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Friday, July 30, 2010

Cowboys Training Camp

                As practice was coming to an end first round pick Dez Bryant suffered a high ankle sprain. This is devastating news as the first 3 of the Cowboys draft picks are currently injured. What makes this even worst is the fact that it happened on the second to last play of the day and that he will be sidelined for 4-6 weeks. This takes him out of the rest of training camp and basically all of the preseason games (there is a slight chance that he could be back for the September 2nd game against Miami).  Personally I would like to see the team keep him all till the start of the regular season which starts on September 12th. I realize he hasn’t played an actually game since last September but I would rather be sure that he’s 100% healthy before lining him up. The silver lining in this is that the ‘boys are now more likely to keep Patrick Crayton on the 53 man roster. He is one of their more consistent players and he can also help out with special teams particularly being a punt returner which would have been a job that Bryant would have occupied.  While reading ESPN Dallas reports of training camp I was so excited to watch Bryant in preseason games it seems like at every turn he is making some play that has left everyone in awe.
                Other things I’ve noticed so far this off-season is that the movement of Alan Ball and Doug Free into the starting lineup has looked good. Free has been beat on a few plays but he has stonewalled DeMarcus Ware a handful of times which shows me that he has the capability to be a solid starting LT. Ball has displayed excellent coverage skills at FS something the ‘boys sorely missed last year and were prone to getting beat deep if the WR got a step on the corners.  Also with the addition of Ball the rest of the secondary has been stepping up their game getting about 10 picks so far this training camp when they’ve only had 19 the past 2 seasons combined.  Hopefully with Ware, Jay Ratliff and Anthony Spencer consistently getting pressure on the QB the turnover story will increase and help them become the first team to win a Superbowl in their home stadium.
                We'll get to more updates once they start playing preseason games and once they trim down from the 80 man roster to the regular season 53 man roster. 
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Thursday, July 8, 2010

Thoughts on the NBA

Personally I'm a tad bit tired of all the LeBron hoopla, yes he's a good player but when did he became bigger than the league itself. If you like me and are tired of hearing about him (at least until he announces where he plans to go) I wanted to give a few thoughts about the NBA that I've been having lately.
Earlier today I read a column by Bill Simmons on ESPN.com about who the superstars of the NBA are, he listed 5 players; Kobe, LeBron, Wade, Durant and Howard. His explanation for them being considered superstars was they all have the ability to make any team a 45+ game winner. I agree that these are 5 of the top players in the league but I feel that if you’re going to include Durant in the list that you also must include Carmelo Anthony. Everyone always wants to talk about the 5 above but Carmelo is every bit as good of a player as anyone. In his 7 years in the league he has led the Nuggets to the playoffs every year. Which is something that you can't say about Kobe, LeBron, Wade, Durant or Howard each one of their teams has missed the playoffs at least once since the 2003-2004 season. Looking at each of those players I feel that Carmelo is the best pure scorer among them as he can get his points in a various amount of ways, he also is a very underrated rebounder, averaging at least 6 in all but 2 seasons. In his article Simmons did place him in the next tier of players, but I just find it hard to believe that he's always an afterthought when it comes to the leagues best players seeing that the highest he has ever finished in MVP balloting is 6th last season (also his first year to make 2nd team all-NBA). 
            Also yesterday we got a glimpse of how different LeBron and Durant are, after Wade and Bosh made their announcement to play together in Miami on the morning SportsCenter. LeBron comes out with the idea that he needs a 1-hour press conference to let us know where he going. While all of this was happening Durant posted a short comment on his twitter account stating that he and Oklahoma City have agreed on a 5 year contract extension. He didn't need all the lights on him, there was no fan fare just him letting his fans know what was going on with him. Another thing that Durant has been doing is attending Oklahoma's summer league games and cheering on the players some who will be his future teammates and some who will most likely end up in the D-League once the season starts. I can't think of another prime time player will send his summer vacation watching summer league games. It’s a refreshing sight and one that makes me think that as long as Oklahoma keeps their team intact they're going to be major contenders in the very near future.
Anyway those are just a few things I've been thinking about lately, I'll be glad once ESPN airs "The Decision" and gets it all out of the way so we can start hearing about the upcoming season. Whether LeBron resigns with the Cavs or moves to the Heat, Bulls or Knicks no player is above the game or a team. Hopefully he's graceful in this press conference otherwise 5 different fan bases are going to be crushed and angry at how he played this out. As much as I'm tired of all this I already know where I'm going to be at 9EST watching ESPN at least for the first 10 mins tuning in with the rest of you to see perhaps the biggest free agent move in NBA history. If you’re a fan of one of the teams in contention I wish you luck, the NBA could look very different come tonight. I'm excited to see how things turn out.
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Friday, July 2, 2010

A Dream Vanished

        Asamoah Gyan calmly places the ball at the 12 yard mark and walk back into position, the hope of Ghana’s, and the whole continent of Africa’s, World Cup dreams rests on his shoulders. Gyan had been at this spot twice already during the World Cup and each time has come away with a goal. So nothing made us think that anything else would happen. Most saw Ghana already advancing to the semifinals making them the first African nation to do so. As we all know Gyan ran up and struck the ball with great pace and when the Uruguay goalie Fernando Muslera, dove it looked good but the ball struck the crossbar and bounded out of bounds. The entire Ghanaian team was awestruck with what could have been while the Uruguayan team celebrated as if they had already won. Fast forward to the penalty shootout and Gyan was the first to take one for his side, he calmly placed the ball in the upper right corner as I watched I couldn’t help but wonder what could have been if he had done that a few minutes earlier.
        At the conclusion of the match Uruguay prevailed by winning the shootout 4-2 sending Africa’s last remaining team home. It was a sad sight for me to see; one team celebrating on one half of the pitch while seeing the Ghana team collapse in tears. Gyan was so distraught that it took a few of his teammates to get him off the ground and off the field. This wasn’t the greatest match of the World Cup so far but it definitely is going to be one of the most remembered, not for the plays that won it but for the one that slipped painstakingly away and also for the handball that saved the game for Uruguay. 
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