Author Archives: VicJohUSMC86
Teens found guilty of Rape in Steubenville, Ohio
Two Steubenville, Ohio teens were charged Sunday afternoon with the rape of a 16 year old girl. Trent Mays age 17 and Ma’lik Richmond age 16 will both be serving time in a juvenile detention center for at least one year to a year and a half or possibly until they both turn 21. The reason for the juvenile detention center is of course because both the boys involved were teenagers when this crime was committed. Trent Mays was also charged with Disseminating nude pictures for posting the pictures and video on Social Media sites. Both Mays and Richmond are star football players on Steubenvilles Big Red football program.
So lets get to the actual incident its self. I have my own personal beliefs on what happened and my opinions as well. Let me start off by saying “No woman should ever have to deal with this type of pain” no matter what the circumstances are. So please don’t think I’m okay with rape and sexual abuse on anyone. All the kids involved in this case (Mays, Richmond and the victim) were partying and enjoying some end of the school year parties with other friends and at different locations. Sounds like innocent teen fun to this point, but some how alcohol becomes involved and that’s when things start to take a turn I assume.
Here at The40cast.com we drink a lot of beer and alcohol and by no means do we approve of or allow under-age drinking in any capacity. This is the Main problem I have with this entire situation. Where did these “Kids” get there alcohol from and don’t they realize that the drinking age in Ohio and pretty much the rest of the Country is the age of “21″. Is anyone in Law Enforcement even concerned about this part of the incident? As a parent myself I understand you want your kids to have a good-time but I believe the Police need to look into how these kids got there alcohol. Did someones parent buy this for them, did they steal it from a store or just out of the parents house to where the party’s were taking place? Once again as a parent of three kids and being involved in there lives I believe these kids needed adult supervision at these party’s and none was given.
The City of Steubenville is a “Football Mecca” in Ohio and is known for having some good athletes come from the program. The problem I have with the whole “Superstar athlete” thing is whether your an athlete or not Rape is a crime and punishable with Jail and or Prison time. If these “Superstar Athletes” or any Parent or school official thought these kids were not gonna be prosecuted just because they are athletes then that is a problem. It’s a very common problem in our society today but to me,a fixable problem. We as a society need to stop putting these High School athletes on a “pedestal” and start holding them responsible for there action of there perspective fields. We see it all the time on ESPN and other News outlets that an athlete is given a lighter sentence because of the simple fact that there an athlete.
I want my kids to be great athletes and great people. If they get in trouble or break the law they will be punished at home 1st and if the Law gets involved they will be punished as well. I raise my boys to be good people first and good athletes next. Where are we as Americans, as Citizen, as people and as fans going wrong? I love sports probably more than the common man but the rising rate of crime, drugs and drinking by all these athletes is getting out of control. It’s making me not want to be a sports fan. I want to quote a famous basketball player from the 80′s. “I am not a role model …just because I dunk a basketball doesn’t mean I should raise your kids”. Charles Barkley said it then and it should stand true today to everyone. Raise your kids right in the home and you as a Parent should always do the right things so your kids can look up to you and want to be just like you when they grow up.
In no way am I saying that the parents of all the kids involved didn’t do everything they could to raise there kids the right way but like I mentioned earlier, “Why did these kids have alcohol at these parties” but the question needs to be answered and hopefully the Police will get to the bottom of it and do something about it whether its prosecuting the person or persons who purchased the booze.
After the ruling was read to the courtroom the mother of the victim read a statement to everyone ” Human compassion is not taught by a Teacher, a Coach or a Parent. It is a God-given gift instilled in all of us. You displayed not only a lack of this compassion but a lack of any moral code”. That’s a deep statement and it should be meet with some deep and cruel feedback. I will give the cruel feedback: Why was no one supervising these parties? Why are kids under the age of 21 drinking alcohol? Why as a parent don’t you tell your kids right from wrong because obviously these boys didn’t realize that penetrating a females vagina while she was passed out drunk is wrong! Why didn’t these kids get taught that posting pictures of you in the act of a crime on Social Media is wrong?
