Professional Sports
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010
by peterod
First off let me start by saying that I do no condone the actions of Tiger Wood’s nor do I think cheating on your significant other is ever tolerable, that being said, the general public needs to let Tiger Woods sift through his problems. Woods, winner of 71 PGA Tour events, and fourteen majors, second all time behind Jack Nicklaus, was caught in early January cheating on his wife. Media outlets across the country, as well as the general public flocked to Wood’s Florida estate for answers pertaining to the rumored affair.
Here is where the story starts to go off course and get me aggravated. Tiger Woods was unseen and unheard from for the first week following the incident, and the media and public started to harass his motives and question what he had to hide. When was the last time you made a mistake, small or large scale, and the news and hundreds of people were sitting outside your house awaiting a response from you? I’m going to say probably never. This is the exact reason Tiger Wood’s was not in the wrong in his actions following the affair, and the same reason why Tiger needs to be given time to figure out his horrible situation. Sure Tiger is a multi-million dollar mogul, seen daily on the news and commercials, but that alone isn’t a cop out for the media to invade his personal space.
In a recent census taken, the United States government states that 53% of all marriages end in divorce, and 60% of those divorces stem from affairs. So of these staggering amounts of affairs, how often do you hear of them? Never. Tiger Woods is a human being just like you and me, and he should be treated as one. Tiger should be judged not for his off the field actions, but by his on the field actions. If a student gets strait A’s but goes home and beats some one up, is that person a bad student? The point I’m trying to make is Tiger is a golfer, not a role model for marriages across the country. The public and media should let Tiger and his family attempt to work out their differences, which will in turn allow Wood’s to return to the course on a speedier time table. Tiger Woods will go down as one of the, if not the best, golfers of all time. One incident should not impede the public’s image of him, rather they should support him until he is back on the course, back where we love him, on our televisions every Sunday in his vintage Tiger red shirt going for the Master’s.
Photo Credit: Keith Allison
Popularity: 3% [?]
Thursday, March 25th, 2010
by BrianL
Celebration is one of the most controversial aspects of any sport. This is true whether it be pulling a cell phone out of a goal post, fist pumping after a goal, or in the case of the Canadian women’s hockey team, drinking beer and smoking cigars on the ice after a gold medal victory. Yes that’s right, after their victory in the 2010 Winter Olympics gold medal game 
the women’s Canadian hockey team had a rather extravagant celebration. What was meant to stay in the locker room was carried out onto the ice when fourteen girls went onto the ice one last time and had beer and cigars with them. This caused uproar in the media and the Olympic committee was pressured to act. The committee did not see this as a terrible thing and eventually let it go after some brief statements and a swift apology from the Canadian team. The question raised by this incident is was what the team did really terrible and did it tarnish the victory?
I believe that these girls were not trying to cause such controversy and were just celebrating a victory that for many of them was their last in the Olympics. Although the Olympics are a sacred event that is not supposed to associated with alcohol and partying, the team was just so happy with their hard earned victory. I think that their celebration should have stayed in the locker room but it does not ruin their gold medal win. One of the girls was only eighteen and the drinking age where they were is nineteen. This outraged many people but what a lot of these people did not know is that in the area where the team trains, and where this girl lives, the drinking age is eighteen. This was a simple mistake and lapse of judgment. I find it hard to believe that anyone who just scored two goals to lead their team to a gold medal victory in the Olympics is thinking about the different laws in another city for drinking age.
Baseball players pop champagne and smoke cigars after a World Series victory and people applaud. The fact that this was the Olympics does change things but the actions of the team can hardly be seen as malicious. The team was not out on the ice going crazy and acting out of control. Most of them were sitting together taking in what they had just accomplished. The Olympic committee was not even very upset about what happened. The incident was mainly blown up by the media. I believe that celebration is one of the best parts of sports and should not be looked at so hard for something wrong. Would the incident have been seen as so awful if it was the men’s team? What if it was not the host country’s team? These questions are interesting but what it comes down to is a team celebrating a victory that they worked so incredibly hard to get, and nothing more.
