Kevin Duckworth, 44, recently died in the Lincoln City area. He was the Center of the Portland Trailblazer team.
Duckworth weighed over 300 pounds when he finished his career in the NBA. When he died, he weighed more than that.
Duckworth was on a summer tour with the Trailblazers in Lincoln City. He went to many places in Oregon and Washington. He was scheduled to go to other places in Washington. Due to his death, the rest of the tour was cancelled.
“I’m numb,” said former teammate Jerome Kersey, who was in Virginia visiting family and flew back after finding out about Duckworth’s death. “All though last night I kept waking up and thinking, ‘Did I dream that? It just can’t be.’” All the free Portland Trailblazers merchandise that somebody could give them couldn’t replace the loss of Duckworth.
Even though Duckworth did not have a full-time job with the Trailblazers, he was still considered a member of the franchise. He was a boat broker and was a community ambassador for them.
Duckworth fell in love with recreation. He made stops in Oregon and other places. Recently, he said he would love to be a scout for the Blazers.

 

 

Fun Stuff

January 31, 2009 | Leave a Comment

I saw the following two sites and they looked like great places to get some fun stuff from.

Foosball Tables for Sale – Foosball Table Shoppe is the world leader in foosball, foosball game tables and air hockey tables at an incredible prices.

Hockey Table – Welcome to Air Hockey Table Shoppe, where you will find the widest variety of air hockey game tables, pool tables & air hockey table accessories and more at very affordable prices. 

Clemson Tigers

January 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Clemson is one of the few teams who won’t have lost a lot coming into this football season.

Clemson had one of the most balanced offenses in the nation in 2007, and was the only ACC team to rank among the top five teams in both rushing and passing.

To duplicate that balance Clemson will have to replace four starters on the offensive line. All-Americans Barry Richardson, a starting offensive tackle the last four years, and Chris McDuffie, a converted defensive tackle who earned second-team All-America honors at offensive guard, will be gone.

Clemson must also replace reliable players Christian Capote and Brandon Pilgrim on the offensive line.

Cullen Harper threw a pair of touchdown passes and the defense did the rest as the Orange squad defeated the White squad, 16-7, in the Clemson Spring Game at Memorial Stadium. The game was played in front of an estimated crowd of 25,000 fans with their Clemson gear in the event that concluded Clemson’s Spring Practice.

Picking up where he left off last season when he led the ACC in passing efficiency, Harper was efficient, completing 13 of 18 passes for 142 yards and two scores while playing just the first half.

The Orange defense dominated the line of scrimmage from start to finish, allowing a net total of -9 rushing yards. The Clemson offense was without two of its top players James Davis and Jacoby Ford. Both will be ready for the beginning of practice in August.

Clemson has 15 of 22 starters from the 2007 team that won nine games. While there is a strong experience and talented players returning at many positions on offense and defense, there are also some holes to fill on both sides of the ball.

While Clemson does have some holes to fill, it also has great depth in some areas. Clemson returns a 1000-yard rusher in James Davis.

The Tiger offense will have 7 starters returning.

James Davis and C.J. Spiller are in their third season as the “Thunder & Lightning” rushing combination, perhaps the top running back duo in the nation. They have combined for 3,957 rushing yards on 691 carries.

Rendrick Taylor is another experienced receiver for the Tigers who is also capable of carrying the ball out of the backfield. He has been limited by injury each of the last three years, but has 46 career receptions for 480 yards.

Jock McKissic will move from defensive tackle to offensive tackle in the spring.

On defense, Clemson returns all four starters in the secondary. Clemson was the only ACC team ranked in the top 25 in the nation in pass defense.

The Tiger defense will have 8 starters returning.

Phillip Merling, the defensive end, is also gone from the team.

The strength of the defense may be in the secondary where all four starters and nine total lettermen return. Michael Hamlin is the leader of that unit and perhaps the entire defense.

The defensive line has three returning starters led by Dorell Scott.

Clemson’s returning starters at cornerback are Chris Chancellor and Crezdon Butler.

Clemson returns two productive kickers in punter Jimmy Maners and placekicker Mark Buchholz.

Clemson will play at Auburn in 2010 and at home vs Auburn in 2011.Tigers fans like playing competitive games. They bring their Clemson merchandise with them to show their support for their team, whether they’re good or bad.

Monta Ellis, of the Golden State Warriors, suffered a bad ankle sprain, a torn ligament, and a messed-up ankle last week. He had a successful surgery to fix the torn ligament and won’t play for several months until it is well. Monta Ellis told the Warriors that he had the injury while he was here in Mississippi.

Dr. Angus McBryde performed the successful surgery in Birmingham, AL at the Andrews Sports Medicine & Orthopaedic Center.

