Tim Tebow"s playoff win: Steelers vs. Broncos 2011 Wild Card Game highlights
Tim Tebow looks to prove it is never too late for a comeback.
But Tebow is switching sports - to baseball - duringhis latest return to professional sports.
ESPN reports Tebow, who turns 29 Sunday, has been training for the past year in Arizona and California. He plans tohold a workout for 30 Major League Baseball teams.
A year ago, Tebow was in training camp for the Philadelphia Eagles, but did not make the team, effectively ending his NFL career after stints with four teams during five seasons.
He returned to his role as college football analyst at ESPN.
TheGators" legendary quarterback and 2007 Heisman Trophy winner has not played competitive baseball since he was a high school junior in 2005 at St. Augustine Nease.
The left-handed Tebow was an All-State playerand led his team to the state semifinals, but he enrolled early at UF to play football and did not play his senior season at Nease.
USA Today reports he hit .494 at a high school junior and had interest from Major League teams.
On his Twitter account, Fox Sports baseball report Ken Rosenthal released a statement from Brodie Van Wagenen, co-head of the baseball arm of CAA, the agency that represents Tebow.
"This may sound like a publicity stunt, but nothing could be further from the truth," Van Wagenen wrote. "I have seen Tims workouts, and people inside and outside the industry scouts, executives, players and fans will be impressed by his talent. As an agent, I have a genuine respect for how hard it is to succeed at the game of baseball and a true admiration for those who possess the talent to play it at the Major League level.
"Tim"s tool set is real. His physicality is unique in professional baseball. His work ethic is unprecedented, and his passion for the game is infectious. He knows the challenges that lie ahead of him given his age and experience, but he is determined to achieve his goal of playing in the Major Leagues.
Rosenthal also released a statement from Chad Moeller, a former Major League catcher who has been training Tebow at Chad Moeller Baseball in Scottsdale.
"I am beyond impressed with Tims athleticism and swing, and it goes without saying that he has shown a high level of discipline and strong work ethic," Moeller wrote. "I see bat speed and power and real baseball talent. I truly believe Tim has the skill set and potential to achieve his goal of playing in the Major Leagues, and based on what I have seen over the past two months, it could happen relatively quickly."
Email Edgar Thompson at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com. Read the Swamp Things blog at www.orlandosentinel.com/swampthings. Follow our UF coverage on Twitter @osgators.
Bachelor and Bachelorette fanshave long been thirsty for the scoop on former Bachelorette Andi Dorfman"s split from ex-fiance Josh Murray. Now she"sdeliveringplenty of surprising(and somedisturbing)details in her new book, It"s Not Okay: Turning Heartbreak Into Happily Never After. Herewith,15 suchdetails from the book starting with herJuan Pablo days.
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1. Andi got the dress she wore to her first cocktail party with Juan Pablo on clearance at Loehmann"s.It was a floor-length blue Halston Heritage number. But things changedonceshe became the lead of the show the following season: She got her own stylists, andat one point, shewore a pricey black gown that she was instructed not to spill anything on Selena Gomez would be wearing it the following week.
2. As a Bachelor contestant, you"re only allowed to bring two suitcases.In those two suitcases, you"re expected to fit: clothing for multiple climates; cocktail, long, and casual dresses; multiple bathing suits; workout clothes; a million different types of shoes; and heavy coats (yes, plural). HOW SWAY??
3. Andi"s engagement ring was worth over $80,000, and she had return it to the producers as one of the terms of a post-breakup interview.But giving up the rock actually ended up being a good thing: "It was as if the ring had become a burdensome reminder of a love that was no longer there," she writes. "The sentiment was gone, and so was its beauty."
4. People, you"ve got to quit obsessing over Andi"s law career.She describes being constantly peppered with condescending questions about why on earth a lawyer would ever want to go on a reality show, and why she isn"t back in the courtroom. "What I really want to say in response is, "f**k off. Are you still working at your first job? Oh, you"re not? How dare you make a career change?"" BOOM.
5. During their fantasy suite date, Juan Pablo"s mood music of choice was Ray Jay and R. Kelly.The former pro athlete also thought it would be sexy for them to watch videos of him playing soccer.
