it's upon us...

So, the college basketball season is about to tip off, which means my life is about to get exponentially more busy. so I figured I'd share about the team that will be consuming most of my time.

Rodriguez named to pre-season all-conference team; CU tabbed 6th in A-Sun hoops polls

Excerpts:

For the third-straight year, Jonathan Rodriguez of Campbell University has been named to the pre-season Atlantic Sun all-conference team. Campbell was also picked to finish sixth in the yearly polls of A-Sun head coaches and media members.

Campbell is coming off a 2008-09 campaign in which the Camels were the most-improved team in the Atlantic Sun Conference. Despite competing with the 10th least-experienced roster among 343 NCAA Division I programs, Campbell enjoyed its most successful men's basketball season in more than a dozen years in 2008-09.

The Fighting Camels (14-16, 11-9) tied a school record for most Atlantic Sun Conference regular season victories, matching the 11 wins collected by the 1996 club, and recorded the program's first winning record in league play since the 2000 squad finished 10-8.

Campbell returns 10 players from its 2008-09 roster, including three-time all-conference performer Rodriguez and league freshman of the year Lorne Merthie. CU opens its regular season at home on Fri., Nov. 13 against St. Andrews before hosting East Carolina Nov. 17.

A senior forward from Bayamon, Puerto Rico, Rodriguez already ranks among the league's all-time leaders in five categories. He stands 18th on A-Sun all-time scoring list with 1631 points (second among active players) and is on pace to become only the third player in league history to score 2000 points in his career.

The 6-foot-5 senior ranks third among A-Sun career leaders in free throws (480) and fourth in free throw attempts (638). He stands second among A-Sun career double-doubles leaders with 39, just three off the league record.

...who's responsibility?

So, just to begin, here's the link to the story that sparked this.

Stinson not guilty on all charges

Excerpts:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A former Kentucky high school football coach was found not guilty Thursday in the death of a player who collapsed at a practice where the team was put through a series of sprints on a hot summer day.

Attorneys said the case was the first time a football coach was charged in the death of a player. It was closely watched by those involved in youth athletics and has already resulted in changes to Kentucky law and other efforts to make practices safer for athletes.

Former Pleasure Ridge Park High School coach David Jason Stinson, 37, was charged after 15-year-old Max Gilpin collapsed at an August 2008 practice as the team ran a series of sprints known as "gassers." He died three days later at a Louisville hospital of heat stroke, sepsis and multiple organ failure. His temperature reached at least 107 degrees.

Ok, so there's a push to make high school athletics safer for the student athletes. I get it. So how does Kentucky do it?

One of the prosecutors, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Leland Hulbert, said he hoped the case would prompt coaches to pay closer attention to their players.

"I do think some good will come out of this trial," Hulbert said.

Some of those changes came in the months before the trial: Kentucky lawmakers this year passed legislation that led to a four-hour online course for coaches on emergency planning and recognition; temperature-related illnesses; head, neck and facial injuries; and first aid.

Jefferson County Public Schools also now require all athletes and at least one parent to watch a 40-minute video that touches on everything from dietary supplements to bacterial infections. Local high school coaches must attend a seminar on using positive reinforcement when dealing with students.

They have a "knee jerk" reaction in the exact opposite direction of right. They now place the "responsibility" of health care on the COACHES. Rather than require that trained medical professionals are available and on site for conditioning and practices, they add to the coach's already-too-long list of responsibilities by making him the first responder and person responsible for identifying signs of heat illness.

Now as an athletic trainer, this makes sense to me. But to flip the script, this would be like making the athletic trainer responsible for offensive playcalling and defensive substitutions. And this trial akin to an NFL owner trying to fire an athletic trainer because he feels the offense isn't dynamic enough, or the defense is giving up too many points in the red zone. Point is, IT'S NOT THEIR JOB. Coaches get paid to push kids, athletic trainers, the entire sports medicine team, get paid to ensure their safety, and hold them (players and coaches alike) back when it's a health risk.

My take home point? Let the coaches coach. That's what their comfortable doing. That's what their passion is. And most importantly, that's what they're trained to do. And get trained health care professionals to ensure the health of the student athletes. Maybe it's just me, but that just sounds like common sense.

Actually, it's not just me.

Coaches are great at coaching, and they should be encouraged to continue that pursuit with all the vim and vigor they can muster. However, athletic health care should be left to medical professionals--athletic trainers and team physicians, who work tirelessly to create the safest environment possible.

-Douglas J. Casa, PhD, ATC, FNATA, FACSM
Journal of Athletic Training 2009;44(4):341

...and I'm off my soap box

Blueprint III

So, from now on when I refer to Jay-Z's latest album, this is what I'm speaking of. I like this at least three times better than what was actually released.


