RG III: Holding The Entire Team Accountable

By Savannah Malnar

In the majority of NFL franchises, the quarterback can be identified as the primary leader of the team. Robert Griffin III of the Washington Redskins has been working hard to make his case for that position through a career riddled with injuries and bad seasons.

The current 2014-2015 NFL season has not treated the Redskins kindly; they are currently 3-7 and have been plagued with controversy regarding not only their quarterback situation but also the team name. Fans of the Redskins have put all their hope into Griffin since the team traded away a 6th, 2nd, and two 1st round draft picks to acquire the 2nd overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft from the St. Louis Rams.

All professional athletes are told how to interact with media in press conferences, but Griffin said some things after a loss to the then 1-8 (now 2-8) Tampa Bay Buccaneers that he probably wishes he could take back.

Griffin started the post game press conference by saying multiple times that the multiple sacks and offensive issues were his own fault, and that he is doing everything he can to play better. He then continued to discuss how he hopes and believes that his teammates will do the same and work to make themselves better.

The sport media pulled one specific quote from Griffin’s press conference: “It takes 11 men. It doesn’t take one guy, and that’s proven. If you want to look at the good teams in this league and the great quarterbacks, the Peytons and the Aaron Rodgers, those guys don’t play well if their guys don’t play well. They don’t.”

On Monday almost all the headlines regarding Washington read something along the lines of “RGIII Throws Teammates Under Bus.” Unfortunately for Griffin, most of these articles in both national and local news took his words out of context for the sake of a story. The authors claimed that Griffin was comparing himself to the great quarterbacks of the era and blaming his teammates for the failure of the team.

If you have the patience, listen through Griffin’s press conference. He is humble in all of his answers, and certainly does not target his teammates at all. He does what a good teammate is supposed to do; he holds his fellow teammates accountable while still admitting his own mistakes. There was no blame placing, just a quarterback admitting that the entire team including himself needs improvement.

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DEA Stages Surprise Inspections of NFL Locker Rooms

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By Nick Muhl

Following a Sunday full of NFL football in mid-November, the sports sections of newspapers nationwide typically highlight the many games with playoff implications. This Monday’s NFL headlines highlighted three surprise DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) raids of NFL lockers rooms, rather than the games themselves.

The three teams tested were the Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the San Francisco 49ers. The law enforcement officials for the DEA on site investigated and interviewed all three team doctors and trainers.

John Barr, an ESPN reporter for Outside The Lines, received confirmation from a law enforcement official , that the surprise investigations were linked back to a May 2014 lawsuit that rose concern of the three teams violating the Controlled Substances Act. All three teams fully cooperated with the DEA’s investigation.  According to Sally Jenkins for the Washington Post, the investigation may have had something to do with painkillers and the distribution of them by team physicians outside of their registered practice.

Here is an excerpt from Barr’s article, a statement made by Phil Closuis, one of the attorneys representing retired NFL players in their own lawsuit against the NFL:

“I think it’s great that the DEA is taking this seriously. We alleged back on May 20th that the NFL was issuing these controlled substances and prescription medicines in an illegal manner and nobody has really disputed the factual basis of that claim.”

The fact that many newspapers and other media outlets will lead their NFL coverage with this story is a huge step forward for the NFL and will hopefully improve public relations. It is no hidden fact that the NFL has remained under siege of the media, fans, and others concerning the safety of their athletes and the lawsuits and accusations being made by former NFL players. This investigation is directly related to the NFL changing its enforcement of the safety and health codes it has now put in place in hopes of preventing future lawsuits and keeping the players safe.

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy commented on the DEA activities Sunday, “Our teams cooperated with the DEA today and we have no information to indicate that irregularities were found.” While the DEA may have surprised the NFL with its investigation of the three teams on Sunday, the NFL fully cooperated and that shows the NFL is continuing its effort to not only protect its players, but repair the league’s damaged image in the eyes of media outlets, and fans.

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Started from the Bottom Now We’re Here

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By Ellen Chlumecky

On Saturday night, Derrick Rose once again sat out against the Indiana Pacers because he was recovering from a strained left hamstring. Rose and Tom Thibodeau, the Bulls coach, are trying to give the injury time to heal and be patient with his recovery.

The Bulls ended up losing on Saturday to the Indiana Pacers 90 to 99. There was a player on the court that night who showed the United Center that the Bulls have a new star filling in for Rose. While the Bulls looked uninhabited on Saturday, this player gave life to the team. That player’s name is Jimmy Butler. While the team didn’t get the W, Butler scored a career high of 32 points.

