Cam Newton shouldn't call out teammates: Video Provided by YAHOO! Sports

Officials in Europe firm on Justin Gatlin ban..... WTF??

So for those of you who are scratching your heads on who the heck is this Justin character, let Milly give you a rundown: 

-Handsome guy who happens to be a track and field star. Face was on the Wheaties box as he claimed the "Fastest Man in the World" title in 2004 Olympic Games. 

Back in his "GOLDEN BOY" days

-Handsome dude gets smacked with a ban of 4 years after testing positive for  a banned substance.... Holy Santa Claus shit!! 

-Now a father, he has served his ban and like many athletes who have been shunned by the public eye for many years or months; picks up the pieces and trying to move forward on with his/her life. 

Somebody's hitting the gym....gesh

GOT THE RUNDOWN??? COOL....now for my rant on today's blog: 

The track ban that prevents former Olympic champion Justin Gatlin from competing in main European events still stands despite his serving a four-year doping suspension.

Rajne Soderberg, the director of the Stockholm Diamond League event, said in an email Friday that the ban still holds. Euromeetings, the organization representing Europe's top track events, "will continue to recommend that members do not invite athletes who we believe cause disrepute to our meetings and our sport."

This includes Gatlin, but the policy doesn't cover venues outside Europe.

The American was one of the fastest men in the world when he failed a doping test in 2006 for excessive testosterone.

Gatlin is scheduled to run the 100 meters Saturday at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore. He was on the waiting list and recently added to the field when other sprinters dropped out. What the heck was up with that??

Tom Jordan, the meet director for the Prefontaine Classic, said Gatlin deserves his spot because his punishment has been served.

"It's not so much believing in second chances as much as the philosophy of our society, which is if you've paid your debt to society and you're considered eligible, then you should have the opportunity if you earn it," Jordan said.

Very true Mr. Jordan, Very much true. But I have something to say to Mr. Soderberg : 

As a former track and field athlete myself, I looked up to figures like Mr. Gatlin.  While in college (Univ of Texas alumni over HERE) ; I had the opportunity, to see Mr. Gatlin live in person. The true talent in front of my eyes were pure. So when the scandal broke out, I didn't believe it. Guess others wanted to see that cookie crumbled.

I truly believe that Mr. Gatlin is trying to move forward from his past. So why cant society?? Its so funny how a country that is soo adiment on moving forward, dont really like to show it. 

....And thats is what's grinding my gears. 

Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press

Life after prison for Plaxico Burress

Plaxico Burress will re-enter society when he is released from prison Monday after serving 21 months for illegal gun possession, but the template for rehabilitation and redemption of athletes of his profile has already been established -- by Michael Vick and, to a lesser extent, Ben Roethlisberger.

On the football field, Vick is a superstar anew, a one-man show who, in the course of a calendar year, made both Donovan McNabb and Kevin Kolb -- the quarterbacks who before Vick's arrival were the past, present and future of the Philadelphia Eagles -- expendable. For the Eagles, Vick was electric (ask the New York Giants or Washington Redskins), and for his peers he was inspiring, turning a one-year contract that at the time might have seemed charitable even for a third-string quarterback into a showcase for his immense ability.

AP Photo/Charlie RiedelHe made this winning TD catch in Super Bowl XLII. Plaxico Burress will have to prove he still has those skills.

Off the field -- regardless of the questions of fairness and forgiveness and flaws in the justice system -- Vick provided a rare example of how the rehabilitative portion of "the system" is supposed to work. For his crimes, he was the equivalent of kryptonite in the eyes of many fans and even some of his the National Football League employers, yet he was still given an opportunity. He worked hard with no guarantees. He was humbled and accepted his social penance, speaking at schools, to children and to adults about the consequences of what he'd been and done. Whatever inner thoughts he harbored about his situation, he accepted the criticism and the reality that some might never forgive him -- which is their right -- and to date, he's done nothing new to embarrass himself or his community. He has, as they say, paid much, if not all, of his debt to society.

Roethlisberger was never convicted -- or criminally charged, for that matter -- but his encounters with women did significant damage to both his public image and professional prospects, and at least one of the women filed a civil lawsuit. In response to the crises, Roethlisberger took his team to the Super Bowl for the third time, and announced that he was engaged to be married. And then he offered a piece of news germane only to his particular circumstances: He and his fiancée won't be living together before marriage.

