Vikings Fumble Farve's Chances Away

Last night's National Football Conference Championship game was the most dazzling to the wire football game I’ve ever seen. As expected, both football offenses answered every expectation as the New Orleans Saints and the Minnesota Vikings gave us an overtime shootout at the Louisiana Dome in New Orleans, Louisiana. It came down to a field goal kick in overtime to swipe Brett Farves' chances for his spectacular comeback tour.
The Minnesota Vikings came out of the gates with seven passing plays out of ten plays all together and threw on the first five plays. It was unexpected that the first touchdown for the Vikings would be from a 19 yard Adrian Peterson touchdown run. New Orleans quickly answered back with a touchdown drive of their own and it was nothing but pure action after that.
The Vikings and Saints threw up another touchdown for each side, but before the second quarter ended the serious problem for Adrian Peterson and the Minnesota came up. Peterson fumbled the ball away and Scott Fujita from the Saints' defense pounced on the fumble. The fumble was charged to Brett Farve and it started the turnover trend for the Vikings the rest of the game.
Brett Farve threw two interceptions and one of them after he broke the most important rule for a quarterback to break. Brett Farve threw across the field and Saints corner back Tracy Porter intercepted the pass ending the Vikings game winning drive. Brett Farve wasn't only throwing interceptions, but he wasn't alone with Percy Harvin, Bernard Berrian, Darius Raynaud and Adrian Peterson all fumbled the ball. Darius and Adrian didn't lose any of their fumbles and that gave the Vikings a total of five turnovers.
As much as I was rooting for a Brett Farve greatest 40 year old Super Bowl glory story, I was a little bit happier that the "Who Dat" Saints pulled out a miraculous overtime win with a 40 yard field goal winning kick. It looked like if the Vikings could have held on to the ball the Vikings would have held on to the win, but like football experts always says, "turnovers kill you" and they killed Brett's greatest football season ever. For some reason I want Farve to comeback next year and make it again and maybe this time bring Vikings another Prince "fight song" and another Super Bowl ring.

All Star Funk

Boston Celtics guard and 13 year veteran Ray Allen is a little flustered with this year's All Star team voting and with the NBA allowing fans to vote players on the team. Ray Allen’s argument is that players are getting snubbed for players he feel shouldn't even be close to being on the team. Ray wants players who actually play during the season be on the All Star team. Ray Allen says, "I like the fact the fans get the opportunity to vote and pick who they'd like to see in the All Star Game, but I don't think it should be 100 percent."
The first player he must have a problem with is Philadelphia 76ers guard Allen Iverson. Iverson has been in a slump over the past couple years and hasn't really posted All Star numbers. As a matter of fact Allen has just come out of retirement two months ago as he received a second chance with the team that drafted him. Iverson has also been hampered by minor injuries due to him getting back in shape. I don't think Allen Iverson has played more than twenty games this season, but it's still more than the Western Conference All Star voted to this year's game.
Tracy McGrady of the Houston Rockets will be making his eighth All Star appearance and has only played five regular season games. The funny thing is that Tracy McGrady was voted into the All Star Game before he even played one minute in the regular season and is not even really on the Houston Rockets team right now. Tracy has been suspended indefinitely from the Rockets' team and they are actively trying to trade him before the upcoming deadline. Tracy is a good player, but he can't be an All Star this year.
There are plenty of other much deserving players who won't make this year's All Star team due to these votes such as Portland Trailblazer's guard Brandon Roy and Utah Jazz guard Derron Williams. Brandon Roy has been the leader of his young and injury riddled Trailblazers team that is on its way to the playoffs. Also Derron Williams who is a premiere point guard for the Jazz or you can even make a case for Memphis Grizzlies forward Rudy Gay. On the Eastern Conference side you can choose Stephen Jackson or Gerald Wallace from the Charlotte Bobcats. Gerald Wallace is averaging a double double with 18.3 points and 11.5 rebounds a game as a small forward. Not to mention Atlanta Hawks guard Mike Bibby or even the guy who started this conversation in Boston's Ray Allen.
Whoever makes it to the All Star game will be well deserving of it even if it is Tracy McGrady or Allen Iverson. These two players are proven veterans and have been to the All Star game before and that might be the reason why they needed to be snubbed this year. The league has a thriving young core of players, but that's what they are young. These players have plenty of more years to make the All Star team. The All Star game is like any other sport's All Star game, it's for the fans and the fans know who they want to see. If players feel slighted by being kept out of the All Star game, there is only one thing to do and that’s do what you have to do to be a fan favorite. Stay after the game and take pictures with fans and give out autographs along with public appearances. If that doesn't work, play better.

