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| None Even a third-place team can win the World Series March 6, 2012 8:42:27 AM Entry ID: 1957820 | NEW YORK (AP) -- With less than a month to go before Opening Day, baseball at last decided who's in and who's out come October. Now, even a third-place team can win the World Series. Major League Baseball made it official Friday, expanding the playoff format to 10 teams by adding a wild-card club to each league. "I hope we get that extra spot," said new Houston Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow, whose team is coming off a 56-106 finish that was the worst in the majors. "I think it's great any time you have more markets involved." Who knows, maybe a rookie such as Bryce Harper will get that shot this year. "Cool," the 19-year-old Washington sensation said after a game against college kids. "It's great. Hopefully, we're that playoff team." Boston and Atlanta sure could've used this setup last year. They went through awful collapses in September that eventually cost them playoff spots on the final day of the season. Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/baseball/mlb/03/02/playoffs-expand.ap/index.html#ixzz1oLNmZXWa |
| None Vision it------ Don't live the lie. March 5, 2012 10:23:58 AM Entry ID: 1957561 | It's Halftime in America. And our second half is about to begin. All that matters now is looking ahead and finding a way forward. Be a part of it. |
| None Set Standards - Instill Values in our future. March 3, 2012 10:17:55 AM Entry ID: 1957201 | One grabs at the slightest chance when all hope is slipping away. Is more suggestive of desperation. Leadership-Development-Preparation-Accountability=Life Lessons |
| None Pathological Liar – Definition March 1, 2012 8:43:02 AM Entry ID: 1956669 | Pathological liar refers to a liar that is compulsive or impulsive, lies on a regular basis and is unable to control their lying despite of foreseeing inevitable negative consequences or ultimate disclosure of the lie. Generally lies told by a pathological liar have self-defeating quality to them and don’t serve the long term material needs of the person. Therefore pathological lying is lying that is caused by a pathology, occurs on a regular basis, is compulsive or impulsive & uncontrolled, and has self-defeating, self-trapping quality to it. Lying or self-deception is a part of everyday human interactions. In many cases lying can be beneficial for those who lie and those who are being lied to. Most of this type of lying with positive consequences occurs in a controlled way, thoughtfully, with careful weighting of beneficial consequences. Unlike these, the lies told by a pathological liar are uncontrolled and are likely to have damaging consequences. Pathological lying covers a wide range of lying behavior, from pseudologia fantastica to habitual lying. Lying is a commonly found clinical component with people who suffer from impulse control disorders such as gambling, compulsive shopping, substance abuse, kleptomania etc. Pathological lying is generally caused by a combination of factors, which may include genetic components, dysfunctional or insecure childhood, dyslexia or other type of cerebral dysfunction. Such conditions may host environment that is likely to emerge chronic or pathological lying as an adaptive defense mechanism. Dysfunctional family, parental overprotection, sibling rivalry, mental retardation are among many causes of pathological lying. 2. Low Self-Esteem And Pathological Lying Low self-esteem is a commonly found feature in pathological liars. The lie maybe an attempt to feel good about themselves, generally for a short period of time, similar to the effect of drugs & alcohol. The same lie or deceit repeated over and over may create a myth of personal well-being or success or displacement of faults of own failures on others, thus creating an imaginary fantasy protection bubble, which may reinforce self-esteem. Pathological liars repeatedly use deceit as an ego defense mechanism, which is primarily caused by the lack of ability to cope with everyday problems in more mature ways (Selling 1942). |
| None "If I owe anything, it is that." February 27, 2012 1:29:07 PM Entry ID: 1955947 | SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) -- When it comes to the Texas Rangers, star Josh Hamilton wants to make this clear: "My loyalty is here." A couple days after his comments led some to wonder about his future, the former AL MVP clarified his remarks Sunday before the first full-squad workout for two-time American League champions. Hamilton is eligible for free agency after this season. "If it does go to free agency, the first place I'm coming is here," Hamilton said. "If I owe anything, it is that." His agent and Rangers recently put off talks on a new deal after Hamilton had a relapse with alcohol. The outfielder has been troubled by drugs and alcohol throughout his professional career. On Friday, Hamilton said: "The Rangers have done a lot for me, but I've got a question for y'all: Have I done a lot for the Rangers? I think I've given them everything I've had." "I love Texas. I love my fans. I love fans of the Rangers. I love the organization. I love my teammates. I love everything about it," he said then. "But I'm not going to sit here and say that I owe the Rangers. I don't feel like I owe the Rangers." On Sunday, Hamilton left no doubt about where he wants to play. "This is where I've been. This is where my family's been, so obviously I would love to stay here more than anywhere else," he said. "First of all, they get a chance to do what they need to do to keep me here." |