People expect Monta to be immobilized for six weeks. Then he will have to go through off-court rehabilitation. If the first two steps are successful, then he will be cleared to have on-court rehabilitation. The doctors didn’t give an estimate on when he will be allowed to play until the 12 weeks are over.

Monta has played in the NBA for three seasons and has averaged over 20 points. He also has shot over .500 from the floor last season with the Warriors. Ever since the Warriors upset the Mavericks, then Golden State Warrior merchandise sales and mania have shot up. Monta Ellis is partly the reason why. He is underrated and needs to be given more credit.

 

Eric Smith, New York Jets safety, was suspended one game by the league for his helmet-to-helmet hit on wide receiver Anquan Boldin of the Arizona Cardinals.
He was fined $50,000 by the NFL for a flagrant violation of the safety rules for players. Boldin couldn’t defend himself when the contact was made.
Boldin was at home because of the incident. This was a day after he was helped off the field because Smith collided with him in their loss at the Jets.
Arizona Cardinals spokesman Mark Dalton said Boldin was fully mobile. He also said he was resting comfortably on Monday evening. The Cardinals had no other comments on Boldin’s condition.
Eric Smith’s helmet-to-helmet contact came when Boldin was in a defenseless position at the time contact was made.
Because of his suspension, Smith will miss the Oct. 12 Cincinnati Bengals game. This comes one week after the New York Jets’ bye week on Oct. 5. Smith has been fined $50,000 and that includes the game check he will lose for the week he is suspended.  Earlier that day, Smith said he would wait to hear from the league before deciding whether to appeal any suspension or fine. New York Jets merchandise will still sell regardless of one of their players getting suspended.

Most people when they return after having surgery don’t want their own teammates hitting them. Deion Branch had a different approach. He said he needed a physical and mental test to test his reconstructed knee against the Super Bowl defending champions New York Giants this Sunday. The Seahawks expect there to be a lot of Seattle Seahawks merchandise in the stands for the game.
He wanted his teammates to hit him.
“I know it sounds crazy, but I’m going to have the guys do it,” Branch said.
“Yeah, I know, guys are going to be fighting over it once I go in and tell them, ‘Hey, I want to take a couple of blows tomorrow,”‘ Branch said, laughing.
The Seahawks feel pretty good about Branch being back at receiver.
Just a few weeks ago, they signed Koren Robinson and Billy McMullen. They got Keary Colbert from Denver. They got him after they got backup QB Seneca Wallace.
Mike Holmgren, coach of the Seahawks, said Deion will make his debut this weekend when they play at the Giants. Bobby Engram will also make his debut when at the Giants. Engram set the record with 94 catches last year but has not played for seven weeks because he has a broken right shoulder.
 

The idea of the St.Pete’s-Tampa Bay area to have a major league baseball team was at first a dream idea. It was the dream idea of a very popular St. Petersburg Times publisher by the name of Jack Lake. He had started the buzz about getting a professional baseball team all the way back in the 60’s. However, it wasn’t until 1995, almost 30 years later, that the Tampa Bay, Florida area finally got her “Dream Team.”

The franchise was able to have their first minor league games occur in the 1996 season.  Chuck Lamar, of Atlanta Braves fame, was the general manager and Larry Rothschild was the team’s first manager.  35 team players were acquired in 1997 by the Expansion draft. The very first player drafted by the Devil Rays was Tony Saunders. They also drafted Bobby Abreu and with hind sight being 20-20, now probably wish they had not promptly traded him to the Phillies.

The end of March 1998 saw the Devil Rays play their first game against the Detroit Tigers. The first pitch was thrown by Wilson Alvarez and the first home run for the Rays was hit by Wade Boggs. Team history had been made even though they lost 11-6. The first 19 games saw them with an 11-8 record and then they lost the next 6 games. They eventually lost 99 games that first year. There was some good news in those early years though. Wade Boggs recorded his 3000th career hit on a home run. He has since been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Since those early years, the Devil Rays have had trials and tribulations, ups and downs, and changes in management.  In 2004, Stuart Sternberg bought into the ownership group of the team and took over Vince Naimoli’s managing general partner position. Chuck LaMar was let go and the team began to focus on rebuilding with younger players. Some of the top hopefuls included outfielders Carl Crawford, Rocco Baldelli, and Jonny Gomes, infielder Jorge Cantu, and pitcher Scott Kazmir.  Money was also spent on improving Tropicana Field to include new club seating. The Ted Williams Museum and Hitters Hall of Fame were also relocated from Citrus County, Florida. Tailgating was allowed in the parking lot for pre-game time and ticket prices were lowered. All this greatly improved the community’s interest in the team with increased fan attendance at the games.

