Stafon Johnson files lawsuit against USC

I was there when Stafon Johnson first spoke publicly after the horrible weight room accident at USC that nearly took his life.

It was inspiring. It was a feel-good moment.

Sigh.

Johnson filed a lawsuit Monday against USC, alleging negligence on behalf of former assistant strength coach Jamie Yanchar and the school for the accident -- a 275-pound bar falling on his throat -- on Sept. 28, 2009.

The story of the incident that has long held sway -- the bar slipped out of Johnson's hand; pure bad luck -- is now different.

"What we say occurred is that the bar was basically knocked out of his hand, causing it to fall on Stafon's neck, almost causing him to die," Johnson's lawyer, Carl Douglas said at a news conference Monday afternoon. "We think for that, those that are responsible should be held responsible for their actions."

Replied USC in a statement:

"USC firmly believes it was not at fault in Stafon Johnson's unfortunate weightlifting accident. We are sorry that Stafon was injured. USC and the entire Trojan Family have been exceptionally supportive of Stafon from the minute the accident occurred. We are disappointed to learn that Stafon has decided to file a lawsuit against USC."

We're not a big fan of lawsuits, but we're not going to judge Johnson. We don't know what happened. We weren't there. He obviously feels wronged. He's suffered plenty. He also went out of his way to say, "This lawsuit does not in any way reduce my love for the cardinal and gold."

Perhaps this will be easy: Multiple witnesses will present the same story, one way or another. But you'd have to doubt that, seeing that things have reached this point. That likely means folks who care about both Johnson and USC will be forced to take sides as they give their take on what happened. You could end up with two Trojans who are friends of Johnson's presenting very different takes.

Or maybe a settlement is reached and things don't get ugly.

That surely would be best for both parties.

Comments that include profanity, or personal attacks, or antisocial behavior such as "spamming" or "trolling," or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. We will take steps to block users who violate any of our terms of use. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.

View the original article here

Brett Favre Files Papers with the League to Officially Retire

It for sure wasn’t the way he wanted to go out, but it seems like it’s finally time for Vikings quarterback Brett Favre to walk away from the NFL. Today Favre officially filed his retirement papers with the NFL, the league confirmed. He had already said that after the season finale in Detroit, a game in which he didn’t play due to a concussion, that the game would be his last.

“I know it’s time, and that’s OK. It is,” Favre said after the game that day. “Again, I hold no regrets, and I can’t think of too many players offhand that can walk away and say that. Individually and from a team standpoint, it was way more than I ever dreamed of.”

Favre though is well known for putting people on hold with talk of retirement. The first time he walked away was 2008 with the Packers on March 6th, and then he came back that summer and eventually was traded to the New York Jets.

In 2009 with the Jets he retired again, only to come back and ink with the Vikings, and he had a huge season, leading the team to the NFC Title Game before they folded to the Saints in OT.

This past season he came back, but the season was a disaster, as the team not only didn’t play well, but Favre ended up getting hurt and his consecutive game streak was eventually snapped.

He was picked off 19 times this season and his 69.9 quarterback rating is the lowest of his career. The Vikings sunk to the bottom of the NFC North after starting the season with Super Bowl aspirations, coach Brad Childress was fired during the season and Favre was fined $50,000 for failure to cooperate with an NFL investigation into allegations that he sent lewd photos and messages to a team employee when both worked for the New York Jets in 2008.

Favre’s reputation took a serious hit from the humiliating scandal, which tarnished the image of one of the league’s most popular players.

His union with receiver Randy Moss also was a spectacular failure and his cherished streak of 297 straight starts ended, with a sprained throwing shoulder making it impossible for Favre to let those famously zip-filled passes rip from his right arm.

And just for good measure, the Metrodome roof caved in to provide a perfect metaphor for Favre and the Vikings’ 2010, forcing the Vikings to play “home” games at Detroit and at the University of Minnesota’s outdoor stadium in December.

“It’s been a wonderful experience for me,” Favre said. “This year did not work out the way we would have hoped, but that’s football. I don’t regret coming back. I enjoyed my experience here.”

View the original article here