With social media becoming the new way to say what on your mind, Shaq took to Instagram and posted a picture of arguably the best 5 Lakers to play the game of basketball, also included was the best 5 Bulls. From the Lakers from left to right Irving Magic Johnson, The black mamba Kobe Bryant, Elgin Baylor, Shaq Diesel and The Big Fella Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
The Bulls Best 5 from left to right the young gun Derrick Rose, M.J., Scottie Pippen, the wild child Dennis Rodman and Horace Grant.
The caption reading, "We would beat em by fifty, what you think?" This started a social media frenzy. The sports world is known for daily debates, a large majority of them including the great one..23.. Michael Jordan. But this time it hit the heart of his right hand man Scottie Pippen.
Coming back with his own ammo, Pippen posted a picture captioned, "Sorry @Shaq, I don't get caught up in the hypotheticals. All I know is we won 6 titles."
Shaq felt that Michael Jordan did a majority of the work because he came right back and posted another picture with Pippen's face cut out and Jordan's cropped in instead. The two have going back and forth, creating a hilarious duel via Instagram. The two have even started a debate big enough that Sports Center, First Take and other sports talk specials have added it to their scripts.
This could be a great situation for the sports world to cover. Its going to lead to more drama and action for the media and will definitely keep the people talking!
Today is the one day that could change so many lives.. For about 4 to 5 years, thousands of men have endured the hard-fought seasons of college football hoping to one day hear their names called and shake hands with the NFL commissioner. Leading up to this day has so much media attention, high hearts and the sports world buzzing!
This year's draft will be lead by the competition of two great quarterbacks, whom both were Heisman recipients, Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota to see which QB will be taken first . A lot of NFL team's draft boards have Winston being taken first because he's considered a more "NFL" ready quarterback.
Winston is being regarded as a better fit because of his strong pocket presence as a college quarterback. But the issue is Jameis Winston's off the field issues, shenanigans and drama at FSU. Those problems ranging from sexual assault allegations to shoplifting accusations. Although, Marcus Mariota is being shopped around as a better athlete. Mariota, is hands down the fastest quarterback in the draft. He also has less character issues and a better off the field reputation. However, the thing that separates the two is that, Mariota ran a typical spread offense. Generally, the QB's that come from spread offenses don't usually transition well into the NFL. It will be exciting to see who gets chosen first today during the first round of the NFL draft. Here is a mock draft by sports analyst Michael Brewer...
With a sport like Major League soccer, the players are known for their Grammy performances leading up to the referee issuing a card. Constantly the players fall over dramatically to the turf for the softest fouls. But as fans of the sport, many still feel the game is one of the most premier and exciting events to witness from a television screen. Similar to other sports individuals watch, one finds themselves in deifying with their favorite teams and player. With most sports you can almost guess who's going to win. But with professional soccer, it almost forces you to sit and watch in anticipation of a Renaldo goal or Neymar getting heckled before issuing an amazing pass to a teammate finishing through the net. During the FIFA Worldcup, match after match Neymar was being pushed around on the field. Yesterday, during a friendly match of Brazil vs Chile, Neymar found himself being fouled extremely hard again by Chile's Gary Medel. Neymar regarded the foul to be of the same aggressiveness as a UFC match. He stated that, "That can't be considered part of the game, no. If we say that is part of
the game, then the name [of the sport] is wrong. We can't call it
football -- we should call it UFC." -ESPN
Finally the sports world is getting the fight they wanted. For the duration of both of the fighters' careers, it seems like this is the only fight their fans were looking forward to. There has always been controversy dealing with the fight because of the rumors of Manny Pacquiao possibly taking steroids and not wanting to fight Mayewather, because he was requesting a blood test. But recently, Mayweather and Pacquiao finally came to terms of making the long-awaited throw down. This fight may be as big as Ali vs Frazier in 1975. The fight was took place much before of a lot of sports viewers time, but looking back at the epic battle between the two, definitely brings goosebumps thinking about what this fight could do for sports in general. The fight will take place May 2, at MGM Grand in Las Vegas. In the sports' world opinion, this fight will once and for all settle who the real king of the ring is. Both fighters are at the peak of their careers and this fight could settle the drama and debate for our century. Although Pacquiao has lost to 5 people, and a bad one to Marquez, Manny is still regarded alongside Mayweather as the top fighters in boxing. The people's champ, Floyd "Money" Maweather, usually a strikingly confident in his statements to the media has taken a more humbling standpoint to this fight saying, "On May 2 I have a tough test, Manny Pacquiao is a good fighter. I can't see how it will play out, I am not a psychic. But you best believe I will be in top shape and the best I can be. It's been a long road but the fight is on now."-USA Today Pacquiao expressed that he believes, "this is what you are waiting for since five years ago, the fight is on and we're very excited. Both of us will undergo hard training and we will do our best on May 2 to make you happy."- ESPN For those desiring to attend the bout, the cheapest ticket is the ballpark of $5000 just for nosebleed seats. ESPN sources have been told that for celebrities to get ringside seats they must have "at least a $250,000 credit line w/ MGM to even get consideration."
