A's Pitcher dies

At just 28 years old, Oakland A's pitcher, Joe Kennedy, died the morning after Thanksgiving. He died early in the morning at his home in Florida while with his family. Although, the exact details of his death are not known, he was reported to have passed out and then rushed to the hospital.

The president of the Blue Jays, where Kennedy used to play, said that Kennedy was supposed to be the best man in a friend's wedding today. This just makes the story that much more sad.

Joe Kennedy started his season with the A's as a started but got moved to the Bullpen. On August 4 he signed with the Diamondbacks and over the course of his career he has played for 7 teams. Blue Jays president said that they were interested in reaquiring Kennedy.

How a seemingly healthy athlete can die at 28 is a mystery. Maybe he was under a great deal of stress due to changing teams and perhaps being a best man. But its his seventh team he's played for and he is out of season. I don't feel that stress was an issue in this case. But it's such a sad story when a person with a career in front of him and a young family passes at such a young age.

Bonds Indicted

Barry Bonds, all time leader in home runs in Major League Baseball, was indicted on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice charges. "I've never seen these documents before," Bonds said, speaking before a federal grand jury investigating the Bay Area Lab Co-Operative, or BALCO, after he had just been shown what prosecutors say was a positive steroid test conducted on a player with the name Barry B. Bonds simply repeated, "I've never seen these papers." These results may be the key result to proving that Bonds lied under oath, giving him the charge of obstruction of justice. "Bonds' lawyers are expected to fiercely attack their reliability, much the way O.J. Simpson's legal team undermined the football star's murder case by questioning the handling of his blood samples." Michael Rains, who is Bonds' attorney, offered no comment on the subject. However, Victor Conte, founder of BALCO offered his own insight to how his legal team would cast their doubts on the evidence. According to Conte, a convicted steroids dealer, Barry Bonds came into the lab on Saturdays, always after regular business hours, with a group of men that included his trainer (Greg Anderson) and his personal physician (Dr. Arthur Ting).

Anderson had convinced Bonds that BALCO would develop a dietary and supplementary regimen, which Conte had designed based solely on the results of past blood and semen results. The only thing that the indictment does NOT say is WHERE the prosecutors obtained the results, only that they were obtained when federal agents raided Conte's lab back in September of 2003. "There is always an opportunity to attack that kind of forensic evidence through its chain of custody," said attorney William Sullivan, who recently won an acquittal for former federal prosecutor Richard Convertino on an obstruction charge alleging he withheld evidence in a terrorism trial in Detroit. "You look at how the evidence was preserved, who handled it," Sullivan said. "You can even attack the analysis itself. Conte said, "I don't think you can prove those were Barry's samples." So as of now, there is no way the jury can prove to anyone that Bonds has used steroids. Until they can, there is nothing that they can do. He will still be allowed to play baseball, and won't have to worry about the maximum 30 years in prison just yet, just how to prove that those results are either tainted, or not his at all.

Final games brings much anticipation

So the final week of regular season college football is upon us.

There are two games this Saturday that will make or break the year for me. First of all, Purdue University vs. Indiana University. This game is important to because I am a student at Purdue University and of course IU is our rival. It’s the bucket game and this is what the season boils down to. I’m pretty confident in Curtis Painter’s ability to make this a good game. Dorien Bryant and the rest of the team have been pulling their slack for the most part over the couple of weeks. They did better than I expected against Michigan State. I can’t blame the team for anything bad over the last couple weeks. If I were to place blame, it would be upon the coaching staff and the of course the referees.

The second game that has me in major anticipation for this Saturday is the University of Michigan vs. Ohio State University. Being that I’m not from Indiana, I don’t completely feel the rivalry that most native “hoosiers” feel between Purdue and IU. Therefore, I get excited about beating IU, but not THAT excited. However, despite being born and raised in Illinois, I have been a Michigan fan for most of my life. I go to Ann Arbor about once a month and love it there. And, as any Michigan fan does, I hate Ohio State. I can’t deny that they are good. I just don’t like them. So this weekend will be interesting. I wouldn’t be as riled up for it as I am if Ohio State didn’t lose last week to University of Illinois. This shows that Michigan does have a shot since they beat Illinois just a few weeks ago. Last week Michigan lost to Wisconsin, but I think that both teams want this not just because they hate each other but to compensate for their losses last week. Hopefully, Henne and Hart will be fully healthy and ready to go for the game.

So as the final week approaches us before the bowl games, there is a lot to be excited for. Hopefully Michigan and Purdue pull through for me.

