JaMarcus Russell arrested; Can we say unemployment line anyone???

JaMarcus Russell(notes), recently released free-agent quarterback and one of the biggest draft busts of all time, was arrested Monday afternoon for possession of a controlled substance.

The substance? Codeine syrup, according to Daniela Werner of al.com.

Codeine syrup, also known as purple drank, lean, or sizzurp, typically contains codeine and promethazine, ingredients found in prescription cough syrup. ESPN's "Outside the Lines" just did a feature on the beverage. It's said to make those who abuse it feel drowsy, weak and in an "altered level of consciousness."

Perhaps not coincidentally, the Raiders released Russell because he always played as if he was drowsy, weak and in a state of altered consciousness.

Here's more on the arrest from al.com:

Myles said Russell was arrested at his home early this afternoon during an undercover investigation. He was booked into Mobile Metro Jail at 4:22 p.m. Russell was released minutes later after making $2,500 bail, according to online records.

Russell is scheduled to appear in court on July 20. A bond hearing is set for July 7.

As mentioned previously, Russell is considered one of the biggest draft busts of all time, perhaps even the only legitimate challenger to Ryan Leaf's crown as biggest bust ever. Back in April, I wrote that despite Russell's serious charge, Leaf was still the champ.

Of course, one of the things separating Russell from Leaf was the fact that Russell had never been arrested for drug possession. Even while he's not employed by an NFL team, he's still making a run at Leaf. Everyone needs a goal, I guess.

As a free agent, Russell was looking to sign a contract with an NFL team sometime soon, and odds are, he would have, sometime before training camp. With this, though? It seems like a big risk for a team to take, even at a minimum salary. I wouldn't go so far as to say that this is a career-ender, but anyone who was even thinking about signing Russell probably just put that idea on the backburner.

The optimistic view to take is that in the long run, maybe an arrest is the best thing for JaMarcus. Maybe it's what he needed to wake himself up and get back on a positive track. I have no idea if his alleged sizzurp use was a one-time thing or a long-time habit, but if this gets him to think seriously about his career, then maybe it can turn into a positive. Time will tell.

Mavericks to meet with Nowitzki, Haywood on Thursday

Dirk Nowitzki(notes) may be an unrestricted free agent and free of the Dallas Mavericks for the first time in his 12-year career, but that doesn't mean he's leaving town.

Yahoo! Sports' Marc J. Spears reports that Mavs president Donnie Nelson will make the 7-footer an offer Thursday.

"I'm going to show up on his doorstep, get on one knee and hope he says, ‘I do,'" Nelson said. "We're hopeful and optimistic he will re-sign."

A source close to the situation told Spears: "They're going through all the hoops, but I'd be shocked if he went anywhere else. He's going to get [a new contract] done before they change the rules and structure of the collective bargaining agreement."

Spears also reports that Mavs coach Rick Carlisle is meeting with free-agent center Brendan Haywood(notes) in Charlotte, N.C., in the hopes of re-signing him. The Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers, Toronto Raptors, New York Knicks and Detroit Pistons also are interested in Haywood's services, Spears notes.

YAHOO

Joe Johnson to sign a FAT ridiculous deal with the Atlanta Hawks!!

It's never a good sign when, a full week before a player is set to put pen to paper to ink his most recent contract, that a good portion of the NBA community regards that contract as the worst it has ever seen.

Not the worst trade, nor the worst draft selection. And we're not talking about considering Joe Johnson's(notes) new contract with the Atlanta Hawks (as first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski) as the worst contract we've ever seen a few years into the deal, or a few years after it expires in retrospect.

We're feeling this way, right now. On July 1, seven days before he even gets to sign the deal. Worst contract, ever.

It's that bad. Six years, and $119 million dollars for a player regarded as a second option at best on a great team. At best. Johnson will be 29 years of age to start this contract, 35 to end it, so Atlanta will get his one peak season (unless last year's run of over 21 points and a combined 9.5 rebounds/assists was the best we've seen), and then the downfall.

At about $20 million a year.

Bear in mind that Johnson achieved those stats by absolutely dominating the ball for the Hawks. Just owning it, for large stretches, forcing either a potential score or a potential assist to be added to his ledger just about every other time down court. All while playing huge minutes, 38 per game in fact; which was actually the lowest mark we've seen from Johnson since his second year in the league.

[Photos: See Joe Johnson's moves on the court]

It's just an astonishing deal, on so many levels. A good part of me thinks that — because his stats are so inflated by his ball dominance and big minutes — that Johnson will be worth about half of his yearly salary next year (next year!), so imagine how far he'll taper off by 2016? Johnson isn't the most athletic player we've seen, he isn't tricky enough with the ball to get to the line much (a shocking 3.5 free-throw attempts per game, criminal for someone who has the ball so much, and for so long), and this isn't someone who will age well.

On top of that, didn't we watch him age quite considerably in the playoffs last season? Johnson averaged 11.8 points per game in the second round, shooting a terrifying 29.5 percent along the way. He seemed nonplussed as ever as his Hawks fell out of the second round again, and for the second time in five years, he's chosen big offseason money over a chance at a championship.

