Word broke today that the girlfriend of Oscar Pistorius was murdered in his home...Here's the STORY....

What do you think? Did that no-legged bastard kill her? Was it an accident? Was it a fight? DO you even give a shit?

The guys are good as gold! Thought you knew this already!

The Ladies were no slouch either…you best recognize!

Greetings from the Hoodwood, where the locals are gearing up for not only football, but new and exciting YouTube broadcasts (more on that later)

Olympic Final: The US Gold Rush in London

The games of the 30^th Olympiad are now history. Many critics were heaping abuse on NBC for its lackluster and sporadic coverage of the games. Maybe it was me but did it seem like that when the games were going on in Beijing Sydney and Barcelona despite the time difference there was always something good showing. I counted four channels that the Olympics were showing and it seemed that all they did was show repeated events. It just didn’t seem like you could ever find the big events. NBC held much of the good stuff back for its primetime package. But it felt like it was already known by the time it was shown. Example, my mom and her boyfriend were watching the 200 meter final. I already knew that Usain Bolt had won convincingly, but they were watching with baited breath. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that the final had already been run and that Bolt dominated as expected. I thought the coverage was seriously lacking. The US made off with 104 total medals, 48 of them Gold easily besting China who came in 2^nd in the medal count. The Chinese were openly talking of dominating the games and avenging what they felt was an embarrassingly short total in their backyard in 2008,but the Americans upped their total and stole the show again. The countdown now starts for the first Olympic games in South America as the games will be in Rio in 2016…it will be an interesting mix of the Latin flavor and the Olympic stodginess.

The US basketball teams were hardly headed in their quest for Gold, the Women looked almost bored as they smashed one outclassed team after another in rolling to the Gold, the US squad hasn’t lost an Olympic game in 20 years…41 straight wins and teams were getting housed with frightening regularity. The French team that they faced seemed just happy to get that far and the Australian team once again found their best team blocked by the Americans and this time in the semis. They gave the US a go for a half then cracked under the steady withering pressure of the US. The French team had a “We’re just happy to be here” look about them as the US finished a perfect 8-0 with an 86-50 beatdown that could have been a lot worse. The mafia Don Geno Auriemma might have cracked a smile in the closing seconds as the Women won their 5^th consecutive gold medal and 7^th in the last 8 Olympiads, find me a squad that has been that dominant for that long…

The Men sleptwalked through beating after beating, pulling away late from one opponent after another before getting into a real tussle with Spain, but had it not been for a tense taut five point thriller the US had with Lithuania the Yanks might have not known how to handle a tight one, but they were able to counterpunch with the wily Spainards and though officiating seemed as if they were trying desperately to handicap the Americans to keep it even the US got clutch shots from LeBron James and Chris Paul to pull away with a 107-100 win to clinch a second straight Gold medal and further bury the awful memory of the failure in Athens. It was great to see the supposed jaded pro athletes celebrate their Gold Medal victory, like a national title or NBA title. Coach K jumping for joy when Chris Paul beat the clock with a twisting driving layup late in the 4^th to seal the game was as about a classic scene as Ive ever witnessed. Anthony Davis and LeBron James are two that can claim two titles in the same calendar year. Davis joins Christian Laettner and Patrick Ewing of players that won titles in college and a gold medal in the same year. The US took Spain’s best shot and still came out on top. The rest of the world has stepped up their game and the US is still the team everyone wants to beat, but there still is the gap of talent and when the money is on the line, Im still going with the homeboys for the win. Bravo to the men and ladies basketball teams on jobs well done!

