When the lights go out in Viejas Stadium a spotlight finds indiviudual players as “We Game Time Ready” is played over the speakers, hardly audible over the cheering of Aztec faithful.

Any SDSU basketball fan is acutely aware of the rise that the team is on at the moment.  Undoubtedly the man we have to thank for this is Steve Fisher. The coach began working with SDSU in 1999 and has since become an integral part of Aztec history. At the time of being announced the 14th head coach in SDSU’s history he is quoted saying this:

“We have everything here that we need to be successful at the highest level. We have a great campus in a great city. The arena is as good of a facility as you can find. Our league is very good and getting better. Who wouldn’t want to play here?”-Steve Fisher

Since that moment Fisher has firmly rooted himself here in San Diego. With a 52-42 win over Wyoming Tuesday night, he has hit a new high for Aztec Men’s Basketball.  The game marked his 250th victory as the SDSU head coach.  This comes following a monumental season for the Aztecs in 2010-2011 during which the team stirred up rivalries and inspired an intense pride in students, alumni, and faculty. After being ranked 25th in preseason polls the team spent almost the entire season in the top ten and proceeded to win their first NCAA tournament game ever on their path to the Sweet Sixteen.  But it wasn’t just last season that Fisher started to shine.

The Aztecs first thirty win season  in school history was preceded by other notable acheivements.  Fisher has had seven twenty win seasons and six of them have been consecutive since 2006.  SDSU has also experienced six consecutive post season appearences and the first back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances since the 70s.  The two journeys to the NCAA Tournament which Fisher guided State to in 2010 and 2011 are added to the two previous episodes in 2002 and 2006.  He has also coached the team past the challenges surrounding the Mountain West Conference Regular Season Champions title twice and Mountain West Conference Tournament Champions title four times.

This year the Aztecs have numerous reasons to be proud of wearing red and black.  The team has a Mountain West Champion title, SDSU alum, Kawhi Leonard, was recruited as a shooting guard for the Spurs, and the student section is ranked in the top five student sections in the nation.  ”The Show” as the students have been deemed celebrate in Fisher just as much as the players that he coaches.  With ticket sales swelling and games selling out weeks in advance, now is as good a time as ever to experience a game, but come prepared to witness a crowd, a team, and a coach that bleed Aztec colors.

The SDSU Men’s Basketball team has their next home game scheduled for February 1st against Boise State at 7:00PM.

My reasoning for kicking off this column with an SNL reference is two-fold. One, I wanted to illustrate how close Christmas is and also make reference to a wonderfully hilarious SNL skit poking fun at Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos. The sketch mocked Tebow’s in-your-face religious belief as Jesus, played by Jason Sudekis, makes an appearance in the Broncos locker room following their victory over the Chicago Bears. Jesus explains how he has been only helping in the fourth quarter, much to Tebow’s chagrin, and reveals he actually prays to Bronco kicker Matt Prater who made a 59-yard game-tying field goal and a 51-yard game-winner in overtime to beat the Bears. Unfortunately Jesus says he won’t be able to help Denver beat “God’s nephew” Tom Brady and “the Devil” Bill Belichick.

In real life, the Patriots halted Tebow and the Bronco’s six-game winning streak and slowed the accelerating Tebow bandwagon. Despite the loss, the Broncos still reside in first place in the AFC West, ahead of the surging San Diego Chargers, Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs. If they can bounce back to win at least one of their final two games, the Broncos should make the playoffs. Okay, that was my Tim Tebow update of the week and now onto the Holiday-edition of Twining’s Take on the week in sports.

Here come the the Clippers

On Saturday night in Los Angeles, Clippers fans are going to be going to bed humming a special rendition to “Here comes Santa Claus.” In addition to Santa arriving in L.A., championship-starved Clippers fans will be singing “here comes Chris Paul” instead as the former New Orleans Hornet and one of the most exciting players in the NBA makes his official, regular season debut against the Golden State Warriors Christmas night. The game features a bevy of stars in the Clippers’ Paul, Blake Griffin and Chauncey Billups and the Warriors’ trio of sharpshooters Stephen Curry, Monte Ellis and Klay Thompson.

That Paul is starting the season in Los Angeles is no surprise as he was originally traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. However, NBA Commissioner David Stern vetoed the trade because it wasn’t in the best “basketball interests of the league.” Keep in mind that the Hornets are owned by the NBA and openly being shopped to potential buyers. The vetoing of the trade eventually led to the departure of Lamar Odom from the Lakers, which did not go over so well with Kobe Bryant, who recently tore a ligament in his wrist and is facing a divorce that could cost him at least $75 million.

Paul’s arrival in Los Angles, which cost the Clippers an unprotected first-round draft pick and budding superstar Eric Gordon among others, instantly makes them NBA title contenders – a championship the franchise has never won. With all the unrest in the Laker organization, including a new head coach and the Stephen A. Smith-reported rumors that Kobe wanted a trade, it looks like Clipper fans can finally come out from under the stairs as they are no longer the ugly-stepchild to the Lakers.

Ohio State banned from Bowling

It was announced Tuesday that the NCAA Committee on Infractions had finished its investigation of the Ohio State University football program violations under former head coach Jim Tressell and levied it’s punishment. So what does five players selling merchandise for tattoos, knowingly playing ineligible players, and attempting to cover-up the whole thing get the Buckeyes? Well, apparently only a one-year bowl ban, a small reduction in scholarships (from 85 to 82) and probation through the 2014-2015 season. Considering USC received a two-year post-season ban and a major reduction in scholarships for Reggie Bush’s violations, the sentence for Ohio State is quite lenient considering the depth of the violations.

Last December, it was revealed that five players, including starting quarterback Terrell Pryor, had received free tattoos in exchange for nearly $14,000 total in OSU merchandise. The players were suspended for the first five games of the 2011 season but allowed to play in the big-money BCS Sugar Bowl. Looking back, all five of those players were ineligible yet not only did Ohio State allow them to play, but so did the NCAA. The investigation revealed that Tressell had known about the free tattoos as soon as April of 2010 and had done nothing about it, even going to lengths to prevent it from being discovered.

With new head coach Urban Meyer joining the program in 2012, he will only suffer through one year of a post-season ban. It should give him time to lay the groundwork to bring the Buckeyes back to National Title contenders without the pressure of an expected BCS Bowl. Now all he has to do is convince a group of seniors to buy in for one final season with no hope for post-season play and recruit freshman and transfers under the premise of building a perennial winner.

Hurd you needed some drugs

I’m not sure that is exactly what Sam Hurd would tell NFL players to which he sold drugs, a list reportedly in the double digits, but it would be funny if Hurd used his name as a homonym in a drug business that reportedly netted him nearly $2 million per month dealing on the streets of Chicago. Last Wednesday, Chicago Bear wide receiver Sam Hurd was arrested in Chicago on federal drug charges.

This wasn’t just a normal sting operations, this was classified as a major drug bust as Hurd was allegedly attempting to set up repeatedly shipments in drugs to fuel an operation that had him as one of the biggest drug dealers in Chicago.

At a meeting with an undercover agent posing as a dealer, Hurd said he wanted to buy “five to 10 kilograms of cocaine and 1,000 pounds of marijuana per week for distribution in the Chicago area,” at a cost of $25,000 per kilo and $450 per pound of weed. With a client list of NFL players reportedly in the double digits, it seems Hurd’s NFL career, which included a stint with the Dallas Cowboys before joining the Bears, was his sidejob.

AL West will have last laugh

As a Seattle sports fan, I find myself often defending my favorite teams and the divisions in which they play. With the Seahawks, the NFC West is largely considered one of the weaker divisions in the NFL. In Major League Baseball, the American League West often garners the same distinction. Not only did the division add a fifth team in the Houston Astros, but the Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels added major superstars to a rather boring division.

Texas hasn’t quite signed Japanese pitching sensation Yu Darvish, but they did win the rights to negotiate a contract with him after paying a $52 million posting fee to the Nippon Ham Fighters. Now comes the hard part of negotiating a contract within the 30-day limit, but rarely does a Japanese player go unsigned.

The biggest splash of the off season was the 10-year deal signed by free agent third baseman Albert Pujols to join the Angels. On the heels of the $250+ million contract, the Angels shelled out millions more to sign free agent pitcher C.J. Wilson away from the Rangers. At one point both Pujols and Wilson were rumored to have been on their way to the Miami Marlins, but they ended up on the left coast instead. Now all I need is for my Mariner to sign Prince Fielder and all will be right in the AL West.

Colt McCoy Rule

It will most likely be known from here on out at the “Colt McCoy Rule,” similar to the rule change on hitting quarterbacks low, dubbed the “Tom Brady Rule,” but the NFL announced it was putting independent trainers in the booths at NFL games to help detect and quickly diagnose concussions. It’s the next step in the NFL’s concerted attempt to minimize the long-term damage due to concussions and prevent occurrences similar to what took place last week when Colt McCoy suffered a concussion but wasn’t checked out by trainers prior to reentering the game.

As criticized as this may be, it shows that the NFL is serious about changing the way injuries are handled during games. With the added pressure of winning involved, often times players don’t get the necessary treatment for fear it will cost the team the game. After San Diego Charger lineman Kris Dielman suffered a concussion-related seizure on the team flight home from New York, it was evident the NFL needed to act quickly. Dielman suffered a consussion against the Jets but went back in and finished the game without receiving proper medical attention on the sideline. After the seizure, Dielman’s NFL career is in jeopardy.

It won’t be know just how much of an impact these independent trainers will have until they force Packer quarterback Aaron Rogers from the game in the playoffs. Remember, Rogers had concussion problems last year that almost cost the Packers a playoff berth. I guess as long as nobody is able to skirt around this policy and severe head-related injuries go down, I’m all for the sacrifice of a championship for the long-term health of my team’s star quarterback.

Photos courtesy Keith Allison, WDPG Share and Evanna Chung via Flickr.

One of the biggest names rumored to be on the move was New Orleans Hornets guard Chris Paul. Paul is a free agent after this season and the small-market Hornets are worried they’ll lose him to free agency. If that happens, they will get nothing in return. Therefore, trading away Chris Paul is almost a necessity if the Hornets hope to contend for a playoff spot long-term.

If this was any other team in any other league, the execution of a trade for a superstar would not normally face a great amount of scrutiny. Just last year the Knicks sacrificed very little for superstar Carmello Anthony. Unfortunately, the Hornets are not like most teams in most leagues. The Hornets are owned by the NBA. Therefore any trade for Chris Paul must first be orchestrated by the NBA and then approved by the NBA. They are essentially playing both judge and jury.

The same day the new collective bargaining agreement was ratified and the lockout officially ended, the Los Angeles Lakers, Houston Rockets and Hornets announced a massive three-team trade that included Paul landing with the Lakers, and Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom leaving the Lakers. The Hornets were to receive Odom, and Luis Scola and Kevin Martin from Houston as well as a 2012 first-round draft pick. Houston was getting Gasol. All that remained was the NBA approving the deal. Why wouldn’t they; oh right, that whole “lockout” issue.

One of the biggest sticking point for NBA owners was the ability for small-market team to keep superstars from fleeing to big markets. Cleveland had already lost Lebron to Miami and Phoenix lost Amare Stoudemire to the Knicks. The uproar over one of the NBA’s biggest young stars going from small-market Hornets to the star-heavy Lakers caused David Stern to veto the trade “for basketball reasons.”

It seemed as if Paul was destined to remain in New Orleans. But wait, a couple days later the teams resubmitted the trade to the league for approval with some minor, unreported tweaks. Before anything could be finalized, the Lakers pulled out of the trade and sent Odom to Dallas. Once again, Paul was stuck in the Bayou.

This morning, it was reported that the Hornets had reached an agreement with the other Los Angeles team, the Clippers. Once again, though, the seemingly-imminent trade quickly collapsed. The reason for the collapse you ask? The Clippers thought the asking price was too high. The NBA wanted young guard Eric Bledsoe included in the deal and was seeking a second first-round draft pick. The other players that would have been sent to the Hornets included center Chris Kaman and forward Al-Farouq Aminu.

Clearly the NBA’s ownership of the Hornets is causing a conflict of interest when it comes to running the team. Instead of doing what is “best” for the Hornets, which would really have been the original trade which included three All-Stars and a first-round pick, the NBA is more focused on what is “best” for the league.

It’s no secret that the NBA is trying to sell the Hornets. The reason they bought the team in the first-place was so the team didn’t fold under previous ownership and to allow time for potential buyers to come forward. Now, the NBA is trying to ensure that whoever owns the team next has a solid foundation in place with young stars. It’s almost like the owner of a casino counting cards at his own table to ensure certain people at the table win money.

Now that two Paul trades have been nixed, it seems more likely that Paul will play out the final year of his contract and then bolt during the off-season. What the Hornets hoped to avoid might actually occur – all thanks to the NBA’s intervention.

Since Paul clearly isn’t leaving the Hornets any time soon, here is the breakdown of the two trade the NBA has approved. With the exception of these two transactions, most of the action in the NBA during the past week were the signings of last year’s draft picks, including Kemba Walker, Derrick Williams, Jimmer Fredette and No.1 overall pick Kyrie Irving with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Lamar Odom from L.A. to Dallas

The defending league-champion Mavericks get last year’s Sixth Man of the Year and a second-round pick. The Lakers get a first-round pick and an $8.9 million trade exception.

Tyson Chandler from Dallas to New York

This was the trade that created the $8.9 million trade exception for the Mavericks which allowed them to get Odom. In this three-team trade, Dallas sent Chandler and the draft rights to Ahmad Nivins and Giorgos Printezis to the Knicks and gave the Washington Wizards a 2012 second-round pick. The Knicks sent forward Ronny Turiaf, cash considerations and a 2013 second-round pick to Washington as well as sending guard Andy Routins to Dallas. Washington only gave up a conditional future second-round pick to Dallas.

Photos courtesy Tulane Public Relations and Keith Allison via Flickr.

Alabama, idle while LSU played Georgia for the SEC Championship, hoped the voters would value the Crimson Tide’s lone loss to LSU more than Oklahoma State’s loss to unranked Iowa State on the road in Ames, Iowa. Meanwhile, Stanford head coach David Shaw had gone on the record to criticize the BCS and how “the computers” ultimately decide a team’s rank – the Cardinal’s only defeat was at the hands of the Pac-12 champion Oregon Ducks, who finished lower than Stanford in the most recent BCS standings.

When the dust settled and the bowl pairings had been announced, Stanford and Oklahoma State were left out of the national championship picture. Instead, the two teams will square off in the Fiesta Bowl to determine the best team outside the SEC.

LSU and Alabama, ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in the BCS, will face off in a rematch of the “Game of the Century” January 9 in New Orleans with a BCS Championship on the line. Prior to Sunday night’s selection show, it was unclear which team would be slotted No. 2 in the standings to face LSU. If Alabama beats LSU January 9, there still wouldn’t be a clear-cut No. 1 as LSU’s only loss would have been in the championship while Alabama’s sole loss came November 5.

Regardless, all six BCS matchups should provide nothing but excitement – assuming of course the championship is not another 9-6 overtime dud. Everybody likes a defensively battle, but nothing beats a shootout. And we should see more than enough shootouts once bowl season begins December 17.

The Best of the BCS

We’ve been here before, No. 1 LSU vs. No. 2 Alabama. The first time around, it was dubbed the Game of the Century, the second time around, expectations will be through the roof because the first game didn’t quite live up to expectations. ESPN College Gameday was there for the neutral-site battle between the top two teams in the BCS. The week leading up to the game, ESPN rolled out historical footage of games between No. 1 and No. 2 teams during the regular season. With both teams hailing from the same division of the same conference, not only was the top ranking in the country on the line, but so was the path to the SEC championship.

Although LSU and Alabama boasted the top two defenses in the country, they also featured top-15 scoring offenses and the game was expected to be similar to last year’s Iron Bowl. Facing eventual national champion Auburn, the 2010 Crimson Tide allowed Cam Newton to orchestrate a 24-point combeback for a 28-27 victory. As even as the 2011 LSU and Alabama squads were, the Game of the Century was to be an equally-high scoring affair.

Instead, the game was an offensive disaster. Neither team gained 300 yards of total offense and each committed two turnovers – both interceptions. Switching between kickers, Alabama missed three field goals and had another blocked. Overall, it was about as even as you could get. The teams were nearly identical in time of possession as well, with Alabama holding only a 12 second advantage, 30:06 to 29:54. But, something about a football game ending with a very baSeball-like 9-6 score left a bad taste in the mouth of many college football fans.

It was this disappointment that incited many “what-ifs” about how Oklahoma St.’s high-powered offense would far against LSU’s stingy defense. With discension over which team should really be ranked No. 2 in the country, this BCS Championship better deliver or the sports world will once again be left wondering “what if.”

