Where are they now - Quick Hitters

A handful of "Where are they now's" :

1. Tommy Hammonds likes to race cars........... however, we're not talking a hobby here. We're talking "Tom Hammonds Racing" - check it out.
2. It's the final weekend of decision time for Thaddeus Young. Monday is the deadline to withdraw his name from the draft. There's a reason I am commenting on this in the "Where are they now" section. I think you know what I'm talking about. I wish you the best in the NBA Thad (he's been doing fairly well in private workouts and even has one scheduled for AFTER the Monday deadline with one team. What to make of that?)............. Thad is a 15-20 pick.
   
3. Interesting look at the the best NBA drafts of all-time, including the Stephon Marbury 1996 draft.
4. Former Jacket beesball assistant coach Henry "Turtle" Thomas gets a head coaching job at FIU.
5. This on the possible magnitude of Calvin Johnson's rookie salary and bonus:

1. Rogers’ signing bonus of $14.4 million could be a relative pittance compared to what Johnson will get.

   The salary cap in 2003 was $75 million. This year’s salary cap is $109 million — $34 million more than when Rogers was drafted, and an increase of $7 million from 2006.

   Guaranteed money in rookie contracts has become more important than signing bonuses, and the Lions will have to lay out some heavy dough for Johnson. Mario Williams, a defensive end drafted first overall by Houston last year, got $26.5 million guaranteed on a six-year contract. Running back Reggie Bush, drafted second overall by New Orleans, got $26.2 million. Quarterback Vince Young, taken third by Tennessee, got $25.7 million.

   With those benchmarks, and an expected increase in the range of 7 percent over last year’s draft class, look for Johnson’s guaranteed money to be in the range of $28 million.

   Tom Lewand, the Lions chief operating officer and lead negotiator on player contracts, said negotiations on rookie contracts usually don’t begin until July.

   The Lions want a six-year contract for Johnson.

6. Lots of info here on beesball Jackets around the minors.
7. Guess who was golfing with Steve Spurrier when he heard the news about Billy Donnovan's weird saga with Florida and Orlando? Our own Bobby Cremins

1. Strangely, Spurrier's current school was the victim of a similar about-face in 1993, when Bobby Cremins left Georgia Tech for the Gamecocks and then changed his mind after two days.
   
   Spurrier said he was actually playing golf with Cremins when he heard the Donovan news.
   
   ``Bobby said, 'I know how he felt,''' Spurrier said. ``So it happens a lot.''

8. Pat Swilling was inducted into the Louisiana HOF and here's a great article about him, including this cool quote from Bill Parcels:

1. When Bill Parcells was in the middle of his Super Bowl reign with the New York Giants as coach of a defense built around arguably the finest outside linebacker to ever play in the NFL, Parcells often motivated the man who wore the red, white and blue No. 56 by invoking the name of the man who wore the black and gold No. 56.

   Shortly before the Giants were getting ready to play the Los Angeles Rams in a 1990 playoff game, Parcells went up to Lawrence Taylor and told the future Hall of Famer that he had a plane ticket for him.

   "I want you to go to New Orleans," Parcells told Taylor. "Go find Pat Swilling. Give him your plane ticket and your helmet. You stay in New Orleans and have a nice time. He'll play."

9. Will Bynum is going to play against the New York Knicks - with his current team.
10. You know John Salley is on TV, but did you know he's on a new series.
11. Will Joe Anoai join the WWF?

1. "Former Georgia Tech star Joe Anoai, who is the brother of former WWE star Rosey, got cut by the Minnesota Vikings on 5/31. He didn't even make it to mini-camp. It's almost a lock that if he doesn't hook up with another NFL team this year, or doesn't at least make practice squad roster, that he'll be offered a developmental contract from WWE."

12. For all the bad press Stephon Marbury gets, it seems that he's trying to do some good things - first with the cheap shoes for kids, and now this:

1. I have written about it before, but that bad attitude dude, Stephon Marbury is at it again. Appearing on WFAN this Friday with Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts, Marbury showed his true character. His latest exploit - buying books for an underfunded library on Staten Island, in an impoverished area where Marbury grew up. Marbury was out on Staten Island earlier in the week participating in a reading-to-kids program, and made the donation in conjunction with that program. This is nothing new for Steph. Though regularly vilified for his bad attitude and presumptively bad character, there are few professional athletes in all of major American sports that devote as much time and energy to good works as Marbury.

   Marbury, of course, has also taken the basketball-sneaker world by storm, since his well-selling Starbury one line goes for anywhere from 9.98 to 14.98. As Benigno and Roberts pointed out, that’s way less than the sneaker line of the now officially anointed Le Bron James (which go for about $150 a pop). And, as Marbury told Outside the Lines last summer, the reason he was doing this was so that families like the one he grew up in didn’t have to choose between buying groceries and buying basketball shoes.

   We’ll have made progress when guys like Marbury don’t get judged to be bad characters by whether they cooperate sufficiently with the media.

13. Not sure you can do a "Where are they now" for someone who never showed up at Tech - here's J.Parker - the best fastball in high school in the nation - and he's not coming to Tech. A first round pick in the MLB draft has assured us of that.