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A very ~on theme~ way to get turnt at your Super Bowl party.
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Don't hate.
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Dallas police on Thursday said there was insufficient evidence to warrant a criminal complaint in the case.
Johnny Manziel of the Cleveland Browns warms up before a game on Nov. 15, 2015 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Jared Wickerham / Getty Images
Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel will not face charges related to accusations that he repeatedly assaulted a woman in Texas, police said Thursday.
The case involved a woman who had accused Manziel of repeatedly hitting her on Jan. 30 in Dallas. Her statements — detailed in police documents and provided to BuzzFeed News — prompted an investigation into Manziel, 23, as well as criticism and the threat of future termination from the Browns.
But in a statement, Dallas police said investigators had closed the case after finding there was insufficient evidence to file a criminal complaint:
The Dallas Police Department has conducted the appropriate investigative follow-up to the report forwarded to us by the Ft. Worth Police Department regarding an alleged incident involving Johnny Manziel.
Investigative efforts to date have not resulted in the filing of a criminal complaint and the incident is determined to be closed.
No further statement is expected at this time.
The woman had accused Manziel of repeatedly hitting her, first at Hotel ZaZa in Dallas, and then after driving her back to her apartment. She also told police he appeared to be on drugs.
But the police report stated that the woman was vague about details of the alleged assault and became irritated when asked if it continued at her apartment. Still, she told police she ran in and out of her apartment trying to get away from Manziel, and eventually fled to a neighbor's home for help, according to the report.
Police also released audio of a 911 call a neighbor made, in which she says she can hear a woman screaming.
"She said her boyfriend had beat her up," the woman adds in the recording.
Manziel allegedly fled the area on foot, and police were unable to immediately locate him. The woman eventually told police she didn't want to answer any more questions, fill out a report, or have her injuries photographed.
The accusations come just months after Manziel was stopped on suspicion of reckless driving while arguing with his girlfriend.
The string of allegations appear likely to cost Manziel his position with the Browns. Earlier this week, ESPN reported he would be cut from the team in March.
The Browns did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News' request for comment.
However, earlier this week, the Browns' executive vice president of football operations, Sashi Brown, said in a statement that the team has been clear about expectations for our players on and off the field.
"Johnny's continual involvement in incidents that run counter to those expectations undermines the hard work of his teammates and the reputation of our organization," Brown added.
LINK: Cleveland Browns Respond To Police Investigation Of Possible Manziel Assault
LINK: Quarterback Johnny Manziel Pulled Over After Reckless Driving, Argument With Girlfriend
Dr. Bennet Omalu, who first found CTE in the brain of an NFL player, said an autopsy confirmed experimental research.
Bennet Omalu
Pete Marovich / Getty Images
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the neurodegenerative disease linked to football, was successfully identified for the first time in the brain of a living person, Dr. Bennet Omalu told ESPN Thursday. Omalu was recently portrayed by Will Smith in the film "Concussion."
Omalu, the neuropathologist who first discovered CTE in the brain of a former football player, said results of testing done on former Vikings linebacker Frank McNeill while he was alive were "very similar" to what was found in an autopsy after McNeill's November 2015 death.
McNeill was a participant in a UCLA study of 14 former NFL players to develop methods of identifying CTE in people while they are alive. ESPN reported McNeill "is the first ex-NFL player in the study to have died," therefore the first in the study to have preliminary test results confirmed post-mortem.
CTE is believed to be caused by repetitive sub-concussive hits, the bread and butter of the game of football. Symptoms can include memory loss, mood impairment, and dementia. The disease has been found in a number of well-known former NFL players, including Junior Seau, Mike Webster, Frank Gifford, and most recently, Ken Stabler.
McNeill played for 11 seasons on the offensive line, where players are exposed to the highest rate of hits.
The UCLA study was conducted using a "brain-imaging tool they had developed previously for assessing neurological changes associated with Alzheimer's disease," according to a 2013 press release.
"[Researchers] employed a chemical marker they created called FDDNP, which binds to deposits of amyloid beta 'plaques' and neurofibrillary tau 'tangles' — the hallmarks of Alzheimer's — which they then viewed using a positron emission tomography (PET) scan, providing a 'window into the brain,'" the statement read. "With this method, researchers are able to pinpoint where in the brain these abnormal proteins accumulate."
McNeill became involved with the UCLA study after his wife, Tia, reached out to Dr. Omalu with concerns about her husband's changing personality, according to CNN. Upon examination, Omalu told the family he observed a buildup of tau proteins consistent with CTE.
A verified process to diagnose CTE in living people has enormous implications for football and the understanding of its link to the disease. Omalu is currently in the Bay Area, where Super Bowl 50 will be held on Sunday, and will be speaking at a public event Thursday night.
Porzingis!
Which is a shame, because this season has already been litttt.
Streeter Lecka / Getty Images
They won the championship last year, and they're even better this year. Like, historically good.
Mitchell Leff / Stringer
(Which is the best single season record of any team, ever. Shouts to Michael Jordan, maybe you've heard of him).
Bob Leverone / AP
SAN JOSE, California — As he puts it, by a stroke of good fortune, or an act of divinity, or sheer fate, Carolina Panthers defensive end Jared Allen will play in the first Super Bowl of his twelve-year NFL career at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara — just thirty minutes from Allen’s California hometown, Morgan Hill.
“I try to always keep things in perspective and think that God has a plan and that things happen for a reason,” Allen told BuzzFeed News Tuesday. “I didn’t think it was gonna take me twelve years to get here, but it did, and that it happens to be here is surreal and sweet.”
