The One-Way Bus to Canton

 By Casey Reese

Richard Dent. Marshall Faulk. Deion Sanders. Ed Sabol. Shannon Sharpe. Chris Hanburger. Les Richter. What do all of these names have in common? That would be the 2011 NFL Hall of Fame class, led by arguably the best cornerback of the last 30 years, a tight end who revolutionized his position, and a member of the “Greatest Show on Turf.”

A familiar face was also eligible for election to the hall of fame in 2011. A legend in his own time we merely know as “The Bus.” I am referring to, of course, Jerome Bettis, number thirty-six, perhaps the most popular Pittsburgh Steeler in modern memory. The Bus, who currently resides at 5th all time in career rushing yards, seems to have lost the hype surrounding his candidacy for the hall that was so very high when the Steelers embarked upon a quest to Super Bowl XL in his own hometown of Detroit.

We best remember Jerome as the bruising back who would knock defenders to the ground upon impact, who would score the much needed touchdown from the goal line. We do not, however, tend to think of his career in perspective. Jerome is also 10th all time in rushing touchdowns, 4th in attempts and touches, and 18th in total yards from scrimmage. Not bad, especially when you consider the longevity of his career and the number of years he battled to establish those numbers. Keep in mind most running backs are not capable of producing much late in their careers (typically once the back turns 30). Bettis produced until age 33.

Is he worthy of enshrinement in the hall of fame simply based on statistics? Yes, but his case is also helped by the figurative rock Bettis was for the duration of his time in Pittsburgh. With tumultuous quarterback play in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, Bettis was still productive, whether it Kordell Stewart or Ben Roethlisberger handing the ball off to him. During the Super Bowl XL campaign, Bettis proved his value even further by continuing to produce 9 touchdowns in the last season of his career.

With his victory in the aforementioned Super Bowl, he also has something other running backs eligible for the hall do not have, such as Curtis Martin or Tiki Barber, and that is a Super Bowl ring. The 6 Pro Bowl selections, in addition to the 3 first or second team All Pro selections, also are a testament to his respect among his peers and journalists of the time, and the fact that he was effective for an extended period of time.

             So, despite his snub in 2011, I believe Jerome Bettis not only warrants a spot in the hall of fame, he deserves it for all of his accomplishments. After all, how man professional athletes have provided as much pleasure and excitement to the games you watch every week? The answer is clear and evident, and “The Bus” is going to drive right to Canton, Ohio where he belongs. 

 References:
http://www.pro-football-reference.com/
http://www.profootballhof.com/default.aspx
Read Also:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/598652-nfl-hall-of-fame-voting-10-reasons-jerome-bettis-is-a-lock-for-class-of-2012#page/1

March Madness 2011, By: Cassie Gilkey

Some people are dedicated to watching football, or hockey, maybe even golf, but for myself I love to watch basketball. I say I love to watch basketball, and even though the NBA is professional basketball I would much rather watch college basketball, where the players play to win and not just for money. Being that I love college basketball, I also love the month of March because of March Madness. March Madness is the division one men’s and women’s NCAA basketball championship tournaments. March Madness begins in the first week of March and does not end until the first week in April. These tournaments will ultimately determine the national champions of college basketball. NCAA March Madness began in 1939 with a total of only 8 team, but today the tournament has grown to 65 teams all striving to win the title of national champions.

Today 31 of the 65 teams earn automatic bids into the tournament; the remaining teams receive at large bids, except for the bid that is received by the champions of the Ivy League. The teams will be seeded numbers 1-16 with the number 1 seed playing the number 16 seed, the number 2 seed playing the number 15 seed, and so on. Since there are 65 teams, the Tuesday before the tournament begins, the 64^th and 65^th seed play in a play in game to take the total down to 64 teams. The tournament begins the Thursday after the play in games is played. The first round games will be held on Thursday and Friday, with the second round games being held on Saturday and Sunday. This will narrow the field down to what is known as the Sweet Sixteen. The following Thursday and Friday the field will be cut down to what is known as the Elite Eight, and then narrowed to the Final Four on that weekend. The weekend after the Final Four is decided the games get underway and the Championship game is played on Monday. The NCAA tournament is single elimination; after a team loses they will not have another game in the tournament or be reseeded. Since 1985 when the tournament expanded to 64 teams, a number 1 seed has never lost in the opening round to the number 16 seed. The 65^th team was not added to the tournament until 2001, making the need for a so called “play in game”.  

