College Basketball All Stars

Every year in college basketball there is that one or maybe even two players who really sell the sport that year. Everyone in the country knows their name and chances are they will be in the NBA within a year. Last year there were names like Oden, Conley, Durrant, and Noah but who is it this year, who is going to help college basketball stay on the level were it is at every year? It may be North Carolina’s forward Tyler Hansbrough or Michigan States guard Drew Neitzel, or maybe it is going to one of the many great freshmen entering this year like O.J. Mayo who will mix things up. The point that I am trying to make is that a player should have to stay in college for at least three years because every year great players come into college, play for a year maybe two, then jump to the NBA. According to http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/preview2007/columns/story?columnist=katz_andy&id=3092147&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab4pos1 a player must be one year out of college and at least nineteen years old before he can jump to the next level. That means that he will have one year of college under his belt which is nothing. The NFL makes you go to college for three years so with that rule at least if you get hurt in the league and cannot play you will be one year away from a degree so you have a backup plan. In the NBA if you get hurt and cannot play ever again you will have three more years before you can get a degree, it just doesn’t make sense. Another reason a college basketball player should stay for at least three years is because it will make the school more money. For example the Ohio State Buckeyes had two players last year with the names of Mike Conley Jr. and Greg Oden, both were in the top five of their freshman class. These two took the Buckeyes to the finals in their first year of school and barley lost to the Florida Gators who by the way had five starting seniors. The Buckeyes were making money hand over foot which was helping the University in more areas then just athletics but now that they left they won’t get to make all that money which is a real let down. Finally college basketball players should stay for at least three years because the ones who leave early rarely do well, once in awhile you will get that one sensational athlete like LeBron James who can handle it but for the most part the guys who make the leap don’t make it. If they were to go to college for three years they will be able develop a lot more which in turn will help them in the bigger picture. Basically what I’m trying to say is that basketball players who come out of high school should have to go to college for three years so they can develop their skills compared to the rule now where you only have to go for one.

72-0

I have played many sports in my life for both very good teams and very bad teams. I have blown kids out of the water and have had teams blow me out of the water. Although I have seen some crazy scores nothing compares, no wait, nothing even comes relatively close to a score of 72-0 in only the first quarter. With that score the question arises, did the coach (Barta) run the score up or is his team merely that good. I feel that it could go either way because first of all his team went for two point conversations on every touchdown they scored, there has got to be a point were you stop doing that because you are killing them but that’s just me. Although most think he was probably running up the score because of this fact I must say I don’t think he had intentions on getting that out of hand. According to http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/highschool/news/story?id=3088759&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab5pos1 Smith Center High School has a record of 269-58 for the last thirty years, they have won six state titles, they are on a fifty game winning streak, they have outscored their opponents by an average of 71-0 with a total score of 640-0, did I mention they haven’t had to punt all season either. The Redmen’s are no joke when it comes to football. If you can imagine the Patriots or the Colts in the NFL, that’s what they are to their division, unstoppable. The team is just that good, plain and simple. Another reason I don’t believe they purposely ran the score up was because they had to keep their starters in to get some time. I mean they are in the state playoffs, it wouldn’t be right to just not play the starters because they are too good, how will they stay fresh? The coach of the opposing team said "There are absolutely no hard feelings. Roger has been around a long time and is a class act. This thing just snowballed on us and there was nothing we could do to stop it." That quote alone shows the score was not ran up because if he felt that it was he would have spoken his mind but he didn’t, that should tell you something. There is no way to possibly believe that Smith Center ran the score up because of those numbers alone and the reaction from the opposing coach. Next time someone brings this topic up around you and they say that Smith Center ran the score up, make sure you tell them these stats and watch how fast their opinions change.