Brooking Has No Respect for Himself

The Dallas Cowboys played the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday to advance to the NFC Championship game. The Cowboys has already won their first playoff game since 1996 against the Philadelphia Eagles the week before and beat them pretty good 34-14. The Vikings totally embarrassed the Cowboys 34-3 on Sunday and rubbed it in when Brett Farve threw his fourth touchdown of the game with less than five minutes left in the game.
Now it wasn't embarrassing that they allowed a forty year old Brett Farve to have the best statistical playoff game of his career, nor was it that they didn't even score a touchdown the whole game. It was embarrassing for the Dallas Cowboys because they allowed a fourth quarter touchdown when it was fourth and three at their own eleven yard line. It got even worse when Cowboys' middle linebacker Keith Brooking followed Brett Farve to the Vikings' sideline to yell at them how disrespectful it was.
Then Keith Brooking went even further saying, "I thought it was totally classless and disrespectful. This is the NFL, that's not what this is about. I don't think there's a place for that. I was looking for Childress. I didn't think it was right, but they've got to see us next year." Please Keith, so it's a place in the NFL for following a player to their sideline and cry about how you feel disrespected by them scoring another touchdown. There's no crying in baseball and definitely no crying in football.
It was still time left on the clock and you mean to tell me if the Cowboys got the ball back they would've just taken knees to run the clock out. Hell no! They would have tried feverishly like they did to score a touchdown or put more points on the board to make that score look more respectable. That's a double standard that should never be brought up by another football player as long as this game is played. Now people are questioning if the Vikings ran up the score on the Cowboys. Yes they did and did so with good reason.
There's only one reason why athletes play the game and Herm Edwards said it best, "You win to play the game." That's it and that's all. If you don't want a team to blow you out or embarrass you there's only one thing you can do and that's stop them from scoring. Don't let them near your end zone or get into field goal position to put more points up. It sickens me already to see football players celebrate excessively after every first down, catch, two yard run or tackle pass the line of scrimmage. I know it's an emotional game, but if you are just as hyped when you make a big play you will be just as deflated when you mess up and that's all it was for Keith Brooking. Last week against the Eagles, the Cowboys were show boating the whole game, but this week its uncalled for. Get out of here. Shut up, take your ball, leave the field and go home.

When Will We Get It!

With Athletes continuing to disappoint the average sports fan with all kinds of crazy antics and situations, this leads me to ask the question when will we get it. If you were to look back at your memories of sport athletes you will see a bunch of them famous or not have a pattern run in with authorities and actions that would make the average Joe cringe. Each situation that you can remember will make you as a person think less of that athlete.

Look at Tiger Woods, Tiger was put on the highest pedestal I've ever seen for an athlete since Mike Tyson and was thrown from it quicker that he could sink a three foot put. Media and some sports fans had Tiger as almost God like as if they really believed in him to be a savior. All because he was a phenomenal golfer and was thrown under the bus after making a mistake that any other human can make. They didn't stop endorsing Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson or any other athlete was caught cheating as well.

Then you have Gilbert Arenas who now faces gun charges for a practical joke gone badly. Arenas was considered to be a premiere point guard in the NBA, but was hampered by injury. With this gun charge getting out of hand due to the media spinning this story into the two players brandishing guns at each other. People are not only looking to keep him out of the league, take his money and are now confused on who Gilbert Arenas really is.

Finally you have Marvin Harrison. Marvin Harrison on the field was touted as the ultimate professional in the NFL. He played a position that has had plenty of troubled and problematic players. Marvin was quiet and seamed humble as he never over celebrated a reception for a first down or a touchdown, but now is being investigate for a shooting and a murder. Now we question who Marvin really is and how did this happen?