Ohio State, Duke, Pitt, and Kansas all received number 1 seeds going into the tournament this year, which starts today. Along with these teams, many others are also in the tournament hoping to upset one of the top teams and become National Champions. So who will win the tournament? This question is something that will not be answered until April, but I would love to hear others predictions.

Pittsburgh's Other Team: The Pirates

By: Melissa Cunningham

In sports rivalries are formed and forged through many factors. One factor is geography, such as college football rivals like Ohio State and Michigan or Florida and Florida State. These rivalries prospered because of how close these schools are and that every year these teams play and local bragging rights are at stake. Another factor is star power; a lot of sports rivalries are products of the teams’ major stars being marketed. An example of that can be found in my last blog, the Penguins and Capitals rivalry is fueled by the two mega stars of hockey: Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. Another example of this type of rivalry happened in the 1980’s when the Lakers and Celtics were bitter rivals; their feud was spurred on by those teams’ mega stars Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.

Another factor in forming rivalries is history and tradition. The Yankees and Red Sox have a long rivalry that started because the Red Sox traded star player Babe Ruth to the Yankees which led to numerous championships for the Yankees and a long title drought for the Red Sox. This feud has lasted almost a century because of the rich tradition of these two teams and the legacy of players who played and participated in the rivalry.

But looking at all these factors, there is one reason that may shine above the others: Greatness. All the great rivalries in sports are centered on teams that fight over championships and playoff spots. So where does this leave the teams that are not winners? Outlining all the factors that I have laid out I will show why one Pittsburgh team is not engaged in a rivalry currently. The Pittsburgh Pirates were not always like this, they used to be a team that was great, that contended for titles, and that had rivals. But today is a different story.

The first factor is geography. The closest two teams distance wise to the Pirates are the Philadelphia Phillies and Cleveland Indians. The Indians play in the American League and the Pirates play in the National league, meaning these two teams do not play regularly and never really had enough in common to forge a rivalry. The Phillies and Pirates were once bitter rivals, when they were in the same division and when they were fighting for a playoff spot. Back in the 1970’s both teams desperately fought for the right to represent the National League East in the playoffs. But when the Pirates stopped contending for titles and when the league redevised their divisions, this rivalry fell to the wayside. The Pirates were in the National League Central and the Phillies were in the National League East. This meant these teams would only play just 6 games against each other a year. But more importantly it meant there was little to no playoff implications when these two teams played.

The second factor was star power. This did not use to be a problem for the Pirates. In the early seventies the Pirates had one of the true stars of baseball in Roberto Clemente. This transitioned to the late seventies when the Pirates had Willie Stargell and Dave Parker. Even the early nineties saw the Pirates have stars such as Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla, and Doug Drabek. But the economics of baseball and losing game after game wreaked havoc on the Pirates. The Pirates lost their three stars of the nineties to free agency. Pittsburgh being a small market town could not afford to pay these stars the same wages they could make by testing the waters of free agency. When Bobby Bonilla left Pittsburgh he went to the New York Mets where he became the highest paid player in the National League. Pittsburgh could not lure star free agents into the city with the incentive of money. The only other way to entice free agents is a shot at a world championship. Unfortunately the Pirates now hold the pro sports record for most consecutive losing seasons. Meaning they have no star power in Pittsburgh.

