Darren Sproles More Than Just A Great Football Player

Every Sunday Darren Sproles suits up and plays football for the San Diego Chargers, but he is a big winner probably for things he does off the field and not on it. Sproles who has stuttered all his life has been an inspiration to many people by his accomplishments on and off the football field. Sproles readily admits when the camera's start to role he does get nervous and you can tell by watching the video above, but you have to pull for a guy like Sproles. He has worked hard and when given his chance he has come up big this season. He battles on the field every Sunday, but his toughest battle he has already won and that is to prove he belongs no matter if he stutters or not.

Boston Loses In Charlotte

It seemed like everything was in line for the Boston Celtics to repeat as NBA Champions again, but the wheels have suddenly fell of that bus. The Celtics seen a 19 game winning streak vanish and now they have lost for the 5th time in 7 games as Charlotte got them in overtime. Ray Allen shot 7 for 20 and Paul Pierce had a crucial turnover in overtime that really hurt them.

Charlotte's Raymond Felton scored 25 points, rookie D.J. Augustin added 11 of his 20 points in overtime to give the Bobcats a 114-106 win in overtime over the Celtics. It looks like teams have found a weak spot in the Celtics and are using it against them. Of course the Celtics could just not be playing their best basketball right now as well. Either way it will be interesting to see how this all plays out as the season goes along.

Fallout In New York Jets Locker Room

It seems many of the players for the New York Jets are not happy with Brett Favre and the way things went along this season. Some have come out publicly and some have not. Thomas Jones was on a radio station and thought Favre should have been benched after his performance the last few weeks as he was killing the team. Now that maybe true, but the bottom line that is a coach's decision and he did not make a move. Jones went on to say Favre was killing the team by his poor play and should have take himself out.

Other players were not happy with Favre not associating with his teammates more and they said he was basically isolated from the team in his own area. No matter what the friction there is from the team towards Favre the owner wants Favre to come back and I think he will if he still wants to play. The first thing that Favre needs to do though is get on the same page as his players. Until he does that it could be another long season in New York for him.

Bowl Game Roundup

The LSU Tigers were National Champions this year, but going into the Chick-fil-A Bowl they weren't even ranked, but that did not matter to them as they crushed Georgia Tech 38-3. Charles Scott ran for three scores and freshman quarterback Jordan Jefferson looked very good and the special teams played well for LSU. Next year look for this team to bounce back into the National Championship hunt.

It was not one of your pretty games but Oregon State shut down No. 20 Pittsburgh 3-0 Wednesday in the Sun Bowl on Justin Kahut's 44-yard field goal and that was all they need. Some 20 punts in the game and defense everywhere this was a game that many called ugly, but Mike Riley will take it. They have always said a win is a win no matter how you get it.

Vanderbilt has had a up and down season, but they did not want to go out with a Bowl loss to end the season against Boston College. They have worked to hard this season to show people this school has a very good football program. Vandy's Bryant Hahnfeldt kicked a 45-yard field goal with 3:26 left Wednesday for a 16-14 win over Boston College in the Music City Bowl. This win puts the Vandy program at 7-6 there first winning season in a long time.

Kevin Sumlin knew when he took over the Houston football program changes needed to be made and it could start by winning a Bowl game. He convinced his seniors all year long that this was a reachable goal and they have accomplished it with a win as they beat the Air force by a score of 34-28. Sophomore quarterback Case Keenum ran for two touchdowns, threw for another and became only the second Houston quarterback to pass for more than 5,000 yards in a season. Bryce Beall, a freshman, ran for 135 yards and a score.

Kansas Jayhawk season did not go as they planned, but they were still able to add another Bowl Game win to their resume. Todd Reesing threw for four scores and over 300 yards as Kansas routed Minnesota by a 42-21 score. Minnesota really never had any answers for Todd Reesing all day and he carve them up pretty good.

Magics Stay Hot Beat Bulls

The Orlando Magic seen there winning streak go by the wayside when they lost in Detroit, but that has not seem to slow them down one bit. In Chicago Rashard Lewis scored 16 of his 21 points in the first half as the Orlando cruised to a easy 113-94 win over the Chicago Bulls. The Magics also go good games from Dwight Howard and Hedo Turkoglu as well to help them in the win. Right now Orlando is playing well and we have to wait and see if that plays out all season long.

Wednesday, December 31st

Orlando 113 Final
Chicago 94

New Jersey 75 Final
Detroit 83

Milwaukee 81 Final
Houston 85

Denver 114 Final
Toronto 107

Golden State 100 Final
Oklahoma City 107

Philadelphia 100 Final
LA Clippers 92

Chad Pennington Comeback Player Of The Year Again

It seems that Chad Pennington is making it a habit of being named Comeback Player Of The Year. Back in 2006 he also earned that award and it was with the New York Jets the team that cut him this year. This year has been special for Pennington who wanted to be the New York Jets quarterback, but when they brought in Brett Favre he was released and found a new home in Miami. It was bittersweet for Pennington to leave New York because he enjoyed his time there.

Last Sunday though Pennington was all smiles on his return to New York as he help the Dolphins win the AFC East and knock his old team out of the playoffs with the quarterback they chose over him. I guess it all comes around and for Chad Pennington it has come full circle and now he is Comeback Player of The Year and getting ready for a playoff game in Miami.

PGA Tells John Daly Take 6 Month Vacation

The PGA apparently was not real amused with John Daly antics lately as they gave him the boot for six months. The suspension is really not surprising considering the year that Daly has had so far. He continues to get into trouble and when you are playing golf under the PGA umbrella that really is not a very good idea. Lucky for Daly today is the last day of the year and maybe 2009 will be much better for him.

It is amazing though to me that a man like John Daly just a few years ago was a promising player and now he is almost out of golf totally. It happens and he is perfect evidence of it. If you do not do the right things you can be on the outside looking in. Just ask John Daly.