It may seem like an extremely expensive amount of money to spend for a sports outing, but if you have the coinage...to each his own. LS
The Sports World Mourns it's love one, Stuart Scott
Growing up, I became a bit of a sports junkie. Waking up and sitting on the couch to watch Sports Center, became a every weekend thing. There was a guy on the show that seemed to be very different compared to the other anchors, but he seemed to draw you in. I grew up play a bunch of sports. Anything sports related or that you kept score in, my friends and I were involved in. From watching Stuart Scott and the urge to one day be on Sports Center, I made it my lifetime goal to go on a play college sports and make it to the pros in some form or fashion. The more I watched Sports Center, the more my love for sports grew. Eventually, I found myself as a full scholarship athlete at one of the most prestigious Universities in the United States. At Fordham University I pushed my way to a significant roll as a football squad and a participant of the Track & Field Team. But mainly, Stuart Scott taught me that you should be different. He influenced me greatly to pick something your good at and succeed in it and don't pay too much attention to your naysayers but mainly to the people who genuinely support you. Throughout my sports career, I've kept that message in the back of my mind. Similarly to Stuart Scott, I've had my fair share of ups and downs. From season ending injuries, to loved ones passing in crucial times of my life. From his work as an African American journalist, I grew a passion for writing and chose a major that would help me broaden my skills. As a near college graduate, majoring in Communications and Media Studies, Stuart Scott gave me the motivation to create my blog. With Stu, he wasn't afraid to take risks and he was extremely real. I've learned you have to be very opinionated and genuine. From watching Stuart Scott, I realized that anything is possible. He was able to survive and put his twist on journalism as a whole.
From his "radical" approach to sports, his urban mannerisms, rap references and just great at being cool, Stuart Scott became an important part of Sports Center. Through his work, he not only made a young kid from Ft Worth, Texas laugh and love sports, but everyone who watched him grew a liking for his work.
Stuart Scott paved his way with his crafty catchphrases, like "Booyah and Cooler than the other side of the pillow." Some people viewed his style of journalism and urban way of speaking as way left. Compared to his counterparts on a white American sports journalism network, he was dramatically different in his approach to Sportscasting. Stuart Scott never once faked who he was. On and off air, Stuart Scott can be recognized as one of the most influential, charismatic, energized, heart warming human beings on Sports television.
Stuart Scott was brought to ESPN to appeal to a more youthful and diverse audience, and he nailed it! From any point of view, when you think ESPN, you think Stuart Scott. As an african American , he became one of the most influential and popular faces of sports journalism. Over his close to 20 years on ESPN, he quickly grabbed the attention and appeal of its millions of viewers from every demographic you can think of.
Stuart Scott would typically cover sports with most African Americans, like the NFL & NBA but transitioned to covering any sport featured on ESPN.