The third reason was history and tradition. The current Pirates have no historical significance to spark them. Back in the early nineties the Pirates fought the Atlanta Braves consistently for the right to go to the World Series. The Braves’ fans would bring foam tomahawks and the Pirate fans would bring foam pirate hooks. This rivalry was forming and when former Pirate Sid Bream slid home to beat the Pirates and send the Braves to the World Series; it looked like the seeds were planted to start a rivalry rich with history and tradition. Unfortunately that was the last winning season the Pirates had and when you no longer stay in the playoff picture, you are no longer relevant.

As I said, the major reason for rivalries is greatness. The Pirates have not been great for a long time and because of that the new generations of fans have not seen them have a winning season. Baseball’s economics and a long series of bad management have made the Pirates into a place no team should ever be: a laughing stock. The Pirates are just now trying to get back to winning baseball. They are trying to establish new stars like Andrew McCutchen and Neil Walker, while investing money into their draft picks to make stars of the future.  Only time will tell if the Pirates can become great and maybe establish a rivalry of their own and give their loyal fans a true reason to cheer and more importantly a true reason to care.

Picture

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Clemente

College: Is It Still O.K.?

By: Eric Cogovan

For many athletes the ultimate dream is to play sports in college. They spend their entire childhood and teenage years striving to do the best in hopes to have the opportunity to continue playing into their college years. Many athletes who go on to try and play college sports have had great success in their high school years of playing sports. Many of these students don't realize how hard it can be to continue on and be successful at sports at the college level. There are thousands of high school athletes with the dream of becoming a college level player which creates higher stakes for them to accomplish in order to play when they enter college.

The opportunity to play college sports can come down to a small difference such as one students being only seconds faster then the other it becomes increasingly stressful to be the best. A number of athletes may feel such pressure that they resort to unhealthy measures to become the best. College athletes may feel that the only way to become better is to use illegal steroids to increase there ability and look better then the rest of their competition. Also it can be contagious, if one athlete is using steroid other team members may feel the only way they can compete with them is by using steroids themselves. This is a vicious and unhealthy pattern which can have a horrible outcome.

Not only is steroid use unsafe and illegal it can lead to many other hazardous health issues. The continued use of steroids can lead to many abnormal muscle growth, aggressive behaviors, and even cause the user to become addicted, which can ultimately end in the death of the person who is using these steroids. Often college athletes are not just using one type of steroid, they have a specific pattern of how they use them. Usually in a cycle pattern where they use a number of steroids for a short period of time followed by a period where they do not use them at all. This cycle continues and often they combine different steroids which is called “stacking”.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association has estimated that about 1 % of college athletes abuse steroids at a rate three times that of non-athlete students. This number may seem small but any steroid use among athletes is illegal and inappropriate. Not only is steroid use illegal and dangerous it is unfair to those athletes who choose not to use them. College athletes do not use these steroids to receive a high off of them they use them to increase there performance. This becomes an unfair advantage for these athletes and does not allow for actual sthletic ability to be recognized. Also the use of steroids is dangerous and have many horrible consequences. Steroids are like any other drug and can become very addictive and can cause death in extreme cases. There are number of health risks which in the end can cause a lot of damage to a persons body. The main goal of steroid use in college is to enhance the persons physical ability so they can become the best athlete but in the end it can harm the body and completely ruin a persons health for the rest of their lives.

Sources:

http://www.helium.com/items/1299831-drugs-and-sports-steroids-use-among-college-athletes

http://www.higheredcenter.org/high-risk/drugs/steroids

Difficult Labor Talks Continue

By Casey Reese

            Almost four days have passed since the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) was set to expire in the National Football League. Yet, the players and employees of the league have not been locked out. How is this so?

            Well, for starters, the league voted to extend the duration of the CBA one additional day on Thursday, March 3, 2011. After no resolution was made following this brief extension, an additional five days were granted in order to hammer out additional details of the upcoming CBA. Federal mediator George Cohen has been said to be the driving force behind this extension, and is credited for extending talks to avoid a lockout. Cohen, who has previous mediation expertise as recently as preventing a similar situation from emerging with Major League Soccer last year, stated, "I am here, my colleague and I are here, to facilitate, to assist and help people reach agreement whereby they will control their own destiny.”

