LITTLE ROCK — McCarron’s gal stealing QB’s glory
Alabama’s rout of Notre Dame for its second consecutive national championship has been overshadowed in part by a new breakout star - Katherine Webb, girlfriend of Crimson Tide quarterback AJ McCarron and Miss Alabama USA 2012.
Webb gained tens of thousands of Twitter followers during andafter Monday night’s game, when ESPN cameras visited and revisited Webb in the stands and announcer Brent Musburger piled on the compliments. As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, she had topped 163,000followers, trumping McCarron’s 110,000. Before the game, Webb - who graduated with a business degree from longtime Alabama rival Auburn in 2011, accordingto her pageant biography - had only a few hundred.
“Wow, I’m telling you quarterbacks: You get all the good-looking women,” Musburger said as the camera focused on Webb, sitting with McCarron’s mother. “What a beautiful woman. Wow!”
Some found the remarks from Musburger, 73, out of line.
On Tuesday, ESPN released a statement apologizing “that the commentary in this instance went too far and Brent understands that.”
Webb, a 23-year-old model, called the experience fun and said she doesn’t think McCarronminds the attention on her.
But when Arizona Cardinals defensive end Darnell Dockett tweeted Webb his telephone number and suggested they meet after the game, McCarron responded, telling Dockett, “#betterkeepdreaming like the rest of these dudes.” What a kick
Norwegian Harvey Rugland, without having played a single football game at any level of the sport, is suddenly pursuing a shot at making it to the NFL. And it’s all because of a YouTube video.
Sound incredible? Well, so are some of the kicks and tricksRugland, 28, can pull off.
That’s why the video he put together for some friends has turned him into an Internet sensation, with 2 million views and counting. And that’s why the same video turned into an inadvertent auditioning tape - earning him a tryout last month with the New York Jet, who liked him enough to invite Rugland back for a second audition in March.
So what is it about his fourminute video - “Kickalicious” - that has impressed people? Well, the footage of him kicking field goals from 60 yards and soccerstyle volleys through the uprights is the least of it.
His repertoire includes kicking the ball into a basketball hoop - nothing but net - and into the arms of people in moving cars, floating down a lake in a boat, or atop a hill. For his grand finale, he casually punts one football into the air, then kicks a second ball off a tee so it hits the first one in midair.
“I’m probably the most satisfied with the last kick, which is the one I’ve received the most compliments about,” Rugland said. “I needed eight tries before I pulled it off.”Jersey change
New York Jets Coach Rex Ryan said he’s had a tattoo of his wife wearing a Mark Sanchez jersey on his right arm for nearly three years, but he’s not married to it.
“I know what you’re thinking: Obviously, if Sanchez doesn’t play better that number is changing,” Ryan said, smiling.
“I’ve been married 25 years and, in my eyes, my wife is the most beautiful woman in the world.”Quote of the day “The fact that a conference can win seven national championships in football in a row,
and with four different
teams, is extraordinary.
It’s something you
could never predict or anticipate, no matter what you were thinking about.” SEC Commissioner Mike Slive
Sports, Pages 20 on 01/09/2013