Photo Credit: parker yo! , popejon2
Popularity: 1% [?]
Friday, March 5th, 2010
by Derek McAdam
The game of lacrosse is full of creativity, teamwork, and flow. The game of baseball is full of out of shape, overpaid, loners. People say baseball has gained its popularity because it has been around for over a century. “America’s pastime” as it is referred to. On the other hand, lacrosse is the oldest sport in the world. The Native Americans wandering the Americas playing lacrosse long before Christopher Columbus discovered the west, and certainly before the first pitch was thrown.
Lacrosse was created to give Native American tribes conditioning and strength for war. They would play on fields miles long to raise their level of endurance. They used rocks to shoot into the net and used sticks mad of oak to defend their goals. Baseball was created to give lazy people something to do. It is something that they can say they are doing while they are actually doing nothing. I think the kid sitting at home playing on his Xbox gets a better workout than the right fielder on a baseball field.
The personalities of lacrosse players are second to none. Certainly not second to baseball players. A lacrosse player has been now referred to as a “Lax Bro.” There have even been YouTube videos inspired by this personality. The personality is full of “bro-like” qualities. Baseball players have never heard of the quote, “You gotta look good to play good.” Baseball players have no style:
One, their ¾ shirts. To me it looks like they can’t make up their mind if they are hot or cold.
Two, sunglasses on top of the hat. They think it looks good to have the shades on the brim of the hat. Meanwhile, the player supposedly full if swag with his ¾ shirt and his sunglasses on his hat can’t catch the routine fly ball because the sun is in his eyes. You would think he would have enough common sense to put the sunglasses on his eyes while he is in the field but nope, gotta be full of swag at all times. How is that working out for the outfielder that loses the fly ball in the sun and then looks like a complete idiot?
Three, Phiten necklaces. Most baseball players where these necklaces because they are suppose to reduce pain because of the titanium band inside of the necklace. How does that work for Ken Griffey Jr. who seems to pull his hamstring every game after he gets off the 60-day disabled list? David Ortiz was on the D.L. forever because of, what was it, an in-grown toenail? Give me a break. I’m sorry but some necklaces work and some don’t, and Phiten necklaces certainly don’t.
Speaking of Big Slopi or Big Papi, whatever the slob is referred to. Here is an idol of a lot of baseball players. Big Slopi hits .238 with 28 home runs and is suppose to be a power hitter? For $13,000,000 I should be getting a lot more than the Mendoza line. Here is a player who, at minimum gets 4 at-bats a game and returns to the dugout. Usually he gets one hit and runs to first base and gets thrown out because he is to slow to carry his own feet. Here is the famous DH. The designated hitter. You get a few at-bats and call it a day. What a life $13,000,000 to sit on the bench and watch a baseball game.
Speaking of more slobs in baseball, the great Babe Ruth. The fat slob would eat hotdogs during the game, as if he didn’t eat enough out of the ballpark. David Wells was listed at 248 lbs. while he pitched for the Red Sox. 248? There are linemen in the NFL that weigh less than that. This enforces the point that baseball players are out of shape people with no swag.
To go watch a professional baseball game you have to mortgage your home to afford nosebleed seats. The infamous hotdog at a baseball game is $9.50. Your beer is an even $13.00. You can enjoy your $22.50 snack sitting next to another out of shape baseball fan while you hold your binoculars to watch the pitches. At a professional lacrosse game you can enjoy the game with good, cheap food and comfortable seats as you watch a great sport.
Lacrosse and baseball are two different sports with two different personalities. Baseball players choose to follow Big Slopi and the Babe while lax bros follow the way of people like Brantford Whinstonworth and Floseidon. To me, you’re a lax bro or a pansy*.
To see more fat baseball players go to the link here.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010
by Ms. Baldwin
Written by: Sahith N.
