Concussions Changing The Way The NFL Is Played

Imagine yourself on queer street, not knowing where you are, being sensitive to light and sound, and constantly nauseous.  Now try to imagine those same feelings while having them in front of 70,000+ screaming fans every Sunday.

Those are the immediate effects of a concussion and the injury that is the reason why fans and critics alike are calling for a change to the nation's most-popular league.  The high-level speeds and hitting that occur in an NFL game make the sport one of the most violent in the world, but fans still love to see one of their team's favorite players light up the opposing player.  Unfortunately, it is ruining the game everyone loves.

On October 7th, Washington Redskins rookie quarterback and No. 2 overall draft pick Robert Griffin III (RGIII) suffered a nasty blow to the head in the 3rd quarter in a game against the Atlanta Falcons.  Upon viewing the hit and seeing RGIII's immediate reaction following the play, any sensible person could see that he was not ok.  Following the game, head coach Mike Shanahan admitted that his quarterback suffered a "mild" concussion and he was not just "shaken up" as the team previously stated, meaning that Griffin would now have to go through a series of tests that the league put in place so that players who suffer head injuries won't come back too soon.

Now, the Redskins are facing potential fines from the league because of the original diagnosis of RGIII as only being "shaken up."  However, in a different report and mentioned on Yahoo Sports "Shutdown Corner" blog, the Redskins' medical staff denies any claims that they downgraded Griffin's head injury and went through the correct medical steps to diagnose his injury, including asking him the quarter and score of the game, which he failed.  After he failed that test, the trainers took him back into the training room and examined him further.

RGIII was drafted to be the team's prized possession and the organization's future, so it only seems fitting that the team would do anything possible to have him on the field.  However, risking his future now is a dumb move, especially since he started the following weekend against the Minnesota Vikings.  So much for really protecting the prized jewel.

The NFL has done everything it can to try to reduce the number of concussions in the game, by putting harsher punishments on helmet-to-helmet hits and blows to the head, but it's just the way the game is played.  Sadly, the NFL community and sports world lost a legend last May when former NFL linebacker Junior Seau committed suicide.  The cause of this: too many concussions over the course of his career.  

Seau is one of many NFL stars that have ended their lives early because concussions led them to having mental problems following their careers. 

On the same day as RGIII's concussion, Kansas City Chiefs' QB Matt Cassel also suffered a serious concussion, one that kept him out of the following week's game.  Prior to the hit that knocked Cassel out of the game, his play had been poor, throwing two interceptions on 9-of-15 passing through the first three quarters.  But, it was the reaction that the fans had after Cassel had been knocked out, causing him to be taken out of the game.  The hometown fans cheered when he was removed from the game, causing Chiefs' offensive tackle Eric Winston to go on a rant about how embarrassed he was at the reaction the fans had when Cassel was injured.

Much like RGIII, Cassel may return in short time, but the reality of concussions can be seen in the sad stories of Seau and the other NFL stars that have committed suicide: concussions are not something to mess with and can cause a lot more long-term damage than the short-term pain they initially create.

We should only be thankful that the NFL is trying to do something to fix this.

Tony Romo All The Talk Following MNF Failure

http://storify.com/pstroh65/tony-romo-all-the-talk-following-mnf-failure

Author Sean Glennon Talks His New Book And The Great Quarterback Debate

In author Sean Glennon’s new book, Tom Brady vs. The NFL: The Case for Football’s Greatest Quarterback, Glennon put his own spin on the greatest quarterback of all-time debate by claiming that Tom Brady is the best quarterback the league has ever seen.

"This book is meant to start arguments in bar rooms, on the radio, and in comment sections," said Glennon.

Brady was selected 199^th overall in the 2000 NFL Draft, has won three Super Bowl titles with the New England Patriots and has become the poster-boy for elite quarterbacks in the NFL, leaving many critics and fans debating whether or not he is, or will become, the greatest quarterback to ever play the game. 

