SPECIAL TEAM

By Rick Reilly from ESPN.com Special Team

"How about a little good news?

In the scrub-brush desert town of Queen Creek, Ariz., high school bullies were throwing trash at sophomore Chy Johnson. Calling her "stupid." Pushing her in the halls.

Chy's brain works at only a third-grade level because of a genetic birth defect, but she knew enough to feel hate.

"She'd come home every night at the start of the school year crying and upset," says her mom, Liz Johnson. 

"That permanent smile she had, that gleam in her eye, that was all gone."

Her mom says she tried to talk to teachers and administrators and got nowhere. So she tried a whole new path -- the starting quarterback of the undefeated football team. After all, senior Carson Jones had once escorted Chy to the Special Olympics.

"Just keep your ear to the ground," Liz wrote to Carson on his Facebook page. "Maybe get me some names?"

But Carson Jones did something better than that. Instead of ratting other kids out, he decided to take one in Chy.

 

He started asking her to eat at the cool kids' lunch table with him and his teammates. "I just thought that if they saw her with us every day, maybe they'd start treating her better," Carson says. "Telling on kids would've just caused more problems."

 

It got better. Starting running back Tucker Workman made sure somebody was walking between classes with Chy. In classes, cornerback Colton Moore made sure she sat in the row right behind the team.

Just step back a second. In some schools, it's the football players doing the bullying. At Queen Creek, they're stopping it. And not with fists -- with straight-up love for a kid most teenage football players wouldn't even notice, much less hang out with.

"I think about how sweet these boys are to her," says volleyball player Shelly Larson, "and I want to cry. I can't even talk about it."

It's working.

"I was parking my car yesterday, and I saw a couple of the guys talking to her and being nice," says offensive lineman Bryce Oakes. "I think it's making a difference around here."

And the best thing is? The football players didn't tell anybody.

"I didn't know about any of this until three weeks ago," says Carson's mom, Rondalee, who's raising four boys and a daughter by herself. "He finally showed me an article they wrote here locally. I said, 'Are you kidding me? Why didn't you tell me this?'"

All of a sudden, Chy started coming home as her bubbly self again. When her mom asked why she was so happy, she said, "I'm eating lunch with my boys!"

The boys take care of Chy, and she takes care of the boys. Carson, carrying a GPA of 4.4, got in a car accident last week; since then, Chy is always trying to carry his backpack. "I know his neck hurts," she says.

I get emailed stories like this a lot, but most of the time they don't pan out. They turn out to be half true, or true for the first week but not the second. But when I walked into the Queen Creek High School cafeteria Tuesday, unannounced, there was 4-foot-high Chy with 11 senior football players, eating her lunch around the most packed lunch table you've ever seen, grinning like it was Christmas morning. It was Carson's birthday, and she'd made him a four-page card. On one page she wrote, in big crayon letters, "LUCKY GIRL."

I asked Chy to show me where she used to eat lunch. She pointed to a room in the back, away from the rest of the kids, the special-ed lunchroom. Much more fun out here, she said.

"I thank Carson every chance I see him," says Chy's mom. "He's an amazing young man. He's going to go far in life."

 

Nobody knows how far Chy Johnson will go in life. The life expectancy of those afflicted with her disease, microcephaly, is only 25-30 years. But her sophomore year, so far, has been unforgettable.

She'll be in the first row Friday night, cheering 10-0 QC as it plays its first playoff game, against Agua Fria. 

Some people think it will be QC's sixth shutout of the season. Sometime during the game, Carson probably will ask Chy to do their huddle-up "Bulldogs on 3" cheer, with everybody's helmet up in the air. You won't be able to see Chy, but she'll be in there.

"Why do I do these interviews?" Chy asked her mom the other night.

"Because you're so dang cute," her mom answered.

I've seen this before with athletes. Josh Hamilton used to look out every day for a Down syndrome classmate at his Raleigh, N.C., high school. Joe Mauer ate lunch every day with a special-needs kid at his St. Paul, Minn., high school. In a great society, our most gifted take care of our least.

