Romo marries former Miss Missouri in Dallas wedding

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo and former TV sports reporter Candice Crawford have tied the knot in what was called the wedding of the year in Dallas.

Cowboys signal-caller Tony Romo married Candice Crawford on Saturday in a lavish Dallas ceremony that included about 600 onlookers. (Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press)

KDFW-TV says the nuptials were held Saturday evening at Arlington Hall, a historic mansion along Turtle Creek in uptown Dallas.

The Dallas Morning News reported Monday that about 600 guests attended the nuptials.

Former Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips was there, along with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones with his wife Gene. People Magazine reported that Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant also attended, along with receiver Miles Austin and guard Leonard Davis.

Groomsmen included the bride's brother and "Gossip Girl" actor Chace Crawford, tight end Jason Witten and linebacker Bobby Carpenter. Michelle Witten (Jason's wife), Cortney Carpenter (Bobby's wife) and Jossalyn Romo (Tony's sister) were bridesmaids, according to The Morning News.

Chace along with Danielle Derose, Tony's sister, read from Ephesians before the vows and the Wittens' son, C.J., served as ring bearer.

The 30-year-old Romo has been dating Crawford since late 2009. Crawford is a 25-year-old Lubbock native and former beauty queen. She was Miss Missouri in 2008.

The couple got engaged in December and registered at Crate & Barrel and Macy's.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Williams hopes he figures in Bucs' plans next season

Running back Cadillac Williams will be free to sign with any team he wishes once the lockout ends, but if the seventh-year veteran has his way he'll be back with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

"Tampa is a very special place for me," Williams said via The Tampa Tribune on Tuesday. "This is the team that drafted me. It's a team that has been through the good times and bad times with me. At the lowest point of my career, the organization was definitely behind me.

"The fan base in and out the community, dealing with different people, it's a very special place to me. I've grown accustomed to the area and living here. Tampa is a great city, great place and most of all, a really great place to play. It's definitely a place I would love to play and finish out my career, but only time will tell."

A first-round draft pick in 2005, Williams overcame severe knee injuries in 2007 and 2008 to play in all 16 games in 2009. He has rushed for 3,677 yards and 20 touchdowns during his career.

Bucs coach Raheem Morris has made it clear he would like Williams, 29, and fellow free agent Barrett Ruud back.

"First of all, you mentioned two guys with great character," Morris said. "Two leaders in our community and two guys that gave us great service throughout their time and hopefully it can continue.

"We'll get a chance to sit down when all the collective bargaining agreement stuff is solved. We'll get a chance to find out if we can have both of those guys back on our football team, the two guys that we know we'll have in free agency right now. We'll just have to wait and see."

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Rookie QB Ponder, Vikings begin three-day workouts at IMG

BRADENTON, Fla. -- Smack in the middle of baseball spring-training country, IMG headquarters has become the unofficial headquarters of the Minnesota Vikings' offseason workouts.

With music blaring, the energy is crackling here, where a half dozen Vikings players have come -- with more on the way -- to take advantage of IMG's state-of-the-art training facilities. Rookie QB Christian Ponder has invited his new teammates to work on the Vikings' playbook.

Ponder said he was the first Vikings player to receive the playbook from new offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave during the one-day window last month when a federal judge lifted the NFL lockout and coaches were allowed to make contact with their players.

Ponder said he went to Kinkos to make copies of the playbook for his teammates, and was careful to do the work himself, not letting the pages leave his sight. The end result? The 12th overall pick in last month's draft is now tasked with delivering Musgrave's playbook to the likes of Percy Harvin, Sidney Rice, Bernard Berrian and Visanthe Shiancoe, all of whom are expected to join quarterback Joe Webb, rookie tight end Kyle Rudolph and others for workouts during the the next three days.

Ponder said he thinks he's read enough of the playbook that, if put through a normal NFL practice, he already could call half the plays.

The variety of athletes from all over the world and from different sports training at IMG makes for an interesting dynamic.

NFL players, sometimes putting up 400 pounds or more on the bench press, are surrounded by 14-year-old tennis players as well as some NBA draft hopefuls from smaller schools.

