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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 24, 2007)
The ■orts Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2007 Clackamas Print 7 \bundance of football injuries hurts teams Melanie Fisher Hie Clackamas Print I pm starting to wonder ¡here will even be a Super twl this year, considering it no team can seem to beat 5 plague of team injuries it surrounds the NFL this ison. We are only into week 6, 1 quite a few teams already /e between 7 and 11 play- s mured. lEven the poor Seattle lafflwks can’t beat the .gut. Shaun A lexander has urea his wrist and is listed orobab le to play. With their uerstar injured, will the ankle, knee, toe, hamstring or groin injuries. St Louis is going to strug gle, considering that former Oregon State University star Steven Jackson is out with a groin injury. Baltimore has even more problems, with their starting Quarterback Steve McNair out with a back injury. The New York Giants are going to have to trust the young Eli Manning with their fate this season, since Chad Pennington is out with an ankle injury. It seems as though all we may be watching on Super Bowl Sunday this year is the half-time performer. team be able to stand up to Super Bowl contenders? „ Seattle isn’t the only team that is bruised. Every single team has at least one player down with an injury. These injuries are going to hurt many teams’ chances of contending for a Super Bowl ring. Coaches are hav ing to revamp their offense or defense and, in some cases, are even throwing in the new guy. Teams are being forced to come up with a new plan in order to beat some of their opponents. It seems like most of the injuries this season are to the lower part of players’ bodies. Many players are out with Courtesy of the Seattle Seahawks 2007 Shaun Alexander injured his wrist but is listed as probable to play. ■BA Preseason 2007 lale Balbi Houston Rockets jhejÇlackamas Print The NBA season is upon us, ngBg exciting, young talent d savvy veterans. Some of those players have w teams or are entering ) league for their inaugural npaign. Other players have igned with teams that are a sat fit for their abilities. The preseason gives us a ak peak at the teams thriving vand championship stardom, lilel. other teams are looking ■ that competitive edge. With it said, here are teams to watch , as well as players who could ike an impact this season. Atlanta Hawks The Hawks have a lot of ung talent. 1 Rookie Al Horford, the twks’ first-round pick out of )rida, could make an impact w. He was the first guy drafted •m tiie Florida Gators National lampionship team, so he has a ' of promise. ¡ However, the Hawks have so ^iny forwards that their roster ^K>les a shaken-up soda bot- . waiting to explode - though, ^Bd could see playing time center due to his fine pre- ■play. The Rockets are expected to make the playoffs with not only their young talent, but with their two all-stars Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. However, they are in a similar situation as the Hawks. Instead of an overload of forwards, the Rockets have a surplus of guards - not to mention they failed to add a pure athlete to their ros ter, and as a result are on the decline. Seattle Supersonics The Sonics have high hopes and expectations for rookie phe nomenon Kevin Durant because he’s the only player on the roster who is a lock to be in the starting lineup. After losing Ray Allen (Boston) and Rashard Lewis (Orlando) to free agency, the Sonics look to be in rebuilding mode. Sure, Durant will put up big numbers, but the rest of the players’ roles are in doubt. Memphis Grizzlies The Grizzlies battled through injuries to their valuable players, such as Pau Gasol and Damon Stoudamire. Now they have young, skilled point guardMikeConley. Conley, the number-four pick in the NBA Portland ■RAllßLAZERS Utah JAZZ 1 Denver mu J ggets >s Angeles LAKERS Dallas IAVERICKS ’Phoenix ISUNS 'Memphis ¿RliZZLIES East Playoffs My upset pick is lhe New Jersey Nets over the Miami Heat because the Nets have secured their top scorer, Vince Carter, who is a beast when it comes to in-game tenacity - not to men tion this lineup has Jason Kidd and fellow teammate Richard Jefferson. hi the end, there will be a Celtics versus Pistons east final, and believe it or not, the Boston Celtics will win the series. The Celtics look really poised so far, and they now have three go to guys in Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. West Playoffs Orlando Magic The Magic have at least three shooters in Hedo Turkoglu, JJ Redick and Rashard Lewis, tiie latter of whom signed with tiie Magic in the off-season. According to Yahoo Sports, Redick tore tissue in his foot last year while playing a pick-up game of basketball. During this preseason, Redick has been on fire, netting at least two three- pointers a