Sports in Stilettos

May 03

Incredible photo of Junior Seau from the LA Times website. A tremendous football player and a USC legend, gone far too soon. R.I.P. 55  (via Junior Seau shooting: Pat Haden, Lane Kiffin, USC react to news - latimes.com)

Incredible photo of Junior Seau from the LA Times website.

A tremendous football player and a USC legend, gone far too soon.

R.I.P. 55 

(via Junior Seau shooting: Pat Haden, Lane Kiffin, USC react to news - latimes.com)

May 01

Sending thoughts and prayers to Oklahoma center Austin Woods, who’s battling stage 3 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.  NBC’s CollegeFootballTalk, where I heard the news, has more information and links if you’re interested.  According to his Twitter page, Woods was diagnosed last Thursday and began treatment yesterday at the OU Stephenson Cancer Center.  If you’d like, you can send your support and words of encouragement via Twitter:  @AwesomeWoods_50 

Sending thoughts and prayers to Oklahoma center Austin Woods, who’s battling stage 3 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. 

NBC’s CollegeFootballTalk, where I heard the news, has more information and links if you’re interested. 

According to his Twitter page, Woods was diagnosed last Thursday and began treatment yesterday at the OU Stephenson Cancer Center. 

If you’d like, you can send your support and words of encouragement via Twitter:  @AwesomeWoods_50 

Apr 27

Matthew of Troy [Read More...] -

Why Matt Barkley passed up being a top-five pick in the NFL draft to return to USC

(Photo taken by me after last year’s USC-UCLA game. Best. Ever.)


While y’all were watching the NFL Draft and figuring out who your team was going to pick next, I was reading about the guy my team already has.

With Matt Kalil and Nick Perry going in the first round this year, USC has more first-rounders and more overall draftees than any other program (77 first-round, 475 overall). 

That’s pretty incredible - and possibly the most incredible part about it is that Matt Barkley is not (yet) one of them.

Way back in the day, I was skeptical when the blond freshman was Pete Carroll’s chosen one without much to back it up, but starting Matt Barkley as a true freshman might be one of Carroll’s greatest achievements at USC (and there are a lot to choose from). Now, I can’t imagine anyone else in the role.

Barkley means so much to the USC community, and he’s done so much for the program just by being himself. 

I’m not ashamed to admit that I was literally in tears (no crying in baseball, but that’s why I’m a football fan) as I read about the final games of last season, culminating in the 50-0 win over UCLA. I was there. I paid an arm and a leg for amazing tickets because I was convinced it was Matt Barkley’s last game, even while I was hoping against all hope that it wasn’t. It was unforgettable - but maybe not once-in-a-lifetime. 

After all, Matt Barkley has some unfinished business to attend to.

So, about that first round…

Also known as “I didn’t watch one second of tonight’s NFL Draft coverage but I’m going to blog about it anyway.”

  1. Congrats to USC’s Matt Kalil (#4 to the Vikings) and Nick Perry (#28 to Green Bay) on going in the first round! 
     
  2. According to @USC_Athletics on Twitter: Nick Perry will likely play OLB opposite  in the Packers 3-4 defense. 
  3. I’m a Ravens fan (always. forever.) but now I have yet another reason to like the Packers - as if Aaron Rodgers and Clay Matthews weren’t enough. (They totally were.)
     
  4. Speaking of the Ravens: Not much to say. Heard on the radio that they’d likely trade up or down based on the availability of Dont’a Hightower, and that their turn wouldn’t come around until 10:45ish. I went about my normal life until 10:15ish and heard they traded out of the first, so that was that. My draft night #1 was over before it even began. I don’t really mind. 
     
  5. I posted on Facebook that I hoped everyone got the players they wanted - unless I wanted them. At the time I wrote it, I legitimately didn’t have anyone on my Ravens’ wishlist - but now that the Patriots traded up to snag Hightower, I’m sort of mad about it. 
     
  6. St. Louis took DT Michael Brocker from LSU. I know nothing about him but I would’ve liked to see them get Kalil (or another OL) rather than trading the RGIII pick to the Skins. There are still plenty of players to go, and the Rams need to make sure they get some protection for the QB. I still don’t think Sam Bradford is as bad as last season made him seem, but they have to get more guys in front of him to help keep him healthy. (This one was for my sister. Hey girl heyyyy.)
     
