A little over 15 hours ago the NFL free agency period began marking the one of the most exciting and most disappointing events in sports.
Every fan gets incredibly hyped up over meaningless signings of players who might not even make an impact anyway. Look at the Redskins two years ago when pariahs Adam Archuleta and Brandon Lloyd were supposed to come and save the team on either side of the ball. Neither saw significant time by the end of the season and Archuleta was released after that year and Lloyd was just released after another unproductive season.
But then there are the success stories like Randy Moss and Wes Welker this season in New England. Moss broke the single-season touchdown reception record and Welker was at the top of the league in receptions. Neither player did anything remotely spectacular last season but given a change of scenery, they both bloomed into big-time threats.
The problem with free agency is that it gives the players and the owners a chance to look for greener pastures. If a player doesn't perform up to the team's expectations, the coaches and owners see if they can find a better solution. If the team sucks and the player wants to play for a winner, he can see if there isn't some team who could use his talents.
But there's no loyalty! Today there aren't too many Brett Favres, Peyton Mannings and Tom Bradys who will play on their respective teams until the day they walk away from the game. It just doesn't happen that often that a player stays on the same team through the good and bad moments. People are too driven by money and championships to consider the fans or sporting area that they just left.
The hype of teams is almost unbearable at times. San Francisco was terrible last season and they even turned to former Maryland quarterback Shaun Hill (who had one good week and then tanked after that). But now they have signed seven free agents already today and none of them will probably make an enormous impact.
So beware of the free agency hype until it actually pans out for your team. And get ready because we can all do the same thing (freaking out about signings) in a little over a month when the clock starts on the NFL draft
.
This video was for my journalism class again. It was taken at the University of Maryland pool and contains video of the Maryland State Championships in swimming. Ron Chamberlain was also the meet's co-director.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
Darth Clemens (plus some showing off)
When you think of the all-time villains there are some obvious ones. Vader and the Emperor can never be forgotten, Anton Chigurh from "No Country" is up there as well (the silenced shotgun is incredible!) but you wouldn't necessarily put Roger Clemens in this category.
Before I go any further, I believe that Clemens is guilty as sin. If he's not I'm sorry for this blog that further implicated him, but some of this stuff will be true regardless of his guilt.
His personal trainer, Brian McNamee, has sworn that Clemens used steroids and HGH. Now McNamee had nothing to gain by feeding Clemens to the steroid-induced "dogs" but he did it instead to get to the truth after Clemens was named in the Mitchell Report.
Andy Petitte, Clemens' "former best friend" has testified that Clemens discussed Performance Enhancing Drug use with him and Petitte has already admitted to PED use.
Clearly Clemens "can't handle the truth".
He has done everything he can think of to avoid being implicated, even throwing his poor wife under the bus and having her admit to steroid use. He has used his mother and grandmother as moral compass accessories to prove why he's such a straight arrow. Here is a piece of what he said: "I've always believed that hard work and determination were the only ways to be successful. And to reach goals. Shortcuts were not an option. This was instilled in me since I was a young boy by my mother and my grandmother."
He even tried to awe people with his talent, fame and physicality.
But now he's in over his head. The Congressmen he is testifying in front of don't care that Clemens is already a Cooperstown candidate. They don't care about his mother and grandmother being more moral than Mother Theresa. They only care about the truth which seems strongly against Clemens right now especially since a photograph has surfaced which proves some of his statements about a certain Jose Canseco house party false.
Why he doesn't just admit and apologize like everyone else is beyond me. Who is chastising Petitte about his steroid use?? Is he the new face of evil? No because he simply said "I made a mistake".
Petitte will get his mulligan to prove his value to the baseball world but will Clemens be rewarded with his after all is said and done on Capital Hill?
Clemens is not falling off the Hall of Fame ballot because if schmucks like McGwire and Bonds are going to be on it, then how could Clemens not be? His seven Cy Young Awards aren't going anywhere. The only thing that would be affected would be his reputation.
And for Roger, his reputation is clearly all that he really cares about through all of this nonsense.
Now to show off a little.....
Here is a video of some interviews I did asking why people thought Clemens was guilty
And here is just a little video we made in journalism class. Just a sequence of a good guitar player around campus.
Before I go any further, I believe that Clemens is guilty as sin. If he's not I'm sorry for this blog that further implicated him, but some of this stuff will be true regardless of his guilt.
His personal trainer, Brian McNamee, has sworn that Clemens used steroids and HGH. Now McNamee had nothing to gain by feeding Clemens to the steroid-induced "dogs" but he did it instead to get to the truth after Clemens was named in the Mitchell Report.
Andy Petitte, Clemens' "former best friend" has testified that Clemens discussed Performance Enhancing Drug use with him and Petitte has already admitted to PED use.
