Raiduh LB missing at sea

[ChargerMike]

....only one found clinging to the capsized boat.

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - The Coast Guard found a person clinging to an overturned boat off Florida's Gulf Coast on Monday, but could not immediately confirm whether it is the same boat with two NFL players aboard that went missing over the weekend.
Corey Smith, a free-agent defensive end who played for the Detroit Lions last season, and Marquis Cooper, an Oakland Raiders linebacker, as well as former University of South Florida players Will Bleakley and Nick Schuyler left on a fishing trip early Saturday. Weather conditions worsened through the day and the men did not return as expected in the evening.
The men were reported missing Sunday, and the Coast Guard had searched about 16,000 square miles of ocean for the 21-foot Everglades-manufactured boat by Monday morning.
Everglades boats are built with compressed foam encased in Fiberglas, which makes them difficult or impossible to sink.
Petty Officer Sondra-Kay Kneen confirmed searchers located a boat. No further details were available.
Waves had subsided to 6 to 8 feet, still enough for a small craft advisory, but considerably smaller than the 15-foot waves Sunday, National Weather Service meteorologist Todd Barron said.
Family members believed the men had lifejackets and flares on board. The Coast Guard had not received a distress signal from the men.
Cooper owns the boat, and he and Smith, who were teammates with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2004, have been on fishing trips before, according to Ron Del Duca, Smith's agent.
Coast Guard Capt. Timothy M. Close said at least one of the men was an experienced boater, and relatives provided the Coast Guard with GPS coordinates from previous fishing expeditions.
The 29-year-old Smith of Richmond, Va., is 6-foot-2, 250 pounds and had 30 tackles, including three sacks, and an interception in 12 games last season for the winless Lions.
Cooper, 26, who is 6-foot-3, 230 pounds, has spent five seasons with five different teams, appearing in 26 games with the Buccaneers in 2004 and 2005, but playing sparingly since. He grew up in Gilbert, Ariz., and his father Bruce is a prominent sportscaster for KPNX-TV in Phoenix.

[ucantdoitdoggieSTyle2]

Family members believed the men had lifejackets on board.

Yeah, but only pussies actually put them on.


Sin,
Marquise Hill (former NE Patriot; drowned while jet skiiing)

[RJ]

Of course, if this were a high profile player like Fitzgerald or Haynesworth ESPN would have thier online poll asking America if they would be found dead or alive and change thier top 10 plays of the night to Top 10 ways to rescue them. But since they're scrubs, no big deal. Just a quick excerpt.





My prayers are with them all.

[PISC]

Not everyone makes it back from the high seas mate, arrrrrrg!

[ucantdoitdoggieSTyle2]

People die every day.

And Brett Favre probably takes a shit every day. This doesn't stop ESPN giving its viewers up to the minutes stats on its size, shape, color, and texture.

[ucantdoitdoggieSTyle2]

I don't care what anyone thinks of Tom Brady nor any other player, good or bad. I only care about my team winning.

Forget it. You don't understand. Just surf, baby.

[Q, West Coast Style]

Guess which one stayed afloat?








Sin,

Al Campanis

[PISC]

Hey, the Black Sea didn't get its name for nothing.

[Shoalzie]

Corey Smith was just 'a guy' on the Lions but I hope they can find him and the others before too late. Thoughts are with those guys lost at sea...

[MuchoBulls]

Not much hope now with the Coast Guard calling off their search. :(

[Shoalzie]

Not much hope now with the Coast Guard calling off their search. :(

I'm afraid to say you're right...those three have to be presumed dead.

[MuchoBulls]

If Nick's story is true, then this account really sucks.

5:14 p.m.: The only man rescued so far from an overturned boat in the Gulf of Mexico told Coast Guard investigators a bizarre story about the fate of the other three.

Nick Schuyler, 24, told investigators that about two to four hours after their boat capsized Saturday in rough seas, one of the two professional football players gave up hope and let himself be swept away, according to family members of two of the missing men.

A few hours later, the second one did the same.

"We were told that Nick said the two NFL players took their life jackets off and drifted out to sea," said Bob Bleakley, whose son Will, 25, is also still missing.

With former Tampa Bay Buccaneers Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith gone, only Schuyler and Bleakley remained clinging to the boat.

Then, sometime Monday morning, Will Bleakley thought he saw a light in the distance and decided to take off his life jacket and swim to it, hoping to get help.

"I think he was delusional to think he could swim someplace," Bleakley said.

Ray Sanchez, Cooper's cousin, said the Coast Guard told him the same thing, but cautioned against taking Schuyler's story as gospel at this point.

"We're not 100 percent sure where his head was at," Sanchez said. "He'd been through a lot."

http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafe ... 980720.ece