  7. Kalil went to the Vikings. Cool. Then he said after the draft Minnesota was the place, of all the teams he visited, that he could see himself living for the next 10 years. Really? Minnesota? I haven’t been, but I’m pretty sure I’d disagree. 
     
  8. I’m annoyed that RGIII went to the Redskins - and it has little to do with the fact that I was raised to despise the Redskins. I like the dude. I picked him to win the Heisman this year and I was ecstatic he did. But his presence is making some of the DC peeps in my various social media networks straight-up insufferable. Yes, I might venture down the Beltway to see him play live because I’ve watched on tv and I think he’s that exciting. But no, I don’t really want to hear a constant feed about how awesome he is and how great this is for the ‘Skins from “friends” who suddenly became very vocal fans in the last 48 hours. 
     
  9. Ryan Tannehill went way higher than he probably should’ve - #8 to Miami. My Twitter feed seems to think he’ll be a bust, or at least wasn’t worth the high first-round pick, but I think we can all agree that he fared pretty well in both the NFL Draft and the wife lottery. Mrs. Tannehill is definitely first-round talent. 
     
  10. I was more than a little apathetic about this year’s draft and I really only knew of two players the Ravens might be targeting. Now that round one is in the books and they didn’t pick anyone, I’m really eager for them to get in on the action and start drafting! Of course, the real excitement doesn’t start until the season does, when we get to see if all these trades and picks pay off. 

Apr 25

I have no idea what is going on, but it looks awkward and also super creative. Like Jedi mind trick + forward roll = safe at home? I also have no idea what game this is from, or how long it’s been floating around on the internet, but I just saw it. And now you have, too.  I’m pretty sure all our lives are better for it.  Unless, of course, you’re the catcher and you have to watch yourself get somersaulted over on repeat. Then again, if it was me, I’d probably still find it hilarious.  UPDATE: According to ibleedredandblack, this was a play from Game 3 of the 2009 World Series that is being played backwards. I’ve watched it a million times and I still cannot wrap my mind around what it would look like played forwards. It’s probably better this way. (Reblogged via boogsbohsand-os: esthermary:stuck—inthelabyrinth: mikemussinastractors:crimsonkitty:thefrogman)

I have no idea what is going on, but it looks awkward and also super creative. Like Jedi mind trick + forward roll = safe at home?

I also have no idea what game this is from, or how long it’s been floating around on the internet, but I just saw it. And now you have, too. 

I’m pretty sure all our lives are better for it. 

Unless, of course, you’re the catcher and you have to watch yourself get somersaulted over on repeat. Then again, if it was me, I’d probably still find it hilarious. 

UPDATE: According to ibleedredandblack, this was a play from Game 3 of the 2009 World Series that is being played backwards. I’ve watched it a million times and I still cannot wrap my mind around what it would look like played forwards. It’s probably better this way.

(Reblogged via boogsbohsand-os: esthermary:stuck—inthelabyrinth: mikemussinastractors:crimsonkitty:thefrogman)

(Source: ForGIFs.com)

Apr 24

[video]

Please.  PLEASE.  I do not buy this. Don’t even try with this “Whoops didn’t see him there” nonsense. We throw reverse elbows in boxing. It’s real hard to hit what you can’t see, especially when you’re hitting hard enough to give a dude a concussion.  Also, if you’re going to knock someone out like that and pretend later you didn’t mean it, you could at least try to spell his name right on Twitter. 

Please. 

PLEASE. 

I do not buy this. Don’t even try with this “Whoops didn’t see him there” nonsense. We throw reverse elbows in boxing. It’s real hard to hit what you can’t see, especially when you’re hitting hard enough to give a dude a concussion. 

Also, if you’re going to knock someone out like that and pretend later you didn’t mean it, you could at least try to spell his name right on Twitter. 

Apr 20

Baseball's Unwritten Rules, Uncovered After 26 Years -

Courtesy of Deadspin, because sometimes, you really need to have it in writing.

Just heard #5, “Never make the first or the third out at third” during one of the O’s-Yankees broadcasts last week. 

I’m also a big fan of #15: “Take a strike if your club is behind in the ballgame” (which I would amend to read “…or when the opposing pitcher has not yet shown an ability to throw strikes.”) There are few things more frustrating than hitters going up to bat and swinging at a first pitch that is nowhere near the strike zone, am I right?

