The Loss of a Mariners Outfielder

Seattle Mariners outfielder Greg Halman found bleeding from a stab wound early Monday, November 21st in the Netherlands. By the time the ambulance came to the site, it had been too late. Halman's brother is now under arrest and will be questioned. The 24 year old had a successful career while playing in Seattle and with their minor league teams. Halman has been with the organization since he was 16 years old. Last month, he was on the Netherlands Baseball World Cup Team and they ended up winning the whole competition. The organization is sad to lose such a well rounded player from their team. Not much other information is known yet about the stabbing and reports say it will take some time to figure out what exactly happened.

Forced into Retirement

The former New York Knicks Guard, Cuttino Mobley filed a lawsuit against the Knicks, accusing the organization of forcing him to retire as a way to save millions of dollars. In 2008, Mobley was acquired from the Los Angeles Clippers and shortly after coming to the knicks they supposively forced him to retire. The reason Mobley is said to retire because of a heart disease. Mobley has grown up with this disease and was aware of his condition, but he was never advised to stop playing the game. The lawsuit states, knicks were aware of his condition before signing him to the team and after him coming to the team, he was sent to doctors whom they knew would tell him to stop playing basketball. The total earnings the team saved for his retirement is around $19 million dollars. The outcome of this lawsuit will be interesting to see, as well as how the team and Mobley handle this situation.

College Basketball Increase

As we all know the NBA season is does not look to be alive anytime in the near future; because of this league not being available to watch and enjoy, the increase of collegiate athletics has become much popular. The excitement of Men's college basketball is usually very energizing around the March Madness Tournament, but now the excitement is being seen even after the first games of the season. In my opinion, college basketball is much more entertaining and exciting than the NBA, since the players are playing the game since they love it. It will be interesting to see if all this attention on collegiate basketball will stay as popular as it is now or it will die down as the season continues.

Many teams are said to be even better this year, than they were last year. This will make the competition level even higher and bring out all the excitement. Will the exciement and attention stay on these basketball teams because of no NBA season right now, or will it diminish until the March Madness Tournament?

The Fate of Sizemore

As the World Series recently came to an end, many teams are now looking to rebuild or find new players and coaches for their team for the 2012 Season. The Cleveland Indians just yesterday declined the $9 million dollar option for centerfielder, Grady Sizemore. Sizemore was a player that hurt for a large part of the past season. With his contract being up, it was questioned what the Indians were going to decide what to do with the three time American League All Star. When Sizemore is healthy he is a huge asset to the team, but with him being hurt and having a few surgeries over the past year makes him more vulnerable to injury. All of the injuries and his body not being as healthy as the past was one of the big factors when deciding whether or not to accept his option for the next season. Sizemore has been with the team since 2005, when he got his start in the major league. He has made an impact on the Indians organization.

 As a free agent, there will be many offers to Sizemore and the Indians may end up getting him back onto the team. The fate of many players is up in the air for the upcoming seasons and it will be interesting to see where all of the players fall.

The Ohio State Comeback

After all the controversy of the Ohio State Football program, the new coach Luke Fickell, and the team had a lot of pressure on their shoulders to perform well this season. As the season progressed, many fans noticed this would be a rebuilding year as they lost three games early in the season. The current record for the Buckeyes is 5-3. This past weekend the team had a big game as they were facing #15 Wisconsin. Last year Wisconsin upset the undefeated buckeyes and going into the game it would be huge for the buckeyes to upset the badgers. The Buckeyes did end up winning this game in the last few minutes of the game 33 to 29. This was a big win for the Buckeyes within the Big Ten. Now the question is, will the Buckeyes continue to be in the race for the Big Ten? The season is not over yet and the Buckeyes still have games and opportunities to gain respect from those who lost it after the controversy. Hopefully the Buckeyes can finish the season strong and learn from these experiences for next year.

The Madden Curse

This past year the Cleveland Browns running back, Peyton Hillis won the competition and is featured on the cover of the new Madden NFL 2012 video game. This is a huge honor for him as he proved himself to be one the best last season in the NFL and even beat out players such as Aaron Rodgers in the run for the cover. With being featured on the Madden cover, there is said to be a curse that comes with this accomplishment. In the past, it has been proven that after appearing on the cover, may come injuries or not a successful season. In 2009, when Brett Farve appeared on the cover, later that season he led the league in most interceptions thrown. Another athlete, Vince Young, appeared on the cover in 2008, and ended up later that season injuring his knee and sitting out for several weeks. Will this happen to the Browns top running back?

This past weekend the Browns won against the Indianapolis Colts, and were led by two touchdowns scored by Hillis. He has been off to a great start leading his team. Let's just hope that he does have a great rest of the season and breaks this Madden curse.

Ohio State's loss to Miami

This past weekend the Ohio State Buckeyes traveled down to Miami, Florida to take on the Hurricanes. This was a huge game for the Buckeyes, as most games are going to be huge this year for the Buckeyes because of what has happened over the past year to their program. Ohio State has pulled off two wins for their first two games of the season against Toledo and Akron. This game was going to be the biggest one of the season so far. Unfortunately, Ohio State did not perform like they did in the 2002 National Championship against Miami and lost the game this weekend. The only points that the Buckeyes scored were two field goals. The final score was 24-6. Everyone is now wondering how they will perform for the rest of the season with still having some of their best players suspended for a few more games. Are the buckeyes going to come back and continue with a winning season? Or will this be the season for them to regroup and come back even stronger next year?