Louisville Wins For Ware

Players on the Louisville Cardinals bench fell back in horror at the sight of their teammate’s horrific injury. 20-year-old guard, Kevin Ware, came down hard on his right leg after contesting a shot during Sunday night’s tournament game against Duke. It looked like his leg snapped in half like a tree branch. Players kneeled to cry and pray as their teammate lay on the court rocking in pain. It was pretty intense to watch. I hadn’t seen a reaction like that to an injury in a while.

After being carted off the court, the 6-foot-2 sophomore was taken to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis for a two-hour surgery. Although the injury was so gruesome that replays weren’t being shown, the college star is expected to make a full recovery. In fact, he’s already up and moving around on crutches. Louisville’s senior athletic director for media relations, Kenny Klein, tweeted photos of Ware standing on crutches wearing his Cardinals cap.

Ware’s courage and strength inspired players and fans alike.  According to Cardinals head coach, Rick Pitino, Ware instructed his teammates to “just go win the game” as he lay on the court rocking in pain. His teammates took his words to heart. The Cardinals beat Duke (85-63) to advance to the NCAA final four in Atlanta. Ware will definitely be out for the rest of the season but doctors say he could be back within 1 year. 

Kevin Ware's Injury Something Bears' Michael Bush Can Relate To

We all either saw or heard at one point or another about Louisville basketball player Kevin Ware's gruesome injury. 

If you haven't...you might need to get out from under your rock and check it out...only if you have the stomach for it!

It was one of the most, if not, THE worst injury I think we've seen in a while. But for Bears' running back, Michael Bush, it hit a little close to home. 

Bush, who also attended Louisville and played football, suffered a similar injury in his first game of his senior year season in 2006.

After Ware's injury, the Twitterverse went crazy. 

Fellow Louisville alum, Bush, also chimed in on the injury and wrote: "Oohhh [expletive] I just cried. I feel so bad. #flashback of myself. Anyone if he needs anything please let me know. #teamware. I can't even get myself together. I don't even wanna watch the rest of this game. His life just changed"(Twitter). 

Just like Bush, Ware underwent surgery and had a metal rod inserted into his leg Sunday night. 

Thankfully, Ware's surgery was successful and even earned a phone call from Bush himself. 

Bush took to Twitter again Monday night and said: "Just spoke with #KevinWare n told me he already up on crutches. #Superhuman (Twitter). 

                                                                    Picture via Twitter

And despite the injury, Louisville did end up winning and earned a trip down to the Final Four. 

It's great seeing people like Bush supporting Ware because it's times like these that you need your support system the most. 

It's unfortunate, but sometimes, it takes a tragedy to bring people together. 

Hawks are still flying above Ducks

 

The Chicago Blackhawks remain in first place with a shootout win tonight, claiming the two needed points to stay ahead of the Anaheim Ducks. The Hawks are currently at 57 points with the Ducks close behind with 53.

The Blackhawks faced the Nashville Predators tonight at home in Chicago.

Chicago built a 2-0 lead in the game up until the third period when the Hawks defensive game fell apart. Nashville’s Legwand and Beck snuck two pucks past Crawford, tying up the game.

With no goals made in overtime they went into a shootout. Towes and Rozsíval score in shootout to win 2 to 1 in shootout for the Blackhawks.

Game ended 3-2 Blackhawks.

After coming off a 7-1 win against the Detroit Redwings, the Blackhawks have recorded four points and two wins in their last two games. The Hawks are certainly reminding us of the team we experienced earlier in the season with the 21-0-3 record.

Thirteen games are left for the 1st place Chicago Blackhawks. On Thursday the Hawks will face the St. Louis Blues.

Crosby Out Indefinitely

It's been a rough week for professional athletes. Everyone nearly lost their lunch looking at Kevin Ware's gruesome leg injury, and he's not the only one that's going to be recovering on the bench for awhile.
The Philadelphia Penguins announced Sunday that their star athlete Sidney Crosby is going to be out for awhile.
Crosby is out indefinitely thanks to another brutal injury.
A flying hockey puck whacked Crosby in the mouth in his game last Saturday against the New York Islanders.
Crosby immediately fell to the ice with a bloody face and was rushed to the hospital.
Penguins manager Ray Shero visited Crosby in the hospital and said he was in good spirits.
Thankfully he is not showing any symptoms of a concussion.
Crosby has missed out on a decent amount of game time over the past two years due to concussions.
Crosby has been leading the league this season with 41 assists and 56 points.
Hopefully Crosby has a speedy recovery and this injury doesn't affect his reign.

Kevin Ware's Injury

Did you see one of the most gruesome injuries in sports history? Well, if you didn’t then consider yourself lucky.

It happened with less than seven minutes to play in the first half of the Louisville-Duke Elite Eight game. As Duke guard Tyler Thornton shot a three from the wing Louisville guard Kevin Ware jumped up to contest the shot and then landed wrong on his right leg. Ware’s leg broke in two different places and he was taken to the hospital.

