Roy Nguyen: Headlinin’: Lymphoma diagnosis blindsides draft-bound TCU lineman

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Headlinin’: Lymphoma diagnosis blindsides draft-bound TCU lineman

Making the morning rounds.

? Get well soon. TCU offensive lineman Marcus Cannon, a two-time All-Mountain West pick expected to go in the first two or three rounds of this weekend's NFL Draft, has reportedly been diagnosed with a treatable form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The diagnosis is an apparent result of a biopsy the 6-foot-6, 350-pound behemoth had performed last month to quiet doubts about a mass in his groin, which was present throughout his college career. While tests showed that growth is benign, they also uncovered the lymphoma.

Cannon is set to begin the first round of multiple rounds of chemotherapy today. Depending on the location and stage of the cancer, survival rates for non-Hodgkins patients under 34 years old are well over 90 percent, and Cannon may eventually return to the field. [ESPN, Pro Football Talk]

? RIP. In even more depressing cancer news, former Michigan All-American Jim Mandich succumbed to bile duct cancer Tuesday at the age of 62. Mandich was a star tight end and captain on Bo Schembechler's first Michigan team in 1969 before going on to pick up two Super Bowl rings in a solid eight-year run with the Miami Dolphins, including one as a member of the perfect 1972 squad. "Mad Dog" moved into radio in 1983 and spent the last 19 years as the Dolphins' color man. [Detroit News]

? Nothing to see here. SEC official John Wright went on the record Tuesday to assure fans that refs won't be too "nitpicky" about enforcing the hated new taunting rule that negates touchdowns on personal fouls that occur during the play. "[I]f somebody does something borderline, we will not call it. Everybody in the stadium will know (that it was an unsportsmanlike act) if we call it," Wright told the Knoxville News-Sentinel. "The way we have been told (by the SEC), these things have to jump out at you. … We want to use good judgment. We don't want to be too technical." But the question is, can middle-aged white men reconcile their idea of "good judgment" with the spontaneous reactions of adolescent black men in the heat of the moment? Because they're not always so good at that. [Knoxville News-Sentinel]

? I assume Michael Vick has a good alibi. Four Tamaskan dogs related to N.C. State's mascot, Tuffy, became seriously ill over the weekend after eating fish laced with antifreeze in a possible poisoning attempt. The dogs' owner claims the fish was placed on the property intentionally, in a bowl that had been set in a freshly dug hole and covered with grass on the grounds where the dogs live in New Jersey. All four, including Tuffy's father and sister, were recovering at a nearby animal hospital. [Associated Press]