Devon Walker has returned to his home in Destrehan, La., in suburban New Orleans. (Yahoo! Sports)DESTREHAN, La. – Devon Walker doesn't remember the pain. He remembers the hit, the numbness and the strange feeling that his arms and legs were floating high in the air.

Then he remembers trying desperately to breathe, and the feeling he was drowning, and the realization that he was about to die.

On Sept. 8, the Tulane safety sped to make a tackle in the final seconds before halftime of his team's game at Tulsa. He launched himself at an onrushing receiver, his long hair flying behind him, and he hit both his intended target and a teammate coming hard from the opposite direction. He fell and went still.

"You're waiting for the hand to move, the foot to move," says Brenda Dickson, wife of Tulane athletic director Rick Dickson, who was there that day. "Come on, let me see something. Come on, move. He didn't move. That was just crushing. I think it destroyed that veil that everything's gonna be OK."

Everything wasn't OK. A doctor who tended to Walker would compare the collision to a car

Read More »from Devon Walker shows strength in face of paralysis

Denard Robinson (29) is adapting to life in the NFL as a running back and receiver. (USAT Sports)JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Denard Robinson picked up speed, faked left, cut right, then burst between two defenders and into the clear. He was gone. His left shoe, however, was not.

Back in college this was a cool thing: seeing the Michigan quarterback known as "Shoelace," famous for not tying his shoes, fly down the field in a sock after running out of a cleat. But here in the NFL? Not so much.

One of the position coaches for his new team, the Jacksonville Jaguars, instructed Robinson to lace 'em up, which he immediately did, without a word of protest. Robinson knows things are different now that he's in the NFL; he understands that if he's going to make it here, he has to adapt. If that means lacing up his shoes, so be it.

And if that also means he's done playing quarterback, well, he's done playing quarterback.

For months now, Jaguars fans have waited and hoped (and even petitioned!) for the second coming of Tim Tebow, their favorite son. The answer to the Jaguars' prayers, however, may

Read More »from Denard Robinson's NFL future rides on his ability to adapt to a new position

Justin Blackmon (14) reacts as he answers questions from the media about his recent four-game suspension by the NFL. (USA Today Sports)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Justin Blackmon was asked a simple, direct question on Monday: "Do you have a drinking problem or substance-abuse problem?"

The question is fair. The 23-year-old Jaguars wide receiver was arrested for a DUI in college in 2010, and then for another DUI in 2012. Then, last month, he was given a four-game suspension for violating the NFL's substance-abuse policy.

If a substance-abuse problem is defined as the point where drinking or drugs affects personal life or career, Blackmon is passing that threshold. His career is now in jeopardy. So is his future. This suspension cost him $289,000 in game checks and will likely void the guarantee on $11 million in contract money. The next off-field mistake could cost him his job.

Asked if he felt like this suspension is a "crossroad moment," Blackmon said, "I do."

Yet he does not think he has a substance-abuse problem.

Justin Blackmon was the Jaguars No. 1 pick in 2012. (Getty Images)"No, I would say I don't," the second-year receiver said Monday. "Out of this whole thing, one of the main

Read More »from Justin Blackmon's NFL career at a crossroads

Ronde Barber's retirement has drawn the appropriate comparisons to the best defensive backs of the modern era: Charles Woodson, Champ Bailey, Ed Reed, even Deion Sanders and Darrell Green.

There's another apt comparison group for Barber: Dick Butkus, Bronco Nagurski, Jack Lambert, Carl Eller.

To many fans, Barber is known for his skill, exemplified by his signature interception return for a touchdown in the NFC championship game in 2002 against the Philadelphia Eagles. To players, however, he's known for the kind of toughness usually reserved for end rushers and linebackers.

"That's the toughest guy I've ever been around," former Tampa Bay Bucs teammate Barrett Ruud, an eight-year NFL vet, told Yahoo! Sports in December. "Never misses a practice or a game. Every extra point attempt, he's laying out for it."