The Rest of the BCS

Bowl season officially kicks off on December 17, but it is not until January 2 – when BCS games begin – that the big money is on the line. With all the talk about the championship, it is hard to overlook the fact that nearly ever other BCS matchup is gold. At least the BCS was able to get something right. The second day of the New Year features the first two BCS games – the Rose Bowl and the aforementioned Fiesta Bowl. Each game features two high scoring teams each with their own offensive weapon.

Running backs Montee Ball of Wisconsin and LaMichael James of Oregon are the centerpieces of each team’s offense. Ball rushed for 1759 yards and scored 38 total touchdowns, two shy of the NCAA record. His Wisconsin Badgers are the fourth-ranked scoring offense in the country at 44.6 points per game and just won the inaugural Big 10 championship game. James, on the other hand, would easily have surpassed Ball’s yardage total had he not missed time due to a dislocated elbow. Playing two fewer games than Ball, James racked up 1,646 rushing yards – nearly 150 per game – and scored 16 rushing touchdowns. The Ducks rank one spot ahead of Wisconsin with the third-ranked scoring offense at 46.2 points per game.

The 2011 Grandaddy of Them All could end as the highest-scoring Rose Bowl in history – neither team has scored fewer than 27 points per game this season. If there is any advantage in the numbers, it’s that Wisconsin boasts the 16th-best scoring defense at 17 points per game, a full touchdown better than Oregon’s 48th-ranked 23.6 points per game. The over/under for points scored in the Rose Bowl could be in the 60′s or 70′s. If that is the case, then total points scored in the Rose and Fiesta Bowl could approach 150.

College football fans are not the only people who will be watching the Fiesta Bowl with a keen eye. The crowd is sure to feature many NFL scouts and coaches preparing for April’s NFL Draft. Both teams feature Heisman Trophy finalists in Stanford’s Andrew Luck and Oklahoma State’s Brandon Weeden. Luck was the preseason favorite and is the focus of the ‘Suck for Luck’ campaign in the NFL to be the worst team and secure the first overall draft pick. Weeden is the 28-year-old former minor league baseball prospect and now fifth-year senior with a cannon for an arm. Weeden quickly claimed a spot among college football’s elite before the Cowboys lost in Ames and his Heisman campaign slowed.

Other than the two BCS games, January 2 features four non-BCS bowl games, including South Carolina vs. Nebraska in the Capital One Bowl, Houston vs. Penn State in the TicketCity Bowl and Urban Meyer’s former team, Florida, against his future team, Ohio State, in the Taxslayer.com Gator Bowl. On January 3 and 4, the BCS owns the spotlight with the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl before a four-day BCS hiatus.

The Sugar Bowl includes two BCS at-large bids, including the ACC’s first-ever at-large selection in Virginia Tech. The No. 11 Hokies’ opponent, No. 13 Michigan received an at-large big after first-year head coach Brady Hoke led the Wolverines to a 10-2 record and second-place finish in the Big 10′s Legends Division. Virginia Tech won the ACC’s Coastal Division but was blown out by Clemson in the ACC championship – the Hokies second loss to Clemson this year.

The win over Virginia Tech and the ACC championship netted Clemson its first appearance in the Orange Bowl since 1981. The Tigers face off against Big East champion West Virginia who finished the season on a three-game winning streak but is the lowest-ranked team in a BCS game. Clemson is a young team that excelled early in the season. After beating Troy and Wofford to start 2-0, the Tigers upset No. 21 Auburn, No. 11., Florida State and No. 11 Virginia Tech three weeks in a row. They ascended as high as fifth-overall after an 8-0 start but then lost 31-17 at Georgia Tech and lost three-of-four to close the season before Saturday’s ACC Championship.

West Virginia is the least-exciting of the 10 teams playing in BCS games. The Mountaineers won the Big East on a tie-breaker after finishing tied with both Cincinnati and Louisville at 5-2 in conference play. They boast the nation’s 19th-ranked scoring offense at 34.9 points per game but played only two ranked teams all season, losing to No. 2 LSU 47-21 September 24 and beating No. 23 Cincinnati 24-21 November 12. For a champion from a BCS conference, they are ranked a disappointing 23rd in the most recent standings.

Non-BCS Bowl Schedule

I’ll refrain from providing an in-depth breakdown of all 30 non-BCS bowls and instead point out some interesting tidbits and highlighting a couple teams to watch. Bowl Season kicks off December 17 with three Saturday matchups. Two of the Mountain West’s five teams play the first day – Wyoming in the New Mexico Bowl and San Diego State in the New Orleans Bowl. Utah State makes its second bowl berth in as many season, the first time in school history they’ve done so, in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

Two other teams from the Mountain West, BCS hopefuls No. 18 TCU and No. 7 Boise State play on back-to-back days December 21 and 21 in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl and the Maaco Bowl Las Vegas, respectively. TCU takes on Louisian Tech in what could be quite the lopsided matchup. The very next day, another Mountain West team could win in a blowout with the Broncos take on Arizona State. The Sun Devils just fired head coach Dennis Erickson after a disappointing 6-6 season while the Broncos will be frustrated by being left out of the BCS picture after a loss to TCU, despite the No. 7 ranking.

Potential Heisman winner Robert Griffin III, considered the fastest man to ever play quarterback and who boldly declared “I think Baylor just won its first Heisman” after a victory Saturday, takes on the struggling Washington Huskies in the Valero Alamo Bowl. The Huskies enter the game having lost three of four while Baylor gets to play a “neutral” game less than four hours from campus.

During the four-day BCS hiatus between the Orange Bowl and the BCS Championship, college football fans have only one day off, January 5. Then, in the leadup to the championship, No. 6 Arkansas takes on No. 8 Kansas State in the AT&T Cotton Bowl January 6, Pittsburgh plays SMU in the BBVA Compass Bowl January 7 and high-scoring Northern Illinois faces Arkansas State in the GoDaddy.com Bowl January 8.

Check out the full bowl schedule here.

Photos courtesy avinashkunnath, Monica’s Dad, severea and BaylorFans.com via Flickr

Now, 62 years later, Paterno is out at Penn State and the sports world has drastically changed. Since the Penn State scandal is something everybody is talking about this week I want to keep this week’s Twining’s Take on the week in sports scandal-free. Obviously Penn state is the hot topic, but I’d like to touch six other sports stories from the past two weeks.

David Testo comes out

I just read this yesterday, so it’s pretty fresh news. David Testo, professional soccer player formerly of the Montreal Impact and the Vancouver Whitecaps publicly announced he is gay. The 30-year-old midfielder, who is currently not with a team, told CBC Radio-Canada that teammates knew he was gay and accepted him, but he was afraid to go public until now.

“It’s like carrying around a secret, you know, and carrying around luggage and just never being allowed to be yourself,” Testo told CBC.

This is an awesome story and shows that we are one step closer to a major, mainstream American athlete coming out of the closet. Testo says he feels more confident and mature and now is ready to speak openly. Wikipedia has a list, I have no idea how complete, of openly gay professional athletes. Hopefully Testo’s admission can help others confidently join that list.

Wilson Ramos kidnapped

Since the previous topic of discussion was about someone coming out of the closet, figuratively, let’s turn the focus to someone who might actually be locked in a closet. Okay, that was a terrible joke and this is a terrible news story. On Wednesday evening, Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos, 24, was kidnapped at gunpoint from his home in Venezuela. While it’s shocking to think of an MLB player being kidnapped, kidnappings in Venezuela are not that uncommon. In fact, kidnappers in Venezuela are like Pirates in Somalia, it’s basically a very illegal business.

Ramos’ abduction, by four armed gunmen while he was outside his home with his brother and father, is the first known kidnapping of a major leaguer in a country that has scores of players on big league rosters, and it has brought a renewed focus on rising violent crime in Venezuela.

It is recommended that MLB players have a security detail with them to prevent these such kidnappings from happening. And while it is good that Ramos is alive and healthy, for the time being, it’s disappointing to think that foreign-born players cannot even travel back to their home countries without fearing for their lives. This is also tough news for the Nationals for whom the young catcher was supposed to be a centerpiece in a youth movement that also includes pitcher Stephen Strasburg and hotshot outfielder Bryce Harper.

No fine for wardrobe malfunction

The term “wardrobe malfunction” became a household phrase following the halftime show at the 2004 Super Bowl. At this point, everybody should know what took place at the end of Justin Timberlake’s performance of ‘Rock Your Body,’ but if you don’t let me fill you in. When Timberlake sang the final lyrics – “I’m gonna have you naked by the end of this song,” – he ripped off Jackson’s bustier, briefly exposing her breast and a silver sunburst “shield” covering her nipple.

Now, I think we can all agree that the exposure of Jackson’s nipple was a planned act between the two singers. Regardless whether it was planned or not, CBS was fined $550,000 for the display of nudity. Well, finally, a federal appeals court upheld its finding that the Federal Communications Commissions acted improperly in fining CBS. This ends a 7-year court battle over half-a-second of nudity.

How much money do you think CBS or the FCC wasted trying to overturn or uphold a $550,000 fine. I know that amount is just more than half a million, but in the 7 years since I almost guarantee more than $1 million was spent in court and attorney fees. Since this is clearly more about principle and less about money I hope the money and time put into this battle was all worth it.

Can’t Spell Elite without Eli

Before the season started, Eli Manning’s seventh in the NFL, the New York Giants quarterback said he was worthy of being listed, along with Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, as one of the elite quarterbacks in the league. Many scoffed at that notion because Eli has never been seen as a dominant quarterback, his victory over the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII has been considered lucky or a fluke, and he’s not even the best quarterback in his family.

But after the youngest Manning and his Giants went head-to-head with Brady and the Patriots in Foxborough and came out victorious, I think it’s time we start looking at Eli Manning a little differently. Since taking over as the Giants starter during his rookie year, Manning has not missed a start. He’s won 66 games and the Giants have never had a record worse than 8-8. Since being named Super Bowl MVP, Manning has completed better than 60 percent of his passes and tossed at least 20 touchdowns in each of the three season since/ He’s on pace to do the same this season.

Last Sunday, after Brady had led his Patriots on a go-ahead touchdown drive, capped off by a touchdown pass to tight end Rob Gronkowski with a little less than two minutes to play, Manning never flinched. He took his Giants right down the field and connected with his tight end, Jake Ballard, for the game-winning score. What makes the Giants’ 24-20 victory so remarkable is that the Patriots had won 20-consecutive regular-season home games and Brady, who missed a full season due to injury, had won 31-straight at home.

Kelly “Champion” Slater

On this Veteran’s Day, which originally began as Armistice Day which commemorated the end of World War I on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, I wanted to pay tribute to 39-year-old Kelly Slater who won his 11th Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Title last Sunday. Slater, who turns 40 in February, became the oldest surfer to win the title for which he was also the youngest to win. Slater won the first of his 11 world Championships when he was only 18 years old. Sunday, Slater advanced out of the fourth round at the Rip Curl Pro Search in San Francisco and had finally built an insurmountable points lead to secure the title …for the second time in a week.

The previous Wednesday, November 2, Slater was incorrectly announced as the World Champion due to a points calculation error. The error resulted in the resignation of ASP CEO Brodie Carr, but didn’t result in a new champion. Sunday, in ironic fashion, Slater beat two surfers young enough to be his kids in the fourth round to secure the title.

“I’m stoked. I was upset about it at first, but I also thought it was really funny,” said Slater about the miscalculation after officially winning. “”I’m going against two kids that could literally be my kids, and those kids throw gnarly turns.”

The Passing of Smokin’ Joe Frazier

Smokin’ Joe Frazier was a three-time Ring Magazine Boxer of the Year, he became the first boxer to beat Muhammad Ali in the “Fight of the Century” at Madison Square Garden and Howard Cosell’s “Down goes Frazier” from a 1973 fight between Frazier and George Foreman is one of the most iconic sports calls ever. At 67 years old, after a brief fight with liver cancer, Joe Frazier died last Monday night.

Frazier was one of history’s best boxers. Forever linked with Ali, he often lived in the shadow of his top competitor. Since the departure of Lennox Lewis, Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield from the heavyweight scene, boxing has seen few full-fleged rivalries. None, though, rivals what Frazier and Ali had during the 1970′s.

Frazier’s only victory over Ali came in their first fight in 1971. The fight went into the 15th and final round before Smokin’ Joe finally knocked Ali to the mat, eventually retaining his World Heavyweight Title. The boxing world had to wait three years for the rematch, once again at Madison Square Garden, but not nearly as hyped. Ali won to pull even in the rivalry and a little more than a year later, the two met for the third and final time on a humid morning in the Philippines.

The Thrilla in Manila, one of the most famous fights ever, was stopped after the 14th round with both fighters bloody, bruised and beaten. Ali would later say it was the closest to dying that he’s ever been and in a brief post-fight interview said “Joe Frazier, I’ll tell the world right now, brings out the best in me. I’m gonna tell ya, that’s one helluva man, and God bless him.” With Frazier’s passing on Monday, I’m sure many are saying the same thing. He was a helluva man and may he rest in peace.

Photos courtesy Pirma Canada, lassy88 and cliff1066 via Flickr.

On Tuesday night, police searched Mayfield’s house in Catawba, North Carolina based on an anonymous tip that he was in possession of stolen goods. Not only did they find nearly $100,000 worth of items reported stolen from two trucking companies in Lincolnton, N.C., the police also found forty firearms and 1.5 grams of methamphetamine.

Mayfield was charged with felony possession of methamphetamine, and more charges are likely to follow as detectives from Lincoln County plan to charge him with possession of stolen goods.

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office said Mayfield had heavy equipment parts, welders and welding accessories, truck parts, an engraving machine and other items that were apparently reported stolen from two businesses in late 2010 and early 2011.

Of course Mayfield denies all charges as his attorney says the search was conducted based on “baseless allegations by an unreliable source.” Unreliable or not, the anonymous tipster was right in its claim that stolen goods were on Mayfield’s property.

“Mr. Mayfield has no knowledge of either stolen property or methamphetamine being present on his property and denies the accusation that he was in possession of methamphetamine or any other illegal drug and he denies any suggestion that he knowingly received or possessed stolen property,” said Daniel Marino, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney.

We’ve heard this “it’s all a fabrication” claim from Mayfield before. It was early-May in 2009 when Mayfield tested positive for meth during a pre-race drug test. He was suspended indefinitely, by both NASCAR and his team owner, even though he claimed the test stemmed from a combination of Adderall and the over-the-countery allergy medication Claritin.

It’s unclear whether Mayfield claims the 1.5 grams of meth found on his property are also just a mix of Adderall and Claritin.

Two months after the positive test, a federal judge temporarily lifted the suspension. Unfortunately, Mayfield failed a random drug test again on July 6 and on July 24 a federal appeals court reinstated the suspension.

During the battle over whether Mayfield should or should not be suspended, NASCAR filed an affadavit which featured statements from Mayfield’s step-mom that Mayfield’s drug habit began back in 1998, when she used to see him cook up his own meth.

My friends over at thestir.cafemom.com have a great breakdown of what went down in 2009.

It all started when Mayfield failed a random drug test. And then another random drug test. And then his stepmother Lisa filed an affidavit saying that Jeremy not only used meth regularly, he cooked it himself. Mayfield responded by calling her a “whore” who “shot and killed” his dad (whose death was supposedly a suicide). Then Lisa flipped out and showed up drunk at Mayfield’s house, where she punched one of his employees and kicked his wife in the crotch.

It is clear Mayfield is once again in a battle to clear his name. Responding to comments on twitter, Mayfield’s wife, Shana, tweeted: “Such a shady deal. Makes no sense. … I as confused as u r.”

As far as the stolen goods, all were reported stolen by two trucking companies: Lee Boy Inc. and Larry Grant Inc.

Tom Weese, of Lee Family Real Estate, LTD, told WBTV that roughly $65,000 worth of items were stolen from his business last year. He recovered most of his goods Tuesday night after Mayfield’s arrest.

The investigation is still ongoing, and Weese believes there will be more arrests to come.

“It wouldn’t even be possible for one man to conduct an operation like this,” he said. “It’s unbelievable that the operations they had going on down there.”

Currently, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are running the 40 firearms, which range from antique guns to high-powered rifles, through its gun tracing system to determine if any were reported stolen.

After fighting with NASCAR during the past 30 months, now Mayfield has to battle the state of North Carolina in an attempt to clear his name of all charges. These latest transgressions, whether true or not, clearly do not help that cause.

Photo courtesy Darryl W. Moran Photography via Flickr.

With the one extra day, I thought I’d take this edition of Twining’s Take on the week in sports to recap the first five games of the World Series.

Two years ago, the Rangers were one of four teams who had never been to the World Series. Last year, they made it to the end but lost to the San Francisco Giants in six games. This year, not only did the Rangers make the World Series for the second year in a row, they are one win away from winning their first championship. Not bad for a team that played for 49 years before making it to the World Series.

