WATERCOOLER CHAT: FAVRE TENDINITIS, ARENAS FAKING, SMITH SELLING MEDAL
FOOTBALL
In the NFL, Brett Favre is coming off a masterful comeback performance on Monday night (albeit in an ultimately losing effort). Favre has a remarkable record of starting 289 consecutive games. Given that he’s now 41 and has spent the last few seasons in the NFL in his late 30s (prime athlete injury age), this is truly astonishing. However, it looks like Favre is suffering from elbow tendinitis. If his condition worsens, Favre said he would consider sitting 1 or 2 games. That would not only effectively end his streak, but also put the Vikings in an inferior position for a must win game against the Cowboys next week. The loser of that game will be 1-4, and, most likely, have a very tough time making the playoffs. Favre has a challenging decision to make.
BASKETBALL
In the NBA, the Washington Wizards’ Gilbert Arenas is in trouble yet again. Arenas was just fined by the NBA for “faking an injury”. Apparently, Arenas wanted to help a teammate get more playing time and so he told the coaching staff that he was hurt. Wizards back-up point guard Nick Young was frustrated that he wasn’t getting a chance to show what he could do for the Wizards. Arenas felt badly for him and so he checked himself out of the line-up. Commendable and kind in some regard, but this is the professional level, and you just can’t do that. Plus, most players complain of not getting minutes, Arenas is basically saying he’s had enough minutes. Well, another kooky story from a kooky guy.
OLYMPIC
Finally, in some interesting Olympics news, Tommie Smith, a gold-medalist in sprinting in the 1968 Summer Olympics, is selling his gold medal. Tommie Smith was the famous Olympian who won the gold and then, on the podium, raised a ‘Black Power’ fist to the sky. This has been memorialized in a famous photograph where Smith and his running-mate John Carlos are bowing their hands and raising a black leather-gloved fist in the air. Smith said he is selling the medal for the money, of course, but also because he wants to share the historical piece of memorabilia with the public. At 66-years old now, and in a rough economy, Smith clearly has to do what he has to do to get by.
