An incoming freshman football player at Oklahoma who was arrested earlier this year on a weapons charge has made a video during which he raps about guns and shooting people.
The 74-second, profanity-laced video featuring wide receiver Josh Jarboe is circulating on the Internet. It appears to have been filmed in a university athletic dormitory.
Oklahoma athletic department spokesman Kenny Mossman did not immediately return a phone message left Thursday by The Associated Press.
Jarboe signed with the Sooners in February. In March, he was arrested after an assistant principal at Cedar Grove High School in Ellenwood, Ga., told a school police officer he saw Jarboe grab a gun from a car.
Jarboe was expelled from school, but completed his high school degree online.
He pleaded guilty in late May in Georgia to charges of bringing a gun to school and carrying a pistol without a license. A judge reduced the charges to misdemeanors because Jarboe was a first-time offender and sentenced Jarboe to two years of probation and 80 hours of community service.
The felony charges could have prevented Jarboe from attending Oklahoma.
After Jarboe’s guilty plea, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops issued a statement saying that the Sooners “look forward to a long and successful career for him both academically and on the football field.
“He became involved in a situation at his school during his senior year that certainly has caused us concern. At the same time, we have personal knowledge of Josh through our recruiting contact with him and from personal references from his school and individuals of authority in his life.”
Stoops said then that “we have already stressed to him that his citizenship is of the utmost importance. He understands that anything less than exemplary behavior will not be tolerated.”
Leinart knows all about perception
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Matt Leinart knows how tough it will be to shake his perception as a party boy.
In Arizona Cardinals training camp for his third NFL season, he seems to have given up worrying about it, preferring to simply hone in on football.
“People can think what they want, but the important thing I’ve always said is what my family sees and knows and what my team and coaches know,” he said. “My team and my coaches know that I work my butt off, that I’m in every day lifting weights, studying, even at home.”
Leinart’s off-field notoriety had calmed down a bit before some eyebrow-raising photos showed up last spring on the Internet. One showed him smiling in a hot tub surrounded by four young women.
Bulls waive Curry
CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Bulls waived guard JamesOn Curry on Thursday.
The 6-foot-3, 190-pound Curry was the team’s second-round pick in the 2007 NBA draft.
Curry was suspended for one game July 10 by the NBA after he pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors in Idaho.
Curry, a former Oklahoma State standout, was arrested in January and pleaded guilty to resisting arrest and urinating in public.
Curry spent most of last season in the NBA Development League.
Federer drops match
MASON, Ohio (AP) — Roger Federer lost another three-set match and, perhaps, his longtime grip on No. 1.
The top-ranked player had another subpar showing Thursday, a 7-6 (8), 4-6, 7-6 (7) loss to Ivo Karlovic that left the 6-foot-10 Croat exulting on his back.
The outcome opened the way for Rafael Nadal to take over the top spot by winning the Cincinnati Masters. Since his epic five-set loss to the second-ranked Nadal at Wimbledon, Federer has lost in the second round in Toronto and now failed to make the quarterfinals at a tournament he won last year.
Bobcats ink Okafor
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Emeka Okafor signed his six-year, $72 million free-agent deal with the Charlotte Bobcats on Thursday and indicated he’s excited to play under new coach Larry Brown.
Okafor, who was a restricted free agent, agreed to terms on the richest contract in team history early Tues is one of only four players to average a double-double in the past four seasons. Tim Duncan, Dwight Howard and Steve Nash are the others.
U.S. gobbles up Turkey
MACAU (AP) — Any team with Kobe Bryant and LeBron James in the lineup is going to score.
Sure enough, the United States had no problem doing so in the first quarter Thursday — but neither did Turkey. The Americans didn’t pull away until their offensive superstars decided to be defensive stoppers.
James scored 20 points and was a defensive force in his exhibition debut, helping the U.S. Olympic team overcome some early sloppy play to beat Turkey 114-82 in its first game in China.
James and Bryant both finished with five steals, leading a defensive effort that had 16 of them.
Wade, the NBA’s leading scorer was 8-of-9 from the field and finished with six rebounds, five steals and four assists in 23 minutes, sitting out all of the fourth quarter.
“I think he played excellently,” center Dwight Howard said. “He passed the ball well, played great defense, ran the lanes. He played like LeBron James.”
Bryant was only 1-of-5 for seven points but had seven assists with his five steals. Often considered the NBA’s greatest player, he wasn’t the dominant player on the floor this time.