This career high may be something new to Butler but the consistency of his point scoring has been unstoppable this season. Butler has shown his team that he can be a force to reckon with not only on defense, but recently on offense as well.

Kicked to the curb at the young age of 13, Butler had very little to look forward to in his life. After he was finally adopted by a kind family, Butler spent time playing for Tyler Junior College trying to get a college scout to notice him. He worked hard on the court and off the court academically and eventually received an offer to go to Marquette. Marquette’s coach, Buzz Williams, pushed him hard and saw the immense potential that Butler had. Working day in and day out at Marquette, Butler became the 30th pick overall by the Chicago Bulls. Now at only 25 years old, Butler is making a splash while star player Rose is out right now.

So working hard is nothing new for Jimmy Butler especially with his rough past. With Derrick Rose out, the entire team needs to step up in terms of point scorers and leadership. However, all the Chicago Tribune can talk about right now is how Derrick Rose is currently out.

I understand that Derrick Rose’s recovery is something that all Bulls’ fans are dying for right now, but when a rookie made a career high of 32 points it is something important to celebrate. I personally believe that Derrick Rose leads the Bulls effectively and efficiently but while he is out, players need to step up. And the fact that Butler is trying to, says a lot about his character as a player.

While NBA.com did not think Butler accomplished enough in the game because they didn’t win, just like Rose, it will not bring Butler down. Butler has overcome adversity in so many different ways. Nothing in his life came easy to him. I’m sure that losing a game to the Pacers doesn’t qualify as the worst thing that’s ever happened to him. Congratulations to Jimmy Butler, I look forward to seeing more from you and I cannot wait to see what you and Rose can do when he’s back.

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Melvin Gordon Breaks Record

By Matt Rogers

If by the off-chance you were a fan of college football and did not know of Melvin Gordon, before this past Saturday, you do now. Gordon, the all-everything running back of Wisconsin, broke the FBS record for rushing yards in a single game. Heading into the game the record stood at 406 yards, held by former TCU and NFL great, LaDainian Tomlinson. Gordon ended Saturday’s game against Nebraska with 408 yards. What was most impressive about Gordon’s accomplishment was that all of his yards came in the first three quarters. That’s right, he did not even play in the fourth quarter because the Wisconsin Badgers were blowing the Nebraska Cornhuskers out.

It should come as no surprise that it was Melvin Gordon who broke the record though, after the success that he has been enjoying this season. He was already the leading FBS in rushing yards heading into the game, averaging over eight yards per carry. With this game, Gordon now has a total of 1,909 yards on the season. Being that Wisconsin is in the driver’s seat to represent the West division in the Big Ten title game, the team has at least four more games this season. If Gordon were to play as well as he has through the first ten games, he has an outside shot at breaking the single season record for rushing yards, 2,628 held by NFL Hall of Famer Barry Sanders.

Not that he needed this performance to justify his status as a Heisman Memorial Trophy front-runner, but Gordon has all but punched his ticket to New York City in December as one of the finalists for the award.

Gordon has been receiving massive amounts of praise from various media outlets from the beginning of the season because he returned to Wisconsin for another season, after most draft experts considered him one of the very best running backs in last year’s draft class. The buzz about him as grown immensely as the season has progressed because of his unbelievable play on the field for the Badgers. Matt Miller, head NFL draft scout for Bleacher Report, has been evaluating Gordon’s play throughout the season, assessing him a second round grade (2nd overall among running backs) for the upcoming 2015 NFL Draft.

What Gordon has done to this point in the 2014 season has been nothing short of spectacular. It is very hard to believe that he is not done. It should be fun to see what sort of tricks Gordon has left up the sleeve of his #25 Wisconsin Badgers’ jersey for the last part of the season. Stay tuned.

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Jozy Altidore’s Tweeting Mishaps

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By Alex O’Connor

Jozy Altidore is currently dealing with a Twitter dilemma following several rumors of Altidore potentially leaving his current team. Altidore currently plays for Sunderland A.F.C., which is an English professional soccer team that plays in the English Premier League. Altidore’s career path has taken him on several pit stops in his young twenty-five year-old life. He has played for the New York Red Bulls, Villareal CF, Hull City, Bursaspor, AZ Alkmaar and Sunderland. This boils down to six teams in his young eight year career. On Saturday, rumors of Altidore leaving Sunderland for the MLS and The Los Angeles Galaxy were clarified on Twitter. However, the manner in which it was clarified was not in the best light. Altidore tweeted: “@LAGalaxy really? Stop blowing up my agents phone then. No means no.” There has been some consideration among media that Altidore was not the person behind the tweet, and would be the absolute wrong way to conduct a formal transaction of this nature.