NFL: Chad’s dilemma

It seems that Chad Johnson is in a bit of a quandary, the loquacious receiver is trying to catch on with the Miami Dolphins after a bad season in New England. Rookie coach Joe Philbin has already butted heads with Johnson, no longer going by Ochocinco after he recently wed. This past weekend Johnson was arrested on charges of domestic battery and the Dolphins wasted no time in cutting Johnson, a move I think was Philbin’s purposeful move to shock and scare the team into line/. Though Philbin flatly denies it, I pull out my bullshit card here on that call. I mean, what better move by a coach that wants to get his teams attention than to run an established player like Johnson out of town? I personally think it was bush league. Johnson who has never been in any kind of trouble with the law in his time in the NFL has charged with domestic battery after he allegedly head butted his wife. Johnson claims that she head butted him while they were arguing. Now, I am a big advocate against abuse, any male that hits a woman is no man in my eyes, but this just comes off as suspicious. Im not going to rush to judgment. If Johnson is proved to have done what he has been accused of, I will be the first to lay a literal head slap on someone that I have been a fan of for a while. But I will give him the benefit of the doubt. Im sorry, anyone that is on the show basketball wifes already has a cloud of suspicion of being overly dramatic and I think is trying to get her name more in the papers at the expense of her “husband” Now Chad has to try to latch on to a team, hes still got talent and if TO can get a job, you think he should be able to. But then again Plax Burress is still looking for work...

MLB: Is Strasburg getting the shaft?

The Washington Nationals are the best team in MLB right now. That’s not hype at 71-44 the Nats have the best record in baseball as of Monday evening, 2 games ahead of the Central leading Reds, and 3 games better than the AL West leaders in Texas who have the AL’s best record by ½ game over the Yankees with one 1 fewer loss. The Nats have never been this good in the 7 years previous that they have occupied the Nations Capital. Heck they havent even broken .500, doing that only once in their 1st year in DC.  The last time that this perpetually sad sack franchise has been this good was the star crossed 1994 Montreal Expos team that had its dreams of a magical season snuffed out by the players strike. That team was 74-40 leading the NL East by 6.5 games and was the best squad in the game that year. Led by Ken Hill and a young Pedro Martinez the Expos had a 1-2 punch from their starters. With solid hitters like Cliff Floyd, Marquis Grissom, Moises Alou and the heavy hitting Larry Walker the Expos had a tough lineup to face. Managed by the laconic yet effective hand of Moises’ dad Felipe, the Expos were poised to do big thing but they needed the team to go deep into the postseason to attract the normally reserved Montrealites who seemed to always reserve their passion for the Habs Hockey team, but that year they were drawing and looked as if they were going to places. The strike shut the season down and when baseball returned that next spring, the Expos were being dismantled again as most of their star players were too expensive to keep. The team dropped back into irrelevancy and moved to Washington in 2005 where they have been more a less a mediocre team. This year has been different, led by veteran manager Davey Johnson (someone who has won everywhere he has went) the Nats are a blend of veteran talent with players like Rick Ankiel, Ryan Zimmerman and Jayson Werth and precocious phenoms in hard hitting Bryce Harper and stud pitcher Stephen Strasburg. Harper has been destined from greatness for seemingly a long time yet hes all of 19. Strasburg has been the pitcher who just seems to mow down batters every start. The Nats have no fears of a labor dispute this time around, they look to make the franchise first postseason appearance in over 30 years. The ’81 Expos took advantage of a split season to claim a postseason berth and beat the Phillies in the NLDS (then called the mini-playoffs) before falling to the Dodgers in a tight best of 5 NLCS. But with all signs pointing to the Nats playing playoff baseball for the first time since FDR was just getting settled at the White House nearly 80 years ago, all should be hunky-dory right? Nope, the Nats continue to be adamant that Strasburg their bona fide ace will be shut down after he reaches a set point. Strasburg who is almost 2 years out from Tommy John surgery which ended his 2010 season and limited his 2011 season to 5 starts is being guarded very carefully. The Nats do not want to run the risk of overuse and despite the Nats looking like they are a contender to get deep in the playoffs will shut Strasburg down no matter what their situation is. If the Nats get into the playoffs and Strasburg is over his limit, he wont pitch. Many are critical of this move saying that they may not get another chance and that you use the weapons you have. Others are applauding it saying that it’s the right move and overuse could do larger harm down the road. It’s a gamble, but the Nats need to use Strasburg judiciously. Have him skip a start or two coming down the stretch. The Nats will need him in the postseason. When there are aces like Johnny Cueto of the Reds, Matt Cain of the Giants, Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers and AJ Burnett of the Pirates at the top of the contenders pitching staffs, you need a hammer of your own. The Nats need not blow out their ace, but they shouldn’t baby him.

