WATERCOOLER CHAT: RAYS EVEN THE SERIES, BRADY’S KNEE BAD, BOUNTY CONSPIRACY
BASEBALL
And in the World Series, Game 2 was all Rays with a 4-2 win over the Phillies. It all happened with some clutch RBIs from Evan Longoria, B.J. Upton and Jason Bartlett. Without the stellar pitching from Cole Hamels, the Phillies weren’t as terrifying. (Tampa Bay Rays 4, Philadelphia Phillies 2)
FOOTBALL
Some serious news in the NFL. It appears that Tom Brady, has had not one, but three knee surgeries. It turns out that there is an infection in his knee, and now it’s possible (more likely probable) that they will have to reconstruct his knee AGAIN. This is a very delicate and painful surgery, one athletes fear. For now, however, the focus is on the infection, because if problems worsen for Brady, he’d be out for more than just a year. It might end his career. Scary news, and right now the Patriots already have a lot of question marks on their minds for next season. Is the Matt Cassel era just a phase, or will it become permanent. We’ll see.
Also, it appears QB Daunte Culpepper is considering coming out of retirement. Culpepper thrived on the Vikings, but was abysmal on both Miami and Oakland. Now, however, he’s eyeing a comeback as there are numerous teams out there in dire need of a quarterback. Namely — the Kansas City Chiefs, who have already contacted Culpepper. Daunte said he’s not sure if the Chiefs are the right fit, but he’d like to consider other options and help a team win some games. Keep in mind that this guy retired early, mainly because he couldn’t find a system that had enough weapons for him to truly compete. Now, perhaps, a team like Kansas City, San Francisco, or Detroit could really use Culpepper to turn their season around. He’s too good a player to just be sitting on the couch. Just ask Brett Favre.
Some more heat in the NFL, as there is a possible ‘bounty’ conspiracy. The Baltimore Ravens Terrell Suggs said in an interview that there was a ‘bounty’ against the Steelers WR Hines Ward and RB Rashard Mendenhall in their last game. Mendenhall was sidelined for the rest of the season with a shoulder injury, and Ward took a few intense hits. A bounty? That means that they would be getting paid extra to injure these players. That’s, um, illegal not just in football but on a much larger scale. However, Suggs clarified his comments just saying that they were ‘going to keep an eye on those players’. Hines Ward even said he was honored to have a bounty on him. Suggs got himself in even more hot water by openly declaring that Troy Smith, the former Heisman winning QB, should be the starter on the Ravens instead of Joe Flacco, the current rookie starter. He said, “Flacco is alright, but Troy is the better man for the job”. Way to support your current starting quarterback, Terrell.
