RAY LEWIS GOES BIZZARO, BIG TEN OPENS UP A HUGE CAN OF WORMS & HORROR IN THE HEARTLAND
Yesterday I saw Ray Lewis being interviewed by ESPN's Sal Paolantonio & during the course of their discussion, Lewis made a prediction, one I feel comes from waaay, waaay out in left field. The future Hall of Fame linebacker said if the NFL starts canceling games because of the lockout, the crime rate in this country will increase. I think Sal Pal was so surprised with Lewis' statement, he didn't follow it up with further questioning. Ray said again he believed the nation's crime rate would go up significantly if there aren't NFL games come September. HUH??????? Did he mean players desperate for money will begin committing crimes? Did he mean disgruntled fans will turn into car thieves, burglars & armed robbers? Who will create this crime wave? Jeez, I have a lot invested in the NFL, I really want them to play, but I can't see myself sticking up the local Jiffy Stop & I don't expect any of you to fall off the deep end from lack of NFL Football, turning to a life of crime. Does Ray expect the players to form some of crime syndicate to sell drugs or operate chop shops? I have no earthly idea what he was talking about, do you?
Lewis speaking to Sal Paolantonio on ESPN
The Pro Football Hall of Fame's 2011 induction will go on, lockout or no lockout, on August 6th in Canton Ohio. One more opportunity for booing both sides in this labor strife. Booing has no place at the HOF induction. This will make for a less than ideal ceremony for those to be enshrined in the Hall.
So I saw where Steelers' All-World safety, Troy Polamalu, has said the current lockout isn't about "millionaires vs. billionaires". He said it's "the people against big business", says the guy making $6.4 million guaranteed. Polamalu, "representing the people," also makes over $2 million doing commercials. I love Troy Polamalu the player, always have, but a guy making over $8 million a year kinda falls out of "the people" classification doesn't he? Sorry Troy, I think you're a helluva football player, a very likeable person & an excellent spokesman for Head & Shoulders Shampoo, but don't try to convince me you're just one of us, you're not.
Troy Polamalu yucks it up in shampoo spot.
The Big Ten Conference has opened a very dangerous can of worms. Commissioner Jim Delaney said last Friday the conference would like to investigate giving all of their athletes a monthly stipend during their season. NCAA rules forbid student-athletes from holding any type of job during their sport's season. Most Big-10 schools have over 1,000 student athletes, that's a bunch of stipends. That's a lot of money at a time universities of all sizes are having a tough time balancing their budgets because of smaller donations & shrinking attendance in every sport except football & basketball. Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez said Sunday it sounded like a good idea. I have two issues with these two speaking out regarding athletic stipends. First off, unless the Commissioner has spoken to the presidents of each of his 12 conference schools' presidents, he has no idea if this is remotely feasible in a financial sense. Alvarez chiming in after the fact was window dressing. The real purpose of these comments? Yes I'm a cynic. It will give the Big Ten a leg up on every other conference. Impressionable high schoolers might believe the conference will get this on & they'll get a check every month they're carrying the school's banner in competition. This isn't up to the Big Ten, yes they can suggest it, but in the end, the NCAA will have the final say so regarding anything this revolutionary. So what harm does it do? Let's be blunt, schools from Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, Mountain West, WAC & the Sunbelt don't have the money to do this, they'd have to start cutting sports' programs. They don't receive the big TV bucks the BCS conferences get, recruiting would just get more difficult than it currently is. But this is exactly why Delaney brought this up in my opinion. Unless of course he was looking to soften the blow Ohio State & their coach Jim Tressell could be receiving for numerous violations. many of those violations stem from players selling their uniforms & awards or trading them for tattoos. Something about these somewhat innocent remarks that sets off alarm bells.
Sunday evening as we were sitting down to a delicious dinner created by my sister & brother-in-law, there was a weather bulletin from a Springfield Missouri television station. The meteorologist said there was a debris echo in the Doppler Radar sweep over Joplin Missouri, 70-miles due west of Springfield. She went on to say a debris echo this large could only mean a large tornado was kicking up debris & it was showing up on radar. By 8Pm, we began to hear reports of a massive tornado strike within the city limits of Joplin, a city with a population of just over 50,000 residents. By 10PM the reports were bleak, really bleak, they were reporting 24 confirmed deaths. Tragic, but by sunup, the news was a lot worse, 89 dead, which grew to 116 late yesterday afternoon. The video from Joplin was horrific. People often misuse the term "warzone" but in this case, it was appropriate, in fact some of the pictures looked more like 1945 Hiroshima than Joplin. By Monday night even the Governor had "no clue" as to the number of missing. So it's probable the death toll will go higher. Over 400 people were injured. Through all this televised horror yesterday I was struck by a number of the survivors, their calmness, just happy to be alive. One by one most of them gave the same message, we're alive, houses, cars & big screens can be replaced. Another said "me & my wife have two kids, 22-months & 8 months & we lost everything but our lives. But it's just stuff, it can be replaced." Please send these people something, even if it's just $10 from a text message to the Red Cross or Salvation Army. If you can swing more, give as much as you're comfortable giving. If you know someone affected by the tragedy, let them hear from you, let them know it will be all right. Not tomorrow or next week or next month, but it will get better, you're alive. The backbone & courage displayed by these people is admirable, they ought to hear how brave we believe them to be. The Chiefs have rented a pair of trucks & want fans to fill them up with bottled water. The team will kick in $35,000 & will also accept cash or checks made out to Heart to Heart International. Those wanting to text a $10 donation can do so by texting "JOPLIN" to 80888 for the Salvation Army or "JOPLIN" to 90999 for the Red Cross. Please help these people get thru the worst part of this ordeal, the next 3-4 weeks. Knowing people care makes their task of rebuilding a little easier.