Clearly Clemens "can't handle the truth".
He has done everything he can think of to avoid being implicated, even throwing his poor wife under the bus and having her admit to steroid use. He has used his mother and grandmother as moral compass accessories to prove why he's such a straight arrow. Here is a piece of what he said: "I've always believed that hard work and determination were the only ways to be successful. And to reach goals. Shortcuts were not an option. This was instilled in me since I was a young boy by my mother and my grandmother."
He even tried to awe people with his talent, fame and physicality.
But now he's in over his head. The Congressmen he is testifying in front of don't care that Clemens is already a Cooperstown candidate. They don't care about his mother and grandmother being more moral than Mother Theresa. They only care about the truth which seems strongly against Clemens right now especially since a photograph has surfaced which proves some of his statements about a certain Jose Canseco house party false.
Why he doesn't just admit and apologize like everyone else is beyond me. Who is chastising Petitte about his steroid use?? Is he the new face of evil? No because he simply said "I made a mistake".
Petitte will get his mulligan to prove his value to the baseball world but will Clemens be rewarded with his after all is said and done on Capital Hill?
Clemens is not falling off the Hall of Fame ballot because if schmucks like McGwire and Bonds are going to be on it, then how could Clemens not be? His seven Cy Young Awards aren't going anywhere. The only thing that would be affected would be his reputation.
And for Roger, his reputation is clearly all that he really cares about through all of this nonsense.
Now to show off a little.....
Here is a video of some interviews I did asking why people thought Clemens was guilty
And here is just a little video we made in journalism class. Just a sequence of a good guitar player around campus.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
ESPN's Worst Highlight
Over the past two weeks, ESPN has been doing it's "greatest highlight" schpeel. A segment of every Sportscenter is devoted to seeing which highlight fans voted greater than another.
But right there is your fatal flaw! Today's fans know squat!
The fans decided the final 16 clips through voting over the past couple of months and they turned out to be these http://sports.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/highlights/index?lpos=spotlight&lid=tab7pos1.
Then every day the fans decide between two highlights to see who moves on. But if the fans were too stupid to pick the right contenders, how could they pick the winners?
I mean the very first matchup pitted Flutie's game-winning Hail Mary against a Tiger Woods' chip in. A chip in!??? Every golf tournament these days has a chip in. Tiger has probably lost count of all the chip ins that he has made through his stellar career. How could you pick that as one of the 16 greatest highlights of sports history!?
Thankfully Flutie's gift from Above soundly defeated that atrocious excuse for a highlight (let it be known that if the shot was a hole-in-one and that shot gave Tiger the tournament win, then, and only then, would this highlight be suitable).
This kind of terrible matchup, continues through the competition. But the kicker is that there are occassional good matchups and one highlight that deserves to be in the competition has to go home early. As much as I hate Duke, how can you pit Christian Laettner's turn-around winner against California's "The Band Is On the Field" return??? Are you telling me Bill Buckner's error deserves to be in this competition as much as "The Immaculate Reception"???
And now to the good part...... my revised plan for the Greatest Highlight.
There will be 3 rules and the number of rules shall be three. "Four thou shall not count, nor should thou count two unless of course you continue on to three" (for all Holy Grail fans out there).
1) A team of 9 writers and columnists (so there can be the one guy persuading all the others not to rush their judgment) from at least the last 30 years will decide the Sweet Sixteen highlights. These journalists should also have to apply for the positions with good cover letters describing why they deserve to choose the greatest highlights.
2) No highlight, unless it clearly and greatly affected the outcome of the game should be under consideration (this way plays like Woods' chip or Hammerin' Hank passing the Babe's homerun record will not take up valuable spots. P.S. I have nothing against either of these moments but I don't think they deserve spots.)
3)Any fan who wants to vote has to pass a sports IQ test to vote on ESPN.com, this would consists of basic questions like who played third base for Pittsburgh in 1960? "See he's saying 'Hellooooooooo'."
If we adhere by these rules, then I think we can truly decide what is the greatest highlight.
But right there is your fatal flaw! Today's fans know squat!
The fans decided the final 16 clips through voting over the past couple of months and they turned out to be these http://sports.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/highlights/index?lpos=spotlight&lid=tab7pos1.
Then every day the fans decide between two highlights to see who moves on. But if the fans were too stupid to pick the right contenders, how could they pick the winners?
I mean the very first matchup pitted Flutie's game-winning Hail Mary against a Tiger Woods' chip in. A chip in!??? Every golf tournament these days has a chip in. Tiger has probably lost count of all the chip ins that he has made through his stellar career. How could you pick that as one of the 16 greatest highlights of sports history!?