The NFL postseason has arrived and the teams in AFC (America Football conference) are the Indianapolis Colts (14-2) who are the number one seed (they face the lowest winning seed) and The San Diego Chargers (13-3) are the number two seed (they face the highest winning seed). The wild card teams are the New York Jets (9-7), the Cincinnati Bengals (10-6), the New England Patriots (10-6), and the Baltimore Ravens (9-7).
The first game in the wild card was the New York Jets against the Cincinnati Bengals. The Jets had some luck as the Bengal’s kicker, Shayne Graham, missed two field goals. Shonn Green was a big impact as he had 135 yards with one touchdown. Dustin Keller had 3 catches, 99 yard, and 1 touchdown. Pro-bowler Darrelle Revis covered Chad Ochocinco (the Bengals best wide receiver) that gave Carson Palmer (QB) few options to throw to which led to an interception. Mark Sanchez (Jets QB) had 182 yards throwing with one touchdown. The Jets beat the Bengals for a 24-14-win. They go to the divisional round. Then the Patriots squared off against the Ravens. Ray Rice ran 83 yards for a touchdown on the first play at the line of scrimmage. The Ravens scored 24 points in the first quarter. Wes Welker was out with an injury and Welker was a huge part of the Patriots offense. He usually was thrown to on third downs. Lots of cornerbacks tried to stop, but could not. Tom Brady feeling pressure was intercepted 3 times. The Ravens beat the Patriots at home for a 33-14 win to face the Colts. Continue reading »
Popularity: 9% [?]
Monday, November 2nd, 2009
by RJ DeRemer
What can we learn from Michael Vick? Michael Vick served an eighteenth month sentence for illegal dog fighting. Michael Vick is back playing for the Philadelphia Eagles. This once icon in the National Football League will finally have his chance to prove that he is back in rare form. Renewed from his past experience and eager to surge forward with a zest for the sport and improved purpose. Michael Vick has served the time for his crime and should be able to move on and prove himself as a professional football player on the field. Continue reading »
Popularity: 8% [?]
Thursday, September 24th, 2009
by RJ DeRemer
Steroid use in sports today is on the rise and unfortunately it’s hurting the game of baseball and the credibility of the players who break longstanding records. Every time you listen to the news or watch television someone new is being investigated for steroid use. Steroids are changing the face of sports and the validity of the records broken. It is unfortunate that steroids are being used to break some of the records that were once set by fantastic players like Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, and Joe DiMaggio just to name a few. This dilemma has also dropped to the level of players in high school. This type of drug use must stop so that the game can continue to be respected.
Continue reading »
Popularity: 2% [?]
Monday, September 21st, 2009
by RJ DeRemer
Pete Rose, one of baseball’s all time best players, is currently banned from baseball for life, due to his actions of gambling and betting on his own team. I believe that Pete Rose should be reinstated into baseball and inducted into the Hall of Fame. Pete Rose has some of the most remarkable records placed in baseball. He has the all time most hits,4256, the sixth most runs scored, along with seventeen appearances in the all star game and three World Series rings. Top off, this professional career with one more significant accomplishment, Most Valuable Player award. Serious reconsideration for reinstating Pete Rose in to baseball is an important first step leading to his consideration by the review board for the Hall of Fame. Continue reading »
Popularity: 5% [?]
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009
by Dustin
The weather is getting warmer and that means the world of motor sports is hitting the ground running. Auto racing is one of the few competitive sports that the entire world can relate to because cars are so important to society. Because the sport is so popular on an international level, there is a lot of influence from places all over the world. In Formula 1, teams mainly from Europe and Asia, and drivers from several different countries try to compete for not only the championship, but their egos as well. As expected, several discrepancies arise every season but non as controversial as the diffuser controversy of the 2009 Formula 1 Championship.
