The Easier Way Out

It was announced Friday that Manny Ramirez tested positive for using performance-enhancing drugs during spring training. This is the second time the slugger has been caught using the drugs and instead of facing the 100-game suspension, he has chosen to retire.

According to ESPN, Ramirez made the decision to retire instead of accepting the suspension as a means to avoid having Major League baseball "formally announce that he'd violated the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. Instead, MLB issued a release stating only that it had informed Ramirez of 'an issue' under that program..." Had Ramirez taken the suspension, he would have been the only player ever to receive two suspensions for a violation under the program that started in 2005.

Some sports analysts and fans are already talking about whether or not Ramirez is a Hall of Fame candidate. Although he did have 555 home runs at the time of his resignation, Ramirez broke the rules of MLB and when he received his consequences, he chose to take the easy way out to avoid stipulation. You have to remember that Ramirez had to have known this was coming when he made the conscious decision to use those performance enhancing drugs. And now when the big guys find out and want to punish him (for his second offense), he decides that he would rather run away from it all and avoid having them say he actually did it at all, by retiring. If using steroids and breaking the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program isn't reason enough to disqualify somebody for a Hall of Fame bid, I certainly think that retiring to avoid punishment is.

The Never Ending Lockout

With the NFL lockout seeming never ending at this point, the players and the owners still don't seem to be able to come to any agreements. However, in the midst of the trial to argue the legality of the lockout, the judge, Susan Richard Nelson, feels as though it is time to arrange for a "new collective bargaining agreement".

As ESPN reports, the primary purpose of the hearing is to "plea to the judge that the lockout be immediately lifted on the grounds that their careers are being irreparably harmed". Currently, the lawyer for the league is saying that he wants the players to continue playing so that the league can continue to produce games and that is what it is going to have to be before anymore steps are taken forward. While on the other hand, the lawyer for the players says that he will listen closely to what the judge recommends.

ESPN's NFL Insider, Adam Schefter, says, however, that regardless of the judges final ruling, whomever loses is going to automatically appeal so the end of this battle does not appear to be in the near future.

Personally, I feel as though the issues for this matter need to be resolved as quickly as possible, regardless of what the outcome is, otherwise the league is going to have to deal with the issue of numerous angry NFL fans in addition to the numerous NFL players who are out of work at the moment. Obviously, what the players and the league have been doing in attempts to create agreements has not been working. Therefore, maybe the league should listen to what the judge has to say in the hopes that it will get the players happy and playing and the league putting out games.

Freak Accident Poses a Harsh Warning

On March 6th, the face of the University of Georgia's baseball team suffered an injury that paralyzed him from the waist down, along with loss of feeling in his fingers. Johnathan Taylor, outfielder and leader of the Bulldogs team, collided with another outfielder injuring his C-5 and C-6 vertebrae. Upon being taken to the hospital, Taylor was taken into surgery where they found that he had not severed his spinal cord, meaning there is a larger chance for recovery.

Outfield collisions have become quite common in baseball; however, most players are lucky enough to avoid breaking their neck. Unfortunately, Taylor is among the unlucky few. Positively thinking though, initially Taylor was put on a ventilator and an electric wheelchair. Now he is able to push himself in a wheelchair and can breath on his own. He is also undergoing physical training to strengthen his muscles. As the video shows (http://espn.go.com/), the athlete in Taylor still wants to train regardless of his situation.

When something like this happens, it raises the question of whether or not players should be warned of freak accidents like this before becoming committed to the sport. With sports such as football and hockey, injuries are more common than not with the level of contact that is required, however, with baseball, player collisions and injuries are not the basis of the game. I am sure some athletes don't realize the horrid accidents that have happened in the past with certain sports and they should be aware of those risks. If it was me, though, those risks wouldn't be a huge factor. These athletes obvious love the sports they play enough to continue through college and thus a warning label won't stop them from playing. But injuries like these do make you open your eyes to the possibilities.

A Cinderella Story to Remember

Being that March is now behind us, does that mean the madness that goes along with it is too? As yesterday's unexpected Final Four games concluded we now look forward to the championship game wondering why and how Butler and UConn are the two teams left standing.