As you all can tell I am very upset that this happened. Kids are going to be kids but Parents need to be involved in there kids lives and make sure things like this don’t continue to happen. Three kids lives have been ruined and this all could have been prevented I believe with just a little Parental Supervision. No matter how good of a student or an athlete your child is the drinking age in Ohio and the rest of the country is 21. If you as a parent disobey that than how are you going to get your child to obey the law?
*An Update today concerning this article:
http://fox8.com/2013/03/18/death-threat-made-against-steubenville-victim/
The Official: Call of Duty Black Op’s Review
This is my “Official Review” of Call of Duty Black Op’s Declassified for the Playstation Vita. The game was released on November 13th but I received my copy from Amazon.com on November 17th. Waiting four days for the game was killing me so next time I want a game really bad I will just pre-order it from Game-stop or somewhere locally so I will have it on “Day one Confirmed”.
I want to start with the Campaign Mode and my initial reaction to this mode. Well 1st off with Nihilistic making this game I felt right from the start like I was playing Resistance Burning Skies (and to me that wasn’t a bad thing). There were even time when I thought I seen Chimeran on the screen, in both the campaign mode and on the Multi-player mode. The graphics of the game at first glance were very good to me and the game-play was just outstanding. I do have an issue with the Artificial Intelligence in the Campaign Mode. They are as I heard from other people “retarded”. There are moments when you are advancing and the AI is stuck at a wall or some other type of object.
There are two different game play modes in the Campaign and they are Operations and Time trials. The Operations are similar to Spec Op’s in Modern Warfare2 and when you complete a level you get a star rating depending on how well you did. This could be something you could get back to at a later date after you’ve played and completed some other stuff. Everyone wants to three star levels so they can brag about it to there boys. I am not a big fan of Time Trials in any game so I didn’t get a chance to play this game type.
There are 10 levels in the campaign mode that are open after you complete the prior mission. Like I said before I think it felt like Resistance Burning Skies and also a little bit like Unit 13. Being the “terrible gamer” that I am it took me a couple tries to get through some of the levels and the bad thing is if you die during the level you have to start over at the beginning. There are no saves or objectives reached in this mode. This may be a killer for some but hopefully you can also get more enjoyment from the other modes as well.
The game mode Hostiles is sort of like a Horde mode with five levels and star rewarded based on how many kills you get during the match. 1 star= 30 kills 2 stars= 80 kills and 3 stars= 150 kills. Now that the Vita has group party’s and chat this could be a fun mode to play with all The 40cast fellas who pick this game up. I didn’t dive into this mode to much but I played enough to get a feel for what was going on.
The Multyiplayer Mode was a very big shock to me and I’m gonna tell you why here in a minute. You can find a Public Match as well as Party matchmaking. It has the things that make Call of Duty what it is like create a class. You can create up to five classes and of course you get better weapons, perks and equipment the more you rank up. The starter weapons are pretty good so when you start at a level one you can jump right in and start blasting fools. True to all COD games you gain rank very easy in the early stages to keep you competitive. The “near” classes is a pretty cool thing to. You can share your classes with people on Near and also get others from Near to. This is a very cool thing and should be looked into.
I mentioned that Nihilistic produced the game for Activision and everyone knows about all the problems of Resistance Burning Skies having to do with the multi-player but Declassified has none of those problems. The servers are up and running and there are plenty of people to play on-line with. The games do tend to take a while to start but you can arrange your classes while your waiting. I haven’t had any problem during game play with freezing or getting bumped out so far so lets just hope it stays that way.
So as you can tell by my review I am a “Big Fan” of this game and all that is has to offer. I do want to mention that this is a handheld game on an awesome device that not a lot of other devices can pull off. The Vita is at the top of the charts in my book for everything good a handheld device is supposed to do. I want to mention a fella that put out a review for Ign before the game was released and this guys name is Anthony Gallegos. I think his review was wrong and to me it just showed that he has bitterness in his heart. For everything that this game is he made it seem like it was supposed to be the console version and it is not. He needs to realize that there are a lot of people that take these “commercial/ large” websites at there word and there are gonna be a lot of people missing out on a solid game because he has bitter feelings be it Nihilistic or just the Playstation name. So do yourself a favor and consider purchasing this game for yourself and not just based on my review of the review from Mr. Anthony Gallegos.
