Around The Horn

The NCAA Tournament is Awesome! Regular Basketball is good to watch. Playoff Basketball is even better, but if they are not careful they will alienate their fans and drive away viewers by trying to accommodate the TV networks. Ironic as it may be, it is funny that postponing the starts of series to fit the TV lineups better there are large gaps in the time between the end of one series and the beginning of another. Granted, when a team sweeps and the other series goes 7 there is going to be a long layoff, that can’t be helped. For instance Orlando is waiting for the winner of the Celtics and the Cavs (2-2) but the Lakers and Suns are both done and ready for the Conference Finals but that doesn’t begin until next Monday, a 6 day layoff. That is a lot of time for rust and a long time for fans to stay interested. Especially when the weather is starting to get nice. The NBA is playing with fire and does so every year.

3 teams have been down this round in the Stanley Cup Playoffs 3-0 or 3-1. 2 of the 3 series are still going on and in each one it is/ or was very conceivably the team that moves onuntil last night when the Canucks failed to show up and got blown out 5-1. The Canadiens, Canucks and Flyers have all been on the brink of elimination but now 2 of the 3 have a legitimate chance in making the improbable comeback. At the very least they are ensuring that we get to see some more games, but they are also adding to the excitement of an already great playoffs so far. The first round was good, and the second is holding serve and keeping the quality and entertainment level high.

Just when you think that they are starting to do things right the Bengals make a questionable move to bring in Pacman Jones. The team was bad on the field for a long time. Then they got better on the field, then a bunch of players started to get arrested. At one point it was like you couldn’t go a couple of days without hearing about a player in some hot water. Production began to drop on the field and now it is like they are just looking for players with checked pasts to fill out the lineup. The thinking in Cincinnati is anyone’s guess. If Michigan plays in the Big House I guess that the Cincinnati Bengals play in the Half Way House.

A New Zealander gave new meaning to the golfing term ‘hazard’ when he fell from a cliff while searching for his ball. The 66-year-old sustained serious injuries but was in a stable condition. The man fell 30 metres onto seaside boulders and was only discovered a good time later after his golf cart was noticed. The man was playing alone at the time. Between cliff’s in New Zealand and Gators in Florida nobody can say that golf is not a dangerous game.

Sad End To A Troubled Player

This time the story about a pro athlete involved in a domestic disturbance/traffic incident has become more of a real story and more serious then that of the Tiger Woods situation. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police have said that Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chris Henry has died, one day after suffering serious injuries upon falling out of the back of a pickup truck. Authorities have describe the events that led to the accident as a domestic dispute with his fiancee.

Henry was suspended in 2007 for half of the season -- as part of a toughening of the league’s conduct policy. This came on the heals of his a fifth arrest. He had had trouble with the law and character issues dating back to his time in college. Throughout his career, his temper and poor decisions got him in trouble.

Henry was not with the team after he broke his left forearm during a win over Baltimore on Nov. 8. He had surgery and was placed on season-ending injured reserve following the game. That was the reason that he was in Charlotte at the home of his fiancee’s parents, where it is believed that the incident began.

It is sad at anytime that news like this happens, especially to a high profile athlete. Sure this type of thing probably happens a lot in one way or another in society and doesn’t even get second mention. Just because it was some what of a celebrity that it happened to that it gets the extra exposure but it is still a shame. For a player who had all the potential in the world to be a real star in the NFL he just couldn't shake his demons and maybe that could have ultimately led to this tragic end. Leaving behind his young children is also overlooked. It is also too bad that he will not be remembered for much of what he did on the football field but all his off field indiscretions and arrests. His tarnished image are unfortunately what people are going to remember.

Around The Horn

Helio Castroneves won the Indianapolis 500 and was able to take a drink of that delicious victory milk. This was the 3rd time he has won the historic race.
This was a great win for Castroneves, just the fact that he was available to participate after avoiding a possible 6 year jail term for tax evasion only a week or so before and survived a stint on Dancing with the Stars (which he won). Just goes to show that a good team and a fast car can beat the field and the IRS.

Whoever green-lighted the new Fox show Michael Strahan’s "Brothers" must be out on a limb, or should be on a ledge. It will be very interesting to see how this show will go but it has the potential to be a train wreck. Strahan is not your typical actor type, sure it has Darryl "Chill" Mitchell but that can’t be enough to hold this show together I wouldn’t think.
Maybe they should have waited until next year and they could have cast Strahan with Prime Time wannabe actor/dancer and occasional DE Jason Taylor, you know, after he bows out of the NFL after his recent return to Miami.

Michael Vick has been released from jail and since there was no beds in the halfway house he was placed in basically house arrest where he will be monitored.
Now the rumors can begin on if there is a team that will take a chance on him to resume his position in the NFL. We can only presume that he was already asked to assume the position at some point over the last few years in the Big House (and we aren’t talking about the Big House in Michigan).

I was saddened to see that there was soccer on my TV for a brief few seconds. I thought with the Setanta Network that I don’t have access to I could avoid it, guess not. People say that soccer is the most popular game in the world... My response to that is if it is in fact true then they don’t need me to watch it or have any interest in it.

Miami Dolphins defensive end Randy Starks has been charged with using his truck to hit a police officer.
I can’t see Bill Parcells being too happy with that behavior. Does Starks think he is a Cincinnati Bengal or something, is he wrangling for a trade perhaps? Lets hope that the rest of the ‘Fins can keep it on the straight and narrow.

Jose Canseco looking for an MMA career I guess (but more likley he needs more money). Canseco is set to fight seven-foot-two 330-pound super heavyweight Hong Man Choi of South Korea on the Dream 9 card Tuesday in Japan.
This is one of the reasons that I can’t get behind any MMA or UFC stuff. It is like WWE wrestling without the entertainment or showmanship. Canseco has already boxed Danny Bonaduce, from the Partridge Family to a draw. If that is the best you can do to Danny it may be fun to see versus a 330 pound dude.