As a Steeler fan, I’m pretty disappointed that Hines Ward was arrested earlier this week for DUI!

DS, I remember you wrote an article similar to this one earlier this year that some NFL players might get into trouble with the law, and wouldn’t you know, it occured. Do you think NBA players are going to get into trouble with the law since their talking about a lockout for next season?

If there’s no NFL this coming September, I’ll just watch College Football games all day saturday and their playoff Bowl games, NHL games and College Basketball games (both mens and womens alike)!

“A nation is defined by its borders, language & culture!”

Sean R. on July 14, 2011 at 4:17 pm

It is amazing how many cretins and crooks the NFL has added to its roll of shame in recent years.

Worry01 on July 14, 2011 at 4:21 pm

While I’m at it, since my team in College Football is in the Big XII Conference (Kansas State Wildcats) while Nebraska merged into the Big Ten conference and Colorado merge into the Pac-12 conference, more likely the commissioner of the Big XII conference will add two more teams into the conference.

There needs to be two more teams in the Big XII north division to replace Colorado and Nebraska, I’ve read some comments on the net that OU and OSU (Oklahoma State) will move to the north division and the south division will get Houston and SMU from C-USA to merge into the Big XII conference next season. That idea sounds great, but I also think that Missouri State and Northern Iowa from the Missouri Valley Conference can merge into the Big XII conference, I know Dan Beebe (the commissioner of the conference) is working on this decision right now to add two more teams to merge into the conference!

“A nation is defined by its borders, language & culture!”

Sean R. on July 14, 2011 at 4:35 pm

My heart hasn’t been in the game since the awful persecution (a la the Duke lacrosse team) of Ben Roethlisberger to “set an example” that the NFL isn’t racially biased, along with the “Rooney rule” and, of course, our SB loss to the awful cheeseheads.

I really don’t care anymore and would be fine with a year off from NFL.

DS_ROCKS! on July 14, 2011 at 6:42 pm

Actually I think that numbers pretty low. Lol. National Felons League.

samurai on July 14, 2011 at 10:38 pm

Mike Vrabel a college coach? Yessir, the’re certainly picking role models with high moral character these days for the colleges. I guess they think the sports departments should mirror the trashy aspect of the rest of the departments.

Little Al on July 15, 2011 at 12:55 am

Vrabel is going to coach at (the) Ohio State University. Based on their recent history, he’s perfect!

Blayne on July 15, 2011 at 7:13 am

“Vrabel is going to coach at (the) Ohio State University. Based on their recent history, he’s perfect!”

Since DS is a Michigan alumni, I assume Debbie doesn’t mind the problems that Ohio State is recieving these days by their former coach Jim Tressel stepping down due to violations of the NCAA, etc. Speaking of which, since Nebraska is apart of the Big Ten conference, I believe there going to face Ohio State this year in football in Lincoln, NE?

“A nation is defined by its borders, language & culture!”

Sean R. on July 15, 2011 at 10:42 am

I’d like to see something in the media about Lawrence Phillips. In college he was a menace to society at Nebraska I believe. It would be damning to see a chronological accounting of his felonies to present day. I’d bet in England he continued his low life conduct as well in the european league.

samurai on July 15, 2011 at 12:15 pm

Hi, Debbie:

Rest assured, the gladiators will be back in the ring. We must have Circus!

Marty

Marty Andrews on July 15, 2011 at 1:02 pm

Raheem Brock had a fairly coherent and plausible explanation. Of course that “minor scuffle” hints at being a bully or an obnoxious drunk.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/NFL-free-agent-Raheem-Brock-explains-arrest-over-restaurant-tab-062111

pat on July 15, 2011 at 1:21 pm

Something For The Subway

Actors And Athletes On
Strike—Oh My!

I was in the second grade. Still somewhat cursed by vanity, I’m not going to tell you what year that was. It’s recess time and Mikey Manella, a classmate, comes running up to
me frantically. “Hey, Paulie, You’re a Yankee fan, right?!”
“Uh…yeah…yeah, I’m a Yankee fan…” At the time I didn’t know a Yankee from a doodle, but I didn’t know what choices I had, and I didn’t think Mikey was going to take “no” for
an answer. “Well, Larry Wagner’s a Dodjuh fan. Go beat ‘im up.” So, within the space of about two minutes, I had become a diehard Yankee fan and a schoolyard tough guy. Larry Wagner took a beating. I flipped him…First time I ever flipped
anybody…Impressive, man.

I later learned that I had made the wiser choice when I said yes to being a Yankee fan. It didn’t pay to be a Dodger fan at P.S.11 on Staten Island. For one thing, Staten Islanders
were predominantly Yankee fans, and, for another thing, it could get you flipped.