On a scale from 1-10 I’m giving Call of Duty: Declassified a solid 7.
Congratulations Matt & Natasha
We here at The 40cast want to send our congratulations out to Matt White aka: Chtulu80 of The Open Forum Radio Family and his lovely Bride Natasha (Wells) White. We all wish you guys the best of luck on your new “Life Journey”. You guys are a great couple who understands each other and love each other. So cheers to you guys and Best Wishes.
Breaking News: Lebron’s Love child?
So I’m stting around at work this afternoon and talking with my co-workers and they ask me “have you seen the Lebron James baby rumors”. Of course I am curious as to what they are talking about and I start asking “No what is it” then my dude is like just Google, Lebron James Love child! So of course I do and to my amazement I see this lady who is a very popular face around the Cleveland Area and the Media and whom I’ve always thought was a “very sexy lady”. Well the articles I’m reading are saying this Lady lost her job with the News channel she was working for because of a Moral clause in her contract. Hmmm! Seems kind of weird to me but rumor has it that Lebron and this lady, Sharon Reed had been having a long standing relationship and it was common knowledge around the News Channels offices for a while. This relationship is said to have taken place while Lebron was with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
So at least a few years back this thing had gotten started and I believe the baby was born in December of 2011 and this lady Sharon Reed was fired while on Maternity leave in January. The relationship was also said to have continued after Lebron “took his talents to Southbeach”. So after Ms. Reed was fired she took her “vagina to Southbeach” and let the King take care of her. All the while “The King” has a fiancee’ and two children of there own as well. Hmmm, this is getting good. So Ms. Reed isn’t or hasn’t been looking for a job since her move to Miami and is believed to be taken care of by Lebron James and doesn’t need to worry about working.
*Before I continue my article I guess I need to say that this entire story is based on allegations and that nothing has been proven by a Paternity test or any other type of testing by any Doctors.
I have an awesome photo of Ms. Reed in all her bathing suit glory and I want to say “Lebron James is a lucky man to have been able to tap that ass”. So for a guy who loves a woman with curves, enjoy this picture.
Back to the topic at hand, so clear your head of any thoughts you may be having. She is “allegedly” be taken care of by The King. Ms. Reed also has a little bit of a historic background as well. She is know to have dated or to have been romantically involved with Robert De Niro and NBA player Aaron McKie of the Philadelphia Seventy- Sixers while being a News Reporter in Philadelphia also her hometown. She is also linked to former QB of the Eagles, Donovan McNabb as well. So looking as good as she does and as curvy as she is seem to be getting her noticed by some pretty influential people as well as athletes.
So the question that I have and a lot of other people have is “Are these allegations true or not”. Being the Lebron fan that I am I would really like to think that they are true and that if he is found to be the father of this child that he steps up and takes care of his responsibilities. I think with his recent engagement to his longtime girlfriend and high school sweetheart he is gonna have a lot of explaining to do. Rumor has it to that “allegedly” he only asked his longtime girlfriend to marry him after she found out about this love child.
The heat seemed to be turned on fully after The Miami Heat won there NBA Championship game a couple weeks ago and the girlfriend was seem sitting in the seats during the team celebration on the court. I guess we will find out the truth to all these “allegations” in the very near future and hopefully Lebron can clear up him so far Good name around the NBA.
*Stay tuned*
Check these links as well for more details.
http://blacksportsonline.com/home/2012/07/lebron-james-alleged-baby-mama-sharon-reed-threatened-woman-over-aaron-mckie/?pid=7004
http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/18560
A new Beginning for me
Now that the 2011-2012 NBA basketball season is over and the Miami Heat are the champions I want to start over again with the league. I think my two year hatred for Lebron James and “The Big three” has come to an end. Yes, reluctantly I need to let bygones be bygones and quit letting a group of three, well mainly one person, (Lebron James) keep me from watching a game that I grew up watching and loving from the late 70′s thru the 80′s and 90′s when basketball was at it best with some of the best athletes and now Hall of Famers.
