I haven’t written anything about this horrible crime. I doubt I will write much. But I will say that if you had asked me a few days ago who my favorite wrestler has been since the mid-1990s, I probably would have said Chris Benoit, from the effort he gave in his performances, the odds he overcame to be a success, and the fact he seemed to be a genuinely nice guy from his interviews and what his friends uniformly said about him. ...
I’ll agree this sounds strange, particularly as the first paragraph in an article about sports: It’s easy to discount the spiritual impact of basketball crowds if you haven’t attended a playoff game with special fans before. There’s no way to understand it unless it definitely has happened to you. Then you know. As strange as this sounds, it’s like a woman being unable to tell whether she’s ever had an orgasm. If she thinks it might have happened, or it felt like it kind of happened one time … it didn’t happen. When it happens, they know. Then they feel stupid for all the other times when they thought it had happened. ...
Are you ready for some Canadian Football? :)
Apparently the University of Minnesota has turned down new men’s basketball coach Tubby Smith’s bid to hire Jimmy Williams as an assistant coach. The reasoning? …Williams was on Bill Musselman’s staff during the period of 1971 to 1975 when the program was penalized by the NCAA for a number of violations. Okay…I’m a huge fan of high standards when it comes to hiring coaches. Coaches have a lot of influence over the student-athletes under their tutelage, and their decision-making when it comes to who to recruit has an impact beyond the basketball court. ...
You know, if this rumor is correct, and the Carolina Panthers are actually thinking about trading Kris Jenkins for any less than a first or second round pick – which they’re unlikely to be offered for an oft-injured defensive tackle – I’m going to be further convinced that they don’t get this whole “personnel” thing. They might have a lot of depth along the defensive line, but Jenkins is one of the better tackles in the NFL, and I’m not convinced they can come up with something better in the third round or lower. Besides, at one point the Panthers had a lot of depth at linebacker, and then they overpaid to keep the talented but fragile Dan Morgan, and let just-as-talented Will Witherspoon and versatile Chris Draft sign with the Rams. ...
Wow. I was surprised when I flipped to CBS, expecting to see a Division I game, and saw Barton College playing in the Division II Men’s Basketball Championship. Even though they were five points down to Winona State, the defending national champion, with a couple of minutes left, it’s not every day you get to see a small school down the road – Wilson, NC – playing on national TV. I’m glad I caught it. Barton fell to seven points behind with 50 seconds left, and then senior point guard Anthony Atkinson, who grew up in Wilson, commenced the best clutch performance that anyone is likely to see at any level this month. Atkinson scored 10 points and made almost every defensive play during those final seconds, including a breakaway layup as time expired to win the game for Barton. That kind of effort was fairly common during the tournament for Atkinson, who apparently just wanted to keep playing. ...
Hee hee hee… :) [youtube &w=425&h=350] Courtesy of PeterDavid.net.
Well, I was thinking about liveblogging Puppy Bowl III, but then I realized it could be summed up as this: 3-6 PM: Puppies rolling, chewing, biting, running. Seriously, it might be possible to liveblog it, but since they aren’t wearing numbers, and I don’t have a program, I don’t think you’d get much out of it. ;) (I’m not sure why there is so much crowd noise. The Super Bowl crowd isn’t that into it.) ...
Lest we forget, Super Bowl Sunday isn’t just about watching an 18-hour-long pregame show…It’s also about watching puppies and kittens engaging in ceremonial combat in Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl III! Okay, combat might be a strong word. Ceremonial wandering around and sniffing things would be more accurate. Still, awwwwwwh. :) Link courtesy of Deadspin, which had this great quote: At halftime, they will be running a special “Kitty Bowl,” which is like the Puppy Bowl, except its players are aloof and indifferent to all spectators. Which makes it decidedly more similar to the actual Super Bowl. ...
I’m pretty sure this is how alternate timelines diverge. Just before Super Bowl XLI, featuring the Colts vs. the Bears, you can get these two highlight videos by NFL Films: Warner Brothers Chicago Bears Super Bowl XLI Champions DVD Celebrate Chicago, you are the city of champions once again! Remembering the Monsters of the Midway, the Chicago Bears and their intimidating defense helped vault the club to the Super Bowl XLI title! Relive the Bears’ rise to the top of the league with this Warner Brothers Champions DVD. NFL Films takes you from the opening whistle against the Packers to the final gun in Miami. ...