Sports

One of my favorite football players ever – Lawrence Taylor – has found himself in trouble with the law again.  The current allegations include prostitution and rape. While I hope that these allegations are not true, it would not surprise me if he is guilty.  As the article sums up so well, Taylor has always had a troubled life.  I wish he (and others who fall into this fame trap) would have someone next to him to help him make he right decisions in life.

Ex-New York Giant Lawrence Taylor’s arrest for rape sad commentary – Peter King – SI.com.

This might sound strange, but I don’t think the US Women’s short-track 3,000-meter relay team should have won Bronze. Stranger yet, I think they should hand the medals over the South Korean team. You might be asking why, so let me tell you.

The Chinese and South Korean teams were trading positions for first and second place for much of the race, with the Canadian team in third and the US team trailing half a lap behind. In fact, the US team never advanced from the fourth position during the race, and ended more than five seconds behind the Canadian team at the end of the race. With such a terrible performance, it required a miracle for them to earn a medal.

A miracle is what they received. With just a few laps left to go, the Chinese and South Korean teams reached the push-off point at the same time, with both skaters racing to the turn side-by-side. The Chinese team took the outside position and banked at the same time as the South Koreans. It was then that there was contact.

With the two ladies being so close and side-by-side heading into the turn, the Chinese racer clipped her skate against the South Koreans, as the South Korean skater took over the lead. The Chinese skater easily regained her footing, though it dropped her a fraction of a second behind the South Korean. This brief contact ensured the South Korean victory. After a few minutes of review, the judge ruled that the South Korean skater was in error, and disqualified the team.

I cry foul on this ruling. What was the South Korean skater suppose to do? Put on the breaks and let the Chinese skater pass? It was the Chinese skater that came from the outside position and cut in behind the South Korean, crossing her skate against her competitors. Not that there should have been a disqualification to begin with, but I would have faulted the Chinese team over the South Koreans.

Regardless of who was at fault, the US team performed so poorly, they should be feeling guilty about walking away with Bronze. While they worked so hard to enter the finals, and spent years in individual and team practicing to be their best, they were by far the weakest team on the ice. They should walk over the South Korean women and present them with the medals and be proud to do so.

On what is suppose to be an exciting and positive start of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, the day was instead hit by tragedy. Georgian Luger Nodar Kumaritashvili died today during a practice run. As he was completing one of his last turns on the run, Nodar was catapulted off of the luge tract and flew into an unprotected support column. At approximately 85 mph, such an impact is severe.

Why these columns were not padded or shielded to begin with is mind-boggling. In a world where safety is sometimes taken to the extreme, it is surprising that such a potential hazard was not addressed before hand. Not that it would have saved his life, but Nodar would have had a better chance of surviving that horrific accident.

Please keep Nodar and his family, his teammates, and the rest of the Olympians in your thoughts and prayers tonight and throughout the games.

If you don’t follow the New York Giants, then you probably don’t know who Steve Smith is. In his rookie year in the NFL, Steve Smith was a back-up Wide Receiver behind powerhouses like Plaxico Burress and Amani Toomer. In his second year, he picked up his game, especially after Burress shot himself in the leg. With both Toomer and Burress left the team before the start of the 2009 season, a lot of questions were going around as to who was going to step up and fill the void.

Steve, the “little” (relatively to the rest of the WR’s in the NFL) engine that could, broke out on the scene with 107 receptions, 1,220 yards, and 7 touchdowns. This is twice as many as the year before and became the go-to guy for Eli Manning. His trademark was running across the first-down line to make a quick catch, especially on third downs.

His quick rise on the Giants offense earned him consideration for this years Pro Bowl. Dressing up in the blue-and-white of the NFC’s pro team, Steve took the field with players such as Deshawn Jackson, Miles Austin, and more. While Steve participated in many plays, he only made one reception … but what a reception it was!

Darting down the sideline, Steve caught a 48 yard pass from Aaron Rodgers in the end-zone for a touchdown. As you can see from the video below, he turns around and backpedals to the goal line, catching the ball right between the numbers while facing down Denver Broncos’ Corner back Champ Bailey rushing right at him. The two make contact right when Steve catches the ball, with Champ falling on top of Steve as they fall to the ground.

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I don’t know if you check the NFL.com website to view game stats, but if you do you might have noticed a huge error.  Looking at the live game stats during the Pro Bowl, I noticed they had the divisional teams labeled incorrectly.  If you look at the screen shot below, notice the players listed under the divisional titles.