Although I am not happy with the way The Miami Heat went about getting this “Super Team” together I still want to congratulate them on there Championship. Even though it was a strike shortened season you guys pulled it out in the final series and put the Oklahoma Thunder to sleep in five games. Although I didn’t watch any of the Play-offs at all, rumor has it that Oklahoma was just happy to be in the Finals and did make the statement that they are a young team ready to make a run at a title in the very near future. I think they have the core-group of players that they need to put them in place next year for another run but don’t ignore the Draft because there could be that special under-dog late in the first round that can put you over the top.
So in honor of the Miami Heat…Enjoy the Win!
To start off my New Beginning I will dedicate myself 100% to my hometown team The Cleveland Cavaliers and to the “Rookie Of The Year” Kyrie Irving. We are still in the rebuilding process with the Draft coming up this week but I will guarantee you that they will make a run for the Eastern Conference this coming season.
We didn’t play good last season and the team suffered a lot of injuries during the course of the year but my Dukkie Kyrie Irving was still able to show the world that a 19 year old can play this game at a high level against some of the worlds best players.
I was quiet all year and last year about the NBA but brace yourself because I am back and I’m with my Cavaliers for the long haul. See you guys in October on the hardwood and best of luck to Lebron James and The Miami Heat.
And the reason I don’t like the NBA is…
Because of players like Carmelo Anthony. How can a player dictate what coach stays or what coach goes? Today’s NBA is really getting out of hand! This guy has been dogging it every since he’s been back from an injury about two to three weeks ago. The shocking play of un-drafted point guard Jeremy Lin while Carmelo was injured was only the string that broke the camels back. Every basketball analyst knew that Carmelo was not gonna be able to co-exists with this guy on the floor upon his return. There 2-8 record since his return is proof that this wasn’t going to work. Jeremy Lin has still been playing good but Carmelo Anthony and Coach D’Antoni have been at odds during this slide at a level way above than before the injury and the birth of Lin-Sanity.
Before I begin let me make this point clear. *This is my personal opinion and mine only. I’m writing this because I need to get this off my chest. The NBA game is dead to me and this is one of the reasons why.
So it is common knowledge that Carmelo Anthony and former head coach Mike D’Antoni didn’t get along very well and that Carmelo wanted to get out of New York unless the Knicks front office got rid of D’Antoni. This morning after a team work-out led by Coach D’Antoni he decided to let the front office know of his plans to resign. He felt it best to let the organization know that he wasn’t going to continue coaching the team and he and the organization agreed. The problem that may have led to this decision by the coach was the fact that Jeremy Lin could run the D’Antoni offense better then Carmelo could and Mr. Anthony wasn’t to happy with that. So he decides to sabotage the team and stop putting in effort on the court and getting some of the other players to side with him and do the same thing. Which in turn has led to the team losing six games in a row and possibly putting to rest any hope of returning to the NBA play-offs in the summer. The team made it into the Play-off last year only to get knocked out of the first round by the Boston Celtics.
It was obvious to Coach that the team was up to something simply by the fact that the team hasn’t been able to win with the best player on the court. Along with the “Superstar” Carmelo Anthony the team also has Amar’e Stoudemire salary $18.2m, Tyson Chandler salary $13.1m and Baron Davis a bunch of highly paid, under-achieving athletes. Since all of this losing has been going on in the past few weeks our buddy Carmelo has been quoted as saying to a personal aquaintance “I wouldn’t be to upset about being traded out of New York”. Only to turn around today and say that those rumors aren’t true, He also denied that he and the former head coach are at odds. So pretty much he is saying he has nothing to do with any of this.
My problem with all of this is that the Coaches, the Teams, the organization and even the NBA are letting things like this go on. They let these players go out there and play at a blatant lower level and complain about there coaches and how hard the coach makes them practice and show up late to practice and dictate what team and what players they want to play with and even what city they play in. This has become a big issue to me every since Carmelo, Lebron and Dwayne Wade first got into the league. It continues to be like a virus to me and it’s only pushing me away from this sport. I consider myself old-school in a sense but I love the talent that these young athletes have but I just don’t think this “behavior” is good for the game of basketball. I believe there are a lot of other people out there that feel the same way I do, but if I’m wrong thats fine. Personally I will not watch NBA basketball anymore. This is my second year of no NBA and I can honestly say that I don’t miss it. I bet your thinking, well then why are you complaining about what Carmelo and any of these guys are doing? The answer for that question is that ESPN and all other sports networks are eating this stuff up. I can’t get away from it so I have to speak up.