Before the World Series began, I predicted the Rangers would win but in an irrelevant number of games. I made it clear that I wanted the series to go a full seven games and for that reason I will be rooting for the Cardinals to win game six tonight.

After the Rangers overcame a 1-0 deficit and a 2-1 deficit to tie the series and take a three games to two lead in the seven-game series, the Cardinals can take solace in the fact that they have home field advantage because the National League won July’s All-Star Game. Instead of playing in the heat of Texas, games six and seven will be played in 40+ degree conditions in Missouri.

One thing that makes this series so intriguing, or lackthereof as some would argue, is because the Rangers and the Cardinals have only met once – ever.

Baseball is a sport steeped in tradition and which dates back one hundred years – it’s America’s Past Time. It’s unusual then, that a matchup between St. Louis and Texas, two long-tenured franchises, contains little in terms of rivalry. Fans stuck in the middle, like myself, must then rely on a competitive, seven-game series to hold our focus.

Major League Baseball hasn’t had a seven-game World Series since 2002 when the Los Angeles Angels beat the San Francisco Giants. The Angels trailed 3-2 similar to the Cardinals this year. If the Cardinals can force a game seven, they will steal momentum from the Rangers at a valuable time. Game seven has been won by the home team in the last 8 World Series that have gone to seven games

Because of this rich history, baseball is filled with historial statistical projection and is dominated by what has occurred and what should occur based on circumstance.

I wanted to use this Twining’s Take to focus on projections and predictions of the first five World Series games and discuss what history would indicate is “supposed to happen” in this World Series-only edition of Twining’s Take.

Game One – Cardinals 3, Rangers 2
Game one has been an indicator of success in recent decades: The winner has captured seven of the last eight titles, 12 of the last 14 and 19 of the last 23. In addition, the team hosting Game 1 has won 20 of the last 25 World Series.

After St. Louis edged out a 3-2 win in game one to open the World Series, history would say that the Cardinals are likely to win it all. The scoring all took place in the middle three innings. Lance Berkman started in the fourth with a two-run single. In the fifth, Mike Napoli tied it with a two-run homer for the Rangers. Then, an inning later, Allen Craid played hero when he singled in David Freese.

It’s interesting that game ones have been so pivotal in the recent past. I’d attribute this to the many off-days that previously extended World Series in November. This year, with only two scheduled off days, a teams ace, such as the Cardinals’ Chris Carpenter, is unlikely to pitch three times in the series.

Game Two – Rangers 2, Cardinals 1
Of teams that won Game 2 to even the Series, 29 of 54 have gone on to win — but just two of the last seven, the 2002 Angels and the 2009 Yankees.

The Rangers “desperately” needed to win game two in order to tie the series. It doesn’t matter that even with a 2-0 deficit there are still five games remaining in the series. I wonder if historical analysis is a burden to the players? Do you think they think about historic stats. You know they at least watch Sportscenter where they’ll talk about this. Could you imagine? Top of the ninth, Cardinal reliever Jason Motte on the mound…

“Man, I can’t believe I just allowed two-straight singles to open the ninth inning. I hope I don’t give up consecutive sacrifice flies to Josh Hamilton and Michael Young, lose the game 2-1, and then be a main catalyst in my team being the second team in nine years to lose the World Series after winning game one.”

Game Three – Cardinals 16, Rangers 7
The 2003 Florida Marlins were the last team to go on to win a World Series following a 2-1 deficit.

This was clearly the Albert Pujols show. Pujols erupted a day after not talking to the media following game two. Leading the Cardinals to a 16-7 victory, Pujols was 5-6 with three homeruns, three runs scored and six RBI. Each of his marks – homers, runs and rbi – matched World Series records.

It was a game for the ages. 23 runs scored in total, all but one scored during or after the fourth inning. In the fourth and fifth inning alone, both teams combined to score 13 runs. This is the 3rd game in postseason history in which each team scored at least six runs over the same 2-inning span.

Game Four – Rangers 4, Cardinals 0
From pre-game show on ESPN Radio: Derrek Holland will most likely only go four or five innings, but the Rangers need him to go six so they can get to the back end of their bullpen … One thing we know for sure is that Albert Pujols is going to be on base. How Ron Washington chooses to coach around that will be important.

Boy were the announcers way off in their assessment of Holland. Far surpassing their prediction of four or five innings, Holland lasted 8 /3, struck out seven and allowed only two hits and two walks. He stymied the Cardinal offense that had erupted the night before. The Cardinals set the record for the biggest drop-off preceding a shutout in the World Series, the worst since the 1993 Blue Jays dropoff of 15 runs to the Phillies.

Not only did the announcers whiff on Holland, Pujols projection was also a swing-and-miss. Prior to his five-hit outburst in game three, Pujols was 0-7 to start the series. Not only did Pujols not draw a walk, he went hitless in four at bats. From 0-7, to 5-12, back to 5-16. Pujols production is obviously hit or miss at this point.

Game Five – Rangers 4, Cardinals 2
The Cardinals have won four of five World Series when trailing 3-games-to-2. The only loss was to the Philadelphia Athletics in 1930.

Like the double-switch in the National League, maybe blowing two hit-and-runs in pivotal situations was a strategic move for the Cardinals. Even though Mike Napoli emerged as a potential MVP candidate after throwing out Allen Craig at second base in the seventh and another would-be base stealer in the ninth. Both times, Pujols was at bat in hit-and-run situations.

Napoli hit the game-winning two-run homerun in the bottom of the eimghth and became only the second player, since Mickey Mantle in 1960, to have four multi-RBI games in a single World Series.

The real story of game five was the mis-communication, allegedly due to the noise from the Texas crows, the resulted in Lance Lynn entering the game for the Cardinals when Manager Tony LaRussa was expecting Jason Motte. Lynn was not supposed to pitch and intentionally walked the only batter he faced.

Photos courtesy Monikalel42, theseoduke and SD Dirk via Flickr.

Al Davis

I’m sure by now all sports fans out there know Al Davis died a week and a half ago. For as long as I’ve been alive Al Davis has been the owner of the Oakland Raiders. Also for as long as I’ve been alive I’ve hated Al Davis. I understand that he was great for the game of football and blah, blah, he was a maverick and he changed everything blah blah and he deserves our respect. But from what I’ve heard, Al Davis was quite the a-hole.

He fired so many coaches that it got to the point where nobody really wanted to work for the Raiders. Not once, but TWICE he fired a coach mid-season and tried to not pay the coach the remainder of his salary. He still owes Mike Shanahan $250,000. Sorry Mike, I don’t think you’re getting that money. The thing about Al Davis was that he lived and died a Raider. Which is ironic because as an owner he personified what being a Raider means. He sued the NFL and moved the team to Los Angeles. Then he moved back to Oakland and sued the NFL again claiming he still owned the rights to the Los Angeles market. During the past 10-15 years, he annihilated a once-proud franchise as he aged (not well, mind you) by making stupid draft pick after stupid draft pick and driving the team into the ground trying to build a franchise with an outdated mindset.

He was obsessed with speed and tried to play 1970′s style football in a league where offenses had evolved considerably during his tenure as owner and general manager of the Raiders. I don’t want to discredit what Al Davis did in his early years with the team, but since I was not alive and therefore don’t remember those times, I will only and always remember Davis for the slimy S.O.B he was during the past 10 years.

ESPN Body Issue

Recently, ESPN the Magazine released its third-annual body issue. If you aren’t familiar with ESPN’s equivilant to the Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue, they do photo spreads with athletes in the nude…and I mean completely naked. Save for some cleverly placed extremeties (I’m talking arms and legs) and intentional shadowing, you can see EVERYTHING. In fact, some of the shots including the bare butts of both male and female athletes.

I am no prude and growing up I loved SI’s swimsuit issue – at least when my parents didn’t confiscate it. But this year is the first time I had the thought that ESPN’s body issue seemed a little pornographic. Imagine being a 11-, 12-, or 13-year-old kid and not just getting your hands on a swimsuit issue, but an issue full of “artistic” nudity.

In addition, I don’t want to go to the front page of ESPN.com, at work mind you, and have to look at Hope Solo in the buff doing some weird, slightly unnatural pose that hides her boobs and vagina. I get it, Hope Solo is a professional athlete who may or may not have a rocking bod, just like Steven Jackson or Apollo Ohno, but that doesn’t mean that I want it plastered all over ESPN.com.

Maybe it’s because I’m on the verge of turning 25 and am (slowly) maturing, but for some reason the ESPN body issue just rubbed me the wrong way this year.

World Series

Before the MLB playoffs began, I chose the Detroit Tigers and the Milwaukee Brewers to make it to the World Series. Did I put it in writing? No, but just trust me that those were my choices. Although I didn’t correctly pick the World Series teams, I did pick the teams that would lose to the World Series teams. So I got that going for me, which is nice.

Tonight, St. Louis hosts the Texas Rangers – playing for MLB’s championship for the second year in a row. I’ll write down my prediction this time: I am picking the Texas Rangers. I’m not going to go so far as to predict in how many games the Rangers will win, because obviously I want it to go the full seven games. Since I don’t have any affiliation to these teams I want to watch as much baseball as possible and see as much October drama as I can.

The reason I’m picking the Rangers is because I believe their offense is too dominate to be stifled by the Cardinals’ pitching staff. It’s true that the Cardinals bullpen helped propel the team into the World Series but it was a bullpen that was also very shaky during the regular season. While they’ve had a couple solid playoff rounds, helping to beat the Philadelphia Phillies and the Brewers, eventually they have to regress to the mean, right? I think Nelson Cruz and the rest of the Ranger offense will do just enough to better Albert Pujols and the Cardinal offense.

Mark it down Cliff Lee, you couldn’t help the Rangers win a World Series last year so they’re going to, instead, win one this year without you. Irony? I think so.

NBA Lockout

The next time I talk about the NBA in Twining’s Take, I hope I’m discussing the cancellation of an entire season. Ever since my Seattle Supersonics were stolen away by Clay Bennett and his secret boyfriend David Stern, I’ve despised the NBA and all it stands for. I can’t stand how professional leagues, knowing collective-bargaining agreements are going to expire on X date, wait until the very last minute to try and get a deal done to save a season.

When the NBA cancelled the first two weeks of the season, the City of Los Angeles announced it would lose approximately $40 million by not having basketball at the Staples Center for two weeks. When I heard that number all I could think about was the stupid government in Seattle and Washington State that claimed the Sonics had little, if any, effect on revenue generated in shops and restaurants surrounding Key Arena. I hope the NBA cancels the entire season and that forces Bennett and the Oklahoma City Thunder to lose a ton of money because Bennett clearly deserves some bad luck.

You know who also deserves bad luck? David Stern. According to this post on Deadspin.com, Billy Hunter, head of the NBA Players Association, claims Stern promised a lockout of at least a year three years ago. Why? Because Stern thinks it is his responsibility to cater to the owners and get them whatever they want, even if it includes moving a 40+ year franchise away from it’s original city. I don’t understand league commissioners. Shouldn’t they be in the middle of the owners and the players and work on behalf of both groups? It’s just like Roger Goodell in the NFL, how can you be the commissioner of a league when you so clearly despise the efforts of the players to get a fair share of revenue?

Drama in the NFL

Holy crap, did you see what happened on Sunday after the Detroit Lions – San Francisco 49ers game. It was the hand-shake heard round the world. Jim Harbaugh, the first-year coach of the 49ers had just beat the previously undefeated Detroit Lions in Detroit, aggressively shook Schwartz’s hand. Maybe Schwartz is made Harbaugh has the manlier handshake, I don’t know. According to Schwartz, Harbaugh apparently didn’t follow NFL “protocol” because he was pumped up and excited following his teams fifth victory in six games.

What ensued was a very aggressive handshake from Harbaugh to Schwartz, who was a tad butt-hurt to lose for the first time this year. Schwartz retaliated by running after Harbaugh – to do what exactly? I’m not sure – and then there was a small ruckus outside the tunnel before everybody calmed down.

But the media? Boy were they just getting started. That happened Sunday, it is now Wednesday, and people are STILL talking about it. Who freaking cares. The NFL, often called the No Fun League, needs this sort of thing. The NFL needs more rah-rah coaches, like Harbaugh this year or Pete Carroll last year, to come in a breath life to a sport that can become quite dull at times. NFL is very popular, yes, but a lot of that popularity has to do with fantasy football. Add a few coaching rivalries to the already established team rivalries and the NFL will get even more popular.

Dan Wheldon

There isn’t much left to be said about the tragic death of IndyCar racer Dan Wheldon. The 33-year-old Englishman was killed Sunday in a ridiculous 15-car crash at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. What’s slightly ironic about Wheldon’s death is that a couple months ago in ESPN the Magazine’s “Player X” feature, a anonymous, veteran NASCAR driver expressed his dismay with how safe NASCAR cars had become. It wasn’t the fact that he wanted the cars to be more dangerous. No, he wanted to at least have the increased risk of danger while racing.

The anonymous driver explained how younger drivers feel like it’s okay to be more aggressive in situations where aggression wasn’t lauded with the mindset that “hey, if it doesn’t work out then I’ll just crash in to the wall and survive.” Since Dale Earnhardt Sr’s death in 2001, NASCAR has overhauled the safety precautions which has kept everyone safe and alive. Hopefully Wheldon’s death will cause a similar overhaul to IndyCar racing. I’m in Jimmie Johnson’s boat that IndyCars should not race on ovals. The cars aren’t built to withstand 200 mile per hour crashes into the walls, especially considering the fact that all the cars have open cockpits. Seems like a recipe for disaster to me.

Photos courtesy Zennie62 vis Flickr and Matthew Sheppard and Cody Mulcahy via Wikimedia Commons

On Sunday afternoon, on lap 11 of the final IndyCar Series race of the season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a horrific 15-car crash claimed the life of 33-year-old Englishman Dan Wheldon. Considered one of the most popular drivers on the IndyCar Circuit, Wheldon was a two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500, first winning the sport’s biggest race in 2005 and most recently taking home the crown earlier this year.

“IndyCar is very sad to announce that Dan Wheldon has passed away from unsurvivable injuries,” IndyCar Series CEO Randy Bernard said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family today. IndyCar, its drivers and owners, have decided to end the race. In honor of Dan Wheldon, the drivers have decided to do a five-lap salute in his honor.”

Counting the 2011 Indy 500, Wheldon was racing in just his third IndyCar race of the season a hoped to claim a $5 million bonus that was part of a league promotion for drivers who didn’t compete full-time in the series this year. He was the only driver to accept the challenge, although NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne admitted he too almost pursued the $5 million reward before team owner Rick Hendrick told him not to.

Prior to Sunday’s race on an oval track, multiple drivers had expressed concern about the speed of the track – speeds of nearly 225 miles per hour were reached during practice rounds. Nevertheless the race commenced and shortly thereafter it ended in the worst way possible.

From ESPN.com:

The race was only minutes old when Wheldon, who started at the back of the 34-car field and was in position for a $5 million payday if he had won, couldn’t steer clear of a wreck that started when two cars touched tires.

Within seconds, several cars burst into flames and debris covered the track nearly halfway up the straightaway. Some points of impact were so devastating workers had to patch holes in the asphalt.

Video replays showed Wheldon’s car turning over as it went airborne and sailed into what’s called the catch fence, which sits over a barrier that’s designed to give a bit when cars make contact. Rescue workers were at Wheldon’s car quickly, some furiously waving for more help to get to the scene.

Ryan Briscoe, also racing Sunday, described the scene following the crash as looking “like like a war scene from Terminator or something. I mean, there were just pieces of metal and car on fire in the middle of the track with no car attached to it and just debris everywhere.”

Many drivers, crew-members and fans were visibly upset following the crash while everybody waited for word on Wheldon’s condition and that of the other drivers injured in the crash. Thankfully JR Hildebrand, Pippa Mann and Will Power, who were all also injured, are going to make a full recovery. It remains to be seen whether the IndyCar Series can do the same.

Wheldon’s death is the fourth IndyCar fatality since the Series began in 1996, the most recent occurring in 2006 when rookie Paul Dana was killed from a crash during a practice run. This fatal crash will send shock waves through the racing circuit as it is the most high-profile racing fatality since Dale Earnhardt Sr. died in 2001 on the last lap of the Daytona 500.

Following Earnhardt’s death, NASCAR overhauled the safety precautions to improve the sport. Among the changes were improvements to seatbelts, as Earnhardt’s had reportedly failed and had a tear in it prior to the crash, and the mandatory usage of a HANS device, which is a Head and Neck Support system.

On Monday, in the wake of Wheldon’s death, NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson publicly says IndyCar should quit racing on ovals saying he believes the IndyCar cars are built for street circuits and road courses, and drive too fast to race on ovals. He says the car is not built to withstand the bumping that occurs on ovals.