Still, Allen — whose venerable career has spanned four teams, 193 games, and five Pro Bowl appearances — is not letting the nostalgia distract him.
After the Panthers beat the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC Championship — a game Allen missed due to a foot injury — the 33-year-old defensive end said he tried to “soak up the emotions of playing a game back home” in the week before the team traveled to California.
“Obviously the feelings of being home are present in the moment, but I’m not going to let that distract from this Sunday’s goal,” Allen said.
Instead, Allen said playing the big game in his backyard was a matter of convenience.
Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP
“My wife and kids get to stay with grandma and grandpa, which everyone enjoys. It makes it easier on everybody — it’s not like they’re trying to check out a new city this week,” he said. “And I get to come home and see my wife and kids and keep a normal routine so I can focus on the game.”
That lets “everyone participate in the excitement at their own level because we all know the area,” Allen said. His wife and kids flew into California on Monday.
Allen attended Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill — then was accused of stealing yearbooks — and later transferred to nearby Los Gatos High. He said he has “no attachment to Levi’s Stadium itself,” where Super Bowl 50 will be played, which only opened for the 2014-2015 season.
During the first game of that season, Allen was on the Chicago Bears and played at Levi’s Stadium. The Bears came back from a 13-point deficit to beat the San Francisco 49ers 28-20 on their brand new turf.
In the middle of the next season, Allen was traded to the Panthers. When asked about the mid-season trade that took him from a 6-10 Bears team to a 17-1 Panthers —and his first Super Bowl appearance, Allen was relaxed:
“How about that, huh? You know what? The Lord is good, I tell you what.”
Allen says the foot injury that caused him to miss NFC Championship game is “totally fine” and will not keep him out of the Super Bowl.
He was listed as “questionable” for championship game due to the injury, and head coach Ron Rivera made the call to sit Allen out. The defensive end was unhappy, but admitted to BuzzFeed News that Rivera’s job is “sometimes just to keep us from getting in our own way.”
Allen, whose last NFC Championship appearance was a 2009 loss with the Vikings, said could barely stand watching his team from the sideline.
David J. Phillip / AP
“Don’t get me wrong, I had all the faith in the world in our team and our coaching staff. But you wanna be out there with the guys,” he said.
“I was laughing with [the guys] when we were up 42-15 because it was like a pass rushers dream right now,” Allen told a group of reporters Tuesday afternoon. “You got a team that is throwing the ball deep,” which generally means the quarterback is holding on to the ball longer.
On Sunday, Allen will get his chance at rushing Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, in what is rumored to be the last game of the future Hall of Famer’s career. Allen — who has 136 career quarterback sacks — has played against Manning four times and only sacked him once.
Getting to Manning before he gets rid of the ball is “a challenge,” Allen admitted Tuesday. “And [it] has been a challenge for the 12 years that I have been in the league playing against him and I don’t see it not being a challenge until he decides to stop.”
In the days leading up to the Super Bowl, Allen is relieved that his family is able to remain comfortable while he fulfills football and media obligations.
He joked that his parents likely have something more important at the front of their minds, anyway:
“They’re probably just having fun playing with the grandkids.”
LINK: NFL’s Super Bowl Opening Night Bores Players, Overwhelms Everyone Else
Fantastic idea.
Facebook / Via Facebook: ibtihajmuhammadusa
Ibtihaj Muhammad, an internationally-ranked saber fencer from New Jersey, qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio last weekend, which will make her the first U.S. athlete to compete in the games in hijab.
The points she earned after winning a bronze medal at the Women’s Saber World Cup in Athens, Greece on Saturday have made it mathematically impossible for any other American competitors to surpass her in the rankings ahead of the Olympics.
Muhammad, 30, told BuzzFeed News she started fencing at age 13 in high school and was initially introduced to the sport by her family.
“My parents were looking for a sport for me to play where I wouldn’t have to alter the uniform as a Muslim woman,” she said, referring to the fact that a fencer's uniform requires the body to be completely covered.
Muhammad credits her mother for supporting her, financially and emotionally, throughout her teens. She played more than one sport in high school and said that her mother often drove her from volleyball practice in Maplewood, New Jersey, to fencing training in New York City while she ate dinner in the car.
Facebook / Via Facebook: ibtihajmuhammadusa
“Most parents tell their kids before matches to do their best, or to have fun,” Muhammad said. “My mom always said the same thing: ‘Don’t waste my money.’”
She was recruited to fence at Duke University and decided to continue competing professionally after she graduated.
Part of what motivated her was the lack of diversity she noticed in the fencing community.
“Historically, it’s always been a white sport reserved for people with money,” said Muhammad, who has four siblings. “I don’t think it’s a good representation of the U.S., or of society as a whole.”
Muhammad has amassed a bevy of team and individual medals since her first world cup appearance at 23. This year, she accomplished her goal of ranking among the top 10 saber fencers in the world (she is currently seventh).
She has kept a cool head about her Olympic qualification.
“I’ve been doing really well,” she said. “I felt excited to medal (at the World Cup in Athens), but I honestly didn’t think much about the Olympics.”
The complete fencing team will be officially named in April when the qualifying period ends. Muhammad said her family will not talk much about Rio until then.
“I’m a very goal-oriented person,” she said. “It’s been a trend throughout my athletic career: I set small goals, then once reached, I set a new one.”
Apart from her athletic accomplishments, Muhammad also has a penchant for fashion. She runs a clothing line with her siblings that features fashionable, modest clothing.
