But I can’t be shocked anymore.

Over and over and over athletes who seemingly have everything continue to ignore common sense and obvious laws while putting themselves in a variety of illegal, dangerous, and sometimes deadly situations.

I’m tired of it.

Sean Taylor’s incident COULD be a random robbery turned murder. But I’m not sure it is. A week ago someone breaks in and leaves a knife on your pillow and then 8 days later you’re dead. What’s going on here?

There is a culture among some athletes that only Tony Montana would be a part of. And that’s part of the issue, THE WORLD IS NOT YOURS. Al Pacino is an actor. Take the Scarface posters off your wall and look in a mirror.

In many of these tragic cases there is a long timeline of events where second chance after second chance is given and we continue to look the other way until finally something gives and we all act shocked.

Or we defend it as cultural lifestyle. Mike Vick was fighting dogs and Whoppi Goldberg was trying to tell me I didn’t understand, it was cultural. White America, you just don’t understand, it’s cultural to fight dogs it’s part of the “hip-hop community”.

This guy was killing dogs in his backyard and people were defending him.

Remember when Randy Moss was smoking dope and running over traffic cops? I do.
Or how about the Vikings Love Boat?

Is that cultural?

Please don’t misinterpret this as me attacking the African-American community. I am not.

I remember Mark Chmura hooking up with the babysitter and Paul Lo Duca’s high school sweetheart…except he wasn’t in high school. Mickey Mantle and Babe Ruth are celebrated for being drunken womanizers.

If you can hit, shoot, run, or tackle you can apparently do whatever you want.

And when pregnant girlfriends are killed, a fake #### aka the “Wizonator” is found in airports to dodge drug tests, and shots are fired in night clubs, strip clubs, and street corners we look the other way.

Ricky Williams quit football to get high all the time came back and got suspended AGAIN…yet there he was playing professional football this past Monday night.

Are we really shocked that NFL fans are drunken womanizers at Gate D of the Meadowlands? Why is this same behavior “just a part of NASCAR”?

When do we start to connect the dots?

These are not isolated incidents. “Gifted” athletes who make money for coaches, parents, communities, and advertisers are given get out jail free cards from a very young age.

But sometimes it catches up with you, sometimes you cannot get away with everything, sometimes you make your own bed.

Maybe the circumstances here are different, but I know one thing for sure.

Sean Taylor is dead.

Maybe THIS time it’s a wake up call.

80,295 fans packed into the sold out Sydney’s Telstra Stadium to watch one person show his magic on the 27^th of November, 2007. That person was David Beckham, and the fans got what they wanted. He scored a free kick from 25 yards out just before halftime to claw Los Angeles back into the game.

The game started off very evenly, with both sides attempting a few shots on goal. The David Beckham show started early, with him crossing the ball into the box for strikers to head into goal. That was not the answer, however, as the Sydney defense cleared the ball out. The first goal for Sydney came around the 20^th minute, off a LA free kick. Beckham attempted a shot on goal, but Sydney goalkeeper Clint Bolton safely saved it. He then threw the ball out to a Sydney F.C. player and seconds later, Juninho had the ball. He passed the ball through the Galaxy’s offside trap, letting Alex Brosque score the first goal of the game.

Sydney scored once again off Alex Brosque 6 minutes later, making it 2-0. Zadkovich scored once again off a Juninho pass to make the score 3-0 and to decide the game early. The Galaxy team seemed to slack off until halftime. However a Galaxy player was fouled 25 yards from goal. David Beckham striked the ball well and it hit the top left corner of the Sydney goal to make the score 3-1.

After halftime, it seemed that Sydney was now playing a different LA Galaxy team. Buddle scored at the 49^th minute to claw the Galaxy score back to 3-2. However Middleby (who was originally on the bench and was booed after it was announced he’d replace Juninho) scored against an unguarded goal to make the score 4-2. It was unselfish play from Brosque that made the score happen. Both teams both traded shot attempts again until a poor mistake by the Los Angeles keeper minutes from full time made the score 5-2.

#0 Cronin would have saved a simple shot from Sydney, but however he fumbled the ball, and Sydney defender Fyfe slotted the ball into the net for a 5-2 scoreline. Landon Donavon then showed some skill by running around Bolton for a final 5-3 goalline.

Middleby was yellow carded for a body check against Beckham; however Beckham slid under Middleby minutes later. They both exchanged comments and hugged. Beckham was also yellow carded for the incident.

