Good day for Chicago Baseball as the Sox and Cubs both celebrate wins

Despite having what can rightfully be called a horrible season, the White Sox have something to celebrate: Jim Thome has hit career homerun 504. The Sox’s win today against the Minnesota twins has put them out of last place and ahead of the Kansas City Royals in the American League Central division. Along with Thome’s homerun, rookie Jerry Owens, went 5 for 6 at bats with 3 runs batted in. Every member of the team also reached base at point or another during the game. Javier Vasquez only gave up one run in the first 5 innings. Too bad all this came so late in the season because none of this means a thing for the ball club as we enter the last week of the regular season except for that the White Sox might not end up last place in their division and probably won’t finish with the worst record in the sport.
Meanwhile, the Cub’s win today against the Pittsburgh Pirates helped to boost confidence that they will be around in the post season. Soriano hit a homerun to right field in the second inning as well as another one in the 5th inning and hit a double in the 7th. They now have a 2 game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers who earlier in the season seemed unstoppable. The Cubs have seven games left to play and can hopefully keep of the competition for another week.

Water polo: Boiler Invite

So today marks day one of the Boiler Invite, which is the Purdue Men’s water polo tournament. It is obviously a lesser known sporting event on campus and I believe the team deserves at least a little recognition every once in while. The started the tournament off this morning at 8 o’clock with a game against Iowa. What they thought would be an easy win turned out to be a brutal battle that they lost. Due to the loss of a starter in the 2nd quarter of the game, things didn’t go quite the way they planned. This lose came as a shock to the men and. The men’s B- team with a little help from a couple of the Purdue Women’s team members, played Indiana University and University of Illinois and lost to both teams. Later in the day, the men’s A team played Illinois B team and won. Later tonight, both the A teams and the B team will be playing at 8 o’clock and 9 o’clock respectively. Tomorrow the final games will be played however not much is expected out of the Boilermaker’s because of their early lose to Iowa. Grand Valley is expected to take the title but upsets are always a possibility.

Ironmen are CRAZY

So this weekend I got to see what I consider the most extreme sporting event in the world, the Ironman triathalon. I know that this may not fall under the category of “Sports Issues” but I believe that ironmen and women are deserving of a little bit of spotlight. Of course I didn’t compete but my brother, Dave, and my cousin, Jon, did. After driving 2 ½ hours at 3 o’clock in the morning, I woke up with the rest of my family to watch Dave and Jon swim 2 ½, bike 112, and run 26.2 miles. This event took place in Matoon, IL where flat land and no hills are a safe bet. The name of the race was the Great Illini Challenge. It took competitors between 10 hours and 24 minutes and 17 hours and 12 minutes to finish. Dave took 11 hours and 32 minutes to complete the ironman and he finished 11th in overall and 2nd in his age group. Jon finished 24th overall. for an ironman involves swimming, biking and running everyday. Running 20 miles a few times a week is not out of the ordinary along with a few centuries, or 100 mile bike rides, mixed in. The ages of competitors ranged from 21 to 61 years of age and the winner was a 50 year old man who finished 12 minutes ahead of the second place finisher. Something I learned recently is that there is a difference between and Ironman triathalon and an ironman distance triathalon. Ironman triathalons are sponsored by Ironman Corporation. Dave and Jon competed in an ironman distance triathalon which is the same distance but the only difference is that it isn’t sponsored by ironman corporation. Ironman sponsored triathalon’s are found all over the world in many different countries and a few states in the U.S.

There are many risks that come with competing in an ironman and it most definitely isn’t for anyone. Many people could train for as long and as hard as possible but when it comes to competing in a 12 hour race, serious injuries can occur. Fortunately, at the race last weekend no one was seriously injured however many people were not able to finish. Finishing an ironman is a large enough accomplishment and often times the competitor doesn’t even care about their finishing place. Seeing these men and women push their bodies to such a limit made me admire them incredibly.