Halloween In Athens

If you ask anybody around the country one of the top parties in America most of the time Halloween in Athens will come into the conversation. This party is by far one of the most popular parties around and it is also one of the most fun. The only problem is when you take a campus of about 20,000 people and then throw in another 50,000 random people you are bound to have some problems. I usually wouldn't mind everyone coming down for the weekend but it seems like everything gets trashed and the people trashing it don't have to deal with it, students do. Maybe the town of Athens should limit the people they let into campus that weekend. There would be a lot less trouble and a lot less violence. To me when all of these people come into the campus it takes away the family feeling we have here. Instead of seeing people you know all the time you just see random drunk idiots making a seen. Don't get me wrong, the party is a great time without a doubt, but not to sound cocky but it's just another weekend for us OU students. We do this all the time, this time we are just dressed up. Athens does a great job of keeping tabs on the campus making sure nothing to crazy happens, but it would be a lot easier if they just reduced the amount of people coming into town. Having so many people all the time really just gets annoying to. I am from Columbus Ohio and i go to something called Red, White, and Boom every year. It is the fireworks show the city puts on every year and it is held downtown. It is pretty much one of the craziest things that goes on. People from all around the city or even the state come to see it and there are nearly hundreds of thousands of people. It really takes the fun out of it though when you can't walk without running into someone. That is the same thing here on campus, all those people in a little place is just not fun.

How Can You Turn Down Five Million Dollars?

After the Yankees lost to the Indians in the playoffs the first question that arises in New York was will Torre be the Yankees manager next season. Some said yes and some said no, the question in general was really up in the air and couldn't have been predicted, the public would just have to wait and see what was going to happen. When the decision was finally made and it hit the press we all found out that Torre turned down a one year five million dollar deal to return to the Yankees next year according to http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3069115. Now should Torre have done this, was this the best decision? The answer is yes without a doubt for many reasons. First of all money is not a issue for Torre, five million dollars will not make or break this man considering he was with the Yankees for twelve straight years, not to mention the four world series titles which I'm sure he got a little of a bonus for. Secondly he didn't need to return to prove anything, he has done that already. It's not like he thought to himself "if I return next season I may be able to rebuild my career." This man is definitely going to make it to the hall of fame regardless of this year. The final reason he needed to turn down the offer is for respect. This man has done wonders for this team, he may not have won twelve straight titles but I think four is pretty good. The Yankees have no right to even question him returning next year but the fact they did just shows they didn't have much faith in him. Yes, they did offer him another year but that doesn't matter because it never should have been questioned. Overall Torre not returning next year was a great choice because he is a great manager so for a team to treat him like that is out of the question.

Torre's Future On The Lin

Joe Torre coach's one of the most hated team in sports history. He has led them to four world series out of six appearances according to http://blog.stats.com/2007/04/should_torre_be_on_the_hot_sea.html. Regardless of how many people hate the Yankees and Torre the question is does he deserved to be fired after losing to the Indians. My answer to this despite my hate for the yanks is no I don't believe so. He has led the Yankees to twelve straight playoff appearances (http://www.cbc.ca/sports/baseball/story/2007/10/10/mlb-yankees-torre-limbo.html?ref=rss) which is good no matter what team you are. The main reason I think his job is on the line is because he has some of the best talent in baseball but has been unable to use it to win a world series lately. The Yankees owner is a winner, he doesn't need to worry about money because he has plenty of it, he wants another championship. With all the talent he has I think he is totally right for wanting it too. Another reason I don't think he deserves to lose his job is because he has bonded so well with the teams top players such as Mario Rivera who says "I do not feel good about it, I do not see why they are even thinking it" (http://www.cbc.ca/sports/baseball/story/2007/10/10/mlb-yankees-torre-limbo.html?ref=rss). The fact of the matter is a good manager is supposed to win you games, which he does, a good manager is also supposed to get along with his athletes, which he does. I just think that this is a case of greed to some degree. Don't get me wrong, I don't think just because Torre has a good past is reason enough to keep him around but as long as he is making the playoffs every year that is good enough for me. There are managers who would kill to have a career like he has had, many of those managers have not even made it to the playoffs once and they still have jobs. I guess all we can do is wait to see how the whole thing plays out.

Is It Time For A Change?