It happens like this, these people are human beings not Gods. Yes they are very athletic and do thing that the average human might not be able to do, but that does not make them perfect. The athlete has proven this to sports fans time after time. There are a number of athletes, too many to count that has made simple human mistakes. I'm not saying don't cheer or root for these athletes. I'm just saying even with all that money and television exposure they are no better than us and aren't excused from making mistakes. This makes me want the sports fans to open their eyes and get it that athletes are human too.

The Rooney Rule Dilemma

There are a lot of things that comes to mind when I think of the "Rooney Rule", first I think of affirmative action and the problem it has caused America due to a certain quota that has to be met and the way it singles out the wrong people. Then I think of the people who are over looked or just brought in to comply with the law. The Rooney rule is a rule set by the NFL that organizations need to interview at least one minority candidate before making its hire of who they really want.
That's the reason why I'm set on both sides of the "Rooney Rule" fence. The rule has helped coaches like Pittsburgh's Head Coach Mike Tomlin and ex Cleveland Browns' coach Romeo Crennel receive a job they might not have even been offered. , especially with the rule being named after the Pittsburgh Steelers' former owner Dan Rooney. The rule opens the door for true diversity in the league, but at the same time throws a dark cloud on the rule.
The "Rooney Rule" showed its true colors when two coaches were hired basically without any real chance of hiring a minority head coach. The Seattle Seahawks went straight for Pete Carroll after they fired their head coach Jim Mora and the Washington Redskins quickly hired former Denver Broncos' coach Mike Shanahan after Jim Zorn was abruptly shown the door. Both teams barely gave a minority coach a shot.
That's the problem right there, the Seahawks and the Redskins had to follow a formality which was more disrespectful than to not even interview a minority coach. The Seahawks brought in Minnesota Vikings' defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier just to comply with the "Rooney Rule". There was no real chance of him getting the position, but the Seahawks made sure to tell him that he had a real chance at filling it and all along they wanted Pete Carroll.
If a team knows who they want to hire I feel they should be allowed to hire that coach as soon as possible. They shouldn't have to comply with some rule just to interview a minority they really don't even want for the job. If there's a head coach with three Super Bowl rings and a minority head coach with none, most likely the coach with the rings will get the job. The "Rooney Rule" should be changed in a way that won't seem like a spit in the face to minority coaches. If there is an open position that won't be filled for over a couple weeks then the rule should take affect, but if the job is almost filled before its even open then the rule should be ruled out.

Carroll's Trail of Destruction

With Pete Carroll geared up to be the Seattle Seahawks new head coach he has started a trail of deceit and destruction. Pete Carroll has brought the University of Southern California Trojans' football program back to dominance and also brought forth a new tradition. Not to mention the respect he and his teams has earned from all over the world in this past decade.
As fast as Pete Carroll brought USC to prominence, the faster he left the Trojans pondering scrambling to find a new head coach. This leaving of Pete Carroll was due to cause a chain reaction of destruction. With USC being a great university to coach at you would have thought coaches would be knocking down the door to fill this vacancy, but that's not the point. It was said that Carroll's decision was going to destruct the Oregon State Beavers as Mike Riley’s' name came up, but he quickly shot that down and there was Jack Del Rio. Jack Del Rio played for USC, but is still under contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars and he said it ain't happening as well.
Nobody really wants this job because as you look further and further into USC and the parting ways of Pete Carroll you'll see the real reason why. USC is totally in disarray and on the cusp of falling apart. Pete Carroll has left the Trojans' football team facing major sanctions for two major violations that we know of right now concerning Reggie Bush and his family troubles with improper gifts and running back Joe McKnight allegedly driving his baby mother's SUV sold to her by her boss a business manager or something.
These violations are the main reason and the real reason Pete Carroll decided to jump ship at USC. Well maybe there's one more and it has to do with the Trojans' athletic director Mike Garrett. Of course Pete felt slighted due to Mike Garrett hang him out to dry because he couldn’t keep his house clean. Ever since then the two have been running 40 yard dashes at opposite ends of the field waiting for the other one to leave, so they can run hundred yard sprints.
Look, Pete Carroll knew what he was doing when he took the first train smoking out of sunny California. He led the Trojans to their worst season since he's been there and looked liked he checked out before the season ended. Pete preached loyalty to his players, but showed he was a hypocrite by showing no loyalty at all to the recruits he brought to Southern California. We should’ve known Pete was up to something when he pitched a fit about Mark Sanchez leaving and now we know why. Carroll may have given Los Angeles great memories, but he has left us with a sour taste in our mouth with destroying L.A.'s team.

