Best High School Athlete In The Country

If he's not the best, he may be the most talented. If he's not the most talented, he's definitely the most popular.

In Oklahoma, Guthrie High School's Donte' Foster has already become a YouTube sensation.

Last Fall, we all remember his incredible one handed catch on the grid iron, now Foster shows off his skills on the basketball court. This shot is incredible because it might not really have been a lucky shot. The way it played out, it looks like the team actually practiced this play.

And you gotta love how Foster walks back to the bench cool, calm and collectively.

Remember that name-Donte' Foster. What's next for the young phenom, the Sooners or Cowboys?

NBA Line Of The Week For 1/19 to 1/25 2009

During the NBA Finals, a lot was said about the absence of Andrew Bynum. But really, how big of a factor is Bynum?

Well, with a healthy Andrew Bynum, the Los Angeles Lakers have one of the best records in the league, sitting at 35-8.

And last week, the 21 year old had a career high 42 points in a 108-97 win over inner city rival LA Clippers. Along with the 42 points, Bynum finished with 15 boards, 3 blocks in 36 minutes.

For the week, Bynum averaged 23.5 points, 11.5 rebounds in just over 29 minutes a game.

The Lakers went 4-0 with wins over the Cavs, Clippers, Wiz and Spurs.

Barry O's World!

Yesterday brought great excitement and cheer around the country. For once I am confident in the country's President.

Barack Obama brings hope and change to the U.S.A. He is young and energetic and can relate to the common folk.

Obama has already united the country more than ever.

Obama is very courageous. Who in their right mind would want to take that job. He acknowledge the mess our country is in, basically saying 8 years of Bush was a total disaster. And Obama seems pumped to get started and you can feel his confidence in the uphill task at hand.

Yesterday was also the biggest day in American History for my generation. Yeah, there have been many other historic events we have lived through, put this one of the few positive moments we have witnessed. Other important dates in our lives have always been negative and somber-shootings in the classroom, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, war, etc.

I couldn't but get chills listening to Obama's speech. And the scene in Washington was unbelievable.

Today I can officially say more than ever that I am proud to be an American and I looked forward to 8 years of President Barack Obama.

Steelers Back In The Super Bowl

You want football at its best, you got it. We all knew this game was going to be hard hitting. We all knew both team's offense would have trouble moving the ball. We all knew there would be many injury timeouts as players would be constantly scraped off the field of play. This is why we love football!

And lets be honest. Did anyone really think rookie quarterback Joe Flacco would lead his team to three straight road playoff victories?

And lets face it, the Steelers owned this game. It's a miracle Baltimore was somehow only down 16-14 and had the ball halfway through the fourth quarter. You can contribute that to the Ravens' suffocation defense or the officials getting calls from Vegas or CBS to keep the game close.

With Pittsburgh already leading 3-0 in the first quarter, Ben Roethlisberger hit Santonio "Mister Clutch Playoff Playmaker" Holmes with a 23 yard pass down to the Ravens' one yard line. Both Head Coaches threw the red flag. What should have been a Pittsburgh touchdown, or at the very least a First and Goal, turned out to be an incomplete pass after an official review. What? So the Steelers get a field goal and lead 6-0.

Later, Pittsburgh defense showed signs of the original "Steel Curtain" when they stopped the Ravens on third and one, and then fourth and 1. Pretty solid.

The Steelers than seemed to put the game away early when Roethlisberger, on a third and 9, scrambled and hit Holmes about 20 yards downfield. Holmes again showed his playmaking ability and crossed the field turning a 20 yard completion into a 65 yard touchdown.

Pittsburgh defense didn't allow a first down until Baltimore's 16th offensive snap!

The Steelers got screwed again later in the second quarter. Guard Chris Kemoeatu was flagged for an unnecessary roughness penalty setting Pittsburgh back to a third and 19. Replay showed Kemoeatu's motive. The Ravens' Marcus Douglass got away with a highly illegal hands to face no call.

Pittsburgh was forced to punt and Jim Leonhard sparked the Ravens with a 45 yard punt return to the Pittsburgh 22 yard line. Baltimore struggled to move the ball but were fortunate to get a pass interference call coming on third and 10. Willis McGahee put the Ravens on the board with a 3 yard touchdown run. 13-7.

On the Steelers' ensuing possession, Roethlisberger hit a wide open Limas Sweed in the hands for a easy 6. Sweed took his eyes off the ball and dropped it!

Later in the second half, McGahee scored another touchdown bring the Ravens within striking distance, 16-14.

Baltimore actually got the ball back late in the fourth down 16-14. There's no way the Steelers were gonna let rookie Flacco beat them. And with 4:24 left in the game, Flacco finally looked like a rookie in the Playoffs. Troy Polamalu did what he does best, make big plays on defense. Polamalu picked off Flacco and then did his best Ed Reed impression and skipped across the field all the way to the end zone and taking the Steelers to the Super Bowl. What did I tell you about the "Pick 6?"