Click through for the full list - they’re all pretty key to keep in mind!

Apr 18

Jack Jablonski, the Minnesota high school hockey player who was paralyzed after suffering a devastating neck injury in December, finally gets go to go home today.  It’s such a big milestone, but he’s right: it’s bittersweet.  I hadn’t heard much about “Jabby’s” story until I happened to stumble across Karen S. Schneider’s beautifully written “The Way We Play the Game,” from the February 27th issue of Sports Illustrated. (I meant to share the link at the time, and if you haven’t read it yet, I definitely recommend it.) Schneider is a hockey mom who knows Jabby through her children, because they, too, are Minnesota high school hockey players. They, too, face the same risks every time they take the ice.  Since the accident - a freak occurrence - the rules of the game have changed, but as Schneider writes: “You cannot regulate all the risk out of hockey. You cannot eliminate the danger inherent in a body crashing into the boards.” Jablonski isn’t the first athlete to be seriously injured in the sport and, unfortunately, he almost certainly isn’t the last. It’s something we, as fans, generally try not to think about until we have to, until someone like Jabby gets hurt and we have to acknowledge that the sports we love to watch or to play don’t come without a price.  The more I learn about violent injuries in hockey and football (which I’ve written about numerous times here), the more uncomfortable I become about loving these sports the way I do.  There are inherent risks in anything in life, but in these sports, the risks are magnified. It’s hard to justify cheering at a contest that could, at any moment, turn tragic. Just last night, Chicago Blackhawks star Marian Hossa was taken off the ice on a stretcher after a vicious hit from Raffi Torres of the Phoenix Coyotes. It’s certainly a different situation - it was an illegal hit, unlike the legal one that left Jablonski paralyzed, and hopefully Hossa will be ok - but it’s a scary reminder that while we’re enjoying the games, at any time, at any level, there’s a chance that someone might go down and not be able to get back up.  It’s wonderful that Jack Jablonski is getting stronger and is finally able to leave the rehab center today, but it would be even better if he’d never had to be there in the first place. 

Jack Jablonski, the Minnesota high school hockey player who was paralyzed after suffering a devastating neck injury in December, finally gets go to go home today. 

It’s such a big milestone, but he’s right: it’s bittersweet. 

I hadn’t heard much about “Jabby’s” story until I happened to stumble across Karen S. Schneider’s beautifully written “The Way We Play the Game,” from the February 27th issue of Sports Illustrated. (I meant to share the link at the time, and if you haven’t read it yet, I definitely recommend it.)

Schneider is a hockey mom who knows Jabby through her children, because they, too, are Minnesota high school hockey players. They, too, face the same risks every time they take the ice. 

Since the accident - a freak occurrence - the rules of the game have changed, but as Schneider writes: “You cannot regulate all the risk out of hockey. You cannot eliminate the danger inherent in a body crashing into the boards.”

Jablonski isn’t the first athlete to be seriously injured in the sport and, unfortunately, he almost certainly isn’t the last. It’s something we, as fans, generally try not to think about until we have to, until someone like Jabby gets hurt and we have to acknowledge that the sports we love to watch or to play don’t come without a price. 

The more I learn about violent injuries in hockey and football (which I’ve written about numerous times here), the more uncomfortable I become about loving these sports the way I do. 

There are inherent risks in anything in life, but in these sports, the risks are magnified. It’s hard to justify cheering at a contest that could, at any moment, turn tragic.

Just last night, Chicago Blackhawks star Marian Hossa was taken off the ice on a stretcher after a vicious hit from Raffi Torres of the Phoenix Coyotes. It’s certainly a different situation - it was an illegal hit, unlike the legal one that left Jablonski paralyzed, and hopefully Hossa will be ok - but it’s a scary reminder that while we’re enjoying the games, at any time, at any level, there’s a chance that someone might go down and not be able to get back up. 

It’s wonderful that Jack Jablonski is getting stronger and is finally able to leave the rehab center today, but it would be even better if he’d never had to be there in the first place. 

(Source: nealed-it, via bruinthecup)

Apr 17

Watch Matt Wieters' 10th Inning Grand Slam vs. the White Sox -

MLB doesn’t share the embed code. Click the link above! (Totally worth the extra step if you’re an O’s fan!)