Tell Us Something We Don't Know Mark

Mark McGwire has finally come out and told the world what most of the world presumed or thought they already knew. That he used performance enhancing drugs or steroids for over ten years. He admitted to using steroids during the season where he hit 70 homeruns and set the single season homerun record.
Like every person that uses performance enhancing drugs they regret it and say that they wished they never did it, but lets be honest if he wasn't smacking homeruns out of the ball parks he would have stopped using them. Every athlete wants to be one thing and that's great at whatever they do. They will use whatever advantage they can to get there to make history whether it's putting up extra iron in the weight room or needles in their back side.
There's only one reason that Mark McGwire chose to come forth about his steroid use and it wasn't to get a few extra people to buy his tell all book. McGwire came out to get into the Hall of Fame and that's the only reason. Sure he wants to be able to come to the St. Louis Cardinals' training facilities and not get hounded by steroid questions, but the Hall comes first.
I'm not mad at Mark McGwire for coming out about using steroids and I'm certainly not mad at him for using them either. America loves sports and they idolize the superior athlete and it was in the form of Mark McGwire. Baseball fans love the long ball and couldn't care less if he used steroids to do it. Mark was knocking them all over the park and real McGwire fans still love him for the things he achieved and it won't change their respect for him as a player or a person.
Look, I don't think him saying that he used performing enhancing drugs will get him into the Hall of Fame next year, but if he does great as a hitting coach and has no more bad marks on his record since being a hitting coach he should make it. Mark McGwire was great for baseball and brought more fans to the game with his monstrous homerun hits. With today's "Steroid Era" being called out a player with the accolades of Mark McGwire, he should be in the Hall of Fame.

Do We Have a Real National Championship?

After the Texas Longhorns were dismantled by the top ranked Alabama Crimson Tide I wonder would things have been different if another undefeated team were to replace the Longhorns. Of course it wasn't that good of a game with Texas quarterback Colt McCoy being put out of the game early, but I wanted to see a better game.
With Boise State being the second team to go 14-0 in NCAA football history I feel they should at least get a share of the national championship title with the Crimson Tide of Alabama, but they won't. They won't because the teams that are not in a so called "Power Conference" could not get the respect they deserve. Boise State has won a Fiesta Bowl before and also has beaten plenty of top ranked teams over the past six years.
There were five undefeated teams that went to BCS bowl games and three were from non BCS conferences, but for some reason only the two BCS conference teams were put in the national championship game. That’s cool with me, but why did TCU and Boise State have to play each other? The games could have gone totally different to give Boise State or TCU a shot at a share of the national championship if they beat Iowa or Georgia Tech and then there is the Rose Bowl. The Rose Bowl shouldn't be in the BCS due to only a Pac-10 or Big Ten team will be able to make it.
That's why I propose a playoff. I know a lot of people agree and some won't just because of the money, but no money will be lost, maybe gained. My playoff system will eliminate the long layoff between regular season and bowl season, but will probably end the college season later. Every Bowl game except for the four BCS bowl games will be played before January 1. After that the BCS playoff starts, each winner of those bowl games advance to the next round and so on till two teams are left, so 8 teams to 4 teams to 2 and the winner of that is the defacto national championship.
Like always that plan is too simple for people to understand and too easy for the big wigs to approve. This is better than the plus one game and the regular BCS crap they have now. I feel every Division I team should be able to make it to the BCS national championship game. If their not going to have that chance to make it to championship game then put them in the sub bowl division formally known as Division II. Everyone hates the BCS system and it is extremely flawed because unless it is only two teams that are undefeated at the end of the season we have no real national championship.