Former Pros Seek Help from Congress

The NFL players union has asked Congress to help solve a dispute between injured retired players and the NFL. Many players have had their careers end because of costly injuries sustained while playing the physical sport. Gene Upshaw, director of the NFL players union has said that the organization is limited in what they can do to help these former players in the present. They wish to go to Congress in order to be able to provide more and better care for the retired players. The reason that the players union has finally gone to Congress is because these retired football players have been openly critical of the amount of money older retirees get from a 1.1 billion dollar fund that was made for pensions and injuries or disabilities. Many of these former pros suffer from mental illness, caused by multiple concussions and head injuries. There are also many that are handicapped from career ending injuries suffered while battling on the gridiron. Mike Ditka argued that the older generation of players that helped build the league to what it is today should be treated better. He says "Don't make proud men beg. Just let them live out their lives with a little bit of respect." They feel that the money is there to help solve the problem, yet it is not being utilized correctly. It appears that Congress may lend a hand to fix this problem, as John Kerry is already willing to offer legislation if the problem is not fixed soon. It would only seem fitting if the forefathers of modern football are treated with respect and help is given to those who need it.

Penn State Has Mind Set on Revenge

For the last eleven years, Michigan's football program has absolutely dominated the Penn State Nittany Lions. However, this year, they're only 1-2, only beating the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, who are slipping into the cracks and are highly doubtful to make any kind of a comeback this year. The Nittany Lions on the other hand, are kicking the crap out of their opponents. They've outscored their opponents this season 135-34 (have held their opponents scoreless in the second quarter), their closest win being by 21 (against both Notre Dame and Buffalo), and their largest margin of victory was in their first game of the season, where they absolutely hammered Florida International University 59-0. Comparing averages, obtained from the Penn State football website, their opponents have only scored a mere 11.3 points per game, while the Lions have dominated with 45 points per game! I don’t know about you, but Penn State is a powerhouse this year, and as long as their crowd keeps doing what they do, then they have a good chance of going undefeated. I am unhappy I have to say this, as I am a HUGE Purdue football fan, and we play them in six weeks time, AT Penn State! That’s the worst part of it.

Anyways, back to this week’s game. Mike Hart, running back for the Wolverines, is going to have one hell of a time trying to get his job done. Penn State’s defense has only allowed 53 TOTAL yards of defense, an average of only 17.7 per game. On the other hand, the Lions simply stuff the ball down their opponents’ throats, with a total of 591 yards, with an average of 197 per game! I don’t care who they’re playing against, that’s simply ridiculous! The only way I can see the Wolverines getting even decent yardage is through the air, as Penn State and their opponents are pretty much equal, with the Lions out-passing by only 46 yards (646-600). Whether it’s passed to Mike Hart, Adrian Arrington, or even Mario Manningham, they have to complete the passes, or they are SCREWED. The Lions have a big advantage, as the Wolverines’ starting quarterback, Chad Henne, is out with an injury, and they are starting a freshman, being Ryan Mallett. We’ve all seen how Notre Dame’s choice of starting a freshman at the quarterback position has gone, the Wolverines’ had better pray to god that that doesn’t happen to them as well. He’s only got 2 games under his belt, one of them against Oregon, who obliterated them, 39-7, and held Mallett to a mere 49 yards passing, and kept him from breaking surface rushing with -16 yards, giving him only 33 yards total offense.

If Michigan plays how they did against both Appalachian State and Oregon, they aren’t going to survive the first quarter, let alone the entire game. If they can manage to take it up another step or two from how they played against the Fighting Irish, however, they might, might, have a chance to stay in the game. I’m going to go with my gut on this though, and predict that Penn State is going to win by at least a touchdown, possibly two. The way they’ve played this season shows me that they’re here to stay, here to compete for a second Big Ten title in three years. And they are most definitely going to go down without a fight, that's for damn sure.

