Turns out, all the speculation about infomercial king Billy Mays hitting his head during a flight or having problems related to hip replacement surgery may be moot: the Hillsborough County medical examiner has ruled out head trauma and blood clots, saying they found evidence of hypertensive heart disease and hardening of the arteries.

Mays, 50, was found dead in his Tampa home Sunday morning by his wife. Because Mays had flown on a airplane that had trouble landing Saturday -- a wheel blew out on landing and Mays told a journalist after getting off the plane that he struck his head during the rough stop -- airwaves and Web sites were filled with speculation about whether the incident might have caused his sudden death.

In a press conference that just concluded, Hillsborough County Medical Examiner Dr. Vernard Adams said an official cause of death could take 6 to 8 weeks while they sort through toxicology reports. But they did find evidence of the kind of heart disease which doesn't reveal symptoms in a third of cases until the person affected dies.

"He had no history of heart disease," Adams said in a press conference aired on Bay News 9 cable newschannel. "This came as a total surprise."

See the tribute to Mays I wrote for today's newspaper by clicking here.

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