1. Tim Tebow: Regardless my feelings about this guy, there’s no doubt he’s one of the most beloved athletes in recent history. Despite my eye-rolling at all the over-the-top attention he receives, he has been a good role model. He circumcises Filipino orphans, talks to prisoners, and pretty much embraces being a role model. His girlfriend has huge cans. But because of his status as a role model, I have to take him to task.
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me...especially motorboating"
The fact that he played against LSU on Oct. 10, 2 weeks after suffering a severe concussion, is incredibly irresponsible. Recent reports have shown the longterm damage concussions cause, and the exponential increase in damage to the brain caused by Second Impact Syndrome:
Second Impact Syndrome (SIS) consists of two events. Typically, it involves an athlete suffering post-concussive symptoms following a head injury.2 If, within several weeks, the athlete returns to play and sustains a second head injury, diffuse cerebral swelling, brain herniation, and death can occur. SIS can occur with any two events involving head trauma.
I’m sure any parent who saw the 60 Minutes report on concussions will have second thoughts about letting their kid participate in youth football. 50+ kids die each year from sports-related head injuries, mostly from football.
The point is: you can’t pick and choose when to be a role model. Tebow is sending the message that it’s ok to put your brain in jeopardy if it’s a really important game. Shame on Tebow. Shame on Tebow’s uber-involved parents. And shame on Coach Urban Meyer and the UF Training Staff.
On another Tebow-related note, I’ve begun to wear “Eye Black” with Bible verses under my eyes. Today’s passage? Leviticus 12:6, or “Levit” “12:6″:
‘When the days of her purification for a son or daughter are over, she is to bring to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting a year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a dove for a sin offering.
Now there’s a passage that will spice up the workplace conversation.
2. Yankees v. Phillies? That could be good. I will say that the baseball in the postseason has been pretty bad – particularly the defense and umpiring. But this potential series could be fantastic. Phillies in 6.
3. Cedric Benson: Ced’s great 2009 season hasn’t stopped his pity-party. From today’s Suntimes:
Benson blames the Bears for his time on the sideline…and accuses the organization of blackballing him.
”No doubt,” Benson said. ”I heard all the rumors that were said coming out of Chicago. Even the Bengals told me that they would call and inquire about me and get nothing but negative things.”
Such as?
”That I didn’t work hard, that I was, I guess, a prima donna, just wasn’t focused,” he said. ”Just anything negative that they could say was said. I’m sure that contributed largely to me not getting picked up right away.”
Chicago's fault.
So which part of this is untrue? The Bears gave you every chance to succeed. They got rid of Thomas Jones for you. They dealt with your hold out and apathetic attitude. They dealt with your drinking, pot-smoking and arrests. And you still didn’t produce.
I can’t wait for Lance Briggs to light your ass up on Sunday. You’re still a fucking scrub.
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4. ESPN: Bristol, CT must be a boring place. Like clockwork, it seems like every 6 months some ESPN employee gets into a creepy sexual situation.
- all kinds of weird.
And not just “being hit on by a drunk, lazy-eyed co-worker.” We’re talking creepy. Steve Phillips – you’re on!
According to the New York Post,Phillips had a brief fling with a fellow ESPN employee named Brooke Hundley this summer. He ended it rather quickly, which did not go over very well. She allegedly began harassing Phillips, his wife and even his teenage son—who she friended on Facebook by pretending to be a classmate, and then grilled him for personal information about the family.
The final straw came when Phillips’ wife arrived at her home to see a strange woman coming down her driveway and getting into a car (which she promptly smashed into a pole while trying to make a quick getaway.) The woman had left a very creepy letter in the front door, addressed to Phillips wife. The full original letter is available on the Post website [PDF], but here are some of the bullet points laid out by Hundley:
• She and Steve first slept together in a St. Louis hotel room, but he assured her that she wouldn’t get pregnant because of his vasectomy.
• How and she Steve love to text back and forth with detailed plans on how they would like to sex each other
• An uncomfortable amount of detail about the activities of her children
• How the Catholic Church will totally understand if the Phillips got a divorce, so that she and Steve can be together
• She’s 22 … but not stupid!
• A graphic description of Steve’s birthmarks (on his crotch and inner thigh), just to know she’s legit.
Somewhere Harold Reynolds is smiling. And possibly masturbating.
Just came by your blog post by random. Love the photo of Tebow’s girl. Very nice.
On Ced Benson, Briggs didn’t do so hot against him, as you were hoping.
Cedric’s found a new home in Cincy, I think.
Good post, though!