A Shot Heard ‘Round the World: Heisman Hoepful Goes Down

Not only did Oklahoma lose it’s opening game to BYU on Saturday night, they also lost their star quarterback.

Sam Bradford was driven to the ground near the end of the first half in Saturday’s game by BYU defender Coleby Clawson. The hit was “clean” but resulted in both players landing on Bradford’s right side. Bradford immediately began squirming in pain and clutching his right shoulder. Bradford returned to the sidelines after examination in a sling. He had to sit and watch as redshirt freshman Landry Jones tried to fill the shoes. Jones played well but not well enough as the Sooners fell 14-13.

Although no time table has been placed on Bradford’s return, this does not help his Heisman hopes. Without Bradford, it will be interesting to see how the Sooners carry themselves. If you’re a Texas fan, you cheer.

Quick Update: Kellen Winslow

Just wanted to put an end to the rumors circulating around about how Kellen Winslow was admitted to a clinic do to elephantitis, aka grapefruits in your pants. Reports have surfaced recently, that seem to be accurate, claiming that Winslow was admitted do to a staph infection.

Winslow was told to keep quiet by the team because apparently staph infections were a regular thing around the Cleveland organization and, well, it’s frickin gross. Winslow also decided to call out the Browns’ G.M. for not checking up on him while he was in the hospital, head coach Romeo Crennell says that Winslow could face fines for the remarks. And new rumors surfaced that Winslow almost asked for a trade, the trade deadline may have passed but he may not stay in Cleveland much longer.

What the hell happened to Kellen Winslow?

When Kellen Winslow was suddenly hospitalized last week and no one knew why, it created some suspicion amongst the media and fans. The Browns kept the issue TOP SECRET and none of Kellen’s teammates were talking. With a guy like Winslow, who has been plagued by injuries here and there, it makes you wonder why in the world he’s missing games. But I heard his latest admittance to a Cleveland Clinic wasn’t exactly an “illness”, and it would make perfect sense why no one said anything about anything.

Although rumors are rumors and we know they are rarely true, the rumor about Kellen Winslow was that his testicles were the size of grapefruits. I was always heard of it as being “elephantitis”, but Kellen nor the Browns would ever admit such a thing. At least Kellen can say he has the biggest you-know-whats on the team when he goes off on one of his locker room rants. All jokes aside, this symptom could be the result of something much more serious. We certainly hope not. 

However, it’s not important that we know or the media knows. What’s really important is that Kellen gets better and hopefully it’s just a result of sleeping with some nasty lady in Cleveland. It’s possible that he suits up against the Redskins this weekend.

Haywood done for the Wiz

ESPN.com reported today that our Washington Wizards’ center Brendan Haywood could miss the entire season after having surgery on his right wrist today. The surgery was to repair a ligament that was torn in training camp on October 2nd. What does this mean for the Wiz?

1.) Haywood finally came into his own last year and gave a reasoning as to why he was ever drafted. I know you can’t teach 7-feet, but Haywood put up some pretty decent numbers last year too. He also took more jump shots from just outside the box, which he is surprisingly pretty good at. He averaged career highs of 10.7 points and 7.3 rebounds last season and was a KEY part to our success. Without that inside scoring, who do we have in the post? On the offensive glass?

2.) This isn’t the only injury that D.C. needs to deal with this year. Gilbert is expected to be out until at least January. What the Wizards do not need is another injury-plagued season that keeps them from getting a decent, yet pathetic, seed in the East. Gilbert’s resigning and all his personal bull crap is a completely different issue, however, that I would be more than willing to argue with someone about.

3.) Our center position now becomes extremely sketchy. We now have Etan Thomas, Andray Blatche, and JaVale McGee. Etan Thomas didn’t even play last season and he was just as effective as when he does play, so there’s no real help there. I have heard repeatedly that Etan is good trade bait, but I don’t know what Ernie Grunfeld is waiting on. Pull the trigger! Andray Blatche is a guy that I like a lot who I think has the potential to be a pretty good player for us. However, he is tall and somewhat lanky and doesn’t have the same big-body that Haywood had to make his presence felt in the middle. And then there is the rookie, JaVale, who is going from playing at Nevada to playing against LeBron and the Cavs. I don’t see JaVale making a smooth transition but I will certainly hope and pray that he proves me wrong.