| None February Song February 26, 2012 5:03:59 PM Entry ID: 1955779 | Where has that old friend gone Lost in a February song Tell him it won't be long Til he opens his eyes, opens his eyes Where is that simple day Before colors broke into shades And how did I ever fade Into this life, into this life And I never want to let you down Forgive me if I slip away When all that I've known is lost and found I promise you I, I'll come back to you one day Morning is waking up And sometimes it's more than just enough When all that you need to love Is in front of your eyes It's in front of your eyes And I never want to let you down Forgive me if I slip away Sometimes it's hard to find my ground Cause I keep on falling as I try to get away From this crazy world And I never want to let you down Forgive me if I slip away When all that I've known is lost and found I promise you I, I'll come back to you one day Where has that old friend gone Lost in a February song Tell him it won't be long Til he opens his eyes Opens his eyes |
| None teamwork mattered more than individual performance February 17, 2012 10:41:03 AM Entry ID: 1953729 | The "Linsanity" surrounding the New York Knicks' surprise phenom at point guard may be motivated by something bigger than sports. Yes, Jeremy Lin is a terrific athlete, whose almost accidental discovery by the Knicks and little-engine-that-could perseverance make for great radio commentary and pop cultural mythology. But there's something deeper at play here: Lin is iconic of a new kind of hero for the 21st century. And he is not alone. Take Lin's story by itself: A Harvard graduate and only occasional Ivy League basketball star, Lin struggles to get recognized in the NBA. He is picked up by the Golden State Warriors only to be released. Then, plagued by player injuries and in need of an extra backup point guard, the Knicks pick up Lin as a temp backup, only to dump him back in the D-league when they think they don't need him. After a string of losses, they bring him back on board more for the hell of it than anything else, and Lin lights a fire under the team, leading it to a run of dramatic victories. Still, Lin is not a superstar in the modern NBA slam-dunk sense. He can drive to the basket and make clutch plays, but the key to Lin's success is his ability to make the rest of his team work -- well, like a team. The economics major is a cool intellectual, who looks at his colleagues as part of a system. His talent is being able to keep them and the ball moving, and to find the open man -- whoever it might be, even himself. This style of play evokes earlier eras of the sport, where teamwork mattered more than individual performance. Yet it also evokes the spirit of our current era -- one in which networks and connections are coming to matter more than individual skill or personal gain. |
| None The Devil...... February 17, 2012 9:09:53 AM Entry ID: 1953709 | The devil is always on the prowl, he works through people, dysfunctional, insecure, dishonest, controlling, and greedy ones. This world is filled with many, pay attention to whats important. |
| None Carter talks about his abat in the world series February 17, 2012 9:01:35 AM Entry ID: 1953708 | "I was our last hope," he wrote, "and as I took my place and looked out at Schiraldi, all sounds shrank back, and I felt a presence in me, or perhaps besides me, a calming certainty that I wasn't alone. I was not alone, and I was not, so help me, going to make the last out of the World Series. I felt certain of that." So confident and ready was Carter that he lashed at the first pitch, a fastball -- and fouled it back. Schiraldi threw two more pitches that would skirt the strike zone. Carter was comfortable enough to let them pass. On the fourth pitch, Carter, who had tied the game in the eighth when the Mets were down to their last five outs, lashed a single into left field. With that one swing under ultimate duress, Carter provided the first light of hope to what would be one of the greatest rallies in baseball history. Within four batters the Mets would score three times without an extra-base hit to win the game. Set aside the hit. Imagine the strength it took for Carter to stand there and be "certain" he was not going to make the last out. Such sangfroid is what defines Carter as a man, not just a ballplayer, of supreme conviction. Wrote Carter even soon after the moment of a lifetime, "I'll always be grateful for the dream season of 1986. In a corner of my mind I will stand forever with my bat cocked, waiting for the two-one pitch from Calvin Schiraldi." |
| None Gary Carter, the light of the Mets February 17, 2012 8:48:52 AM Entry ID: 1953704 | Try as I might as a witness to his five years in New York as a catcher for the Mets, I cannot conjure a single image of Gary Carter with anything but a smile on his face. I have no recollection of a gloomy Carter, not even as his knees began to announce a slow surrender, his bat grew slow and weary or as his teammates, renowned masters of the dark arts, chided him for his well-displayed rectitude. In those days in the mid- and late-1980s, you could stand in the middle of the Mets' clubhouse with a blindfold, be spun around three times, stagger off in any direction and chances are you would hit a locker that was host to some sort of mayhem or outrageousness. Those Mets, with near bloodthirstiness, wanted to destroy other teams and pillage their cities, claiming whatever women and alcohol happened to be in the way. "What I remember," pitcher Dwight Gooden told me in 1995 in Sports Illustrated, "is we'd be on the road and we'd come back into the clubhouse after batting practice and we'd be saying, 'Yeah, let's kick some ass and then go out and show everyone we own this town.' Whether it was Montreal or St. Louis or whatever, we wanted