The Vice President of ESPN, Al Jaffe, knew that Stuart Scott's style was dramatic and different but people would just have to learn to adapt and love because he simply was changing how they covered sports. His right hand man, buddy on air and fellow news anchor described Scott to be nothing short of greatness. Stan Verrett called him a trailblazer, " Not only because he was black obviously, but because of his style, his demeanor, his presentation. He did not shy away from the fact that he was a black man, and that allowed the rest of us who came along to just be ourselves." --ESPN
This past Sunday, January 4, 2015, was one of the saddest days in history next to the death of Michael Jackson. Stuart Scott had been dealing with Cancer for close to 7 years. Time after time, Stu was able to kick Cancer's ass and continue the good fight as one of the most popular newscasters ever. But during his speech at this past years ESPY Awards, many knew it was only a matter of time because he didn't look like the same strong and energetic Stu. In fact, he had had several surgeries leading up to the awards ceremony and many didn't think he'd be able to make the trip. But knowing who we were dealing with, many weren't surprised to see Stuart Scott walk up that stage and deliver a momentous message. He left us with the words,"When you die, that does not mean that you lose to cancer," he said that day. You beat cancer by how you live, why you live and in the manner in which you live. So live and fight like hell. And when you get too tired to fight, then lay down and rest and let somebody else fight for you. That’s also very, very important. I can’t do this 'Don’t give up thing' all by myself."-- Stuart Scott Stuart Scott's ESPY speech was very influential and heartwarming. As an African American, his words were dramatically touching. As a mentor and an icon for the African American community, he was able to create the message that we should all have hope in any circumstance and continue our paths to success. Stuart Scott embraced raced and a sense of style that every person could relate to. He created a much different view of blacks in the mainstream media and proved that anything is possible.
Hit hard and saddened by the loss, many feel the sadness as one of our angels taken to Heaven. Stuart Scott left a legacy that many can only strive to touch the surfaces of. Prayers and deepest condolences go out to his family and loved ones. May God bless his soul and the people he touched.
In this past week, Adrian Peterson plead no contest to charges of assault to his 4 year old son. The terms of his deal was a plead to a no jail time, $4000 fine, and 80 hours of community service. In all honesty, Peterson got very lucky for the deal he was able to receive. According to ESPN sources, AP could have faced up two years of prison and fined over $10,000 dollars. Earlier this season, Peterson was indicted in September on a felony charge of injury to a child. This charge was for using a wooden switch to discipline his 4-year-old son. Minnesota Vikings All-Pro running back says he never meant to harm his son and was disciplining him in the same way he had been as a child growing up in East Texas. His son suffered some serve bruising, and cuts on his back, thighs and lower regions of his body. Peterson's Attorney, Rusty Hardin, issued a couple of statements to the media saying, "He loves his son. He wants to reestablish a relationship with him," Hardin said. "He obviously hates what has happened to him and his reputation and the public perception. Also saying that, AP would like to rehabilitate his image within the public, and people's perception, because he and everybody close to him knows that it's a wrong perception. He's a caring and loving father. He loves kids, and he hates that this happened." What many people are wondering is if Adrian Peterson will be reinstated or face further sanctions by the NFL. Commissioner Roger Goodell must make the decision to allow Peterson back into the league or cut his career short. Once reinstated, the Minnesota Vikings could either reactive AP or release him. Peterson must also talk with the players union and regain their permission as well. On a good note, a good handful of Vikings Players and other players on the board of the players union were said they "would welcome Adrian with open hands." I feel the Vikings would be more complete with their All Pro Running back and team captain , regardless if he was playing or suspended for the remainder of the 14-15 season. Vikings' All Pro Tight End, Kyle Rudolph, addressed the topic this week after practice saying, "We all know the kind of person he is, We've stood behind him this whole time. You'd be crazy not to welcome him back into that locker room. It would be a big pickup for this locker room being we have so many young guys. Any time you can have a veteran back in that locker room, the leader that he is in the locker room, out on the practice field, would be huge for us, Guys have chatted amongst each other, and I don't think there's anyone in that locker room that would need to hear from him. We all know the kind of person Adrian is, and I feel like he's proven that over his time here." Others to speak and touch on Peterson's return to the Vikings, was Fullback Jerome Felton. Felton stated that, "He's one of the best players in the world, and he's obviously somebody who's meant a lot to this community, meant a lot for the team, He's one of our leaders. He was up here in the off-season. People follow his lead because of how hard he works. So it'd be pretty nice to add that back into the team." As the regular season games are beginning to become fewer in number, the Vikings who are only a few games behind division leaders the Detroit Lions, Peterson would add a great presence in the backfield to compliment his counterpart Matt Aisata, whom is having the season of his career with over 270 yards on the ground, reaching the end zone 6 times this season. In all many fans would love to see Adrian Peterson return to the Vikings organization, but many would also appreciate his suspension to be continued through this season as a punishment for his actions and to also be an example for other players in the league to properly discipline their children.