Radical new regulations have forced teams to make several drastic changes regarding bodywork and car dimensions, which inevitably affect the amount of down force and air force on the car. However one of the regions of the 
car that has been left up to some interpretation has been the rear section of bodywork facing the ground. This area is by far the most crucial part of any race car because it is closest to where power is applied to the ground through the rear wheels. The piece of the car that increases pressure at speed on the back wheels is called the diffuser. The diffuser creates a low-pressure zone underneath the rear part of the car, turning the car into a moving suction cup in some aspects.
The rules and regulations of the Fédération Internationale de L’Automobile (the governing body of international motor sports around the world) that restrict the cars for the 2009 F1 season clearly state dimensions for this region of the car and adds that, “Any specific part of the car influencing its aerodynamic performance must comply with the rules relating to bodywork.” The actual discrepancy is how the rule is interpreted. Many teams interpreted this rule as designing a diffuser that has three channels of equal length with no extra windows to feed the effective parts of the diffuser with air. However three major teams, Brawn GP, Toyota, and Williams, interpreted the rules as designing a diffuser in any way that was acceptable as long as it was inside the rules
of bodywork. The other teams participating in the Formula 1 Championship are arguing that the three teams using the effective diffuser did so against the spirit of the rule itself, and that the rule should force teams to use similar diffusers to increase competition all the way down the grid.
With cars fitted with normal diffusers being well off the pace of the three teams with high volume diffusers, the other teams have a good reason to try and argue this point. This topic is accompanied with more urgency then previous protests because of a new rule change that prevents teams from testing once the season has started, making it very difficult for teams to compensate for the unconventional diffusers if the design is not deemed illegal by the FIA on April 14, 2009. If the FIA does deem the diffusers to be illegal, the teams will be forced to design new diffusers and the order of performance already established by the first two races of the 2009 season will be drastically changed. On the other hand however, if the diffusers stay the same, the other teams will have to pull some aerodynamic tricks out of their sleeves without thorough testing capabilities.
Photo of Brawn GP car by Camilo S.B.
Photo of F1 grid by Pattagon
Photo of back of F1 Car by Camilo S.B.
Popularity: 23% [?]
Monday, May 11th, 2009
by WhiteD09
Everyone says that their city is the best sports city in the world, but now I’m going to prove who actually is according to how many championships each team has. It will be between the major professional sports, the leagues include NBA, MLB, NHL, NFL, and MLS.
1. New York
New York is obviously going to have many championships because it’s a big city so in some sports they have two teams. New York has a total of fifty-two championships in the history of each league. In the NBA the New York Knicks have won two championships. The New York Rangers and the New York Islanders of the NHL each have won Lord Stanley’s Cup four times. In the NFL the New York Jets have won the Super Bowl only once, but the New York Giants have won the championship seven times. In MLS, the New York Red Bull has never won a championship. Finally, what New York is known for, the New York Yankees have won the World Series an astonishing twenty-six times. Also, the New York Mets have won it twice, and the former New York Giants have five championships. New York has the most championships but in my opinion they had an unfair advantage by using more than one team in some leagues.
2. Boston
Boston is known for their sports, and in each of the sports there is only one team, unlike New York. Boston has a total of thirty-three championships. The most is the Boston Celtics in the NBA with seventeen championships, and at one point an impressive eight in a row. The Boston Red Sox had a span of not winning a championship in 86 years, but now have a total of seven championships. Also, the Boston Braves had one championship while in Boston. In the NHL, the Boston Bruins have five championships, hoping to add on to that number in the 2009 year. The New England Patriots were known as a dynasty from 2002-2005 winning three Super Bowls. In the MLS the New England Revolution have yet to win a championship. Boston is the city I root for, and this shows that they are one of the best cities to be a sports fan.
3. Chicago
Whenever someone says Chicago and championships, I think of Michael Jordan. The Chicago Bulls, somewhat like the Boston Celtics, had a run of three NBA championships in a row twice to make it a total of six. Like New York, Chicago has two MLB teams, the Cubs with two World Series titles and the White Sox with three. In the NHL, the Chicago Blackhawks are one of the original six teams, but they have only won the Stanley Cup three times. In the NFL the Chicago Bears or most people known them as “Da Bears” have nine championships. Chicago is the first city to have a MLS Cup champion on this list, Chicago Fire has one MLS Cup win. Chicago has a total of twenty-four championships but it is all spread out in each sport unlike Boston with the Celtics, and New York with the Yankees.