“I wouldn’t run them on ovals. There’s just no need to,” Johnson said Monday during a test session at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “Those cars are fantastic for street circuits, for road courses. I hate, hate, hate that this tragedy took place. But hopefully they can learn from it and make those cars safer on ovals somehow.”

What’s especially tragic about Wheldon’s death is that over the course of the year he had gone from an unemployed driver at the beginning of the season, but parlayed a one-off drive in the Indianapolis 500 into his second Indy win and the richest payday of his racing career.

With IndyCar racer Danica Patrick moving to NASCAR full-time next year, Wheldon was expected to replace Danica Patrick next season in the Go-Daddy-sponsored car. Andretti Autosport, the team with which Wheldon won the 2005 Indy 500, had agreed to a contract early Sunday for Wheldon to replace Patrick next season. The deal was supposed to be signed after the race.

Patrick used Twitter to express her condolences, “There are no words for today. Myself and so many others are devastated. I pray for suzi (Wheldon’s wife) and the kids that god will give them strength.”

Wheldon leaves behind a wife, Suzie, and two sons, 2-year-old Sebastian and 6-month-old Oliver.

Photos courtesy Jim Greenhill and Daryl Moran via Wikimedia Commons.

Fresh off a bye-week following an ugly loss to Michigan two weeks ago, San Diego State was expected to challenge and possibly beat an unranked TCU team that had just lost to SMU in overtime the week before and had barely beaten the Aztecs a year ago. This year, the Aztecs got the Horned Frogs at home in front of 44,000 fans at Qualcomm Stadium. The last time they took to the field at the Q, they came back in the second half to beat surging Washington State in week 3 in front of one of the largest Aztec home-football crowds ever. Saturday’s matchup against TCU didn’t play out quite the same, resulting in a 27-14 loss.

Coming in to the game, TCU had not done well against spread passing attacks. They lost to Baylor in week one, gave up 17 first-quarter points to Louisiana-Monroe in week 3 and then lost to SMU last week in overtime. Everything was stacked in San Diego State’s favor heading in to the game. Once the game started, however, the Aztecs were their own worst enemy.

Lindley, considered one of the top quarterbacks in the conference along with Boise State’s Kellen Moore, has struggled the past two games to the tone of completing just 38 of 89 passes (42.7 percent) for 454 yards and three touchdowns. On Saturday, he threw three interceptions and was unable to put any points on the board for the Aztecs in the first half as they trailed 17-0 at intermission. It didn’t help that running back Ronnie Hillman, who entered the game as nation’s second-leading rusher with 151.5 yards per game, lost his third fumble in the past two games. Saturday’s fumble came in the second quarter at the goal-line. After starting the second half with three carries for minus-1 yards against the staunch TCU run defense, Hillman was pulled in favor of backup Walter Kazee.

It wasn’t all bad for the Aztecs, who mounted a second-half comeback similar to the comeback against Washington State three weeks ago. Only difference this time around was when the Aztecs needed a defensive stop to get the offense back ion the field, TCU didn’t oblige. The Aztecs looked ready to complete a comeback and take the lead after Lindley connected with fullback Chad Young on a four-yard score. However, on the Aztec’s next possession, Lindley threw his third interception of the game which killed San Diego State’s momentum. Had the Aztecs been able to stop TCU they would have had enough time for another shot at taking the lead. But, shortly after Lindley’s interception, the Horned Frogs salted away the victory when tailback Matthew Tucker scored from five yards out with 5:23 remaining.

“TCU played better than we did,” SDSU head coach Rocky Long said. “In the first half, we prevented ourselves from scoring at least 10 or 17 points by our own mistakes.”

Now, San Diego State has a must-win game this Thursday night against Air Force on the road. Travelling to Colorado Springs is never an easy task for a football program, particularly an Aztec-program desperately seeking it’s fourth win of the season. Another loss Thursday and a once-promising season that had the Aztecs 3-0 prior to playing Michigan two weeks ago, will quickly spiral out of control if the Aztecs are 3-3 and 0-2 in the Mountain West come Friday morning.

While San Diego State was struggling coming off a bye week, the San Diego Chargers were struggling heading in to a bye week. And, although the Chargers have yet to beat a team with a winning record and struggled in their one match-up against a top-notch competitor in the New England Patriots, they head in to their week six bye atop the AFC West with a 4-1 record. Since Norv Turner took over as head coach in 2007, the Chargers have been notoriously slow out of the gate but turned their struggles around in October and through November and December.

The last time the Chargers started a season 4-1 was in 2006. Charger fans surely remember 2006 as the season the team finished 14-2, but then lost to the Patriots in the playoffs after blowing a 24-21 fourth quarter lead. Head coach Marty Schottenheimer was subsequently fired and the Norv Turner era began.

Sunday’s 29-24 victory over the Denver Broncos marked the first time under Norv Turner that the Chargers have had a winning record this early in the season. In 2007, they started 1-3, 2-3 in 2008 and 2009 and 2-5 last year. Each year, however, they still won the AFC West and made the playoffs – until last year, that is. In 2010, the Chargers finished with the best statistical offense and defense in the league, but missed the playoffs with an 8-8 record.

Though the offense and defense have both struggled through the team’s first five games, winning is winning no matter who you play or how you play. Yesterday, the Chargers struggled to take an early lead and then once they had that lead they struggled to hold onto it. It wasn’t until a last-gasp deep pass in to the endzone from Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow that San Diego fans could breathe easy.

“A lot of things happened in that football game that made it a great game for everyone to watch,” Head Coach Norv Turner said. “Our objective coming in here to Denver was to get a win. I’m excited about winning a football game.”

Yes, there were some great things that took place. Second-year running back Ryan Mathews is starting to break out in a big way and yesterday was a huge step forward. Mathews rushed for a career-high 125 yards and finished his sixth consecutive game with at least 100 total yards of offense; the only other 100-yard rushing game of his career came last Jan. 2 at Denver. Malcolm Floyd, who finished with more than 100-yards receiving, hauled in Rivers’ only touchdown pass of the game – a 42-yarder.

San Diego’s other touchdown came in the second quarter when the Chargers were faced with fourth-and-goal from the 2-yard line but chose to go for the score instead of settling for a third-straight field goal after moving the ball inside the Broncos 10-yard line. Out of the shotgun, with five receivers spread out along the line of scrimmage, Rivers scored on a scramble up the middle giving the Chargers a 13-10 lead – a lead they would stretch to 26-10 before the Broncos mounted a comeback.

“The name of the game has never changed in this league, and it’s winning,” Rivers said. “There’s no AP votes. There’s no coaches’ poll. It’s just win football games. So far, we’ve done that 80 percent of the time.”

Despite a 16-point, fourth-quarter lead the Chargers victory was not secured until Tebow’s final pass fell incomplete. In fact, it was Tebow’s mere presence in the game that seemed to give Denver a spark. Starting quarterback Kyle Orton, who struggled mightily, was finally pulled for Tebow to a roar of approval from fans who have chanted for Tebow since the season started. Although Tebow didn’t do much to stifle outspoken critics, completing only 4-of-10 passes for 79 yards, he did throw a touchdown pass and rush for a touchdown that brought the Broncos within a score.

Thankfully Charger kicker Nick Novak, replacing the injured Nate Kaeding, converted all five of his field goal attempts Sunday, otherwise the five-point lead would only have been two and the Broncos would only have needed a game-winning field goal instead of a game-winning touchdown.

“If you have the confidence that when it’s the last two minutes, you’re going to get the stop, the first down or make the kick, I think it gives you a chance mentally to go win every game,” Turner said.

Luckily the Charger got both the kick and the final stop.

Photos courtesy thetcumagazine and Jeffrey Beall via Flickr.

My Seattle Sounders just won their third-consecutive Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. It is a feat that hadn’t been accomplished in 46 years – since the Greek Americans won three-straight between 1967 and 1969. Now, the Sounders can add their name as just the third United States Soccer Federation-affiliated team to win three-straight in a tournament that began in 1913 – the oldest ongoing American soccer competition.

What is awesome about the Sounders third-straight championship is that it comes in just the club’s third year in existence. As the Sounders skills have improved and they’ve become one of the best teams in the MLS, they have a chance to do something I’m sure has never before been accomplished in American soccer.

They’ve won the U.S. Open Cup, they have the second-best record in the MLS, behind the Los Angeles Galaxy, and they’ve advanced to the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions League, a tournament that includes some of the best soccer clubs in North, Central and South America. By the time the year is over, the Sounders could win three championships in one year – the U.S. Open Cup, the MLS Cup and the CONCACAF Champions League.

The reason I know this feat has never before been accomplished is because the MLS hasn’t been around that long, for starters, but also because clubs don’t usually participate in both the U.S. Open Cup and the CONCACAF Champions League.

The Sounders play one of the most-difficult schedules of all MLS teams and this year they have an opportunity to pull off the unthinkable. As a Seattle-fan who grew up supporting the old NASL Sounders team, I hope they win them all. Heck If they win all three, they’d surely be “America’s Team.” Right?

Lions and Packers and…nobody else

Through four weeks, there are two teams in the NFL that have still not lost a game. One of the teams is not a surprise – the Green Bay Packers. They are defending Super Bowl Champions and they boast the best quarterback in the NFL – Aaron Rogers.

The other undefeated team is the surprise story in the NFL. The Detroit Lions, who finished 0-16 in 2008, 2-14 in 2009 and 6-10 last year, is currently 4-0. Don’t try and tell the Lions or any of their fans that this team isn’t for real.

They haven’t had a winning season since 2000 and prior to winning five-straight road games, dating back to the end of last season, they had lost 25-in-a-row. In fact, after winning their last four games a year ago, they are on an eight-game winning streak following a span during which they lost 48 of 57 games.

It is an unprecedented turnaround due, in large part, to successful drafts when they held picks in the top five or top ten.. They’ve drafted their franchise quarterback, Matthew Stafford, two franchise defensive lineman, Ndamakung Suh and Nick Fairley, and a franchise wide receiver, Calvin Johnson. They’ve used their other draft picks, combined with free agent acquisitions, to put together a team finally capable of making the playoffs for the first time since 1999.

Althought the Lions’ ability to winning their division will be a difficult task considering the Packers also compete in the NFC North, their chances of making the playoffs increase with each victory. Not only can they make the playoffs for the first time in 12 seasons, but they are also on pace for double-digit wins, a feat not accomplished by the Lions since 1995.

For years they were the example of NFL futility. Now the appear to be the poster-child for drafting and building a winner.

NBA’s Failure is NHL’s Gain

A couple years ago, labor disputes forced the cancellation of an entire NHL season. After the NHL adjusted some rules and game-play issues (I won’t admit to knowing what was changed) the league returned to action a year later. Maybe it was the excitement of the 2010 Winter Olympics or simply the fact that no professional hockey was played for an entire season, but I feel like hockey is far more popular now than it was five years ago.

The NBA lockout might not necessarily be a feel-good moment for the NBA, its players, coaches, owners or fans, but the NHL has to feel pretty good about the shaky future of the NBA and the growing popularity of the NHL.

I just signed up for my first-ever fantasy hockey league. When I told this to my younger brother he laughed and told me I was a loser. Au contraire little bro, the reason I decided to play fantasy hockey for the first time is because, obviously, fantasy basketball isn’t going to be very exciting if they only play half a season and, by playing fantasy hockey, I can learn more about how the game is played and the good, under-the-radar players.

I’m using fantasy hockey to help myself learn more about the sport and have a greater appreciation for the athletes who play. With the NBA’s future in doubt, I suggest the rest of you start tuning in to the NHL as well.

Photos courtesy Wenatchee World, Dave Hogg and bdperkin via Flickr.

Once you’ve spoken out, it’s hard to take it back. Usually it’s just public disfavor or some protests. Maybe a few pitch forks here and there.

But not for Hank Williams, Jr., who was fired after his incident with “Fox and Friends” last Monday.  According to the L.A. Times, “The incident in question happened Monday on “Fox & Friends” when Williams said of Obama’s golf outing with House Speaker John Boehner: “It’d be like Hitler playing golf with Netanyahu,” referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.” After making that statement the singer indicated Obama and Joe Biden as “the enemy.”

After the interview that Monday morning, ESPN decided to pull the plug on William’s “Let’s Get Rowdy” song for Monday night football and are unsure about future Monday Night songs. The song has been used for football since 1989. They were upset with the comments he made and the affiliation Williams has with ESPN.

However, the two sides contrast over the way Williams has been separated from ESPN. ESPN stated, “We have decided to part ways with Hank Williams Jr. We appreciate his contributions over the past years. The success of Monday Night Football has always been about the games and that will continue.” Hank Williams, however, holds a different opinion.

According to Business Week, “After reading hundreds of e-mails, I have made MY decision,” Williams said in a statement to The Associated Press. “By pulling my opening Oct 3rd, You (ESPN) stepped on the Toes of The First Amendment Freedom of Speech, so therefore Me, My Song, and All My Rowdy Friends are OUT OF HERE. It’s been a great run.”

On Tuesday, Williams apologized for the statements he made. He said that they were misunderstood. Since Monday’s event, Williams has gained many supporters on his side. Some, surprisingly, are from the other side of the political track. Business Week stated, “Among his defenders were Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar of “The View,” who have a very different political viewpoint from the conservative Williams, but often are called out for their own comments.”

Despite who made that call, the fact still remains that that their long relationship of “Monday Night Football” is over after appearing for years on ESPN and ABC. So who should his replacement be?

Barry Sanders that’s who. Sanders is the Lions running back who will be speaking the intro during the opening of “Monday Night Football.”  According to AOL Sporting News, “ESPN spokesperson Josh Krulewitz told the Free Press that player narration was likely the format to be used for the rest of the year, but decisions beyond that had not been made.”

So far the song’s replacement has not been found. ESPN still has to figure that one out.

Photos courtesy of Andrea Klein, Hurricanekuma, Marianne O’leary, Adambroachphoto, and Timothy Monaghan via WikiCommons.

Smith introduces them one-by-one. From left-to-right, Terrell Owens and his mother, brother and sister. Why then, Smith asks, did T.O. want his family present.

It has been a tough year since he left Cincinnatti, T.O. says. He suffered a meniscus tear and then later tore his Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL). But, his family has always supported him even through personal problems and even though their relationship has not always been solid.

The T.O. sitting down with Stephen A. Smith is a different T.O. than NFL fans have witnessed during the past 15 years; less cocky, more serence – reflective even.

From San Francisco to Philadelphia, then Dallas to Buffalo and Cincinnati, T.O. has been one of the most productive wide receivers in the past 15 years. But when it comes to team chemistry, he has also been one of the more destructive. Heck, Skip Bayless refers to him as Team Obliterator.

“Today, I want [my family] to be here because I want to call it quits,” T.O. tells Smith. “I want to retire.”

“When did you reach the decision to retire,” Smith asks. “I’m going to ask your family in a minute, but I want to hear from you first.”

T.O. explains how he isn’t a quitter; he’s never been one to walk away from anything. But, he wanted to go out on his own terms. Naturally, Smith responds by asking T.O. if he feels like he is quitting.

It’s at this moment that Smith is completely hooked. He’s in the midst of an interview with a future Hall-of-Famer who is announcing his retirement. For any reporter, this is huge. Unfortunately for Smith, T.O. isn’t quite finished.

“I wish today was April 1, because it’d be April Fools and I got you,” T.O. says. “I’m not retiring!”

At 37-years-old, T.O. is intent on making a comeback in the NFL. Fresh off a season with the Bengals in which he started just 11 games but caught 72 passes, including 9 touchdowns, and came up 17 yards shy of 1,000 yards receiving, T.O. can still be a productive receiver in the NFL – especially considering the rules in place to protect offensive players.

After T.O. shocked Smith by not announcing his retirement, T.O. said he would be ready to return to the NFL “soon.” That wasn’t good enough.

Smith prodded, “what does soon mean?” T.O. responded, “I’ll say…I’ll give you a month or less. A month or less.”

T.O. burst onto the scene in 1997, his second year with the San Francisco 49ers. Jerry Rice went down with a torn ACL and the third-round pick out of Tennessee stepped in and delivered. T.O. racked up 936 yards receiving and hauled in eight touchdowns. In 1998, T.O. cracked the 1,000-yard receiving mark for the first time and totalled 15 touchdowns – one rushing. It was only year three, but the T.O. was already filling out his Hall of Fame resume.

In 15 seasons, eight with the 49ers, two with the Eagles, three with the Dallas Cowboys and one each with the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals, T.O. has 1,078 receptions, 15,934 yards receiving and 153 receiving touchdowns – 156 total. He is the only player in NFL history to score not one, but two touchdowns against all 32 NFL teams. He is the fifth player to reach 150 touchdowns, the sixth to reach 1,000 career receptions and the third with both 150 touchdowns and 1,000 receptions.

