CroJack's weekly rant: Part 1

Let me start off  by saying I love sports, but I also love ranting and raving about issues that bother me. Case and point NFL Vs. NHL, or football vs. hockey. Mainly the players of their respective sports and the people who say football is the toughest, most tiring, and the most dangerous sport. FYI people, football is not the only sport in this country and world for that matter. Football gets way to much attention and people need to open their eyes.

In the NFL players go down all the time. Just this season alone I have seen more flopping than soccer players. Mainly teams that would fake a cramp or injury to slow down the Eagles up tempo offense or another teams up tempo offense. My favorites are the players that get oxygen after running a play for 30 seconds or more and claim to be in top physical shape and also the players that sit out a few plays to get their wind back. Pussies, plain and simple. "OMG, you said a bad word about football players, you are stupid and know nothing about 
it." Individuals who claim football players are the toughest and the sport is the hardest, need to pay more attention. Lastly, when a football player takes a hard hit, most of the time they are looking for the flag, because god forbid they actually get hit playing football. Who would of thought of players taking hits in football? For sham! Football players are a bunch of little babies still sucking on their mothers teet. The players get a week off before they play another game, sure they practice during the week, but still have a week before a competitive game. And players that have back stiffness or an ankle sprain from the game last week miss the following because of it, that's cute.

In the NHL players do not get nearly enough credit. Just the other night, Brayden Schenn of the Flyers, in a freak accident, had the opposing players skate go under his jersey and slice his abdomen. Did Schenn fall over and give up? Did he sit the rest of the game? NO! He showed his pain, like any normal person, but he got his cut super glued up, and did not miss his next shift and played the whole game. Another example would be Jeff Carter, from the Los Angeles Kings. He caught a puck to the face, lost a lot of teeth, blood everywhere and skated off the ice to the locker room. Did he miss the rest of the game? Did he complain after the game that he was hurt and could not really get back into the game? NO! He came back the next period with teeth missing and played the rest of the game. Hockey players get cross checked into the boards, some get up right away, others wait until they hear the whistle. Skate to the bench to recoup and boom, back out there. Hockey players take massive hits in nearly every game. Some hits are worse than a football tackle. Skaters coming at you with a full head of steam to clobber you into next week, but that does not stop them. Hockey players play back to back games in the season, get hurt the night before and are back in the following game.

By no means am I talking about serious injuries to players, like broken bones or concussion. I understand players do get really hurt in both sports and would not expect them to come in a play in those circumstances. Mainly focusing on the minor injuries that occur. Seems to be that more football players complain and sit out dude to a stiff back or an ankle sprain versus the hockey guys.

That is my rant for this week, let's see what happens in the upcoming week for me to rant about. Maybe it will be about the fact that Philly radio can not move on from the Eagles season being over, or the never ending debate of Foles. Whatever it is, I will rant about it.



CroJack

NBA Is Back!

With the NBA season returning in a week, there are plenty of story lines to go around.  Players are returning from injuries, big time players are moving to different cities, and big time franchises in the same city are battling it out for supremacy.

Derrick Rose is returning to the Bulls this season after tearing his ACL in the playoffs the season before last.  Rose is one of the most electrifying players in the NBA and it will be a welcomed return.  Not only is Rose returning after healing up for a season, he gets matched up with the two time defending champs the Miami Heat.  This will be a great match up to see how Rose responds to being out for a year and also to see two top tier teams from the east battle it out.

Over on the west coast there has been the "battle for LA" which isn't so much on the court as it is off.  Recently the Clippers have covered up some retired jerseys and championship banners in the rafters with banners of the Clippers starting 5 and the 6th/7th man.  Many Lakers fans have been up in arms about this move but it will probably only be during Clippers games and the regular banners will be up all other times.  Having said that, I have read the Staples center has way more of a Clippers feel to it when you walk in the stadium and you can smell the rebuild aroma of the Lakers organization coming.

Back over to the North East you have Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett who will take their final shots at another championship as a part of the Brooklyn Nets.  The two all-stars made their way over to Brooklyn, in the off-season, from Boston.  Nets have a new coach in ex-player Jason Kidd and are looked at as being one of the top teams in the east.  This should being a fun-filled east coast conference.

Finally, there are the teams that made some "roster changes" in the off-season that are hoping to be able to score big in the lottery.  A few teams that have no shot at making the playoffs seem to be unloading mediocre talent to free up some space for the big time players that are coming out of the draft next year and some free agents that will be on the market in a few years.  It should be a interesting season and an even more interesting off-season to come.


Who do you think will win the chip this year??


ski

The Black Mamba

Kobe Bryant, one of the most loved and hated individuals in the NBA. Mostly hated on now by the teenagers who can't remember him destroying everything in his path for the last 17 seasons. To them, they only notice LeBron James, because he is now the face of the league and is shoved in everyone's face by ESPN and others.

Kobe Bryant has accomplished everything you can in the NBA, 5 titles, 2x finals MVP, 2x NBA scoring champ, NBA MVP, 15x All-Star, 9x all defensive team, 2x Olympic Gold medalist and the list goes on and yet he still gets doubted. If anything, the doubting seems to fuel Kobe, who is entering his 18th NBA season and coming off an achilles tendon injury. He seems to improve every year and for someone who is 35, he does not show any signs of letting up. His heart and soul are still driving him to this game. He is 4th on the all time scoring list for the NBA and could very well pass Michael Jordan, who is arguably the best player of all time, for 3rd place this season. He is only 675 points away from doing this, so it does not seem that far off, coming off a season where he scored 2,133 points.

People have always said that he had help in winning his 5 titles and they try to take that away from his talents and what he accomplished in those seasons. But, the same goes for every NBA champion and other greats in history. Jordan had Pippen and Rodman, LeBron has Wade and Bosh, Larry Bird had Parrish and McHale, and Magic had Kareem, so that excuse is irrelevant.

This upcoming season could be Kobe's last or it may not be, but just know he will do everything that his talents allow him in pursuing his 6th title  Whenever he plays this season, he is going to leave it all on the court, as he does every single night. You can not take away from his toughness and his determination and will to win games. He may shoot the ball more than anyone else on his team and sometimes the league, but if you look at his current team, you would too. Call him selfish, a ball hog, old, injury prone, whatever you want, Kobe Bryant will still go down as one of the greatest to ever play the game, and for me and many others, one of the best we have ever witnessed.



CroJack