As the games began yesterday, I found myself wondering who I would be rooting for since Duke was out. And much like a lot of the basketball community, I couldn't help but cheer on VCU because of the fact that they were such an underdog and what a Cinderella story it would be. The Rams had an amazing run beating the number one ranked team, Kansas, in the Elite Eight. Unfortunately, they just couldn't keep the momentum going when they played number eight ranked Butler yesterday, coming up just short at 62-70.


In the 2009 College Basketball Encyclopedia, Pat Forde contributed a story about Cinderella stories. Now, in his blog, he explains how he wants to change his article on the issue by adding the VCU story as one of the best Cinderella stories ever. Here, he makes his case on the amazing season they had:

Their path to the Final Four: a 13-point victory over No. 11 USC; an 18-point victory over No. 6 Georgetown; an 18-point victory over No. 3 Purdue; a one-point victory over No. 10 Florida State; a 10-point victory over No. 1 Kansas.
Average margin of victory: 12.
Average seeding of defeated teams: 6.2.
Margin of victory is a clear indicator that VCU has had the most impressive run of the four. It has had just one life-and-death struggle to win, whereas the other three all had at least two games decided by five points or less.
By seed, the Rams played the weakest competition -- but they also played one more game than any of the rest, thanks to the advent of the First Four. Given an additional chance to lose, most lower-seeded teams would have.


In part because of VCU, this is the first time in history that the Final Four was without a No. 1 or No. 2 seed. VCU definitely surprised the basketball community and even though they didn't make it to the finals, they are the team that everyone will be talking about this year.

The Bonds Trial: Part Two

Leading Lawyers:
Susan Illston- U.S. District Court Judge
Cris Arguedas- Leading defense attorney along with Allen Ruby
Allen Ruby- Lead defense attorney who is one of the most successful lawyers in northern California
Jeff Nedrow- Assistant U.S. attorney
Matthew Parrella- Assistant U.S. attorney
Michael Rains- Criminal defense lawyer who was Bonds' lawyer in the grand jury investigation (could now become a witness)

Major Witnesses:
 

Bell



Kimberly Bell- Bonds' mistress of nine years told the grand jury that Bonds blamed his 1999 elbow injury on steroids usage and in recent years she had been noticing many of the side effects of the steroids. When Bonds became verbally abusive, he repeatedly threatened "to cut my head off and leave me in a ditch" and that "he would cut out my breast implants because he paid for them." He told me he would burn it down." Bonds said of the house he had bought for her.



Anderson



Greg Anderson- Bonds' personal trainer for many years refuses to testify.

Don Catlin- The UCLA doctor who found Tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) in Bonds' urine test in the 2003 test when Bonds was negative for steroids. The THG proves that Bond has a steroid known as "the clear" in his system at the time.



Conte



Stan Conte- Former Giants trainer who testified that he suggested to the manager and general manager that Bonds' personal trainer(s) should not be allowed in any Giants facilities. He also noticed that before the 2000 season, observed that Bonds had "bulked up" as well as other common side effects of steroid usage.

 

Giambi



Steve Hoskins- Childhood friend and former business partner who testified saying, he witnessed Bonds and Anderson going into a room in Bonds' spring training home, carrying a syringe with a needle. However, he said that he never actually saw Anderson inject the drugs into Bonds.



Jason Giambi- Colorado Rockies' first baseman told the jury that Anderson did indeed supply Bonds with steroids. He was considered a reliable witness because of his 2003 grand jury hearing in which he told the jury that Anderson had provided him with his shipment of steroids.



Kathy Hoskins- Bonds' former personal shopper was the first and only witness to testify that they actually saw Bonds being injected with a steroid.



My First Professional Hockey Experience



Image 1



While I was on my Spring Break in North Carolina, my family and I decided to experience our first professional hockey game. It was the Carolina Hurricanes, third place in the Southeast Division, against the Tampa Bay Lightning, who are in second place of the same division. My mom, who is weary of sports that have a lot of physical contact, was definitely hesitant about whether or not she would enjoy the game at all being that hockey is known for the fighting and blood. However, as we left the game, she couldn't stop saying "That was great! That was so much fun!" (Mind you, it happened to be a pretty calm game.)