Unfortunately for the Padres they are now heading home for the winter. Is it because they blew their last three games, all of which they had leads in? Could it be because they were up two runs in the bottom of the thirteenth inning and managed to blow that too? Regardless of these two very important point the real reason they did not head to a fourteenth inning against the Rockies is because of a blown call at home plate. The bang-bang call at the plate between Holliday and Barrett could have gone either way, unfortunately for the Padres it went the wrong way. The question now arises should instant replay be used in Major League Baseball? For me it is a very touchy subject because I lean both ways. The reason I feel it shouldn't be used is because baseball is a sport of of decisions, if you throw in instant replays then it takes away the chance of error because the umpires may never be wrong, this would just take away a lot of the excitement of the game. In reality though I do agree with putting in instant replays for this exact reason. A manager should be able to challenge certain calls just like the NFL does. The only thing they shouldn't be able to challenge would be balls and strikes but other then that anything goes. It wouldn't cost Major League Baseball that much to install the system either. According to writer Gene Wojciechowski of ESPN.com it only cost the NFL $9.5 million dollars to put high definition TVs in all NFL stadiums (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=wojciechowski_gene&id=3047023&sportCat=mlb&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab6pos1) This is merely pocket change for Major League Baseball. Many sports such as football, basketball, tennis, and nascar all have issued instant replay in their sport and all of which has seemed to have worked. Overall I feel that it would be a huge change in the game of baseball but I think it would be a change for the better. Yes, you will always have to "old timers" who may think it will ruin the game because that's how the game was made and that's how the game should stay, but how can you have all this technology and not make it available for the umpires to use? It is like when Jack Nicklaus complained that the new generation of golf was changing and the only reason that golfers such as Tiger were hitting the ball farther was because of the new age clubs, you mean to tell me Jack you wouldn't of used them is you had them? Installing instant replay could make the game that much better because now you would know that the call was right and the better team will prevail, not just get lucky.

Smoking The Reefer...

Michael Vick, how can you go from having the world to facing criminal charges? To me it doesn't make much sense but who am I to judge? A little less then a month ago all star quarterback Michael Vick was accused of staging dog fighting events at a property he owned in Smithsfield, Virginia. This may seem like a shocker because the first thing that runs through your mind would be "why is a millionaire quarterback going to go and do something so stupid?". According to http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/sports/usvick71707ind.html Vick payed roughly 34,000 dollars for this property were he trained, bred, and fought dogs for entertainment and for money purposes. If I were him I would have spent that money on a nice new car instead of a place to fight dogs but that's just me. After being charged Vick was suspended by the NFL until further notice (although it doesn't look like he will be back anytime soon). Now get this, Vick made a little bit of money here and there but I'm sure for him it was more for entertainment purposes but I bet if you ask him now he would agree that this entertainment was not worth losing $22 million of his signing bonus from the 10-year, $130 million contract he signed in 2004, this according to http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/08/24/michael.vick/index.html?eref=rss_topstories. So after all this, after the dog fighting charges, being suspended from the NFL and potentially never playing again, and most importantly losing so much money he decides to go and test positive for marijuana. According to http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3037175 Vick is confined to his home from 10am to 6pm daily and must take random drug testing to make sure he is not using illegal substances...OOPS!! Vick must also were a ankle bracelet so the police force knows were he is at all times, so basically he is on house arrest. Since he failed the drug test the judge can now take that into consideration in Vick's trial which is set for December 10Th. What it all comes down to is that Vick had blown it all, once a great quarterback and now a criminal.

Should Carr Step Down?

