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Bengals resign Henry, try to hide embarrassment

The Bengals tucked their tail between their legs and called up Chris Henry and resigned him. Cincinnati said they may have acted too quickly by releasing him before due process, but the real reason the resigned him is that they are a better team with him and need more wide receivers due to injuries to Ocho Cinco and Housh. It could be a good move if he has matured and is serious about staying out of trouble. Even though he probably did not currently have any other offers on the table, it shows Henry does not show a grudge and put aside any ego he has and resigned with the team that just recently released him. Cincinnati played better with him than without him in ‘07, but his stats for the 8 games he played were unspectacular- 21 catches, 343 yards, and 2 TDs. He came on strong in his return with 12 grabs, 180 yards, and 1 TD in his first two games back. The downside was he put up less than that in his final six games. He does have plenty of time to get back into shape because of his four game suspension.

The team will struggle if their top players are not 100% by the start of the year (Chad Johnson, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, and Rudi Johnson), but regardless, they look like they have been passed by the Browns in the division and should finish 3rd behind Cleveland and Pittsburgh. They have drafted well the past two years but have lost good football players for various reasons this past offseason.

They lost Odell Thurman to substance abuse and David Pollack to a neck injury. They may also lose Chris Henry if he makes any mistakes this year. Thurman was a second round pick in the 2005 draft and a defensive rookie of the year candidate and could have had a long career. David Pollack was a first round pick in the ‘05 draft. Kenny Irons was their second round pick last year but was injured and has already been waived. Justin Smith took a deal for 6 years and $45 million from the 49ers in the offseason. Madieu Williams all left in the offseason also and now will start at FS for the Vikings. Antwan Odom and Ben Utecht were the only major acquisitions in the offseason.

Kyle Orton takes Rex Grossman’s job

Well it finally happened. Rex Grossman will no longer be Lovie Smith’s quarterback. The team supported him all they could and gave him a top defense to help him. Grossman had the chance to be Trent Dilfer, someone who was fortunately placed on a great team and just let everyone else do the heavy lifting. Grossman took too many chances and threw too many stupid interceptions during his tenure as starting QB in Chicago. If he just managed the team and let Robbie Gould score the points just as Matt Stover did for the Ravens in Super Bowl XXXV, he might have a ring. Instead he had his ups and downs and pissed off most of Chicago.

Muhsin Muhammad seemed to call Rex out when he said that Chicago is “where receivers go to die.” Grossman was the starting QB for 30 of 52 games from 2005-2007 when Muhammad was part of the team. If Orton has improved with accuracy, he could be what Chicago needs. The defense is getting old and the window is closing if it is not already closed for another championship run. Greg Olsen is improving, and there is optimism about Devin Hester at WR.

Preseason is that time for optimism where all people talk about are players like Olsen and Hester, but realistically, the Bears should struggle again on offense. There is no legitimate RB or WR on the team. Bernard Berrian and Muhammad are gone, and Marty Booker and Brandon Lloyd are sorry replacements. Devin Hester is interesting, but he needs work and will not be a true number one receiver this year. It was a huge mistake to keep Cedric Benson over Thomas Jones, but NFL teams always keep the player drafted more recently in the 1st round over a proven player. Benson is now gone, and mostly rookies and career backups compete for the job. Matt Forte looks like he will be the starter, but the RBs will probably share carries. Kevin Jones is the only former starter, but he played like a backup in Detroit. The Bears have the wrong Adrian Peterson and Garrett Wolfe is too small to carry the load. It should be a down year with the Bears finishing below .500 again.

Finley signs with Spurs, Pargo goes abroad to Russia

Recent NBA signings:
Michael Finley resigns with the Spurs. Good move by the Spurs. They had Finley, Brent Barry, and Robert Horry who are all old and shoot threes. They resigned the youngest and most productive of the three. Finley averaged 10.1 ppg compared to Barry’s 7.1 ppg and Horry’s 2.5 ppg. It really showed at the end of the year that the team did not need all three of these players and needs to start getting younger. The writing on the wall showed that only one of them might return. The Spurs made the logical choice resigning the youngest most productive of the three. Finley had his choice of other title contenders to join (Celtics, Hornets, and the Cavaliers), but in the end, he chose to come back to the Spurs.

Jannero Pargo signs with Russian club Dynamo Moscow. Once it was clear that Pargo would not resign with the Hornets, the best thing for the Hornets would be if he went abroad. In game 7 of the playoff series with the Spurs, Pargo took far too many shots at the end and tried to lead the team as if he was the MVP of the team. That possibly could have caused problems in the Hornets wanting him back this year. He could be a dangerous player and could have come back to haunt New Orleans if he stayed in the division with San Antonio or even with Phoenix. He would have fit in perfectly with Phoenix by being able to run the floor and play both guard spots. But in the end, Pargo took the money for a year (1 year at $3.5 million) and will try to return to the NBA next year if he can get a long-term deal.

Phelps wins 8th gold and celebrity status

En route to his 8th gold medal, Michael Phelps captured the hearts of Americans and became the captivating story of these Olympics. When the Olympics started, it seemed as if the USA basketball team’s quest to regain Olympic gold would be the top story for America, but that quickly faded away as Phelps started his quest for eight gold medals. Now that Phelps is done, some of that attention may shift towards the basketball now. But after these Olympics, Phelps record setting eight gold medals will be the story remembered. Everyone loves him, even the media, shown by the fact that you cannot find one negative word written about him. Not everyone thought he could do it, myself included, but everyone wanted him too, except Mark Spitz. Phelps has stated he does not want such a stressful schedule of races in the 2012 Olympics, but I wonder if his competitive spirit and wallet may want to try it again. He will be loaded with endorsements immediately after these Olympics, and he may be tempted in four years at what could be his last shot at a huge payday.