6. She had no sexual chemistry with Bachelorette contestant Nick Viall.Things were pretty hot and heavy leading up to the fantasy suite, but when it actually came to doing the deed, "the fireworks between us just weren"t there. All of the kissing and groping and chemistry we had atop the sheets just wasn"t the same underneath them."
7. Nick had impressed Andi during The Bachelorette with talk of his cosmopolitan life in Chicago, but a visit to his apartment wasunderwhelming."I had envisioned high ceilings, exposed brick, a view of downtown, a bike on the wall, and contemporary artwork, but it [was] just a garden-variety bachelor pad," she remembers. "And in the shallowest of ways, being in his apartment [gave] me relief that the fantasy I had envisioned [wasn"t] reality."
8. She lost a tooth on the night of her fantasy suite date with Josh.And one of the producers came through with ajoke: "Hey, it could be better for him, if you know what I mean."
9. Josh could only do his hair if he had a white wall as a backdrop.He once asked Andi to hold up a white towel when they vacationed in a room with a blue-walled bathroom, she remembers in the book."Apparently, it was the only way he could successfully make sure each of his dark strands was in place," she writes.
10. He called Andi ungrateful.Because she didn"t immediately thank him for paying for her $12 breakfast. That he bought with per diem from ABC.
11. He freaked out at the thought of Andi going on Dancing With the Stars.During a family dinner, Andi writes,he told her mother that he refused to allow it, because the show was "all about s*x" and it would be "totally inappropriatefor his fiance to be dancing and sweating on another man." P.S., Andi notes she never had any intention of going on the show in the first place.
12. By the end of their relationship, Josh had become the boyfriend from h**l.(In case you didn"t catch on to that idea yet). After the breakup, while Josh was out of town, Andi returned to the apartment she had shared with him to pick up her belongings. When she got there, she found her things scatteredon her floor. The insult moved both her and her mom, who had come along to help her pack, to tears.
13. After the split, she decided to move to New York for a fresh start but resolved to have hit-it-and-quit-it s*x with Joshfirst.It was a calculated risk, and it paid off. "While I know I"m supposed to feel some kind of "moral hangover" about this, I feel empowered instead. The feisty smirk that has finally returned to my face brings with it zero regret, zero remorse, and most of all, the power to move on."
Katie Ledecky breaks her own world record in 400-meter freestyle | Rio Olympics 2016 Katie Ledecky qualifies for Tuesday night"s 200 freestyle final
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Katie Ledecky qualifies for Tuesday night"s 200 freestyle final
Swedens Sarah Sjostrom, who qualified first, will be a stiff test.
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USA TODAY Sports" Martin Rogers discusses what you should be watching at the Olympics on Tuesday. USA TODAY Sports
Katie Ledecky qualifies second in the 200 freestyle semifinals.(Photo: Rob Schumacher, USA TODAY Sports)
RIO DE JANEIRO To the surprise of absolutely no one in the Aquatics Stadium, Katie Ledecky has qualified second for Tuesday nights 200 freestyle final and seemed to leave plenty in the tank.
The American superstar, who has pocketed a gold medal (400 free) and a silver medal (4x100 free relay), will aim for her third medal of these Games in one of her most intriguing races.
Ledecky is to put it simply the most dominant and most versatile swimmer in the world right now. Though she makes it look easy, its really, really hard to dominate every freestyle distance from the 200 to the mile. Yet she does.
Ledecky currently holds 400, 800 and 1,500 freestyle world records. She hasthe best time in the world this year in the 200, but shell face her stiffest competition of any of her individual events Tuesday night. Swedens Sarah Sjostrom qualified ahead of Ledecky, posting a 1:54.65 Monday night, and the 200 freestyle world recordholder Federica Pellegrini of Italy qualified third.
Ledecky is trying to become just the second female Olympian in history to win three individual freestyle gold medals in the same Games. Only Debbie Meyer (1968) has accomplished the feat.
Fellow American and five-time Olympic medalist Missy Franklin failed to qualify for Tuesday nights final, finishing a disappointing eighth in her semifinal heat.
