SPORTS
December 3, 2007 | Jerry Crowe, Times Staff Writer
The way Roman Gabriel tells it, the same characteristics that made him a great football player -- bullheadedness, combativeness, stick-to-itiveness -- served him less favorably in his personal life. Three times divorced, the greatest quarterback in Los Angeles Rams history is estranged from his daughter and four sons and says he has not seen two of his three grandchildren in years. The other, he has never met.
SPORTS
October 29, 1998 | SCOTT HOWARD-COOPER, TIMES STAFF WRITER
"I don't know if you can see the scar," Ryan Nece says. Barely. "It goes from here to here." He stretches his right hand over to his left ear, extending the thumb inside the closely cropped dark hair as a pointer, then drags it over the bend of the skull to the other side. "I had an operation," he says. "They cut me open from ear to ear." For the reconstruction. "They pull down your skin, they cut underneath my eyes. I have titanium plates all through here."
SPORTS
January 25, 1993 | BARRY HORN, DALLAS MORNING NEWS
On his knees, his head aching, his body shaking, his stomach churning, Golden Richards, in a cold sweat, would hover in his bathroom over the toilet in desperate search. He had to do something. There were no more painkillers--no more Percodan pills--in the medicine cabinet or under the bed or in whatever hole he had chosen as the latest hiding place for his drugs. His demons demanded immediate satisfaction. He had consumed the last of his stash.
SPORTS
November 18, 1990 | MICHAEL A. LUTZ, ASSOCIATED PRESS
David Klingler threw an NCAA-record 11 touchdown passes and tied the NCAA season record of 47 scoring throws in a season, leading No. 12 Houston to an 84-21 victory over Eastern Washington on Saturday. A week ago, the Texas Longhorns beat Houston, 45-24, knocking the Cougars (9-1) out of a chance to win the national championship and ending their 12-game winning streak. Klingler wanted to put that behind them in a hurry.
SPORTS
June 24, 2004 | Steve Henson, Times Staff Writer
The NCAA put the Oregon football program on probation for two years Wednesday for violations involving the recruitment of College of the Canyons running back J.J. Arrington in January 2003. Oregon reported the violations and agreed with the sanctions. The Ducks do not lose any scholarships and remain eligible for bowl games, the NCAA said. "We're trying to win the right way, and we're not going to cheat," Coach Mike Bellotti said. "I feel very bad about this because it happened under my watch."
SCIENCE
January 22, 2013 | By Joseph Serna
Doctors have discovered a way for professional football players to see how much damage their brains have suffered through a bruising career before it's too late, according to a new study. UCLA researchers led a team of scientists that used a chemical marker called FDDNP to measure the degree of brain damage in five retired football players. That marker latches onto the tau proteins that build up in the brain when someone suffers from Alzheimer's or other cognitive impairments like chronic traumatic encephalopathy.