Roberto Alomar Gets Spit On

I was looking at who made the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame and who didn't and I saw that Roberto Alomar was snubbed by the voters. Seeing this happen I was baffled on why such a highly decorated player is not a first ballot Hall of Famer. I asked was it his batting or fielding? Maybe he didn't have a great career average, so I looked up Roberto Alomar's career stats and accolades.
Roberto Alomar batted .300 for his career and elevated his play in the post season hitting .313. As a matter of fact almost everything increased in the post season. Roberto had a .371 on base percentage and this statistic rose up to .381 along with an on base plus slugging percentage rising from .814 to .824. Alomar played in 58 post season games and had 72 hits with 33 runs batted in.
Then I was wondering about his fielding. I thought Roberto Alomar couldn't have been a good infielder if he was snubbed so bad and again I looked at his fielding stats and realized he was a great infielder with an almost perfect .986 fielding percentage not to mention him winning ten American League Golden Gloves at second base and in his twelve seasons he only had 100 errors, that is astounding.
With seeing his incredible batting statistics, impeccable fielding percentages and his trophy case full of Golden Gloves and an ALCS MVP I only thought of one thing that could hold him back. In 1996 Roberto Alomar spit in the face of a MLB umpire John Hirschbeck after being ejected from a game. I believe this is the real reason Roberto Alomar was kept out off the first ballot in the Hall of Fame voting. This leads me to ask why? Roberto was elected to the Major League all-star game every year he was in the league and it is few players that can lay claim to that feat till this day.
That’s why I want to say allowing the fans to vote players into the hall is not a bad thing to do. The Hall of Fame is for the fans anyway and what better way to honor them and the players then by at least giving the fan a chance to give their input. These writers have their own hidden agendas and prejudices and that makes it difficult for players to reach the Hall of Fame at the time they should. I understand the Hall of Fame is a prestigious occasion, but there's a difference between keeping a player out of the hall for alleged doping and a mistake that was apologized and forgiven. Roberto Alomar is a sure lock for the Hall of Fame and shouldn't have gotten spit on like this.

Maybe Its Better This Way

I was going to wait until it got closer before I was going to blog about this. The best thing I thought to do about this was to wait and see if this was really going to happen, but now I know for sure. This was destined to be the fight of the year, decade, millennium, or century. Whatever it was suppose to be it isn’t happening now according to Top Rank promoter Bob Arum.
Each boxer did what they were supposed to do, Manny Pacquiao beat down Miguel Cotto and Floyd Mayweather handled Juan Manuel Marquez easily to set up the so called "Super Fight". After Floyd won the fight I remembered hearing on ESPN that Mayweather had no intentions on fighting Pacquiao win, lose or draw and I thought that was the wrong information. Especially after Manny Pacquiao handled his business to prove he is a real contender for Floyd.
Right after the Manny Pacquiao versus Miguel Cotto fight was over, no time was wasted before negotiations began and a fight date was set for Floyd Mayweather versus Manny Pacquiao and then all hell broke loose. First it was about the money with Mayweather wanting more of the purse and now it just seemed to have problem after problem.
With Mayweather seeming to be the cause of all these problems, people started to blame and come up with reasons for his actions. People were saying he was scared, he's too cocky and it's basically because people don't like Floyd "Money" Mayweather. I understand the scared part. With Mayweather being undefeated I could see why he would be scared to tarnish his record, but at the same time how can he call his self the best pound for pound boxer when their is someone else out there who wants to challenge the champion.
If you ask me, maybe both of these fighters are scared. I mean what kind of crap is Manny Pacquiao pulling about this needle superstition and then he's already contemplating retirement so he can be a city official or something. What is wrong with random testing from now until March 13 if you're about to make the biggest pay day of your life? Then each side met with a mediator and could still not come up with a resolution. This is a sad day for boxing, with the UFC able to put on fight after fight and boxing on the decline this is a shame that this fight couldn't go on as scheduled to save the sport of boxing.