But what about next year, when Carson probably will be on his Mormon mission and all of Chy's boys will have graduated?

Not to worry. Carson has a little brother on the team, Curtis, who's in Chy's class.

"Mom," he announced at the dinner table the other night, "I got this."

Lucky girl." 

DAVID JOEL STERN TO RETIRE IN 2014

According to Marc Stein of ESPN.com, "NBA commissioner David Stern will retire on Feb. 1, 2014, completing a 30-year run in which he helped grow the league to dramatic new heights of popularity.

The elevation of Adam Silver, Stern's deputy, to commissioner was unanimously approved Thursday by the NBA Board of Governors.

Stern, 70, has been the NBA's commissioner since Feb. 1, 1984. Last December, at the time a new collective bargaining agreement was announced, he predicted it would be the final labor deal before he steps down.

"This is a 10-year (labor) deal, with a re-opener at six," Stern said at the time, explaining that either the owners or the players union can opt out after six seasons. "I'm not planning to be here certainly for the 10 and probably not the six."

Stern's first work for the league came in 1966 as outside counsel. As commissioner, he has guided the league through the eras of Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan. For many NBA fans, he is the only commissioner they have known."

TYUS ROBERT JONES PICKS UP KENTUCKY OFFER

“According to Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com, John Calipari offered 2014 point guard Tyus Jones. Jones is a 6'2 175 lbs. prospect from Apple Valley High School in Minnesota. He is ranked the 3rd best player in the 2014 class by ESPN.com and the best point guard in his class by Scout.com. He has offers from Duke, Minnesota, Arizona, Michigan State, Ohio State, Baylor and several other schools. He recently helped win the gold medal for the 2012 USA U17 World Championship Team.

At the Nike Peach Jam event he told Zagoria about his Kentucky offer, "Oh, yeah, most definitely I’m considering them,” he added. “They got a great system. Coach Calipari’s a phenomenal coach. He’s always had great point guards and he knows how to coach point guards so that’s definitely a positive.”

For the complete article from Zagsblog.com go check out his thoughts. 

ESPN says of the highly recruited point guard, "Tyus is an extremely mature and poised basketball player. He has the unique ability to make the players around him better."

THE MINNESOTA VIKINGS RELEASE WIDE RECIEVER RANDY MOSS

According to ESPN News and the NFL Network, Vikings waive 7-time Pro Bowl WR Randy Moss. Moss was acquired from Patriots last month.

MULITIPLE NEWS OUTLETS REPORT THAT GOPHER FOOTBALL COACH TIM BREWSTER IS OUT AS HEAD COACH AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

According to ESPN and other news media originations, the University of Minnesota will not retain Coach Tim Brewster beyond this season, according to multiple reports. According to Zach Johnson of GopherIllustrated.com Minnesota Golden Gopher head football coach Tim Brewster has been notified that he will not be retained after the 2010 season. Brewster has decided to stay and coach the team throughout the remainder of the 2010 season.

ROGER CLEMENS CRITICAL OF NEW BOOK

From ESPN.COM

Roger Clemens ended his long media silence Tuesday on ESPN Radio's "Mike and Mike in the Morning," sticking to his story that he has never used performance-enhancing drugs and calling excerpts of a recently released book about him "completely false."

Clemens, in a phone interview with hosts Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic, appeared on the same day that "American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America's Pastime," a book by four New York Daily News reporters, was released.

"I've seen excerpts of the book. They're completely false," Clemens said.

The seven-time Cy Young Award winner also continued to deny that he was given steroids and human growth hormone by his former personal trainer Brian McNamee, saying it was "impossible" that drug paraphernalia supplied to federal prosecutors by McNamee has his DNA on it.

Clemens also said he still considers former teammate Andy Pettitte a friend, though he also held firm to his assertion that Pettitte "misremembers" a conversation in which Pettitte said they discussed performance-enhancing drugs.

"It's piling on, it's hurtful at times," Clemens said of the allegations that have been made against him. "I'm trying to move on."