The game wasn't over until Pittsburgh's Ryan Clark delivered one of the hardest hits I've ever seen. Flacco hit McGahee running full speed down the middle and Clark was also coming full speed. This video says it all.



Wow! Holy Shit!

I'm glad both players are alright. In fact, I have new respect for Steelers' fans. As McGahee was being carted off the field and then down the tunnel, you could hear Pittsburgh fans yelling "Good Luck Willis." That's classy.

Congratulations Pittsburgh. Looks like you're well on your way to being kings of the NFL and should win the record of 6 Super Bowl Rings.

Arizona Heat

First off, Championship Sunday is better than Super Bowl Sunday.

Why? Championship Sunday gives you two great games, which history tells us, are usually a lot more exciting than the big one. Also, there's less hype and you have a better chance to sit down and actually watch the game. Super Sunday you're stuck at a party with a bunch of amateur fans who are there for the party and commercials.

Going into the NFC Championship game, my biggest question? How is Arizona a 4 point underdog? How can you make the home team an underdog in a Championship Game! Yeah, Arizona played in one of the weakest divisions and everyone thought the Cardinals didn't even belong in the Playoffs. But what about the Eagles? Philadelphia needed a couple of miracles on the final Sunday of the season just to make the playoffs.

The Eagles struggled to beat a mediocre Vikings' team. Than went into the Meadowlands to beat Giants team that limped into the playoffs losing 3 of four. You knew Philly's luck was gonna run out. And not to mention the Eagles' struggle in recent Conference Championship Games.

Another thing, Larry Fitzgerald is the best receiver in the NFL. He's Randy Moss on LSD. Fitzgerald doesn't even look like he runs full speed. He's carried the Cardinals to the Super Bowl. Heck, he set the NFL record for most receiving yards in the playoffs-419 yards, breaking Jerry Rice's 1988 record of 409.

Fitzgerald set a Conference Championship record with 3 first half touchdowns.

But give Donavan McNabb and Philadelphia a lot of credit. Down 24-6 at halftime, on the Eagles' first possession of the second half, McNabb was sacked by Adrian Wilson and fumbled the ball away to Arizona. The Cardinals were well on their way to a blow out.

Philadelphia kept their composure on the road and scored 19 unanswered points to somehow take a 25-24 lead in the fourth quarter! The Eagles owned the third quarter with 165 yards to Arizona's 4!

But Arizona showed they were the better team by putting together a Super Bowl drive. After losing a 24-6 lead and all of the momentum, the Cardinals put together a 14 play, 72 yard touchdown drive taking 7:52 off the clock.

Of course there were many critical plays on the drive. Arizona faced a fourth and 1(and season) near midfield. Ken Whisenhunt elected to go for it and Tim Hightower ran to the outside to pick up the biggest first down in the Cardinals' history.

Later in the drive, third and 1 from the 15, Hightower ran for another first down to give the Cardinals a first and goal. Three players later, Hightower finished the drive on a screen pass from Warner and found the end zone.

Arizona's defense held on. On 4th and 10, McNabb's final pass (as an Eagle?) fell incomplete to Kevin Curtis. There might have been some contact on the play, but both players seemed to slip and Curtis probably still should have made the catch. And in these types of games, you can't let the refs decide the outcome.

I think I might have been more impressed by the Cardinals' defense than anything else. They were able to shut down the run and get pressure on McNabb. Adrian Wilson came through on safety blitzes and finished with 7 tackles, 2 sacks and a forced fumble. Don't count out the Cardinals in the Super Bowl.

So for the first time ever, on to Tampa and the Super Bowl for the Arizona Cardinals! Congratulations!

If You Don't Know, Now You Know

I had never heard of Jodie Meeks until late last night.

So you know now, Jodie Meeks is a Junior for the Kentucky Wildcats (13-4) basketball team.

Last night, Meeks set a school record for points in a game with 54. Meeks broke the school's all time record set by Dan Issel in 1970.

Meeks achieved this accomplishment on the road against Tennessee. The Volunteers aren't really considered a cupcake team either. Remember Tennessee was ranked No. 1 at one point last year. And considering Kentucky basketball's rich history, this is quite a milestone.

Meek's 54 points were the most scored by an SEC player since Chris, better known as Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Jackson put up 55 for LSU in 1989.

Meeks is a product of Norcross, Georgia.

His final line for the record night:

15-22 fg%, 10-15 for 3's, 14-14 from the line, 8 boards and 4 dimes.

Wow!