If I were the Commissioner of the NBA and I knew that this stuff was going on I would fine these guys and suspend them for multiple games. I would treat them like the children that they act like. I’ve heard this saying a lot in sports in the past “Don’t let the inmates run the asylum” and thats exactly what the NBA is doing. There giving these Millionaire players to much power and there taking away from the purity of the game. Players like Micheal Jordan, Dr. J, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird and even Bill Russel and Wilt Chamberlain, the guys that made this league should be disgusted by the way things are now. Do you think they would have sabotaged a game or a season just to get rid of the coach? Do you think any of these guys would have said “I want Magic and Bird and Dr.J on my team so we can win 6, 7, or 8 Championships and be the “Greatest Team ever”? I don’t think that’s how they did things back in there day. They played at a high level every time they stepped on the court and they always got the best out of the team they were given. That’s not happening today and I’m ashamed of the NBA for taking that from me.
So in closing I want to say that maybe one day I will watch the NBA again but for now and until they start to fix this game and stop letting players decide who stays or who goes and what Coach they’ll play for or not, I am out! To Carmelo Anthony and to the New York Knicks you guys should be ashamed of yourselves for driving a coach as good as Mike D’Antoni is away from a game that he’s loved for so long. A game that he helped to forge for all of you guys to play in. Show some respect for that and quit being so selfish and childish and do what your paid to do and ” Shut-up” and play!
The 40cast presents the PsVita Roundtable Discussion
In this special edition of The 40cast myself (Vicjohusmc86) and DeviousMrMatt are joined by a few great guys to discuss the Playstation Vita. Joining us are JVB of Talking About Games, SoldierX and Tg1_eddie of Thats Our Opinion and Talking About Games and Open Forum Radio’s own Chtulu80 from Guide Post.
We get pretty in-depth on all aspects of the new Vita from our initial reaction to having it in our hands to Sony better not mess this up! We talk about the day one game release and our likes and dis-likes of those games. Why the rear touch pad is so hard to get used to and why did they put the front camera right there?
We also get into the Social aspects of the Vita and how awesome Live Tweet is and the awesomeness that is Near. This is Tg1_eddies favorite thing. The fact that the Vita can have cross-game chat and the Ps3 can’t is also something that will probably turn into a long going conversation on future 40cast. What happened to Facebook on day2 of the release and how it miraculously appeared again on Thursday.
To close thing up we all give the Vita a letter grade on the release and of the system itself. The grades are all pretty good but knowing Sony and how they do things I’m sure this grade could change in a couple weeks but they will forever be on this podcast.
Thanks again to JVB, SoldierX, Chtulu80, Tg1_eddie and of course to DeviousMrMatt for taking time out of your busy Beer Drinking Friday to join me in talking about this awesome new device.
I hope you enjoy the show!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (0.0KB)
This weeks Hot Sport topics
I think I may start a new thing for www.The40cast.com by starting a weekly or random posting of some popular sports topics going on in the world of sports. So my first posting will begin with Chris Paul and then a bit on The James Harrison hit on my Quarteback for the Cleveland Browns, Colt McCoy. I will also try a talk a little Major League Baseball and the National League MVP Ryan Braun and also the “Hottest Quarterback” in the NFL, Tim Tebow. So I hope you enjoy this article and the weekly updates as well. Please leave a comment after you read so I can make these articles better as I move ahead.
My man Chris Paul is first on the list of topics today and what an interesting last couple of weeks we have had with this young man, a rising star in the NBA. It was first rumored a couple weeks ago that Chris was gonna be traded to the Los Angeles Lakers but with all the gripping and Contract negotiations that had taken place all summer and fall the Commissioner David Stearn decided to put the “squash” on that trade. I personally believe that he did that to keep some type of parity in the NBA with the small market teams. It was said that a lot of other team owners called upon the commissioner to stop this trade. Well he took the advice of these owners and stopped it.
