Word came out today that Steve Smith broke his arm while allegedly playing flag football in an adult league Sunday in Charlotte. While Smith is expected to miss some training camp, he should be ready to go come the regular season opener at the Giants. Some fans are irate at Smith for participating in a league like this risking serious injury out of the season, when many standard NFL contracts specifically forbid this without written permission from the club. I, for one, do not see why the Panthers would sign off on this when Smith will have to be such a large part of the Panthers’ passing attack this upcoming season. Smith is coming off surgery on this same arm in a different location, but still one has to ask, why was he playing in this league? Steve Smith has always been a fierce competitor and one not to back down from a challenge. Rumors are swirling that Smith knew right after the play he was injured and asked his teammates not to say a word about the injury, and we see how that has played out. What if instead of breaking his arm, Smith had injured his knee? How will the Panthers respond to this matter remains to be seen, but one has to think they will be very cautious in dealing with Smith. He is very vocal and a leader on this team and very important to the upcoming season.
Well, let me first off give a Happy Belated Father’s Day shout out to my dad. He has always been there for me, even when I was a pain in the ass teenager and in my early twenties when I thought I knew it all. He was the best dad he could be and I will always appreciate all he has done for me.
Now, onto the events of the last week or so, I will begin with the NBA Finals. There have been some heated discussions regarding the play of Game 7 amongst many friends. My take is that Game 7, while a closely contested game, was one of the worst played games of all-time. William Fleitch posted the following stat on twitter during the game Thursday evening: Duke-Butler after 40 minutes: 61-59. Celtics-Lakers after 40 minutes: 61-58. Kobe Bryant admitted to be over-hyped for the game resulting in his poor shooting performance after winning his fifth championship. While watching the game, it was hard to decide if both teams were having poor shooting nights or if the refs were not calling fouls. Officiating and the overall inconsistency of during the playoffs, was a deciding factor in the series, but not THE deciding factor. That distinction goes to rebounding. The team that that won the rebounding battle in each game won that game and the series. Many Celtic fans have pointed to the Perkins injury in Game 6 as a deciding factor, and while I will agree, what is the defense to the injury the Lakers’ Andrew Bynum played with during the entire post season? After the game, the Ron Artest interview was one of the funniest and most bizarre witnessed in a very long time. Artest giving shout-outs to his therapist, hugging Doris Burke, rambling on and on was hilarious. The two biggest issues facing both teams in the off-season are Doc Rivers and Phil Jackson. Many believe that Jackson will return, at a reduced salary, should his health allow him. Doc Rivers is in a different situation. He has a son that is about to go away to college and wants to take some time to spend some time with his family, Rivers claims that he is leaning one way, but will not indicate which direction. Having a part-time analyst position on TNT or NBATV, may be in his future and allow the coach to have his cake and sample a bit also.
Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell, did anyone have him in their US Open pool, because I sure as hell did not? After Phil’s 66 on Friday and Tiger’s 66 on Saturday, many thought Sunday set itself up for some fireworks, but we could not even get anything more than a small pop. McDowell’s 74 on Sunday was the highest final round of a champion in a while. Everyone in the field was limping to the end, including McDowell who bogeyed four of his final ten holes, did not make a double bogey all week and that may have been the difference in this tournament. Everyone played the same course and McDowell played it even par for the week, netting him a huge payday and his name on a trophy, something that no one can ever take from him. The things I take away from this weekend were fairly simple. Tiger, who finished forth in his second straight Major of the season, is getting closer, but still has a ways to go. Mickelson still needs to work on his putting and accuracy off the tee box. Els and Love III had mental mistakes and putting costs them respectively down the stretch. Many of the big names on the leader board had to have difficulty sleeping last night after watch Dustin Johnson shoot an 82 on Sunday, knowing that this major was there for all of them to take, and a man from N Ireland stepped in and prevented a come back from being completed and kept the shot at a Grand Slam and a National Title away from lefty for at least 365 more days. Dustin Johnson, well, I just feel sorry for the kid. Going triple, double, bogey on holes 2-4, proved to be too much for Johnson to bounce back from. I want to see how this affects his play the remaining of his season and career after this disasterous day.
The World Cup is going on currently in South Africa. I am not a soccer fan nor will I pretend to be one during this event. It is very entertaining to me to see how many people and places are having World Cup parties and get togethers when Team USA plays. One friend compared the enthusiasm Team USA is receiving in soccer to the level the curling team received at the Winter Olympics and I have to agree. Many casual fans could probably not name you three players on the team not named Donavan. While I do want to see the US do well in what many consider the world’s game, I am not going to lose sleep either way. Should the US not make the next round of play, I will be very interested to see if the fanfare that surrounds this event now remains.