Ricky Williams, Holistic Healer?

No, it's not a joke about smoking pot. From the New York Times:

"The latest milepost on what Ricky Williams calls his spiritual journey is an acupuncture and massage college tucked inside a strip mall, above a video store, next to sandwich and liquor shops.

Here, where the study hall is named after the philosopher Lao Tzu and one room contains some 300 Chinese herbs, Williams is a massage therapist in training, a running back who generally hopes to avoid contact on the football field now seeking his license to touch.

To Williams, 32, this represents another step toward a career in holistic healing and away from his self-described reputation as “the poster child for marijuana.” The process has been messy and public and shaped into an all-too-familiar narrative: superstar spits on the American dream, travels the world in search of enlightenment and returns reformed."

I have ZERO problem with a pro athlete looking ahead to his/her post-athletic career. Most of them don't, to their considerably detriment.

But holistic medicine and acupuncture? Grrr....

Ed Thomas Dead at 58

What a complete waste...

"Ed Thomas, a high school football coach who helped launch the careers of four current NFL linemen, was gunned down by a former player Wednesday morning in front of students participating in an offseason workout, authorities in Parkersburg, Iowa said."

The suspect was arrested and taken in for a psych eval the prior weekend.

I knew Ed Thomas from my days working at KLMJ in Hampton. One of my fondest memories in broadcasting was covering the Class 2A Championship game in the UNI Dome in Cedar Falls. Thomas's Aplington-Parkersburg Falsons lost to the Iowa Falls Cadets 20-13, but that in no way changes the man's legacy. I had the pleasure of talking to him on many occasions, and he always struck me as a man who was deeply committed, had great intensity, but maintained perspective in life, too. Jared DeVries, who now plays for the Lions, put it best when I interviewed him on the occasion of A-P retiring his jersey. He said Coach Thomas did a great job of raising not just great players, but great men, too.

What a waste.

Obama beats UConn

Via Slog:

"I'd like to see Reagan do this: The undefeated UCONN Huskies women's basketball team took a trip to the White House and Obama took them on, and kind of kicked their asses a little bit, at a game of pig."

Yeah, but have you ever tried shooting in heels? (Uh, no, I haven't either, FYI...)

Shawn Johnson stalker arrested

This is just sad...

"Court records show a...(restraining) order was issued against Robert O'Ryan, who was arrested by Los Angeles police on Tuesday.

According to documents that accompanied the restraining order application, O'Ryan was stopped by security at CBS Studios, where "Dancing With the Stars" is produced, after he jumped on a fence on Monday afternoon.

Police later searched his car and found two guns and duct tape, according to the documents.

A police spokeswoman said she did not have any more details about the arrest."

You know, I don't believe in corporeal punishment, but I sure understand it. Now you've got a 17-year old who is, in her own words, in fear of her life. Nice going, jackass.

Via Des Moines Register.

Whitest. Dunk. Ever.

Via Sullivan.

Steve Levy of ESPN: Best. Blooper. Ever.

This is so old Keith Olbermann was sitting next to him at the time it happened. Lor', but this is hilarious.

Soccer show-off

I have no idea if this is real, but I'm inclined to think it is. It is Ronaldinho, after all...


---
Update: Upon second thought, it looks like a commercial. Not so real, maybe.

Michael Vicks pit bulls get a happy new year.

Beautiful:

Since being rescued 20 months ago from the dogfighting ring financed by Michael Vick, all but a few of the abused pit bulls have been recovering in sanctuary, foster care and adoptive homes. Now even the most traumatized of them can have a happy new year.

Via ERV.

ISU football coach slinks off to Auburn.

Coaching. Fail.

ISU A.D. Jamie Pollard captured the zeitgeist quite effectively:

"I understand that it (Auburn) is a dream job for him, but the timing and the way it played out has been hurtful and disappointing. Although this is a significant set back, we will get through the challenge because the Iowa State University athletics program is far greater than one person."

Or, as Gregg Easterbrook is fond of saying, when you hire a coach who's in it for himself, you end up getting a coach who's in it for himself. Good riddance.

And how desperate is Auburn to go after a guy who won two games this season? Aren't big-time sports factories like that supposed to hire coaching talent? Who was in charge of their search committee, Nick Saban?

I think I'm going to a hockey game...

USC Halloween prank

Featuring Will Ferrell, no less.

Olbermann: ISU Oops

Hey, we're famous!



Whaddya wanna bet they tone down the smoke so they don't have another similar Spinal Tap moment?

Quote of the day--baseball edition

OK, so Oakland A's designated hitter Jack Cust, as of this writing, is hitting .228 with 29 home runs and 70 RBI. Not bad--for a double-A player. He also just set the American League record with 187 strikeouts in a season. He doesn't play defense to have any impact on the game in that half of the inning. What does his manager, Bob Geren, have to say about him?