2014 Heisman Trophy Winner Jameis Winston Another contreversial story has emerged to the sports world about this past years Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston. According to ESPN sources, two years ago a fellow FSU teammate Chris Casher and Winston were spotted on campus using a pellet gun to hunt squirrels. The two were spotted on a campus bike trail with a long barreled hand gun that appeared to be a real handgun, which startled other students going along the path and the campus authorities were notified. Two campus police officers were called onto the scene, the officers drew their weapons and held at gunpoint and yelled at to drop what appeared to be a weapon and hit the ground. The officers kept their gun drawn until, one of the officers handcuffed and sub-dewed both of the players. The gun was confiscated and the two players were taken into custody but further released with no charges filed. To make matters worse, hours after Winston and Casher were confronted by campus police, they were involved in a BB gun fight at the apartment complex the quarterback was living in at the time. The two were later investigated that week for the damage, which cost $4,200, but apartment manager Dave Sudekum later said he did not want to pursue charges against the two FSU athletes. This type behavior by the Heisman Winner Jameis Winston has become so occurrent. Just Earlier this year, Winston was issued a civil citation after the sheriff's deputies said he walked out of a supermarket without paying for $32 worth of crab legs and crawfish. The shocking event was this past year when he was investigated for allegations that he had raped a woman in December 2012. The prosecutor on the case then declined to charge him, citing a lack of evidence and gaps in the accuser's story The Heisman Trophy, an award for college football's elite and best player of the year. The trophy is supposed to represent an individual who displays handwork, excellence and integrity. But it seems like a list of bad boys who get the ultimate spotlight. 1956 Heisman winner, Paul Hornung running back for Green Bay, was fined and suspended from the NFL indefinitely in 1963 for betting on games. According to ESPN Classic, he admitted to gambling, but said he never bet against the Packers. His suspension was lifted before the 1964 season.
1959 Heisman winner, Billy Cannon, was involved in a counterfeiting scheme in the 1980s. According to ESPN's "Outside the Lines," he and a gang of friends turned amateurish crooks manufactured more than $6 million in $100 bills, and Cannon buried some of the fake money in Igloo coolers. Cannon served more than two years in a Texas federal prison. The most controversial, 1968 Heisman Trophy winner, O. J. Simpson, made headlines in 1995 when he was tried for and acquitted in the 1994 murders of wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. In 1997, Simpson was found liable in their deaths by a civil court, and ordered to pay $33.5 million in damages. Half a dozen miscellaneous accusations later, Simpson was convicted in 2008 for an armed robbery in a Las Vegas hotel room and sentenced to 33 years.
1972 Winner Johnny Rodgers, the only convicted felon to win a Heisman. According to LostLettermen.com, Rodgers and several others decided to rob a gas station during Rodgers' freshman season, after which Rodgers pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years probation. 1979 Winner Charles White, admitted in a 1997 interview with Sports Illustrated that he was battling a cocaine addiction while playing for the Cleveland Browns in the early 1980s, and suspended from the Los Angeles Rams in 1988 for violating the NFL's substance-abuse policy. He retired at the end of that season. 1990 Winner Ty Detmer & 2000 Trophy Winner Chris Weinke, were both employed as executives in the athlete services division of Triton Financial, an Austin-based investment firm. The Austin American-Statesman reported in 2009 that the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a securities fraud lawsuit against Triton Financial and its founder and CEO, Kurt Barton, who was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison for a litany of charges in 2011.
