Selling the Ring

Chane Behanan has been cleared of all charges in the involvement of the auctioning of his Final 4 ring from 2012.  Behanan's mother immediately filed a police report to the Cincinnati police after receiving a text that it had been posted for bidding online.  Behanan had given the ring to his grandmother to keep, and was very upset that the ring had been stolen and put up for auction.  The rings are all customized with the players name on them so it is very easy to find out which ring belongs to which player.

The Real 12th Man

As Jacoby Jones burst towards the sideline on a kickoff return Thursday night in Pittsburgh against the Steelers, he noticed someone on the field not in pads or in stripes.  This man was Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach, Mike Tomlin, who was casually walking up the field during the kickoff return and found his way off the white of the sidelines and into the green of the field, directly in the way of the return man Jones.

The NFL has issued a statement that they will review the play and that Tomlin should have been penalized for stepping on the field, and the official who was on that sideline could be downgraded for letting Tomlin get in his way and also for not throwing a flag on him.  This review of the play will almost certainly come with a fine from the NFL.

No Biting in Basketball

A high school girls basketball coach in Mississippi was forced to resign recently to alleged assault to a player of his.  However this assault was not a normal assault by any means, he was accused of biting a player in the face during a time-out after she had a bad play on the court.  The player was taken to the emergency room upon return from the game to have her face checked.  Just last year, Doyle Wolverton, the accused, became the 2nd all time winningest girls basketball coach.  Looks like in this situation Mr. Wolverton let his anger get the best of him in his situation.

Incidents like this goes to show you that you as a coach and a role model you need to learn to control your anger and understand the consequences of your actions.  Because of this assault he not only lost his job now but very well may not be able to get another job ever again.

The Subway Series Battle

Could Robinson Cano really leave the Yankees to go play across town for the New York Mets?  It is highly doubtful, but it has at least been discussed.  Cano's agent and representative Jay-Z had a sit down dinner with the Mets COO and GM to discuss the possibility of his client donning the orange and blue of New York.

Most consider this interview simply just a push from Jay-Z or Cano to get the Yankees to try to re-sign him because of the absolutely lucrative contract he is expected to ask for in free agency.  Also according to the Mets statement this dinner and discussion of Cano was initiated from Cano's side, not the Mets.

@Suns

The Phoenix Suns were the first professional sports team to sign with Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings service.  The Suns signed a one year deal with this service and it is able to track twitter activity for the team, during its games.  The things the Suns can now track are, how many tweets are being sent per game, how many of those tweets are being seen, at what point in the game the most tweets are seen, which app is being used to post that tweet and what key words are used in that tweet.

MVP Finally Back in the 'Burgh

Andrew McCutchen has finally brought back some long wanted hardware to Pittsburgh.  It's not the hardware the team wanted going into the year and into October, but its a step in the right direction.  McCutchen won the NL MVP, the first Pirate to do so since 1992, when Barry Bonds won the coveted award.  McCutchen was undoubtedly the face of the franchise this past year, leading the Pirates to their first winning season in 20 years and the first home playoff game in PNC Park history.  He received 28 of the 30 first place votes for the ballot.

McCutchen was also able to bring home the Silver Slugger award this year as well.  He was absolutely the right choice for this award, he meant the most to his team, more than the other 2 finalists.  And that is what MVP means, the Most Valuable Player, to your team.  He is a clubhouse leader, on the field leader and now an MVP, with many more to go.

Sean Taylor

Eric Rivera Jr., 23 was convicted monday of first degree murder, over 6 years after he shot and killed then Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor.  Sean was shot and killed in a botched robbery when he went to confront the men who broke into his home after they had kicked in his door.  Rivera admitted in a video taped interrogation session with the police that he was indeed the man who fired that fatal shot.  He then went on to say he only admitted to it because the police virtually forced him to admit to it.  Rivera was also convicted of armed robbery, and even though he wasn't sentenced to the fullest extent of the law, he could still be facing life in prison.