Jets Accused of Cheating

For the past two weeks, the Jets couldn’t stay out of the controversial spotlight. The first week the Jets were involved with the notorious New England scandal. This past week the Jets were the bad guys according to Baltimore Ravens coach Brian Billick. Billick accused the Jets of trying to cheat the snap count while the Ravens were on offence.
The Jets supposedly shouted out fake and misleading snap counts while on defense to mislead the Ravens offensive line. This led to 3 offside penalties for the Ravens offensive line throughout the game. When asked about this after the game Billick commented "That's not an excuse by any stretch of the imagination. But it is illegal. Our guys have to deal with it. I don't know how to help my linemen with that because, you're in the heat of battle and you're calling the snap count, and the guy across from you is also calling a snap count - which is illegal." This all becomes a mute point, because even with these accusations the Ravens still won the game 20-13. The Ravens had 11 penalties throughout the entire game accumulating for 110 yard, while the Jets had only two penalties for 10 yards. Billick was also bitter of that last statistic saying "You have to look at the nature of the penalties. First off, the fact that we had 11 penalties and they only had two and we dominated the game," Billick said. "I have a hard time understanding that the team that was playing so well and dominating had so many penalties and the other team had only two." For the last game the Jets told on the Patriots for cheating on them, this week the Ravens tattled on the Jets for cheating on them. How’s this going to work next week?
~picture of Coach Billick from the Ravens website

Mark Bell Suspended - what does this mean for professional sports

Mark Bell, a Toronto Maple Leafs forward, was suspended Wednesday September 12 after he was involved in a hit and run while intoxicated. His suspension will last 15 games without pay. The left wing pled no contest to both drunken driving and hit and run charges. Bell is currently in Stage 2 of the NHL’s substance abuse program; after being suspended indefinitely on Sept. 4, his suspension will begin once he’s cleared to return by the program’s doctors. The former Chicago Blackhawk and San Jose Shark will face 6 months of jail time at the end of the 2007-2008 season. He may have the option to complete the sentence over the next two off seasons. What has happened to professional athletes? These players are supposed to be who America looks up to. Although Mark Bell is not a typical household name, he’s still a “professional” athlete. This story may not make the sort of impact of stories like Lance Briggs crashing his Lamborghini and abandoning it on the side of the road, but I believe that it still tarnishes the image of professional athletes as role models. If this becomes a new standard for how professional athletes act, respect and awe for these players will erode as well as the popularity of professional sports. I’m worried that all of this controversy surrounding professional sports as a whole will negatively affect the integrity of just playing the game. Mark Bell’s case is not as significant on its own, but combined with all the other crap that’s been happening in the last few years, could signal some darker days for sports fans unless the athletes participating don’t clean up.

Black Quaterbacks Face Tougher Criticism

Donovan McNabb, quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles, was given an interview on HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel”, stating that black quarterbacks in the National Football League “have to do a little bit extra” due to harsher criticisms. McNabb says that if he were to pass for 300 yards, and his team were to win by a touchdown, the critics would say, “Oh, he could have made this throw here. We would have scored more points if he would have done this.” I agree with this statement, because from what I’ve seen in interviews, and in newspaper articles after the games, the critics do typically point this out, asking why they didn’t do this, or why they didn’t do that. When McNabb was asked about quarterbacks like Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Carson Palmer, etc. are held to the same standards, McNabb replied “Let me start by saying, I love those guys. But they don’t get criticized as much as us. They don’t.” McNabb is one of six starting quarterbacks in the NFL, the others being: David Garrard (Jacksonville Jaguars), Vince Young (Tennessee Titans), Steve McNair (Baltimore Ravens), Jason Campbell (Washington Redskins), and Tarvaris Jackson (Minnesota Vikings).

In 2003, Rush Limbaugh of ESPN radio stated that he didn’t believe that McNabb wasn’t as good as perceived. “I think what we’ve had here is a little social concern in the NFL,” Limbaugh said. “The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well.” The thing that showed that he was wrong, I personally believe, is the fact that Limbaugh resigned from the show the following week. This, to me, shows that he knows he said something wrong. Instead of waiting for it to come back to him later on, he went ahead and resigned. This is the same sort of controversy that went on between the Rutgers’ women’s basketball team and Don Imus, of XM radio, for the most part. Imus said something considered racist toward them, and he ended up resigning from the station and, eventually, went to court over it.