Blueprint III Outtakes

Broncos AT love

gotta show some love to my AT guys from the Broncos, Greek and Osh. Great job guys, it looks like this year's team is going to keep you busy as much as ever...



and i guess i can mention it here, Jay Cutler definitely gave the entire city of Denver indigestion last night, in showing what should/could have been. If only he and Josh McDaniels could have gotten along...

I gotta get this out

So, I really don't like to continue to beat this issue, but this has really been bugging me. This picture is just one of the many like it that I've been seeing in the time since Vick has been signed. The AP caption names this woman as Kella Rothenberg of Carmel, Ind. So, basically this sign tells me that this woman, Kella, has never done something in her life that she later regretted, for whatever reason, and moved on from. Thats what her sign tells me. Because I can PROMISE that Vick, for honorable reasons or otherwise, regrets what he did, and has moved from those actions. So, this sign tells me that Kella likes to judge people based on their past sins, and not on their current state. And I hope she reads this post. Because I'm sure if she looked at her own past, there would be some sins that she is probably ashamed of that she wouldn't want to be judged on. I know I do. And if you think you haven't, check Romans 3:23.

Bottom line, we all mess up. In different ways, some worse than others. But to judge one in their worst state is not a place you should want to go, because if you go there, then you will be judged in your worst state (Matthew 7:1-3). And I don't know of any people who want that.

Vick to Eagles

i think this is a good move for both parties involved. We'll see how it works. My prediction is that if Vick, McNabb, and Westbrook are all healthy and in the backfield at the same time this season, they will have 2,500 rushing yds, 4,000 passing yds, and 60 TDs between the three of them. Add to that DeSean Jackson and McCoy, the rooking RB out of Pitt, and they will have a very explosive, big-play based offense.

Vick, Eagles agree to 2-year deal

Excerpts:

Quarterback Michael Vick has signed a two-year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles, his agent, Joel Segal, confirmed to ESPN.com.

Vick arrived in Philadelphia Tuesday morning and remained there Wednesday evening. The Eagles will hold a news conference on Friday morning to announce his signing. The first year of the deal is for $1.6 million with an option for the second year at $5.2 million, sources told ESPN's Chris Mortensen. Vick can also earn an additional $3 million in incentives over the two years of the contract, sources told ESPN.com's Len Pasquarelli.

"I'm a believer that as long as people go through the right process, they deserve a second chance," Eagles coach Andy Reid said. "He's got great people on his side; there isn't a finer person than Tony Dungy. He's proven he's on the right track."

review: Fighting in Sports

In light of the fight between the Rex Sox and the Tigers in MLB action yesterday (and subsequent media coverage), I really feel the need to revisit the blatant double-standard of fighting in sports, as told by Rell...I'm just glad that I'm not the only person that sees this, and is angered by it. and the fact that it's so blatant just baffles me.

My previous thoughts:

Tight article, i definitely agree...if we remove names and causes and just talk about teammates protecting each other of policing the game, you could not tell one sport's fights from another. But while one is seen as acceptable, the other is reprehensible. Things that make you go mmmmmmmm....?

Rell's work:

The Double Standard of Fighting in Sports

It’s cool for baseball players to fight, but if NBA players do the same they’re fined or suspended. Why?

Imagine David Ortiz is purposely hit in the ribs by a 98 mph fastball two innings after a Red Sox pitcher beaned a batter of the opposing team. Benches would clear. Words would be exchanged, and if it’s anything like last week’s Red Sox-Rays scuffle, some serious hay-makers would be landed. But there’s nothing wrong with that is there? That’s just the way the good ole game is played. That’s baseball policing itself right?

Popular culture wouldn’t be indicted as a cause for the outburst of sudden rage. The Rolling Stones’ “Start me Up” wouldn’t be dissected to glean patterns of violence and explain why Big Papi took one in the ribs. There would’t be any outrage on media outlets, and fans on sports talk radio and message boards wouldn’t spew vitriolic and empty rhetoric about “inmates running the asylum.”

And at the end of the day, Ortiz’s teammates would be extolled for their support of their comrade.

The word “thug” would likely never come up.

Now switch leagues.

Would there be the same reaction if we were talking about the NBA? What if members of the Denver Nuggets left the bench in defense of teammate Allen Iverson after a hard foul? In that scenario, those players coming to the aid of their teammate will have committed the worst sin ever — in the history of the universe.

How did we arrive at this point? Why is it that the reaction to the occasional team brawl or player skirmish is vastly different for two of America’s most popular sports?

The answer is obvious, but you might not like it.

The divide begins and ends with a simple fact — most of the players in the NBA are young, black males, while most of the players in the major leagues are not.

That may seem to be an overly-simplistic and extremely flammable hypothesis, but every other plausible explanation is easily rebuked. Baseball fights are typically brushed off as the sport policing itself. But if baseball players police themselves, why are there league officials and umpires who put rules in place and enforce those rules.