In true NBA fashion the teams and the players involved in this trade were upset that it didn’t happen. Those most vocal about the no-trade were Kobe Bryant and Lamaar Odom. Kobe was mad because he didn’t get the much needed point guard and also mad because the Lakers got rid of Lamaar and got nothing for him. It took most of last week and some of this week to finally get Chris Paul traded and on a new team. The winners in the Chris Paul trade were the Los Angeles Clippers (the LA step child) where they have the young and rising Superstar in Blake Griffin. I don’t know how well this team will play this year with these to guys on the floor but I think they will be a top contender within the next couple of years. That is if you are fan of the NBA and will watch this team grow for a couple of years. I’m still deciding If I want to be a NBA fan anymore.
On to my Cleveland Browns quarterback Colt McCoy and the massive hit that he took from James Harrison on Thursday night December 8, 2011 on The NFL Network. This has been the topic of all media outlets around the Cleveland area since that night. The talk has been based on “why did the Coach and the Medical staff put Colt back in the game?” It was obvious that he took a hard hit on the field because he didn’t get up for a good sixty seconds. Now I’m no medical professional but I believe the first thing the Medical Staff should have done was check him for concussion and not the injured hand he sustained on the same play. All pictures I seen after the hit show the medical staff looking at his hand. So the poor kid is on the sidelines for two plays, yes I said “two plays” and they put him back in the game only for him to get sacked on his first play back and then on the second play back throw the game winning interception the the Steelers.
Cut to the Press conference after the game…. This poor kid is noticeably concussed and everyone in the room can tell. He is in such bad shape that the Medical Staff ask the Media to turn the lights down because they are bothering Colt. One question is asked to Colt and he says “well I guess the medical staff thought I was alright to go back in, I honestly don’t remember the hit or throwing the interception”. This to me is very troubling to hear, these people are paid to take care of these athletes and make sure there okay after suffering big hits or brain injuries. This Medical Staff and Coaching staff were neglectful in there jobs on that Thursday night.
Now cut to Wednesday afternoon to a press conference Team President Mike Holmgren has to clear up this concussion issue and put it to rest with the Cleveland media. This guy gets in front of everyone and tells us that “no one seen the hit and that Colt only complained about his hand”. They didn’t conduct the NFL mandated concussion test on this poor guy but went on to tell the media after further questioning and dis-belief that “if your not with us, then you are against us and when play-off tickets are need don’t come looking for any from him”. The arrogance of this guy is unbelievable. The team is now where near ever going to the play-offs. I personally believe that Pat Shurmur, Mike Holmgren and the entire medical staff should be fired for there action on Thursday night and in the 5-7 days after the hit. There neglect was so bad that in prompted the NFL to send Union representative and Player Reps. to the Cleveland facility to conduct there own investigations.
You all know that I am not a Steeler fan and I’m not gonna sit here and tell you that James Harrison is a dirty player in general but I believe that the hit on Colt McCoy was a dirty hit and he deserves his one game suspension and possibly more games if it continues to happen. As a ffotball fan I would take James Harrison on my team any day with open arms.
I’m not a big baseball guy but this news story has been at the fore front of News for the past 7-10 days and it’s about The National Leagues MVP for 2011, Milwaukee Brewers Ryan Braun. He has tested positive for a Performance Enhancing Drug on the banned substance list. He is also facing a 50 game suspension for his positive test results.
The word around Brewers country is there is a story behind this positive test and the truth will come out shortly. People are also saying that Ryan Braun doesn’t fit the mold of the typical steroid abuser in the MLB. He’s a small guy in statcher and he hits the long ball not with large muscles but with a quick bat and a sweet swing. How many times have we heard that by these cheating baseball players? I guess we will all see how this story turns out.
Last but certainly not least is the “Hottest QB in the NFL” Tim Tebow. What is up with this young man and with everything he is doing on the football field for his Denver Broncos? This guy was not supposed to do this, he wasn’t supposed to be able to win in the NFl, his mechanics were supposed to be un-fixable. He was supposed to be a failure in everyones eyes.