people to know it, like we were taking over the place." On the field, such will of these barbarians in spikes helped fuel the 1986 Mets into not just one of the most dominating teams of all time, but also one of the toughest. They won four times in that postseason in the last at-bat, including three times when they were down to their last out or two. The Mets were ferocious competitors, and they became world champions. Carter provided much of that championship fiber, only without the demons and debauchery that came to be associated with many of his teammates. He was "Kid" from Sunny Hills High in Fullerton, Calif., a former star quarterback with a Pepsodent smile, golden curls, a beautiful family and strong faith. Teammates in Montreal and New York would come to resent how overtly he displayed such goodness -- if not, out of their own insecurities, the very goodness itself. But I can tell you this about the guy known as Teeth or Camera Carter by the insecure: He was as genuine a person and as tough a ballplayer as you would ever want to come across. The light that was Gary Edmund Carter has been extinguished. Kid is dead, and far too soon at age 57 because of the evil of inoperable brain tumors. This world, not just this little game, is less sunny without him. Photo Gallery: Gary Carter through the years There was, despite resentment from inside his clubhouses, nothing phony about Carter, and nothing given easily to him. He was the same off camera as on: optimistic, faithful, kind-hearted, philanthropic. It drove some people nuts that Carter played every day with the joy as if it were the opening day of Little League. Even that nickname, "Kid, " was minted with some derisiveness by jaded Expos veterans when Carter, in his first spring training camp, in 1973, had the nerve to run hard on every sprint and bring enthusiasm to every drill. "Kid," they'd bark without looking up from their clubhouse card-playing, "go get us some ice cream." When Carter took Berlitz classes to better fit in Montreal and when endorsements came his way, teammates cringed, including an influential faction that included outfielders Andre Dawson, Tim Raines and Warren Cromartie. In his 1987 book, A Dream Season, written with John Hough Jr., Carter wrote, "My enthusiasm for my family -- and for baseball, and other things, too -- strikes some people as a bit too much. My happiness crowds people a little." It was all genuine, though. Kid really did love God, his wife, Sandy, his three children, Christy, Kimmy and D.J., and baseball. Those Mets once scorned a teammate (not Carter) for having the audacity to bring his wife into a hotel bar on the road. Carter was the kind of guy who argued for the Mets to let wives fly with the team during the 1986 postseason, and wrote, "If I could, I'd take Sandy, my beautiful and beloved wife of 12 years, on every road trip." Carter sometimes was ridiculed for such fidelity, especially on the back of planes and buses by Darryl Strawberry. Mets trainer Steve Garland told me in 1995, "There was a lack of respect for Gary Carter. He was clearly an overwhelming minority -- or I should say an underwhelming minority." He was too religious, too good, too square -- Tim Tebow with more talent and without social media. The late writer Jim Murray once wrote, "Gary Carter is the type of guy who, if he saved a child from drowning, the mother would look at him and say, 'Where's his hat?' " Carter, though, was brutally competitive despite appearances. He had signed a letter of intent to play quarterback at UCLA before the Expos drafted him, and had once wrecked his knee on the football field. Originally an outfielder, he had to learn how to catch as a minor leaguer -- and wound up catching more than 2,000 games and setting records for putouts and chances. Carter played the position with extreme tenacity. Over an 11-year period (1977-87), Carter averaged 139 games behind the plate -- and that includes the strike-shortened 1981 season. And yet his bat stayed potent enough to join Yogi Berra, Johnny Bench and Carlton Fisk as the only catchers with 300 homers, 2,000 hits, 1,000 RBIs and 1,000 runs. And incredibly, his best month over his career was the last he posted an .820 OPS in September/October games. "Certainly physically he's the strongest catcher I've seen," former catcher Alan Ashby once said. Pitchers loved throwing to Carter. Despite his creaky knees and his strong physique, Carter was renowned by them for his target and his ability to frame pitchers. He seemed to ball himself up behind his glove, so that the pitcher has this great, round pillow of a target with no extraneous movement. The physical strength of Carter was exceeded by his mental strength. His mother had died of leukemia when she was 37 Carter was just 12 when he lost his mom. Raised Presbyterian, Carter saw his Christian faith grow under the guidance of a teammate in Montreal, John Boccabella, a Catholic who helped him make sense of his mother's passing. He tirelessly raised funds to support leukemia research. By the time he was traded to the Mets following the 1984 season, with Montreal owner Charles Bronfman souring on him and money paid to star players, Carter was not just ready for New York -- which was a Mets town then -- but wanted it. In his first game in New York, Carter hit a walk-off homer at Shea Stadium, which practically invented the New York curtain calls that opponents came to despise as excessive. He became the last piece to what in another year would be not just a championship team, but also the best National League team since the dawn of free agency. Above all, there is one moment that forever will define Gary Carter and his inner strength. On Saturday night, Oct. 25, 1986, after