PGA: Rory wins but why all the Tiger talk?

Rory McIlroy simply put smoked em. His -13 score at the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island in South Carolina was a work of art. He was around the greens all weekend and his putting was flawless. His 9 stroke win was a PGA Championship record. The 23 year old has notched his 2^nd major win and is younger than Tiger Woods was when he won his 2^nd major.

So why is all the talk still on Tiger? I know, Tiger didn’t win a major this year and still has yet to win one since his dramatic win at Torrey Pines in 2008, but he has won on tour 3 times this year in the process tying then passing his golf idol Jack Nicklaus for third on the PGA titles list. But he hasn’t won a major and the talk is that he isn’t dominant. The media used to complain that courses needed to be Tiger proofed to keep it from being a battle for 2^nd every week and that Tiger being dominant was boring. Well now, since Eldrick has shown his mortal side, the same media wonks are coming out of the woodwork to bash him for not being dominant. It makes no sense and the talk takes away from a sterling performance by a good young golfer who will continue to make his mark for the next decade.

Phat Dap/Head Slap

Phat Dap

Give the dap to the US Olympic team, I know I raved about the basketball teams. But from the continued dominance of Michael Phelps to the classy Gabby Douglas to the dominance of the Womens swimmers Melissa Franklin, Dana Vollmer. Rachel Bootsma, Allison Schmidt, Rebecca Soni, Breeja Larson Claire Donahue and Jessica Hardy who set Olympic and World Records in the 4x100 medley relay to Claressa Shields who brought home the only boxing medal for the US since the men were stunningly shut out of any medal. Cant forget the womens soccer team that won a thriller over Japan for Gold. I could go on and on, since that is just a few of those that medaled in this Olympiad and those that did were all fighting back (sometimes losing) tears as they watched Old Glory being raised and the Star Spangled Banner being played. To all of the 46 gold medalists and the 104 that brought home medals. Hoodwood salutes and is so very proud of you! Mad dap!

Head Slap

This one is too easy. Tyronn Mathieu has the world on a string. A feared cover corner who was a Heisman Finalist last year for the National Runner Up LSU Tigers, lovingly called the “Honey Badger” Mathieu looked to be the cornerstone of an LSU team that many picked to be a preseason #1. Mathieu threw it all away when he was kicked off the team for marijuana use. A violation that has tripped him up before. Mathieu now is looking at other schools to transfer to. If he goes an FCS school he can play right away but if he transfers to another FBS D-1 school (if they would take him) he would have to sit out a year. Mathieu has thrown away any Heisman chance he had along with decreasing his exposure with him leaving a powerhouse SEC school like LSU. Mathieu will be playing on Sundays that is a given but he has hurt his chances to really cash in for wanting a quick high… And he has stated that he would like to try to re-enroll at LSU sit out the year and come back for the 2013 season. Since he has 2 years of eligibility left and three years to use them, Mathieu could realistically come back. I hope Les Miles tell Mathieu to kick rocks, I understand and am all about giving 2^nd chances but he has them and blew it. Just because he has immense talent doesn’t mean he can break the rules repeatedly and willingly just to figure he can get another chance because of that talent.

The Man Cave is almost ready, and I may show it off next week. But for those that like You Tube I will be doing another musings that will post on You Tube on Wednesday, some of the stuff I write here and other stuff as well. Yougabsports gets the first shot at everything of course but Im experimenting some. Come check it out and actually see what I look and sound like...

Until Next Post Fellow Sports Fans!

 
Now that looks like a Summer Vacation I could be down with!

Yes, this week Monday Moaning is on the road...Coming to you from Erie Pennsyltucky! We headed in Friday, to my in laws...Where my wife's sister, her son, and my wife's two cousins, and their kids, were waiting for us...We spent Friday night shooting the shit and just hanging out...I had just had a long, hot day at work, so I didn't feel like doing much but sleeping anyways...

