UCONN Women's Basketball in the Final Four

UCONN women's basketball team is in the Final Four and they're looking for yet another national championship for the third year in a row.  Maya Moore, their All-American standout player, helped UCONN to not only beat Duke but they rolled right over them with a 75-40 win.  Moore had 28 points and reach her 3,000 career point which is needless to say an outstanding accomplishment.  This is UCONN's fourth consecutive final four appearance and it is their 12th time within the last 17 years.  That is quite impressive!  UCONN is only two wins away in reaching the national championship.  The Huskies next rival is Notre Dame who is from their own Big East conference.  Will they go all the way?

One of the Fab Five's offends Coach K

Head coach Mike Krzyzewski comments on Jalen Rose's comments about the recruitment of Duke basketball players.  During ESPN's documentary about the Fab Five from Michigan, Jalen Rose talks about Duke only recruiting black players who were "Uncle Tom's" back in the 1990's.  Jalen Rose said "I hated Duke and I hated everything Duke stood for. Schools like Duke didn't recruit players like me. I felt like they only recruited black players that were Uncle Toms."  Coack K claims that Rose's comments were "very insulting to everyone here at Duke."  He also claims that one of the Fab Five players could have very well ended up at Duke.  Did any of you watch the ESPN documentary films on the Fab Five?  If you did, what did you think about Jalen Rose's comments?  I thought they were out of bitterness and even jealousy because they didn't win a national championship when they were expected to for two years in a row.

NFL and players STILL cannot agree

The NFL asked a judge to keep the lockout in place after they accused the players of manipulating the Sherman Anti Trust Law.  The NFL claims there are no legal grounds to stop the lockout.  After March, 11 when their was no agreement with the CBA, players started to file charges against the NFL in federal courts.  In spite of this, the owners have put the 2011-2012 season in jeopardy.  The NFL claims that they decertified so that the players would not lock them out and now they cannot reach an agreement.  This has turned into a lot of legal issues and players are trying to file lawsuits against the league claiming that they are breaking the anti trust law.  The NFL believes that if the lockout was lifted by a judge, it would cause a lot of issues within the league because they think players will deman free agency instead of just trying to come up with a mature and responsible agreement that both the owners and players could agree on.  The league may become is disarray if this lockout is lifted by higher authority.  All we can do now is wait and see what the future holds for the National Football League!

It's official: Tennessee fires head coach Bruce Pearl

In one of my previous posts I discussed the NCAA violations that were up against Tennessee men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl.  As a result of those violations, Bruce Pearl and all of his assistants have been fired.  Coach Pearl and his assitants were cited for unethical conduct and misleading of investiagtions by the NCAA committee.  Tennessee has been charged with multiple violations after Coach Pearl admittedly lied about holding a cookout for recruits at his home.  Unfortunately this has not been the only time that Pearl has not been in compliance and as a result he has lost 1.5 million dollars over the years and lost the privilege of recruiting off campus.  What makes this situation worse is that after Pearl admitted his faults in a press conference, four days later there were rumors that there have been more violations with another recruit he was after.  That was the final straw for Tennessee which ultimately lead to his termination as the head coach along with his assitant coaches.  It is a sad time for Bruce Pearl, but this is a prime example of how important it is to be compliant with the NCAA at all times or else severe consequences will be invoked.

Draft Boycott Wanted by the NFLPA!

The National Football League Players Association is developing a plan which is going to prevent any college prospect to be drafted into the NFL.  The NFLPA has notified 17 top prospects to not attend the draft that is supposed to occur in April.  According to other sources it is not an ''official'' revoked invite but if the prospects who were supposed to be drafted do not show up, they will not be part of the usual ritual of walking on the Radio City Music Hall stage and they will not do interviews with ESPN or the NFL.  Last week the union decided that they would no longer represent players.  I personally think that this is ridiculous because now college players will not get the experience of a lifetime like they used to.  The fact that players will not  go to Radio City Music Hall with their families in attendance while receiving their jersey and hat representing the team they will play for is ridiculous and unfair to those individuals not associated with the mess of the NFL.

Third High School Boy Basketball Player Dies While Playing This Month

Robert Garza, age 16, is the third boy to suddenly die this month while playing basketball.  The two other boys had heart conditions.  Robert Garza was playing with his AAU league and during a timeout he collapsed after giving a teammate a high five.  There was no previous warning before the boy collapsed and his teammates and coach claim that he was his usual self during pre-game warm up.  Paramedics tried CPR on Garza but it was not effective and was pronounced dead an hour later at the hospital.  His death only comes a week after Wes Leonard collapsed and died at a basketball game and also Matther Hammerdorfer died on March 3.  All three of the boys were said to be in great physical condition and their deaths were a shock to all.  I think that it is bizarre that these boys all collapsed within three weeks of each other.  Did any of you hear about these stories?

Logo for 2012 Olympics in London causes controversy with Iran

London's 2012 Olympic logo upsets Iran who objects to the logo because they said it is racist and warn London that they may boycott the 2012 games.  The secretary general of Iran's National Olympic Committee sent a letter to the IOC president claiming that the logo looks like the word "Zion" which is a term referring to Jerusalem.  Iran's secretary general of the NOC is encouraging other Arab nations to object to the logo as well.  The IOC is not taking any measures to change the logo because they said that "the figure represents 2012 and nothing else." They plan on sticking by the London organizers in defending the logo. The IOC does not understand why Iran is objecting to the logo now because it was created in 2007.  What do you think about the logo?