Well he is not a failure, he has won seven of his games started this year and came from behind to win them all. His game statistics aren’t the best in the first three quarters of the games but in the NFL the only thing that matters is the win and he continues to win.
His Coach John Fox has changed the offense to help this guy succeed and the team President John Elway is behind this guy. Fans like my self wonder if John Elway is behind him let him know that he is watching him and waiting for him to fail so he can trade him away but for now its winning as usual for Tim Tebow and for the Denver Broncos.
They have a real test this week when The New England Patriots head to the Mile High City and show them what its like to play a real powerhouse. They want to see if the “Tebow-time” is for real. Can the Broncos beat the Patriots and make a run to the Play-offs? We will see this Sunday.
Happy Thanksgiving from The 40cast
As the Founder of The 40cast I want to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving and may your time with family and friends be memorable and filled with plenty of turkey and stuffing and all the wonderful dishes that Thanksgiving has to offer.
While you celebrate the holiday please take a moment and think about all the Military men and woman who keep us safe everyday. While you bless your food and tell everyone what your thankful for don’t forget that our Soldiers and Sailors are making this day possible for us all. Say a little prayer for them or a kind word to let them know they are appreciated.
This is family time and please enjoy all the time with your kids and your wives or husbands, your Moms and Dads, your GrandPa’s and GrandMa’s and even a family in need of a hot meal or even just some acknowledgement. Be thankful for your family and also remember that there are a lot of people out there with no one. If you feel it in your spirit or your soul to help a needy family please do so. This is the season for giving and the season for sharing so never forget that.
If your a drinker like us at The 40cast we want everyone to please Drink Responsibly this holiday season and be careful on the roads because there will be a lot of people not drinking responsibly. Buckle those seat belts and get your families to do the same.
We hope to see you all next friday or saturday with another crazy episode of The 40cast.
Enjoy The Holiday!
What about “The Love of the Game”?
In this “Business” we call sports where has the Love for the game gone? Why did games with such enjoyment and team work turn into “Entertainment” a “Business” a “Job” and “going to the Office”? I like many of you are seeing the main reason for sports go right out the window because all sports are now is kids trying to entertain us and to see how much money they can make before there careers are over.
My question to you all is ” Why don’t all athletes play for the love of the game”. I looked at the NFL season almost become none existent because of greedy players and also because of greedy owners. I’m seeing the same thing happen to the NBA and it’s players and Unions not wanting to play just because they aren’t getting what they call “there fair share of the money being made off there names” for these teams that they play for. The way the NCAA has become all because of the mighty dollar.
I wanna first talk about the NFL and whats it’s become I think since free agency started way back when. The crazy salaries these young athletes were getting right out of college and before they even played a down in the NFL was getting totally out of control, although I am glad the Owners and the Union came to a salary cap agreement in the summer. I still think these top 5-6 players drafted are still making to much money. I think there should be a base salary for every draft pick at least for there first two years and then they can negotiate a big deal with that team or any other team that wants them. The players should want to do this if not only to prove there worth but also because of there “Love for the Game”.
I know this is not the way it is or will ever be but this is how I feel. I know football players have a short shelf life in the NFL and wanna get paid as much as they can before there bodies start to fall apart but I want them to play for the love and if they do so the money will be there when there done playing. That leads me to my next point. Professional football players are always in the news for some type of violent crimes or being at the scene of a crime or any other bad thing that happens to normal citizens and they aren’t held responsible for there actions most of the time. I won’t use any names but let it be known that there are a lot of professional football players that have been involved with violent crimes, crimes involving alcohol and drugs, and domestic violence crimes as well.
I believe that Coaches and owners of these teams need to hold these guys responsible for there actions off the field as well as on the fields. Thats why I think they need a base salary to start there careers and then get top dollar once they have proved themselves. I think they will appreciate what they have more then instead of getting all kinds of money for not doing any thing except for what they did in college. Look at the history of these top players that got big 1st round pay checks and didn’t make it in the league. What if you were the owner of that team and you gave some athlete $50 million and he couldn’t play in the league?