Jeff Dillman, IMG's head strength and conditioning coach, said the facility played host to three first-round quarterbacks (2011 top overall pick Cam Newton, Ponder and Tampa Bay's Josh Freeman) in one afternoon last week, on the football field next to a baseball facility where former Philadelphia Phillies pitcher and free agent Jamie Moyer was rehabbing, which was next to a weight room where future tennis and golf stars were trying to get bigger, faster and stronger.

"There's nowhere else in the world where this is happening," Dillman said.

Also here is former Boston College linebacker Mark Herzlich, who went undrafted last month. Herzlich said it has been great working out with Ponder and Rudolph, two guys he "hated" to play against in college.

Herzlich has already turned down the UFL. He said he has not been contacted by any NFL teams but has 10 to 11 in mind as possible landing spots. He said he plans on being the Cam Newton of free agency, as the first undrafted player signed, once teams are permitted to do so.

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Bolts OT McNeill says he is fully recovered from knee surgery

San Diego Chargers tackle Marcus McNeill told Sirius XM NFL Radio on Monday that he underwent a minor surgical procedure on his knee in February, but has fully recovered.

McNeill, who joined the radio program on Memorial Day to discuss his upbringing in a military family, signed a five-year contract extension with the Chargers last October and started the final 11 games after a lengthy holdout.

Because last season was uncapped, McNeill was a restricted free agent even though his original four-year contract expired after the 2009 campaign. When he didn't sign his one-year, $3.168 million tender by June 15, the Chargers reduced the amount to 110 percent of his 2009 salary, or $630,000. McNeill sat out training camp and the first two games before signing the tender.

McNeill was a second-round pick by the Chargers in the 2006 NFL Draft out of Auburn, and made the Pro Bowl in his rookie season and 2007. The 6-foot-7, 336-pound veteran has started all 73 games he's appeared in.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Kaepernick takes part in vigorous Niners passing session

The San Francisco 49ers welcomed a new face this week with the arrival of rookie signal-caller Colin Kaepernick, who threw to teammates at player-only workouts in the San Jose area, according to The Sacramento Bee on Friday.

Kaepernick first joined Wednesday's practice, but The Bee said Friday's passing session marked his most intense activity yet since undergoing a procedure on his left leg after the 49ers selected him in the second round of last month's draft.

Kaepernick is the second 49ers rookie to work out with veterans after receiver Ronald Johnson, a sixth-round pick, practiced with teammates for 10 days soon after the draft.

It's been suggested that the strong-armed, fleet-footed Kaepernick will find his way into the 49ers' attack, even if he sits behind Alex Smith, who also has actively attended workouts during the NFL lockout, along with 14 other teammates. The Bee reports that Smith has been joined by defensive linemen Isaac Sopoaga and Justin Smith, offensive linemen Joe Staley and Adam Snyder, and receivers Kevin Jurovich and Josh Morgan.

Kaepernick earlier received a copy of the 49ers playbook from a teammate, but is unable to communicate with San Francisco's coaching staff during the lockout. He planned reach out to Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck, who played under new 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh for the previous three seasons.

As for Kaepernick, the newspaper reports that it's not only the playbook and his new team he's getting used to -- the rookie just made the move from his parents house in Turlock, Calif. to the Bay Area.

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Jets D-linemen plan to gather for workouts next week in N.J.

NEW YORK -- The Jets' defensive linemen have been lifting weights and running while the NFL's labor dispute drags on. Well, now they're ready to hit something.

Sione Pouha and Mike DeVito told The Associated Press on Saturday they plan to gather in New Jersey sometime next week with the team's other defensive linemen, including Ropati Pitoitua and possibly first-round pick Muhammad Wilkerson and third-rounder Kenrick Ellis.

"We were talking and it was like, 'Dude, we've got to put something together,'" Pouha said. "All of us have been lifting and running and working out. That's one thing. Doing actual drills, making blocking reads and punching sled bags, well, that's another thing."

The players have made arrangements to bring in blocking sleds and add the physical element they've been missing in the absence of organized team activities because of the lockout. They also might review defensive plays from last season and reacquaint themselves with one another.