Twitter is never the way to convey a message that is usually secret and professional. Though TheGuardian.com has acknowledged that Altidore may be leaving Sunderland this past January, this tweet harshly quieted those rumors. In an already hectic career for Altidore, it seems strange that he would personally latch out publically to the entire Galaxy organization and in such a manner as Twitter. The Galaxy organization also may have simply tried too hard to lure Altidore away from Sunderland. Altidore is known for being a generous and kind athlete, as he has aided citizens of the 2010 Haiti Earthquake. In addition, in honor of the twenty-six Sandy Hook victims, he wrote their initials on his cleats in a game against FC Twente on December 21, 2012.

However, this tweet comes only days after Team U.S.A. lost to Columbia by a score of 2-1. There could be an underlying factor of bitterness that carried over to his message. In another opinion, NBCSports.com’s Kyle Bonn questions whether or not Altidore sent out the tweet himself. Athletes simply do not negotiate with other organizations over social media. Bonn connected the “no means no” excerpt of the tweet to the recent incident of Colt McCoy’s post-game interview on Monday Night Football after his win against the Cowboys. A PR employee with the Redskins refused an interview request by yelling “no means no” to ESPN reporter John Sutcliffe. Though the two instances are not related it is interesting to see two distinct media connections using the exact same phrasing.

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Mark Hunt: The Underdog of Underdogs

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By Kaleb Page

In the sport world no matter what the venue, there comes along a story, team or player that we look to as an underdog and pull for. This Saturday night at UFC 180 the story of an underdog begins another chapter.

Mark Hunt, also known as the “Super Samoan,” stands at 5’10” and weighs in at 265 lbs. For a man his height to be in the heavyweight division, it makes him undersized when you look at some of the giants in the division standing from 6’3″ to 6’4″ (even one fighter at 6’11”). However, Hunt has shown time and time again he is not afraid to step in and mix it up with those who are much larger. Also at the age of 40, Hunt is at the end of the road or at least getting there because MMA is evolving and as time passes it shows how much of a “young man’s” game it truly is.

Prior to becoming a UFC fighter, Hunt was a member of PRIDE a very famous fight league in Japan that was eventually bought out by the UFC. In Pride fights Hunt was recognized as a huge force with undeniable power in either hand. Even though he was almost uncontrollable with his power, people found a way around it by getting him on the ground and neutralizing his power. After going on a streak of winning five fights the big man went cold.

Coming into the UFC Hunt found himself on the losing end of six consecutive fights all in convincing fashion either by KO/TKO or Submission. In an interview with news.com.au, UFC President Dana White said that after the buyout he really didn’t want to bring Hunt along. Even going as far to pay Hunt the money left on his contract just to walk away. Since then Hunt has proven him wrong leaving White to say, “I’ll never count Mark Hunt out ever again.”

Since the days of doubt Hunt has posted a record of 5 wins, 2 losses and 1 draw; including a streak of four wins. In nearly all of those fights Hunt was the underdog, since he is old and people doubt his ability anymore. Yet who has risen to the occasion winning those fights and doing it in convincing fashion (4 of the 5 wins by KO/TKO): Mark Hunt. Even though he has proven a lot of doubters wrong as his career starts to come to an end, there still is another task to complete.

UFC 180 this Saturday was supposed to be a huge heavyweight title fight between Cain Velasquez and Fabricio Werdum in Mexico City, Mexico. With Velasquez falling victim to a knee injury the UFC needed a short notice replacement, and the underdog answered the call. Facing Werdum could be the biggest challenge that Hunt has had, mainly because Werdum is possibly the best heavyweight submission artist ever to step in the octagon. As mentioned before the ground game is one that Hunt had trouble with, so if he plans to escape with another underdog win he might want to stay out of Werdum’s world.

On Bleacher Report and the news.com.au websites they cover this story very well and give how this story is one that any underdog lover should pay attention to. This is something I wish bigger outlets like ESPN would do more of; instead of looking to the traditional sports for underdogs, they can look to MMA or other non-traditional sports just as easily to find inspirational underdog stories.