In both cases, the narrative of their second chances ended with positive outcomes. Neither Vick nor Roethlisberger was permanently undone by his transgressions, and quite possibly -- if their recent public images are authentic -- they both seem to have emerged as better, more responsible people. Both responded to the threats to their careers with focus and professionalism, at least publicly. Perhaps just as importantly, both were at a critical point in their NFL lives: The league could have deemed them too toxic to be worthy of redemption.

Burress, however, is not Vick; nor is he Roethlisberger, both of whom were saved at least in part by the talent trap: Their ability to perform feats on a football field that very few people in the world can match gives them value to their industry. They are quarterbacks, the most glamorous position in the sport, possibly in all of professional sports. As much as Burress was a star -- four 1,000-yard seasons, the winning touchdown catch for the Giants to undo the Patriots' undefeated 2007 regular season -- the question for NFL teams will be whether a wide receiver such as Burress has enough ability to justify the kind of risk the league took with Vick and Roethlisberger.

AP Photo/Matt RourkeMichael Vick is still making public amends, as he did at this speaking engagement at a Philadelphia high school last week. Will Burress follow that lead?

If it had been clear that Vick, following his release from federal prison after 23 months, could no longer play football at a high level, would any team have given him the chance to rehabilitate his life? The question seems too cynical in tone, but the two concepts, which should be unrelated, might nevertheless be linked. During a time of public fatigue with the flamboyant excesses of professional sports figures, Burress appeared so gilded, so cavalier and so unaccountable that he could hold a glass of red wine while he carried a loaded handgun stuck in his pants. Even New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg got involved in wanting Burress behind bars. He was bad for the brand.

Two years later, it's possible that the football world has moved on in a way that makes Burress just another name, and generally unimportant to the success of the league. If that's the case, he will become another symbol of just how fungible and disposable -- and temporary -- the glamorous life truly is. To have a second opportunity to reclaim a life with which he was so careless the first time around, Burress might first have to prove he can still play.

Vick and Roethlisberger were both public relations disasters. Burress was criminally reckless, carrying a loaded .40-caliber Glock pistol into a crowded nightclub in the elastic of his waistband and accidentally shooting himself in the leg in the process. Due to New York's mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines of 3½ years for a conviction, Burress pleaded guilty in exchange for a lesser sentence.

Vick, according to authorities, bankrolled an entire criminal operation that led to the grisly killing of animals. Roethlisberger appeared to be engaged in a pattern of offensive behavior -- especially to the female demographic that, statistics suggest, buys a large portion of merchandise. Both cases frightened a corporate machine like the NFL. Burress, however, served just two months fewer than Vick, and he clearly does not require the same level of image-cleansing Vick needed on re-entry.

So the question is whether Burress, who will be 34 in August, has the skills now in the eyes of football talent evaluators to save himself the way the other two did. The upside of Vick's post-prison talent was tremendous, allowing him time to heal. Even in loyal Pittsburgh, Roethlisberger said he wasn't sure whether the Steelers would keep him or whether the fans would want him -- doubts that are now long gone as he comes off a Super Bowl appearance.

AP Photo/ Steven HirschThe first step is rebuilding his home life. At his sentencing in September 2009, Burress kissed his wife, Tiffany.

Burress doesn't appear to have that kind of football upside. He'll likely need to find someone (Andy Reid, perhaps?) who will take a personal interest in him and allow him time to re-develop, a rarity in an often impersonal game.

Even the case of Donte Stallworth is less murky than that of Burress. Stallworth was sentenced to 30 days for DUI manslaughter after killing a pedestrian in a Miami traffic accident two years ago. Stallworth was out of the game during 2009 and resurfaced with the Baltimore Ravens for an injury-plagued, mixed-results season last year. He was never the elite receiver Burress was, and is now a role player; nonetheless, his case requires nuance. Investigators appeared to have concluded that the Stallworth incident -- though he was behind the wheel and over the legal alcohol limit -- was more an unfortunate accident (the victim, Mario Reyes, apparently was not in a crosswalk when Stallworth's vehicle hit him) than a heinous or reckless criminal act. That sets Stallworth's post-sentence football re-entry apart from that of both Vick and Burress.

Still, Burress likely will not be a pariah. He will have job opportunities if there is professional football to be played this year. Vick has already offered support for him. If Burress has any skills remaining in his 6-foot-5 frame, he too will benefit from the talent trap.

The next step, naturally, is for Burress to go home to his family, to see the daughter who was born while he was behind bars, to rebuild and repair the lives of the people around him. Meanwhile, his professional reconstruction likely depends less on whether teams want him to have another chance at life, and more on whether they believe he can do for them what he did for the Giants.

