Associated Press
GREENSBORO ó Multi-talented C.J. Spiller has run away with two awards from the Atlantic Coast Conference. He’s looking for a third.
The Clemson all-purpose threat was named Wednesday as the league’s top player following a vote of 40 members of the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association. The senior was also chosen the ACC’s top offensive player.
In player of the year voting, Spiller received 29 votes to outdistance Georgia Tech quarterback Josh Nesbitt, who had eight. Virginia Tech running back Ryan Williams, the league’s rookie of the year, had two votes and Yellow Jackets defensive end Derrick Morgan had one.
When Spiller received a text message with news of the award Wednesday, he said he lost it emotionally remembering all he’d gone through this year at Clemson.
“I’m happy to be named that, but my main reason coming back was to win this conference,” Spiller said after practice.
The 25th-ranked Tigers take on No. 12 Georgia Tech in the ACC championship game Saturday night.
BOWDEN UPDATE
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. ó Some Florida State fans wanted Bobby Bowden to retire years ago.
Others never wanted him to stop coaching the Seminoles.
Bowden was back at work in his office Wednesday in a subdued athletic center, a day after he announced this season will be his last at Florida State.
Around Tallahassee, the place Bowden has called home for the last 34 football seasons, reaction was mixed to the 80-year-old Hall of Famer’s decision to step down.
Bowden’s 315 coaching wins at Florida State are more than twice the number of victories achieved by his seven predecessors in their combined 29 years.
“He’s brought so much history to this school,” Florida State student Casey Caldwell said. “It’ll be an end of an era and I don’t want it to happen now, especially as I’m a senior.”
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat, felt the same way, offering a resolution Wednesday for the U.S. Senate to adopt honoring Bowden “for his monumental achievements.”
NBA
CLEVELAND ó LeBron James flying high during All-Star weekend is no longer a slam dunk.
After saying at last year’s event in Phoenix that he planned to dunk in the 2010 festivities in Dallas, James now says he’s “50-50” about taking part.
James felt last year’s contest was too “watered down” and his participation might revive the weekend’s signature event.
“I’m like 50-50 right now,” he said Wednesday night before a game against Phoenix. “I don’t know if you can get it back to the 80s and like in ’98 when Vince (Carter) was in it. It was more about the dunks and less about what was going on around the dunks. We’ll see what happens.”
– LOS ANGELES ó Los Angeles Lakers forward Ron Artest has said that he drank alcohol during games when he was a member of the Chicago Bulls.
“I used to drink Hennessy at halftime,” Artest said in an interview with Sporting News. “I (kept it) in my locker. I’d just walk to the liquor store (near the stadium) and get it.”
Artest also said that he was a “head case” when he broke into the NBA with the Bulls, for whom he played from 1999-2002.
– SALT LAKE CITY ó Jazz coach Jerry Sloan has signed a deal to return next year for his 23rd season as Utah’s head coach.
NHL
ARLINGTON, Va. ó Alex Ovechkin says he isn’t going to change his playing style because of a two-game suspension.
Asked about the penalty he received from the NHL for a knee-to-knee hit, the Washington Capitals star said Wednesday it might make him “more angry.”Ovechkin was ejected after the hit on Carolina’s Tim Gleason in Monday night, the second time in less than a week he has been tossed from a game.
NFL
BEREA, Ohio ó Cleveland Browns running back Jamal Lewis has been placed on injured reserve with post-concussion symptoms, prematurely ending his NFL career.
Lewis, who announced last month that he planned to retire after this season, sustained an unspecified head injury in Sunday’s loss at Cincinnati.