game. Back in his college day at Duke, this was the norm. In the west finals, there will be a meeting with the San Antonio Spurs and the Phoenix Suns. Call me crazy, but this will be the year the Phoenix Suns beat the San Antonio Spurs. We know that San Antonio has tiie recipe for a championship, but the Phoenix Suns had the Spurs on the ropes last year in the playoffs. As the Suns meet the Celtics in tiie finals, they have finally found their niche in 2008. The sun won’t set this time as the Suns will finally rise, and for the rest of us, it’s time to wake up. Preseason Predictions ( "S in Antonio IsPURS With all of those shooters and a dominant big man in Dwight Howard, this is a sleeper team that could make the playofis. Draft, has the prototype to be one of the purest point guards in the game. As a result, he could start and make an impact now. This team can make the playofis over the Golden State Warriors, and here’s why: As posted on the Warriors’ Web site, the Warriors face a two- dollar-steak type of tough sched ule. They play the San Antonio Spurs, then the next night against the Dallas Mavericks, Memphis Grizzlies and the New Orleans Hornets. All of those games are on the road - and just before tiie final month, they have the Denver Nuggets in Denver and Dallas at home. However, on their Web site, the Grizzlies have two match-ups on their schedule with a rebuilding Minnesota limberwolves squad that’s without Kevin Garnett on their roster. The Grizzlies could surprise this season. San Antonio SPURS Boston CELTICS San Antonio SPURS Boston CELTICS Denver NUGGETS ■ Western Conference Cleveland BULLS Boston CELTICS Miami Dallas MAVERICKS eS Washington WIZARDS Cleveland CAVALIERS CAVALIERS Chicago Phoenix SUNS Phoenix SUNS Boston CELTICS New Jersey HEAT NETS New Jersey Detroit PISTONS Phoenix SUNS • rnoenix SUNS NETS Detroit PISTONS Detroit PISTONS Orlando MAGIC Eastern Conference NFL is supposed to stand for National Football League, not the No Fun League. In 2006, the NFL cracked down on touchdown celebrations by amending rules to include an automatic 15-yard penalty for any dance in which a play er leaves his feet or uses a prop. Terrell Owens is probably the most notorious for these distasteful touch down dances. In 2002, when playing against the Seahawks, Owens removed a sharp ie from his sock and proceeded to sign the ball before handing it to his financial adviser sitting near the end zone. In 2004, when playing against the Ravens, he mocked the dance of linebacker Ray Lewis, a five-time Pro-Bowl participant and respected player. More recently, in light of the Patriots’ videotaping scandal, Owens held the. ball like an old-fashioned wind-up video camera and “taped” the Dolphins sidelines. Owens needs to learn the difference between being creative and just plain offensive. Another player who decided to step over the line of what is acceptable celebration is Falcons wide receiver Joe Hom. After a touchdown in 2003 against the New York Giants, Hom pulled a cell phone from the padding of the goalpost where he had hidden it earlier and called his family. He was immediately given a 15-yard penalty and a $30,000 fine. Chad Johnson, on the other hand, is a true revolutionary when it comes to touchdown dances. The Bengals wide receiver started the creative dances in 2005 when he did an interpretation of river dancing after scoring a touch down. In maybe the best touchdown cel ebration I have ever heard of, Johnson pretended to propose to a Bengals cheerleader after scoring a touchdown, and she accepted the mock proposal. After being fined by the NFL sever al weeks in a row, Johnson celebrated his next touchdown by holding up a sign that read “Dear NFL, please don’t fine me again!!!” Ironically, he was fined again. He has also performed CPR on the ball, the chicken dance and an imita tion of Tiger Woods that ended up costing him $5,000 in fines. I understand that football players’ egos are getting out of control and that the rule was made so that “unsports manlike” conduct wasn’t promoted - but what about the fans? Most fans enjoy seeing creative touchdown celebrations. The few play ers who cross the line - like Owens - shouldn’t min it for everyone. These dances are a tradition start ed by greats such as Elbert “Ickey” Woods, who started the classic Ickey Shuffle, and O.J. Santiago, who sup posedly created the “Dirty Bird” dance ■ed by the Atlanta Falcons. These nces were done because the player had made an amazing score and was expressing his joy in a creative way for the fans’ enjoyment. The bottom line is that the NFL has to draw the line somewhere, and some touchdown dances will end up on the wrong side. But as long as players are willing to continue paying the fine, the tradition should triumph over the No Fun League - oops, I mean the National Football League. Sportsed@clackamas.edu
