Culture
Bossick: Pondering over Favre’s retirement similar to Sanders
http://www.chippewa.com/articles/2008/07/04/sports/doc486e7dc65d136319169301.txt
I feel for you, Packers fans.
For the past two off-seasons, you’ve had your string pulled up and down with Brett Favre playing it like a yo-yo.
You’ve had to play the waiting game with Brett. The speculation for a number of years was that he was going to retire.
The announcements, such as in 2006, came later than most would have hoped. Last year, the wait wasn’t as long and we all know what happened this off-season.
Brett Favre retired, or will he?
All of this retirement talk has me recollecting to the days when I rooted for a Hall of Famer for my favorite NFL team, Barry Sanders of the Detroit Lions.
If you’ll recall, it was nine years ago that Sanders sent a newspaper in Wichita, Kansas, his hometown, a fax stating he was retiring.
chippewa.com
7/4/08
On to Beijing
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080704/SPORTS02/807040368/1063/sports02
EUGENE, ORE. — Brittney Reese is bound for Beijing.
The former Ole Miss long jumper and reigning NCAA champion from Gulfport soared to victory Thursday night in the U.S. Olympic track and field trials, uncorking a 22-foot, 9 3/4-inch performance in the finals.
The top three in each event advance to next month’s Olympic Games in China that begin Aug. 8.
Reese’s latest effort, a personal best, is tops in the U.S. this year and ranks the recently turned professional second in the world.
Reese overtook 2007 national outdoor champion Grace Upshaw (22-7) on her final jump.
clarion ledger
7/4/08
One Of Largest HD Video Boards To Stand At Scott Field
http://www.wjtv.com/gulfcoastwest/jtv/sports.apx.-content-articles-JTV-2008-07-04-0020.html
By Associated Press
Work has begun at Mississippi State's Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field on one of college football's largest high definition video boards, MSU Director of Athletics Greg Byrne announced Wednesday.
The $6.1 million true HD board, will span the roof of the Leo Seal M-Club Centre in the south end zone at Scott Field, and will be operational by October, 2008. When completed, the new board will measure 152 feet wide by 135 feet, 6 inches tall, with a main HD screen 111 feet wide by 47 feet high. It will be the largest true high definition board in the Southeastern Conference. The board will also contain two vertical HD displays and one horizontal scoreboard display.
The new construction was approved by the Board of Trustees, Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning. Capturion Network Inc., a Laurel, Miss., based outdoor sign and video display company will serve as the project contractor.
wjtv
7/5/08
SEC Envy
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/35074-sec-envy
I've never been a part of the "in" crowd. I've never been hated "because I'm beautiful." But being a fan of the SEC these days is starting to feel just that way. It seems that jealousy abounds among fans of the other conferences, and the potshots are coming faster and harder than ever before.
For a while, Big-10 fans thought that they were the ones that were the SEC's top rival for the mantle of college football's (and arguably college athletics as a whole) top conference.
Then, with two consecutive drubbings of their top team in the national championship game, they have gotten much quieter. And it didn't help the matter that Florida beat Ohio State for the NCAA basketball tournament (on their way to a second straight title) either. Yes, the rumblings from the Big 10 have fallen to a hush.
The Big-12 fans flexed their muscle a couple of years ago when Oklahoma, and then Texas, had won the BCS championship within a couple of years of each other.
The problem now is that Oklahoma is the not-so-proud owner of a four-game (and counting) bowl-losing streak, and Texas hasn't been the same since Vince Young left.
Yes, Missouri is an up-and-coming program, but it can be argued that their rise is partially due to the vacuum that has been caused by Nebraska's fall, so, from a conference standpoint, that is a wash. And Kansas didn't played anybody last year and then lost to the only decent team they played (Missouri).
Big-East fans seem more obsessed with trying to convince the Big 10 (their closest neighbors) that they are their equals instead of trying to make any convincing arguments that they are better than the SEC.
Bleacherreport
7//5/08
Will the New Orleans Saints return to ’06 form?
http://www.thenewsstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080704/SPORTS/80703059/1006
Will the New Orleans Saints look more like the club that fall just one measly victory shy of playing in the Super Bowl in 2006?
Or will they languish as the frustrating epitome of mediocrity, as they did in 2007?
As training camp looms, you have to wonder.
It has been said that 2006 was a fluke. That the Saints, no matter how talented, always have been and always will be a team that simply struggles on a regular basis. That they will continue to give their fan base fits with erratic play.
But what if, in fact, 2007 was the fluke? What if the day Sean Payton was named the new head coach signaled a new era in New Orleans for a franchise that had only one playoff victory to its credit prior to the 2006 season?
What if there is something to what is called the "sophomore slump?"
Monroe news Star
7/4/08