My sister-in-law has a son the same age as Little Beeze, so it was great that he had a buddy, but we knew sooner or later there would be a meltdown...Well, the meltdown climaxed with my son throwing a handful of Lego's' that drilled my nephew in the head...Earlier they had disagreement about whether if some toy existed or not...So that had my little Irish boy hot under the collar...It was just a typical 7 year old boy dick swinging contest, and then some Lego's were taken, and some "Dude, I was using that!" Then some got thrown down, and then some more got thrown down, but just into a head....Great times ahead!

The next morning Little Beeze was messing with his big sister and second cousin...He ended up getting hit in the face with a toy...It hurt him a bit, so he went all out, and threw a hair brush...So after injuring 2 people in less then 24 hours, he was in my dog-house big time...

Just a little while later we all went to Waldameer Amusement Park...I not a fan of places like this, but you know...It's all about the kids...I gladly took baby duty...There's limited rides for kids her age, but Molly was happy just cruising around in the little boats...Plus, we always seem to hit places like this, right when she needs a nap...After a hour and change, she crashed in the stroller...When 3:00 PM hit, I was just trying to get out of there...The rain was holding off all day, and it wasn't going to last much longer...Plus I just wanted to check-in to our hotel, and relax a bit...I mentioned the rain a second ago...Very odd how we've been having a hot as hell Summer with no rain...Then we show up to Erie, and it's cold and rainy...I was just waiting for some snow to blow in Sunday!

Saturday night, we finally got the kids to sleep...I watched the 4x100 relay, because track is about the only Summer Olympic stuff I'll watch...The U.S. came out strong, and had the lead, but Jamaica came on during the 3rd leg...And the anchor finished them off...Yep, Usain Bolt again lived up to all the hype...Normally I couldn't stand a guy that loves himself as much as Bolt...But shit, he's the fastest man alive...Dude may be a dick, but he's the dick you want on your team...

After that, I was laying in bed watching some show on Discovery proving that mermaids exist...I'll have to dig into that some more...I finally crash around midnight...Then some time just after 1:00 AM, the hotel's fire alarms start blasting...I grabbed the baby, wrapped her in a blanket, and covered her ears...I'm standing in the doorway looking back at the rest of my family...The boy, out cold...The oldest girl, awake but unaware...And my wife sitting on the bed saying, "What is that?"

Okay, it was the loudest fucking annoying sound I had ever heard...What the hell could it be...So I yelled, "It's the fucking fire alarm! Get the kids!" She came to, and get them up...The boy still not giving a shit...As she got closer, I told her to grab my glasses, and a key...She also grabbed her purse...Luckily since it had car keys in it, so we could keep the kids warm...About 20 minutes later the Calvary arrived...


Kind of sad that we had to wait 20 minutes...


Even more sad is that they broke out two fire houses for a little patch of mulch that caught fire outside, from a cigarette...It was right next to the elevator equipment, and some how gut sucked in...I could have pissed on it, and put it out...By 2:00AM we were allowed back in...

Sunday we were going to be headed to the Erie Zoo...So I went to target and got a sweat shirt for each of the kids...This cold and rainy shit is for the birds...We hit the Zoo...It's small, so it's great for kids...Okay, it use to be great for kids...But over the past few years they have had a number of the animals die...And then half of the ones we saw looked like they were going to die...The Ape, or chimp or whatever, had blood all over it's area...lots of blood...Then the Leopard sounded asthmatic, and kept puking...The one Black Bear looked like it was going to kill itself...None of the monkeys were doing any of that wacky monkey shit you always see them do...The kangaroos had a bit of hop left in them...Ha, get it!

I always thought zoo's were depressing and cruel places, and this joint validated that feeling...

Molly's favorite was the Penguins...


The were very friendly, and there was one that was very playful, even though their tank looked dirty and funky...And yes, Mom got her a stuffed Penguin at the gift shop...The gift shop which was very well kept, of course...