When F.C.’s Santalab tackled Beckham, he was down for minutes and it seemed that he injured his left ankle. On the reply, it was obvious that Santalab couldn’t avoid contact and kept his cleats down. He was not carded for the incident, and Beckham was back to his best minutes later.

Zadkovich dangerously tackled Juninho on the 30^th minute. The Brazilian reacted and a small brawl broke out. Zadkovich received a yellow card.

A huge brawl broke out during the latter half of the second half. Harmes tackled Sydney’s Biddle, who then pushed Harmes over. But when Biddle was on the ground, Harmes stood on Biddle’s arm. I am not one to make assumptions, but it looked very intentional (if you look at the replay, Harmes takes a very unnatural and small step to stamp Biddle’s arm). Biddle was yellow carded while Harmes was sent off.

The game was huge in Australia. More than 80,000 fans turned out to see an exhibition Sydney F.C. match, whose average attendance until that point was a low 15,200. Alex Brosque received “Man of the Match” for his two goal, one assist effort while Beckham’s shirt was given to Juninho.

Match Details:

SYDNEY FC – 5 (Brosque 20‘, 26‘; Zadkovich 29‘; Middleby 54‘; Fyfe 87‘)

LA GALAXY – 3 (Beckham 45‘; Buddle 49‘; Donovan 90‘)

Crowd: 80,295 @ Telstra Stadium, Sydney. Referee: Mark Shield.

Sydney FC Squad: 1 Clint Bolton (gk), 2 Iain Fyfe, 3 Nikolas Tsattalios, 5 Tony Popovic (captain), 8 Ruben Zadkovich, 11 Brendon Santalab, 14 Alex Brosque, 16 Mark Milligan, 21 Adam Biddle, 22 Juninho, 23 Ufuk Talay.

Substitutes: 4 Mark Rudan, 7 Robbie Middleby, 9 David Zdrilic, 13 Ben Vidaic, 15 Terry MCFlynn, 20 Ivan Necevski (gk), – All substitutes were used. Out/rested: 10 Steve Corica, 28 Michael Beidges, 17 Jacob Timpano (injured), 12 Patrick (injured).

Los Angeles Galaxy: 1 Joe Cannon (gk), 4 Ante Jazic, 5 Chris Albright, 6 Kevin Harmse, 7 Chris Klein, 10 Landon Donovan, 14 Edson Buddle, 16 Kyle Veris, 20 Carlos Pavon, 23 David Beckham (captain).

Substitutes: 0 Steve Cronin (gk), 8 Peter Vargenas, 13 Cobi Jones, 19 Josh Tudela, 35 Lance Friesz (gk). Red Cards: Kevin Harmse 76‘. Out/Rested: 12 Troy Roberts, 15 Quavas Kirk, 21 Alan Gordon, 27 Michael Caso.

Written by Brendan X aka brennerdlinger of http://www.inthagame.net

To be fair to them, punting and kicking off is a fairly thankless task. Nobody notices when you do it well, they only notice when it goes wrong (yes, this post is inspired by the Broncos v Bears game last night!). The punter is the person who comes on when you’ve botched your drive and have to give the ball to the other team; there’s really no way he can get himself any glory. So how does he measure himself? He does it by the stats. Ok, that’s fair enough… that’s how everyone in US professional sports measures themselves. But the crucial point is, he measures himself by the WRONG stats.

Ask any punter (if you just happen to bump into one on the streets) what his stats are for the season, and I guarantee you they will tell you what their average punt length is, and what their longest punt is. Some smarter ones might also tell you their average net punt length as well, because they have noticed that there is a guy on the other team who always tries to catch the ball and run it back. These are the areas that they measure themselves in. It must be, because it is the only way I can think of to explain the way so many punters go about their work on the field. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen a punter in midfield boot the ball through into the endzone for a touchback instead of hanging a high ball in the air and forcing the opposition to fair catch or let it be downed by your special teams unit.

Is this because they aren’t skilled enough to kick with control, accuracy, or anything other than power? Compared to punters of previous generations the general standard has definitely taken a dive… the “coffin corner” kick is a dying art that will soon need a coffin of its own. But I don’t buy that they aren’t good enough. They just choose to go the macho route of kicking the ball through the endzone because they would rather have a 50 yard punt on their record than a shorter one. They want to be known as the guy with the big leg. What actually happens when you kick like this, as Todd Sauerbrun evidenced last night, is that you become known as the guy with the small brain.