Tom Daley: Diving for Gold Olympics Playlist: Catch up on Daley joy & Smith heartbreakOlympic Games on the BBCHosts: Rio de Janeiro Dates: 5-21 August Rio time: BST -4Coverage: Watch on BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Four, Red Button and up to 24 HD video streams on mobile, desktop, connected TVs and app, plus follow on Radio 5 live and via live text commentary.
Tom Daley and Dan Goodfellow produced a great final dive to win one of two Olympic bronze medals for Great Britain on day three in Rio.
The pair"s 10m synchro success and Ed Ling"s bronze in the trap shooting took Britain"s tally to four and put them 10th in the medal table.
Britain"s men"s gymnastics team, the women"s rugby sevens team and swimmer James Guy all missed out on bronze.
Hosts Brazil celebrated their first gold with Rafaela Silva"s judo win.
Rio 2016 medal table - day threeCountryGoldSilverBronzeTotal1. US577192. China 535133. Australia403710. GB1124
Click here for the full medals table
Fortune was not shining for Team GB in the eventing, with William Fox-Pitt slipping out of medal contention going into the final showjumping round.
In the rowing, Britain"s Heather Glover and Heather Stanning nearly had their six-year unbeaten run broken by Denmark but a strong finish saw them through to the semi-finals as heat winners.
There was a shock defeat for Irish boxer Paddy Barnes, with the double Olympic medallist losing his light-flyweight bout to Spain"s Samuel Carmona.
How did Team GB fare? Louis Smith and his team-mates and Great Britain"s rugby sevens players suffered heartache in Rio on Monday
So close yet so far for Team GB...
A mistake by Louis Smith on the pommel horse dashed hopes of a medal in the gymnastics men"s team final, while the women missed out on winning the first ever Olympic medal in rugby sevens competition.
In the pool, James Guy, 20, was pipped to bronze in the 200m freestyle by 0.26 seconds.
In table tennis, Paul Drinkhall became only the third Briton to reach the last 16 of the event with victory over Croatia"s Andrej Gacina. His run came to an end at the quick hands of 40-year-old Belarussian Vladimir Samsonov.
Nick Dempsey, 35, leads the men"s Olympic RS:X windsurfing in Rio after three races. Nick Thompson, in the men"s Laser, and women"s RS:X windsurfer Bryony Shaw are also in medal contention.
In the rowing, red-hot favourites Glover and Stanning reached the semi-finals of the women"s pair, while the men"s four, who have won gold in the event at the last four Games, easily won their heat.
Boxer Joshua Kelly won on his Olympic debut but team-mates Lawrence Okolie, Anthony Fowler and Galal Yafai all lost.
City of G*d child strikes Brazil"s first gold Wild scenes as Silva wins Brazil"s first gold
The party does not start until the hosts get a gold - and on Monday Rafaela Silva dominated the country"s news bulletins by getting Brazil off the mark with victory in the 57kg judo final.
BBC Americas editor Leonardo Rocha said Silva grew up in one of Rio"s most notorious favelas, Cidade de Deus, not far from the Olympic venue where she won her gold medal.
She started judo after her family enrolled her in free classes when she was a child to keep her away from gang life.
Silva said she had proved the critics wrong, those who said she was going to make her family "ashamed" and that the "place for monkeys is in a cage".
Brazil publication O Globo"s headline reads: "Olympic champion, Rafaela Silva has overcome history"
Australia won the first Olympic rugby sevens title with a 24-17 win over arch-rivals New Zealand in the women"s final.
Australia coach Tim Walsh said negative remarks made by New Zealand counterpart Sean Horan before the match had motivated his team.
There was also a touching moment at the end of the game when Deodoro Stadium venue manager Marjorie Enya entered the pitch and asked Brazil player Isadora Cerullo to marry her.
A day after Dutch rider Annemiek van Vleuten suffered a horrific crash in the women"s road race, an Australian track cyclist was taken to hospital after a training accident.
Melissa Hoskins was riding at nearly 60kph (37mph) when some of the riders clipped wheels during the team pursuit practice.
Hoskins was put in a back brace as a precaution but tests revealed no broken bones and she was released several hours later.