Keith Hernandez made the second out of the bottom of the 10th inning of World Series Game 6 with Boston leading the Mets 5-3, the videoboard at Shea Stadium briefly flashed this message: "Congratulations, 1986 World Champions, Boston Red Sox." There was one problem. The Red Sox would have to go through Kid to get that championship. Five years earlier with Montreal, Carter came to the plate in the decisive Game 5 of the 1981 National League Championship Series with the Expos down 2-1 and down to their last out against Dodgers ace Fernando Valenzuela. Carter refused to make the last out. He grinded out a seven-pitch walk that knocked Valenzuela from the game -- only to have Bob Welch end it with one relief pitch. This time the World Series was on the line, not to mention those 108 regular-season wins by the Mets that would be left without validation. Red Sox closer Calvin Schiraldi was on the mound, pitching with the bases empty and a two-run lead in need of only one more out for Boston's first championship since 1918. Such are the moments that define the fortitude of a ballplayer -- not the endorsements or the nicknames or the camera time. And Carter, this man of unshakable faith and self-assuredness, was comfortable in such a revelatory spot. "I was our last hope," he wrote, "and as I took my place and looked out at Schiraldi, all sounds shrank back, and I felt a presence in me, or perhaps besides me, a calming certainty that I wasn't alone. I was not alone, and I was not, so help me, going to make the last out of the World Series. I felt certain of that." So confident and ready was Carter that he lashed at the first pitch, a fastball -- and fouled it back. Schiraldi threw two more pitches that would skirt the strike zone. Carter was comfortable enough to let them pass. On the fourth pitch, Carter, who had tied the game in the eighth when the Mets were down to their last five outs, lashed a single into left field. With that one swing under ultimate duress, Carter provided the first light of hope to what would be one of the greatest rallies in baseball history. Within four batters the Mets would score three times without an extra-base hit to win the game. Set aside the hit. Imagine the strength it took for Carter to stand there and be "certain" he was not going to make the last out. Such sangfroid is what defines Carter as a man, not just a ballplayer, of supreme conviction. Wrote Carter even soon after the moment of a lifetime, "I'll always be grateful for the dream season of 1986. In a corner of my mind I will stand forever with my bat cocked, waiting for the two-one pitch from Calvin Schiraldi." |
| None February 16, 2012 8:07:22 AM Entry ID: 1953474 | They say it's not about the Destination, it's all about the Journey. |
| None Lin hits game-winner as Knicks beat Raptors February 14, 2012 10:31:54 PM Entry ID: 1953242 | Lin hits game-winner as Knicks beat Raptors TORONTO (AP) -- Linsane! Jeremy Lin made a tiebreaking 3-pointer with less than a second to play to cap his finishing flurry of six straight points, and the New York Knicks rallied to beat the Toronto Raptors 90-87 Tuesday night, extending their winning streak to six games. |
| None America February 5, 2012 10:56:29 PM Entry ID: 1951160 | It's Halftime in America. And our second half is about to begin. All that matters now is looking ahead and finding a way forward. Be a part of it. |
| None ego-less, hard-working and incredibly tough. February 5, 2012 2:30:44 PM Entry ID: 1951101 | INDIANAPOLIS - INDIANAPOLIS Eli Manning's voice is soft and polite, with an ever-so-faint hint of a lisp. His hair always looks a bit tousled, as if one of his older brothers had just given him a noogie. His physique is more lanky than sculpted, making him appear about as athletically imposing as a guy on the way to play a weekend tennis game. Manning does not look like a famous football player, which actually is a subject of some amusement in his family of famous football players. Father Archie is regal. Older brother Peyton might have the most recognizable face in the game. But Eli? According to his oldest brother Cooper, the Giants' quarterback can walk the streets in midtown Manhattan wearing jeans and a baseball cap and not be asked for an autograph. "He's always been one of those guys who just blend in," said Cooper, a wide receiver whose football career ended in college after he was diagnosed with a spinal condition. "He can go to a restaurant, sit down next to anyone at the bar and they have no idea who he is. If you meet him, you would never think he was a professional athlete and a leader on the elite level that he is." Looks can be deceiving, which is the number one thing we've discovered about Eli Manning as he leads the Giants into Super Bowl XLVI Sunday night against Tom Brady and the Patriots. Manning may have entered the NFL looking like the pampered youngest member of a quarterback dynasty, a player so spoiled that he was able to dictate where he wanted to play. But since joining the Giants, he has refused to let perceptions and pedigree define him. As Manning stands on the precipice of a chance to win a second Super Bowl -- something his more famous older brother has not been able to do -- he has turned out to be the exact opposite of the player we thought he would be. Manning is ego-less, hard-working and incredibly, incredibly tough. "We do give him a hard time because of his dorky appearance and he doesn't look like he has been in a weight room ever," defensive end Justin Tuck said. "But we all know how tough he is. He is the energizer bunny. He just keeps firing." Earning respect If you have to isolate one image from the Giants' postseason run, it is that of Manning picking himself off