O boy, what am I gonna do?

I am a man who roots for history when it comes to sports. Perhaps posterity is the more appropriate word. Despite his now well documented off-course (pun intended) behavior, I root for Tiger every weekend out. Why? Because I want him to shatter Jack's record. No disrespect to Mr. Nicklaus, I don't know him, though I've heard nice things, but I want to say that I watched the greatest golfer to ever play the game. When Rory McIlroy or Bobo Klongerbo are winning majors left and right with my sons (I will only have sons) in the front of the TV, I'll be able to tell them, "Boys, these guys can play a little bit. But no one will ever approach Tiger." I want the bragging rights for my generation. I remember when the greatest running back of all time debate came up a few years ago when LT was putting up incredible numbers. Some said Barry, others said Sweetness, still others suggested that through his longevity Emmitt Smith earned the Greastest Runner label. My dad laughed when he heard this. "No one was even close to Jim Brown. He's the best running back in history," he said. My dad saw them all, and because his generation watched Jim Brown he has bragging rights.
 So now I sit down to watch every sporting event with posterity on my mind. I cheer for Peyton Manning and Tom Brady every chance I get (though I'm on team Peyton, I've always felt that he was a more incendiary player than Brady regardless of rings); I wanted the Heat to win all 82 games this year, I want Tiger to win twenty majors, I want Jimmie Johnson to win every NASCAR championship for the next decade (Okay that's a joke, I don't care about NASCAR, nor do I consider it a sport), and I want Pujols to make 763 the memorable number that 762 isn't. All for bragging rights. So one day I can sit down with my kids and tell them that I saw history, I saw the greatest athletes at work. I can tell my dad, "Yeah Nicklaus was good, as were Hogan and Palmer, but Tiger did things to the golf ball that no other play has ever done. He put it in the hole more often than anyone in history."
This consideration for posterity brings me to my current conundrum: Sidney Crosby is currently playing hockey at a Gretzkyian level. That's not even hyperbole. He has 50 points in 30 games so far this season, an astounding 1.67 points per game. He is ten points ahead of Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who  is having an incredible season in his own right, and fifteen ahead of his vaunted rival Alex Ovechkin. He holds an incredible fourteen goal lead on Ovechkin as well. Crosby's 26 goals in 30 games has him on track for a post dead puck era 71 goals. Only Ovechkin has crossed the 60 goal plateau since 2000, and no one has scored 70 since Teemu Sleanne and Alexander Mogily both went for 76 in 1992-1993. Teams scored a combined 7.25 goals per game in 92-93. Now? 5.61. Now matter how you spin it, Crosby is having a truly historic season. He has a chance to reach 150 points, 50 goals in 50 games, and win the Art Ross (highest scorer), Hart (MVP), and Maurice Richard (most goals) in a single season. The last and only person to accomplish that feet? Hockey default answer: Wayne Gretzky. However, I am a conflicted fan. As a diehard supporter of the Flyguys aka the Philadelphia Flyers I hate Sidney Crosby, always have and probably always will. If I do end up having a daughter and she falls in love with Crosby, I would not allow her to marry him. Partly because of the age disparity but still, I have tremendous contempt for the man. He torments my team like no player in the league. He is the bane of my sports fan existence, I despise him more than any other figure in sports. All because he plays for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Well mostly because he plays for the Penguins; He's also cocky, he complains, and he grows prepubescent facial hair. How can I root for Crosby to have this historical season in good conscience? How can I cringe and cheer every time he puts the puck in the net? Truth be told I can't. This year I'll be using the Derek Anderson denial defense when it comes to Crosby:
Subject A: Hey Dil, Crosby's really havin' a great year isn't he?
Me: I don't see it...
Subject A: His highlights are everywhere...
Me: That's fine
Subject A: Bu...
Me: That's fine
Subject A: But...
Me: That's fine.

But in the future I'll have no choice. My sons (diehard Flyers fans by the way. I teach them to hate Crosby)  will ask me how good Sid was in his prime. I'll point to his 2010-2011 season and say that's the best I've ever seen. That's the best anyone's ever seen.
At least I'll have bragging rights.
-Dil

Déjà Vu

Your 2010 Heisman winner will be Cameron Newton of Auburn University.

