Monday Sports Review - 11/28/2011

What a week it has been for sports fans. There have been many news stories that have been put into the forefront of the sports world, providing for an eventful Thanksgiving weekend. Here are some headlines from this past weekend.

Urban Meyer at Home with OSU

Urban Meyer has agreed to become the new head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes, according to sources. The team has scheduled a press conference for today, at which they are expected to announce the hiring. After the Buckeyes lost for the first time to Michigan in 7 years, it was expected that Meyer would be announced to take the place of Coach Luke Fickell, with Meyer asking to be taken off assignment from his announcing duties this weekend. The 40-34 defeat put Ohio State’s season record at 6-6. Urban Meyer brings with him his championship experience, having led the Florida Gators to two national championships before stepping last year, citing the need to spend more time with his family during a time when Meyer was dealing with health concerns. Over 10 seasons with Bowling Green, Utah and Florida, Meyer has accumulated a 104-23 record, with five 10-win seasons and a 7-1 record in bowl games.

Fine Fired by Syracuse

Syracuse University has fired assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine after allegations of child molestation. The 65-year-old Fine was in his 36th season with the team, when his employment was terminated amidst allegations brought forth by a third man claiming that Fine had molested him nine years ago. Two other men, once ball boys at Syracuse, had come forward with the same allegations. The most prominent piece of evidence came in the form of a voice recording of Fine’s wife, Laurie, admitting that she had worries about her husband having sexually molested Bobby Davis, one of the ball boy’s that has accused Bernie Fine. The 10-year old voice recording surface Sunday on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines”, now making Fine the second coach of a university to be accused of child molestation in recent weeks. The Jerry Sandusky scandal that rocked Penn State University, in which he has been accused of child molestation and faces 8 counts so far, has prompted the men to come out against Fine.

The NBA is Back!

After 149 grueling days of talks, the NBA lockout is over. The owners and players came to a tentative agreement on Saturday, with hopes to start the season on Christmas day. The deal must be ratified still, but all signs point to the deal being done. The deal comes just 12 days after it looked like the NBA wouldn’t be participating in the 2011-2012 season at all, but talks went well after a 15-hour meeting on Friday. Now, fans can look forward to the Christmas day triple header opening with the Boston Celtics traveling to New York to take on the Knicks. Then, in an NBA Finals rematch, LeBron James and the Miami Heat take on the reigning champions, the Dallas Mavericks. The triple header ends with the Chicago Bulls taking on Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Tebow Does it Again

It’s not cute, but it is effective. Tim Tebow has done it once again, leading the Denver Broncos to their 6th win of the season, their 4th in a row. The Broncos are 5-1 since Tebow has became the starter, also making Kyle Orton expendable, resulting in his release last week. The San Diego Chargers, who have lost 6 straight, jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the second quarter when Tebow took his team down and scored with 55 seconds left in the half. On the drive, Tebow was 2-for-2 for 37 yards including his 18 yard touchdown pass to Eric Decker. Then, with San Diego leading 13-7 in the 3rd quarter, Tebow led two drives that resulted in two field goals, the latter tying the game with just under two minutes to go in the game. The two drives, of 57 and 68 yards respectively, saw Tebow completing 3 of 4 passes for 76 yards, and running the ball 3 times for 16 yards. After Chargers’ kicker Nick Novak missed a field goal in overtime, Tebow orchestrated a 6 play, 38 yard drive to set up the game-winning Matt Prater field goal. It’s yet another comeback win to go in Tebow’s stats. His passing isn’t what you’d like from a quarterback, but his winning is what matters the most; and after starting 1-4 behind Orton, the Tebow-led Broncos are pushing for the AFC West title.

The Heisman Race is Heating Up

This past weekend saw college football’s race for the most prestigious individual trophy take a huge step forward as the candidates have put up big numbers. In Alabama’s win over the Auburn Tigers, running back torched the defense to a tune of 203 rushing yards on 27 carries. His rushing yardage totals more than the entire Auburn offense. His lone reception resulted in a 5-yard touchdown, pushing Richardson near the top of the Heisman race. Andrew Luck led his Stanford Cardinals to a win over Notre Dame behind his 20 of 30 passes, resulting in 233 yards and 4 touchdowns. The performance put him atop the school record books for career touchdown passes (78) and single season touchdown passes (33), which had belonged to football legend John Elway. Luck solidified his spot in the trophy presentation in New York with this win. Robert Griffin III completed 7 of 11 passes for 106 yards and a touchdown and ran 62 yards with 2 rushing touchdowns before being taken out of the game before halftime with an apparent concussion. His 3 touchdowns in just one half of play is an impressive performance. Case Keenum quarterbacked the Houston Cougars to a big win against Tulsa, completing 71.7% of his passes for 457 yards and 5 touchdowns. His play helped the Cougars stay unbeaten at 12-0 for the season, in which Keenum has passed for at least 300 yards in each game. Finally, in the late game on Saturday night, Matt Barkley dominated the UCLA Bruins, passing for 423 yards and 6 touchdowns while completing 83.3% of his passes. His performance gave him 39 touchdown passes on the season, making him the Pac-12 record holder for most touchdown passes in a single season. His touchdown total for the game (6) was one fewer than his total number of interceptions on the season (7). The race for the Heisman is almost done and many candidates are stepping up their game big time.
By: Brandon Williams

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