Marijuana connoisseur, 1998 Winner Ricky Williams, received numerous punishments for substance abuse during his NFL career. After his fourth violation of the NFL's drug policy, he was suspended for the 2006 season. In July 2013, the Express-News reported that Williams in talks for a coaching position at San Antonio's University of the Incarnate Word. Another, Heisman trouble maker 2005 Heisman winner, Reggie Bush NCAA ruled that Bush had received gifts and USC was given four years probation and forced to vacate its wins from 2005, Bush's Heisman season, among other sanctions. Later that year, Bush forfeited his Heisman title. 2010 Heisman Trophy Winner, Cam Newton, was suspended by Florida after he was arrested for stealing a laptop in 2008, according to the Orlando Sentinel. The charges were in a controversy regarding allegations that his father, Cecil Newton, had sought substantial sums of money in return for his son playing for a major college football team, dropped.
One of the most talked about and scrutinized for his off field manor, 2012 Heisman Trophy Winner Johnny Manziel, Manziel was arrested in June 2012 in the College Station's Northgate bar district on charges of fighting, failure to identify himself and carrying two fake licenses, according to San Antonio Express-News archives. In July 2013, Manziel pled guilty to failing to identify himself to police, receiving a fine of $2,000, two days in jail and $232 in court costs, Brazos County attorney Rod Anderson told the Express-News, adding that Manziel won't spend any time in jail, since he was behind bars after his arrest. The other charges against the quarterback were dropped. Manziel was investigated by the NCAA for whether Manziel accepted payments from autographs that he had signed in January 2013. The NCAA did not find any evidence that Manziel accepted money for the autographs, but reached an agreement with Texas A&M to suspend him for the first half of the season opener against Rice University, due to an "inadvertent violation" of NCAA rules. Although this list of individuals have all displayed the wrong image for a winner of such a prestige award in the Heisman, there are a lot of men in the fraternity that were actual very decent individuals with an great off the field demeanor, outstanding on-field athletic performance and integrity for the game of football. But this list of individuals also goes to say that the fraternity of Heisman Trophy winners does include a large majority of trouble makers. LS
Pro Bowl, San Francisco 49ers TE, Vernon Davis has publicly expressed his disappointment for his current contract, but has given up on holding out until he received one of his liking. Davis, the highest paid TE in the NFL, feels that he is a bit underpaid but when you look at his stats from the last season, one could see where he gets his argument from. According to ESPN Stats, Colin Kaepernick’s QBR this season with Davis on the field is 81.7. Without Davis it’s 13.1. Kaepernick has completed 61.1 percent of his passes while Davis is on the field. His rate dips to 43.1 percent when Davis is off the This imbalance has been consistent throughout Colin Kaepernick’s brief NFL career. Kapernick's career QBR with Davis is 77.7; without him it’s 16.1. His completion percentage Davis has caught 78 percent of Kaepernick’s touchdown passes this season. That is the highest percentage by one player in the NFL by a margin of 21 percent. Davis is 62.4; without him it drops to 47.1. In my opinion Davis had use of a positive effect on the 49ers offense, just as much has Saints Pro Bowl TE Jimmy Graham who just racked up a pretty 4-yr/$40 million dollar contract. Like any other paid profession, when an athlete produces at an elite level they feel they should be compensated, especially if their counterparts receive bigger money for the same job. Although, Davis made the bright decision to end his hold out and attend pre-season camp. Vernon Davis skipped out on the 49ers mandatory mini camp last month, would be facing a hefty fine of $30,000 for each practice missed. He may have lost the battle of acquiring the contract he wanted but he definitely grabbed the alertness of the 49ers organization as one of their most offensive weapons. LS
