Real Sports Talk with E-$

Wow, did that year go by fast, or what? It seems like it wasn't that long ago that I was introducing myself to the Plymouth community, and despite the fact that I feel as if the majority of people really don't know where the nickname E-Money came from, it has been a hell of a time. In this last edition, I guess I will sum up what has happened over the past few months.

The biggest story in the NFL world this season has to be on the subject of illegal hits. As most people that follow sports know, Junior Seau died last week by shooting himself in the chest, as he wanted his brain to be studied by doctors so they can learn more about concussions. In Seau's long career, he never had "concussion-like symptoms" ever come up on an injury report with his name next to it. With that said, football players have, and chances are always will, hide the fact that they have a concussion during a game. These players don't want to be taken out of a game, as they know that it will hurt their team's performance, as well as potentially their livelihood. I myself played football from when I was about ten years old to my senior year of high school, and getting a concussion was as sure as hell not the most pleasant thing in the world. Players like James Harrison (on the Pittsburgh Steelers) have been forced to change the way that they play football, and ultimately, it is for the better.

In the NBA, the biggest story has to be how the lockout has affected star players this season. Derrick Rose, Carmelo Anthony and Kobe Bryant have been out for a number of games throughout the season (and for Rose, he has been done for the season since Game 1 of the playoffs) due to injuries. The common theme for these injuries is that players don't have enough time to rest between games, which is true, as they have never played this many games in this short of an amount of time. The NBA needs all of its star players in order to have a successful season/postseason, and they have to hope that none of these injuries will ultimately carry over into next season (so that players don't miss any games in the beginning of the season).

The NHL postseason has been all about upsets so far, as the 8-seed Los Angeles Kings are only a few wins away from making a Stanley Cup berth. It wasn't too long ago that they were written off, and were going to be swept by the Vancouver Canucks, but Jonathan Quick has been play fantastically this postseason (and good goaltending in the playoffs results in wins). How far will these Kings be able to ride this wave? They have been beating teams (meaning the 1-seed Canucks and the 2-seed St. Louis Blues) by being scrappy and Quick's play. To have a big market in Los Angeles to still be around is not only awesome for the NHL (as they have a big market out there on the West Coast that they are able to provide to), but it makes the fans happy, as parity is prevalent in the NHL yet again.

I refuse to really put too much into the MLB season so far (as there have only been 30-something games completed in a 162-game season), but the surprises so far can't go unnoticed. The Cleveland Indians are first in the AL Central, while the Baltimore Orioles lead the AL East, while the New York Mets would currently be in the playoffs (if the season ended today). With that said, there is still a lllooonnnggg time to go, but the #1 thing that intrigues me the most is will players like Matt Kemp, Derek Jeter and David Ortiz keep up their hot starts?

In other irrelevant (though I find interesting) sports news:

-The fact that the defending champs in the Dallas Mavericks got swept by the Oklahoma City Thunder really surprises me.

-I can finally get some sleep after Albert Pujols hit his first homerun last Sunday.

-The performance the Boston Celtics have put up in the postseason has surprised no one more than me.

-Awesome move by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to sign former Rutgers lineman Eric LeGrand to a contract. LeGrand was paralyzed last year during a football game after a freak hit.

-If Michael Vick doesn't produce this season, the Eagles might have their entire team torn apart.

-I wonder what the game of football will look like in 15 years.

-It is amazing how Kobe Bryant has been so dominant for so long.

-My pick to win the race in Darlington is Kurt Busch.

Non-sports information of the week

-Rant of the week- To the idiots that broke the window at Samaha's last weekend- really? Not only does that make the entire school look awful, but it is a classless thing to do. What would you do if someone did that to YOUR house? Needless to say, if someone did that to me, they'd become a lot more familiar with my fists and a baseball bat.

-While I am still not a Mac Miller fan, his performance was a lot better than I had anticipated it being.

-Some people that should get some recognition for making not only the sports section look good, but the paper as a whole include Maegen Manson, Betsy McCarthy and Veronica Musch. They truly are the glue that kept everything together this year.

-I have so much motivation to be back here in Plymouth in the Spring (of 2013), as talking with a lot of people over the past few days/weeks has given me so much drive to get back up to the great White North.

-It is weird to end this section with this (instead of the usual 'till next week stuff), but I thank all of you that read this on a weekly basis. I hope all of you have a good summer, and I WILL be back here in the Spring 2013.