No more Pro Bowl? It looks to be that way after Commissioner Roger Goodell doesn't like how the Pro Bowl has been played lately.
This will be horrible for the fans and players because they will no longer get awarded for their accomplishments this season by being voted the best at their positions.
Metta World Peace, also known as Ron Artest, has outdone himself this time causing a massive stir in yesterday's match between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
World Peace dunked the ball and during his "celebration", cough cough, he "inadvertently" elbowed Thunder guard James Harden in the elbow leading to a concussion. He was ejected after the officials deliberated watching the monitor deciding whether to award a flagrant one or flagrant two foul.
Ultimately, this is not a surprise since he has been getting in trouble during his entire career, although he had been doing better over the last three seasons.
Harden tried to return to the game in the second half, after his first evaluation, which led to him being reevaluated and caused him to be determined to have a concussion. Concussions are being rigorously studied in every sport.
Peace has been suspended several times for brawls, elbows and gestures towards other players and coaches. He needs to be suspended and fined a significant amount.
The NBA Playoffs begin next week and the Lakers are fighting for a top three seed so suspending Peace for several games might put them in jeopardy. He still deserves a minimum of at least 10 games in my opinion with a $25,000 fine.
The Lakers are currently a half game in front of their rival Clippers for the division title and one and a half games above the Grizzlies. The Lakers have one game remaining while the Clippers and Grizzlies have two.
Hopefully the NBA will send their penalty soon to him.
For all of those people interested in running long distances, or even marathons, I was once a long distance track runner in high school. These are just some of the things you will need to learn in order to not struggle with breathing and temperatures.
Most people underestimate how to train for a long distance event. In my opinion, and the opinion of coaches who worked with me, in order to run a one-mile race a person should train a minimum of three to three-and-a-half miles.
This helps build endurance and helps a person regulate their breathing. Endurance training is another major key.
The first key to think about is what type of shoe a person needs to wear. In my opinion New Balance shoes are some of the best products for distance running. Their shoes are built specifically for cross-country types of running including through water, rocks and hills.
This goes the same for running on tracks. Kahtoola has a great style of spiked running shoes. The spiked running shoes helped me speed up by 40 seconds during a two-mile run which helped me set my high school record of 11 minutes 26 seconds.
Another thing to think about is what type of clothing to wear. Make sure you wear breathable clothing, whether it be long sleeves or short, and make sure to wear light shorts. Sometimes wearing pants actually make a person wear out faster and they tend to slow down earlier. ASICS are some of the best brand clothing to look for.
Some people also think training on hills everyday is something smart to do, but it actually hurts a person more than helps them. It helps but only if you do it every third day of training and do interval training on a flat surface in between.
The best way to train is to start off slow by going maybe one lap around a track and building up to a mile after about a week. After that then a person should start running hills. If you have had knee injuries in the past really hold yourself back on pushing the tempo of your running.
With the knee injuries, I have had two ACL reconstructions since my senior year of high school, wait about a month to restart running and find a compression sleeve knee brace to wear.
These are just a few tips on how to train running long distances.
Atlanta Braves 19 year veteran Larry Wayne "Chipper" Jones announced he is retiring at the end of the 2012 Major League Baseball season.
Jones is one of the best, if not the best, switch hitters of all time and he was my idol growing up when I began to play baseball.
He was the first pick in the 1990 Amateur draft. He is also a seven time All Star, 1999 MLB MVP and a two-time Silver Slugger Award winner.
He began playing shortstop for the Atlanta Braves wearing the number 10 jersey, which is exactly how I started. He then switched to third base and has played left field for a little bit during his career.
Jones is coming off of knee injuries over the last couple of years and wants to remain with the team after his retirement in an undisclosed position.
His career statistics are remarkable. Through six games this season Jones is tied for the team lead with two home runs and seven runs batted in.