Thankfully Flutie's gift from Above soundly defeated that atrocious excuse for a highlight (let it be known that if the shot was a hole-in-one and that shot gave Tiger the tournament win, then, and only then, would this highlight be suitable).
This kind of terrible matchup, continues through the competition. But the kicker is that there are occassional good matchups and one highlight that deserves to be in the competition has to go home early. As much as I hate Duke, how can you pit Christian Laettner's turn-around winner against California's "The Band Is On the Field" return??? Are you telling me Bill Buckner's error deserves to be in this competition as much as "The Immaculate Reception"???
And now to the good part...... my revised plan for the Greatest Highlight.
There will be 3 rules and the number of rules shall be three. "Four thou shall not count, nor should thou count two unless of course you continue on to three" (for all Holy Grail fans out there).
1) A team of 9 writers and columnists (so there can be the one guy persuading all the others not to rush their judgment) from at least the last 30 years will decide the Sweet Sixteen highlights. These journalists should also have to apply for the positions with good cover letters describing why they deserve to choose the greatest highlights.
2) No highlight, unless it clearly and greatly affected the outcome of the game should be under consideration (this way plays like Woods' chip or Hammerin' Hank passing the Babe's homerun record will not take up valuable spots. P.S. I have nothing against either of these moments but I don't think they deserve spots.)
3)Any fan who wants to vote has to pass a sports IQ test to vote on ESPN.com, this would consists of basic questions like who played third base for Pittsburgh in 1960? "See he's saying 'Hellooooooooo'."
If we adhere by these rules, then I think we can truly decide what is the greatest highlight.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Hockey Fever
It might be because the one hockey team I ever paid attention to during my life is finally in the playoff hunt or it might be because I'm so sick of Mitchell Reports and Congressional Hearings that it makes me want to be like Clemens and throw my metaphorical wife under the bus for the performance enhancement prosecutors........
But, behold, my friends and I have developed hockey fever.
I know that hockey is the major sport equivalent of curling at the winter Olympics, but watching Washington Capitals games is an addictive and thrilling experience. The have one of the most skillful and flashiest players in the league in the form of $100 million dollar-man Alex Ovechkin. His incredible goal while falling onto his back has dominated highlight reels around the internet for the past year and a half and still causes jaws to drop every time it is shown.
But my opinion of hockey is developing from the fluidity of the game. It's not like football (except for maybe a two-minute drill) or baseball with stoppages between each play, and it's not like the NBA with people walking up the court shooting a 25-footer and then heading back to pretend to play defense. Every offensive push is a coordinated display of weaving, sharp passes and laser-like shots and on the defensive side, every shot brings the possibility of a brave soul flinging his body in front of the shot to help his team.
The younger teams in the league are a lot of fun to watch because hockey more than any other sport is a young man's game. The average age for the Caps is just over 26-years-old and that is skewed because of 37-year-old goaltender Olaf Kolzig.
The young players really bring a lot of energy and they storm up the ice quickly to make as many goal-scoring opportunities as possible.
At the All-Star Weekend, two weeks ago, even the skills challenges are changing to favor a younger audience. With break-away and shootout challenges to inspire crazy moves (Ovechkin did his best Tiger Woods impression by bouncing the puck on his stick and then trying to slap it out of midair for the goal but was unsuccessful). And even the accurate shooting competition is relating to skeet-shooting as there are breakable plates hanging in the corners of the goal.
The high energy and higher scoring brings an incredible excitement to the game and the shootout format to decide overtime is one of the most exciting moments in sports.
So try to make it out to your local rink and experience the hard-hitting, fast-paced game that is making a comeback.
But, behold, my friends and I have developed hockey fever.
I know that hockey is the major sport equivalent of curling at the winter Olympics, but watching Washington Capitals games is an addictive and thrilling experience. The have one of the most skillful and flashiest players in the league in the form of $100 million dollar-man Alex Ovechkin. His incredible goal while falling onto his back has dominated highlight reels around the internet for the past year and a half and still causes jaws to drop every time it is shown.
But my opinion of hockey is developing from the fluidity of the game. It's not like football (except for maybe a two-minute drill) or baseball with stoppages between each play, and it's not like the NBA with people walking up the court shooting a 25-footer and then heading back to pretend to play defense. Every offensive push is a coordinated display of weaving, sharp passes and laser-like shots and on the defensive side, every shot brings the possibility of a brave soul flinging his body in front of the shot to help his team.
The younger teams in the league are a lot of fun to watch because hockey more than any other sport is a young man's game. The average age for the Caps is just over 26-years-old and that is skewed because of 37-year-old goaltender Olaf Kolzig.
The young players really bring a lot of energy and they storm up the ice quickly to make as many goal-scoring opportunities as possible.