Somehow a batter admiring a home run too long breaks some unwritten rule of baseball, and the penalty is usually a baseball in the back or butt from the offended pitcher.

That is beyond ridiculous. Sounds like something a 12-year-old would do.

While that kind of behavior is excusable, NBA dust-ups are often explained as inexcusable because of the fans’ proximity to the court. Fights on the floor could endanger someone sitting nearby.

I’m really not buying this one either. In the last 20 years there have been two serious incidents involving players going into the stands. In 1994, Rockets guard Vernon Maxwell went into the stands in Portland and beat up a fan who had been berating him — and his ill daughter — all night. Maxwell received, at the time, the largest fine and second-longest suspension in NBA history.

The other instance was the Pistons-Pacers fight in 2004 that admittedly was a very ugly scene. However, it wasn’t the end-of-the-world, apocalyptic event that it was portrayed as. It was a confluence of drunk fans, frustrated Pistons and something Chris Rock likes to call “crazy,” in reference to Ron Artest.

Ninenty-nine percent of the time an NBA player wouldn’t think of going into the stands, certainly no less than a baseball player would.

Here’s the reality.

The disconnect between NBA players and the NBA’s season-ticket holders — who are overwhelmingly older and white — is as deep and vast as a black hole. There’s more focus on players’ tattoos, their piercings, their skin color and their expressions more than any other sport. That draws out otherwise latent (or not so latent) racist tendencies. It’s almost subconscious.

So when two NBA players go at it, the image immediately conjures thoughts of a street fight. The tattoos and corn-rows makes it near impossible to see it as boys just being boys.

Media portrayals paint the picture.

A story from the aforementioned Red Sox-Rays fight received a headline of “Red Sox find Rays fit to fight” from Yahoo! Sports. Yahoo! writer Jeff Passan said “Brawling and verbal grenades and unfinished business only add intrigue, making the Red Sox and Rays – dare we go here? – the most interesting AL East matchup this season.”
No mention of hip-hop lyrics or a decaying culture or lack of father-figures, both of which became part of the dialog following the Pistons-Pacers fight.

Now, juxtapose the Red Sox-Rays Yahoo! story with the headline from USA Today in 2006 after a fight involving the Denver Nuggets and the New York Knicks.
“Wild brawl mars Nuggets-Knicks game”, the headline read.

I don’t agree with much of what she says, but ESPN Page 2 columnist Jamelle Hill succinctly makes the point.

“It is what it is. A NASCAR guy can drop-kick another driver through his car window and it is just considered part of the sport. Hockey players drop their sticks and pound on one another on a regular basis and no one dares blame it on anything other than just a boiling, competitive spirit. When NASCAR drivers blast one another with their cars out of anger it isn’t symptomatic of what’s wrong with white people. So please don’t turn a silly NBA fight into a town hall meeting about what’s wrong with African Americans — even though, unfortunately, something like this somehow winds up reflecting poorly on the entire black community.”

Sunday thought

Here's a story i heard in church a short while ago.

After a long Sunday of ministering, a pastor, an a Monday afternoon, was craving some watermelon. He was exhausted, physically and spiritually drained, and thought "maybe i can call a member of my church to come and help me." So he called a faithful deacon, who agreed to go find a fresh melon to bless the pastor with.

But in the pastor's tired state, he quickly fell back into a refreshing sleep, and soon forgot that he was expecting company. So when this deacon, this man who was on his way to bless the pastor, arrived at the door, the pastor had to make him wait outside so that he could make himself presentable for company.

Hopefully some of you understand how similar this story is to the bridegroom story from the Bible, with one striking exception: when Jesus knocks, He will not wait for you to prepare yourself to receive Him. That's what now is for, He waits now. Will you be ready when He does knock? Not only is there so much more to lose, but there's so much more to gain than melon...

Sunday's message

So, I know I'm a few days late, but I did want to share the gist of the sermon from this past Sunday. Basically, from Matthew 5:16, Let your light so shine before men... The main idea is that people sometimes use this light, this reflection of Christ in our daily lives, as one would use a flashlight when they are worried about batteries running out, turning it on and off depending on the situation. Think about that concept...and understand this light, when powered by the One True Source, will never run out. So, is your flashlight still on?

Poison Ivy?

Looks like somebody's not such a pretty girl anymore...

Members sue sorority over president's spending, waxwork

Excerpts:

Members of the nation's oldest black sorority have accused the organization's president of using her sorority credit card for personal items and its board of directors of spending too much on her.

The suit alleges that the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority's board of directors signed off on spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on President Barbara McKinzie and commissioned an expensive wax figure of her.

McKinzie denied the allegations, saying they are "without merit."

The most "outlandish representation" in the lawsuit, she said, is the allegation that the sorority spent $900,000 on a wax figure of her.