If you include those statistics in his career he has 2,621 hits, 456 home runs, 1,568 runs batted in and 1,556 runs with a batting average of .304.
Jones needs to be elected into the MLB Hall of Fame during the first couple years of his eligibility of not his first year which will be 2017.
Several of his former teammates are going into their first years of eligibility including: Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, both in 2013, and John Smoltz in 2014.
Chipper Jones has had an amazing career and I'll be rooting for him to join the Hall of Fame and be an All-Star in his final season.
Legendary Tennessee Lady Volunteer Basketball coach Pat Summit decides today to step down from the head coaching position. Summit has led the Lady Vols for the last 38 years after playing for them during her career.
Summit has won 1,098 wins in her career which is more than any other coach in NCAA Men's and Women's history. She also won 8 NCAA championships and led the Volunteers to the NCAA Tournament every year since it's inception.
She is also going to remain with the lady vols in a different manner and will be allowed to sit behind the bench during next season's games. Holly Warlick has been her assistant for the last 27 years, as well as an All-American player, will be the new Head Coach.
Another famous Icon will forever be remembered. Dick Clark, age 82, passed away today from a reported massive heart attack.
Clark will forever be known as the New Year's Rockin' Eve host and an oustanding deejay. We will never forget Dick Clark.
I went to my first MLB game the summer before my freshman year of high school and had a huge amount of fun. The city of St. Louis, Missouri is a much bigger city than I had ever been to in my life. Mark McGwire had already retired sadly.
The old Busch Stadium was exciting and held a lot of people. The parking was the only horrid thing about the game. I went with my mom and her friend and we had to walk a good four miles in the mid-summer heat which nearly overheated us.
The game was fun though with all of the cheering. We sat in the right field upper-deck section. The only conflict was wearing St. Louis Cardinal colors in a Chicago Cub section. I had to take off the shirt and where a neutral color shirt just so I wouldn't be ridiculed. It's funny now looking back on it.
Sammy Sosa was playing right under us and it was fun hearing all the people from St. Louis cursing and booing him, even though he is one of my all-time favorite players. Albert Pujols also was playing in one of his first seasons and was an icon to watch at first base. Too bad he is now a Los Angeles Angel.
Sadly there were no home runs hit during this game even though the Cardinals won. Now the Cardinals have some players on the team I watched when I went to minor league Tennessee Smokies baseball games. The main player is the catcher Yadier Molina.
I can't wait to go to another game even if it isn't the Cubs-Cardinals rivalry. My favorite team is the Atlanta Braves, but I would love to go to ANY rivalry game.
My passion is broadcast journalism in all sports so maybe I could do it sooner than later. Both Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire are on this year's MLB Hall of Fame Ballots. Will either make it?
Matthew Hagen, 25, died last night due to a hamster bite. The attack happened around noon at his home in Clinton, Tenn. It is reported the hamster woke up and was jealous of his dog, Patches, and bit him out of spite. Services will be held at Oakes and Nichols Funeral Home in Columbia, Tenn.
After a hamster gone loose incident, Matthew Hagen, 25, was found dead in his home. Funeral Services will be Saturday at Oakes and Nichols Funeral Home in Columbia, Tenn. He will be laid to rest at Rose Hill Cemetery.
Funeral Services for Matthew Hagen will be noon on Saturday at Oakes and Nichols Funeral Home followed by gravesite services at Rose Hill Cemetery in Columbia, Tenn. Hagen died from a hamster attack.
NASCAR drivers took to Michigan International Speedway last week to test out the new configuration to the track.
The drivers needed to check it out before the summer races to ensure that the new Goodyear tires would be compatible. These tires seemed to do the work in better ways than the previous ones.
The drivers were tweeting all week, weekend and during interviews about the big jumps in speeds from the old configuration.
Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch were two of the notable drivers mentioning the 215 mile per hour speeds and only slowing down to around 187 in the middle of the turns.