It happened right in front of the Louisville bench and this was their reaction.

In a time of disbelief and sadness, the Louisville Cardinals came together and beat Duke 85 to 63.  Cardinal forward Chane Behanan held Ware’s number five jersey in front of the Final Four Trophy as the team was celebrating the win. Louisville made sure they won the game so Ware, who’s from Atlanta, can go back home to Atlanta for the Final Four and cheer his teammates on.

Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino said after the game to CBS Reporter Tracy Wolfson, “We went over to him and while his bone was sticking out of his skin, he kept saying win the game, win the game.”

Ware just broke his leg in two different places and the only thing he can think of it is to tell his teammates to win the game. If that doesn’t give you chills and goose bumps then I don’t know if you have a heart.

 I would show video but due to the severity of the injury I will not post it. Ware broke his leg in two different places and the bone was sticking out as he was lying on the court surrounded by his teammates. If you haven’t seen it and have the heart to watch a horrific injury then you can find it on YouTube.

Warning: If you have seen the Joe Theismann injury and didn’t have the stomach for it then you seriously want to avoid watching Ware’s injury.

Sports fans don’t tend to agree on everything but I’m sure everyone is on the same page when it comes to the Ware injury.

Get well soon and our prayers are with you. 

Another loss for the Bulls

Monday night the Bulls lost 119-118 in overtime against the Denver Nuggets. Monday's game has to be one of the most controversial games in awhile. With 3.2 seconds left on the clock, Joakim Noah flew over the Nugget's forward, Wilson Chandler, to tip the ball in for what should have been a game-winner. Unfortunately for the Bulls...the referees reviewed the play and determined it a constituting offensive basket interference. Fans went wild when that call was made. With that loss and four players still out, including Derrick Rose, the Bulls are not looking so good. The Bulls did start their season off strong. Fans are still hopeful but with many of their key players out due to injuries, it seems as if this might be shorter season than expected. The talk of Rose coming back is still up in the air but the bigger question is if he should just wait until next season... Many feel that it is too late for him to try and come back now. Fans feel that he should take the extra time to be on his A-game next season. The Bulls are set to play the Portland Trail Blazers this Thursday at 7pm with home-game advantage. Hopefully they step it up and bring us a win.

Miami Heat Continue Their Streak

LeBron James and the Miami Heat aren’t necessarily trying to rewrite NBA history but they’re certainly inching close. Last night’s win against the Boston Celtics put the Heat ten games away from the longest winning streak in the history of the sport. The Los Angeles Lakers currently hold the number one spot for their 33 game winning streak in 1971.

The Heat broke the Houston Rockets’ record for second longest winning streak with last night’s win but, head coach Erik Spoelstra is determined to keep his team focused and “in the moment.”

For the first half of the game it seemed like the Heat’s streak may have been in jeopardy but they climbed out of a 17-point deficit and brought it home in the end.

Despite Jeff Green’s huge scoring night it all came down to LeBron James’ 21-foot score during the final 10 seconds of the game.

The next stop for the Miami Heat is in Cleveland, Ohio. They’ll face off with the Cavaliers on Wednesday night for a chance to continue their streak. If they come out on top that will be 24 straight wins for the Miami Heat. 

Monday Chicago Sports Outcomes

The Bulls rollercoaster season continued tonight, with a loss to the Dever Nuggets. What seemed like a good basket in over time was called off my the referees for offensive goaltending.

Marco Belinelli tossed a baseline shot to the basket with 1.7 seconds left in over time. The Nuggets were up 119-118. Joakim Noah saw the ball coming in short and tipped the ball into the hoop. What seemed like the game winning field goal, was disallowed after review by the referees.

Tom Thibodeau's head looked like it was going to blow up. This makes for the 7th Bulls loss in the last 11 games.

While the Bulls weren't doing so hot, the other guys who call the United Center home, were making Chicago fans proud.

The Chicago Blackhawks faced the Colorado Avalanche this evening. Blackhawks were looking for revenge after giving their first loss of the season to the Avalanche earlier this month.

The Blackhawks got off to a hot start scoring two goals in the first five minutes and it was smooth sailing from there.

The Blackhawks now 24-2-3, show no signs of slowing down after their 5-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche in Colorado.

The Blackhawks face the second-place Anaheim Ducks Wednesday night. This will be the biggest game of the season.

The Bulls next match-up is Thursday against the Portland Trailblazers.

Baltimore Ravens May Not Host NFL Kickoff Because Of The Baltimore Orioles

It's been a tradition since 2004 for Super Bowl-winning teams to host NFL's Thursday night season opener. But unfortunately for the 2012 champs, the Baltimore Ravens, they may not get that chance...no thanks to the Baltimore Orioles. 