the ground again and again in the NFC Championship Game overtime victory in San Francisco. Manning's helmet was knocked askew, grass was wedged in his facemask and his shoulder pads kept popping out of the top of his jersey like a toy animal losing its stuffing. All told, Manning was hit 20 times and sacked six. Still, he managed to avoid injury and throw for 316 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. That performance, it seems, won Manning a whole new group of fans around the country. One of them, believe it or not, is Hulk Hogan, the professional wrestling icon. Hogan, who ignited a mini-controversy when he ripped a Tim Tebow jersey in half on ESPN earlier this season, says Manning might be the one football player out there who could succeed in professional wrestling. "I saw him get the crap knocked out of him at least 11 times," Hogan said in a phone interview. "I've never seen another human being get hit like that, and he just kept getting up like he was invincible.'' Another celebrity-turned-Eli fan is actor J.R. Martinez, the Iraq War veteran and "Dancing With the Stars'' winner. Martinez, who suffered burns over 40 percent of his body while serving in Iraq, knows something about defying expectations. And he believes that's exactly what Manning has done. "We think toughness is big muscles and scars and tattoos," Martinez said. "Well, he has none of that stuff. But anyone who watched what he did against the 49ers knows he's tough. It just goes to show that you can't underestimate anybody you can't judge people by how they look." Can't change personality There's no doubt that off the field, Manning is lacking in the swagger department. He not only does not have big muscles, scars and tattoos, he doesn't have the intimidating, born-to-walk-the-red-carpet-with-my-supermodel-wife good looks that Brady has. Manning knows that his demeanor is comparatively bland. And that's just fine with him. "You can't change your personality," he said. "If you're going to be something you're not, it's not going to work. Ultimately, if you win games, people will celebrate you and say you're good and great. Either way, you have to be yourself and do what you're comfortable doing." What Manning is most comfortable doing is working with other people to try to find a way to win. Every Friday he meets with his receivers, going over what he has seen during the week. And he is careful not to point fingers, even when things seem to be breaking down as they did against the 49ers. "He's been a great leader from day one," guard Chris Snee said. "It's not his style to get in your face, which you can appreciate. He could have really gotten frustrated with us in San Francisco and looked for someone to yell at. But he didn't. He's not like that." Cooper Manning says he likes to think that he and Peyton are partially responsible for Eli's quiet but tough demeanor. Cooper is seven years older than Eli, Peyton five. By the time Eli was born, Cooper said, their parents no longer had the energy to sort out sibling squabbles. Said Cooper, "Eli was young enough that you wouldn't want to beat him up. You just wanted to pick on him a bit." Eli learned to quietly take care of himself and not care all that much what other people think. And it doesn't overly excite him now that everyone is recognizing him for his toughness. "I don't really talk about toughness. No one wants to be hit, but it's a part of playing quarterback," he said. "I'm just trying to do my job. If it entails taking a few shots, then all right." Sunday's Super Bowl will be Manning's 130th straight start, an indication of toughness if there ever was one. A win would put him in an elite class, making him one of 11 quarterbacks to have won two Super Bowls. He also would make himself the only Manning to win more than one. Perhaps then he wouldn't be the only football-playing Manning able to walk unnoticed down the street. Said Cooper: "I don't think he cares much about that. He's just a real unassuming guy who doesn't draw attention to himself." |
| None What happened to the good ole days? February 5, 2012 9:15:18 AM Entry ID: 1951071 | Business First or Sports Organization for Kids to Play? By: Nate Shotts The other day I was sitting around with some other coaches and as usual we talk of the past and the future. Four out of the seven of us have been in this business for many years and so to us the past is that of the good old days and for the young coaches it is about their future. Several of them could not believe that we used to simply put teams together based on going to school together or they live in the same area. We actually had teams that were a group of players that played multiple sports so they signed up and stayed together in each of their sports. Tryouts for competitive teams were a few days long and players were put on their respective teams. We would have played in a tournament or two and possibly State Cup. So many of you say “Well that is what we do now!” So here are the differences and then we have to ask ourselves “Why is it this way now?” and “Has it become a Business first and a Sports Organization for kids to play second!” It is true that we place most kids that play according to school or neighborhoods or groups of kids that are signing up as a group together. This would be on the Recreational side of the Organization but stops almost now when a player reaches 7 or 8 years of age. Why you might ask? Clubs now start placing players on teams not based on any of the reasons that we discussed earlier but to start putting the best of the best together. The pressure to win in each of our soccer clubs, has now started us focusing on identifying our top players and work to keep them within our respective