Gilbert Got a Gun

It is getting way out of control with athletes and their guns. Guns and athletes seem like it doesn't mix like oil and water. Just last year we watched a player named Plaxico Buress shoot himself in a night club and ended up in prison and not to mention the Tennessee Volunteers' players using a fake gun to rob some people at a local gas station.
Gilbert Arenas brought guns to his place of work at the Verizon Center where league officials and the commissioner clearly stated that they do not want guns near their facilities. First he said he brought the guns to the stadium to turn them into to the proper authorities because he has children and don't want them exposed to that and then we hear of him pulling these guns out on fellow teammate Javaris Crittenton.
It is said that Wizards' guards Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton were playing a game of cards on a team flight back to Washington and it escalated into a heated exchange between the two guards and went on for two more days. Javaris said on the flight back that if Gilbert didn't pay up on the bet he would shoot him in his surgically repaired knee and Gilbert tried to turn it into a joke. Arenas then took the guns he brought to turn into authorities and put them in Crittenton's locker stall and jokingly asked him to pick a gun to shoot him with. At that time Javaris pulled out his own gun to show that he had his gun to shoot Arenas with.
Arenas met with federal prosecutors at the United States Attorney's Office for the district of Columbia and detectives of the Metropolitan Police Department for over two hours, but still no further actions were taken. NBA Commissioner David Stern has not yet released a statement or even handed down a punishment yet and probably won't until the legal investigation is over. It is more likely that Gilbert will be suspended for blatantly breaking a league rule.
I understand that players need protection and some fear for their lives, but why have a gun in a place that your job told you not to bring one to. Players are more likely to be robbed because of their big contracts, flashy cars and jewelry and should also be allowed to protect themselves, but at what cost? Gilbert Arenas could be going to jail or out of the NBA for a while or maybe even both. Would receiving those sanctions really be worth losing out on a lucrative contract? I tend to think not.

Texas Tech vs. Adam Jones

It has been nothing but a snowball affect since the Mike Leach allegations and this time it happened faster than the Mark Magino's incident. It was reported that Mike Leach put a Texas Tech Red Raider player named Adam James in an electrical closet and a tool shed. Adam James is the son of an ESPN college football analyst named Craig James.
Mike Leach was suspended for those actions and some people think that it was just and some think that Mike Leach was fired because of who Adam James is. Mike was about to got to a court hearing to contest against his suspension from the team and coaching in the Alamo Bowl until he was served with his pink slip. Leach and his attorney agreed that there was no reason for further actions to taken.
At the Alamo Bowl there was nothing but support for fired Head Coach Mike Leach and disrespect towards Athletic Director Gerald Myers and wide receiver Adam James. During halftime as Adam James walked off the field he was heavily booed by Texas Tech fans and Mike Leach supporters. There were signs saying bring Leach back and how they are "Team Leach" supporters, others held anti-James signs and wore t-shirts that weren't very kind to the Texas Tech receiver.
There is no way Adam Jones should receive this kind of treatment. Adam thought he was being mistreated by a coach and spoke up. Head Coaches are there to nurture and mature that teenager into a well mannered man. If that coach doesn't comply with those ethics he is not a good coach or he shouldn't be coaching any kind of children.
Mike Leach didn't feel like he was doing anything wrong, but just didn't fully think through the plan. I mean who puts anybody with concussion in a tool shed or electrical closet without first having them check by the trainer or in a proper training facility? He said he wanted his players close to the field even though they're injured, for what? If a player is injured during most of the practice week, he most likely won't be playing that following week, especially if he has a head injury. A small part of me thinks that Texas Tech didn't want to pay Mike Leach his $800,000 bonus on December 31 of last year, but I must admit these accusations and some from his past warranted Mike Leach this firing.

Hooray For Dallas

If you were to ask me about them Cowboys, I'll tell you that the Dallas Cowboys haven't been worth anything since Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin left. Especially after Jerry Jones stabbed Terrell Owens in the back and released him in the off season, but the Cowboys are looking like they are close to being a force in the National Football League.
After the Cowboys won today's game against the Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas has clinched the NFC east championship. This win saves Coach Wade Philips job for one more day and keeps quarterback Tony Romo looking good for right now. The Cowboys still are not the team of the decade, but still have a chance to win this year's Super Bowl.
The Dallas Cowboys didn't start off December like the greatest team in the NFL, but finished the month on point to clinch the title. Dallas has no real chance to win the Super Bowl because their offense is still lacking a good passing game. Yes Miles Austin looks like a decent receiver, but Roy Williams couldn't even hold Terrell Owens' jock strap.
Most likely the Cowboys will be put out of the first round and Coach Wade Philips will be out the door. Maybe Dallas will probably make their way back to a Super Bowl appearence and if they make it this year to the big game then Dallas has really come full circle. Whatever the Cowboys do, it better be good or the Cowboys will continue to be called the Cowgirls any Tony Romo will go back to being the reason they can't win the big one and I for one will feel total satisfaction to see Dallas fall hard on their face.