacker(rivals.com)

Avis Commack: #51 ranked wide receiver(rivals.com)

Nigel Carr: #3 ranked outside linebacker(rivals.com)

Nick Moody: #5 ranked safety(rivals.com)

While it would be easy for me to poke fun at FSU fans for their recruits getting trouble, it does sound like the Disney employees may have been engaging in some racial profiling. Per the Orlando Sentinel article:

"Three cases involved white teens. Of those, two were banned only from the Virgin Megastore and are free to return anytime to Disney. Records show the only white teen banned so far from Disney was accused of creating a disturbance outside the Planet Hollywood restaurant by loitering, arguing with Disney guards, swearing at them and refusing to leave the property."

It will be interesting to see how this unfolds because Moody's father is a civil rights attorney, and Williams' mother works for Disney. Oftentimes people complain(many times rightfully so) that athletes, and celebrities in general, don't get punished harshly enough, however in this case being an athlete that was punished harshly might serve the greater good if it's uncovered that Disney did engage in profiling, and the kids are able to return to the attraction and receive an apology.

J.J. Redick Destroys NBA Superstar Jeff Burton In A Game Of "Horse"

Oh, you haven't heard of the NBA superstar Jeff Burton? Maybe that's because he drives a car in the NASCAR series. Though, that didn't stop Orlando guard J.J. Redick from throwing down on him in a game of "horse".

Actually, the game of "horse" was modified into a game of "DAYTONA" since it was part of a promotion(press release here) for the upcoming Pepsi 400 race at Daytona International Speedway. By all accounts Redick unsurprisingly beat Burton, though Burton did manage to give Redick a "D". However, it seems that Redick took this game pretty seriously as he was dunking as part of his shot selection.

"When Redick dunked or nailed a deep three-pointer, Burton wisely surrendered his option to Magic community-relations ambassador Nick Anderson."

Ok, I can understand shooting three-pointers, but dunking? Come on, Burton is a 5'7" NASCAR driver. You can see the difference in height between him and the 6'4" Redick in these photos of the event.

Though, with the limited minutes he played during his rookie season I guess Redick's got to showcase his skills at all times. As long as they were keeping him from drinking some white wine spritzers, and climbing behind the wheel of one of those NASCARs I would consider this promotion a success. And, as always, welcome to Orlando J.J.!

Signature Pharmacy Steroid Probe Goes Deeper

Yesterday, federal officials raided a pharmacy in Orlando, FL in connection with an investigation into the illegal distribution of steroids.

The first professional athlete tied to the investigation was Gary Matthews Jr., outfielder for the Los Angeles Angels. Since then, more ties to athletes have surfaced.

*Richard A. Rydze, a physician for the Pittsburgh Steelers, purchased roughly $150,000 worth of steroids and HGH in 2006. Currently, there are no allegations that he broke any laws, and he's claiming that he bought them for his private patients.

*Allegedly, authorities have a Philadelphia Eagles player on tape entering the facility while they were conducting surveillance.

Also, one of the founders, Naomi Loomis, "attended The Ohio State University, College of Pharmacy and graduated with honors in 1995". Officials involved with the case have stated that college athletes were involved with Signature Pharmacy, though no OSU players have been mentioned at this point.

Stay tuned because I have a feeling that more and more athletes are going to be named in the coming weeks.