He put his stamp on these Olympics, and after it is over, his races should should be one of the top draws from the games. London will want him in 2012 so people will watch swimming again. USA will want him to compete in as many events as possible in 2012 as shown by a bonus of $670,000 from USA Swimming and the U.S. Olympic Committee for his eight gold medals. Phelps’ interest of becoming a star will emerge soon depending on if he shows up on talk shows and Saturday Night Live. As of right now, his sponsors include at least Speedo, Omega (watches), Visa, Power Bar, and AT&T. When the dust settles, he should have a few more. His agent probably will spend the rest of the Olympics talking and negotiating with potential sponsors. Now Michael Phelps and his agent will determine how famous he really wants to be.

Olympics unsafe in China

The Olympics are supposed to be a time when the world focuses on athletes from their respective countries to compete for bragging rights. It is assumed to be located in a safe place where athletes can focus on their sport but also have the luxury of sightseeing in the local area. None of this has happened in China. Before the games started there was a controversy with the path of the torch. Protesters formed against China because of their human rights and Tibetan policies. The path of the torch had to be altered on its way to Beijing. This controversy was only the beginning for these Olympics.

Todd Bachman who is the father-in-law of the Men’s Indoor Volleyball Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon, has already been murdered. Bachman and his wife were attacked by a man with a knife, who killed Bachman and seriously injured his wife. The murderer then killed himself by jumping off of a second story building. Previous to that, 16 Chinese police officers were killed in a terrorist attack.

The most recent problem has been a new discovery that Chinese gymnast He Kexin is only 13 or 14 years old instead of the required 16 years of age to compete in the Olympics. It is only a minor situation, and there is logic in that the best athletes should be out there competing regardless of age. There is no maximum limit for age, so why should there be a minimum requirement for age? After these Olympics, that rule should probably be removed, but China should be stripped of any medals earned in which He Kexin competed. I doubt that the IOC or International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) will do anything about it though. They only check the participants passports, which appears to be a valid passport. There is no reason why China could not have issued her a legal passport with a fake birthdate for her to compete. China is hosting these games and has put pressure on itself to have a good showing for these games. They want to be able to win the gold and overall medal count in these Olympics.

The deaths and corruption of the Olympics from China has cast a shadow over the all the feel-good stories. Jokes about the IOC taking bribes are now commonplace. The athletes deserve better security while at these Olympics, and safety should be taken into consideration much more than it currently does when selecting sites for the Olympics. Nations should consider protecting their own athletes by sending more bodyguards and provide more safety. No one involved in the Olympics was killed in 2004 in the Athens games, and these murders show Beijing should not have been the city selected.

Cavs get Mo Williams in three team deal

The Cleveland Cavaliers just acquired Mo Williams in a three team deal in which the Cavs get Mo Williams, the Bucks get Damon Jones, Luke Ridnour, and Adrian Griffin, and Oklahoma City gets Joe Smith and Desmond Mason. Cleveland finally gets a true PG who can score, so Daniel Gibson can play his natural position more at the 2. Milwaukee wanted to dump Mo Williams because of his salary ($43 million over 5 years left), and the Cavs capitalized. It was definitely a win for the Cavs because they need to bring it quality players to convince LeBron to stay. All they had to give up were two backups (Jones and Smith) for a legitimate starting PG. Cleveland knows they have to work harder to keep James now because he announced he would go to Europe if the price is right during these Olympics while the world is watching. All the owners of teams in Europe were definitely listening. That gives some of the cap-free teams there two years to save up to get him. They may not want to spend $50 million to get LeBron or Kobe, but it is a possibility.

76ers Sign Iguodala, Complete Team

The Philadelphia 76ers and Andre Iguodala have come to terms on a 6 year $80 million dollar contract. Yes, they did overpay for him, but contracts for about $70-$80 million have been common for free agents this year. Philadelphia may have been able to get him for less, but the 76ers probably realized their spending spree for Brand would be pointless if they could not bring back Iguodala. A backcourt of Andre Miller and Andre Iguodala is solid with a great 6th man in Louis Williams. Brand should be a double-double machine at the power forward with Dalembert able to play the defensive shot blocking center position like Marcus Camby. Everyone loved Thaddeus Young last year, and apparently so did the team because it looks as if he’ll get the starting SF position.

The downside for this team is that they are thin in the frontcourt with a rookie, Marreese Speights, backing up Dalembert, and one of their first rounders last year, Jason Smith, now out with a torn ACL.

Philly improved a lot over the offseason getting Brand. Without him they gave Detroit a scare last year pushing the series to six games. They should now be in a great position to make a run in the playoffs and should at least break into the second round this year.

5 down and 3 to go for Phelps

The USA opened up a huge lead early by putting Phelps on the first leg. Its hard to argue with the coach’s decision to put him first. The other swimmers on the team held their own too. First team to ever post a time under 7 minutes (6:58.56) in the 4×200 freestyle shows that everyone on the team was worthy to be there and that this race wasn’t just the Michael Phelps show. The result was not a surprise but beating the silver medalist Russian team by a full 5 seconds could not have been expected.

Phelps Wins 4th Easily, Gets 10th Gold Metal

Michael Phelps is now halfway there. He was heavily favored in the 200 butterfly for a good reason. He has not lost the race for six years, and no reason for it to happen tonight. Now he has got the most gold metals for any individual (10). The announcers never flinched even when he was not in the lead going into the first turn. They all said he would pull away towards the end, which he did. He had the lead by the second turn, and by the final turn there was no question. Of course he set another world record, why wouldn’t he?