All of this wasn't necessary to Molly...She was fine stomping in a puddle in Grandma and Grandpa's driveway Saturday morning...


Yeah, I know, I barely said anything about sports, or the U.S. Swimming scandal I wrote about last week...Hey, tough shit! I'll be back into digging into that stuff Tuesday...Unlike the countless people in sports who say "family first," I mean it...Yeah, I spent this time bitching and shitting on Erie...But my kids had fun...My wife had fun and saw family...And I got a blog out of it...

Oh, one last thing...If you ever want really good Pizza and Wings, and you're near Edinboro PA...Go to this little dive JOHN'S_WILDWOOD_PIZZA...Fucking awesome! Just don't ask my wife for directions...You would think some one who attended Edinboro University for five years, would remember the way!

That's it for now...Have a week...

Later, the Beeze.
 

Hey Gabbers and welcome to the half-way point of the week. After a good run through the south, I’ve made it back to Michigan on Sunday. No thanks to storms over Chicago. I got delayed a few hours and had to change gates about three times. I got back just in time to start the football season off. We had a midnight practice to kick the season off, which was awesome aside from the fact that I pulled filming duty. That’s coaching dues I suppose. Tomorrow is the first day we’ll have pads, so I hope those boys are ready.

Heard this song over the radio a lot. I'm not normally a country fan, but I like this one and it speaks to the driving I did with my girlfriend.

My girlfriend has been geeked up about the Olympics since she got back from Brazil. I may have mentioned she came back a soccer fan. She got to go to see a game in Rio. She saw Flamengo RJ, which is apparently the working man’s team there. The atmosphere was crazy and the fans were up and moving through the whole game. I can’t blame her much for this, but she also attributes her new love of soccer on seeing pics of a lot of the players. I suppose the ladies need their eye candy too. Still, I’m going to need her to stop calling it football since I get immediately excited and then crash when she says she means soccer.

My favorite watch of the games so far has got to be water polo. I think it's vastly underrated as an Olympic sport. Has anyone else been watching? This sport is nuts. Men and women have to continuously tread water in a pool at a minimum depth of 6 feet. The game is plaid a lot like handball. You have a goalie and the rest of the players have to throw the ball into the net. None of the players are allowed to punch the ball into the net.

What’s even crazier is that while all of this is going on, the men and women are beating the shit out of each other. They really get after each other. If a player is found to be getting too rough, they have a penalty box and the offending team plays short-handed. The biggest offense is taking off another player’s cap, which they wear to protect their ears. It’d sting like crazy to get pegged in the ear. It’s pretty common to see them dunking each other though. Apparently one of the women’s matches even had a wardrobe problem due to the fighting for position.

Just today, our women’s team beat out Australia 11-9 to move onto the gold medal game. The women take on Spain for gold this Thursday at 3 EST. The men’s team takes on Croatia in the quarterfinals round today.
 

I kinda fell out of following the Tigers while I was on the road, but saw that the White Sox have gotten back in it. I was also assed out to see that the Twins basically gave the White Sox Francisco Liriano. Granted Liriano isn’t what he used to be, but that guy can give the Tigers fits. Really, it’s a shame that Liriano caught that shoulder problem. When Liriano and JV both came out in 2006, I figured we’d be treated to some amazing pitcher’s duels down the line. Verlander could have easily lost his Rookie of the Year award had Liriano stayed healthy. Their stat lines in 2006 were eerily similar:
Verlander: 30 games, 17-9, 3.63 ERA, 124 SO
 

Liriano: 28 games, 12-3, 2.16 ERA, 144 SO

Still, both sides of the MLB have so much to decide still that the MLB has my attention more than the NFL at the time. The NL West is bound to give some fans a coronary. I figure Harvey’s hoping his boys can pull a winning streak out of somewhere. The Wild Card is doing what the commish thought it would. We might even see the Pirates make the playoffs. The A’s could break a lot of hearts here in Detroit. This is going to be a great finish, even if it was more engineered this season.