clubs. Recruiting has become quite prominent at under 9 and under 10 age groups. There are now more home visits by some clubs than I had when I was a college coach back in the early 90’s! Players are now selected at under 11 a lot like the old days but the difference is that players used to stay on the same teams for longer periods of time. In the game today, players are let go and replaced if they cannot live up to the official standards of their clubs or teams. Coaches are guilty now of not taking the time to develop a player and breaking the game down more so that these players understand their role. We do not teach them enough about being able to read the game and make quicker decisions. We are guilty of running players totally out of the sport for lack of teaching the game to them and have replaced it with win at all costs attitude. So the point that I would like to make out of all of this is that we have to get back to some of the old tactics and bring the FUN back to the game. Call me old school but I still believe in taking the time to train and develop players so they can really understand the game. If you are a coach that cannot do this and look to recruit versus developing players, then Shame On You! Be a coach and take time to work and teach the game to the players. My last thought is that the reason the organization is taking over the game for the kids is that to survive you must win, so to do that we put pressure on out top team coaches to win or they will be released. Your club is graded on the success of your top teams so it is important to win so that you can further attract the best players and teams. I hope you see the pattern here and can we ask ourselves, “Is it even possible to get back to some Old School tactics or are we going to be in this path of winning at all costs?” Our conversation ended with questions we have to ask ourselves all the time. What can we all do to keep this game fun and exciting for all of our players. We put so much pressure on them that they are scared to make mistakes and we all know that we do not learn if we are not willing to try new things. If players do make mistakes then hopefully they will learn from the mistakes as well. I believe that if a player plays to not make a mistake then they will not get better or even worse get seen to make it to the next level. Let’s be teachers of the game and help players develop instead of looking for the Recruiter of the Year award. |
| None February 5, 2012 8:39:44 AM Entry ID: 1951069 | “Show class, have pride, and display character. If you do, winning takes care of itself.” ~Paul "Bear" Bryant |
| None play the game the right way, February 5, 2012 8:01:47 AM Entry ID: 1951066 | INDIANAPOLIS -- The Patriots-Giants Super Bowl rematch has anything but a been-there, done-that feel to it. This is a classic match up of two proud and well-run organizations, with head coaches and quarterbacks who are exceedingly accomplished and familiar, and teams that play the game the right way, and have the long-term results to prove it. We've got legacy questions to chew on, matters of revenge and redemption to debate, and all the star power you could possibly hope for on the game's grandest stage. It's a game that all week has felt like it should have no favorite. |
| None based on making the right choices. February 4, 2012 1:34:46 PM Entry ID: 1950958 | ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -- Josh Hamilton shed no tears and used no prepared statement as he apologized and shared few details about his relapse with alcohol. Still, it was clear he was upset by what he had done. The Texas Rangers slugger and recovering drug addict said he had "three or four" drinks during dinner at a Dallas restaurant and bar Monday and continued drinking later that night. "Things happened that me, personally, I'm not proud of after I drank, and they are personal and are being handled as that," he said Friday during a news conference called specifically to address the incident. "Knowing this was going to get out in social media, Twitter, people get excited. There was no pictures taken of me having a beer with somebody or anything like that, but I did take pictures with people." Hamilton didn't elaborate or give any real indication about what those things were. Hamilton was suspended for more than three years for drug and alcohol use while in the Tampa Bay organization. The former No. 1 overall draft pick missed the entire 2003, 2004 and 2005 seasons, but has become one of the best players in baseball on a team that has won the last two American League pennants. He was the AL MVP in 2010. The 30-year-old Hamilton said his latest actions "hurt a lot of people very close to me." He closed his eyes at one point and seemed to force a smile another time. He didn't take questions during his 12-minute appearance. Without being specific, Hamilton said he had a "weak moment" that stemmed from "personal reasons" involving a family member. He said he walked to a restaurant to have dinner and ended up "ordering a drink, and probably had three or four drinks." Hamilton said he did not take any drugs, and had no thoughts of doing so. He said he has been tested for drugs twice since Monday, part of his normal mandated routine. This is Hamilton's second known alcohol-related relapse in three years. Both came during the offseason, and this one has put on hold talks with the Rangers about a contract extension. After his public apology earlier in the day, Hamilton appeared as scheduled Friday night at a Christian men's rally in Katy, Texas, near Houston. He again didn't take any questions and spoke only to the congregation. "I could hide in shame, and not show up tonight and be withdrawn, but I didn't