NFL allows ejections for hard hits

A new rule instated by the NFL is allowing players to be ejected from the game for helmet to helmet hits. There were two fines that foreshadowed the making of this rule. These fines ranged in amount from $15,000 to $21,176.

These hits are illegal because of how dangerous they are to the players head and neck. There is a high rate of concussions because of these helmet to helmet hits.

I think this new rule will be great for football. One of the main concerns in the sport is the high rate of injuries including concussions. One of the worse things to do is watch a player being carried off the field on a stretcher. Fining a player won’t really teach him a lesson. With the amount of money football players make, a few thousand dollars won’t even make a dent in his bank account. However being kicked out of a game or being suspended would hurt a player more because they’d have to watch their team compete with out them. It’s like letting down your team. Being suspended or kicked out of a game is also very embarrassing for the player.

Hopefully this will teach players how to act more fairly so fewer players get hurt.

Adrian Peterson Breaks Another Record

Adrian Peterson is a record breaking machine. Only eight games into the season, Peterson has already broken a multitude of franchise records for yardage throughout various points in the season and also single game performances. He’s already set and broken his own record for most yards rushing in a game. Last week, Peterson broke the NFL single game rushing record, originally held by Jamal Lewis since 2003, with a 296 yard performance against the San Diego Chargers. It’s important to note that all of this has happened in his first 8 games in his career. He already has 1036 yards rushing, a feat that some runningbacks don’t even accomplish in an entire year. He’s just about 300 yards ahead of the pace at this junction. Peterson’s highlight game came against the Chicago Bears. He gored the normally stingy Bears defense for 224 yards on 20 carries and 3 touchdowns. He broke a few franchise rookie records with this game; most 100-yard gain games and the longest touchdown from scrimmage, as well as a then-franchise record for yardage gained. After this game Deion Sanders , now an NFL Network analyst said the following about Peterson: "He has the vision of a Marshall Faulk, the power of a Terrell Davis, and the speed of an Eric Dickerson. Let’s pray he has the endurance of an Emmitt Smith.” It’s clear that Adrian Peterson is the real deal.

T.O. Terrorizes Eagles

Terrell Owens is still managing to be a disruption to the Philadelphia Eagles franchise. Last Sunday T.O. destroyed the Eagles secondary in a Cowboys blowout over the sub-par Eagles. Philadelphia had a chance to redeem it’s season and turn .500 last week but they just couldn’t cover T.O. who had 10 catches for 174 yards and a TD and lost with a final of 38-17 Dallas. We all remember the ruckus that T.O. caused two years ago when he criticized McNabb and head coach Andy Reid. For all that he put the organization through, two years later the crowd didn’t seem to give T.O. all that much trouble. Perhaps it’s because Philly is playing poorly this year and the fans are less enthusiastic, or maybe it’s just because they’re sick of giving T.O. so much attention. Either way, Owens was taunting the crowd more than they were taunting him. After his touchdown he even brought out his old celebration, flapping his arms like a bird.
Owens wasn’t the only reason that the Eagles lost on Sunday, and he wasn’t even the largest factor in the game. Tony Romo had an impressive showing after signing a 6-year, $67.5 million contract extension, completing 20 of 25 for 324 yards with 3 TD’s and 1 interception. An interesting fact for the game is that Romo was the only quarterback that the Eagles have not sacked this season. It was clear that McNabb’s day was not going to be very good after he fumble the ball on the Eagle’s first play from scrimmage. Dallas recovered and eventually turned the turnover into a touchdown.

Isn't This an Odd Injury?

Zach Thomas, middle linebacker for the Miami Dolphins, is about to miss his fourth game of the season this Sunday. On Sunday, the Dolphins will host the Buffalo Bills, but Thomas will miss the game due to recurring migraines. Not only will it be his fourth missed game this season, including two throughout the month of September. He participated in full-contact drills on Thursday, but was then held from practice on Friday, ultimately leading to his being ruled out for the game. The seven time Pro Bowler has been held back by migraines and concussions in former seasons, but this is only his 17th missed game in 12 seasons. Thomas hasn't played since the Dolphins' loss to the New England Patriots (28-49) back on the 21st of October. The reason he has been held up in playing since then is due to whiplash he suffered in a car accident he was caught up in on the drive home from that game. Head Coach Cam Cameron said, "That's the recommendation of our medical staff. He had a good practice yesterday (Thursday), but as we're finding out in these situations, one day isn't always indicative of the next day. ...He came in this morning (Friday morning) and things were not quite the same." It's just too bad that an injury such as recurring migraines are the reason for missing yet another game, but it's better to be safe than sorry when it comes to injuries, I've learned from experience. Hopefully he'll have recovered enough to play next week.