Glennon is one of those people.  He makes that case in his book that, even though Brady is still playing in the league, he has already surpassed the likes of Terry Bradshaw, Roger Staubach, and Joe Montana for the greatest quarterback to ever play the game.

"This book almost killed me because I had to take all these stats and put them into a narrative,” said Glennon.  "I wanted to be able to compare Brady to the other great quarterbacks from a perspective of knowing the game."

Glennon began writing his book roughly 18 months ago (although he isn’t exactly sure how long it actually took) while he was a columnist at the Boston Phoenix newspaper.  He was approached by Triumph Publishing Co. to write a book comparing Brady and Peyton Manning.  Almost a year into writing the book, Glennon realized that the real debate is not between Brady and Manning, but instead, it is about where Brady ranks among the greatest quarterbacks of all-time.

Glennon took this idea and ran with it, doing extensive research and looking up the stats of 14 retired quarterbacks and some of the game’s best active NFL quarterbacks, but wanted to come at it from the angle of being informed.

He didn’t want to bash great quarterbacks of the past just to make his point.  He wanted to use his knowledge of the game to tell why each quarterback was so great, but why Brady was better.  An approach that can be difficult when comparing a quarterback from today’s game to quarterbacks that played in a time when the game was completely different.

“It’s hard to compare quarterbacks today to Roger Staubach and Terry Bradshaw because it’s just a different style of game,” said Glennon.

Today, it seems as though Brady has surpassed nearly every quarterback on the “Greatest of All Time” list, except for the legendary Montana.  When it came to this debate, it was this argument that Glennon enjoyed most while writing his book.

“The most interesting story for me was telling the story of Joe Montana, the second greatest quarterback of all time.”

Glennon knows that there will always be people out there who will back Montana and everything he accomplished.  His perfect 4-0 record in the Super Bowl, his zero interceptions thrown in Super Bowl games, and all the other records and stats that he compiled during his illustrious career.  But, the way Glennon sees it, Brady has already been to five Super Bowls, one more than Montana ever got to and Brady is the only quarterback in history to win his first 10 playoff games.

“This argument may be settled by the time Brady’s career is over, one way or another,” said Glennon.

Currently, Brady sits at 12^th on the all-time passing yards list, one spot ahead of Joe Montana and over 30,000 yards behind Brett Favre, who has 71,838 yards passing.

Bloggers and the Media vs. Sports

For my sports journalism class, we had to read two pieces online that had to deal with sports bloggers and the media having struggles with major professional sports leagues.
In the first article, "Buzz Bissinger vs. Mark Cuban on Twitter," you see a professional blogger (Bissinger) and his one-sided argument with Dallas Mavericks' owner Mark Cuban.  Cuban started the "Twitter war" off by calling Bissinger a coward for some of the stuff that he wrote in one of his articles about player and fan stereotypes in the NBA.  Bissinger responded to Cuban with his own little rant, but when Cuban took the high road and decided to not respond back, it was Bissinger who repeatedly attacked Cuban for not backing up his claim of being a so-called coward.
Bissinger's followers got involved and also began criticizing Bissinger's pieces, in which case, he expanded his war to casual followers and attacked them for not reading his full article and reading both sides to Bissinger's claims about stereotypes in the NBA.  But, before I continue any further with Bissinger, I want to get to a second piece that ties into the media and sports issue.
In the second piece we had to read, a piece from the New York Times written in 2008, the author, Tim Arango, talks about the growing tensions between major sports leagues and media members and the restrictions being put on media outlets to only being able to publish so much multimedia content per story.  The piece starts off with a side-story about how Cuban (yes, him again) began banning all bloggers from being allowed into the team locker rooms because their credibility as journalists was lacking.  But, the NBA said he had to let major news outlet site bloggers into the team room, so his response was to let in any blogger.  Now certain leagues put restrictions on how much multimedia content news organizations can publish on a site, whether it's 30 second highlight clips, or two pictures, the leagues have control over the media.
Now, the reason I wanted to tie these two stories together before I got to my main point is because of this: a bloggers' credibility as a journalist is tarnished by what Bissinger displayed on Twitter.  There is a reason for why Cuban began banning bloggers into the team locker room and it was because he didn't see them fit to cover the stories accurately.  Now, I'm not saying Bissinger doesn't cover things accurately, but the way he acted on Twitter doesn't make him seem professional in the slightest.  He is a blogger and is opinionated, which is what differs a blogger from a regular news reporter.  But, his cursing and attacking others because they simply didn't agree with his piece shows me that he really shouldn't deserve the respect of high-ranking personnel, such as Cuban.
And it is people like him who are the reason why there are strains between leagues and the media.  Leagues are tired of unprofessional media members who abuse the power that they have to display content, so they need to decide who should cover and print what and who shouldn't be allowed to cover at all.