It’s evident T.O. will eventually be enshrined in Canton, but that doesn’t necessarily mean teams will be clamoring to sign the veteran free agent who will turn 38 in December.

T.O. recently underwent stem cell treatment in South Korea and claims to be at 75 percent following rehab and treatment for his knee injuries. But, even though T.O. expressed a desire to do whatever it takes to get himself healthy and back on the field, teams may be hesistant to fully buy in to the notion that he can fully recover in less than a year. To make matters worse, T.O. doesn’t have the best reputation around the league.

He has been fined numerous times for excessive celebrations following touchdowns, including autographing a football in Seattle following a touchdown, mocking Baltimore Ravens middle linebacker Ray Lewis’ pregame dance and mocking Patiots coach Bill Belichick following Spygate among many, many others.

Not only has T.O. caused problems on the field, he has stirred up controversy off the field as well. He once got in to a locker-room fight with former Eagles defensive end Hugh Douglas in 2005. Later that same year, T.O. publicly stated that the Eagles would be undefeated if Brett Favre was the team’s quarterback and not Donovan McNabb. In Dallas, T.O. criticized former head coach Bill Parcells by saying he learned “nothing, really” during his one-year under the tutelage of one of the NFL’s strictest coaches. He had a suicide scare in 2006 and was once filmed doing push-ups and sit-ups on his front lawn in front of reporters.

Regardless of whether multiple teams line up for T.O.’s services or just one team, he’s almost certain to be back in the NFL before the season ends. Therefore, in typical T.O. fashion, he grabbed the spotlight to alert current NFL general managers he would soon be ready.

“They going to get the T.O. that they expect,” T.O. said emphatically. “Don’t expect anything less. I’m not going to waste your time so don’t waste my time. When I step on the field, you know what you’re going to get.”

If his words ring true, one NFL team can expect to get a gifted, future first-ballot Hall-of-Famer who comes with just a little bit of baggage.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Photos courtesy Tammy Ferrufino via Wikimedia Commons and suzismini via Flickr. Video courtesy ESPN via YouTube.

It was the beginning of August, the Dog Days of summer for both players and fans. The Mariners sat 13 games back of the California Angels in the standings on August 2; two days later, the Mariners were three games under .500 with less than two months remaining.

The next two months produced a comeback for the ages, capped with a one-game playoff in Seattle with Randy Johnson on the mound and Luis Sojo playing hero with an inside-the-park grand-slam. I’ll always remember the joy and elation from witnessing that September comeback – what saved baseball in Seattle.

Last night, all those memories came flooding back when I witnessed the completion of the two biggest collapses in Major League Baseball history. I thought the Angels blowing a 13-game lead with two months to play was bad. How about being up 8.5 games (Red Sox) in the AL Wild Card on September 2 or leading the NL Wild Card (Braves) by 9 games on September 5 and then losing it all in game 162 and not making the playoffs?

I can picture all the youngsters in Tampa and St. Louis staying up into the wee hours of the morning watching, hoping, and waiting for their team to complete monstrous comebacks and make the playoffs.

In Tampa, the Rays were hosting the Yankees and playoff prospects looked dim the Yankees had a commanding 7-0 lead after 7 innings. Fans couldn’t get out of Tropicana Field fast enough.

Meanwhile the Boston Red Sox, tied with Tampa Bay and needing a win to guarantee at least a one-game playoff, was ahead of the Baltimore Orioles 3-2 in the 7th inning when a rain delay forced the Red Sox off the field and into the clubhouse.

In the National League, the St. Louis Cardinals easily beat the last-place Houston Astros 8-0. The win guaranteed the Cardinals at least a one-game playoff with the Atlanta Braves – assuming of course the Braves beat the Phillies.

At home against the Phillies, the Braves had all but secured that one-game playoff when the led 3-1 in the 7th and then 3-2 in the 9th with closer Craig Kimbrel on the mound.

At this point, the three remaining games are basically over. You’d assume the Rays lose and the Red Sox win. In the NL, you’d assume with all-star closer Craig Kimbrel on the mound the Braves hold off the Phillies and force a one game playoff.

However, this is baseball. It doesn’t always play out like you’d think. That’s why they play 162 games. Last night, baseball fans witnessed the greatest regular season finale in baseball history. It’s why they call it the Wild Card.

In a microcosm of each team’s season, Tampa Bay rallied late in the 8th and 9th similar to its late-September comeback, while Boston struggled to hold a lead into the 9th similar to its September collapse. The Braves, in similar fashion to the Red Sox, also held a lead late in the game and late in the season but didn’t know how to hold either lead.

I don’t have the space to fully recap every game for you, so let me just give you the “Reader’s Digest” version:

Tampa scored six runs in the bottom of the 8th, one in the ninth on a pinch-hit home run by Dan Johnson with two outs and a 2-2 count. The comeback was completed when Evan Longoria hit a walk-off homerun, his second homer of the night, in the bottom of the 12th. In the top of the inning, the Yankees had runners on first and third with no outs and were unable to score.

Prior to Tampa’s walk off win, the Red Sox had closer Jonathon Papelbon on the mound in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and a one-run lead. Papelbon proceeded to give up consecutive two-out doubles and a walk off single. On the play, left fielder Carl Crawford, previously of the Tampa Bay Rays, came up short on a sliding catch attempt that would’ve ended the inning.

In Atlanta, Kimbrel blew his third save of September when he allowed a sacrifice fly with two outs. The Phillies went on to score the go-ahead run in the top of the 13th inning and in the bottom of the inning, hot-shot rookie first baseman Freddie Freeman ended the Braves season when he grounded into a double-play.

***

Hopefully last night’s excitement helped introduce the joy of baseball to a new generation of fans. Now let me introduce to you all a couple big sports news stories. We’ll begin Twining’s Take with more baseball drama. I promise I’ll keep it short this week.

Marlins Big Secret

Did you hear the Marlins not only got a new manager recently in Ozzie Guillen but they also got a new closer? Yea, his name is Juan Carlos Oviedo and he’s a 29-year-old from the Dominican Republic.

What’s that you say, the Marlins don’t have a new closer?

Okay let me check my notes again. Oh I see the problem now; Juan Carlos Oviedo is the real identity of Marlins closer Leo Nunez, who claimed to be born in 1983, not 1982. Okay, simple case of mistaken identity. Right? Wrong.

Major League Baseball needs to use the Leo Nunez-Juan Carlos Oviedo situation to seriously consider a way to establish an international draft. Teams can sign Latin American players as young as 16 years old. When you have impressionable youth trying to make a living for them and their families, the allure of money can cause them to do whatever it takes to secure that contract even if that means changing their identity to appear younger.

Major League Baseball needs to start an international draft so the signing of foreign-born players can be better controlled and governed.

Quarterback Double-Standard

On Monday Night Countdown, former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer who won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens in 2001, gave a passionate take on what it takes to be an NFL quarterback and what comes with the position.

In his rant, he chastised Eagles quarterback Michael Vick for complaining about late hits and the alleged double-standard that protects quarterbacks like Tom Brady and Peyton Manning but not Vick or Ben Roethlisberger. Dilfer said the quarterback’s job, for the most part, is to stand in the pocket, stare down the rush, throw the ball, and then get hit in the face.

Dilfer’s opinion comes from the standpoint of a quarterback who won a Super Bowl with one of the best defenses in NFL history. To me, Dilfer’s opinion resonates.

The NFL has become too much of an offensive league that promotes high-scoring offenses and penalizes hard-hitting defenses. I agree with Dilfer that quarterback’s should stop complaining about late, low or high hits. Getting hit is part of the job. Deal with it.

NBA Lockout Continues

I hate labor disagreements. I hate them so much I don’t really feel like discussing them, researching them or really giving them the time of day. Figure out your problems, which you conveniently put off until the contract expired, and bring back basketball.

During the current NBA lockout, many players are flocking to foreign countries. By the time the season resumes play, if it ever does, the NBA is going to be down quite a few players, particularly if those playing abroad decide to complete their seasons.

Already we’ve had three Denver Nuggets agree to play professionally in China. They will not be allowed to return if the NBA resumes. With Kobe Bryant weighing his options and many other high profile players flocking to professional leagues overseas, the NBA better hurry-up and bring back basketball. It appears the future of the league depends on it.

Photos courtesy Keith Allison, NoBloodNoFoul.com and MLKboy via Flickr.

Finally, our favorite shows are back and we get to see who gets hired on the office. SPOILER ALERT: it’s James Spader. See, even though we have to wait to see what happens, because everything is scripted and filmed, we don’t have to wait to learn what happens. Thanks to the internet, we can just look up spoilers.

Recently, I’ve become a born-again professional wrestling fan … Okay, are you done laughing? Good; let me continue. It is my belief that everybody is a closest wrestling fan. We all, on random occasions throughout life, revert to pro-wrestling jargon. Tag-team? Laying the smackdown? Both wrestling terms, both commonly used.

Now, my girlfriend pointed out to me the other day that her TV show viewing is bereft of dramas and consists of a healthy dose of comedies and reality shows. Wait, can’t you also look up spoilers for reality shows too, because they aren’t live? You might even say reality shows are also fake? Gasp!

In these “reality shows,” “real people” play out “real drama” in “real life”. Sure, it reads as reality television, but instead it’s just real people in fake roles and fake scenarios which cause the real people to then become “celebrities.”

You know what isn’t taped and isn’t fake? Professional wrestling.

Take your normal pro wrestler. A real person, who was athletic and played sports growing up and whose exceptional talents propelled them to the WWE. By the time they make it to the grand stage, they’ve essentially abandoned their real-life persona and taken on a name, gimmick or role in the WWE that they maintain wherever they go.

The wrestlers’ ability to keep their jobs is about how well they can maintain that wrestling persona on live tv. There aren’t “seasons” or summer breaks for filming in the WWE. A lot of people say wrestling is “fake” because the wrestlers aren’t really fighting. While that may be true, often times the allure is not necessarily the outcome of the match but the journey to get to that outcome.

After my girlfriend told me about her drama-free TV watching, I realized something. I don’t watch many dramas either. You know why? I’m a sports fan. If I want drama, I’ll just tune in to the current MLB playoff race, the recent controversial Floyd Mayweather fight, or the always-exciting NFL. But, when I tire of the politics of the NCAA, or the frustration of another Seattle Mariner losing season, I know I can always tune in to Monday Night Raw and catch some real drama, with crazy athleticism mixed in.

Now, on to this week’s Twining’s Take. After my pro wrestling rant, I’ll keep it short this week. If you haven’t figured it out by now, this week’s topic is sports drama. First up, Mayweather’s “cheap shot.”

The Greatest Ever – Except Manny Pacquiao

Floyd Mayweather hadn’t fought in what seemed like ages. He has had more recent fights with the law than fights against actual people. Well, sanctioned fights that is. Who knows what fights his gambling debts incite. Regardless, “Money” Mayweather was back in the ring fighting to maintain his undefeated record.

The fight ended with what some might call a cheap shot by Mayweather, which knocked out Victor Ortiz and secured Mayweather’s 45th victory. True, the referee was not looking at the fighters at the time of the knockout and Ortiz may have not been ready to resume fighting.

Nonetheless, the reason the referee wasn’t looking and the reason the fight had to be halted mid-round to begin with was because Ortiz blatantly head-butted Mayweather. After the referee deducted a point from Ortiz and the fighters touched gloves to signify the fight had resumed, the referee briefly looked away to check the time and Mayweather knocked Ortiz out with a quick left-right combo.

There is an old adage in boxing that says a fighter must always defend himself in the ring. Regardless what was happening with the ref, Mayweather was completely in the right to hit Ortiz and Ortiz was in the wrong for not being prepared. Does the win establish Mayweather as the greatest ever? Not so fast, my friend. He might have the best record, at 45-0, but until he fights Pacquio the debate of “best ever” will continue.

MLB Pennant Race

It’s been a while since Twining’s Take talked about Major League Baseball. With two weeks left in this excruciatingly-long 2011 regular season, every division race is all but wrapped up. Except the uber-competitive AL East.

Yankees – Red Sox. Yankees – Red Sox. Yankees – Red Sox. Rays? Since 1996, the winner of the AL East has usually come down to the rivalry between New York and Boston. If it’s not enough that these two often battle it out for a division title, the “losing” team often makes the playoffs as a wild-card and fans are treated to another Yankees-Red Sox playoff series.

After the Tampa Bay Rays dropped the Devil in their name, they have suddenly become yearly contenders. What was often a two-team battle has now become a triple-threat match, so to speak. Boston started the season 2-10, and the world was about to end. Nobody makes the playoffs after starting 2-10; NOBODY! But then the Red Sox started scoring runs and winning games. By late August, the AL East was once again a two-team race. Yankees in first, Red Sox leading the wild card.

September is the last full-month of the regular season, but if you watch the Red Sox recently, it seems they must’ve thought the season ended in August. Their late-season September struggles have been so bad the Rays now have a shot at winning the Wild Card.

Currently, the Rays are two games back of the Red Sox in the Wild Card, who are four games back of the Yankees for the division lead. The Rays open up a four-game series against the Yankees on Thursday and the Red Sox play the Orioles. Then, to end the season, it’s another Boston-New York showdown which could end with both teams in the playoffs or just one.

It’s been a long season, I know, but if you’ve made it this far, don’t abandon MLB for the NFL just yet. We still have one more exciting pennant race left and we might have to wait until game 162 to see which teams make the playoffs out of the AL East.

NFL in High Gear

All this hullabaloo about moving the kickoffs up five yards from the 30 yard-line to the 35 yard-line apparently has had little effect on kickoff returns. Yes, a great number of kickoffs end up going out of the back of the end zone or being downed for touchbacks, putting the offense at the 20 yard-line to start. That being said, it seems that whenever a team does decide to return a kick they are at least making it out to the 20, and often beyond.

In fact, in week one alone, the NFL had 5 kickoffs returned for touchdowns and three punt returns. The eight total kick returns for touchdowns is the single highest total for any one NFL weekend.

As we get deeper into the season, I predict the kickoff returns for touchdowns will continue and by season’s end, the average starting position in the NFL will be better than it was a year ago. Will injuries on kickoffs go down? Doubtful. Players get injured all the time, regardless of kickoff position. Speaking of injuries.

The Kansas City Chiefs, defending AFC West champions, lost their best defensive player, safety Eric Berry, in week one and then lost their best offensive player, running back Jamaal Charles, in week two. It’s bad news for fantasy owners, as Charles was a top-five pick in most drafts, but it’s good news for Charger fans. It appears the AFC West is down to a two-team battle – Oakland and San Diego.

Photos courtesy jrandallc, italian_freedom_fighter, and Keith Allison via Flickr

They’ll have an opportunity to change that on Saturday when they face the Washington State Cougars at Qualcomm Stadium.

For both unproven teams, this will be their toughest contest yet.

The Aztecs are off to a hot 2-0 start after beating the likes of Cal Poly and Army but now begin a tough stretch of schedule that includes Michigan, TCU and Air Force.  Before thinking ahead to those games though, SDSU must first battle a Washington State team that’s also 2-0 and leading the nation in scoring after hanging 64 points on Idaho State in their first contest and dropping another 59 on UNLV this past weekend.

For the Aztecs, this will also mark the first time this season that they will match up against a team that doesn’t run the triple-option offensive scheme.

“We’ve been working against a triple-option (offense) for two weeks and now we have a team that’s going to come in here and throw it 60 times,” head coach Rocky Long told the media during a press conference this week.  “We haven’t rushed the passer or covered anybody for 15 or 16 days.  Now you’re trying to penetrate the line of scrimmage, get up the field, put pressure on the quarterback, try covering wide receivers . . . it’s a big time change.  We’ll see how we handle it.”

It’s not like the Aztecs don’t have a few weapons of their own though on both sides of the ball.

Sophomore running back Ronnie Hillman is the currently the nation’s second-leading rusher with 306 yards on 45 carries, while chipping in with four touchdowns.  Senior quarterback Ryan Lindley, after breaking the all-time school record for passing touchdowns in his first game of the season, hasn’t been slowed down too much either, throwing for 349 yards and five touchdowns so far this year.  However, it may be the play of the receiving core that has made the most sizeable contribution to the Aztec’s success so far this season.

By far the biggest question mark of SDSU’s offense after losing two senior receivers to the NFL this past offseason, the Aztec receivers have stepped it up in a huge way.

After catching his first ever pass in a NCAA game, a 59-yard bomb from Lindley on the opening series, scoring his first ever touchdown, and then scoring another by returning a kick-off, sophomore Colin Lockett had a huge first game against Cal-Poly, and hasn’t slowed down since.  After hauling in another five passes, including a 68-yard grab just 33 seconds into the game against Army, Lockett now leads all Aztec receivers with eight catches for 195 yards on the season.  Senior Dylon Denso has elevated his game as well, catching five passes for 79 yards and two touchdowns so far this year.