4. Detroit
Detroit has a total of twenty-two championships, close to Chicago but not quite. The most is the Detroit Red Wings of the NHL with eleven, the 3rd most in the NHL. The Detroit Pistons of the NBA have won three championships. The Detroit Tigers of the MLB have four World Series Titles. The Detroit Lions have four NFL championships, but no Super Bowls. There is no team from Detroit in the MLS. Detroit is known as Hockey Town and by the championships it makes it obvious.
5. Los Angeles
Los Angeles comes in at number five with twenty championships, like Chicago it is more spread out throughout the sports, but also like New York they have more than one team for some sports. The LA Lakers have won the NBA championship nine times and the other team the LA Clippers have won zero. The LA Dodgers have six titles and the LA Angels have only one of the MLB. In the NFL the former LA Raiders and the LA Rams each have one championship. The LA Galaxy has two championships in the MLS, and the only team in LA that has yet to win a championship is the LA Kings. But Los Angeles is really known for the Lakers and their highly known players.
Now I think that Boston is the best sports city because they have one team for each sport, they have plenty of history with each of their teams, they have 33 championships, and they have the greatest fans in the world. Now technically New York has the most championships but they use more than one team. If Boston used more than one team then they would have plenty more championship wins than New York. Then Chicago, Detroit, and L.A. are just your average championship cities to me. So if you want to be a fan of a championship city, move to one of these five.
Photo Credit:michaelrighi
Photo Credit:CBW 80
Popularity: 34% [?]
Monday, April 13th, 2009
by AGermain
Tiger Woods returned to the golf world February 23, 2009 for this first time since the US Open at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, Dove Mountain. The tournament was called the WGC- Accenture Match Play Championship. The tournament included big players such as Phil Mickelson, Angel Cabrera, Sergio Garcia, Anthony Kim, Camilo Villegas and Padraig Harrington. In the first round Tiger faced off against Brendan Jones from Australia. On the first tee everyone was anxious to see how the golf god would return. He pulled out his three wood, and stood over the ball taking five practice swings, slow and steady. He then ripped the ball right down the middle of the fairway. It seemed like a blast from the past. Tiger later said, “I thought I would be more nervous on the first tee. It just came back down to playing the game again, and that felt good.” He ended up with a birdie on the first hole, and an eagle on the second hole. These two holes just helped show how much golf missed him ever since his unexpected US Open win just about 8 months ago. Tiger looked as if he never hurt his knee. He did not pay any attention to it other than once, when he stretched it while waiting on the 13th hole. Throughout the round, Tiger never trailed Brendan Jones. The match ended after the 16th hole, when Tiger came out victorious with a 3 and 2 win. Jones later gave two statements about his loss. The first being, “He’s Tiger”, he followed this with another statement saying, “He does freakish things.” After the match was complete Tiger said that all the time he missed built up inside him, so he was striving to finally return.
Although Tiger ended up losing in the second round to Tim Clark from South Africa, he still played very well. Tim Clark could not miss any shots, if he wanted to defeat one of the greatest golfers of all time. Clark later made a statement about his play during the match, “That’s as good as I can play.” Tiger still played well, but he could not compete with the game that Tim Clark brought to the table. Woods later stated, “I was pleased with the way I hit the ball for two days. I had one bad 8-iron and one bad drive. Tim is a wonderful player. He made birdies and I just didn’t answer him.” Over the round Tim Clark got six birdies, while having no bogeys. The match was dormy until Tim Clark ended up defeating Tiger after the 16th hole, beating him 4 and 2. This is the type of play you need to beat Tiger. Tim Clark is now part of the scarce group, of who have defeated Tiger.
Photo Credit: Keith Allison
Popularity: 10% [?]
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