[Video: Ronde Barber on his defining NFL moment]

The toughness goes even beyond Barber's iron man streak, which started in 1999 and ends with his retirement from the game on Thursday.

Read More »from Ronde Barber's iron will gave him a golden rep

ANGOLA, La. – He walks out into the rodeo ring already in pain; soon his face will be covered in blood. His boots sink slightly into the dirt as he moves to the center of the arena, with the Louisiana sun beating down and the stench of sweat and manure all around him. The public address announcer calls his name, saying he's the best at this event, saying he might one day be the best ever. His name is Marlon Brown. Within these barbed-wire fences, they call him "Tank."

The contest is called "Guts and Glory," and it's the grand finale of the "Wildest Show In The South." An oversized poker chip is tied loosely to the horns of a bull, who is let loose in the ring where 20 or so men await. The goal is simple: take the chip from the bull. The din of the crowd swells as a fence swings open and a 1,500-pound animal emerges into the bright afternoon. There are other contestants here, all hoping for the $500 prize, but Tank is the man everyone is watching. Tank is the man who has won this 14

Read More »from Prison rodeo

MIAMI – It was an explosion that led to an implosion, an unloading that led to an unraveling, a torrent that led to torment. The game was ugly, the score was ugly, and the behavior was ugly, but the ugliest truth for the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday was this: You cannot out-tough the Miami Heat in a seven-game series.

Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals, a 115-78 rout by the defending NBA champions, included nine technicals, a flagrant, and two ejections. It etched itself in the record books for both franchises, as the biggest win in Heat playoff history and the worst loss in Bulls playoff history. The lasting image will be Bulls forward Taj Gibson threatening his own immediate playoff future by cussing out referee Scott Foster on his way to the locker room after getting thrown from the game. But the lasting image should be the stone-faced silence of LeBron James, the man who frustrated the Bulls so much that all the visitors could do was yell and scream and leave town.

“Once

Read More »from LeBron James, Heat frustrate emotional Bulls in historic Game 2 blowout

MIAMI – Whatever happens in Game 2, Game 3 or Game 7 of this Eastern Conference semifinal series, Bulls fans will have this image: Nate Robinson standing at the top of the key with 10 fresh stitches in his lower lip, stamping his foot, waving off a screen and blitzing past Ray Allen for a game-clinching fourth-quarter layup that sent Heat fans home in silence.

It was the signature moment for a player and team with a blend of grit and moxie that has taken a flash-first league completely by surprise.

Let it marinate for a moment: a third-string point guard standing less than 6 feet tall scored 27 points to beat LeBron James and the defending NBA champions in Game 1.

"For somebody that size to do the things he does," Bulls center Joakim Noah told Yahoo! Sports in an empty locker room after Chicago beat Miami, 93-86. "You tell me a player under 6 feet tall who's better, in the history of the game."

With all due respect to NBA Hall of Famer Calvin Murphy, that's a hard question to answer in

Read More »from Bulls guard Nate Robinson shrugs off stitches, stands up to East favorite Heat in gritty Game 1 win

Oh deer.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the forest, there's breaking news in the deer antler spray saga that began more than two years ago and reached a fever pitch at this year's Super Bowl.

This week, the World Anti-Doping Authority, which provides the list of banned substances that most sports leagues follow, announced that deer antler spray is not in violation of its rules. Deer antler spray, you may remember, was at the center of a media frenzy that engulfed Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis in the week leading up to Super Bowl XLVII. Sparked by a Sports Illustrated story published during Super Bowl week, Lewis found himself at the center of a "controversy" for allegedly using a product that contained a banned growth hormone, IGF-1.

Mitch Ross speaks about The Ultimate Spray at Super Bowl XLVII. (Getty Images)But after determining that "The Ultimate Spray," the deer-antler product Lewis allegedly took, contains only "small amounts" of IGF-1, WADA announced it is not considered prohibited.

The athlete immediately impacted by the

Read More »from Deer antler spray gets a pass, so now what?