* * *
In the mid-to-late, sixties, a short time before his assassination, Bobby Kennedy made a guest appearance on the Tonight Show. The audience gave him, what I feel most people would consider, a much-deserved standing ovation. To that date, I’d never seen a guest on any Talk Show get a standing ovation, so the spontaneous breach of format moved and surprised me; Bobby Kennedy’s then current prominence notwithstanding. But a statesman and visionary of his caliber,
regardless of what side of the political coin you’re on, deserved it, if anyone did.

Twenty-plus years later, in the late eighties, an actress, whose name escapes me, had a short-lived afternoon Talk Show, that I just happened to be tuned into one afternoon.
Her guest—Robin Givens. When Ms. Givens walked out to her introduction she received a standing ovation. At that point, her only known credits had been to be one of the regulars on a second rate sitcom, and the ex-wife of some brain-dead heavyweight champ (What was his name?…Nice guy, by the way. I met him in ’89)). Man, I thought, had the import of the standing ovation ever been watered down.

Now, standing ovations are given to every “star” that makes a Talk Show appearance. Would someone please tell me why? What have these people really accomplished? I still can’t figure out why a Muhammad Ali is considered great. He beat up people…Got beat up a few times himself, which rendered him a little slow coming out of the starting gate.

I guess most of us would call the Ruths, Dimaggios, and Michael Jordans, great too. We crane our necks to get the slightest glimpse of these famous “ball” people (That’s what I
call most athletes…Puck people don’t much count), while many of us don’t recognize the names Christian Bernard or Jonas Salk, let alone, pictures of them.

Now don’t get me wrong, as a kid I had basketball for breakfast, baseball for lunch, and spaghetti for dinner. I have a degree in Physical Education and coached baseball, football, and basketball…Nothing against athletics, and
certainly nothing against athletes. I’ve known many professional athletes, and spend, and have spent, a significant part of my life in the acting profession, working with many actors from extras to mega stars…Nothing against
performing arts, or artists. Like everyone else, as people go, actors and athletes range from jerk to super person. But as for their stardom—who cares? And if you do care, think again. What effect has any of this star stuff had on our lives? How much did you miss TV during an actor’s strike? How much did you miss sports during any
of those strikes? Did you ever have a garbage strike in your city or town? The neighborhood really stinks, doesn’t it? How about a bus strike? Did the post office ever screw up your
mail delivery? I’ll bet having all those services working orderly meant a hell of a lot more to your life than the sum total of all the sporting and entertainment events you’ve ever seen or attended.

Now, I’m still a resolute New York Yankee fan (and I hope Larry Wagner’s doing fine— well, maybe not. He actually grew up to be a punk, or what we called a “rock”, in those
days), and one of the worst days of my life was the day Mickey Mantle died, in August of 1995. We all have these adolescent layovers, these tidbits of arrested maturity; but do we
make them so important, or do we recognize them for what they are—the stuff of kids’ fantasies that’s lodged somewhere in our early
imprinting.

Many Superbowl Sundays ago I sat watching the game in the living room of a very “successful” friend of mine—a man who
owned a chain of auto parts stores. “Jeez,” he said, as the game came to an end, “What do you do now that football season is over?” And he was serious. Maybe he got lucky and the
sanitation workers went on strike. Then he could busy himself cleaning up all the crap in his front yard that they wouldn’t pick up. Of course, he could always call one of his
NFL player buddies (or maybe a movie star) to come and help him tidy up.

Two nights’ prior to this writing, I dropped someone off at the airport. I cringed when I returned to my vehicle, and discovered that I had put the steering wheel lock from my other vehicle on to the one that I was now using. I didn’t have the key to that lock, so I was stuck. When the triple A guy got there I would have hugged him but he might have gotten the wrong idea. Anyway, I would have been thrilled if it was Mickey Mantle who showed, but that never seems to happen.
Besides, I don’t think The Mick ever knew a
thing about steering wheel locks.

How about this idea: What if we went and got an autograph book and asked the really important people in our lives to sign it. At some later date, might not that list of names
trigger some memories that really mattered?

…Just a thought.

shegundala on July 15, 2011 at 8:23 pm

Hey, we were warned ! Ray Lewis warned USA that if NFL folded then crime would go up. Obviously he’s a prophet !

John Prewett on July 15, 2011 at 10:57 pm

Ray Lewis said that because he knew he’d have more time on his hands. More opportunities to kill guys outside bars.

samurai on July 16, 2011 at 11:31 pm