The Lifeflight helicopter in front of the destroyed St. John's Medical Center
What remains after an F-4 tornado Monday morning.
Lewis speaking to Sal Paolantonio on ESPN
The Pro Football Hall of Fame's 2011 induction will go on, lockout or no lockout, on August 6th in Canton Ohio. One more opportunity for booing both sides in this labor strife. Booing has no place at the HOF induction. This will make for a less than ideal ceremony for those to be enshrined in the Hall.
So I saw where Steelers' All-World safety, Troy Polamalu, has said the current lockout isn't about "millionaires vs. billionaires". He said it's "the people against big business", says the guy making $6.4 million guaranteed. Polamalu, "representing the people," also makes over $2 million doing commercials. I love Troy Polamalu the player, always have, but a guy making over $8 million a year kinda falls out of "the people" classification doesn't he? Sorry Troy, I think you're a helluva football player, a very likeable person & an excellent spokesman for Head & Shoulders Shampoo, but don't try to convince me you're just one of us, you're not.
Troy Polamalu yucks it up in shampoo spot.
The Big Ten Conference has opened a very dangerous can of worms. Commissioner Jim Delaney said last Friday the conference would like to investigate giving all of their athletes a monthly stipend during their season. NCAA rules forbid student-athletes from holding any type of job during their sport's season. Most Big-10 schools have over 1,000 student athletes, that's a bunch of stipends. That's a lot of money at a time universities of all sizes are having a tough time balancing their budgets because of smaller donations & shrinking attendance in every sport except football & basketball. Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez said Sunday it sounded like a good idea. I have two issues with these two speaking out regarding athletic stipends. First off, unless the Commissioner has spoken to the presidents of each of his 12 conference schools' presidents, he has no idea if this is remotely feasible in a financial sense. Alvarez chiming in after the fact was window dressing. The real purpose of these comments? Yes I'm a cynic. It will give the Big Ten a leg up on every other conference. Impressionable high schoolers might believe the conference will get this on & they'll get a check every month they're carrying the school's banner in competition. This isn't up to the Big Ten, yes they can suggest it, but in the end, the NCAA will have the final say so regarding anything this revolutionary. So what harm does it do? Let's be blunt, schools from Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, Mountain West, WAC & the Sunbelt don't have the money to do this, they'd have to start cutting sports' programs. They don't receive the big TV bucks the BCS conferences get, recruiting would just get more difficult than it currently is. But this is exactly why Delaney brought this up in my opinion. Unless of course he was looking to soften the blow Ohio State & their coach Jim Tressell could be receiving for numerous violations. many of those violations stem from players selling their uniforms & awards or trading them for tattoos. Something about these somewhat innocent remarks that sets off alarm bells.
Sunday evening as we were sitting down to a delicious dinner created by my sister & brother-in-law, there was a weather bulletin from a Springfield Missouri television station. The meteorologist said there was a debris echo in the Doppler Radar sweep over Joplin Missouri, 70-miles due west of Springfield. She went on to say a debris echo this large could only mean a large tornado was kicking up debris & it was showing up on radar. By 8Pm, we began to hear reports of a massive tornado strike within the city limits of Joplin, a city with a population of just over 50,000 residents. By 10PM the reports were bleak, really bleak, they were reporting 24 confirmed deaths. Tragic, but by sunup, the news was a lot worse, 89 dead, which grew to 116 late yesterday afternoon. The video from Joplin was horrific. People often misuse the term "warzone" but in this case, it was appropriate, in fact some of the pictures looked more like 1945 Hiroshima than Joplin. By Monday night even the Governor had "no clue" as to the number of missing. So it's probable the death toll will go higher. Over 400 people were injured. Through all this televised horror yesterday I was struck by a number of the survivors, their calmness, just happy to be alive. One by one most of them gave the same message, we're alive, houses, cars & big screens can be replaced. Another said "me & my wife have two kids, 22-months & 8 months & we lost everything but our lives. But it's just stuff, it can be replaced." Please send these people something, even if it's just $10 from a text message to the Red Cross or Salvation Army. If you can swing more, give as much as you're comfortable giving. If you know someone affected by the tragedy, let them hear from you, let them know it will be all right. Not tomorrow or next week or next month, but it will get better, you're alive. The backbone & courage displayed by these people is admirable, they ought to hear how brave we believe them to be. The Chiefs have rented a pair of trucks & want fans to fill them up with bottled water. The team will kick in $35,000 & will also accept cash or checks made out to Heart to Heart International. Those wanting to text a $10 donation can do so by texting "JOPLIN" to 80888 for the Salvation Army or "JOPLIN" to 90999 for the Red Cross. Please help these people get thru the worst part of this ordeal, the next 3-4 weeks. Knowing people care makes their task of rebuilding a little easier.
The Lifeflight helicopter in front of the destroyed St. John's Medical Center
What remains after an F-4 tornado Monday morning.
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