"I feel good every time he's up there."

Did this guy ever work for AIG?

US Gymnastics Analysis

An excellent commentary by ESPN's Alyssa Roenigk. Money quote:

"(L)et's not forget the Chinese women, who were dominant on three of the four rotations and suffered only one major mistake, a fall on beam. This result was not the fault of one U.S. athlete. It was the result of 12 routines."

Olympic Swimmer: Under Suspicion

No, not Michael Phelps, and no, not under official suspicion. Just that of professional cynic Jason Whitlock:

(A) few years ago, Dara Torres would’ve received the same free pass Roger Clemens enjoyed until he misremembered in front of Congress. Torres and her trainer would’ve been profiled in an upcoming edition of Sports Illustrated and presented as a shining example of all-American, mother-next-door resilience.

Instead, Torres’ thrilling victory in the 100-meter freestyle and qualification for a fifth Olympic team on the Fourth of July have been hit with a series of suspicious questions and stories....That’s the sports world we live in now — middle-aged women are not immune. There’s no solution for the cynicism. Torres can pass every drug test. We still won’t believe.

"It's a bad night to be an atheist!"

If you're not aware of the origin of that quote, it's from ESPN's Rick Reilly, gushing over the 28-home-run performance of Josh Hamilton in the Home Run Derby last night. (And it's a borrowed quote, too: Dan Jenkins of Golf Digest used it to describe Ben Crenshaw's inspiring 1995 Masters win a week after the death of his beloved teacher, Harvey Pennick).

Of course, Hamilton lost in the finals to Justin Morneau, but nobody on the field really cared, because the story was all about the movie-star handsome Hamilton, who has turned his life around from heroin addiction and made it back to the majors. Hamilton credits dedicating his life to Jesus for the comeback.

I'm sure Hamilton's a nice guy, and--let's be honest--whatever keeps him off the smack, I'm not going to criticize it (if I was a smack-head, and Druidism would keep me clean, I'd be getting Celtic knot tattoos, myself). Nor am I going to, as others have, dog the guy for losing in the finals or make any cracks about Jesus staying in the dugout: truth be told, after hitting 28 home runs, I'm surprised he could lift the bat. Pro hitters aren't used to that much exertion like that in a short time span: they're sprinters, not distance athletes.

But I'm disappointed in Reilly. Come on, Rick, you're better than this.

You're the same Rick Reilly who slammed NFL players back in 1991 for showboating prayer displays at midfield at the end of the games. You castigated Isaac Bruce of the St. Louis Rams a few years back for his holier-than-thou attitude. Remember?

Long story short: Bruce had been in a car accident before his lone Super Bowl win, had called out to Jesus, and had emerged unscathed. Linebacker Derrick Thomas of the Kansas City Chiefs had been in a similar accident, and had been paralyzed for life (which turned out to be short, as Thomas passed away several months later).

Bruce openly implied that had Thomas called out to Jesus, he would have been spared injury as well; and, when prompted by Reilly, had stated that if golfer Payne Stewart had called out to Jesus in the airplane over Iowa in '99, he'd still be amazing us with that perfect swing. Reilly pointed out that the one girl from Columbine High School had refused to renounce her faith in the face of death, and had been shot by one of the two killer kids, anyway. Bruce parried by saying Reilly didn't know that for sure, Reilly countered that there were witnesses, Bruce pointed out that Reilly hadn't been there to see it happen personally. Reilly left the sanctimony unspoken, encouraging readers to "pray" for Bruce (and, in a different vein, Thomas, who was still alive at the time).

Riles, you're a terrific writer on serious, inspirational issues (the corny metaphors aside). You've broken my heart more than once over the years. But you swung and missed on this one. Not because you made a smart remark about atheists, but because you've come down on taunters of all kinds over the years, religious and otherwise, and made much of the people who actually show their faith or humanity through deeds rather than words. I respect that. Please stick to that in the future.

Tony Gonzalez saves man from choking to death

Guy does the Heimlich Maneuver for a guy in a restaurant. How cool is that?

Oh, and he can play a bit of football, too, as I understand it.

Jason Whitlock rules

The most unflinching commentator in sports. Here's a little gem on the latest NBA officiating crap:

(David) Stern is worried about the media. Why?

ESPN, the worldwide leader, has no real interest in exhaustively examining Donaghy’s allegations. Not when there is a Barry Bonds or O.J. Mayo or Miguel Tejada to embarrass and expose.

Why hold a league’s billion-dollar feet to the fire and jeopardize a lucrative relationship when you can cherry-pick cheating and lying athletes to blame for sports’ ills?

So the NBA has crappy officiating? So what else is new?