You can say what you want about Haywood and his attitude in D.C., the point is that we are loosing a key player of the team. I know it was getting to the point where some people could not stand to read about Haywood, trust me I was one of those people, but he finally did come around and he showed D.C. that he was needed. With him going down we lose a large inside presence. And then you add Gilbert’s injury and we lose a substantial amount of points per game. We do know that we can succeed without Gilbert’s buckets, but I don’t think we can succeed without the shamefully little defense that we had with Haywood in the middle.

Surprise surprise, Arenas is ready to ride the pine

I really don’t like it when people say “i told you so”, because it sounds so rude. But I will admit that I am definitely thinking about saying it. In fact, I’m repeating it over and over.

I cursed and sweared all over the place when the Washington Wizards decided to pay Gilbert Arenas $111 million. I hated the move because I knew he would NEVER be the same. Well guess what? He’s had his third knee surgery and fans won’t expect him back until January. That’s three seperate surgeries on a basketball players’ knees. Sorry fans, not happenin’. Thanks Gil for what you did for D.C., but this is a business and you don’t fit in with our plan right now. That’s too bad though, he’s stickin’ around to ride the pine! Gilbert is used goods and the Wiz are out of any kind of sweepstakes in the next 2 – 3 years.

It’s just a blown knee!

     As we all know, Pro Bowl linebacker Shawne Merriman tore two ligaments in his knee last December in a game against the Titans. And the recent talks about Merriman receiving numerous doctor’s opinions has created more buzz than the Democratic National Convention. I don’t have a problem with athletes visiting more than one doctor to receive an opinion on a blown knee. I don’t even have a problem with the story hording all of the sport attention. What I do have a problem with is the fact that an athlete would think it’s completely normal to visit FOUR different doctors to hear the same words: ‘you need surgery’. Are you kidding? How much denial must you be in to think that the first, second, or third doctor didn’t really know what they were talking about? I love Shawne Merriman just as much as the die-hard Bolt fan in San Diego, but I have to admit that I am extremely disappointed in his recent decision to play football in 2008.

     Merriman says that he just wants to play football, which is believable. But does the $1.55 million bonus if he makes the Pro Bowl influence his decision at all? Merriman has already made $2.85 million, but insists on risking his career to play this year. A few thoughts on that:

San Diego is a Super Bowl favorite in a lot of people’s minds. However, whether Merriman plays or not does not determine whether he receives his deserved Super Bowl ring. So why risk his remaining years at the young age of 24?

          Shawne Merriman has the chance to be one of the best, if not the best, linebacker to ever play in the NFL. In just 4 short seasons, Merriman has averaged about 10 sacks per. Does he really want to jeopardize his potential HOF career?

          If I had anything to do with the Chargers’ front office, I would certainly express the idea of making Merriman sit out the 2008 season. Although 2009 is Merriman’s last season, you still have plans of using him to make a run at (or repeat) the Super Bowl. I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night knowing that my top defensive player is playing on a rubber knee.

     I suppose we should all trust Merriman when he says that he can play; but how can we? Seriously. He went to doctor after doctor, all of which said that he needs to get surgery and wait his seven months. But why is it that the fourth doctor just happened to be a Chargers’ team doctor? Does he really have Shawne’s best interest in mind? Probably not. The NFL is a business, so that doctor works for San Diego, not Shawne Merriman. Mark Schlereth, a former offensive lineman and two-time Pro Bowler, said it best this morning on a sport talk radio program. He basically said that if the Chargers and their doctors think Merriman will be just fine to play this season and that it will have no effect on his future, then sign him now to a multi-year contract extension and make him the highest-paid defensive player in football (which he arguably deserves). I couldn’t think of a better idea, basically telling the Chargers to put their money where their mouth is. Do you think the Chargers would go ahead with a new deal? Umm, no. Why? Because either the San Diego Chargers know that this injury will cut his career short, or they have absolutely no idea where this injury will land Merriman. Me personally, I’m not comfortable with either. I wish the best of luck to Merriman. Hopefully he can rack up 13 sacks this season and continue his career until he’s 38 with no set-backs. However, this is probably impossible. I would hate to see such a talented football player lose his remaining career due to his strong heart telling him to play football, and a couple of sketchy doctors.