Michigan is a terrible team this year, plain and simple, nobody can argue that fact, but are they a bad team because of the players or because of the coach? Michigan is off to a 1-2 start, their one win coming after the way they handled Notre Dame this past Saturday. Unfortunately for Michigan, Notre Dame is not a great team either, they are worse then Michigan but that's another story. Michigan started the season 0-2 which according to http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070910/SPORTS08/709100347/1131/SPORTS0201 was the first time Michigan opened the season with two straight home loses since 1959. I personally am a die hard Ohio State Buckeye's fan but I am also a die hard college football fan and I will give credit where credit is due. In his prime coach Carr was a good coach, his teams were always in a national championship race and he got the nations top recruits as well as any other coach, I just think that age is setting in for him, sometimes you just have to know when to say enough is enough. He had 26 returning seniors to the team according to the roster on http://www.mgoblue.com/roster.cfm?section_id=258&top=2&level=3. Two of these seniors go by the names of Chad Henne and Mike Hart. For those of you who don't know these two athletes were the number nine and number five in the pre season Heisman trophy race as seen on http://www.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/stories/012307aai.html. Another interesting thing about these two is that both of them could have skipped their senior year and went pro but no, they came back to win a national championship and beat Ohio State. How do they expect to do that if they can't even beat a one AA team? This is a perfect example of why Carr should step down because he is really just hurting the program. Michigan is not the type of team to fire a coach midway through season and I agree with them on that one, he has been with the program for so many years at least let him go out with some class. What it comes down to is Michigan's problem is not their players, it's their coach. At the end of this season regardless of the record the athletic director for Michigan needs to give Carr the option to retire and if he refuses then give him the boot, after that they can hire a younger coach and try to rebuild the team and get Michigan back to a championship caliber team, maybe they can even beat Ohio State someday...although they shouldn't count their chickens before they hatch.

Cheating In Sports

The Patriots without a doubt have some of the greatest players in the NFL, I don't think anyone could argue that but now the question is are they cheaters? To me I think it's a matter of opinion. Some will say they have been cheating for years and didn't deserve any of their Superbowl rings and some will argue it doesn't really matter because they are a great team regardless. Anyone who watches football knows that the Patriots would have won the game against the Jets hands down without a doubt. They were the better team and it doesn't take a sports analyst to know that. Now when it comes to the punishment against the team that's a whole different argument. According to http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=nfl&id=3018762 the fines against the team was that Coach Belichick was charged 500K and the team would be fined 250K. Also if the team makes the playoffs they will lose a first round draft pick. To me i don't think that money is the issue. Even though this was the biggest fine in NFL history it is only a small amount of money out of Coach Belichicks expected 4.2 millions dollar salary in 2007, this according to http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3019472. I don't even think that the team losing their first round draft pick really matters either due to the fact the team is practically full of superstars. The real issue for Belichick is his reputation. All of the Superbowl's he has won and will win in the future are now always going to be questioned and his legacy as a coach is now tarnished forever. All the Patriots can do at this point is go out for the rest of the season and do what they need to do to try and win a Superbowl and only hope that this whole thing is forgotten about.

Overpaid?

Athletes make a lot of money, nobody can deny that, but are they really overpaid? To me athletes earn every dime they make because they are able to sell themselves. They put in their time everyday to make themselves better for the fans entertainment. If people are going to spend loads of money on jerseys and tickets to the game then that's their own fault. The athletes are not stealing their money (well most of them are not) so why do they get blamed for making to much of it. Anyone who says they make to much money would take that paycheck in a heartbeat. Many people don't look at the entire picture either, they just think that the athletes have it made, they don't understand what it's like to be on the road all the time. They don't know that they hardly ever see their family or that every time an athlete goes out for something as simple as getting dinner with their wife the amount of people that ask for their autograph. Now don't get me wrong, all those problems are somewhat eased when they get that paycheck but money isn't everything. I guess what I'm trying to say is don't say an athlete doesn't do anything to earn those millions of dollars. Just remember that they had to put in a lot of time in their younger years to get to the point they are at right now.

Writing Experience

I feel that writing is a way to express your opinions or to help state facts. Though not all writing is always exciting it is still important in its own way. It is a great way to express one feelings and a good way to try and persuade someone to have the same feelings on a topic you do. Writing to me can be boring at times but I only feel that way if I am forced to write on a topic that I do not take interest in. My favorite types of writing would be anything fictional that I get to make up off the top of my head and be as creative as I want to be. The other type would be sports related writing. I can read or write anything about sports because I have such a great interest in them.