Lastly, while we notice that Penn State is making waves about fighting their sanctions (though they may just make things worse), it seems that a group of former PSU players are looking to fight to bring back the vacated wins. Lead by former QB Michael Robinson, the 8 man group filed an appeals letter yesterday. The group is challenging the consent decree signed by the university’s president as well as the findings of the Freeh Report. The players’ main complaint with the Freeh Report is that the findings mention of a “culture” that enabled unlawful acts against children seems to indicate that players contributed to those heinous acts committed by Jerry Sandusky. I agree with these players. The language could easily be changed to reflect that the actions of the coaching staff and administration created an environment that enabled such acts. Changing a few words around simply places the blame more squarely on those who need to shoulder it.
 

I believe that restoring these wins also shifts some of the blame. The mistakes of Sandusky and Paterno shouldn’t weigh on any former players. Put the wins back on the record, but leave Paterno where he is on the wins list. Feel free to place a huge asterisk next to his name with a vivid description of the depths he sunk to in an attempt to compile so many wins. Heck, he was up in the booth for a good number of them anyway. The young men that played, however, should be able to show their kids what their work got them.
 

That’s about all I have for this week. I’m pretty pumped to get my squad in their pads. It’s hard to see what kind of linemen I have without pads. I hope they’re just as ready to get popping. I’ll also be glued to Olympic coverage and MLB standings the rest of the week. I hope you all have exciting weeks of sport as well. Thanks as always for reading. I leave you with your word of the week.
 

Chik-Fil-Atheist, noun

A person who loves Chik-Fil-A, but not God, and is therefore pissed that Chik-Fil-A is closed on Sundays.
Even though I'm an avowed Chik-Fil-Atheist, I tried to go to Chik-Fil-A on Sunday again. Goddamn it!
 

You tell 'em Gabby! See the Head Slap of the Week

Greetings from the Hoodwood, where the dog days of summer came early and will stay late. But the locals are oh so ready for football season.

Olympics: Usain lives up to his name, and the US Basketball hits everything

9.63 seconds… that’s how long it took Usain Bolt to cover the 100 meters in the Olympic final. That is just incredible. Bolt is fast everyone who watches sports on the regular knows that. But that’s just an absolute sick time, it wasn’t the world record of 9.58 but it was an Olympic Record. Heck he covered that distance faster than it took me to type this sentence. I guess the question now begs itself, whats does Bolt do for an encore? He has already run poor Justin Gatling into pure irrelevance, the Gatling is plenty fast in his own right. It seems like Bolt is making a mockery of the sprinting world and doing so with impunity. Bolt didn’t even showboat at the end, which seemed to have had offended the sensibilities and decorums of some sportscasters who thought he slowed up at the end in Beijing and could have posted an even faster time.

The US mens basketball team was way overdue for a beatdown in the boogie down type game and they dished one against Nigeria on Thursday. I mean this was one of those “Damn!” type beatings. Whether it was Carmelo Anthony dropping a US record 37 point performance, in just 14 minutes of play. Though the Olympics play only 10 minutes quarters it seems that Anthony was scoring for a 48 minute performance. The Americans hit 3s like they were going out of style hitting 29 3 pointers

Read that last line again. 29 3 point field goals.

The Lady Bandit is the mathematician in the house, but even my poor Hoodwood math tells me that is 87 points. That tally alone put the US better than Nigeria in scoring. They only had 28 field goals made total…Yikes