want to do that," Hamilton told the group while reiterating his Christian faith. "I'm doing what I had to do today. I am fessing up. I am going to be a man about it I am fessing up. People are going to call me a hypocrite, but I am a sinful man." In January 2009, he drank to excess in a bar in Tempe, Ariz. He apologized for that a few months later when a dozen or so pictures were posted online showing Hamilton taking shots off the bar, and dancing and hugging several young women. He said then that he had been sober since October 2005. Hamilton and general manager Jon Daniels said the outfielder will meet soon with Major League Baseball doctors and counselors in New York for an evaluation in his continued recovery. "My life in general is based on making the right choices, everything as far as my recovery, as far as my baseball goes, it's all based around my relationship with the Lord," Hamilton said earlier at Rangers Ballpark. "And I look at it like that, you all know how hard I play on the field and I give it everything I absolutely have. When I don't do that off the field, I leave myself open for a weak moment." After having a few drinks with dinner, Hamilton called Ian Kinsler to come hang out with him. Hamilton said Kinsler didn't know he had been drinking, and that he never had a drink in front of his teammate, even when they left before the restaurant closed and went to another place nearby for 25-30 minutes. Then Kinsler drove him back to where he was staying not far away. Though Hamilton told Kinsler he was not going anywhere else, Hamilton said he later returned to the place they had left and had more drinks. Daniels, who was out of town and spoke on a later conference call, was asked if he was concerned that the incident was more than just Hamilton having a few drinks. The GM referred to Hamilton saying that alcohol had led the outfielder to some things he wasn't proud of. "I don't know. I wasn't there," Daniels said. "That's how Josh wants to address those things right now." In Twitter posts Friday, Hamilton's wife, Katie, wrote: "Truly appreciate all the encouraging & supportive tweets we've been getting. God is Faithful and forgives- so thankful that you all are ... Showing us such love and encouragement during this time." When the Rangers acquired him from the Cincinnati Reds in December 2007, they were aware of Hamilton's off-the-field problems. He is tested for drug use three times a week and has had an accountability partner to support him in his recovery -- though that job is now vacant. Assistant hitting coach Johnny Narron's primary role was to support the former No. 1 overall draft pick, but Narron left the Rangers in November for Milwaukee. The Rangers announced last month that Hamilton's father-in-law had been hired as a staff special assistant to be the accountability partner, but Michael Dean Chadwick has since decided against accepting that position because of "family considerations." Daniels said the team was close to hiring someone for the job, a process that was already in the final stages before the latest incident. He said an announcement could come next week. But Daniels said such a person likely wouldn't have been with Hamilton during the offseason when he was home with his family, as was the case this week. Hamilton can become a free agent after this season and had been talking to the Rangers about a contract extension. "It would be nice if it was talking about a contract but we'll put that on the back burner for a while," Hamilton said before walking out of the room. Daniels concurred that he had agreed with Hamilton's agent, Mike Moye, that contract talks would be put on hold. Daniels said there was no timetable for resuming them. While Daniels said Hamilton's relapse created a number of emotions, including disappointment, the GM said the overriding concern was for Hamilton and his family. Hamilton and his wife have four daughters, the youngest born last summer. "For everybody who I have hurt, for everybody -- fans, kids, people who have addictions and look up to me -- I apologize to you," he said. "When you're doing this, you don't mean to hurt anybody. You only think you're hurting yourself. But as I know, you're hurting a lot of people. |
| None Super Bowl Weekend February 4, 2012 8:00:36 AM Entry ID: 1950907 | "Football is like life -- it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication and respect for authority". ~Vince Lombardi |
| None You get one swing in life....... January 28, 2012 8:09:58 AM Entry ID: 1949582 | " We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| None January 23, 2012 8:23:08 AM Entry ID: 1948481 | Football is an incredible game. Sometimes it's so incredible, it's unbelievable. Tom Landry |
| None January 22, 2012 9:11:11 AM Entry ID: 1948336 | " Is there a point at which every Sunday during the NFL season ceases to make a man feel like a kid on Christmas morning"? ~Mike Alexander |
