Tuesday, July 22, 2008

The Big Orange Bloggin Chuck's One Stop Shop Returns

Hello my friends and welcome to my "One Stop Shop" for all your sports news needs in a quick burst. Sometimes, I look at my brief notes I post and wonder if maybe I should do this more often but with a lot going on this week, I figured now is a good time to break it out. So hang on and I am sure there is a chance you will see something in here that you will be interested in.
  • Congratulations to Sidney Crosby for winning the ESPY for best NHL player of the year. This is a fan vote for ESPN and as much as I love Sidney, with his injuries this year, still not sure if this was his award or not though I do think he is the best player in the league, though maybe I am slightly biased as a Pens fan. They lost some key players this off season but looking forward to see what this team does next season to follow up on the Stanley Cup finals run.
  • Speaking of hockey, the Charlotte Checkers have been working with Habitat For Humanity this summer and on July 23rd at 8am, they will have a ceremony along with Sutter Home as it has finally been completed. I commend this team and everyone who worked on this project and think it's great to hear positive news for once about what these teams do with their communities. Many times we, myself included, spend a lot of time focusing on signings and statistics but it's so good to hear stories like this and when I find them, will have no issues posting them right here on this blog.
  • My buddy over at Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician has a piece on his page that upset me as a parent of a college student. He breaks down the situation at the University of Iowa where a student athlete complained to the university that she has been sexually assaulted by two other student athletes and they assured her they would handle this issue on campus for her though apparently they did little to nothing and never contacted the real authorities to help aid the investigation. If you get the chance, go to his blog listed on the left of the page and read more about it. It took them a month to suspend the players after one of them was only a few doors down from the victim while she was forced to deal with constant harassment. This is what scares a parent most when they send a child off to school and the way Iowa handled it, scares you even more. I hope everyone involved is forced to resign right away because nothing less then that is acceptable with how they handled the situation. Police departments have trained professionals to handle situations like this and whether these guys are innocent or not, they would have provided more resources to find the truth but I guess the athletic department public relations is more important then a possible abused victim.
  • While discussing blogs and in lighter news, Axe has started his annual "2-Point Conversation" for his blog on http://www.syracuse.com/ that discusses two issues a day until training camp starts for the Syracuse Orange football team. you can email him at baxeman@yahoo.com if you have a question you would like answered about this season's football team. I personally am scared/anxious about this season since due to injuries and academics, we are a little short on talent this year. I really would love to see this team turn it around and have pride when I put my #44 jersey on but I need something to show me they are worth relying on again. After the last few seasons, I would be almost content with the team finishing around .500.
  • Wow, the lead ins just keep coming since I wanted to discuss the Kannapolis Intimidators who currently are playing .500 ball with a 15-15 record. The finally won last night 7-2 after a 7 game losing streak. They also lost infielder Dale Mollenhauer who was promoted to Winston-Salem on the 18th. They are still only 4.5 games out of first place.
  • Sticking with baseball and first place teams, how about the series staring tonight as the Philadelphia Phillies travel to Shea Stadium to play the Amazin Mets with the game starting at 7:10pm EST. Both teams are tied at at 53-46 in first place with Florida only one game back. Tonight will feature Johan Santana with his 8-7 record on the mound for the Mets facing the newly acquired Joe Blanton for the Phillies in his first appearance since being traded from Oakland. Mets have to win this series to avoid a possible fall to third place with the Marlins and Dan Uggla just waiting to see if they can benefit from these guys beating up on each other. Santana will have to prove his big salary tonight in this important game and the high paid talent behind him like Wright, Reyes, Beltran and Delgado need to step it up as well and prove who is the team to beat in the NL East. Who will prove to be more accurate, Beltran or Rollins? There is also numerous speculation that the Mets are looking at upgrading their outfield with names like Matt Holliday and Xavier Nady being discussed. The only problem, many say that the Santana trade took our top prospects and it would take at least a few of them to get a deal for either of those two,who are my top choices. Do you mortgage your last one or two top prospects on a known talent like Nady and Holliday to help make the playoffs or hope Church and Tatis can provide enough strength for the long haul? Problem is, it may cost you one of those two guys and a prospect or two for Colorado or Pittsburgh to even consider a deal and even then, who knows. I do hope they figure out something because this team may have fought their way to the top but with other teams around them trading for players to improve, the Mets better think and think hard about what they are willing to risk to remain in the pennant race.