The Championships at Wimbledon Predictions

So today marks the start of the Championships at Wimbledon, possibly the most prestigious of the four grand slam tennis events.  With only a few weeks between the conclusion of the French Open and the start of Wimbledon, players have minimal time to prepare for the grass court major.  Therefore, a strong history with solid results, not only on grass, but in Wimbledon is what you need to base predictions on come Wimbledon time.
On the Men's side, it's always safe to predict one of the top-four players in the world, whether it's #1 Novak Djokovic, #2 Rafael Nadal, #3 Roger Federer, or #4 Andy Murray.  Coming into this year's tournament, I went out on a limb and made a bet with a friend of mine saying that this was the tournament that Murray breaks through and finally gets Great Britain its first major title since Sir Fred Perry won his last major back in 1936.  Murray has shown signs of possibly breaking through in majors, only to be stopped in the finals in three tries at earning his first major.

However, this year may be different for Murray.  He has teamed up with tennis legend Ivan Lendl and with Lendl's knowledge of the game and past history in the sport, many experts think that a first major title is just over the horizon for Murray.  And there's no better time for that to happen than right in England.
Now on the Women's side, you'd be better off drawing a name out of hat and your odds wouldn't be ridiculous.  The women's game hasn't had a clear-cut number one in what seems like forever.  But, after winning the French Open a few weeks back, Maria Sharapova conquered the career grand slam and also took hold of the world number one ranking on the women's side.  Her game is well-suited for Wimbledon, using her strength to hit the ball through the quick, skidding grass courts at Wimbledon and I think she is the heavy favorite coming into this year's tournament.

But, don't count out Caroline Wozniacki, who, until the French Open, was the top-ranked woman in the world and has come oh so close to winning her first major title.  The only downside with Wozniacki is that she can stumble at any given time in any given round in a major and have an early exit where she doesn't even see the second week.  Sharapova is the smart choice here, but don't be surprised if some unknown comes out of the blue to win on the grass courts at Wimbledon.

Images courtesy of Google Images

Eight Sporting Events to Attend Before You Die

With so many sporting events around the world, every country has its own specialties in the world of sports.  But, there are only a select few that capture the attention and amazement of everyone in all corners of the globe.

8. The Championships at Wimbeldon- This is the prize tournament for anybody who has ever played tennis.  To one day, play on the lawns of Wimbeldon and hopefully hoist the trophy as the champion.  There seems to be nothing better than playing on Centre Court in front of 10,000+ "proper" Englishmen and getting them all riled up over an amazing match of tennis.  Even if for just one day, this is an event that truly needs to be witnessed.

7. U.S. Open of Golf- I luckily had the opportunity to witness this event last summer when Rory McIlroy broke through and put on a Tiger Woods-esque performance, dismantling the field by eight strokes.  Even with the tournament well in his grasp after the first 36 holes, the atmosphere of 40,000+ people around the grounds of some of America's most amazing golf courses, roaring at the make of every great shot gets your blood pumping.  The U.S. Open is the one event where groundskeepers try to make the course as difficult as possible, hopefully bringing the best players in the world to their knees.