For the 2006 opening game, the Tampa Bay Devil Ray fans showed up for the game. The highest attendance since the inaugural game in 1998 occurred and hopes were high for a winning season.  But the Devil Rays struggled in the second half of the season and finished with a 61-101 record. The worst record in the major leagues. Many think that this slump was caused by the trades of veterans combined with the fact that the Rays played badly on the road.

2007 led to 2008 where on August 29, the Devil Rays secured their first winning season.  On October 6, 2008 the Rays beat the White Sox in game 4 of ALDS to advance to the ALCS.  October 19 they defeated the Boston Red Sox to advance to the World Series.  They will face the Philadelphia Phillies with home field advantage.

We will soon see if this home field advantage will help the St. Petersburg Dream Team of Jack Lake fame to capture their “Dream Win” of being the 2008 World Series Champions.

James and I can hardly wait to turn our attic into a cool recreation room for our kids, but first, we have to toss out the boxes that have just been sitting there since we got married 3 years ago. My husband insists that we must throw away all of them, but I will never let go of the one tagged http://www.sportsfantreasures.com/ncaa-georgia-bulldogs-mens.htm”>Georgia Bulldog shirt. I have so many fantastic memories from my years at the University of Georgia. Not the least of which is running into my other half on the third day of orientation in my sophomore year.

I was standing in the middle of the college souvenir outlet, not too far from the http://www.sportsfantreasures.com/georgia.htm”>Georgia Bulldogs gear corner. I had picked out the ideal gift for my aunt and was getting ready to bring the http://www.sportsfantreasures.com/pc/ACGECL-006/ncaa-georgia-bulldogs-mens/Georgia+Colosseum+Ladies+Grandstand+Polo+Shirt.htm” rel=”nofollow”>bright red shirt to the checkout counter when this wretched young man crashed into me, almost knocking the life out of me. I was irritated until I stared into his emerald green eyes – he was so incredibly good-looking that my tongue just ran dry. Then another detail caught my attention. He was wearing http://www.sportsfantreasures.com/ncaa-ole-miss-rebels-mens.htm”>Ole Miss clothing! Was he really wearing clothing for a competing school? I thought then that he must have been either very fearless or very dumb. But he soon revealed that his girlfriend had given it to him as an “au revoir” gift. And he had promised to use it. A bit sugary even for this romantic girl. On the other hand, I also thought his sincerity and faithfulness was extremely attractive. His beloved was one enviable gal. Thankfully, his beloved decided to end it that year and I got the chance to spend more time with him. And we have been an item for 7 years now.

That’s why I am so unwilling to part with my UGA clothes. I am of the opinion that the small things in life matter a lot. But I have always been the romantic type!

The Oakland Raiders got rid of Lane Kiffin Tuesday. He was only four games in his second year. His firing ended a public feud with the owner Al Davis that had been brewing since the beginning of the season. Even though Oakland is an atrocious team year in and year out, Oakland Raiders merchandise still sells.
“I reached a point where I felt that the whole staff were fractionalized, that the best thing to do to get this thing back was to make a change,” Davis said during a lengthy news conference. “It hurts because I picked the guy. I picked the wrong guy.”

 

James and I have just finalized our plans to turn our unused loft into miniature recreation room for our children, but first, we need to sift through the enormous pile of old boxes and throw out the things we no longer want. I can tell you right now which one I am not going to get rid of: the one tagged Georgia Bulldog clothing. I have a whole bunch of awesome memories from my years at university. And the most precious memory is when I accidentally bumped into my beloved. I was roaming through the Georgia Bulldogs store checking out the athletic attire and souvenirs. I had selected a fantastic souvenir for my aunt and was just about to take the sporty shirt to the checkout counter when this despicable boy rammed into me, almost giving me a shock. I was livid for a moment, but I couldn’t be mad at someone who had eyes as entrancing as his. Plus, he looked so ridiculous in his Ole Miss clothing, that I had to giggle. What kind of a guy put on sportswear from another university? I could not understand it for the life of me. But then he informed me that his girlfriend had gotten it for him as a “see you soon” gift. And he had promised to wear it. A little too much even for this girly girl. At the same time, I told myself that he had to be quite a catch if he was brave enough to admit he was in love with a girl from another college. Lucky for me, his beloved had a change of heart the following month and I got the opportunity to go out on a date with him. And our relationship gradually grew into something very wonderful. I am thinking instead of giving away the things that are in that UGA box, we could use them as decoration for the game room. I’d even hang up the Ole Miss shirt as a memento of the first time we got to know one another!

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