by Cory Woodroof | Oct 9, 2012 | Opinion, Sports
After a large number of Kansas City Chiefs fans cheered when their own quarterback left the KC-Baltimore Ravens game Sunday with a concussion, infuriated Chiefs offensive tackle Eric Winston decided to take a stand. Winston held a one-man press conference blasting people who expressed their joy at Matt Cassel’s expense. “We are athletes, OK? We are athletes. We are not gladiators. This is not the Roman Coliseum. People pay their hard-earned money when they come in here, and I believe they can boo, they can cheer and they can do whatever they want. I believe that,” Winston said. “We are lucky to play this game. People, it’s hard economic times, and they still pay the money to do this.” This is true. Fans pay good money for tickets. You guys make a lot of money. Why can’t I cheer for what I want, whenever I want? Not quite so, the lineman says, referring in part to the long-lasting impact of concussions on players that’s still being studied, even while some retired athletes struggle to fully function and others choose suicide over disability. “But when somebody gets hurt, there are long-lasting ramifications to the game we play. I’ve already kind of come to the understanding that I won’t live as long because I play this game, and that’s OK. That’s a choice I’ve made and a choice all of us have made.” Winston continues. “But when you cheer, when you cheer somebody getting knocked out, I don’t care who it is — and it just so happened to be Matt Cassel — it’s sickening. It’s 100 percent sickening. I’ve been in some rough times on some rough...
by Aaron Schmelzer | Aug 28, 2012 | Opinion, Sports
Jake Locker was named the Tennessee Titans’ starting quarterback over veteran Matt Hasselbeck on Monday, Aug. 20. It was no surprise to many fans, as the Titans drafted Locker with the 8th overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft. Many thought that Locker might oust Hasselbeck for the starting job last season, but Hasselbeck kept the job. The veteran QB had a pretty good season in 2011, so Locker had to compete for this season’s head quarterback position – unlike most first round quarterbacks nowadays. The Titans have the 28th ranked schedule in the NFL, play four playoff teams from last season and face seven potential playoff teams. How Locker will play this year is a big topic of discussion leading up to the Titans’ opener against the New England Patriots on Sept. 9. As far as making progress is concerned, Jake Locker benefitted greatly from sitting behind Hasselbeck last season. In hindsight, sitting Locker during his rookie year was probably best for the future of the Titans organization because, thankfully for Locker, he wasn’t being thrown into a fire early on in his career. The skills Locker learned from Hasselbeck definitely showed in the quarterback’s second preseason start. During last Thursday night’s preseason game against the Arizona Cardinals, Locker completed 11 out of 20 passes for 134 yards and two touchdown passes – one to Kendall Wright and another to Nate Washington. Throughout the game, Locker showed great poise in the heat of pressure. ESPN NFL Analyst Trent Dilfer commented on Locker’s progress during the game. To paraphrase, “Jake Locker has shown a great ability in pure progression. He goes...
by Hunter Patterson | Apr 20, 2012 | News Slider
On the semester’s final installment of Lumination News, Hunter Patterson and Caitlin Selle are behind the news desk bring you up to speed on what’s happened in the last week and what is going to happen next week. Plus, the latest in entertainment from Jessic Burke, weather from Clay Smith and sports from Wade Funderburg round out the rest of the week’s show. Lumination Newscast, April 20, 2012 from lumination Network on...
by Hunter Patterson | Jan 9, 2012 | News Slider, Opinion, Sports
When he was in college, the nation could not get enough of his ability to push his teammates through any situation. When he was drafted, the Broncos were ridiculed because his throwing motion was not that of an NFL quarterback. Now the media, college campuses, workplace water coolers and especially the Internet are buzzing with “Tebowmania.” In the AFC Wildcard game last night, Tebow completed 10 passes. That’s nothing compared to what Drew Brees or Matt Stafford did in their games, completing 33 and 28 passes respectively. But Tebow did something that neither of the two have done in their entire careers. He broke Twitter. Well, sort of. When Tebow threw the 80-yard touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas on the first play of overtime against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Twitter exploded with over 9300 tweets per second. That was more than when Beyonce announced her pregnancy (8000+) and when Bin Laden was killed (5000+). Only adding to the shock and the excitement of the moment was Tebow’s final stat line. The Heisman winning quarterback had two touchdowns and a 125.6 (out of 158.3) QB rating, going 10-21 for 316 yards. That’s right, 316. Before entering the NFL where the rules do not allow it, Tebow wrote two Bible verses on his eyeblack – Philippians 3:14 and John 3:16. Beyond his football career, Tebow is changing the way people think about faith. Personally, I thought the comparing of stats and Bible verses was a bit over the top and absurd. However, now one day removed from the upsetting loss of my favorite team, I love that people are talking about Scripture....
by despotmj | Aug 2, 2011 | News Slider, Opinion, Sports
Are you ready for some football? If not, get ready, because the NFL has rocketed back from the lull that was the NFL lockout. Just like the 80s movie, Spinal Tap, the NFL has turned it up to 11 and will not be looking in the rear-view mirror anytime soon. In fact, last week set a record for the most NFL transactions (players cut/signed/traded) ever recorded in one week, and the Tennessee Titans certainly accounted for many, posting 51. For the last several years, the Tennessee Titans’ front office has been beleaguered by claims that they act too slow and are inefficient when it comes to off-season activity. Fortunately, General Manager Mike Reinfeldt and his staff rose to the occasion and brought in several additions to offense and defense, all while doing a little housekeeping in the process. The week began with the Titans signing Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck to a three-year, $21 million offer. This will provide the Titans with a veteran quarterback ready to play immediately, leaving rookie Jake Locker a chance to refine his game for the foreseeable future. Following the signing of Hasselbeck, the Titans cut two players who have been staples of the franchise for the last several years. Vince Young, the troubled but talented third-overall choice from the 2006 NFL Draft, was cut after alienating himself from the team and front office. Defensive Tackle Tony Brown, who signed a three-year contract last offseason, was cut after being placed on injured reserve last season. Following the cuts were a slew of signings that included inking the entire Titans’ draft class to four-year contracts, as well as the...