6. The Kentucky Derby- It all starts here.  For 20 horses, they all come in vying for the prestigious Triple Crown.  But, for one horse, they exit the mile-long sprint victorious and still have their dreams of being the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed completed the task 34 years ago.  The "Run for the Roses" is considered the most exciting two minutes in sports and in those two minutes hope can turn into agony for so many.

5. 24 Hours of Le Mans- The French race is a marathon.  Actually more than a marathon.  It takes years of training in order to handle the 24 straight hours of racing around the illustrious Circuit de la Sarthe in France, in a test not of a car's speed, but the car's endurance.  It is the oldest active car race in the world, making it a must-see before you exit the world.

4. The Master's- "A tradition unlike any others."  This golf tournament, the first major of the season for the world's best golfers, is the only major played at the same course every year, Augusta National in Georgia.  The pristine conditions of the course in early April make it one of the first signs of Spring and every year, it brings out the best of the golfers.  In fact, the very beauty of the course got CBS golf analyst David Feherty banned for a few years when he explained that the greens were "smoother than a girl's bikini wax."  Only at the Master's.

3. The Super Bowl- The two best teams in the NFL, battling for 60 minutes to win the Vince Lombardi Trophy, with over 100,000,000+ watching worldwide.  No wonder this is the biggest sporting event in the United States.  Football is gradually eclipsing baseball as America's game and the way the NFL is expanding, it will soon take over soccer as the World's Game.  But, until that time, football has its own stage on a world-scale, when on one night in early February, football's best team is crowned champion.

2. The Olympics- Is there anything better than the Olympics?  Well according to this list, yes, but in the Olympics you have the best athletes each nation has to offer competing against one another to win the ever so coveted gold medal.  The only thing that would make this event better is if each country had more to offer.  But still, it is great to see the rivalries arise over the course of a month every two years (winter and summer Olympics).  This year's Summer Olympics in London, England should be quite a treat for everyone watching both live and at home.

1. The World Cup- This might be the one event, when for every four years, everyone gathers around their televisions for a month during the summer and roots on its national soccer team.  The world's game puts on display its best athletes to see which nation is the best in the world.  Whether you like soccer or not, its a national thing, pulling together with your buddies, hitting up a bar, and cheering on your national team, there is nothing better.

Welcome to the Show, Bryce Harper

With much anticipation, the 2010 first overall pick by the Washington Nationals, Bryce Harper, will be making his big league debut today for the Nats.  His travels to the bigs has been a closely watched one at that, with many people expecting his debut to come last season when the rosters expanded in September, but that never came.  Then, many expected him to crack the opening day lineup this season, but still, he was sent back down to AAA-Syracuse to start the season.  But, finally, he will make his debut against the Los Angeles Dodgers out in LA tonight.

The former 1st-overall pick back in 2010, has had a solid career feasting on pitchers in the minor-league, with a .290 average, 18 home runs, and 61 RBIs.  In order to preserve him, the Nationals organization has converted him from the catcher position to an outfielder, hoping to save his knees and legs and allow him to be one of the many cornerstone pieces of the organization, along with Stephen Strasburg, for many years to come.  His fielding numbers in the minors average out to a .953 fielding percentage, with his best numbers coming in RF, while he showed signs of need-for-improvement in LF, where he .857 average with Syracuse this year ranks way below the average. 

Harper, much like Strasburg, was highly-touted at a young age, when he graduated from high-school in three years so he could attend junior college and begin playing against kids who were three-five years older than him.  He has been featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated as "The Chosen One" and was showcased in a home-run derby in Tampa Bay, FL, where he is most-known for launching a home-run off the back wall at Tropicana Field, one measured over 500-feet. (skip to 3:00 for the home-run derby footage)

For the soon-to-be 20-year old, Harper's path to "The Show" has taken him through A-Hagerstown, AA-Harrisburg, and finally AAA-Syracuse, before he finally dons the Nationals uni in a regular season game tonight against the Dodgers.  First pitch is scheduled for 9:10 p.m.