The Hawks? They're the big boys, here. They're supposed to be smarter than this, and in spite of all the talk about how this team had no choice but to stick with the status quo and see what happened? Bollocks.

This man could be nearly half of your salary cap in a few years. We have no idea how the new collective bargaining agreement will shake out, but even under the ridiculous payroll runs of the last six or seven years, handing nearly $120 million to a 29-year-old who has yet to do anything more meaningful than dribble a lot and shoot a lot and look real tired in January? It boggles the mind.

Yes, you're backed into a corner, and you can't afford to let your best offensive player go without any proper sign-and-trade compensation. I understand that, but signing above what you originally hoped to pay only goes so far. There has to be a cutoff price, at some point, and paying Joe Johnson around $20 million in 2015-16 has to be that point. Hell, paying Joe Johnson $20 million in 2011-12 has to be that point.

This is just an absurd contract that, even if the Hawks ownership is banking on selling the team midway through Johnson's deal as has been rumored, cannot be justified or argued-for in any meaningful way.

There's just no way around it. Joe is a nice player who might get to shoot himself into yet another All-Star berth next season. If he's lucky, the year after that, even. Give it to him. Let the Hawks roll to the second round again, earning the ownership a few more gate receipts as they take yet another first-round series to seven games.

Doesn't matter. As it stands, this is the worst free-agent contract I have ever seen. Roll over Eddy Curry(notes), tell Jim McIlvaine the news.

LeBron James is a Chicago Bull according to the NBA's web store!!! WTF??

Breaking news — The LeBron James(notes) watch is over. He's made his decision and he's going to be a Chicago Bull, at least according to the NBA's official online store which everyone knows is the world's most definitive source for breaking news.

As a Bulls fan, let me say that I really like the looks of this. As a fan of the Cavaliers, Knicks, Heat, Clippers and Nets would say, "this is fake." Well it isn't, my friends. It's a real screenshot from the customizable jersey page for the Bulls. I guess you could read this as the Bulls reacquiring Jerome James(notes) and giving him a new number, but let's be serious here.

Surely this will get changed in no time, so make sure you get your order in quickly to have a possibly irrelevant tank top because, as mentioned earlier, LeBron isn't making a decision until Monday. Or if you really want to customize a Bulls jersey for a guy who might not end up in Chicago, go crazy.

Nonetheless, to whichever NBA staffer who chose "James 6" as the example of a jersey you could make, nice work. This won't get anyone's hopes up at all.

UPDATE: Yep, it's gone. And just to clarify — yes, it was a customizable jersey, but the default for this version was "James 6" rather than "Player 00" which is present on all the other customizable jersys. That's the mistake and that's the funny part, so have some laughs, OK?

And things had been going so well for Cedric Benson ...Ceddy why??

Cedric Benson's(notes) resurgence in Cincinnati last year was a great story and a rare one. The fourth overall draft pick in 2005 spent four years as a full-fledged draft bust, having never approached a 1,000-yard season and being arrested twice in 2008.

But somehow, despite an early career marked by criminal mischief and going to the ground easier than Joan Capdevila, Benson turned into some kind of stud in 2009. It so rarely happens that a running back — especially one drafted so high — will have four Blair Thomas-esque years to start his career, and all of a sudden become a fierce and feared workhorse back. I don't think a lot of people saw that coming.

Which is what makes the Tuesday arrest of Benson so disappointing.

The incident in question happened a month ago in a bar in Austin, the same city in which Benson's other two arrests took place. Here's how things went down, via Jim Vertuno of the AP.

According to the Austin police arrest affidavit, Benson was at Annie’s West bar in the Sixth Street entertainment district on May 30 when he got into an altercation with another, unknown bar patron that left him spitting blood from a cut lip. After staff intervened, witnesses told police Benson shoved a bar worker and was verbally abusive. After being asked to leave, Benson was escorted to the door.

“As they took him outside, he continued to push and shove,” Senior Police Officer Veneza Aguinaga said.

Bartender Bryan White told police that once outside, Benson complained to people passing by that “all these white boys are ganging up on me and kicking me out.”

White said he told Benson he wouldn’t take time out of his night just to kick him out, then Benson punched him in the face.

Now, why it took a full month to make the arrest, I don't know. Also, Benson's lawyer says that Benson has his own side of the story, which police have never heard, and that Benson will tell it "at the appropriate time" (note: now seems like a good time).

And maybe his story is 100 percent true. Maybe Benson was wronged here. Maybe police in Austin just really like arresting him. I don't know.

Here's my issue, though. Between the original altercation with the guy at the bar, that guy busting him in the lip, being asked to leave by bouncers, pushing and shoving on his way outside and complaining about the actions of a group of white boys ... somewhere in there, Cedric Benson had time to stop and say to himself, "Hey, Ced, you've got a lot to lose, so maybe you should just get out of here." But he didn't.

Anyway, whatever ends up happening with this, it's Benson's task now to make it just an odd little footnote in the story of a remarkable career comeback. How does he do that? By keeping himself out of trouble off the field, and continuing to produce on it. If he can manage that, his comeback story will trump a bar fight in which no one was seriously injured.