On Saturday possibly one of the biggest underdog stories and upsets could happen in the UFC. If Hunt does get the win, he will be the interim heavyweight champion and next in line to face the champion Cain Velasquez. As a fan of the sport and someone who watches UFC events, I hope Hunt can continue the dream and get to the title fight. Either way, Hunt should be proud of where he has come from at such a late stage in his career and know he did it his way.

Saturday night take a break from the college football madness and take a look at what will happen in this fight. I know I will, and I will be rooting for the underdog.

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The Poor Decisions of the Los Angeles Lakers

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By Kia Tyus

Kelly Dwyer wrote a compelling article about the Los Angeles Lakers recent poor decisions in recent years; most notably their signing of Kobe Bryant to a two-year $48.5 million.

Dwyer brought on the point that just about everyone thought that the Lakers made a ridiculously poor decision. Everyone except the Buss family and Bryant has a firm understanding that Bryant is by no means able to play at the level of a $48.5 million contract.

Dwyer also points out that the Lakers organization is very careless with their money because they know that they have the money to spend.

On of the best comparisons that was made in the article was how Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki took pay cuts to make sure that there respective organizations had money to spend on free agency without going over the luxury tax. Dwyer also noted that Duncan and Nowitzki respective teams got a good bargain with their recent contract extinctions.

The Lakers are clearly in a different market that most National Basketball Association teams. I like how Dwyer stated facts like the San Antonio Spurs aren’t getting $2 billion dollar TV deals. And that even with Bryant’s recent contract the Lakers still have plenty of cap space to sign free agents.

Which brings Dwyer’s next point in the recent Laker’s poor spending habits. The Lakers should have never hired Mike Brown. The Lakers were looking at whom Brown was coaching instead of his actual coaching ability. Second, the Lakers spent a large sum of money when they acquired Dwight Howard and Steve Nash. This was a huge waist of money because Howard lasted a year and played terribly and Nash has yet to have a healthy season with the Lakers.

Dwyer also helped his claim when he stated that they shouldn’t have hired Mike D’Antoni because they didn’t have the offensive weapons to run a D’Antoni offense and Byrant under his new contract has yet to play a full season and is in is 19th NBA season coming off of two major injuries on both legs.

Dwyer wrote a great article about the Lakers poor choices over the last few years. He stated multiple facts and gave great examples about how their poor choices have done nothing but harm the team. In fact, the Lakers have started the 2014-15 season 1-7.

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Brandon Marshall Challenges Rival Fan to a Fight

By Savannah Malnar

Professional athletes are always expected to have professional interactions with fans of the sport. Whenever an athlete makes gestures or even yells at fans during a game, that gets media attention. But wide receiver Brandon Marshall of the Chicago Bears took interacting negatively with a fan to a whole new level on Thursday.

Many athletes run their own twitters and interact with fans through that social media outlet; it provides an environment for them to respond to fans’ questions and criticism publicly. This can be both good and bad, depending on the athlete’s composure on the site. Marshall lost his, actually challenging a Detroit Lions’ fan to a fight.

The fan tweeted at Marshall a screen shot of his own comments on an Instagram photo Marshall had recently posted. The fan, in these comments, said “Remember when you called Detroit the little brother?”, referencing a comment made by Marshall last season, and then two more comments highlighted with expletives and a personal insult to Marshall’s mother.

Now, Marshall could have ignored the tweet like many athletes often do to rude fans. Some athletes even reply with sarcastic or funny remarks if they feel the need to actually interact with the fan. But Marshall decided to reply with an “offer,” telling the fan that he would give him $5,000 to “get in a ring” with him. He then upped the ante, saying that if he (Marshall) lost, he would pay the fan an additional $10,000. If the fan lost, Marshall wanted him to do 100 hours of community service.

The fan replied asking him to raise the bid to $25,000. Marshall shockingly replied yes, and tweeted shortly after “And you have to apologize to my mom.” The fan never replied, and Marshall tweeted again saying “Deal or no deal bro? This is your chance to back up your talk and make 25k.”

Now, there may be differing opinions by fans on whether this is acceptable behavior by an athlete. But the media’s opinions need to be looked at.

First, both national and local Detroit (where the fan is from) media took it surprisingly lightly. The reports of the words exchanged were written in almost a humorous tone. What was most interesting was the local Chicago sport media. NBC Chicago published a short article on it, and in it was this statement: “There’s no word on whether or not the fight will happen, but in a time when the Bears’ locker room is already suffering from divisions, a lack of leadership, and a coach who is trying to hold it all together, something like this isn’t exactly a welcome distraction.”

