We'll start off with one of the stories that's been headlining not just sports news, but pretty much every news outlet. This past week, cyclist Lance Armstrong had an interview with Oprah Winfrey, and admitted he took PED's to help his cycling career. The news that Lance had doped was about as shocking as Lance Bass or Ricky Martin coming out as gay. It's something most people suspected to be true, but until the word came out of the horse's mouth, couldn't quite 100% be sure.
It's disappointing for sure. Lance Armstrong has done a lot of good with his Live Strong charity. He won 7 Tour de France's and made cycling a sport Americans paid attention to. Because let's face it, cycling isn't exactly a popular American sport. Most of us aren't tuning in to watch a cycling race. We have enough distractions with baseball, football, basketball, hockey, world series of poker...
I will say this. At least he finally admitted it. Lance Armstrong taking PED's doesn't hurt me personally - I don't know him and I don't idolize him. But I also try not to idolize public figures like sports players or entertainers. I respect the talent, but I don't look up to them as people who mold how I should live my life.
In the ongoing PED debate in sports, it seems like in order to be clean in sports you can't take anything. Just recently two Seattle Seahawks players were suspended for a few games due to taking Adderol, which is commonly prescribed for ADD, but is considered a PED because it makes you more alert. So does Red Bull, so are energy drinks out?
Obviously I will say that blood doping, which Lance did should be illegal (not only that but it sounds dangerous) but I don't envy the powers that be struggles with where to draw the line. And if you let everyone be free to take PED's, then athletes will feel pressured to take them in order to compete, and that's dangerous.
I don't these this athletes who take PED's should be rewarded. The only way stuff like this will stop is if the punishment is harsh enough. Although I wonder, for some of these athletes, is the 15 minutes of fame enough for them to later on be stripped of titles and denied entry into hall of fames and so forth? Mark McGwire will probably never get into the baseball hall of fame. But he was VERY relevant during the home run race in the 90's. Were those years enough to make it worth it that any punishment later doesn't matter?
I'm starting to think that more and more, some athletes feel it's worth the risk. If they don't get caught for awhile they're admired, watched, important, winning or beating records, making tons of money. So what if a few years later it comes crumbling down? They still made money. They still had the spotlight at one point. And they'll always be remembered.
The other big story this week is one of the most bizarre stories I've ever heard. Manti T'eo, defensive player for Notre Dame, apparently was involved in a hoax about his girlfriend who died.The stroy of Teo's girlfriend became public in the media because his grandmother and his girlfriend Lennay, both died on the same day. The hearbreaking story brought T'eo to the forefront in the media and some say it may have helped his Heisman Trophy bid.
Lennay never died you see, because well, she never existed. The relationship was mostly online though there are several stories out there saying they met in person in 2009 that T'eo denies and his own father claiming that the two met but the truth is, Te'o never met her and the whole thing was concocted by a man named Roniah Tuiasosopo.
The big question is, did Te'o know, was he in on it? Or was he really duped? It's also lead to a new meme craze called "Te'oing."
I would hope a young man wouldn't make up a girlfriend and kill her off just to try and increase his Heisman Trophy chances - how does that even work? I guess if you're talked about more in the media, people know who you are and therefore start paying more attention to you. If that is the case, it's really sick.
Some say how could someone fall in love online and never meet a person, how could he have been duped? It happens more than people think. I did a research paper in college about online dating (this was in the early days before it became more common) and through my research I found so many stories of people who developed long term relationships through the internet and the phone only. It does happen.
We may never know the full truth. Some think this story will hurt Te'o's NFL draft options. I find this laughable. He will still get drafted first round if he's that good of a football player. The NFL is full of talented football players who aren't exactly pariahs of virtue in real life. Michael Vick went to prison for 2 years for participating in dog fighting and he came back to the NFL. Leonard Little, killed a human being in a drunk driving incident, barely paid any jail time, and still played in the NFL.
If he's a good enough player, he'll make it to the NFL. If he was in on the hoax, it's absolutely horrendous. But is it as bad as killing someone in a DUI? Killing innocent animals for fun?
I guess we'll find out come the NFL Draft this April.
Okay, enough about PED's and hoaxes. Championship Sunday is upon us, and to my surprise, at this moment my Superbowl pick is still in tact. The Harbaugh Bowl could still happen, though most don't think it will.
I did want the Broncos to win last week. I still don't understand why Fox had Peyton take a knee at the end of the 4th quarter to go into OT with :30 seconds left and 2 time outs. At least try to see if you can get into field goal range. Although to be fair, it wasn't Peyton's greatest performance. He doesn't seem to do well in cold weather.