            The additional time has been welcomed, as the two sides are said to be inching ever closer to the middle as the details are hammered out. The main conflict between the two parties is in regards to a $1 billion redistribution of returns, from players to the teams, that the teams claim is necessary to close off debt and losses collected from simply existing. Additionally, the proposed rookie wage scale has been under scrutiny. With this system in place, each slot in the draft would have a set value, as opposed to each team offering a contract in which they are free to offer as much as they want. This idea is in response to the ballooning value of the number overall pick, who now receives contracts of upwards of $60 million, with a heavy amount of this salary in guaranteed money that the player will receive even if he is cut. The last conflict is in regards to the proposed eighteen game regular season, which, as Commissioner Roger Goodell says, is to provide football at a higher quality than the preseason. The NFLPA (National Football League Player’s Association) has demanded lighter off season workout regimens, mini camps, and training camps in order to preserve the human capital by preventing injuries potentially occurring in the longer season, demands unlikely to be ignored if a lockout is genuinely wished to be avoided.

            Will the conflict finally be resolved, and a new CBA agreed upon? Only time will tell, but the fact that a lockout has been prevented continuously for the past week bodes well for fans of the National Football League. With an additional five days to discuss the conflicts of the new CBA, one could only assume that greater ground will be bridged, and if a resolution is not reached, major leeway will lead the talks to continue even after this Friday. Stay tuned, however, for this situation will be in the news even more than it has in the past couple weeks as the two involved parties inch ever closer to an agreement, and the event comes to a close. 

Sources:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-nfllabor

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/2011-03-06-labor-preview_N.htm

NBA All-Star Game...The West Takes another one as Kobe Bryant Dominates!!!

By Christopher Harris

On Sunday February 20, 2011 one of the most exciting exhibition games took place in Los Angeles, California for the fifth time, the National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star Game. This game marked the 60^th year anniversary for the event. The crowd of 17,163 had no idea of what to expect from this year’s game, but Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Kevin Durant, and the remaining West and East All-Star teams gave them their monies worth. A few entertainers attended the historic game as well, which include Jack Nicholson, Stevie Wonder, Beyonce, and Justin Bieber just to name few.

The West All-Star starters included Kobe Bryant, who received the top number of overall All-Star votes, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, and Yao Ming. However, Yao Ming was replaced later by San Antonio Spurs center, Tim Duncan. The West All-Star reserves included Manu Ginobili, Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki, Deron Willams, and three first time selections; Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, and exceptional rookie Blake Griffin. The head coach is San Antonio Spurs head coach, Greg Popovich. The East All Star Starters were lead by Dwight Howard, who received the most All-Star votes from their conference, Derrick Rose, Amar’e Stoudemire, Dwyane Wade, and the spectacular Lebron James. To round it out on the East, the reserves included Ray Allen, Chris Bosh, Kevin Garnett, Al Horford, Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce, and Joe Johnson. The head coach is the Boston Celtics head coach, Doc Rivers.

The game began slowly but Kobe Bryant did not. He came out aggressive in the first and second quarters of the game. Early Bryant made a statement that he had come to play, when he drove right past East All-Star Derrick Rose and finished with a highlight dunk. By halftime Bryant had the high of all players, 21 points, half of the All-Star single game record held by Wilt Chamberlain. Bryant lead the West and opened a 10 point lead after the first quarter and by halftime maintained that lead and even extended it to a 12 point lead. The score at the half was West All-Stars 76, East All-Stars 64.

In the third quarter the West began to pull away and widen their halftime lead over the East. In that third period Kobe Bryant made two fantastic plays back to back. After leaking out on a fast break one on one with Lebron James and slamming it home for his third highlight dunk of the night, Kobe then nailed a 3 point basket to slow down the East’s push to get back into the game. Following those two huge plays from, Bryant the West took an eleven point lead and stretched it from eleven to seventeen by the end of the third quarter.

