Tom Brady Filed lawsuit Against Yahoo

Along with a sweeping management reorganization and shrinking stock price, Yahoo! also has to contend with a lawsuit filed against it by the gridiron's golden boy, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who claims that the online giant improperly used his image to promote its fantasy football game. In a federal complaint (a copy of which you'll find below), Brady, 29, charges Yahoo! used his photo without authorization in a September 2006 Sports Illustrated ad and in banner ads on Yahoo! Sports pages. In the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court by a Brady management company, the three-time Super Bowl champion notes that fantasy football is a $4 billion industry and that the Yahoo! fantasy site is the Internet's largest, with 4.4 million users last year. Brady alleges that Yahoo!'s use of his image connotes a false endorsement and, as such, is seeking unspecified punitive and compensatory damages against the company. The complaint notes that while the football All-Pro is a "worldwide celebrity" who has become "famous for his prowess as an NFL quarterback, his fame is not limited to the world of sports. In 2005, Tom Brady hosted "Saturday Night Live."


Running back Ladell Betts is close to agreeing to a contract extension with the Redskins, according to numerous NFL sources, and the Redskins are working hard to prevent the veteran from hitting the free agent market.....

None of the 20 Dolphins who are unsigned after this season have gotten contract extensions and none are likely to. It's not that coach Nick Saban doesn't like his future unsigned players. The problem is, Miami's salary cap is stretched to near capacity, with the team within $730,000 of the $102 million limit.....

Shipp, in the final year of a four-year contract extension that paid him $1.43 million a season, will be a free agent in March. The Cardinals will not re-sign him before he hits the open market, and he will have a chance to find a team that will be more willing to give him work at running back....


Gbaja-Biamila's future with the team is another matter. He has three years left on the seven- year, $37 million deal ($13.25 million in guaranteed money) he received in spring 2003 and is scheduled to make base salaries of $5 million in 2007, $6.15 million in '08 and $7.3 million in '09.....

Despite his season-long struggles, Dolphins kicker Olindo Mare said Wednesday that he isn't worried about his future with the Dolphins.....

Management wants to bring Coughlin back next year, but that will change if the Giants quit on him in these last four games. His contract runs through 2007, which means a decision would come soon.....


This week’s Thursday night game on the NFL Network, for those who can get it, has as much to do with the ultimate selection order for the 2007 draft than with this year’s playoffs as AFC North rivals Cleveland and Pittsburgh battle in the Steel city. If the draft were held today 4-8 Cleveland would have the 8th pick overall, while the defending Super Bowl champion Steelers, at 5-7, would have the 13th pick. And both teams head into tonight’s action with some injury problems. Cleveland, for example,, is expected to start second year pro Derek Anderson at QB in place of Charlie Frye who likely will miss the game with a bruised right wrist. Meanwhile, the Steelers will be without both of star WR Hines Ward and SS Troy Polamalu, each of whom will miss their second straight game with knee injuries. Ward and Polamalu are expected to be replaced by rookies Santonio Holmes and Anthony Smith, respectively, Pittsburgh first and 3rd round picks this year.....


Detroit may have inched that much closer to the #1 pick at the 2007 draft when the Lions placed star DT Shaun Rogers on injured reserve. Rogers had minor surgery to repair a nagging knee problem in October while serving a four-game suspension for using a banned dietary supplement, but the knee has continued to swell and he has missed two games since his suspension ended. Rogers becomes the third prime starting defensive linemen on IR as both DE James Hall and DT Shaun Cody are also out for the year with shoulder and toe injuries respectively. Meanwhile, veteran Green Bay QB Brett Favre says he probably will need arthroscopic surgery on his left ankle after the season to clean out bone spurs. The 37-year-old Favre had similar surgery on his ankle in 1996 to remove large bone chips and a spur. Favre still won’t speculate whether he will return for another year, but the ankle injury is not expected to affect any decision he makes. And Washington, which currently has the 6th pick, will have to go the rest of the way this season without RB Clinton Portis who underwent shoulder surgery earlier this week and will undergo a six-month rehabilitation stint. Portis has missed the past three games for the Redskins.....