“Every day in camp they got better and better,” Lindley said of his receivers on Tuesday.  “Week-to-week and game-by-game they’ve gotten better too.  They’re going to continue to improve and have been maturing a lot faster than I thought they would.  It’s happened a lot quicker and that’s due to the offensive line play and the way we’re running the ball.”

While the Aztec’s defense is giving up an average of 365 yards of total offense to opponents this season, most of that has come on the ground as SDSU has only allowed an average of 190 yards passing so far this year.  Though that number may be skewed a bit by the fact that they’ve come up against two very run-heavy offenses, they’ve also managed to record three sacks, two of which have come at the hands of SDSU defensive beasts Miles Burris and Jerome Long.

The Scarlet and Black’s defense has also forced 11 fumbles so far in its first two games, eight of which occurred in the Aztecs most recent win against Army.  Four of those fumbles were recovered by SDSU.

How that defense handles the spread offense of Washington State remains to be seen.

“It’s definitely going to be different,” senior defensive lineman Larry Gibbs said of WSU’s style of offense.  “Regardless of whatever else we have to do, we have to attack.  It’s a pretty big deal when a team can put up 64 and 59 points; they’re doing something right.”

After beating their opponents in nearly every offensive, defensive and special teams category so far this year while owning the nation’s seventh longest active winning streak carried over from last season, the Aztecs appear to be doing something right as well.

One other factor SDSU should have in its corner as it tries to end the 15-year schneid against Pac-12 teams?  A huge crowd, due in part to the KGB SkyShow fireworks display that is set to immediately follow the game.

“It’s always fun to play in front of a lot of fans,” senior offensive lineman Tommie Draheim said.  “Hopefully we get that crowd noise up so we can get them out of rhythm, force a couple of penalties and put them in situations where we can bring pressure and force turnovers.”

Hey, whatever gets the people in the stadium.  Hopefully though, it will be the Aztecs who will be putting on a little display of their own.

I was able to secure one interview during the night with Candace Brown, the president of the San Diego Professionals Against Cancer, who hosts on this event. She told me the most difficult aspect of putting on such a large, alcoholic event is not necessarily convincing the brewers to donate beer at their expense or rounding up the 300+ volunteers to sell merchandise and tickets and serve beer samples. No, the biggest challenge is navigating and paying for the various city permits required.

“The hardest part is learning the matrix of city permits and health regulations – We have to have a permit for everything,” she said. “We have to have a floor plan, an ambulance. A couple years ago we wanted to have a balloon arch but we would’ve needed [Federal Aviation Administration] approval six months in advance. For a balloon arch!”

While the festival has grown throughout the years – this year more than 70 brewers participated – it is no longer the largest beer festival in San Diego. That being said, it remains the longest-running beer fest and Brown attributes that to her and her team’s motivation.

“It’s all out of the goodness of our hearts for a good cause. I always tell my team after the event to step back and look at what we’ve done together,” Brown said. Later she showed me a poster containing a list of names of friends or relatives who had died of cancer. “Every year we come up with a motivation, a way of remembering those close to us who died. I can’t give back to my father, who didn’t have cancer when we started this.”

Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for – my top-10 beers. Actually, you know what, I think I’ll begin with Twining’s Take on the week in sports. And then, when you’ve had your fill of sports opinion, I’ll top it off with a nice brewski.

A weekend of Remembrance

Ten years ago, the sports world played a significant role in helping the American people heal after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. As we mourned the thousands who perished, we all lived in fear – our national security compromised. Initially, sporting events were cancelled. Eventually, as we began the healing process, professional sports resumed and provided us with a distraction and allowed us to come together and show the world we are a resilient nation.

In front of a crowd of 15,000 people, World Wrestling Entertainment’s Thursday Night Smackdown was the first public gathering – two days after the attacks. Later the NFL and MLB resumed play, paying tribute to the victims, the New York City firefighters and police officers and honoring all those involved or affected.

That year, my Seattle Mariners tied an MLB record with 116 wins. What I’ll remember most about the season was when the Mariners clinched the AL West on Sept. 19. After clinching a playoff berth Sept. 5, the Mariners chose to not celebrate. Following the attacks, however, a celebration was needed. An archived Associated Press article, by Janie McCauley, perfectly describes that celebration and paints a picture of the mindset of players and fans at the time.

The Seattle Mariners celebrated the American League West title, and so much more. Seattle players walked in a line hugging one another after their 5-0 win over the Anaheim Angels on Wednesday, then gathered at the mound and knelt for a moment of silence to pay tribute to victims of last week’s terrorist attacks. Mark McLemore hoisted an American flag into the air and led his teammates around the base path as others raised their arms in the air and tipped their hats. “It was just something that came together,” McLemore said. “It wasn’t choreographed. I don’t think I could be any prouder to be an American than I am tonight.” The celebration was spontaneous. Winning the AL West was special, but in the wake of national tragedy, it was secondary.

Ten years later, it’s fitting that the anniversary of fell on Sunday, allowing for the sports world to once again honor the memories of 9/11 throughout an emotional weekend. The New York Jets hosted the Dallas Cowboys in New York City on Sunday Night Football. In every major sporting event that took place this past weekend, special ceremonies took place to pay tribute to the victims and heroes. Professional and collegiate athletes wore special apparel dedicated to 9/11. After nearly every national anthem on TV, chants of U.S.A echoed throughout the stadiums.

While I was unable to attend any events this weekend, my parents went to a Seattle Sounders match and told me about the crowd of 35,000-plus people joining together to sing the National Anthem. I can only imagine the atmosphere in the stadium and wish I could’ve been there to experience it.

Serena’s U.S. Open Outburst

After watching Roger Federer lose for only the second time in nearly 185 matches after leading two sets to none, I jotted down some notes and wanted to write about how rivalries in professional tennis have sustained the sport even while Americans struggled and the overall talent declined. When I was growing up back in the 1990s tennis was all about Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi – at least as far as I was concerned. I was an Agassi fan but it seemed that Sampras nearly always won – and by winning 14 majors it’s clear he won a lot.

Recently, tennis has become all about Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. For years, it seemed those were the only two people who ever won majors. If Federer lost, it was to Nadal. If Nadal won, it was usually not to Federer, unless in the French Open. Now, as the sport has progressed and the overall talent improved, the tennis rivalries are becoming less one-sided. Djokovic is finally getting the better of Federer, not just once but on multiple occasions. While Andy Murray can never seem to get past Nadal and into a major final, at least Nadal is no longer winning every major not won by Federer. It’s a great time to be a men’s tennis fan and while I could continue to discuss this topic, I like to, instead, turn my focus to the women’s side.

Serena Williams is one of the best female tennis players ever. Since she burst onto the scene as the 17-year-old bead-haired younger sister of Venus Williams, she has dominated female tennis. Serena is a stocky woman and has a unique blend of power and agility. Like most athletes at the top of their game, she also has an aggressive side. That is understandable.

What I don’t understand, though, is that Serena, like many tennis players before her (primarily men), feels it is okay to publicly berate the chair umpire when or if things aren’t going her way. I don’t know about you all, but when I played organized sports, I was always told to respect the officials and never blame them for a loss. In nearly all sports, berating an official can get you penalized, ejected from the contest and fined. Prior to last season, the NBA extended its officials’ ability to call technical fouls on players for excessively arguing a call or for pretty much anything that publicly disrespects an official.

Why then, in tennis, is it okay to publicly berate a chair umpire with virtually no penalty? Two years ago, Serena famously threatened to shove a ball down a line judge’s throat after Serena was called for a foot-fault that cost her the set and, ultimately, the match. In that instance, Serena has broken the rules. Yet, instead of being mad at herself, it became the line judge’s fault. This year, Serena once again broke the rules when she bellowed “come on” after hitting a forehand winner. The only problem – Serena yelled before her opponent made an attempt on the ball, defined in the rule book as “hindrance.” In the ensuing dressing-down of the chair umpire, Serena actually said “…and I never complain.” I’m sorry Serena, you have become the biggest complainer in women’s tennis; now you could be labeled a liar as well.

Serena has no excuse for violating the hindrance rule because two years ago she was called for the same violation after committing the same error with the same chair umpire officiating the match. Clearly, this time it was not the chair umpire who was out of line, it was Serena. I used to be a fan, but after seeing her outburst Sunday, I will no longer support Serena Williams.

Top-10 San Diego Beers

You’ve made it through this week’s Twining’s Take and now it’s time for me to reward you. I sampled an assortment of beers last Friday, all from different breweries, and must say they were all delicious. But alas, only one could be my favorite.

10. Minott’s Double Barrell Golden Ale
9. Mission Bay’s Shipwrecked IPA
8. Maui Brewing’s Mana Wheat
7. Anchor’s Breckle’s Brown Ale
6. Bear Republic’s Hop Rod Rye
5. North Coast Brewing’s Pranqster Belgian Style Golden Ale
4. Oggie’s Red IPA
3. Grand Teton’s Bitch Creek ESP
2. Ninkasi Brewing’s Rediant Ale
1. Lost Abbey’s Lost and Found

Photo courtesy theseoduke via Flickr

And just like that, the San Diego Chargers’ 2011 NFL season had officially began.

407 yards of offense and 30 first downs later, the Chargers would edge out the Vikings in a game that was a lot closer on the field than it appeared on the stat sheets, 24-17.

The Chargers allowed the Vikings just 187 yards of total offense, held Donovan McNabb to just 39 yards passing and gave up just 98 yards of rushing to the always-dangerous Adrian Peterson.

Philip Rivers and company, on the other hand, had no problem moving the football all game, driving down the field seemingly at will.  But it was critical mistakes at critical times that kept Minnesota alive in this one right up until the end.

Rivers overthrew by a hair a wide-open Vincent Jackson on what would have been a touchdown late in the second quarter.  The Chargers would continue that drive all the way to the Vikings 17 yard line but with just three seconds left in the half, Rivers would be intercepted and the Chargers would come away empty handed again, down at half-time, 17-7.

San Diego’s running back duo of Ryan Matthews and Mike Tolbert would play a big role in the Chargers second half come-back, combining for 80 yards rushing and 131 yards receiving out of the backfield, including an opening third quarter drive pass from Rivers to Matthews for 37 yards, and later a seven-yard Tolbert run to bring the score to 17-14.  But another costly Rivers interception in the red zone on the next Charger’s possession kept the score close.

Mike Scifres, filling in for the injured Nate Kaeding, would bang home a clutch 40-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter to tie the game, and Tolbert would catch his third touchdown pass of the day with five minutes remaining to bring the final score to 24-17 in what should have been a blowout.  But, if you care to be more of an optimist about it, look at it this way: San Diego’s offense was so good, it kept two teams in the game all day.

Oh yeah, the Chargers’ defense wasn’t too bad either.

No doubt, the Chargers narrowly beating the Vikings in week one came as a bit of a shock as most expected it to be more of a blowout, but that doesn’t compare with some of the other scores from around the league yesterday.  Here’s a look at some of those surprises.

Buffalo 41 Kansas City 7

Unlike college football, there really isn’t any week one upsets in the NFL season.  But if there was, this was it.

The Kansas City Chiefs won the AFC West division just a season ago behind up-and-coming stars Matt Cassel and Jamaal Charles while the Buffalo Bills had one of their worst seasons in team history in 2010, going just 4-12.  Needless to say, no one really expected the Bills to come into Kansas City and put the hurt on the Chiefs quite like this.

The Chiefs turned the ball over three times, the Bills held Charles, a pro-bowler last year, to just 56 yards rushing, and Buffalo quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, apparently psyched that the Bills decided to pass on several rookie quarterbacks with their No. 3 pick in the draft this past offseason, completed 17 of 25 passes for 208 yards.

Again, it’s week one of an NFL season for which players had little time to prepare for considering the off-season lockout, so it might just be rust on the part of the Chiefs.  Or this could be the year the Bills get out of the AFC East basement.  It’s too early to tell, but a shocking outcome none-the-less.

Baltimore 35 Pittsburgh 7

Apparently bored during this past off-season, a few unprovoked Pittsburgh Steeler players decided to call out rival Baltimore Raven’s quarterback Joe Flacco, telling the media that the Ravens would never be a contender as long as he was calling the signals.

Wouldn’t you know, the Ravens crushed the Steelers in this highly anticipated week one match-up behind 224 yards passing and three touchdowns from Flacco and 107 yards rushing from running back Ray Rice.  The Raven’s defense did their part as well, proving to the football world that they are good as ever by forcing seven Steelers turnovers.

As if it wasn’t clear that these two teams despise each other already, the game also featured a near fistfight between the clearly frustrated Pittsburgh defense and a few of the Raven’s offensive players, leaving little question that this might be the new biggest rivalry in football and leaving a lot to look forward to when these two meet again in November during the regular season and then likely again in the playoffs for the third time in four years.

Steelers’ linebacker James Harrison will most likely have decapitated another player by that point in the season, but equally surprising from this game yesterday was that Harrison went without a finable, concussion-imposing hit, but hey, it’s only week one.  Give him time.

Houston 34 Indianapolis 7

The Houston Texans are good and the Indianapolis Colts were without quarterback Payton Manning.  The fact that the Texans won is not much of a surprise.  What is though is how convincingly they did.

The Texans also entered the game missing one of their best players, running back Arian Foster, but his absence didn’t make nearly as big a difference as that of Manning.  Foster’s replacement, Ben Tate, rushed for 116 yards and Texan’s quarterback Matt Schaub picked apart the Colts defense for 220 yards and a touchdown as Houston jumped out to a 34-0 lead at half time and never looked back.

Also not surprisingly, Kerry Collins, who came out of retirement merely 3 weeks ago to replace the injured Manning, hasn’t quite shaken the rust off his game yet.  Collins fumbled consecutive snaps on back-to-back offensive series’, each of which was returned for a touchdown.

The biggest knock against Houston every season is their sub-par defense, and their defense looked good yesterday.  But honestly, they beat up on a guy who, up until three weeks ago, was probably lying on a beach drinking beers or playing golf somewhere, enjoying his retirement.  Their defense is still unproven.  But with Manning out for at least a couple more months, this could be the year that the Texans get over the hump and beat out the Colts for a playoff spot.

Chicago 30 Atlanta 12

A lot of NFL insiders from the sports media world have the Atlanta Falcons going to the Super Bowl this year, and Jay Cutler, standing behind the worst offensive line in the league, apparently has toughness issues and no receivers to throw to.

Apparently not.

Culter was 22 -32 for 312 yards with one interception yesterday and the Bears’ defense stepped up in a big way, forcing three turnovers, one of which was returned for a touchdown as Chicago entered the 2011 season looking to prove that its appearance in the NFC Championship game last season was not a fluke.

The road back to that game doesn’t get any easier for the Bears this season though as the NFC North could be considered one of the most competitive divisions in football, and all but the Vikings were week one winners.  As a Bears fan though, this game shouldn’t have even made this article as it was no surprise to me that Chicago won its first game.

That last line was a lie.  Are you kidding me?  As a Bears fan, of course I’m always surprised that the team looks good!

New York Jets 27 Dallas 24

On a more serious note, again, the result of this game is not much of a surprise as everyone expects the New York Jets to contend for the Super Bowl this season and the Dallas Cowboys are much more improved and injury-free than they were a year ago.

The reason this game gets a comment is because of the very powerful pregame tribute paid to the victims of 9/11 prior to the beginning of the game last night in New York City.

Like all of the NFL games yesterday, the opening ceremony consisted of an American flag the size of the field being stretched across the turf while “Taps” was played by a lone trumpet.  But, as the site of all the chaos and tragedy 10 years ago, the pregame ceremony in New York City meant something a little different.

New York City firefighters and policemen, many of who lost friends and family during the attacks, stood holding the enormous flag and as NBC cameras zoomed in on their faces, you could see lips quivering and tears slowly streaming down their cheeks as they paid homage to their fallen brethren.  Live shots of Ground Zero were intermittently displayed throughout the opening broadcast as well, and by the time the announcers came back on the air, there wasn’t a dry eye in the building, or my own living room for that matter.

It was a pretty intense and emotional scene, but a very classy job done by New York City, and all of the NFL cities, yesterday with the tribute, and that is no surprise either.  A very sorrowful way to begin an NFL season, yet a very exciting opening week of the games as it has officially kicked off.  I’m glad America’s new favorite past time is back.

photos courtesy of theseoduke  Chargers961sC, Dennoit and Flickr upload bot via flickr

Before I dive into the non-game-related college football topics, I want to begin this edition of Twining’s Take with a discussion of the five-course meal that was Labor Day Weekend college football.