Rickey Be Rickey

See Rickey run. See Rickey hit. See Rickey be Rickey on his way to the Hall of Fame!

Rickey Henderson is one of my all time favorite baseball players. And how can you not love him? Henderson is one of the most interesting and eccentric players ever to play the game, both physically and mentally.

Let's look at Rickey's historic career.

Rickey played 25 seasons for 9 different teams.

Rickey is the all time leader in stolen bases with 1,406.

Rickey is the all time leader in runs scored with 2,295.

Rickey is the all time leader with 81 lead off Homeruns.

Rickey was the 1990 AL MVP.

Rickey was a 10 time All Star.

Rickey is second all time in Base on Balls with 2,190.

Rickey is a 12 time stolen base champion.

Rickey is part of the 3,000 hit club with 3,055 career hits. (21st all time)

Rickey holds the single season stolen base record with 130 steals in 1982.

Rickey has two World Series rings. 1989 with the A's. 1993 with the Blue Jays.

Rickey says that he posted all these incredible stats in the pre-steroid era.

One of my favorite Rickey stories ever was toward the end of his career he reached first base. The first baseman was John Olerud. Rickey started up a conversation with Olerud telling him, "I like that helmet you wear. I used to play with a first baseman who wore a helmet while he played first base." Little did Rickey know that his former teammate he was talking about was the same John Olerud when the two were together with the Mets.

That's Rickey in a nutshell.

Although he had a few productive seasons with the Yankees, I'm sure Rickey will go into the Hall of Fame as an Oakland A.

Rickey may not even be done playing baseball. Knowing Rickey, he probably wants to be the first Hall of Famer ever to come out of retirement and play MLB.

Congrats Rickey!

The Most Dangerous Play in Football: The Pick 6

This time of year, the NFL Playoffs and College Bowl games, usually gives us games between evenly matched teams. Watching a game in its entirety, the contest usually comes down to one crucial play.

If there's one play that can change the outcome of a game, it's the "Pick 6." A Pick 6 quickly changes the momentum of a game and pretty much crushes the victim's hopes of winning.

Different from a kick or punt return for a touchdown, the Pick 6 not only negates a team's possession, but also swings the score by a touchdown. Whereas on a special teams touchdown, the opposing team was already receiving the ball.

I don't have official stats, but I'm willing to bet a team with a Pick 6 wins at least 85% of the time, especially in the playoffs.

Just look at the first two rounds of this year's NFL Playoffs. The Ravens/Dolphins were evenly matched except the Ravens' defense and one Ed Reed. With the score 6-3 nearing halftime, Chad Pennington overthrew everyone but Ed Reed turned into a wide receiver and made an incredible "Willie Mays" catch and then is somehow able to turnaround and zig zag up field for what was pretty much a momentum killing, game clinching touchdown. We all know Ed Reed has made a career of this play that will one day put him into the Hall of Fame.

The guy is flat out sick and a lot of fun to watch. I guarantee you every opposing quarterback losses sleep while having nightmares about Reed the night before playing the Ravens.

Let's go to the Eagles/Vikings Wild Card Game. The Vikings were focusing on stopping Brian Westbrook giving the Eagles a hard time to find the End Zone. With Philly up 9-7 in the second quarter. Tarvaris Jackson made a boneheaded mistake that pretty much cost his team the game. Jackson made a horrible pass out in the flat while Asante Samuel's eye's lit up and picked off the pass and scooted down the sideline for a touchdown. Eagles 16, Vikings 7. The Vikings never recovered and you can bet Tarvaris Jackson thought twice every time he wanted to throw in Samuel's direction.

Rewind to the Falcons/Cardinals game in Glendale. After being outplayed most of the first half, Atlanta was able to finish off the half strong and take a 17-14 lead into halftime. Atlanta also received the opening kick off of the second half. A bad snap/pitch whatever it was, landed right in the hands of Antrel Rolle who took the gift all the way to the house untouched for a TD. Cardinals 21, Falcons 17. Game over as Atlanta could never recover. Not exactly a "Pick 6," but pretty much the same effect.

On Sunday, Eagles/Giants. Asante Samuel up to his old tricks again. The Giants were leading 3-0 early and there defense was having their way shutting down Westbrook. Eli Manning overthrows his receiver and the ball lands right into Samuel's hands. Samuel took the ball down inside the 5 yard line. Again, not exactly a "Pick 6," but it gives the offense a First and Goal inside the 5. Two plays later, Philly 7, Giants 3. You can bet this play hurt Eli's confidence and gave all the momentum to the road team. This play was a huge gamebreaker considering the Giants never found the End Zone.

So look out on Championship Sunday. You'll have the usual "Game Breaking" suspects with Asante Samuel, Ed Reed and Troy Polamalu looking to make the big play to put their respected teams in the Super Bowl.