What actually matters when punting or kicking off are:

1) average starting field position of the opposition

2) number of punts downed inside the opposition 20 yard line

3) number of returns for touchdowns

If you keep #1 deep, #2 high and #3 low, you’re doing the best job you can for your team. But if you ask your punter that you stopped in the street what his numbers are in these categories (assuming he hasn’t made his excuses and run off by now*), then they’ll gasp like you just pulled them tail-first out of a fishtank.

Yes, there are exceptions, but for most of the NFL punting/kick-off brethren it is this inability to grasp how to do the best job you can for your team that means we will keep seeing people hammer the ball into the hands of Devin Hester et al (followed 10 seconds later by waving goodbye to them on the 30 yard line) instead of kicking to the sidelines. Most of the ”big leg brigade” will continue to pound the ball as far down the field as possible at every opportunity regardless of the situation, in the mistaken belief that they can kick the ball far enough that Hester, Roscoe Parrish, Darren Sproles and co won’t be able to run it back. But they can, and they can change a game by doing it. A season even… the Sauerbrun v Hester match-up last night keeps Chicago in the play-off hunt (just about) and knocks a big hole in the AFC West hopes of a Broncos team with a tough schedule to finish out the season.  

The fast legs will defeat the big legs, unless the big legs start to use their brains.

- Dan T

* taking care of course to run just slowly enough that the chores are just about finished when he arrives home.

The Tony Romo Division
I started this when Tony Romo’s disaster in Seattle came into full fruition. You know, he sets his hands while awaiting for the ball to befit his position, and well, it all came to an ugly conclusion — he loses control the slippery ball, picks it up, jogs to the left trying to make a play for the end zone, and is taken down! It’s hurtful! And today, I know how it feels — how it felt to be a Cowboys fan in January. I’m a Rams fan, here in November.

The Rams were down by five (5) with a little over two minutes left after leadingby as many as 19 points in the first half. Gus Frerotte took a snap and threw a pass deep to Isaac Bruce that landed far from where his hands could have been (with the ball placed in them). A pass interference call was called on Deon Grant, and the Rams were inside the Seahawks’ 20. Moments later, they stepped into the 5.

Now think — how fun is that? Your favorite football team has a fresh set out of downs inside the five yard line, with barely over a minute to play in a game. The chances of winning look pretty lofty to me. First down, Frerotte takes the snap, has a wide open Bruce crossing the field across the goal line; Ferotte tosses the ball to Bruce, but it’s low and out of reach for the future hall of famer to garner.

The next play, Drew Bennett caught a pass was upended by several Seahawks’ defenders before he could make a move. On third down, Steven Jackson took a hand-off and reached the one where he almost broke loose into the end zone. Timeout taken by the Seahawks, followed by a timeout taken by the Rams.

This is it, right? The Rams should do it! 29 ticks left on the clock, and only one yard for the score! The Rams are going to reach their third straight win!

Unfortunately, the Rams did not reach their third win of the season. As Frerotte and the Rams lined up in a Pro Form, 3-wide set, he hiked the ball and instantly lost the handle. The ball wobbled out to the right, and he [Frerotte] frantically picked it up to run for a second or two before being taken down by a horde of Seahawks.

I didn’t say one word. I didn’t yell. I didn’t cuss. I didn’t do anything. I’ve seen this situation so many freakin’ times already in my life, what was it for me to whine about it? But again, it was a heartfelt emotion that cast over me.

It was just like Dallas’s loss to Seattle in the playoffs. Except the playoffs were not on the line (except that Seattle is having a bout with Arizona) and the Rams weren’t lining up for a chip shot of a field goal. They were simply lining up on 4th down at the 1-yard-line with 29 seconds left to go in the game. The pressure on to man up against the opponent and drive them into the end zone. Frerotte missed Bruce in the end zone. Jackson only received the ball once in the trip inside the five.

One word: Disgusting

An athlete, is paid to have fun. He is paid to play something he grew up loving, it is a dream job. He spends almost as much time as a normal working person, but, in the end, he is just full of gaiety, doing what he loves best, and making a hell of a living out of it.

What is the difference? There would be none, if athletes got paid less than an average working person.

OK, it is not the biggest deal in the world if a top athlete was getting a couple million dollars in a year. I understand that. The teams need to pay that kind of money to get a player. But when you look at a guy like Barry Zito, heck, he was never even that good in my opinion, and he got $126 million! And people go insane when they win 126,000 dollars! It just doesn’t seem right to me, athletes getting paid too much.

Now I know there will be a lot of comments on this post saying that I am wrong- But just think about it.