A Five-Day Feast

Labor Day Weekend is the perfect meal to satisfy college football fans’ hunger. Five straight days of football, from Thursday to Monday night, quells the hunger pangs of even the most ardent college football fans. Looking back, each day could be considered part of a five-course meal: cocktail-hour, appetizers, main course, post-meal coffee and dessert.

Cocktail Hour featured Wisconsin quarterback Russell Wilson’s Heisman coming-out party. Wilson’s Badgers, No. 11 in the Associated Press’ preseason top-25, hosted UNLV Thursday night on ESPN. In a game that provided little suspense, Wilson showed he was clearly the best player on the field. He completed only 10 passes, but totaled 255 yards and 2 touchdowns through the air. He added two carries for 62 yards, including a 48-yard touchdown scamper.

Interestingly enough, without a certain NCAA transfer rule of which I approve, Wilson might not even be playing for Wisconsin this year.

Thanks to the NCAA’s one-time graduate transfer rule, Wilson can pursue a graduate degree at Wisconsin after graduating from NC State and still play out his final year of eligibility. Usually, NCAA transfers must sit out a year after transferring from one Division I school to another.

Friday’s appetizers were small in portion but heavy in taste. The matchup between No. 17 Michigan State and FCS-opponent Youngstown State was meaningless and thus all eyes were on the Texas Christian – Baylor showdown in Waco, Texas. TCU, now 3-10 in Waco since 1975, featured one of the nation’s top defenses while unranked Baylor boasted a Heisman-candidate quarterback of its own in Robert Griffin III.

A year ago, TCU finished the season as Rose Bowl champions, ranked No. 3 and undefeated at 13-0. But, during the off-season, they lost starting quarterback Andy Dalton, starting wide receiver Jeremy Kerley and offensive tackle Marcus Cannon all to the NFL. This year, the school’s final year in the Mountain West conference, TCU’s defense was again expected to be one of the best in the country while the offense was expected to struggle initially.

When the dust settled Friday night, Baylor, led by Griffin’s stellar play, shocked TCU by first jumping out to a huge lead, then giving up 25 points and the lead in the fourth quarter, only to complete the comeback and upset the Horned Frogs 50-48. Griffin completed 21-of-27 passes for 359 yards and five touchdowns, did not throw an interception and was only sacked once. He rushed 10 times for 38 yards and even caught one pass for 15 yards.

Both thecocktail hour and appetizers featured two potential Heisman finalists, but the main course, which included the top matchups of the weekend, was still to come.

There were 58 games Saturday. The first that captivated fans’ attentions was defending champion Auburn hosting unranked and heavy-underdog Utah State. Utah State, having a full off-season to prepare for this one game, came out hot and took an early 21-7 lead. As the game progressed, the Aggies continued to give Auburn fits. Late in the fourth quarter, Utah State faced a crucial fourth-and-one inside the Tigers’ five yard-line.

Initially, the Aggies took a five-yard delay of game penalty to give the kicker a better angle at a chip-shot field goal. At least that’s what everybody expected. Instead, most likely taking advantage of the assumption they were setting up a field goal Utah State faked the field goal and completed a pass to the three yard-line for the first down.

Following the catch that was upheld by a booth review, I jumped on Facebook and declared it the biggest catch of the weekend, given the enormous upset it supposedly foreshadowed. Instead, after the Aggies scored a touchdown to take a 10-point lead with just over two minutes to play, Auburn came storming back and showed why they are defending champs.

Clearly boasting the better coaching staff, Auburn scored a quick touchdown and then recovered an onside kick. Now, only needing a field goal to tie, Auburn picked apart the timid Aggie defense, marched down the field and scored the winning touchdown. It was a heartbreaking loss for the underdog Aggies but also a disappointing win for the defending champs. For football fans, though, it was a great was to start the day.

In one of the nightcaps, San Diego State hosted and handily beat the Cal Poly Mustangs 49-21 in Rocky Long’s SDSU head coaching debut. During the rout, Aztec senior quarterback Ryan Lindley, considered a top NFL quarterback prospect, tossed four touchdowns and became SDSU’s all-time career leader in touchdown passes. Lindely’s 71st touchdown, thrown to Colin Lockett late in the third quarter, put him just ahead of Todd Santos who threw 70 between 1984-1987. By season’s end, Lindley could very well approach 100 career touchdowns.

The two marquee matchups of the weekend took place Saturday night; Boise State vs. Georgia in the Chick-fil-a Classic in Atlanta and Oregon vs. Louisiana State at Cowboys Satdium in Arlington, Texas. Unfortunately, neither game lived up to the hype. Oregon looked sloppy on offense and Georgia couldn’t quite compete with the high-powered Boise State offense

Boise solidified itself as a serious national title contender after the 35-21 victory. The Broncos have thrived on the big scale recently and it seems a lesser foe often provides each season’s hiccup. This year, Boise will have a more difficult time going through the Mountain West Conference but should still come out unscathed and playing for the BCS championship.

It’s very likely that if Boise does make it to the title game their opponent will be LSU. Playing without starting quarterback Jordan Jefferson or linebacker Joshua Johns had little effect for the Tigers. After recovering four Oregon fumbles and winning 40-27, LSU received 17 first place votes in the AP Top 25 and jumped two spots in the rankings to No. 2. Oregon, formerly No. 3, fell out of the top-10 to No. 13.

We’ve seen in the past that a week one loss can completely eliminate a team from BCS title contention. Last year, with two undefeated team ahead of it, TCU was the odd team out. This year, Boise State started strong, but now needs to keep winning and hope Oklahoma, LSU or Alabama lose at some point this season.

Sunday and Monday were what you’d expect from post-meal coffee and dessert following Saturday’s enormous main course. The last Sunday before the NFL takes over featured only three games, none of which provided much excitement. No. 24 West Virginia beat Marshall 34-13 and No. 8 Texas A&M dismantled Southern Methodist 46-14.

On Monday evening, dessert was a surprising treat when Maryland, featuring the debut of head coach Randy Edsall and some of the most-talked-about uniforms recently donned by a college football team, against scandal-ridden Miami, playing without eight projected starts following NCAA suspensions.

Played in a torrential downpour, Maryland looked like a serious challenger for the ACC title while Miami played much better than expected given its tumultuous offseason. As neither a fan of Maryland or Miami, all I was looking for was a competitive game that wasn’t decided until the final minute. A day later, though, and most people aren’t even talking about what Maryland was able to do on the field, instead talk centers around how Maryland looked on the field. That brings me to my second topic.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Taking a page out of Oregon’s book, Maryland showed off its newest jersey designs which utilized two different elements from Maryland’s state flag, black and yellow checkers and a red and white floral design. Oregon, with Nike in its back pocket thanks to alum Phil Knight, became the first school to unveil mutiple outlandish jersey/helmet combinations. Now, Under Armour CEO and Maryland alum Kevin Plank, a former Terrapin football player, is following Oregon’s lead and producing unique, some-might-say outlandish, jerseys.

A lot of people criticized Maryland’s jerseys. Those same people continue to bash on Oregon’s jersey combinations and anything else teams try that is new or unique. Frankly, who really cares. This idea that jerseys have to be uniform and boring and anything that breaks the mold, particularly if it is visually unappealing, is ludicrous. Teams should, at times, be able to wear any unique jersey combination they want. It’s really about appealing to the fans and the players. As a former player and current fan, I can’t get enough of the “ugly” jerseys. I think teams should be able to wear multiple jersey combos throughout the year if they choose and throw-back jerseys should be always be available.

We have no idea what Maryland is going to wear the rest of the year, but it it’s anything like what we saw on Monday, I can’t wait. Yea, you might now like them, but remember, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Post-realignment Realignment

In the age of social media and internet dominance, sports reporting has become more about who said something first, than who said it best. Ever watch Jeopardy with a friend who gets mad when you don’t say “what is” prior to blurting out the correct answer?

Yea, I’m pretty sure proper Jeopardy-answering protocol isn’t required in the living room setting and your friend is most likely just mad because you said the right answer first.

The same scenario continues to play itself out on the national scale and it causes rumors to become “facts” and then later fallacies. But a week later the same rumor crops up again. See, the desire to break news has become so important that reporters can utilize social media to break stories the moment they hear the news; that is, if it is even true.

A couple weeks ago it was reported that Texas A&M had informed the Big-12 that it planned to leave for the SEC. Naturally, Texas A&M officials claimed this was untrue and the SEC went as far as saying they would not be adding the Aggies as the conferences 11th team. A week later, it was reported, once again, that A&M had sent a letter to the Big-12 formally requesting a release. The only problem is that A&M officials denied a letter had been sent to the conference and the SEC had not relented on its decision to not add a 11th team.

This begs the question: why is A&M so intent on leaving the Big-12? T. Boone Pickens, Oklahoma State’s biggest booster, claims the Cowboys are eventually headed to the Pac-12. Bob Stoops, coach at Oklahoma, says he already envisions college football without the Red River Rivalry. It appears some of the biggest college football programs are still intent on building a super-conference. But what is the point?

By combining schools into 16-team conferences, it is just going to push the middle-of-the-pack teams further to the bottom and make it more difficult for teams outside the big conferences to challenge for a title. Unless this results in a full-scale college football playoff, similar to FCS, than I am against all this conference realignment.

Photos courtesy John Flinn and SD Dirk via Flickr and StockExchange.

Yes, the majority of the nations top programs scheduled inferior division II opponents for their opening game.  And yes, there were plenty of blowouts.  But there were at least a few competitive matchups to be found, as well as a few surprising upsets that took place, and the results can already be seen in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 rankings that were released yesterday.

Of the 25 teams that were ranked last week, 20 of them switched positions in the poll.

Here’s a recap of some of the biggest games, and subsequently the biggest moves, that took place last Saturday.

In what was considered the premier match-up of the day, and possibly of the season, No. 3 Oregon, the runner-up to the national champions last year, squared off against a highly touted No. 4 LSU program whose offseason including suspending it’s starting quarterback a week before this game.  No one knew how LSU would respond to that loss, and no one can believe how they did.  The Tigers forced Oregon into four turnovers as they rolled over the Ducks, 40-27.  For their effort, LSU moved up to No. 2 in the national rankings this week, and Oregon dropped nine spots to No. 13.

LSU moved ahead of preseason No. 2 Alabama after the Crimson Tide beat up on weak non-conference opponent Kent State, 48-7 on Saturday, and Oklahoma held on to its No. 1 ranking after the Sooners trounced Tulsa, 47-14.

Rounding out the top five on the AP’s rankings are No. 4 Boise State, who again proved it could play with the nation’s top programs by beating up on a tough No. 19 Georgia team Saturday night, and No. 5 Florida State, who moved up one spot after beating division II opponent LA Monroe.  Georgia, for it’s effort Saturday, is subsequently not in the top 25 any longer, and they are not alone.

Preseason No. 16 Notre Dame thought its game against South Florida on Saturday might be one of the easier ones on a tough 2011 schedule.  It turns out the Fighting Irish now enter week two with an 0-1 record and find themselves out of the national rankings this week.

It took defending National Champion and preseason No. 23 Auburn scoring a touchdown with 30 seconds left in the game to defeat a supposedly inferior Utah State squad, and the Tigers have now dropped out of the Top-25, as has preseason No. 25 USC, who just barely snuck past the unranked Minnesota Gophers, 19-17.  Both Auburn and USC are the only two teams to have dropped out of the Top 25 poll this week despite winning their games.

In their place, some new faces to the AP rankings joined the Top 25 including Baylor, who upset previously ranked No. 14 TCU on Saturday, and the aforementioned South Florida program.  NCAA powerhouses Penn State and Texas also made the list after strong outings the first week.

For the most part, the rest of the Top 25 teams either remained in their preseason spots, or were shuffled around just a few numbers including No. 6 Stanford, No. 7 Texas A&M, No. 8 Wisconsin, No. 9 Oklahoma State, and No. 10 Nebraska.

No. 11 is Virginia Tech, followed by South Carolina, Oregon, Arkansas and Ohio State.

With No. 16 Mississippi State and No. 18 Florida, the Southeastern Conference has six ranked teams, as does the Big 12 Conference.

The Big Ten Conference has five ranked teams while the Big East (West Virginia and USF), Atlantic Coast Conference (Florida State and Virginia Tech), the Pac-12 (Stanford and Oregon) and the Mountain West (Boise State and TCU) all have two ranked teams.

Of all the games next Saturday, only No. 3 Alabama versus No. 23 Penn State will feature two ranked teams playing against each other, but you can be sure that, with plenty of heavy weight conference battles still to come, the Top 25 ranking hasn’t even begun to reach the height of its chaos yet.

Let the college football playoff argument begin.

At least for those still trying to make the team.

The NFL requires that all teams have their 53 man rosters set by Saturday.  As of this afternoon the Chargers roster was at 80.  That means 27 decisions on who stays and who goes needs to be made within the next two days, and with one game left to prove themselves you can bet those competing for spots will be giving it their all.

“It means a lot to these players to go out an play well,” head coach Norv Turner told chargers.com.  “They’ve put a lot into this training camp.  If it helps them make out football team, that would be very special for them, but it certainly could help them be a part of another team if they end up not making our team, so there’s some of the greatest competition in this game than of any game in the preseason.”

As a team, the Chargers have faired pretty well so far this preseason with a record of 2-1.  In their third game of the preseason last week against the Arizona Cardinals, a game in which the starters played well into the third quarter, Philip Rivers completed 18 of 28 passes for 198 yards and two touchdowns.  Antonio Gates added his first touchdown of the season, and Ryan Matthews rushed for 69 yards on 10 carries.

It was also a game that had one of the closest finishes so far this entire preseason, as the Chargers back-up quarterback Billy Volek connected with back-up wide receiver Bryan Walters with three seconds left to go in the game for the go ahead touchdown.  For Walters, one of those players fighting for a roster spot, that’s not a bad way to prove yourself.

Who will step up tonight, and who will be wearing the lightning bolt on their jersey after Saturday is yet to be seen.  According the chargers.com, here are a few of the players that are right on the cusp of roster inclusion:

Vincent Jackson, Malcom Floyd and Patrick Crayton are the three obvious choices at receiver, but six other viable options remain on the roster as of now including SDSU’s own Vincent Brown, veterans Kelley Washington and Laurent Robinson, second year man Seyi Ajirotutu, Walters and Richard Goodman, each of which spent most of last season on the practice squad.

Behind starting safeties Eric Weddle and Bob Sanders, a host of players are competing for back-up roles including last year’s fourth round draft pick Darrell Stuckey, Charger veteran Steve Gregory, Quinton Teal and C.J. Wallace.

Although running backs Ryan Matthews and Mike Tolbert have the position on lock-down, look for this year’s sixth round draft pick Jordan Todman to be running for his professional life tonight as he is trying to make the squad as a back-up.  So far this preseason he has 110 combined rushing and receiving yards and could prove a decent replacement for ex-Charger’s utility man Darren Sproles.

Yes, it’s still the preseason.  And no, the Charger’s starters will not be playing.  But when tonight’s game starts at 7 p.m. tonight, don’t think there won’t be serious competition taking place on the field between guys who want to take the field again next Sunday for the Charger’s first home game against the Minnesota Vikings.

The blackout for tonight’s preseason finale has been lifted so the game will be televised on CBS channel 8 starting at 7 p.m.

photo courtesy of SD Dirk via flickr

As in: When was the last time the team had a winning season?

When was the last time SDSU had an NFL caliber player?

When was the last time the Aztecs won a bowl game?

Unless you were extremely familiar with Aztec football, the answers to those questions usually took some thought and research into the program’s history.  It had been long time.

Up until a season ago.

SDSU finished the 2010 campaign with a record of 9-4, their first winning season in 12 years.  Their success was capped off by a 35-14 win over Navy in the Poinsettia Bowl, the team’s first bowl appearance since 1998 and their first bowl victory since 1969.

It was a game that saw SDSU freshman running back Ronnie Hillman rush for 228 yards and score four touchdowns, earning him Offensive MVP honors while bringing his total rushing yards on the season to 1,532, the highest total in the Mountain West Conference and the 10th most yards by a running back in the NCAA last year.

His season total was also high enough to surpass the old SDSU freshman rushing record of 1,429, previously held by none other than recent Hall of Fame inductee Marshall Faulk.  For his effort, Hillman earned the Mountain West Conference Freshman-of-the-Year award.

A number of other successes highlighted the Aztec’s 2010 season as well, including junior quarterback Ryan Lindley finishing the season ranked No. 1 in the conference and No. 7 in the nation for most passing yards with 3,830 yards, most of which were thrown in the direction of senior wide receivers Vincent Jackson and Demarco Sampson.  The standout SDSU receivers, each of which ended the year with over 1,200 yards, were eventually drafted into the NFL earlier this April.

