Sports With Laura
By LAURA SIMON
laura.m.simon(at)gmail.com
Welcome back for another recap of the sporting week that was. As always, a TON happened this week, but here is quick rundown of the biggest stories:
The NFL Combine has been taking place in Indianapolis and Oklahoma Sooner tailback Adrian Peterson sure helped his draft stock after an amazing performance in the combine. The Penn State linebackers actually worked out with their group. Usually Penn State players wait until their pro day in State College. Both Tim Shaw and Paul Poszlunsky were impressive, and I think this really helped them become a for sure early round pick.
More sad news for the Denver Broncos as another one of their young players, Damien Nash, collapsed and died on Saturday with the causes still unknown. The Broncos runningback was just 24-years-old and left behind a wife and daughter. This death comes on the heels of the unsolved murder of Broncos’ corner Darrent Willaims on New Year’s.
Notre Dame wide receiver Jeff Samardzija has decided to not pursue an NFL career in favor of pitching for the Chicago Cubs. Really, who can blame him though when he was offered a $10 million contract if he did not play football?! I think this was a good move on his part because, yes, he was good at Notre Dame, but I didn’t see him translating to the NFL that well. And speaking of MLB, spring training is in full swing, with spring training games beginning this weekend.
And then there is college basketball. If the month of February is any indication of the madness to come, I wouldn’t bet too much money on my NCAA Tournament because I think there is going to be some serious bracket busting going on! The Top 25 had a rough time again this week. Ohio State, however, did survive and topped Wisconsin for the No. 1 spot (for the first time since 1962) and UCLA hopped up to the No. 2 spot. The rest of the top 10 play out as such: 3. Kansas, 4. Wisconsin, 5. Florida, 6. Memphis, 7. Texas A&M, 8. North Carolina, 9. Georgetown, 10. Nevada.
In compliance with new NCAA rules and regulations, the University of Illinois’ mascot Chief Illiniwek performed his last dance. Rules state schools cannot use Native American mascots and if they do, they will not be able to host postseason tournaments. Illinois has been barred from this since 2005 because of the mascot. I had a professor at Penn State who was Apache and after having his class, I can understand why this is disrespectful to the Native Americans. However, I can also understand the University’s hesitation for removing a mascot that brought fans together even when their football team was not very good.
In NBA news, the Miami Heat’s star center, Shaquille O’Neal, went over the 25,000-point mark for his career midway through the first quarter against the New York Knicks on Monday night.
And finally the PGA. Tiger Woods’ winning streak came to an end on Friday at the Accenture Match Play Championship when Nick O’Hern defeated the golf ace.
Well, that’s about all we are going to cover this week. Enjoy a guest writer for the next two weeks while I’m off to Houston for a few days and then get slammed with school work just before my birthday (how rude! Haha).
I’ll see you back here for a full NCAA Tournament preview in two weeks!! Til next time… Happy Cheering!