NASCAR officials are probably going to modify the speculations of the engines and possibly put a somewhat restrictor plate on the cars to ensure more safe driving at slower speeds.
A restrictor plate limits the rpm from reaching the engine which slows down the engine overall.
Greg Biffle won the race this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway for Roush-Fenway Racing and ensured to keep his title hopes alive. He is currently in first place and is looking to become the first driver to win the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Title, NASCAR Nationwide Series Title, and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Title.
Why in the world would Ozzie Guillen want to announce to people around the world who read "Time" Magazine that he loves Fidel Castro? Especially now, since he is the new coach of the new-look Miami Marlins Major League Baseball Team. It was very poorly timed.
A large portion of the Miami area are Dominican and Cuban refugees. These people left that area just because of the way they were treated. Now these people are calling for Guillen's job, as well as the team's general manager's job.
Major League Baseball has looked into exactly what Ozzie Guillen said and they rendered their decision. He has now been suspended five games and is eligible to return against the Chicago Cubs on April 17. He had a press conference yesterday in Miami during the Marlins day off. The rest of the team was in Philadelphia preparing for the defending National League East champions.
Guillen apologized for his remarks, and the owners of the team had already disregarded his statement saying that they agreed with the rest of the public that he shouldn't have said them. This is not the first time that Guillen's mouth has gotten him into deep trouble. Let's just hope that he can rescue his image before he is run out of Miami.
Pitching is still a predominant factor in the 2012 season. Hitting is not being proven as much this season. Hopefully some of the big named hitters such as: Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder, and others. Several teams have already published shutouts this season and it's as if the team who has the best pitching staff will win this season. Pitching and defense were usually outcasted from the main field because of how the many ball parks were "hitters parks." Now let's see if any of the "big hitters" this season can match up against the likes of Justin Verlander, Barry Zito and others.
This past week was the "opening week" of Major League Baseball after the Oakland and Seattle series in Japan last week. Pitching dominated this week in Major League Baseball. Several starters had no-hitters or perfect games or just small hitters going into the late innings.
The Tampa Bay Rays had a great game Sunday against Rival American League East Team New York Yankees. Their pitcher Jeremy Hellickson went 8 2/3 innings only giving up three hits, four walks, and striking out four. The closer for the Rays Fernando Rodney came in for the second day in a row to record a one-out save.
This is the first time since 1966 that both American East rivals Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees have been winless through the first series at the same time.
Another team that has had a slow start is the winless Atlanta Braves who were swept by their National League East rival New York Mets. The Mets were thought to have lost their edge after short stop Jose Reyes decided to go to the Miami Marlins during Free Agency.
The Japanese opening series in Major League Baseball already occurred featuring the Oakland Athletics and the Seattle Mariners with the completion of their series coming later this week in Oakland.
The St. Louis Cardinals travel to the new-look Miami Marlins tonight attempting to win their first game since being known as the Florida Marlins last season in their "terrible" stadium.
The Miami Marlins have a new stadium and several talented new starters on their team and with the Cardinals losing Albert Pujols to the free-agency then to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim it looks as if Miami has a strong opportunity to win this game.
The Miami Marlins projected starting lineup, and batting order, today is: Jose Reyes at shortstop, Emilio Bonifacio at centerfield, Hanley Ramirez at third base, Giancarlo Stanton at right field, Logan Morrison at left field, Gabby Sanchez at first base, Omar Infante at second base, John Buck at catcher and Joe Johnson as starting pitcher.
The St. Louis Cardinals opening lineup, and batting order, includes: Rafael Furcal at shortstop, Carlos Beltran at right field, Matt Holiday at left field, Lance Berkman at first base, David Freese at third base, Yadier Molina at catcher, Daniel Decalso at second base and Kyle Lohse as the starting pitcher.
The game is scheduled to have the first pitch at 7/6 central time. I will attempt to blog this game as soon as it's done with my impression of the new Marlins and how I think they will be this season.