By the fourth quarter everyone’s competitive juices began to flow and take over the game.  The East All-Stars, lead by Lebron James, became more focused and turned what looked to be an easy win for the West into a competitive showing. The East All-Starts battled back and cut a seventeen point lead to only two points with two minutes and thirty-four left in the game. Although the East made a hard push towards the end of the game, the West with hard work and determination finished strong and won the game with a final score of 143-148.

This was Kobe Bryant’s thirteenth straight selection to the NBA All-Star game. He ended the game with 37 points, 14 rebounds and three steals to close out an impressive performance. Bryant also earned his fourth NBA All-Star Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award. That ties him with NBA Hall of Famer, Bob Pettit for the most All-Star MVP awards in NBA history.

Sources:

http://www.nba.com/games/20110220/ESTWST/gameinfo.html?ls=gt2hp0031000001

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_NBA_All-Star_Game#Game

The Season Comes to an End....

            Westmorland County Community College's women's basketball team, the Lady Wolf pack, ended their season this weekend in Anne Arundel, Maryland. They ended their season with a record of 15-11 losing their final game to Rockville in the regional playoffs. Returning to the team next year will be seven sophomores, while the two sophomores that played there final game Friday night with The Lady Wolf pack will be greatly missed. So at the end of the day Friday, sitting in our hotel rooms, reality set in that the 2010 - 2011 basketball season had come to an end. Winning our game Friday against Rockville would have given us the chance to win a regional championship, and if we did win regional’s a chance to go to nationals. There are steps that need to be taken for our team to grow as individuals, and as a team. So as one must always remember, there is always next year, and that is the thought I have going into the 2011 - 2012 basketball season.

            So we arrived in Anne Arundel, Maryland around 2 p.m. on Friday, leaving Westmorland at 10 a.m. We had a small amount of time to go to our rooms and relax before heading back down to the bus to head to Anne Arundel Community College to play our game against Rockville. We had been given the 5^th seed in the tournament and they had been the 4^th seed. Questions had been asked of our team, are they tough enough, physical enough to hang with teams from Maryland? Is there any way that Westmorland can even have a chance in winning this game? In our own minds we did have the skill, the ability to beat Rockville, and win the regional tournament, we just fell short. The game started off slow with the score being very low, due mostly to our defense playing at the level expected, and offensively our team did not finish as anticipated. Our point guard picked up two quick fouls, and had to be taken out of the game so she did not pick up any more. This changed the pace of the game, but it is basketball these things happen. Then I needed a break, sitting from the bench the score seemed to go up by 10 then by 20, and before I knew it we were losing the game by almost 20 points. I thought to myself how are we going to come back now and win this, everyone seemed to have given up. Before going into half time our team had gotten it to a 10 point game with Rockville on top. The 2^nd half started pretty much the same way the 1^st half did, very slow with neither team scoring until about four minutes into the game when one of our sophomore forwards hit a free throw. It seemed at this point things got started we got it to a four point game, but our layups just wouldn’t seem to fall. The remaining time of the 2^nd half we seemed to go point for point with Rockville never again taking the lead. We lost by 10, and this was the end of our journey, just left with the thoughts of what we could have, should have done, but did not do. This game marked the end of our 2010 – 2011 basketball season.     

            Our journey to get to regional’s was a long one, we had many ups and downs throughout the season, and at some points the question was raised on if we would even get to go to regional’s at all. Attitudes and personalities clashed the entire season, and ultimately made it very hard to play together on the court as a team. This is something I think needs to be worked on for next season, so that our team can be successful. Practicing everyday for up to two hours when we did not have games, and when we did have games spending five hours on the bus to get there and back, the dedication was there we just did not put our talents to good use at the end of the day. So now the question I ask myself is, what needs to be changed to make next season successful? In what ways can I improve as an individual to make the season smoother, to help our team become a team and play as a team? These are thoughts ill have on my mind until next September when I step onto the court with my new team, and set the goal for ourselves to win a national championship.