Whether the fan knew what he was doing or not, he definitely hit a sensitive spot with Marshall. The underperforming Bears are 3-6 going into Week 11 of the NFL season compared to the Lions surprising record of 7-2.

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Landon Donovan Goes Unnoticed

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By Kate Roth

Unless you are a follower of soccer you are probably unaware that the Major League Soccer playoffs here in the United States are in full go. If that is true, I would also be willing to bet that you had no idea a player in the Western Conference semi-final scored a hat trick for the first time in a playoff game since 1999. The name of the player you ask? Well none other than Landon Donovan of course.

When I read the headline on Major League Soccer’s homepage and found out this news TWO DAYS after the actual game, I felt the same way I’m sure most felt upon hearing the news, “How did I not hear about this already?” Landon Donovan has become known as one of the most iconic figures in United States Soccer history and it is quite shocking to me that the media is paying so little attention to him as he makes his last run before retirement.

Soccer may not be the most popular sport in the United States, but it is certainly on the rise and the media needs to take notice of this. By covering Donovan’s final games throughout the rest of the MLS Playoffs the media could help spread the popularity of the sport around the country and help soccer gain the respect it gets in other countries throughout the world.

It seems that the only time we hear or see ESPN or any of the other major sports reports talk about soccer is when the FIFA World Cup is on or there is some sort of controversy to cover.

Just think back to a few months ago right before the World Cup was set to begin and the United States coach decided that Donovan was not fit for his team. The media could not get enough of this story and seemed to be interviewing Donovan everyday with his thoughts on the matter. The media sure seemed to care about Donovan then, but where are they now.

The media makes it seem like without controversy they have nothing to report on, but that is not the case. The man who has helped shape the United States Men’s National Soccer Team into what it is today is on his final tour and so far, going out in style. He scored 3 goals and had an assist in a conference-semi final game which could have easily been the last game he ever played. Landon Donovan is going out in the way we dream of legendary players leaving the field for the last time. Accomplishing things that haven’t been done in over a decade and leading his team to victory.

Landon Donovan has been one of the most exciting players to watch play the sport of soccer for the United States and deserves more respect from the media. Even though the media may not think they need to pay any attention to soccer, this is different. Landon Donovan changed the way we look at soccer in the United States. He plays every game with more passion than you will see more athletes show throughout their entire careers, and for that we need to thank him and support him as he plays in his final games.

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“You can’t worry about failure” – Bryant Makes All-time NBA Mark for Missed Field Goals

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By Ellen Chlumecky

On Tuesday in Memphis, Kobe Bryant made history by setting the NBA record for missed field goals. The Los Angeles Lakers played the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday and Bryant set the mark with 6:22 left in the fourth quarter of a 107-102 loss. He missed a 14-foot fade away jumper from the left side. This miss gave him his 13, 418 career missed field goal. He made history by becoming the player with the most missed field goals by beating Boston Celtics John Havlicek by one shot. Also, in this same game, Bryant scored a game high of 28 points on 10-of-26 shooting.

After the game, Bryant was asked if he knew about the record. Kobe Bryant let it roll off his shoulders and commented on how he did not follow records or statistics like that. When asked how he managed to make the mark, he laughed and said, “Well, I’m a shooting guard that’s played 19 years – ‘shooting’ guard, 19th year.” Bryant said, “I don’t care about it, to be honest with you. It is what it is. I remember when I was a kid and I watched Michael shoot 49 times in an NBA Finals game. Can you imagine if I did that and lost? Puts thing in perspective.”

Kobe Bryant did not seem to be concerned about the major milestone in his career. He is among the ranks of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson, Elvin Hayes, Karl Malone, and other greats of the NBA. All of these players worked their butts off every game to become greats.

ESPN, The New York Daily News, and NBC Sports all seemed to press on Bryant, asking him if he knew about the record and what he thought and if it bothered him. Even after all these people kept pushing to get some sort of anger or regret from him, Kobe Bryant chose to rise above it. He said, “You’ve got to step up and play, man. You can’t worry about criticism. You can’t worry about failure. You really can’t worry about that stuff.”

“You can’t worry about failure.” While I am not the biggest fan of Kobe Bryant, I have utter respect for him for understanding that this landmark in NBA history isn’t a failure. It is just a moment showing that Kobe Bryant has been working his butt off every game this season and every game of previous seasons as well. While most reporters are looking for a reason to tear him down, Bryant consistently tries to improve himself by working harder every day in every game.

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