Marcus mentioned in the 'Guy shot at Michael Vick's party' story

The case involving the shooting of a man outside of Michael Vick's(notes) 30th birthday party has a few new wrinkles in it, one of them possibly involving Marcus Vick(notes), Michael's little brother, himself a former backup quarterback for the Miami Dolphins.

The bigger story Wednesday, though, was the discrepancy in the timelines of events given by Vick's attorney, and what's shown on security tapes. The AP saw the video Wednesday, and said Michael Vick's car doesn't leave the scene until 2:07 a.m. The shooting happened about four minutes later.

That's at odds with what Vick's lawyer had previously said, which is that his client had been gone for 10 or 20 minutes when the shooting took place.

This "discrepancy" was all over ESPN on Wednesday, but myself, I'm not putting a ton of stock into it. Yes, if you choose to, you can look at it as Vick's lawyer being caught in a fib, which would look bad. But he said 10 or 20 minutes, and it was actually four. That's a difference of six or 16 minutes. Can you accurately recall the exact events of your Saturday night, in six or 16-minute intervals? I can't recall the last 30 minutes of my life in accurate six-minute intervals.

So the timeline problem, really, isn't something I care about at the moment. As for Marcus, the mention of his name appears to stem from a Virginia Beach radio report in which a gentleman named "Bartley Barefoot" said his "sources" were "sure" that Marcus Vick was "involved."

Gregg Rosenthal of Pro Football Talk was being interviewed by Mr. Barefoot and his co-host Johnny D., when Barefoot broke in and dropped Marcus Vick's name. Sports by Brooks took it a step further, noting reports that the shooter may have been driving a white Cadillac Escalade, and then connecting that with previous reports that Marcus Vick does indeed own a white Cadillac Escalade.

What to make of that? Again, for me, not much. If it turns out that I'm wrong, I'll apologize, but for the moment, I'm choosing not to put much faith in the sources of Bartley Barefoot. I'm sure Bartley's a wonderful man, but I'm going to choose not to view him with a sense of Cronkite-like integrity. And the fact that Marcus Vick and a potential shooter might drive the same (or similar) cars ... I don't find that terribly compelling, either.

We'll see what happens, and according to ESPN's Adam Schefter, we might not have to wait long. He said on "NFL Live" that we could expect the shooter to turn himself in to authorities "sometime soon."

Originally, I didn't expect this thing to turn into much of a story. I thought — and I'm willing to consider the possibility that I gave him too much credit with this — that Michael Vick, with all the image-rehabbing he's done, the fine line he knows he's walking with the commissioner, and everything he's got to lose, would absolutely not, in any way, let himself actually get involved with a shooting.

I still believe that, and I haven't seen enough yet to even consider changing my mind. It's true that Michael Vick doesn't have the best track record in decision-making, and maybe there were some poor decisions made on this night, too. Anything terribly nefarious, though, I'm just having a hard time believing. There's still some unfolding left to happen here, though.

Yahoo

Randall Cunningham's young son dies in tragic accident!!!

Terrible news for former NFL quarterback Randall Cunningham and his family — Cunningham's 2-year-old son Christian drowned Tuesday afternoon in a hot tub in the backyard of Cunningham's Nevada home. Las Vegas Police Lieutenant Dennis Flynn has been quoted as saying that it was an accident. According to initial reports, Cunningham was not at home Tuesday afternoon when the child was found, and that an unnamed woman tried to resuscitate the child after finding him at about 4:30 p.m. She called 911 at 4:45, and the child was taken to St. Rose Dominican Hospital, Siena campus, where he passed away.

Cunningham, 47, is an ordained minister in Las Vegas. According to a family friend who talked with ABC News, when the news broke, about 100 people came to the Cunningham home to sing, pray, and grieve with the family. Cunningham is the pastor of a church he founded called Remnant Ministries. He has performed baptisms in that same hot tub, according to reports. From ABC:

"We were there for support," said [a] church member, who asked not to be identified by name. "It's about being a church family and supporting the family ... I just can't imagine going through a tragedy like this without having a church family there for you."

The family friend also described Christian Cunningham to an ABC News reporter.

"He was always active and running around, smiling and giving everybody hugs and jumping on their laps. He was so full of life. He was not only the Cunningham child, he was also the church's child. He trusted everybody."

Police spokespeople have told news sources that there is an open investigation into the child's death, though no foul play or neglect is assumed. It appears to be a horrible, random accident.

More friends and family will gather at Cunningham's church Thursday to show support.

Cunningham, who passed for 29,979 yards and 207 touchdowns in his 16-year NFL career from 1985 to 2001, made four Pro Bowls and is considered the prototype of the modern mobile quarterback. He played for the Philadelphia Eagles, Minnesota Vikings, Dallas Cowboys and Baltimore Ravens. He took his son onto the field last year (pictured above) when he was inducted into the Eagles Hall of Fame at a halftime ceremony.

Cunningham and his wife, Felicity, have three other children: Randall II, Vashti and Grace.