I hope to hear comments from this blog not just saying that the idea was stupid, I am wrong, etc. I want to hear your thoughts- Why should athletes be paid so much? Why can they get more money than people who work hard, doing things much harder than playing basketball, or lifting weights.

These past games, the Nuggets have began their season and are now 9-4. Sure you can credit it to the studs like Carmelo Anthony, Allen Iverson, and Marcus Camby who deserve a lot of credit, but so far this year a good part of our wins have been because of our “Scramble Squad”. The scramble squad consists of Linas Kleiza, Eduardo Najera, JR Smith, and Bobby Jones. Yes, that was my thesis.

Linas Kleiza is the second year man out of Mizzou who really started earning his stripes towards the end of last year where he got sizzlin’. He is either hot or freezing from beyond the ark, but when he is on, he is on. He is a hustle guy, but is overshadowed by Bobby Jones and Eddie Najera. This year he is averaging 10 point a game which has been big for us in a lot of our wins.

Eddie Najera is arguably the biggest hustle guy in the league, besides THE RYAN BOWEN, (who I think I could beat in around the world.) He hasn’t been earning his minutes with just his dive ’til I die mentality though, he now officially is a three point threat. Yes, I said three point threat. He actually has the highest percentage on the team at .438, and it isn’t just because of a few why not heaves.

You might know JR Smith as the lose cannon who can throw down some “goddamn slams’”, but he also has a three point shot and has been hustling in the 10 games he has played. Here in Denver, the announcers now call him the “One Man Comeback” and he got that for a reason. On several occasions last season, and once this season he has took over the game when our players were playing horrible and sparked them with either a few threes or a big dunk that ultimately let to a victory.

Bobby Jones. Who the fuck? I like to call him Najeraesuqe. A big hustle guy who can be wild at times, but also is a good defender who is all over the place. This is just a developing player, kind of the foster child in the family, with JR being the fresh out of juvy brother, Linas the new dad (formerly Reggie Evans) and of course Najera the stay at home do everything involving cleaning mom. That was most definitely random, but it got the point across.

This team brings the spark off the bench every game and if one of them isn’t clicking, maybe even two, the others are bringing it their all. People say the Nuggets don’t have good enough role players to go far in the playoffs, I say crack open an egg and watch the scramble squad go apeshit.

The ballots for MVP and Cy Young awards are cast at the end of SEPTEMBER, when the regular season schedule concludes. Yet there are more games still to come in October; and not just any old games either, but the most important games of the season for the 8 teams still in action. Isn’t this sort of high-pressure, last chance saloon situation where a player’s real value to his team is tested, where the greats shine brighter than the rest – on the days where if you fail to perform today, there will be no game tomorrow? So why is October action not taken into account in awards voting? 

Let’s forget Holliday and Rollins for now and look instead at the AL Cy Young race. It was a very tight one all the way through the season, but by the end of September there were really only two plausible winners – C.C. Sabathia and Josh Beckett (no disrespect to Messrs. Wang and Lackey). It was so tight you may as well have tossed a coin for it (and I suspect some members of the voting panel did). I confess that I personally was leaning towards C.C. at that point, so I will forgive the voters for ultimately giving him the award. But by the end of October, there could be no doubt in any baseball fan’s mind which of the two they would rather have on the mound this year when the glare of the lights is at its brightest and the camera’s scrutiny is keenest.

Sabathia’s October saw him issuing walks like he was handing out flyers on a street corner, lasting barely 5 innings per start at a horrible ERA. It looked like he was auditioning for the lead role in Kei Igawa’s life story.

Beckett in contrast won all 4 of his starts, throwing 30 innings at a cost of only 4 runs total, with only 2 walks.

By the end of October, the neck-and-neck race, the coin toss, had been decisively settled in Beckett’s favour in the mind of most fans - but inexplicably voting had already taken place and someone else is now wearing his crown. And if voting had been held at the end of October, Matt Holliday’s impressive post-season at the helm of the Rockies charge to the World Series (incidentally, sweeping past Jimmy Rollins’ Phillies en route) would have seen him edge Rollins by a nose for the NL MVP title. I guarantee it.  