The 156 point total, bettered the total of the 1992 Dream Team, the Olympic record of 136 set by Brazil, the 156-73 win set a mark for the biggest win. When you shoot 71 percent from the field you wont lose too many games if any at all. Of course the hater media came flying out of the woodwork. The US ran up the score, they were portraying the ugly Americans. They took too many threes. I mean it was almost embarrassing to watch the Yanks drill trey after trey almost to the point of ad nauseum. But I am in agreement with US coach Krzyzewski, it wasn’t like the US was trying to showboat. They ran a strict zone in the 3^rd and 4^th quarters and eschewed the fast breaks. The US to put it plain and simple was all kinds of hot and poor Nigeria flat ran into a buzz saw. Now, the US might have came out into its next game a little overconfident in its next match against Lithuania and found itself in a battle. Bred on an American style game, the Lithuanians ran the high pick and roll with frightening efficiency and the American squad was just powerless to stop it. The Yanks needed a hardcore 4^th quarter effort from LeBron James, a player quickly establishing himself as the leader and Alpha Dog of this group of alpha dogs, to take a 99-94 win. Did this put a massive scare in the American team? Possibly, but you can be sure it got their attention and their opponents as well. The Lithuanians have put out a blueprint on how to keep the Americans at least partially interested in a game. Can a team put a full game together, catch the Yanks snoozing and hand out a massive upset? It seemed that the Argentinean team looked ready to stand tall and hung tough taking the Americans to the half down only a single point. Nonplussed, the Yanks threw a 42-17 3rd quarter blitz and behind Kevin Durant's 28 rolled to a 127-96 rout. The Americans finish pool play 5-0 and though pushed on occasion have only been really tested once. First up in Olympic quarters will be Australia and its anyones guess what the spread for this expected beatdown will be, the winner gets the winner of an interesting Brazil-Argentina matchup. The pesky Lithuanians and Spainards are on the other side of the draw and would only face the US in the Gold Medal match. Im no Duke apologist but I have a strong belief that Coach K wont let their focus slip. Meanwhile, the US women are delivering beatdowns of their own, hammering China 114-66 and have also finished pool play at 5-0. The womens teams may be even more scary than the men. With the mafia don Geno Aureiemma running the show, the US women have yet to be even seriously challenged. They started the knockout round with a ho-hum 91-48 rout of Canada. They made sure there wouldnt be any chance of the Canadians crying foul that result like they did with the soccer match on Sunday (Ok I'll stop with the jingoistic prose...lets move on)

NFL/MLS Sadness in Philly and C’Bus.

You know Im getting tired of commenting on tragic circumstances. Hoodwood sends out its condolences to the Eagles family in their time of sorrow with the death of Garrett Reid, son of Eagles head coach Andy who passed away on Sunday. Reid had some publicized run ins with the law but seemed to be getting his life together. Reid was staying at Lehigh University where the Eagles are having their training camp. Hoodwood is see tragedy a little too close to home, In Columbus, the MLS’ Crew are in shock after midfielder Kirk Urso collapsed and died just this past Saturday. Urso had been sidelined since May with a groin injury and was not with the team who was in Washington playing DC United.  Again condolences to the families with the Eagles and Crew in their time of loss.

NFL: Is Sheriff Goodell backing down?

One of the items that I was totally stunned to hear on the drive in to work Monday Morning was the possibility that Saints LB Jonathan Vilma may be cutting a deal to have his suspension reduced. Vilma right now is appealing his year suspension for his alleged part in the Saints Bountygate scandal. Vilma has been nothing less that vehemently vocal in his vociferous denial of any part in this. Vilma has also raised the possibility of taking the NFL to court for defamation of character. Well it seems now that the NFL Sheriff....ummmm Commish Roger Goodell may be taking this lawsuit a little more seriously. Reports have been abounding that the NFL may offer to reduce Vilma's suspension to 8 games if Vilma drops his lawsuit. This suspension could then reduce the suspensions of  Saints defensive end Will Smith (currently facing a four game suspension), Packers defensive tackle Anthony Hargrove (eight games), and Browns linebacker Scott Fujita (three games). If a deal is done, many think that this could finally put a chink in the once inpenatrable armor of Goodell who has come off as the strict taskmaster of the NFL the so-called Dean of Discipline. I for one would like to see Goodell take an L, he has gotten way too haughty and think that his my way or the highway mentality is harmful to the NFL. He is not in the mold of Tagliabue and Rozelle, two of the best commissioners the NFL ever had.

College Football: Will Penn State ever go away?