"It's great to get together as a unit," DeVito said, "so that we can start working together, getting our rhythm and timing right and to work that unity that is so important to have if you want a great defensive line."

Quarterback Mark Sanchez gathered several offensive players in Southern California earlier this month for his "Jets West" camp, and recently said the entire team expects to work out together in June if the lockout continues.

Pouha said no specific plans had been made yet in terms of gathering the entire team.

"I'm sure Mark will let all of us know," he said. "But in terms of the D-line, that's our plan, to get together. Nothing like an OTA, but to work on drills and get that fusion as a unit."

Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press

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Robustelli, who helped Giants to '56 title, passes away at 85

STAMFORD, Conn. -- Football Hall of Famer Andy Robustelli, who played for the New York Giants and Los Angeles Rams during a 14-year NFL career, has died. He was 85.

"He was one of the greatest players in franchise history, and one of the finest, most dignified gentlemen you could ever meet," Giants President John Mara said. "Andy was a man's man in every respect."

It wasn't immediately clear where and when Robustelli died. His death was first reported by The Stamford Advocate.

The 6-foot-1, 230-pound defensive end played for the Rams from 1951-55 and the Giants from 1956-64, but his arrival in New York ushered in one of the greatest eras in Giants' football.

New York won the 1956 NFL championship in Robustelli's first season. They won five more conference championships during his tenure, in 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962 and 1963. Robustelli played on a winning team in 13 of his 14 pro seasons and played in eight NFL championship games.

Despite his relatively small stature for a defensive lineman, determination, speed and intelligence made Andy Robustelli one of the NFL's best pass rushers of his era, according to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. More ...

"Andy was a great leader. When he came to us from the Rams, it turned everything around defensively," fellow Hall of Famer Frank Gifford said. "He fit perfectly into Tom Landry's defense. Tom Landry was such a leader in putting defense into pro football and Andy was one of the key components of that."

Robustelli was selected to seven Pro Bowls and was a first-team All-NFL pick seven times, two with the Rams and five with the Giants. He was also a three-time second-team All-Pro choice. In 1962, the Maxwell Club selected Robustelli as the NFL's top player, an honor then usually given to an offensive player.

"He was far and away above the other defensive ends of his era," Gifford said. "Andy was not all that big, but he was very quick. With Andy and Tom Landry, it was almost scary the anticipation that they had of what was going to be run. He and Tom were very, very close. Whereas Tom was the overall defensive coach, Andy basically ran the defensive line along with the linebackers. He was the leader. Everyone knew that. He was the leader in the clubhouse. He was quiet. But when Andy talked, everyone listened."

Robustelli played in 175 regular-season games in his 14-year career, missing only one because of injury. In his last three years with the Giants, he was a player-coach.

Robustelli was the Giants' Director of Operations -- what is now called general manager -- from 1974-78, prior to George Young's arrival. During his tenure, the Giants drafted Hall of Famer Harry Carson, as well as such standout players as George Martin, Gary Jeter and Gordon King.

"Andy is someone I looked up to fiercely," said Martin, who played for the Giants from 1975-88 and is now the executive director and president of the NFL Alumni Association. "I think he was legendary among all ballplayers, but especially within the illustrious Giants' history."

Martin said Robustelli never stopped coaching, even when he was working in the front office.

"Andy was always giving you tips about the game -- here's your general manager coming out to give you some words of advice," Martin said. "For a young man, particularly a rookie, those were like words from heaven. Although our styles were different and the eras in which we played in were completely different, one of the things I know I tried hard to copy was the tenacity that Andy had, because it's transferable no matter what era you played in."

After leaving the Giants, Robustelli was a successful businessman in his native Connecticut.

Born in Stamford, he played football and baseball at Stamford High before enlisting in the U.S. Navy at age 18. During World War II, Robustelli served on the USS William C. Cole in the Pacific Theater. When he returned from war, Robustelli attended Arnold College in nearby Bridgeport. He made his family home in Stamford, where he ran a successful travel agency.

Robustelli's wife, Jeanne, died in April. She was 84. The couple had nine children, 29 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Funeral arrangements are incomplete.

Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press

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