GEORGE BUSH ON CAMPUS

You may have heard, you may not have. Apparently, a man in a George Bush mask carrying a rifle was apprehended on the St. Johns Queens campus. I'm sorry, but thats pretty crazy. However, it was incredible how well campus security as well as the NYPD handled the situation. Emergency alert text messages were sent out, which is a brilliant idea because pretty much everyone always has their phone on and on them. All classes were cancelled, keeping students and teachers out of potential danger. The mad bushman was arrested, but they did not just call it a day afterwards. They searched the rest of the campus thoroughly and made sure that there was no other armed man roaming around. No offense to them, but if the Virginia Tech campus security handled things in a similar way rather than just send out an email, maybe things would have turned out differently.

Get that on tape

The New England Patriots. The home of 3 super bowl championships. Also the home of all-pro quarterback Tom Brady and pro-bowl receivers such as Randy Moss and Donte Stallworth. Not done yet, because it is also the place where Bill Belicheck the coaching genius is employed. Despite all these weapons, they were fined $750,000 by the NFL due to illegal filming infractions. Confusion ran rampant throught the league. Why would the best team in the NFL (arguably) have a camera stationed on the sidelines stealing the defensive signals of the lowly New York Jets? The Patriots won the game by a landslide, but because they out-played them or out-signal-stole-cheated them? They clearly have enough weapons to win on their own, it is incomprehensible that they would have to cheat a team in such a cowardly conniving way.

Why Cheat?

Steroids. A constant controversy in pretty much every sport. You hardly ever hear of someone being caught taking steroids and coming back after punishment to still play well. Rodney Harrison of the New England Patriots, a pro-bowl safety part of two super bowl teams. Suspended from the NFL for 4 games, and you havn't heard a word about him since. Why? Because he has not played as well as he has in the past. Rafael Palmeiro of the Texas Rangers. Accused of steroids, fearing testing, he retires. Probably because he was afraid of playing without his beloved juice. However, there are sometimes oddities that recover well from failing steroid tests. Jason Giambi of the New York Yankees was accused of taking steroids during the 2004 season. He admitted using them right away, served his punishment, and still came back to be a decent hitter, ending the season with 12 home runs and two back to back 30 plus home run seasons in the following years. Shawn Merriman of the San Diego Chargers was suspended from the NFL last season, yet still led the entire league with 17 sacks and earned a pro-bowl selection. Apparently these athletes can work hard on their own and still play well, so I ask why cheat?

A job that can be a headache

NFL football, one of the worlds most popular and well-known sports. Its also well known that professional football is one of the more physical sports, mainly because some of the players are the size of a doorway and the ones who arent run faster then race horses. Everyone who has ever watched a game of football has cringed or yelled "Oooooo" at a high impact hit. People are aware of the big hits, but most people are not aware of the frequency of catastrophic injury. Even before Kevin Everett of the Bills made a career and possibly life threating tackle when he broke multiple vertebrae, the NFL was aware of increasing injuries, such as concussions. Everett's injury is more severe but less common than the rising number of concussions. They became such a problem, better yet a concern to the point that the NFL commission reformed its policy and had a conference with team physicians and athletic trainers from every team, stressing new rules and guidelines for dealing with a concussion. The guidelines were:
1. The player should be completely asymptomatic and have normal neurological test results, including mental status testing at rest and after physical exertion, before returning to play.
2. Symptoms to be taken into account include confusion, problems with immediate recall, disorientation to time, place and person, anterograde and retrograde amnesia, fatigue, and blurred vision.
3. If an NFL player sustains a loss of consciousness, as determined by the team medical staff, he should not return to the same game or practice.
4. NFL team physicians and athletic trainers will continue to exercise their medical judgment and expertise in treating concussions, including considering any history of concussions in a player.
Most people are unaware of how frequent and severe the concussion problem is, hopefully some people will realize just how dangerous each down can be. For the National Football League to be forced to take steps in an attempt to "manage" concussions, clearly playing in this brutal league can be a headache.