That’s right.  According to the NFL, Aaron Rodgers (Quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings) is a member of AFC.  The same holds true for Donovan McNabb, Quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles.  I wonder when they will notice their error.

If it wasn’t for the fantastic game between the Arizona Cardinals and the Green Bay Packers, I was going to say this Wild card Weekend of the NFL really sucked. The Dallas Cowboys / Philadelphia Eagles game was a no-contest. Once Dallas reached the two-score differential, it was all over. The New York Jets / Cincinnati Bengals wasn’t as close as the score reflects. The Baltimore Ravens dominated the New England Patriots on defense.

After the first quarter, I was ready to turn the game off. Green Bay was already behind by two scores and it seemed that Arizona was going to run away with it. However, when the second-half came around, it was a non-stop scoring blitz. After 60-minutes, the two teams accounted for 90 points and set the game into overtime. I was hoping for a continuation of the high-powered offense as was through the first 4 quarters, but alas, Arizona’s defense swiped the ball and ran it in for the winning score.

May the rest of the playoffs be as entertaining as the Packers game.

Bill Sheridan, the Defensive Coordinator of the NY Giants, has been shown the door 24 hours after the last game of the season.  Yes, the defensive has completely been horrible for much of the year, but still … his first season as the coordinator?  That is surprising.  I wonder which of the defensive players will be traded or cut this off-season as well.

Looking back at the games from my last rant on the Giants after week 7, the Giants went 3 – 6 … a terrible showing.  However, the were able to sweep the Cowboys and the Redskins, so that’s a highlight for the team.  Plus, Eli had his best year yet, so we do have hope for the next season.

If you haven’t heard yet, Cincinnati Bengals’ Wide Receiver Chris Henry passed away today following life-threatening injuries he received on 12/16/09. During a domestic dispute with his fiancee, he jumped into the back of her truck as she was driving away from her house. Soon after, he was discovered laying in the road after falling out of the trucks bed.

This tragic death marks the end of a challenging life Chris led during his college and professional football career. Between suspensions and ejections during college games, Chris had troubles finding a team to call his own. The Bengals ended up drafting him in 2005, hoping that they would be able to help Chris mature both in his role and character. He had a good start in his rookie year until suffering a season-ending knee injury. Chis was also arrested for possession of marijuana and driving without a license that year.

In 2006, Chris found himself in trouble over gun possession law violations and aggravated assault. His on-and-off field transgressions earned him a half-season suspension. 2007 was no better, with him getting in trouble for drunk driving as well as providing alcohol to underage women (one woman claimed she was assaulted, but later changed her story). The Bengals grew tired of the headaches Chris brought to the team, and waived him in the off-season.

He was given a second (or you might say third) chance when the team brought him back on board in 2008. The coaches and players observed a man in transition – trying to mature and put away his wild side. After his return, his run-ins with the law stopped, and his name disappeared from the headlines.

All seemed to be on the right track for Chris until he broke his arm during a game in November. Being placed on injured reserve meant he was without his team and support group, possibly leading up to the incident on Wednesday. As Bengals owner Mike Brown said today following the announcement of his death:

He had worked through the troubles in his life and had finally seemingly reached the point where everything was going to blossom. And he was going to have the future we all wanted for him. It’s painful to us. We feel it in our hearts, and we will miss him.

Our prayers go out to Chris, his children, his fiancee, and their families, as well as the Cincinnati Bengals.

By “suck,” I am referring to their lack of play over the past two weekends.  I can slightly forgive their loss to the Saints (since I was expecting the Saints to win anyway), but the Giants have allowed 600 passing yards, 196 rushing yards, 10 TDs, and 1 field goal without matching the output of their opponents.  You can’t be the “leading NFC team” with a performance like that.

Coming up, the Giants face:

Philadelphia – A must win to put some distance between their NFC East counterparts
San Diego – Philip Rivers and the Chargers are gaining momentum, making this game as tough as the Dallas game in week 2
Atlanta – One of the hottest teams going back to last year.  Not to be underestimated
Denver – Still undefeated, and probably as tough as the Saints
Dallas – Looking for revenge following their loss in week 2′s high-scoring battle
Philadelphia – If they are still in contention, they will bring all they have against Eli
Washington – Possibly their first opponent with a losing record at this point
Carolina – A team that has punished the Giants three years in a row late in the season or post-season
Minnesota – Bret Favre is looking for revenge from two years ago, and now he has Adrian Petersen to boot.

The Giants need to get their act together this week, or any chance at a repeat post-season will quickly slip through their fingers … like many of the passes last night.