Run to Win

After Justin Gatlin first faced his ban from professional track & field for steroid use, he started working out for a few NFL football teams. Nothing came from it, though, and none of the teams that he worked out for last year brought him in for a formal workout.

This offseason, however, he has gone in for a minicamp workout for Tampa Bay.

“This is where I want to be,” Gatlin said. “I didn’t come here on my high horse, all mighty, and saying give me a locker and let me do what I want to do. I’m starting from the ground up, and that’s where I want to start.” [...] “He won a gold medal. He wants to give this a shot, and this is a good launching pad to see how quickly he picks it up, how natural he is and how far he has to go,” Gruden said.

If he gets signed, I think that he would do all right from himself as a football player. He would have to ramp up to participating in a contact sport, and he would have to do it fast enough to avoid getting cut. That is not a small hurdle, but he has played football before and he seems to be able to catch the ball. He could probably do all right as a kick-off or punt returner, and perhaps win a roster spot as a receiver after he has had the time to learn some routes and has proven that he can take a hit.

I think that if he does cross over from Track & Field to football, though, that he would not be able to go back. I think that he would become too beat up too fast to be able to be competitive as a sprinter. If his appeal loses and he does get banned from the sport, though, then his most competitive years would be lost to him anyway.

(Source: ESPN.com)

A couple of years ago, I wrote about how Tom Brady signed a new contract with the Patriots and extended his terms through 2010. After signing Randy Moss this weekend, it has come out that Tom Brady restructured that contract in order to give the Patriots enough cap room to assume Moss’s former contract from the Raiders before resigning him to a one year deal. Since a lot of people are searching my site for information about Tom Brady’s contract, I thought I would provide what details are currently public.
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This week last year saw a good range range of topics relating to weight lifting, football and baseball.

• I demonstrated how to do a 1-arm dumbbell bench press in my animated series. I also retooled my beginner workout to fit the new gym layout, and then decided that the retooled version is not so beginner friendly. I have since given up on that particular workout now since I tend to avoid the machines and stick to free weights.
• Also weight lifting related, I reviewed Mead Memo books. They are small, they are simple, and it is hard to go wrong with using one as a training log or workout planner in the weight room. I am just about near the end of the one that I was using last year at that time. I had started using it about two weeks before then.
• I saw some research that exercise can help prevent depression.
• In football news, Jerome Bettis retired after the Steelers won the Super Bowl and the NFL tried to defend the officiating during the game. I tried to analyze the meaning behind the Texans extending David Carr’s contract for 3 more years, but I was way wrong and none of the scenarios that I outlined actually came to pass.
• The city of Anaheim lost their court case against the Angels when the courts decided that the team did not have to change their name. In humorous baseball news, the Lowell Spinners attempted to get all of the youth baseball leagues in New England to get rid of the Yankees teams and change their names to the Spinners.

This week last year was pretty slow. Just about everything had something to do with weight lifting or football, although the football news was more on the humorous side than the serious side.

• I demonstrated how to do a seated leg extension in my animated series.
• In other weight lifting news, I had to learn how to navigate a new gym after the local Planet Fitness opened. I am not a big fan of their layout.
• It turns out that exercising before bed is not so bad after all.
• A fan tried to blackmail the New England Patriots by selling the football that Doug Flutie drop kicked. His demands were fairly humorous, and Bob Kraft just ignored him. In other ridiculous football news, the Seattle Seahawks and Texas A&M went to federal court to decide who had the rights to refer to their home team crowd as the 12^th man on the field.

This week last year I concentrated on getting the site updated and writing articles concerned with one aspect of weight lifting or another. There was a small bit of football news that snuck in there as well.

• I continued my animated series by demonstrating how to do a back extension with your hands behind your head. I also described the wife’s weight program and highlighted an article from the St. Louis Post about beginner exeriser tips.
• I reviewed the PowerBar ProteinPlus bars.
• I shared one of my best “workout” tips, which is important not only during a workout but throughout the entire day. It is very easy, as well. You just need to keep a water bottle handy at all times.
• In football news, I predicted the results of the second half of the Rose Bowl, but I wound up being wrong. Within hours after winning a game against the Bears, Mike Tice got fired from the Vikings.

The results of the NFL most valuable player voting are cast, and not surprisingly Ladainian Tomlinson won in a landslide. Tomlinson absolutely dominated the league this year, especially in the latter half of the season. He earned the 88% of the vote that he received.

Tomlinson, who broke Shaun Alexander’s league record for touchdowns by scoring 31 (28 rushing) and also threw for two scores, had one of the greatest seasons in NFL history. He rushed for a league-high 1,815 yards on 348 carries, had 56 receptions for 508 yards and was 2-for-3 as a passer, both completions for scores, giving the Chargers running back six in his six-year career, tying him for second among non-quarterbacks.

Tomlinson scored 186 points this season already, and the playoffs have not even begun yet. I am glad that he won the award; from all accounts that I have ever heard of the man, he is a stand up individual. He is humble, he is a team guy, and he does good work in his community. He certainly deserved it, with the numbers that he put up!

(Source: ESPN.com)

The Giants get the week started out on Saturday this week, and I think that they will continue to implode. Dallas is going to overcome their horrendous performance last week, though and will beat Detroit.

New England does not have anything to play for this week, and the Titans are not mathematically eliminated yet. I think that it is a recipe for the Patriots to take a dive.

Fantasy football is over. I did not win, but I at least made it to the last game. My guys just did not show up last week. At least I didn’t come out empty handed though; hopefully this year I’ll actually get paid.
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Only two more weeks are left in the regular season.

Minnesota is playing in Green Bay tonight, and Kansas City will be playing in Oakland on Saturday. I would not watch the Kansas City at Oakland game anyway, but I would prefer to watch the Vikings and Packers. Unfortunately, the NFL Network has not figured out how to play nice with Time Warner yet, and Time Warner bought Adelphia in my area so I can not get the station any more.

Chicago should not have any trouble this week; nor should Indianapolis. I think that Oakland is going to somehow manage to win against Kansas City, though. I think that San Diego at Seattle will be a good game, with San Diego winning by a touchdown. Dallas is going to slap Jeff Garcia around, though.
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