Image 2

So my parents dropped my brother and I off at the ticket booth to look at ticket prices and availability while they went to park the car. We had decided that if the tickets ended up being more than $30 we would pass on the opportunity. My brother, Ben, and I were standing in a pretty crowded area checking out ticket prices when these two guys walk up to us and were like, "Hey our wives couldn't come to the game so we have two extra tickets. Do you just want to take them and sit by us?" We didn't really know how to react; we were kind of dumbstruck when we answered, "Sureee...?" They then walked away and when we looked at the tickets we saw that they were 3rd row, $105 season tickets.



Image 3

Now, we might not be the biggest hockey fans out there, but regardless, 3rd row tickets, right in front of the rink are awesome! I remind you that they only gave us two so we still had to buy two more tickets. As it turned out, the only tickets available at the booth were $40 each (a little above our price range) But Ben and I decided that we would basically be paying $80 for four tickets, so why not?! Since there were only two season tickets, my mom and I rotated to where I sat down by the rink for the first and third periods and she got the second. My dad didn't mind staying up in the noise-bleed seats for the whole game and Ben got to stay down the whole game, don't ask me why?



Image 4



Hockey might just be my new favorite sport! Okay, that might be an exaggeration, but it was awesome! As we were sitting down there Ben was explaining the rules the best to his knowledge since I knew basically nothing about hockey coming into the game.  By the end of the game we were definitely getting into it and understanding what was happening, when. When the 'canes scored, everyone around us would stand up and give each other high fives. Going to sports games creates such a feeling of community, no matter where you are. There were a few times the refs made calls that were questionable and the fans would all start yelling at them and banging on the glass; very high energy!

Image 5

You can't go to a hockey game without seeing some kind of fight or confrontation. And quite frankly, I was looking forward to seeing some, as bad as that may sound. The first one was between one player on the Hurricanes and one player on the Lightning. They through a couple punches at each other in between plays so it the other players were skating back to their sides of the rink. Since the teams were teams were heading back to their respective sides, the refs weren't really pay attention to any one; therefore, they didn't see when the fight initially broke out. It wasn't until Eric Staal, the Hurricanes' captain, was banging on the wall of the rink with his stick to get their attention, that they finally saw it. When the refs became aware of the situation, they basically pushed both guys onto the ice to get them to stop punching and let them get up once every one was calm. It was an odd way of handing the situation, but I guess everything is different when you are on ice. The second one was far more exciting. It was only with a minute or so left in the game and the Hurricanes were down 4-2. Next thing I know, two Hurricanes players were teaming up on one of the Lightning players. It was almost as though they were trying to sandwich him among doing other things. Then, as you can see in Image 4, both teams joined the confrontation, whether they were trying to break it up or join in, it was basically a big mosh pit. After that, the Lightning player who had initially been "attacked" just left the rink since there was so little time left in the game. While I find these things exciting, I suppose they are considered pretty normal among avid hockey fans. But it was definitely an experience to remember.

 

The Fab Five

The Fab Five- Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King, and Ray Jackson; the University of Michigan's dream team. The first game that this 1991 recruit team played together as regulars was one to remember, they accounted for all of the points against their opponent, Notre Dame. From then on, the five freshmen started together for every game left in the season but one.

Besides being a part of the uncommon fact the Michigan was starting an all freshmen squad in the 1991 season, these five guys were known throughout the sports community for more than that reason. They were the first group of college basketball players said to bring "hip hop flavor" to the game. They did this by wearing baggy athletic shorts, having shaved heads, and wearing black athletic socks along with their black basketball shoes. Their trash talk and "controversial antics" on the court brought additional attention to the team.

Recently, ESPN aired a documentary called The Fab Five, telling the story of these five stellar college basketball players, bringing many sports fans' attention to their story.

Player	Games	Points	Rebounds	Assists	Blocks	Steals
King	130	1,542	538	354	45	187
Jackson	125	1,262	579	300	42	119
Rose	102	1,788	477	401	29	119
Howard	100	1,526	749	202	56	79
Webber	70	1,218	702	166	174	103