  • In some Charlotte Bobcats news since I do live in this city, Emeka Okafur has apparently decided to stop negotiating and is ready to move on, according to Rick Bonnell in his latest "Inside The NBA" blog on http://www.charlotte.com/ . Rick discusses possible sign and trade deals with teams like Dallas, Golden State, Cleveland and my two top options if I were in the Bobcat front office Miami and Chicago. The hopes are that a trade with Miami could land the Bobcats Shawn Marion or a deal with Chicago could get them Luol Deng and another. I personally think Emeka has a lot of talent but if he is wanting to leave, I would be on the phone before lunch with Miami and Chicago to see what they want and wish him the best of luck in the future. He was the face of the franchise as their first draft pick but breaking the bank for him to me is not worth it and maybe Larry Brown would enjoy some new faces to the Bobcats team as he gets ready to assemble his new team. This is coming from someone who owns an Okafur jersey but hey, I also owned a Shaq Orlando Magic jersey at one time too and I got over that too. Then again, like I have said previously, over the past couple years I have lost interest in the NBA anyway so to me its just an orange jersey.
  • How about some wrestling news for you wrestling fans, well more like my opinion? I have to admit, lately Raw has been a better show to watch then it was the previous year or so. The wrestling is good and the characters are entertaining. Its not perfect but can make for some fun TV whether you like serious angles (like HBK/Y2J) or the humorous side(with Santino and Noble being hilarious). I still prefer TNA Impact though as my favorite show but have to admit tha Raw is better as of late. I think the top talents in wrestling in my opinion are in TNA with Kurt Angle(when he is healthy) and AJ Styles though sometimes I wish they would do things differently character wise with some in TNA. I noticed http://www.tnawrestling.com/ has stated that they released Kaz this week as well,which some are speculating could be story line driven but time will tell(and if it is, that's one I would like to see). Heyman was the master of worked shoots and I think anyone who watched ECW back in the day knows that when done right, they can build a lot of interest in a guy. Also, if you go to TNA's website, check out the "Spin Cycle" which I think is a great addition to the website and let's you get to know the wrestlers better as well. Though maybe its me but some of them show more character there then on Impact.
  • In MMA news,this Saturday July 26th on CBS is the second installment of EliteXC. I have heard a lot of people busting EliteXC's chops for what they called a bad showing last time around, though I liked it and after the past UFC card has just as much controversy with an eye poke decision, maybe some see its not just EliteXC though some will never see anything but UFC. This week's EliteXC show though will be headlined by the rematch of Robbie Lawler and Scott Smith with the under card featuring Antonio Silva as he faces Justin Eilers and a female match up of Shayna Baszler fighting Cristiane Cyborg. My guess would be that Gina and Kimbo will possibly make an appearance as well so that the fans can see faces they recognize and possibly to discuss their futures with EliteXC. I am looking forward to the show myself and just glad to see MMA getting the attention it deserves on network TV and not at 2am either.
  • By the way, as my last note, is anyone else ready for the fall TV lineup to return like me? The summer line ups they have make me more of a sports fan everyday and I am anxious to see where shows like Hereos and Chuck go since they have not returned to TV since they ran out of scripts due to the writer's strike. Some of this reality crap sucks although the wife and me both do enjoy watching that show Wipeout, which along with Black Gold and Ice Road Truckers are the only thing non-sports related to watch. Though Psych has returned and In Plain Sight are entertaining, none of them have the anticipation that I had when Chuck and Heroes were on regularly. Fall is almost here and thank you God, football and better TV, I love the fall.

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