Pacman will never learn

Once bitten twice shy?  Not in this case.  Once again, Pacman Jones has caused a scene at a strip club in Atlanta.  Showering the runway with dollar bills and causing another shooting, why can’t he just have the strippers come to his house?  Bring your buddies over and have an entire entourage of strippers and coke heads get naked for you, and if you get into a brawl at least you’ll bust up your own place.

The following article points out why he should be banned from the NFL, in case you haven’t been following the story.  This is one ‘player’ that needs to be removed from the lineup.

Yahoo Sports Article

The ESPYS Pt. 1

So it’s almost that time again. That yearly event which makes sports fans giddy with glee. Ok, maybe not but giddy with glee, but watching the ESPYS is 20 times more fun than watching The Grammy’s or some other lame awards show.

What I like about the ESPYS is that they are awarded based on fan votes. There are 19 Best In Sport categories and 17 individual sport categories and two sponosored awards. They will also be presenting the Arthur Ashe Courage Award and the first ever Jimmy V Award for Perserverance. You can cast your vote for the ESPYS here.

I also thought I would take the opportunity to post my votes and just a brief explanation of why I voted for them. My personal selections will be shown in bold and the explanation behind my choice will be below all of the names of the athletes/teams. So check after the page break for the first set of my choices. I will share more of my choices in my next post.

“Moe” Memories to live forever at Twins Field

When I was growing up and going to Twins games here in Elizabethton, TN, I always saw Moe at the games. He was a regular SuperFan for this farm club. And now, the rest of the story….

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[Photo and Story courtesy Elizabethton Newspapers, Inc]

By Shelby Tolley-McQueen

From Staff Reports

As the boys of summer returned to Elizabethton this week, another one of their biggest fans set off on an adventure of his own. Sixty-one year-old Larry “Moe” Riddle passed away Monday morning.

Throughout the decades, Moe was a constant supporter of the Elizabethton Twins. With his death, as well as the death of Ralph Claymon in 2005, the livelihood at Joe O’Brien Field’s sidelines has dimmed considerably.

The summer of 1990 was my first experience with Moe and Ralph. To know one was to know the other and I grew to love both. Moe knew the language of Elvis Presley. Ralph had a language all his own.

With the tap of his foot and the snap of two fingers, I have always remembered Moe singing Elvis’ tunes with an occasional flair of opera sounds. The fearless duo of Moe and Ralph shaking their fists side-by-side inside the fence lines just outside the home dressing room at Joe O’Brien was a constant sight during the summer months.

For three decades, just as sure as summer arrived in E-Town, Moe and Ralph arrived at the clubhouse. Over the years, many times, news of their antics reached the rookie leagues in Florida and the Twins’ home base in Minnesota.

When the team arrived, Moe and Ralph often were the first fans discussed. Their blood seemed to run true red, blue, white and gray. Twins General Manager Terry Ryan knew who Moe and Ralph were.

Kobe vs. The Lakers

Where to begin? It seems to me these days that 95 percent of the time athletes are on the news it’s because of what they’re doing off the court/field/rink/what have you. Now maybe that’s due to the trashy magazine approach that ESPN and others are taking when it comes to athletes but sometimes the athletes do go out of their way to get noticed.

Take Kobe Bryant for example. Recently he’s become very vocal about wanting to be traded from the Lakers. Over the Memorial Day weekend he was interviewed over the radio stating that he wanted to be trading and then later stating that he wanted to bring another championship to Los Angeles. Add to that his open letter on his website and his crazy rant in a parking lot, you’ve got someone who’s going to be all the talk of sports radio and ESPN.

Is Kobe wrong to want to be traded? Absolutely not. Could he find a better, less crazy way to express that desire? Absolutely. I liken his behavior to a spoiled child throwing a temper tantrum. I of course don’t know all the details as I really don’t follow the NBA too much, but whoever Kobe’s agent is, he’s certainly not doing the best job. Working in college sports one of the things I’ve learned is you don’t want your athlete’s shooting their mouths off because it does nothing but make your university look bad. In Kobe’s case he’s only making himself look bad because he’s distancing himself from his team.

Will Kobe be in L.A. next season? Only time will tell but as for now Phil Jackson seems to think so.

Hoosier Football Coach Hoeppner dies at 59

In a bit of sad news today, Indiana University’s head football coach Terry Hoeppner passed away at the age of 59 due to complications from a brain tumor.

IU’s Athletic Director Rick Greenspan said, “Terry’s fight was courageous and will serve as an inspiration to those who have known him. This is a truly sad day for our community and all of our thoughts and prayers are with the Hoeppner family and to those whose lives he has touched.”

This story is especially tragic because Hoeppner had IU on the rise. In his first season, Hoeppner, a lifelong Hoosier fan, used his love of Hoosier Athletics to help increase the per-game attendance by 39 percent, the overall season ticket sales by 46 percent, and an astounding 110 percent increase in student ticket sales. He established new traditions at the university, calling the stadium “The Rock” because of it’s limestone construction and even had a large limestone remnant from the original construction placed near the north end zone. He added “The Walk”, where the football players march into the stadium surrounded by the marching band and thousands of fans.

In 2006, his second season with the team, Hoeppner led the Hoosiers to three victories in the Big 10, a first since 2001. These wins included a win over No. 13 Iowa, Illinois and Michigan State. The victory over Iowa was the first victory over a Top 15 program since 1987 and the victory over Illinois came on the road, the first since 2001. IU’s win over Michigan State, a dominating 46-21 victory came on Homecoming and they brought the Old Brass Spittoon back to Bloomington for the first time since 2001.

Hoeppner is survived by his wife, Jane, his three children – Drew, Amy (Steve) Fox and Allison (Drew) Balcam – and his four grandchildren – Tucker and Spencer Fox and Tate and Quinn Balcam.