attitude

The Carolina Panthers are having a terrible year on the field - but one of our best "off the field" years that I can remember.

Ours is the franchise that released one of it's wide receivers after he was arrested for murdering the woman carrying his child. About a year later, one of our ex-running backs was killed when his estranged wife blasted him in the chest with a a shot gun. No charges were filed against her because he was violating a restraining order. Later, we released one of our offensive linemen when he skipped a court date for domestic violence charges.

A special teams player of ours was released after several DUI's, including an arrest where he had pills rolling around on the floor of his car. Steve Smith once jumped a fellow player in a team meeting and broke his eye socket. Almost the entire offensive line from our superbowl has been linked with a doctor in south carolina who apparently proscribed testosterone cream - a banned substance in the NFL. Our old punter was also implicated, and after he got a dui we sent him to Denver, where he has subsequently been replaced because the team doesn't like his off the field problems.

But this year, this year we have (so far - knock on wood) not had off the field problems. This article in the Post lists arrests of NFL Players this year - is it a coincidence that 3 of the better defensive teams in the league (Bears, Chargers, Bengals) all have a lot of players who have had run-ins with the law? Maybe it takes a certain attitude to play football at a consistently high level, and that attitude also gets you into trouble. Take away the outlaws, and you take away the edge that makes the difference between good teams and the best teams.

If that is the trade that we have to make, I'm fine with it.

list available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/nfl/longterm/2006/nfl_chart_12162006.html

article available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/15/AR2006121502134.html

this just warms the heart

I don't even know where to begin with this one. . .

Gatlin, banned from track, works out for Texans

The Houston Texans worked out the world's fastest man, Justin Gatlin, on Tuesday, but that doesn't mean he's making a fast entrance into the NFL.

The Texans didn't make a big deal out of the Tuesday visit. They looked at Gatlin like they did two other receivers: Kevin McMahan of Maine and Jovan Witherspoon of Central Michigan. NFL teams usually bring in players for Tuesday workouts while the 53 players on the regular roster take a day off.

In April, he tested positive for the banned substance testosterone and accepted an eight-year ban from track and field.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2679967

I'm actually a little conflicted here - the guy is only 24, obviously made a huge mistake, and should be given a second chance. You can't just tell him to never be an athlete again; that is what he does. But he put his entire career on the line by cheating in track - an 8 year ban is essentially forever. That is some risky behavior, especially when he could just take the undetectable stuff that Balco sells.


The Olympics have been in a downward spiral ever since Katerina Witt hung up her skates, but I'm pissed that we can't even keep the one good memory that came out of Greece.

What if Keri Strug had turned out to be on the juice?

Or what if that Dominique girl in the foreground of this picture ended up freaking out and rebelling from her parents who were whoring her out for endorsement money and getting legally emancipated at the age of 15?

What? Oh yeah, that did happen didn't it? I got it confused with an old Law & Order re-run.

on the iPod:
Phish, Billy Breathes