| None "Life is tough." January 10, 2012 11:23:34 AM Entry ID: 1945743 | Heisman Trophy winner: Expect life to be tough In the Human Factor, we profile survivors who have overcome the odds. Confronting a life obstacle - injury, illness or other hardship - they tapped their inner strength and found resilience they didn't know they possessed. This week, Heisman Trophy winner and former NFL player Danny Wuerffel talks about his battle with Guillain Barre Syndrome, and why he left the NFL to run Desire Street Ministries. "Life is tough." I remember hearing those words often growing up, especially from my father when things weren’t going my way. I hated those words as a kid... and I still do. Something inside me resists any suggestion that life shouldn’t be comfortable. In early June of last year I was diagnosed with a condition known as Guillian Barre Syndrome, an auto-immune disorder that left me temporarily paralyzed. While the acute and debilitating part of GBS didn’t last too long for me, I’ve been battling with my recovery for over seven months now, and the difficulties in my life related to the illness continue to make life much harder than I want. Overall, I’m doing better and I’m thankful for the progress (most people tell me I don’t look sick anymore, and some days I can be pretty active). But I regularly feel I don’t have the ability to keep up with even a few activities each day. I feel like I’m in a NASCAR race on a moped. Life is tough? Being sick is tough. Raising kids is wonderful but tough. Marriage is beautiful but also tough. Ministry is often tough. And that’s before you throw in hurricanes (we lost our home in Katrina) and GBS. Perhaps those words from my father revealed more truth than I realized. In Richard Rohr’s book "Adam’s Return" - a book surveying how various cultures initiate their boys into manhood - he says that one of the first tasks is to force the boys to experience the “toughness” of life, often through difficult, painful and sometimes bloody ordeals. If a boy is forced to accept the fact that life will be tough, then at least he doesn’t have to spend the rest of life getting bent out of shape and surprised every time he encounters the difficulties of life in a broken world. It’s tough enough to deal with the hardships in life, but to have a false expectation that life will be easy - that we somehow deserve things to be easy - that can turn a tough moment into an unbearable one. Yet every time I turn on the television or see a magazine cover, I’m barraged with messages to the contrary. You should be happy, and you deserve it. We live in America, for heaven’s sake. Unfortunately, I hear many similar messages from pastors and authors. Contemporary faith in America often mirrors our culture’s obsession with the “good life.” Life has a lot of seasons, and some of them are filled with joy, gladness and celebration. There are many times to laugh and smile. But we shouldn’t get swept away by the illusion that life has only one season, and it’s always delightful. Why can’t we be people with the depth, courage and trust to embrace the hard and heavy things of life? I believe God resides not only in the joy and new life associated with the season of spring, like a reward if we somehow survive winter. We can find him in every season... if we’re willing to look long and hard enough. I just happen to be in a tough one right now. It’s winter for me. I trust a new season is on the way. God will bring me spring when He is ready. He just wants to meet me in the winter right now. I remember my father’s words, “Life is tough, Danny.” He was right. |
| None One swing............ January 10, 2012 6:31:30 AM Entry ID: 1945658 | "I want to accomplish the goals that I set before I began this journey, and there is more to do" Fear and greed drive the mongrels times are a changing. Looking to the future bigger and better things to do there is much to give back to our youth. |
| None ripped" might be an understatement January 9, 2012 3:43:53 PM Entry ID: 1945506 | Say this for Boomer Esiason: He's not shy about expressing his opinion. On Wednesday morning, the former Jets quarterback was a guest on a Boston radio station and torched his old team, ripping Rex Ryan, GM Mike Tannenbaum and QB Mark Sanchez. Actually, "ripped" might be an understatement. He napalmed the Jets, especially Sanchez, whom he referred to as a "chihuahua standing on Madison Avenue and 36th Street entering the Midtown Tunnel, eyes bigger than you-know-what." This is what Esiason, a studio analyst for CBS, had to say about the Jets' collapse, according to quotes that appear on WEEI's web site: "I think that Rex Ryan's ways have come back to haunt him. And Mike Tannenbaum, the general manager down here, has a lot of responsibility in this regard, because they have put a lot of bad guys together in this locker room. There's a good core of players for the New York Jets. But unfortunately, all it takes is one guy. And Rex Ryan giving Santonio Holmes the captain's 'C' on the chest was an absolute embarrassment. It's a slap in the face of all the good guys in that locker room. "They have a major problem with [Holmes], because they're going to owe him $15 million guaranteed over the next two years if, in fact, they keep him on the roster next year. They can't cut him, I don't think. And I don't think anybody's going to want to trade for him. So, they've got themselves a handful." Esiason turned his attention to Sanchez, with this: "And then this morning in the paper, Jets fans don't want Mark Sanchez back. But this is the world of the Jets. It stays together for a little bit, and then all of a sudden it spirals out of control. And then they have a head coach that kind of exacerbates all of it." Asked about the possibility of Peyton Manning going to the Jets, Esiason said: "Everywhere you look, that's what they're saying. But first of all, we don't even know if Peyton's able to play. If Peyton is able to play and the new general manager and whoever they hire to run that team out there decides to go without Peyton Manning, then I'm sure that the Jets will be sniffing around. Because that's what the Jets do. "They're trying to find their Tom Brady. They're trying to find their Aaron Rodgers. And I don't think, in their mind, they think that they feel like they've found the kid. If you watched Mark Sanchez the last month of the season, he was like a chihuahua standing on Madison Avenue and 36th Street entering the Midtown Tunnel, eyes bigger than you-know-what, and just so shaky." |