The Orioles have a 7:05 p.m. game against the Chicago White Sox and because the two teams share a parking lot, both teams playing at the same time is impossible.

The Ravens have reached out and have tried to compromise with the Orioles and have even suggested playing a football-baseball double header. 

The Ravens President Dick Cass reached out to fans on Twitter and said, "We have had discussions with representatives of the Orioles and we have offered to make them financially whole. We've left it there. Now the commissioner [Goodell] is trying to find if he can find a solution"(Twitter). 

The NFL has moved games to Wednesday nights in the past with last year's Democratic National Convention, but Goodell says that moving it to a Wednesday this year is not an option with the Rosh Hashanah holiday falling on the same day. If the Orioles won't work with the Ravens, the Super Bowl-winning team will have no choice but to have a starting game on the road. 

The Orioles and the Ravens have certainly found themselves in a pickle, but it's actually funny that it's gotten to this point. The MLB over the NFL? In what country does that make sense? Not this one.

The Orioles need to remember what kind of baseball team they used to be before their one successful season in 2012. Let's not forget that this is the same team that has consistently lost 93 games each season since 2006. They have one successful season last year and now they're being divas? 

Listen up Orioles, you're lucky the Ravens, let alone the media, are even giving you the time of day. You can have your spotlight when you can beat the Yankees and win the division. Until then, let's give the real winners the night they deserve.

Mistakes Cost Games

I was 13 and in sixth grade when my dad last coached me in baseball.  I can remember a time very vividly.  My team was in first place the whole season.  We had only lost  a total of two games all year long.  We were in our last game before the playoffs started and losing to the fourth place team.  I was standing on second base with only one out.  The batter at the time hit a high ball into the outfield.  With no hesitation I took off for third.  I remember my dad yelling, "Go Back, Go Back", but it was too late.

My dad made me run around the outside of the field for 5 laps to ensure that I never made that mistake again.  I can only hope the Puerto Rico Coach made Maldonado run a few extra laps for his base running error against the Dominican Republic.  In a one nothing ball game I can understand a player doing this in regular season play.  You do need to make up that one run.  But it is unacceptable when the game was as big as this one was.  Every player on the PR baseball is an offensive threat.

Dumb mistakes cost games. This running error is something expected of little league players. I think Puerto Rico is lucky to still be playing after losing that game and having to go against a strong team USA again.  PR is now going to go up against the winner between DR and the Netherlands.  And if they don't figure out how to run the bases like professional baseball player, they will be beat.  By either team.

My team ended up losing that game and still finishing the season in first place.  So my running mistake did not cost our team any great amount.  But I never made a running error like that again.  And I can only hope Maldonado will do the same.  

Lets go Puerto Rico!

Nick Diaz disrespects GSP

The week before the big UFC welterweight championship fight, the media interviewed both contenders. When Georges St. Pierre (GSP) was asked his thoughts on the fight, he said how Nick Diaz was a good fighter and how he was going to be a tough person to fight. He was giving Nick compliments, and out of nowhere Nick decided to be his own ill-mannered, disrespectful, un-classy individual that he is. He started talking smack about how he was going to crush Pierre. Pierre laughed and said, "You really think I'm scared of you man, are you crazy in your head?" It was a bad move on Diaz to talk down to arguably the greatest mixed martial artist of all time. He portrayed himself as the enemy, instead of a good sportsmanship fighter. They didn't even pound gloves before the fight. It was on a personal level. Diaz talked all that smack only to get demolished for five rounds. Then, after all the hype was over...Diaz announced his retirement. GSP remained humble after maintaining his title. He still also gave respect to Nick Diaz after he won even though he didn't do the same. If Diaz won it would of been bad for the UFC.

March Madness

It's March and that means millions of NCAA Tournament brackets are being filled out. Every fan hopes their school wins the championship and their bracket is as perfect as possible so they can cash in at the end. 

People will fill out only one and others will fill out dozens, but it doesn't matter how many you fill out because predicting a perfect bracket is almost impossible. According to TurboTax, you've got a one in 35.36 billion chance of filling out a perfect bracket. So, don't get mad when the 12-seed beats the five-seed you've got advancing. 

There is one fact that's still true about the NCAA Tournament. There has never been a 16-seed that's beaten a one-seed, but is this the year it'll happen? Odds are no, because it hasn’t happened, but then again never say never. 

The fanatics want buzzer-beaters, they want big upsets, but when the team they had winning the championship gets upset, well then they’re unpleasant to be around.  They are ripping their brackets into pieces as they yell out every possible curse word, and swearing they won't watch another game. They have a serious case of March Madness. 

Just remember one thing.

You can’t possibly be madder than the coaches, players and staff members who get upset by a lower seed.

This is still about college teams trying to win a national title, but what happens along the way no one can truly predict. That’s the beauty of it and that’s why everyone watches.