Penn State trustees are trying to go the legal route to get their way and for what its worth I think its a travesty. Three of Penn States trustees are filing an appeal with the NCAA to overturn the sanctions against the football team. The appeal is a precursor to an appeal to be filed in the federal courts to invalidate the sanctions. The Trustees are claiming that the Penn State president Rodney Erickson did not have the "legal authority" to accept the penalties and did not consult with the trustee board prior to accepting the punishment. This is also in addition to the family of the late coach Paterno who are seeking to have the vacation of his wins from 1998-2011 overturned and an open hearing about the sanctions levied against him and Penn State. Where were the trustees when all this shit was going on? They claim that this will do irreparable harm to a generation of fans, I think that they are more worried about their bottom line and the number of prospective students that may go elsewhere and the football team that once was a bully now appearing to be getting ready to get its collective heads kicked in for a number of years. What these trustees dont seem to get is that the NCAA is a private institution and governs it members as it sees fit. They also dont seem to get that the NCAA could have listened to the howls of some of the bloodthirsty and shut the program down for a year or longer. These trustees need to shut their collective mouths, take their punishment and go back to their academic ivory tower where they were at before this scandal happened.

MLB: Hoodwood's favorite baseball writer

Meggie Zahenis...you need to remember that name. This is a young lady who has a special gift for the baseball prose and has a job that I envy. She is a 15 year old writer for MLB.com who won the 2011 MLB Breaking Barriers contest and is now a youth correspondent for MLB.com. Zahenis is from Cincinnati and has a rare disease called  Hereditary Sensory Autonomic Neuropathy Type II  (HSAN II)  HSAN II is a neurological disease that affects the sensory preceptors in the body. In short, the body feels little or no sense to pain... I was blown away by the information on the disease, but cheered by the spirit, drive and determination of this writer who can really write. I encourage you to check her out at MLB.com, you'll be glad you did. Check out her story in this video

PHAT DAP/HEAD SLAP

Phat Dap

I had given Dap to Reds broadcaster Marty Brennaman for honoring his bet that if the Reds won ten games in a row he would have his head shaved. The Reds won ten in a row beating the Rockies to complete a sweep last weekend. There was an added caveat, if $20,000 was raised for the Reds Community Fund he would get the cut done at home plate AT Great American Ball Park. Not only did the fans come through to the tune of $30,000 which was matched by local businesses. The $50,000 was matched by Charlie Sheen. The notorious bad boy is an avid Reds fan and had brought his father actor Martin Sheen to the game for his 70^th birthday, which is the same as Brennaman’s. Sheen pledged a matching donation for the community fund to have it earmarked for the Reds Urban Youth Project. Say what you want about Sheen’s often weird antics but give him dap for a great contribution. But the bigger dap also goes to Brenneman who after getting his hair shorn spoke to the crowd and introduced three young friends who are part of the dragonfly foundation. These are kids that are battling or have recovered from cancer and are bald. The group had sent Brennaman a t-shirt in the hopes that he would wear it after he was shaved. He not only wore the shirt, but spoke briefly to crowd about his support of the group. A class act all the way around. Take a look at the video. Its lengthy but it would take a hard hard heart not to feel for these kids and cheer for them

Head Slap

Not to the idiots that were whining about people posting Olympic results on Twitter, my feeling is if you don’t want to know who won what, stay off the social media sites. No my head slap goes to the women that were throwing crackback blasts at Gabby Douglas the gold medal gymnast, about her hair during the competition. I mean, really talking about this girls hair with needless rants about “Don’t they have stylists in London?” and “Get that girl a comb.” In a time when there are few black women in sports not named Williams to rave about Douglas’ feat in becoming the first woman of color to win the All-Around event in gymnastics and as well as helping the US women’s team take the team gold. There were way too many people ranting about  this subject. To her credit, Douglas played the cool role. Me personally, had it been my daughter I would have been raving mad. Serena Williams and actress Gabrielle Union were among the first in her defense, as if she really needed to be defended. It’s the stupid people who are on the couch and have nothing better to do than throw useless blasts at someone who is doing the country proud that need to explain themselves.

Until Next Post Fellow Sports Fans!