Newton had a fantastic season in this, his junior year. He has been a rare, journeyman of college football playing for schools all across the Southeast region of our nation. He began his career as a Gator, a rival of Auburn's in the SEC. While there at Florida, Newton backed up college football legend Tim Tebow, but found legal trouble and later transferred to Blinn Junior College in Texas. In his sophomore year, he led his new team to the National Junior College Championship title. With his stock at an all-time high and in search of his third school in three years, Newton's father Cecil shopped his son around like a trophy racehorse. Cecil Newton accepted offers from Auburn and Mississippi State for his son's services and Auburn Head Coach Gene Chizik won out in the bidding. This is all, of course, pure speculation and under investigation by the FBI and NCAA.

Despite these charges, Newton didn't lose any time on the field and worked his way in to the BCS National Championship game. He piled up a season reminiscent of Vince Young’s final season in Texas, were Young led the Longhorns to a National Championships. Newton’s final statistics for 2010 were 1,409 yards rushing with 20 TD’s and 2,589 yards passing with 28 TD’s coupled with only 6 interceptions. Statistically one of the most impressive seasons in history, Newton’s exceptional play also led his Tigers to the SEC Championship trophy. Newton’s consistent play in the toughest conference in football is enough to win a Heisman alone. Look at Jason White for Oklahoma in 2003. He won the Heisman with numbers less impressive than Newton and with an ability viewed to be less than that of Newton. Newton piled up 8 more TD’s and threw 8 fewer interceptions than White, while lighting up the highlight reels on a weekly basis. To me, this resume is conclusive of a unanimous vote in favor of Cam Newton as the Heisman winner of 2010.

But. One lousy three letter word. But. Cameron Newton will win the 2010 Heisman, but it will only be temporary. Newton’s Heisman will face the same doomed fate that Reggie Bush’s trophy saw in 2005. Bush’s trophy was recently taken after a highly publicized story regarding his eligibility and accepting of booster money for his parents. Newton and Bush losing their trophies under the same tragic circumstances brings into question the state of college football.

I understand the issues here dealing with integrity and honesty within the realm of eligibility in collegiate athletics, but I feel that it needs to be looked at again. I have a creeping suspicion that Newton and Bush are not the only two athletes in the country to receive illegal benefits. Also, I feel that this issue is much bigger than just a few Heisman Trophy winners. Over time, I hope the NCAA reconsiders and looks at the big picture. Newton and Bush are more innocent, in my opinion, than the record shows. By reconsidering, maybe the NCAA can allow history to look kindly upon these great NCAA heroes, instead of looking at them as the cheaters that they appear to be.   

BoBo KlongerBo

James Harrison is...

            A man non-the less, but also a very dumb man. So far he has racked up a total of 125,000 dollars in fines this year alone for one thing…his illegal hits. He has gotten to the point that he believes he is a target. A target? Yeah you would think so, repeat offending child rapists are targets too aren’t they? So why not him?

            After Harrison’s latest hit, he still says, "I'm not playing dirty," he said. "I'm not doing anything that's outside the lines. ... There's nothing malicious or illegal about the way I'm playing or I'm tackling guys, so I'm going to continue to play the way I'm playing.". If this is his stance on this, then he should expect to continue getting penalties and fines. Instead of arguing the fact that he isn’t a dirty player, which I don’t believe the NFL has even said. Maybe he should think about how he's tackling or even contemplate retiring again. If anyone tackled as hard as he does and in the same way that he does, they too will get fined. Every one of his illegal hits this year has had a glaring problem, he leads with his head. If he doesn’t realize the problem in this he SHOULD retire. Sooner or later he’s not only going to hurt someone else but also himself.

            Like my previous article “Illegal or Lazy” this is the same problem. Harrison doesn’t have to stop playing the way he does, he has to stop tackling they way no one is ever taught to. His technique of head down right into the defender, or “spearing” some would say has been illegal for a long time. So the NFL has the responsibility to flag and fine him. James Harrison, if your coach says you have children to feed, then stop being lazy and man up and tackle like everyone else in the league does.

            Obviously Harrison didn’t catch the Jim Rome is Burning episode featuring Giants defensive end Justin Tuck. In this interview Tuck stated his support for the new fines and flags on hits. Not only was he a supporter, but his message should be thought by all NFL players, “We got to have it in the back of our head that a big killshot on a QB or offensive player isn’t more important than the fact than him being able to walk away from the game and go home, and play with his kids at night”. So James should think before his next opportunity at a killshot, “this guy may have kids to feed too” and not only that, but he himself has kids to feed. He may not have got injured yet, but has a good chance if he keeps leading with his head. Some times people have to realize when the battle is won or lost, and Harrison isn’t ever going to win this battle against the NFL.
-CP