At the All-Star Weekend, two weeks ago, even the skills challenges are changing to favor a younger audience. With break-away and shootout challenges to inspire crazy moves (Ovechkin did his best Tiger Woods impression by bouncing the puck on his stick and then trying to slap it out of midair for the goal but was unsuccessful). And even the accurate shooting competition is relating to skeet-shooting as there are breakable plates hanging in the corners of the goal.
The high energy and higher scoring brings an incredible excitement to the game and the shootout format to decide overtime is one of the most exciting moments in sports.
So try to make it out to your local rink and experience the hard-hitting, fast-paced game that is making a comeback.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Kevin Everett
The heart-warming story from this year’s NFL season has nothing to do with Tom Brady’s marriage proposal at media day nor does it have anything to do with any Patriot-related themes.
Kevin Everett, the Bills tight end, has made one of the most heroic and remarkable comebacks that anyone has seen in recent years.
Mainly a special teams player thus far into his career, Everett went to make a tackle during the second-half kick-off during the Bills’ season opener against the Denver Broncos. His helmet struck the shoulder pad and helmet of receiver Domenik Hixon and Everett fell awkwardly, face-first onto the turf. He was later diagnosed as being paralyzed from the neck down.
The video is everywhere these days and as I watched it more and more this week, I began to notice how it seems like Everett is twitching while lying on the ground. A sickening and horrifying sight that brings chills to any athlete. A spinal cord injury is just about the worst nightmare for anyone who has ever played a contact sport.
What makes Everett’s tale the feel-good-story of the year is what started after he was carted off the field. He was given “bleak, dismal” chances of recovering and was told he would probably never walk or even use his arms again.
Now just about five months after he was injured, Everett is walking and using his arms to tell his story to just about anyone who will listen.
Instead of dwelling on how his playing career is over at the age of 25, he is looking forward to appreciating his life, which for a while was in question of continuing. A lot of people would sink into a depression and have trouble letting go, but Everett is making the most out of his refreshed life.
"I was so used to working out and being around my teammates, that's kind of hard," said Everett. "But I'll be ok. ... I don't see it as God picking on me or anything. I just see it as one door closes, another one's going to open. I just have to figure out what it is."
He is currently working with the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis and is talking about looking into coaching. He also is preparing to get married which is probably just as painful as all that rehab he underwent.
Three days after being injured Everett was moving his limbs. A month after the injury he was walking with the assistance of a walker. Two weeks after that he was standing up without assistance.
That kind of recovery is remarkable especially when you consider that he couldn't even pick himself up while lying face-first on the turf. He is a remarkable athlete and as people are discovering he is an incredibly remarkable human being.
Five months is an extremely short period of time. It flies by faster than you realize and in that short amount of time, a person suffered a life-threatening injury and recovered from it.
What are you going to do in the next five months?
Kevin Everett, the Bills tight end, has made one of the most heroic and remarkable comebacks that anyone has seen in recent years.
Mainly a special teams player thus far into his career, Everett went to make a tackle during the second-half kick-off during the Bills’ season opener against the Denver Broncos. His helmet struck the shoulder pad and helmet of receiver Domenik Hixon and Everett fell awkwardly, face-first onto the turf. He was later diagnosed as being paralyzed from the neck down.
The video is everywhere these days and as I watched it more and more this week, I began to notice how it seems like Everett is twitching while lying on the ground. A sickening and horrifying sight that brings chills to any athlete. A spinal cord injury is just about the worst nightmare for anyone who has ever played a contact sport.
What makes Everett’s tale the feel-good-story of the year is what started after he was carted off the field. He was given “bleak, dismal” chances of recovering and was told he would probably never walk or even use his arms again.
Now just about five months after he was injured, Everett is walking and using his arms to tell his story to just about anyone who will listen.
Instead of dwelling on how his playing career is over at the age of 25, he is looking forward to appreciating his life, which for a while was in question of continuing. A lot of people would sink into a depression and have trouble letting go, but Everett is making the most out of his refreshed life.
"I was so used to working out and being around my teammates, that's kind of hard," said Everett. "But I'll be ok. ... I don't see it as God picking on me or anything. I just see it as one door closes, another one's going to open. I just have to figure out what it is."
He is currently working with the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis and is talking about looking into coaching. He also is preparing to get married which is probably just as painful as all that rehab he underwent.
Three days after being injured Everett was moving his limbs. A month after the injury he was walking with the assistance of a walker. Two weeks after that he was standing up without assistance.
That kind of recovery is remarkable especially when you consider that he couldn't even pick himself up while lying face-first on the turf. He is a remarkable athlete and as people are discovering he is an incredibly remarkable human being.
Five months is an extremely short period of time. It flies by faster than you realize and in that short amount of time, a person suffered a life-threatening injury and recovered from it.
What are you going to do in the next five months?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)