Denver QB Cutler is a Type 1 diabetic

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), May 2, 2008 | by Associated Press

DENVER -- Denver Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler has been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, his business manager Marty Garafalo confirmed Thursday night.

Cutler found out about two weeks ago that he was diabetic and needed daily insulin injections, Garafalo told The Associated Press.

He said Cutler was managing his disease and "in no way is his football career jeopardized."

Some 21 million Americans have diabetes, meaning their bodies cannot properly turn blood sugar into energy. Either they don't produce enough insulin or don't use it correctly. With the Type 1 form, the body's immune system attacks insulin-producing pancreatic cells, so that patients require insulin injections to survive.

"It's something that he's dealing with and something a lot of other people have," Garafalo said. "Even though it's a serious condition, it's a condition that can be managed. That's the way he's treating it right now.

"Everything's fine," Garafalo continued. "His condition is fine."

Cutler, entering his third NFL season, threw for 3,497 yards and 20 touchdowns last season after supplanting Jake Plummer with five weeks left in the 2006 season.

The 6-foot-3, 233-pound Cutler was taken by the Broncos with the 11th overall pick of the 2006 draft, becoming the first Vanderbilt player taken in the first round since 1986.

Cutler is expected to address the media on Friday.

Other athletes who have competed with diabetes include Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Clarke, Charlotte Bobcats forward Adam Morrison, and golfers Scott Verplank, Michelle McGann and Kelli Kuehne.

STEROIDS DEALER RECEIVES PROBATION: A convicted steroids dealer was sentenced in federal court Thursday, and told the judge that the drugs he sold ended up in the hands of NFL players.

David Jacobs, 35, was sentenced to three years probation and fined $25,000.

After the sentencing, he told reporters that he would not name the players whom he says used the steroids he sold.

"I know a lot of them are scared," Jacobs said. "I don't want to ruin anyone's life."

Jacobs pleaded guilty last year in federal court to conspiring to possess with intent to distribute anabolic steroids. He's also said he sold tens of thousands of dollars worth of performance-enhancing drugs to former Dallas Cowboy Matt Lehr in 2006 and 2007. Lehr has also played for Tampa Bay and Atlanta.

Lehr's attorney has said the player hasn't used banned substances since he was suspended for four games during the 2006 season while playing for Atlanta, and has since passed NFL drug tests. The attorney also has said Jacobs' allegations are retaliation because Lehr wouldn't pay Jacobs' legal fees.

CARDINALS WELCOME RODGERS-CROMARTIE: First-round pick Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie plans to take a moment before he takes the field Friday for his first practice with the Arizona Cardinals.

The workout will mark the start of the cornerback's pro football career. It also will mark the end of a long journey that started in Bradenton, Fla., and went through Tennessee State, well off the path taken by many NFL prospects.

"I was just going to sit in the locker room for a few minutes with the helmet on my head and close my eyes and just look back over all the things I've been through and just say, 'I'm finally here,'" Rodgers-Cromartie said Thursday, when the club formally introduced him to the media. "And then go to work."

Work starts on Friday, when Rodgers-Cromartie will join his new teammates for mandatory mini-camp.

The club expects Rodgers-Cromartie to beef up a pass defense that ranked 28th in the NFL a year ago. On draft day, coach Ken Whisenhunt called Rodgers-Cromartie "a good fit for our system."

Decked out in a gray three-piece suit with a Cardinals-red tie, Rodgers-Cromartie looked as if he were interviewing for a job. He addressed reporters as "sir" and thanked the Cardinals for selecting him in the first round.

"He's a bit soft-spoken, but don't let that demeanor fool you," general manager Rod Graves said. "He's very competitive."

He's also confident. A track star at Tennessee State, Rodgers- Cromartie won the 60 meters, long jump and high jump at the Ohio Valley Conference Indoor Track Championships. He said his best 40- yard time was 4.26 seconds during workouts for NFL scouts.

"I could win the Olympics if I wanted to -- long jump, in the high jump and the 100," he said.

Don't worry, Cardinals fans. Rodgers-Cromartie said he'd be in Flagstaff, not Beijing, in August.

ALLEGED SHOOTER SAYS PACMAN FRAMING HIM: A man charged with shooting three people outside a Las Vegas strip club has denied he was involved and accused Adam "Pacman" Jones of ordering the shooting and framing him to avoid identifying the real shooter.

Arvin Kenti Edwards of Renton, Wash., is being held in a Washington state jail on $1 million bail pending extradition to Nevada. He talked with WTVF-TV in Nashville by phone for a report that aired Wednesday.

Edwards told the TV station in a telephone interview that Jones lied to police about the Feb. 19, 2007, shooting at the Minxx club that left an employee paralyzed and two other people wounded. Edwards said Jones paid someone for the shooting, but that it wasn't him.