So, after this Sunday we'll know who will make the trip to New Orleans for the Superbowl.
NFC Championship: San Francisco Vs Atlanta
Colin Kaepernick had quite an amazing day last week against Green Bay. I thought the game would be much closer but the Niners - wow. It gives me a little hope as a Rams fan that we beat them and tied them this past season. Anyway, Atlanta is a good team, but I don't know if
they have what it takes to beat this 49'ers team. I've love to see Tony Gonzalez get a chance at the Superbowl since he's likely retiring at the end of the season, but I have serious doubts about the Falcons ability to pull this one off. After seeing the Niners against Green Bay last week, I don't think you can bet against them. Niners will win this game. I'm not saying that just because I picked them to go to the Superbowl, although it would be silly for me to pick against them now.
AFC Championship: New England Vs Baltimore
Almost every single sports pundit I've heard this week thinks Patriots have this game, hands down, no contest. Colin Cowherd, host of ESPN's The Herd, is so enamored with the New England Patriots as a whole sometimes I can't even listen to him (I'm limited to Dan Patrick or The Herd on the radio on my way to work in the morning).
I'm not the biggest fan of the Pats. Superbowl XXXVI and years of being a Peyton Manning/Colts fan are the reasons why. That doesn't mean I don't respect that Coach Belicheat, I mean Belichick, and Tom Brady and so forth aren't talented. But I'm human and it's normal to dislike teams that consistently keep your favorite team out of the playoffs or big games, or beat them in one of them. It's why I understand that any fanbase in the NL Central outside of Cardinals Nation is probably not a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals. They win too much.
The thing here is, I didn't expect Baltimore to do what they did last week in Denver. And what I saw last week was a team that had zero desire of quitting. And there is something to getting hot at the right time.
The Pats have been hot too, but the Ravens have a score to settle. They should have won the championship last year. So if anyone thinks they won't be hungry for this game? You're fooling yourselves.
I going to pick Baltimore here. Because why pick against them now when I picked at the beginning of the season, and I just can't stomach picking the Pats. I think it'll be a hard fought game.
We'll see what happens tomorrow!
I did want the Broncos to win last week. I still don't understand why Fox had Peyton take a knee at the end of the 4th quarter to go into OT with :30 seconds left and 2 time outs. At least try to see if you can get into field goal range. Although to be fair, it wasn't Peyton's greatest performance. He doesn't seem to do well in cold weather.
So, after this Sunday we'll know who will make the trip to New Orleans for the Superbowl.
NFC Championship: San Francisco Vs Atlanta
Colin Kaepernick had quite an amazing day last week against Green Bay. I thought the game would be much closer but the Niners - wow. It gives me a little hope as a Rams fan that we beat them and tied them this past season. Anyway, Atlanta is a good team, but I don't know if
they have what it takes to beat this 49'ers team. I've love to see Tony Gonzalez get a chance at the Superbowl since he's likely retiring at the end of the season, but I have serious doubts about the Falcons ability to pull this one off. After seeing the Niners against Green Bay last week, I don't think you can bet against them. Niners will win this game. I'm not saying that just because I picked them to go to the Superbowl, although it would be silly for me to pick against them now.
AFC Championship: New England Vs Baltimore
Almost every single sports pundit I've heard this week thinks Patriots have this game, hands down, no contest. Colin Cowherd, host of ESPN's The Herd, is so enamored with the New England Patriots as a whole sometimes I can't even listen to him (I'm limited to Dan Patrick or The Herd on the radio on my way to work in the morning).
I'm not the biggest fan of the Pats. Superbowl XXXVI and years of being a Peyton Manning/Colts fan are the reasons why. That doesn't mean I don't respect that Coach Belicheat, I mean Belichick, and Tom Brady and so forth aren't talented. But I'm human and it's normal to dislike teams that consistently keep your favorite team out of the playoffs or big games, or beat them in one of them. It's why I understand that any fanbase in the NL Central outside of Cardinals Nation is probably not a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals. They win too much.
The thing here is, I didn't expect Baltimore to do what they did last week in Denver. And what I saw last week was a team that had zero desire of quitting. And there is something to getting hot at the right time.
The Pats have been hot too, but the Ravens have a score to settle. They should have won the championship last year. So if anyone thinks they won't be hungry for this game? You're fooling yourselves.
I going to pick Baltimore here. Because why pick against them now when I picked at the beginning of the season, and I just can't stomach picking the Pats. I think it'll be a hard fought game.
We'll see what happens tomorrow!
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