Family Ends Search for NFL Player

(NEWSER) - The fishing boat that capsized earlier this month leaving three football players presumed dead was improperly anchored, the AP reports. After interviewing the lone survivor, a Florida agency has determined that when the passengers attempted to free the anchor by gunning the boat’s motor, the craft was swamped and the men thrown into the water. Inexperience, carelessness, and an approaching storm were also cited. More»

(NEWSER) - The apparent lone survivor of the boat accident that has left three football players missing gave investigators a harrowing version of his ordeal, the St. Petersburg Times reports. Nick Schuyler says the two NFL players with him gave up hope within hours of each other, stripped off their life jackets, and drifted off to sea. The third man, a former college player, swam away from the overturned boat two days later to get help when he thought he saw a light. More»

10-foot seas, 40-mph winds, hypothermia threaten

(NEWSER) - People may imagine the Gulf of Mexico as a “pond,” but they’ve never seen it “get nasty” in a cold front, writes Terry Tomalin in the St. Petersburg Times. Boaters, like the missing NFL players, can face 10-foot seas and and 40-mph winds. “All it takes is one 8-foot wave to swamp a boat,” and then hypothermia looms, with offshore water temps in the mid to low 60s. "Even in a wetsuit, you will become chilled within an hour." More»

Survivor told Coast Guard companions 'freaked out,' threw punches

(NEWSER) - Two NFL players may have died only hours after the boat they and two friends were on capsized, according to a Coast Guard report released to the AP. Sole survivor David Schuyler told the Coast Guard that one man "freaked out," took off his life vest, and disappeared after clinging to the boat for hours, while another later became unruly, threw punches, and took off his jacket before vanishing. More»

Family asks volunteer boaters to keep looking

(NEWSER) - The private search for two missing NFL players and their friend off Florida's coast is winding down, 2 days after the official rescue ended. The family of Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper asked volunteer boat captains to keep looking, but—compared to the dozens of boats combing the area yesterday—few are still out, the St. Petersburg Times reports. More»