Junior linebacker Miles Burris and sophomore Leon McFadden were the anchors of a solid Aztec defense that allowed just over 350 yards per game.  Burris led the team in nearly every defensive category and finished the year ranked in the nation’s top 25 in tackles for a loss, quarterback sacks and forced fumbles, while McFadden led the league and tied for 17th nationally in passes defended per game.  Both players were named first-team all-conference selections.

But enough about the past already, it’s time to talk about the future.  That starts with officially letting the Rocky Long era at San Diego State begin.

After spending the past two seasons as the defensive coordinator of the Aztecs under Brady Hoke, Long was named the head coach back in January, just weeks after Hoke departed for the coaching vacancy at Michigan.

With a resume that boasts 37 total years of coaching experience and the title of second-winningest coach in MWC history, SDSU also got a man who has earned the respect of the players over the past two years and should provide a smooth transition for a team that’s returning 14 starters and seven all-conference selections in 2011, including Lindley, Burris, Hillman and McFadden.

“Coach Long is straight up with you,” Lindley said. “He’ll tell you how it is, he’s always an honest guy, and you love that about him.  You know that you can go in and speak your mind to him and it makes you want to play hard for a guy like that.”

Apparently, with all that returning talent, the voters in the preseason MWC poll don’t expect the head coaching change to have much of an effect on the Aztecs either.

SDSU was picked to finish fourth in the MWC by conference beat writers, marking the first time in seven years the Aztecs were a preseason pick to finish in the upper division of the league.  Sports Illustrated writer Stewart Mandel suggests the scarlet and black might fair even better than that, predicting the Aztecs to finish the year 10-2, and in Sports Illustrated’s annual college football preview SDSU was tabbed to finish second in the MWC.

At the same MWC media day that unveiled the preseason predictions a month ago in Las Vegas, it was also announced that Burris, Hillman, McFadden and senior punter Brian Stahovich were all named to the preseason all-conference team, the program’s most preseason all-league picks since 2004.

Additionally, Burris is on the preseason watch list for the Nagurski Award (top defensive player), Butkus Award (outstanding linebacker) and Lombardi Award (top down lineman), and Hillman finds himself on the watch list for the Maxwell Award (college player of the year), Walter Camp Award (college player of the year) and Doak Walker Award (top running back).

Hillman also made ESPN’s list of potential Heisman Trophy candidates from non-automatic qualifying conferences just a few weeks ago.  Though likely a long shot, it’s still an honor.

As for Lindley, his was rated by Liddy’s Sports as the sixth-best quarterback in the nation and has been tabbed as one of the most “NFL ready” quarterbacks in the NCAA.  His name has been included on a host of award watch lists as well, but a major question of how he and the offense will handle the loss of their two best receiving targets still remains.

Luckily for Lindley and company, four out of five starting offensive lineman are returning from a season ago, they have a monster of a tight end in Gavin Escobar who was a freshman All-American last season, and, according to Lindley, the Aztecs have a hard-working albeit young receiving core that has shown much improvement over the course of training camp.

“They’ve improved a ton,” Lindley told the media in a press conference this past week, according to goaztecs.com. “It took them a couple of weeks.  They struggled, they were in and out and were a little inconsistent, but they have really found a way to gel.  We have a really good group of guys who don’t have a ton of experience, but they’re going to get it quickly.”

A favorable schedule could also play a part in SDSU’s success this season as well.   Though the team faces some tough road games, including trips to Michigan on September 24 and Air Force on October 13, the Aztec’s are also lucky enough to host two of their most challenging conference opponents, Boise State and TCU, at the comforts of their Qualcomm Stadium home, a place the Aztecs went 6-1 against visiting teams last season.

According to goaztecs.com, last year’s on-field success brought an increase of nearly 10,000 fans to home games from 2009, the sixth largest home attendance increase in NCAA Division I football in 2010, and season tickets sold for this year’s home contests have already surpassed totals from the last three seasons.

Though San Diego isn’t quite on par with other college football meccas like Auburn, Alabama, Columbus, Ohio or South Bend, Indiana, fans are starting to take notice.  And with a team talented enough to compete against 2010 Rose Bowl Champion TCU or perennial BCS top-fiver Boise State this year, having the crowd support can only help further the cause of knocking off one or either of those rivals and perhaps garnering a little national attention of their own.

“[The crowd support] is great,” Lindley said.  “I can still remember the dog days of the 2-10 seasons when we weren’t getting a whole lot of support so I think that the fan support helps.  But at the same time, it comes down to us playing hard and winning games.  We know that football’s a competitive game, it’s an entertaining sport, but no one wants to see a loser so you’ve got to win games.”

On paper the Aztecs are poised for success yet again this year.  Their season begins this Saturday at home against Cal Poly.  But one of those nagging questions still remains.

When was the last time the Aztecs had back-to-back winning seasons?  The previous answer is 1996.

Up until this season, hopefully.

ESPN’s current ad campaign shows various scenarios of avid, some might say crazy, sports fans and the various ways fan allegiances infiltrate their daily lives. From Jimmy Johnson fans and their obsession with number 24 to a Detroit Tigers fan proposing to his romance-obsessed girlfriend at a baseball game to many, many others, most casual observers would agree these scenarios are, in fact, crazy.

Believe me, I understand sports obsessions. I’m a die-hard Seattle sports fan and anything competitive, yes that includes the WNBA (go defending league champion Seattle Storm!), captivates my attention.

That being said, I understand where to draw the line between being a crazy-obsessed fan and being a normal fan. Recently, certain events in sports have been more crazy than sports-related, specifically the felony-assault charges two Louisiana State football players face, a suicide by a Baltimore Oriole executive, and a drive-by, accidental shooting murder by a former NBA player.

I’ll try to avoid nothing but negativity in this week’s Twining’s Take because some other topics merit discussion as well, including Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt’s recent medical diagnosis and the walk-off single in the Little League World Series (LLWS).

You know what, I think that’s the perfect place to begin.

Walk-off World Champions

I wrote last week about how I finally understand the benefits of televising the LLWS. On Sunday afternoon, smack in the middle of coverage of Hurricane Irene’s East Coast destruction, sports fans witnessed the feel-good moment of the summer.

Bases-loaded; two outs; tie game; bottom of the sixth. 12-year-old Nick Pratto, the coach’s son, steps to the plate, just hoping for a good pitch.

After two balls, Pratto got the pitch he was looking for and lined a game-winning single to center field, plating pinch-runner Eric Anderson and securing California’s second LLWS title in three years the the sixth United States title in the past seven years.

Winning the World Series in walk-off fashion against the defending champions is what most Major League Baseball players dream of doing. It’s the type of scenario little kids play over and over in their backyards, hoping to one day get the opportunity to win a game.

In a post-game interview on ABC with an American flag draped over his shoulders, Pratto said Sunday was “the best day of my life.” At 12 years old, this could become his best sporting accomplishment ever.

The ascent to the Major Leagues gets bottled-up near the top. Few Little League World Series standouts even make it to the Majors, let alone the Minor Leagues. Therefore, even with all the controversy surrounding the LLWS being televised and the hot-head coaches and fans, it’s moments such as this one that validate the televising of the LLWS.

Pat Summitt’s Curtain Call

At 59-years-old, the upcoming 2011-2012 college basketball season could be the final season Pat Summitt leads her Tennessee Lady Vols into the NCAA Tournament. It has nothing to do with her age, but more to do with her recent medical diagnosis.

Last Wednesday, Summitt announced she had been diagnosed with early onset dementia, a prelude to Alzheimer’s disease. At such a relatively young age, it’s disappointing news for one of the greatest coaches ever.

Jemele Hill, of ESPN.com, wrote a great piece this past week detailing the fear that comes with Summitt’s diagnosis. In discussing Summitt’s courage and willingess to go public with the diagnosis, Hill also says “I’m fearful that we may see a legend decline right in front of us, and in a way that isn’t dignified.”

With all the Brett Favre retirement fiascos, the media loved to discuss the idea of aging players retiring gracefully. Superstars, it seems, struggle to give up the game that has defined their lives to that point. We’re quick to tell Tiki Barber to not pursue a comeback at age 36, and no team has signed him yet. We applaud MLB teams simply not resigning Ricky Henderson with he was on the high-side of 40 but still claimed he could be effective. When Michael Jordan came out of retirement to play for the Wizards it showed the inevitable decline in skills of the NBA’s best player.

Why then is it so difficult to tell, or even think of telling, coaches to retire. I’m not saying Pat Summitt should retire immediately, or that Tennesse should force her out the same way Florida State forced out Bobby Bowden. But what happens when, or if, Summitt reaches mid-season and her dementia has progressed and her effectiveness as a basketball coach regressed? Will Tennessee have the guts to tell Summitt to stop?

Going forward, I wish Summitt the best in her fight against this mentally debilitating disease, I just hope that when it reaches the point the she can no longer coach effectively she makes the decision to retire, not the athletic department.

Yes, it is crazy

Three stories surfaced this past week involving somewhat prominent sports figures and crazy occurences; two resulted in death, one in felony assault charges.

Last Wednesday afternoon, former Orioles pitcher, television announcer and top executive Mike Flanagan was found dead on his Baltimore County property from an apparent suicide. To take nothing away from Flanagan’s death, suicides are not uncommon in today’s society. However, committing suicide because of your role in a professional organization’s prolonged failure? That’s a new one.

According to WBAL-TV’s sports director Gerry Sandusky, via Deadspin.com, Flanagan was “despondent over what he considered a false perception from a community he loved of his role in the team’s prolonged failure.” A relative later confirmed that Flanagan had struggled with the perception of fans and colleagues alike of his role in the team’s failures.

Flanagan’s suicide, allegedly because of the Orioles inability to win in the AL East, is disappointing. You know what else is disappointing, the death of 22-year-old Jullian Jones, a mother of two, who was accidentally shot Aug. 19 in Atlanta.

Who faces charges in Jones’ murder? None other than former Los Angeles Laker Javaris Crintenton who infamously was suspended, along with Gilbert Arenas, when they pulled guns on each other in the Washington Wizards locker room.

Sure, I get the whole I’m-masculine-and-have-money-so-I-need-a-gun thing, but to drive down the street, stick a gun out the window and fire a shot because you are trying to get revenge for being robbed? That’s just not smart. Not only that, but if you are going to try and get revenge you should make sure you aren’t going to accedintally shoot an innocent woman.

Finally, the world of NCAA college football is embroiled in another scandal, this time involving two football players at LSU. Jordan Jefferson and Joshua Johns both face felony assault charges after a fight broke out at a local college bar.

The interesting thing is, the incident started with an innocent horn honk. Instead of a group of people standing in the street simply moving out of the way of the car, a couple guys chose, instead to pull the man out of the truck and beat him mercilessly. When a Marine tried to intervene and help the victim, he too was beaten, knocked to the ground and kicked in the face, allegedly by Jefferson.

Both players have been suspended indefinitely by LSU and I hope neither of them see the field this season. This is far different that the LeGarrete Blount punch following Oregon’s loss to Boise State in the season opener two years ago, at least Blount was taunted.

It’s just so disappointing that the bravado of these “famous” college football players outweighs the common sense that should tell them “hmmm, maybe I shouldn’t kick this guy in the face. You know, maybe I should use my “fame” to help break up the fight.” Instead they did the opposite

Photos courtesy Ruhrfisch and Staff Sgt. Christina M. O’Connell via Wikimedia Commons, and Keith Allison via Flikr.

Madden ’12 hit store shelves yesterday.

One of the most successful sports game franchises in video gaming history, the Madden game has become a staple for NFL fans since it was introduced back in 1988.  Some sports gamers even go so far as to liken Madden’s release date to Christmas morning, and it’s consistently among the top 10 in video game sales year after year.

But as the old adage doesn’t quite go: “With great popularity comes great responsibility to meet the expectation of the fan,” even if that demand is a nearly perfect resemblance of a video game to a real life NFL experience.  It’s no surprise then that each year’s new rendition is never short of criticisms, and this year is no different.  However, after having been out for a full day, the verdict is in and the general consensus agrees: Madden 12 isn’t too terribly bad.

The biggest knock on the Madden game year after year is that it essentially doesn’t change.  The graphics are at their peak, so fans basically pay $60 a year to have an updated version of NFL rosters.  The fact that this year’s version is lacking any new game modes will do little to quiet those complaints, though it appears that EA Sports, the game’s developer, must have taken this criticism to heart at least a little bit by trying to deepen the modes that were already pre-existing.

This year’s biggest improvements come in the form of off-the-field control, with key upgrades being made to the popular Franchise mode including a new free-agency bidding system, a new scouting and draft system, and the necessity for the user/general manager to make player cuts during the preseason.

Madden 12 also introduces a new feature called Dynamic Player Performance, which tracks how players perform each week and, based on whether the player is on a hot or cold streak, will affect his ratings during the following game.  This feature also includes other traits that a player can get labeled with, such as “Big Hitter” or “Deep Threat,” each of which will also affect a player’s in-game performance.

Of course, on-the-field improvements were not to be forgotten either, most notably to overall defensive play.  Tackling on the part of the user requires more precision but is smoother and more natural looking, and the computer’s defense is also much improved, perhaps to a fault as linebackers and cornerbacks are now much more likely to pick off an errant pass.

Player movements and visual presentation are again at the top of their game, as each player’s little nuances are captured as only Madden does best.  A new “degradation system” has also been added, displaying wear and tear on uniforms as a game progresses.  Combined with improved camera angles, cutaway shots of players and coaches on the sideline, and amped up pregame visuals, it’s these subtle upgrades that give users the feeling of watching a live game on Sunday afternoon while they play.

Unfortunately, the one major caveat to that, and perhaps the biggest critique of the latest Madden rendition in general, is the lack of an upgrade to the commentary of the game.  With phrases that get uttered repeatedly and often times out of sync with what’s happening on the field, the voices of Chris Collinsworth and Gus Johnson can get old quickly.  Luckily for users, one feature that hasn’t gone away is the ability to turn in-game commentary off.

And honestly, if that’s one of the biggest flaws of the game, then it appears Madden is again an unstoppable force making its way toward the end zone of top video games for yet another year.

The list of improvement might not be lengthy, and as long as it’s anything short putting on pads and playing in real game there are sure to be critics, but as Lang Whitaker offered up in his game review for the New York Times, “While it’s not an evolutionary leap from Madden NFL 11 to 12, there is no escaping that Madden 12 is a game that both gamers and NFL fans will want to play.”

If you listen carefully, you can almost hear the collective closing of books and the picking up of Playstation, Xbox and Wii controllers in college dorms across the country.

photos courtesy of Electronic Arts

The players turned themselves in Friday afternoon and were released on $5,000 bond each after police obtained arrest warrants for the two earlier this morning on charges of second-degree battery.

Jefferson and Johns have also been suspended indefinitely by the school.

The felony charges facing the two players stem from their alleged role in a fight at Shady’s bar in Baton Rouge last Friday.  Four people were injured during the brawl, including one who suffered three fractured vertebrae.  All four were treated and released from the hospital a few hours later.

According to the Associated Press, two witnesses who work at the bar said that the players did not throw the first punch, but added that once the fight began, it was difficult to see who hit whom, and could not verify the extent to which Jefferson and Johns were involved.

According to an ESPN.com report, the door manager at the bar that night, who said he witnessed the fight, said that he noticed Jefferson remove himself from the brawl before it was over and saw him standing alone near the entrance of the bar.

However, according to a police report, a 19-year-old woman came forward to say she witnessed several LSU players beating one of the alleged victims and saw Jefferson kick that man in the face.

Police originally identified Jefferson, Johns, offensive lineman Chris Davenport and receiver Jarvis Landry as suspects in the fight.

On Wednesday, police searched Jefferson’s apartment and confiscated 49 pairs of shoes, along with a DNA swap, the Associated Press reported.

According to a statement released by the Baton Rouge police sergeant today, investigators contacted LSU head football coach Les Miles and the players’ attorney asking for Jefferson and Johns to turn themselves in.

LSU enters the upcoming season as the fourth-ranked team in the nation and was expected to compete for a national championship.  Although Johns was only a backup, Jefferson had been named the starting quarterback.

The players will at the very least miss next Saturday’s season-opener, one of the most highly anticipated games of the college football season, a match-up against No. 3 Oregon.  LSU will also play without starting receiver Russell Shepard, who was suspended from the game for a non-related incident.

Whether those players will be able rejoin the team at any point this season is yet to be seen.  But for Miles and company it’s undoubtedly not the start they hoped to get off to.

“We will continue to cooperate with the authorities in an effort to find out exactly what took place during the incident,” Miles said in a statement.  “As sad as this incident is, it’s important that we learn from this and that we take away a valuable lesson.”

Unfortunately that lesson may come the hard way as, at least for now, it appears that two young men’s futures, as well as LSU’s hopes of returning to a national championship game, might well be stuck in the mire.

photo courtesy of JustDog via wikimedia commons