Evander Holyfield

Evander Holyfield is going for his fifth heavyweight title this Saturday, fighting against Nicolai Valuev in Zurich. If he wins this Saturday, Holyfield would be the eldest fighter to reclaim a championship at the ripe old age of 46. He claims in a recent NY Times article, that he is not fighting for this title, but rather for his kids. Many are questioning his motivation however as in the recent years, Holyfield has been having some serious money troubles, almost filing for bankruptcy at one point. He will make about $700,000 this Saturday for the fight which would be a lot for a normal person. Yet Holyfield is apparently spending over $500,000 a year for child support alone. Others also wonder if he just wants to overshadow low points in his career, as well as his stint on “Dancing with the Stars.” Those closest to him claim he is ready for this fight and will prove this on Saturday- should be an interesting fight to see I guess, especially since the guy he is fighting is over 7 feet tall.

The Cowboys

The Dallas Cowboys are trying to get their act together before facing the Baltimore Ravens this upcoming Saturday. Sports broadcasters everywhere have been reporting a fued between wide receiver Terrell Owens and tight end Jason Witten. For once in his career, Owens is shrugging off these reports, making it seem like everyone has moved ahead already from the incident. Reports leading up to his response were claiming that the reason behind the alleged fued was that Owens was jealous of Jason Witten's relationship with Tony Romo. Last week Witten and Owens appeared to have had a heated exchange of words on the practice field. Later, after defeating the Giants however, they were seen joking around together. Who knows the truth to any of these reports, but I think something definitely had to have gone down for all the buzz going on about it. I also wonder what will happen if the Cowboys lose to the Ravens this weekend. Maybe Owens will speak up a little more about what happened and start blaming people for things, like he usually does.

Beijing Gymnasts Cleared

Chinese gymnasts have been okayed by the Olympic Committee, after an investigation went underway to double-check their ages. All the members of the 2008 team provided enough documentation to show that they were at least 16 years of age during the year of the Beijing games. China is not completely cleared however as two members of the 2000 Sydney games have continuing investigations. Yang Yun and Dong Fangxiao, who helped their team win bronze at the Sydney games, both have evidence going against them claiming that they were both 14 years old during the games. Yun actually said in an interview in China that she was 14 when she competed. Fangxiao handed in documentation to the Olympics Committee when she went to become a national technical official that if correct, shows the gymnast to have also been 14 during the games.
With all this evidence going against China, it doesn’t seem that unreasonable anymore for the Olympics Committee to question their team.

Olympics Committee Tests For New Drug

The Olympics Committee is taking its next step in its plan to end doping, by retesting the 2008 Beijing athletes for CERA. CERA, Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator, is a new version of a drug that has been banned by the committee for a number of years now. CERA is used to stimulate bone marrow to create more blood cells, allowing athletes to recover quicker from workouts as well as see results much quicker. CERA, unlike other drugs, requires fewer dosages and lasts much longer. The main reason behind this sudden testing is because three of the stage winners in this year’s Tour de France tested positive for the drug. Since CERA helps with stamina, the Olympics Committee is honing in specifically on long-distance runners and other long-winded sports, rather than sprinters. It’s going to be really interesting to see if anyone tests positive for this drug, and the affect this will have on the Beijing games results.

Ryne Dougherty

A Montclair High School linebacker has died due to brain hemorrhaging during a game against Don Bosco, totaling the number of high school football-related deaths in North Jersey to three students in a mere two months. Does anybody else think that’s scary? Junior linebacker Ryne Dougherty died on the field after getting sandwiched during a tackle. A month before, Dougherty received a concussion during practice, but was given the okay by his doctor to play, after getting a CT scan. It’s hard to say who’s at fault, but this definitely draws attention to the fact that there needs to be more medical testing for these high school students, especially if there has been other previous injuries. The other two deaths involved an undetected heart condition and a rough tackle at practice.

Chatham Baseball

Cape Cod Chatham Baseball is very well known within the area, but gets little press elsewhere. Its claim to fame as of right now is its need to change its name to the Anglers due to copyright laws. This just came out in a New York Times article, which sucks because that shouldn’t be the reason for it getting attention. Thankfully in the article the writer does give credit to the league as statistically one out of every six players on the team end up going to the major leagues. I’ve been to a few games and I can definitely see that being true, but I guess that doesn’t say a whole lot, as the only other minor league team I really know of is the Trenton Thunder. Anyway I think they need to be given more credit, especially since the games are free and you can tell all of the players really love the game. Here’s their site: www.chathamas.com

Ken Harvey Is Weird

Ken Harvey, retired player from the Washington Redskins has definitely lost his mind. He just recently gave a presentation in front of a group of NASA scientists explaining his idea for what he calls “Space Sportilization.” Apparently this is for generations ahead, but it’s basically ways to play sports on Mars. He came up with a sport he named “Float Ball,” which involves aspects of basketball and football and, well floating. Please tell me someone else thinks this is super weird.
I doubt anyone’s going to waste his or her money into funding this project, but it’s funny to read about it in the New York Times. Definitely check out this article-
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/31/sports/othersports/31space.html

"The Million Dollar Arm"

An Indian Reality television show called “The Million Dollar Arm,” has resulted in allowing two young contestants pitch in front of some 30 or so major league scouts. Both Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel threw their best at a sports clinic in Tempe, Arizona, easily throwing 90mph pitches. These two guys were flown in from India, and set up to have the scouts watch them. To top that all off, they also now have a legit agent and are said to be training at this point. I just thought this was cool because one of the guys had allegedly never picked up a baseball before. Maybe America will jump on the bandwagon and get a similar show. I don’t know how long it would last, but it’s definitely cool for those competing. Only time will tell if this is actually going to lead to a future in baseball for either one of these guys- it will be interesting to see.

NJ Nets Seek To Help Out Fans

The New Jersey Nets have just created the Net Employment Program, which was set up to benefit the fans. This program will provide unemployed fans that sign up online, with 1,500 free tickets over a time span of five home games. To go along with this, fans can submit resumes, which will be passed along to prospective employers, including corporate partners with the Nets. Even though it seems a little random, I definitely think this is a nice idea. This program has already received over 1,000 applications and is also holding a job fair at the Izod Center after their game on November 22nd. For more information check out their website: njnets.com

Gymnast Speaks Out Against Karolyis

Martha and Bela Karolyi have been accused by Romanian gymnast Trudi Ebene Kollar of abusing her, back when they used to coach the Romanian women’s gymnastic team. The two-time silver medalist has come out and said that both coaches used to hit her when she would mess up during practice. The weirdest part of this entire situation, aside from the fact that these actions happened over 15 years ago, is that Bela and Martha are not denying these allegations. All Bela has said in response to this is that her memory could be a little off on the intensity of these actions. I don’t know this is definitely really weird and random. If they did really hit her as a means of coaching, I wonder if there are other gymnasts who will speak out about it as well. Every time the Karolyi’s are showed are on television they appear to be nice. Who knows, maybe it’s just for show.