So why does the voting system continue to treat the games that matter the most of all as if they don’t matter one bit? Why, when the eyes of the entire baseball world are watching, have the eyes of the voting panel already been sealed? I have heard some say that it would be unfair to players of the 22 other teams whose season ended on September 30^th. That’s just nonsense. All those teams had the opportunity to reach the postseason when the season began in April, had they performed well enough. If their players had given enough ‘value’, they would be playing in October. Really, if a club fails to reach the play-offs, how much ‘value’ can any of the players truly be said to have added? You are either IN the play-offs, or OUT of them. Missing out by ½ a game or by 30 games adds up to the same thing – you’re OUT. There’s no prize for getting close. So this whole notion that we should be penalising the players who got their clubs into postseason action by ignoring their excellent performances under awesome levels of pressure, just to “be fair” to those who didn’t play well enough to reach the October limelight, just doesn’t wash with me.

Sort it out Bud. Because if every game isn’t taken into account in the judging, then the awards can never really wind up having the meaning and prestige that they should.

 - Dan T

The Rose Bowl is theirs (I’m satisfied with that.). If UConn, Missouri and Oklahoma win the right games, OSU could play in that bogus BCS championship.

I don’t really care. I like the old, all bowls on New Year’s day thing. I watched the BCS championship game twice. The Buckeyes played in both. Otherwise, there’s no earthly reason to watch football until midnight.

The Browns still have football to play and they are playing in the fun-to-watch division. This year, the last six Browns games will all get attention. That hasn’t happened in a while.

Maybe it’s never happened for this expansion team that I pretend are the original Browns. The original Browns were mass murdered by Art Modell. Send that asshole to the underground bunker with a tumbler of cyanide.

The Browns only lost one game they were supposed to win. That was Oakland*. I was hoping Cleveland would split with Pittsburgh and Baltimore. Well, we’re 2-2 but no splits – no division championship. Sweeping Baltimore says things are changing for the better. Damned near going into OT with the Steelers is some sort of good news. They will sweep the Bengals, end up with at least 10 wins and make the playoffs.

Here’s the rest of the Browns season:

Win: 12 Sun, Nov 25 Houston 1:00 PM Cleveland Browns Stadium
Pick ‘em: 13 Sun, Dec 2 @ Arizona 4:05 PM University of Phoenix Stadium
Lock of the week: 14 Sun, Dec 9 @ NY Jets 4:15 PM Giants Stadium 15 Sun,
Win: Dec 16 Buffalo 1:00 PM Cleveland Browns Stadium
Win: 16 Sun, Dec 23 @ Cincinnati 1:00 PM Paul Brown Stadium
Win: 17 Sun, Dec 30 San Francisco 1:00 PM Cleveland Browns Stadium

We’re calling the Cardinals game a pick ‘em. Arizona is the only remaining opponent that may be able to outscore them. In the other five games, the Browns win unless they lose the game with a billion false starts. Buffalo is the scary one: who’s going to play QB and will Lee Evans show up?

OK, Steelers fans, take the bait.

Jack Lambert is inbred and Lynn Swann is a pretty boy.

* Not surprising. The Browns do not, never have and may never travel to the West Coast well.

- Troy Sparks

Isiah Thomas. One of the great basketball players, but he was not meant to be a coach. Dolan has to realize it is time to move on. Isiah Thomas will never be a successful basketball coach. He just does not have it in him. He does not know what type of players to have on his team (the only players he likes are the tall and athletic) and shows too much trust in what he thinks is right. The whole team is bullshit. Coming from a big Knicks fan, I am willing to admit that Isiah sucks. He should have been gone when he lost the sexual harassment case.

Last night, when the Knicks were getting killed, ready to lose the 7th game in a row, the boo birds finally came upon Isiah, as well as several chants of “Fire Isiah!”

Fans want Isiah out fast, really fast.

And now, Stephon Marbury, in love with himself, and his stats. He didn’t work out for the Nets, the Suns, or any other team. He is not a winner. Sure, he will get 20 points and 5 assists in a game, but is that really what a Point Guard is supposed to do? His responsibility is to create for other players, he is not supposed to be the one getting all the credit. He is the guy who is supposed to be scoring 8 points and getting 12 assists.

Stephon finished with a team high 18 points last night, while only getting 5 assists. Good game for a shooting guard, bad game for a point guard.

He started the whole controversy with Isiah because of being benched one time, which was a good move by Isiah, why should he still be a Knick anyway? He threatened to blackmail Isiah in an interview. He looks good on the outside with the whole Starbury thing, but inside, he is a straight up jerk. That is all he is.

If Isiah goes, he goes, cause Isiah is the one who brought him in. He is the one who put all the faith in him.

Get both of them out, maybe the Knicks won’t lost 20 games in a row, like they are on track to do right now.

-umenyiora of In Tha Game