Clemens, who is under a federal grand jury investigation for perjury following his testimony before Congress, said he decided to end his silence and react to the book because he plans to leave his Texas home for a week's vacation.

"I was informed this book was coming out and thought we ought to talk about it," Clemens told "Mike and Mike in the Morning." "It's important for me to do that."

Clemens has retained a communications firm, Levick Strategic Communications. The firm's vice president, Gene Grabowski, also spoke with "Mike and Mike in the Morning" on Tuesday in a separate interview.

"They came in and said, 'You need to get your story out about all this garbage that is being said,'" Clemens said.
Asked about "American Icon," by Daily News reporters Teri Thompson, Nathaniel Vinton, Michael O'Keeffe and Christian Red, Clemens said, "I've seen excerpts of the book, they're completely false." He did not specify which part of the book he had seen.

Vinton, also appearing on "Mike and Mike in the Morning," responded to Clemens' criticism.

"Our book is really backed up by a lot of documentation and interviews with key players," Vinton said, "It's not false, we really researched this carefully ... and take it very seriously."

When asked about the physical evidence reportedly handed over by McNamee to federal investigators and whether it had his DNA on it, Clemens said, "Impossible, because he's never given me any [performance-enhancing drugs], it's as simple as that. He's never given me HGH or any kind of performance-enhancing drug, so it's impossible."

Later in the interview, he said McNamee "never injected me with HGH or steroids." Pointing out that his family has a history of heart conditions, Clemens said "It would be suicidal for me to even think about taking any of these dangerous drugs."

Asked about Pettitte's testimony that Clemens had told him he used HGH, Clemens repeated a line that he uttered during his congressional testimony: "Andy misremembers." He said he'd only talked to Pettitte a few times since then because of the legal issues.

"I still consider Andy a friend," Clemens said.

"I don't care to even comment on that or anything, OK?" Pettitte said Tuesday night before the Yankees played at Toronto.

Following the interview, McNamee's lawyer, Richard Emery, told Andrew Marchand of ESPN 1050 New York that Clemens' comments would only energize federal prosecutors in their perjury investigation. He also said McNamee has continued to cooperate with the investigation.

"The only thing new is [Clemens'] tactic of actually speaking publicly, which I think is going to be like poking a stick in the federal government's eye and Congress' eye because he is basically saying he didn't lie to Congress when it is perfectly obvious that he did," Emery said. "I think it is going to speed up and energize the prosecution."

As for his role in the probe, Clemens said he has submitted a DNA sample -- "I did it right out of the gate, willingly," he said -- and that he has not been summoned by a federal grand jury.

"Everywhere I've gone and gotten the opportunity to speak to young kids or college kids, I take a lot of pride in telling those boys to get after it and do things the right way and take care of your body, because I know how I did it," he said. "For some of that to come in question, of course it's hurtful. But it's not going to break my spirit."
When asked about opinion polls showing the public does not believe his denials, Clemens said "All I can do is speak the truth and from my heart to them."

"I know what your polls say, [but] I've been getting great responses everywhere I've gone in the cities I've traveled to. All I can do is be me and give them the message I just told you about that steroids are bad for these kids. You don't want to have anything to do with them the way they tear your body down," he said.
"But I can't defend a negative. When you've got somebody that's out there that is really just crawling up your back to make a buck -- which is what this is -- other than speaking out, what else can you do?"

Clemens' former manager in New York, Joe Torre, appearing on ESPN Radio's "Tirico and Van Pelt" show, said that Clemens' self-confidence was one of his strongest competitive aspects as a player, but may have hampered him when it came time to address the allegations in the Mitchell report in front of Congress.

"I think when he speaks -- and maybe that's why he played so well for so long -- is that fact that he basically believes what he says," Torre told hosts Mike Tirico and Scott Van Pelt.

"There's a side of Roger that makes you want to hug him," Torre added. "He's been that guy that everyone's paid attention to and nobody's ever questioned, so it may be a point in time where that has to sort of run out the hourglass."