Australia"s women"s team pursuit cyclists - in contention to win a medal in Rio - suffered grazes in the crash One of the team, Melissa Hoskins, was taken away from the track on a stretcher as a precaution
In Monday"s swimming finals, Russian Yulia Efimova, who once served a doping ban, was once again booed as she was introduced to the crowd for the 100m breaststroke final.
She almost won gold but was denied by USA"s Lilly King.
Hungary"s Katinka Hosszu became Rio 2016"s first multiple champion when she added 100m backstroke gold to her 400m individual medley title.
China"s Sun Yang, at the centre of a dispute between his country"s swimming officials and Australia"s, won gold in the 200m freestyle.
In the fencing competition, Ibtihaj Muhammad became the only American ever to compete in the Olympics wearing a hijab. She won her first contest in the women"s sabre tournament before bowing out.
Two days after Novak Djokovic was knocked out of the singles event, his doubles hopes were crushed, too, as he and partner Nenad Zimonjic were beaten 6-4 6-4 by Brazilian pair Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares.
Arguably the most colourful moment of the third day took place at Usain Bolt"s news conference, which concluded with a troupe Brazilian dancers joining the Jamaican superstar athlete on the stage.
Bolt"s Rio carnival news conferenceIn other Rio Olympic news There were many empty seats during Sunday"s women"s synchronised 3m springboard final
Almost 80% of available tickets have been sold, but the TV cameras have focused on barren sparsely populated areas at the arenas.
Rio 2016 chiefs also say they are cracking down on tickets touts, with around 40 detained inside the Olympic Park on Monday.
Investigations finally got to the bottom of how a stray bullet found its way through the roof and into the media room at the equestrian venue on day one.
Mario Andrada, the chief spokesman for Rio 2016"s organising committee, said a shot had been fired at a police blimp from one of the Brazilian city"s favelas.
He said that the intended target was a security camera on the blimp.
Meanwhile, Namibian boxer Jonas Junius was arrested by Brazilian police on suspicion of attempting to sexually assault a maid at the Olympic village. The 22-year-old is competing in the light-welterweight division.
Over at the tennis competition, play had to be briefly stopped when a man in an Argentina shirt started fighting another spectator during Argentine Juan Martin del Potro"s victory over Portugal"s Joao Sousa at Olympic Park.
"This is not football" - Argentina"s Juan Martin del Potro criticised the fans who fought during his tennis match on MondayAnd on to day four... Tonia Couch and teenage partner Lois Toulson will be going for gold in the women"s synchro final
It is another jam-packed day of action with 15 golds on offer.
British medal interest will be largely focused on the water and on the gym floor:
14:00 & 18:00 BST Eventing finals: Will Fox-Pitt and his team-mates produce the showjumping rounds of their lives as the team and individual eventing medals are decided?
17:30 BST Canoe slalom C1: Two-time silver medallist David Florence will look to win gold as he takes to the waters at the Whitewater Stadium.
16:00 BST Men"s rugby sevens: Great Britain"s men will be hoping to at least emulate the women as they begin their campaign against Kenya.
20:00 BST Women"s synchro 10m platform final: Tonia Couch, 27, and her 16-year-old partner Lois Toulson only teamed up last December but the British pair will be medal contenders.
20:00 BST Women"s team gymnastics final: Team USA will surely be tying gold around their necks. Great Britain finished fourth in qualifying and have a great chance of a medal.
02:00 BST Swimming finals: Siobhan-Marie O"Connor was ranked second going into the 200m individual medley event and romped through the rounds.
12 Year Old Boy Dies On Schlitterbahn Water Slide Ride
By Fares Sabawi of the Caller-Times
Tourists visiting Padre Island won"t need to travel far for suggestions on what to check out any longer.
The Corpus Christi Convention and Visitors Bureau on Monday opened a new Visitor Information Center at the Schlitterbahn Corpus Christi water park. The additional location will serve tourists who visit the island instead of the Bayfront.
"Padre Island draws many visitors, and this partnership with Schlitterbahn allows us to have a presence near those visitors," said Paulette Kluge, CEO of the Corpus Christi CVB.
The move was celebrated with a ribbon cutting that was attended by the bureau, Schlitterbahn officials and the Padre Island Business Association.
