College Football | Danny Vinik

A slow day in sports today so these stories are small, but interesting.

Frasor Out For The Year: North Carolina junior Bobby Frasor will miss the rest of the college basketball season with a torn ligament. He is a versatile player capable of playing many minutes and can play quality time while the Tar Heels rests its stars. He averages over 16 minutes a game and is a player that Roy Williams has valued over the last 2 years. Though it will not have an immediate impact, the loss of Frasor will shrink the Tar Heels bench and require Hansbrough, Lawson, and others to play extra time.

Rod Smith Needs Surgery: Denver Bronco wide receiver Rod Smith may have caught his last pass in the NFL. After undergoing hip surgery in February, three years after his hip began to hurt, Smith wanted to get back into the NFL by the second half of the season. Unfortunately, his hip didn’t agree and Smith has not played a single play this year. Smith revealed today that “It has not healed. It’s not healing at all. Honestly, I don’t even like walking on it. It’s that bad right now to me, and it’s a matter of the hip socket has been bone-on-bone for a while”. He is seeing a specialist in Los Angeles and will likely have a resurfacing of the joint in January. Smith is 37 years old and holds the NFL record for most catches, touchdowns, and yards than any undrafted wide receiver. In his comments today, Smith also spoke about how he wants to spend more time with his family, another remark that sounded as if he was going to retire. Rod Smith has been a great player over his 13 years in the league, and if he does retire, the Broncos and the NFL will lose a talented veteran. Continue reading “Daily Sports Roundup 12/28/07” →

Not a big sports day today, but there are a couple of stories that deserve discussing.

Knicks, Marbury Saga Continues:The New York Knicks and Stephon Marbury continue to live without each other as Marbury grieves over the death of his father. The Knicks have given Marbury as much time as he needs, but he is having trouble in the situation. This comes after Marbury left a game against Phoenix before the game started, because he was taken out of the starting lineup. The Knicks have fined Marbury $200,000 and the two continue to argue over whether he has to pay it. In practice today, Knicks’ coach Isiah Thomas was asked whether Marbury would return to the Knicks this year. His response: “I don’t know”. The organization needs to move past this distraction and try to regain some respect from the rest of the league. If Marbury is really having a tough time dealing with the loss of his father, he should take as much time as he needs and join a team where he can make a positive impact.

All Star Voting Updates in NBA, NHL:Fan voting for the All Star was released today for both the NHL and NBA. These are only updates as their is still time left to vote for your favorite players, but it seems that fans are doing a good job selecting the starters. In the NBA, the current starters for the East would be Kevin Garnett, Lebron James, Dwight Howard, Dwayne Wade, and Jason Kidd while the West would counter with Yao Ming, Tim Duncan, Tracy McGrady, Kobe Bryant, and Carmelo Anthony. I agree with nearly everyone one of those choices except for one, Tracy McGrady. How can Chris Paul, who is averaging 22 points and 10 assists per game not make it over T-mac? McGrady averages 23 points and 5 rebounds per game. I know that Nash is dishing out 13 assists per game, but for the Hornets to be at 18-10 right now is a testament to how much Paul means to the team. Paul deserves the spot. Continue reading “Daily Sports Roundup 12/27/07” →