Lets talk about the NBA and it’s on-going Lock-out. I believe this is Day 138 and it looks like there may not be an NBA season and why is that? I believe this is all because of some greedy players and some greedy owners. I pretty much gave up on the NBA last year anyway because of the “State of the NBA”, that being Lebron James leaving Cleveland (yes I’m a biter fan) and going to Miami and being apart of “The Super Team” and all that money the Miami Heat organization gave him and Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. This seems to be the way these young athletes are wanting things. Get all the best players and the most money and put them all on one team and the Rings and the Glory will follow. Well that’s what they thought was gonna happen in Miami last year when they made up this super team only to see those dreams get destroyed by an over paid and under-achieving Lebron James. He quit on his team in the Play-offs and everyone knew it and then he rubs it in the common mans face by saying “Go back to your miserable lives and I’ll go back to my great life”. Those were pretty much his words and they sunk in like water in a sponge to every sports fan that pays money to watch these spoiled athletes every night.
What about “The love of the Game”. Why does it have to be like this? Why do teams have to consists of the very best athletes in these big cities with all the glamour and glitz while the small market teams with less money and glamour and glitz suffer? We are the people paying these salaries to the players and I believe I speak for a lot of people in saying this has got to end. These Owners and Coaches need to take back there teams and make these guys earn what they get and hold them responsible for there actions. You make your teams better! Just like Micheal Jordan and Magic Johnson and Larry Bird did. It’s players like those named that made this league and made it possible for you to play in it. Give respect to them and quit trying to take the easy way out and make these “Super Teams” do it the right way with hard work and great leadership. The rings and the money will be there after the hard work is put in.
Quit bitching about how much money you want from the Owners and that you need money to feed your family. You make plenty of money. Just look at the common man or woman on the street and see how good you all have it, and just for playing a Game that your supposed to love so much.
On to the NCAA and all that is going on with this Organization. I used to believe that College athletics was the purists form of Athletics. Most kids get to go to school for free and they get to play a game they love so much and do it all for the College or University they grew up loving so much as a child. No longer is it like that. We learned a little bit last year of what goes on with Colleges and how they get these great athletes to come to there Universities. They (Coaches) used to visit your homes while you were still in High School and offer you an awesome education and a great campus life. Now they offer you Cars and money and trips and homes for your families. This all provided to Collegiate athletes who aren’t supposed to earn money outside of your basic living expenses. I again won’t use any names but teams offered players money to come to there school and the highest bidder won that athlete and a National Championship. I remember a day when you went to college to play sports and to get an education now you go to “Get Paid”.
The NCAA experience is supposed to be the time when you develop as a person and as an athlete but today it’s not. You go to College as an athlete because your a great talent and you can hopefully make the Administration and the school a lot of money. You of course will not see much of that money but they treat you like kings and queens as long as your there serving them up with victories and National Media attention. They clean up at the bank by selling tickets to there games at an over inflated price and charging hundreds of dollars to park around there stadiums and also to tailgate on City property. All that merchandise these colleges are selling and the money is just crazy. The molding of athletes and professional workers is quickly out the door if your University is a top notch University because all they want is for you to go out there and make them some money and win them some games. What about “The love of The Game”
I’m not gonna go into a big discussion about all the events at Penn St. but I do want to say that no one man should ever have the power to control so much of anything. That has been made clear through out this entire ordeal so far. The hiding of such information for all those years. Not just by Joe Paterno or Jerry Sandusky. I’m putting the entire Board of directors in there to. To know that kids were hurt for all those years and pretty much shove it under the rug is not right. I think that this is only the beginning of whats going to end up coming out and I hope all those that had a part or some type of involvement in this are dealt with by the law and are punished accordingly. I hope the University can bounce back from this after all is said and done and that no more kids are hurt again.
In closing I just want to say: “What about the Love of the Game”. Don’t ever lose the big picture. The big picture is that it’s a game and only a game. Don’t let the money and the fame cloud your vision and your out look on life. Think about the people who could be hurt, the cities that could be affected by your decissions, both financially and ethically. For with out sports the world could be a very different place.