Twitter: @Caller_Fares
About Fares Sabawi
Fares Sabawiis a breaking news and general assignment reporter for the Caller-Times
12 Year Old Boy Dies On Schlitterbahn Water Slide Ride
Caleb Thomas Schwab was the son of Rep. Scott Schwab and his wife, Michele, who issued a statement Sunday night.
"Since the day he was born, he brought abundant joy to our family and all those who he came into contact with," the parents said. "As we try and mend our home with him no longer with us, we are comforted knowing he believed in his savior, Jesus, and they are forever together now. We will see him another day."
Kansas state police are investigating Caleb"s death at the Schlitterbahn water park, which has been closed for the investigation, said spokeswoman Winter Prosapio.
The boy died while riding the Verrckt, the world"s tallest water slide, she said. The park has released no other details into how the boy died.
The slide requires two to three riders to be strapped in a raft with a total weight between 400 and 500 pounds. The raft then "will slide down a jaw-dropping 168 foot 7 inch structure, only to be blasted back up a second massive hill and then sent down yet another gut wrenching 50 foot drop for the ultimate in water slide thrills," the park"s website says.
Some park guests say the slide"s harness wasn"t working properly earlier in the day.
"A lady in front of me said that multiple times she rode the ride today, the Verruckt, and that the front harness did not work any of the times that she rode it," park guest Jessica Lundquist told KSHB.Verrckt riders are required to be at least 54 inches tall, according Schlitterbahn"s website. It was not immediately known whether Caleb met the height requirement.Leslie Castaneda was at the park Sunday and told CNN affiliate KMBC that the victim"s brother saw what happened. "The little boy said to a worker, "I just saw my little brother die because of one of your attractions,"" Castaneda told KMBC. "(Caleb) looked skinny. He shouldn"t have been on that ride."
Thousands injured annually at amusement parks
Thousands of children are hurt annually on amusement rides, according to a 2013 study by Nationwide Children"s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, which examined data from the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Head and neck injuries were the most common at 28%, with 1.5% of the injuries requiring hospitalization, the study said.
Consumer Product Safety Commission statistics for 2015 are not available, but a review of the raw data found 45,000 injuries associated with amusement rides and water slides nationwide. About 30,000 of these cases involved those under age 18.
Verrckt, trouble from the start?
At 17 stories high -- higher than Niagara Falls -- Verrckt propels riders at 50 mph. Its name translates as "insane" in German.
Standing at exactly 168 feet 7 inches, the slide was certified by Guinness World Records in May 2014 as the world"s tallest water slide. It is 5 feet taller than the previous record holder, a water slide at a Rio de Janeiro country club.
The slide opened to the public in July 2014 after several weeks of delays. Technical glitches forced the original May 23 opening date to be pushed back three times, a park spokesperson told CNN at the time.
"We always ride our rides first," Schooley said. "And we found out it was too steep and too short. So we were able to redesign it from what we learned. We tore down two-thirds of the slide and rebuilt it into the design we have now."
The slide will remain closed during the investigation, Schlitterbahn said in a statement.
Milwaukee passengers stranded following Delta outage
Delta Airlines has lifted its widespread grounding of flights blamed on a Monday computer outage, though hundreds of cancellations and delays continued, the airline said in a statement.
The airline reports it canceled 427 flights Monday morning due to a power outage impacting Delta operations system wide. As of 1 p.m. Delta while operating about 1,590 of its nearly 6,000 scheduled flights so far today. While systems are improving and flights are resuming, delays and cancellations continue.
Customers heading to the airport should expect delays and cancellations, the airline said in a statement.
While inquiries are high and wait times are long, our customer service agents are doing everything they can to assist. There may also be some lag time in the display of accurate flight status at delta.com...and from Delta representatives on the phone and in airport, the statement said .
The power outage in Atlanta, which began at 2:30 a.m., prompted a Delta Airlines to predict large scale flight cancellations and delays for its worldwide operations.
Customers heading to the airport should expect delays and cancellations, the airline said in a statement.
Computer outages were an issue earlier this summer for Southwest Airlines, which was forced to cancel more than 2,000 flights across the U.S. last month after technology problems prevented many travelers from checking in or boarding flights.