NBA Playoffs 2011: NBA Fines Bulls' Noah 50k

MIAMI -- Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah was fined $50,000 on Monday for directing an anti-gay slur at a fan during Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals, and vowed to learn from the incident.

The NBA released its decision hours after speaking with Noah, saying the fine was "for using a derogatory and offensive term from the bench."

The fine is only half of what Los Angeles Lakers' star Kobe Bryant was assessed for shouting the same slur toward a referee last month, and the league said the discrepancy was because the sanction against Bryant was based on both what he said -- and who he said it to.

"Kobe's fine included discipline for verbal abuse of a game official," NBA spokesman Mark Broussard said.

Noah and NBA officials met Monday morning. Noah said he emerged from that talk prepared to "pay the price" for what happened when he returned to the bench with two fouls midway through the first quarter of Sunday night's game against the Miami Heat.

That price turned out to be 1.6 percent of his roughly $3.1 million salary this season. Noah agreed to an extension last year, worth about $60 million through the 2015-16 season.

Meanwhile, two major advocacy groups quickly called upon the league to both sanction Noah and help further educate players on the topic.

"The fan said something that was disrespectful towards me," Noah said, about five hours before the fine was announced. "And I went back at him. Got it on camera. I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. Anybody who knows me knows that I'm not like that. I'm an open-minded guy. I said the wrong thing and I'm going to pay the consequences -- deal with the consequences -- like a man. I don't want to be a distraction to the team right now."

Television cameras captured Noah saying an expletive, followed by the slur. Noah said he did not realize the gravity of the situation until he was questioned by reporters after the game Sunday, adding that he meant "no disrespect" to anyone.

Bryant was fined $100,000 last month, and just last week, Phoenix Suns president and CEO Rick Welts revealed he was gay, a rare acknowledgement for someone holding a prominent position in men's sports.

"We know what business we are in," Heat forward LeBron James said Monday. "Emotions get played. ... I don't think it was right what he said. But emotions do get said over the course of the game. We know there's going to be microphones. We know there's going to be cameras around. You just have to be cautious about what you say and just try to control your emotions as much as possible."

The Heat won Sunday's game 96-85, taking a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 4 is Tuesday night in Miami.

"As far as I'm concerned, it's another teachable moment," Welts told ESPN's Ric Bucher. "It should generate more intelligent dialogue. We've been afraid to talk about it and we're not afraid to talk about it anymore. I'm proud that the NBA has taken the approach that it has.

"I had the pleasure of having dinner with Noah in the run-up to the draft when he came into the league and I found him to be a very humble, very kind, genuine human being. So I do have this personal connection with him and because of that I feel a little sorry for him that he finds himself in this situation. ... The intention of the words were to sting, but there has to be understanding that the words carry a weight beyond that."

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, or GLAAD, said it reached out to the NBA and the Bulls on Monday "to discuss next steps," and called upon the league to reiterate to its players that anti-gay words should not be tolerated in the game.

"Last month the NBA sent an important message about how such slurs fuel a climate of intolerance and are unacceptable," GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios said in a statement. "These anti-gay remarks, coming so soon after, demonstrate how much needs to be done."

GLAAD said it has started a partnership with Bryant and the Lakers following the April incident in Los Angeles. Also Monday, the Human Rights Campaign called Noah's use of the slur "just plain unacceptable."

"At a time when the NBA and a growing number of pro-athletes are publicly standing up for equality, it's too bad Mr. Noah worked against their efforts last night," HRC President Joe Solmonese said. "That said, we're pleased he quickly realized the error of his ways and apologized."

Some of Noah's teammates stood up for him Monday, saying that the fan went too far in whatever comments were directed toward the Bulls' bench. Taj Gibson said the man repeatedly directed verbal abuse toward the Bulls, and other players insisted that was true.

"It wasn't just one time or two times," said Bulls forward Luol Deng, who declined to say what comments the fan may have made. "He just kept going and it became really annoying. He just lost his temper."

Bulls forward Carlos Boozer said he was not aware of exactly what took place in the bench area, but noted it happens somewhat regularly.

"That's a part of the game," Boozer said. "Fans have the right to say what they want to say after they buy their tickets. Unfortunately sometimes, for us, we just have to sit there and take it. Unfortunately, that's part of sports."

Noah repeated often Monday that he was apologetic for the incident. He said he would "learn from my mistakes," and acknowledged that being frustrated over picking up his second foul did not excuse his words.

"I'll remember," Noah said. "I'll remember it for a long time."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.