Ex-Redskin living a nightmare
Portis bankrupt and suffering from memory loss
Among the many sobering details in Brian Burnsed’s profile of Clinton Portis for Sports Illustrated’s “Where Are They Now?” issue, which includes an account of the former Redskins running back contemplating the murder of the financial advisers he deemed responsible for losing his life’s savings, is the 35-year-old’s reported health problems.
Burnsed reports Portis suffers occasional lapses in memory, struggles to find words and repeats himself during interviews, which has perhaps contributed to his inability to land a regular gig as an NFL analyst for a major TV network. Portis, who has worked as an analyst for ESPN 980 and handled sideline reporting duties for the Redskins Broadcast Network two years ago, also gets lost driving in familiar places.
In 2013, Portis estimated that he had “more than 10 concussions” during his nine-year playing career, the last seven of which he spent in Washington. “I’d take a play off and then go back in,” Portis told CBS Sports’ Mike Freeman then. “Sometimes when I went back into the game, I still couldn’t see straight. This happened all the time. Sometimes once or twice a game.”
Portis told Burnsed he’d sometimes walk off the field with no memory of playing a game, but he rarely sought medical help. “You can’t make the club in the tub,” he said.
Now seven years into retirement, Portis, who filed for bankruptcy in 2015, is eligible to receive benefits from the NFL’s $1 billion concussion settlement. There are awards of up to $5 million for players with ALS diagnoses, up to $3.5 million for players with Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s and up to $1.5 million for players with early dementia. Portis is
understandably wary of being evaluated for fear of what the tests might reveal.
“F--- that concussion money,” Portis said. “I’m scared. I’m really scared of the results.”
COWBOYS: Defensive end David Irving has been suspended the first four games of the season for violating the NFL’s policy against performanceenhancing drugs.
The ban announced Wednesday leaves the Cowboys without two potential starting pass rushers because of suspensions. Randy Gregory, a secondround pick who slid in the 2015 draft because of concerns over marijuana use, is likely to miss the entire season for multiple violations of the substanceabuse policy.
Irving, one of the team’s best pass rushers at the end of last season, can return Oct. 8 against Green Bay at home. The third-year player is eligible for training camp and preseason practices and games.
It’s the third straight year Dallas will begin the season with at least two defensive players suspended, and the Cowboys could have a third. Cornerback Nolan Carroll, a free agent pickup from Philadelphia, faces a two-game ban over his arrest on a drunkendriving charge in Dallas.
GIANTS: The New Jersey judge presiding over the lawsuit that accuses Eli Manning of memorabilia fraud is a longtime Giants fan who owns two personal seat licenses at MetLife Stadium, according to court records.
The attorneys for the memorabilia collectors who brought the suit filed a motion in May 2015 to ask Superior Court Judge James J. DeLuca to step away from the case because he is a Giants fan. DeLuca declined to recuse himself and insisted he will remain impartial, according to court documents.
The judge wrote that he has taken “an oath to provide each of the litigants with a level playing field. The courtroom is not a football field or a stadium where one attends games for entertainment. Rather, it is the place where the law is applied to the facts and evidence presented; and, after due deliberation and consideration, determinations are made.”
A personal seat license (PSL) gives the buyer control over a seat and the right to buy season tickets for games. The Giants sold personal seat licenses beginning in 2008 to help fund the construction of the new Meadowlands stadium, charging from $1,000 to $20,000 per seat.
The filings were among court papers that were reviewed by Newsday in Bergen County Superior Court in Hackensack, N.J. A trial in the nearly 4-yearold case, slated to begin Sept. 25, was delayed. The judge’s June 9 order did not state a reason for the delay or set a new date.
The lawsuit was filed in January 2014 by sports memorabilia entrepreneur Eric Inselberg. It has been amended to include memorabilia collectors Michael Jakab and Sean Godown.
The suit alleges that Manning and equipment manager Joe Skiba passed off non-game-used helmets and jerseys to be marketed and sold as game-worn merchandise by sports memorabilia company Steiner Sports, which also is named as a defendant. Other defendants include Giants co-owner John Mara, general counsel William Heller and assistant equipment manager Ed Skiba.