Tag: Kansas City Chiefs

What’s happenin??

On By kassienetteIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Hey kiddos!! Didja miss me?? Alright, lets catch up on the happenings. Gonna stray away from my normal NFL ReKap.

I know I have been slipping on my coverage of the World Series but please tell me ya’ll have been watching. Thanks to another monster pitching performance by Jon Lester, the Boston Red Sox are now just one win away from clinching their third World Series championship in 10 years. If that does not interest you, then you should at least watch to see the dominance that is David Ortiz better known as Big Papi. This guy has been UNREAL in this series. If I recall correctly, he is 11 for 15 is batting over .750. Every time he steps to the plate, Kodak moment. Game 6 is Wednesday night in Boston. The Sox have a chance to clinch their eighth title in legendary Fenway Park for the first time since 1918. I guess you can tell who I am pulling for. #BostonStrong

Sooooo Dez Bryant snapped huh? I probably would have snapped too if I played for Dallas. They stay melting down. Ok. Ok. Let me focus. For real, I did not have a major problem with Bryant’s temper tantrum. Football is a heated sport and most players are very passionate about the game. Sideline tantrums are nothing new. Now Bryant probably does not have the clout yet to be outbursting…too much, too soon?? That slamming down of the Gatorade cups and pounding his fists on the table…definitely too much. Is this the beginning of their yearly episode of self destruction?? We shall see.

Man. Ya’ll just refuse to give the Kansas City Chiefs any props. Only undefeated team left and they are constantly left out of the top three in power rankings. They gets no respect. Probably because they are the Kansas City Chiefs. Carry on.

Forgot to tell ya’ll hockey is back! Happy. Happy. Joy. Joy. Go Canes!!!

The NBA season starts tonight. Oh joy.

Oregon took over the #2 spot in the BCS. Dropping FSU down to #3. Alabama remains #1. If all three remain undefeated, this is going to be one year the powers that be wishes they had the playoff system in place. Ah. Next year.

You know I do not comment often on the NFL and all the changes it has endured the past few years. However, while watching the Seattle/St. Louis game I got a little annoyed. Seattle’s Russell Wilson laid a nice dime in the hands of Golden Tate, while he had a DB draped all over him. Tate made a phenomenal play and in the process blew by the safety help as he trotted into the endzone. On his way to the endzone, Tate waved bye to the defense which resulted in unsportmanslike penalty.  Ugh. Really? For waving? That is the one thing I really wish the NFL would ease up on. Let guys celebrate. It is a competitive sport. If your thing is scoring and handing the ball to the ref then great. If your thing is scoring and cabbage patching after you do then great. Neither should be frowned upon. No one is getting hurt. Geez Louise. They better be glad I do not play. I would do the worm all the way to the endzone :-}.

Until next time…TOODELLS.

Kassie’s NFL ReKap, Week 3

On By kassienetteIn 49ers, NFL, Panthers, SportsLeave a comment

Interesting twists and turns in the NFL this week….

I have already discussed my Niners. No need to go there again.

My Panthers won!!! Finally. Yes! Yes! Yes! I mean I know the New Yawk Midgets sent their little league team to play but a win is a win!

The Bengals had a 14 point lead over the Vikings. Then they were down by 16. Then they won by four. Yeah, that really happened.

The Cowgirls beat down the Rams. Their nation rejoices, until December.

The Titans beat the Chargers. Jake Locker threw a TD pass to Justin Hunter with 15 seconds left to secure the victory. It was the first time the Titans had beaten the Chargers since 1992. I was 11.

The Chiefs are 3-0 after taking down the Eagles in Andy Reid return to Philly. The Chiefs already have more wins than last year. Could they be this year’s “it” team??

The Patriots moved to 3 and Oh with a win over the Bucs who are now Oh and 3. I wonder how long it will be before the pundits start to “fire Greg Schiano.”

Arizona could not muster up enough of anything to hang with the Saints. They were defeated 31-7 in NOLA. I hope they at least got some beignets before they left.

After being the dashing darlings of the NFC last year, winning the NFC East, the Redskins look like the Redskins of two years ago. Mistake after mistake. The Lions took advantage of that and squeaked out a 27-20 victory. The Redskins are now Oh and 3.

{I laugh everytime I see this...LOLOLOLOLOL} Source: Google Images
{I laugh everytime I see this…LOLOLOLOLOL}
Source: Google Images

The Ravens found them some offense. The Texans apparently could not find their defense.

Soooooooo, the Fins are 3 and Oh. Yeah, the Dolphins. Yes, the Miami Dolphins. who would’ve thunk it? I am sure the Falcons did not.

The Jets beat the Bills. Nothing to see here folks.

Seattle blasted Jacksonville. And Jaguars everywhere, in the zoo, in the wild, are embarassed.

Is anyone surprised at what is taking place in Pittsburgh? Their production level has been on a decline for the past couple of years. An Oh and 3 Steeler team though? They looked like they might get their first win when they managed to get within seven of the Bears. However, the Bears defense saw to it that they would not get any closer. #BearDown

1,143 yards passing. 12 touchdowns. No interceptions. Those are Peyton Manning’s number through three games. THREE GAMES. Oh yeah and the Broncos beat the Raiders last night. Ridiculous.

 

Until next time…TOODELLS.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Dallas Wake-Up Call…

On By kassienetteIn Controversy, Football, NFL, Uncategorized4 Comments

Seven days. That is all it took for the National Football League to be reeling from yet another tragedy.

Saturday morning, most of the world awoke to the news that Jerry Brown, a linebacker on the Dallas Cowboys practice squad, was killed in a car accident. The accident was caused by his teammate and close friend, Josh Brent. Authorities say Brent was driving at a high rate of speed when his car hit a curb, flipping at least once and skidding approximately 900 feet before coming to rest. It is now known that Brent was driving under the influence of alcohol.

Awful. Just awful. Drunk driving claims yet another life. The statistics for fatalities as a result of drunk driving have not been released yet for 2012 since the year is not over. In 2011, there were 9, 878 fatalities, according to data released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 2011 marked the first year that drunk driving fatalities were under 10,000. While that does give organizations whose main focus is to educate the country about the dangers and consequences of drunk driving, it is a difficult “victory” to celebrate when 9.878 people lost their lives as a result of the problem.

So once again, seven days later, we all ponder the question: why? Why get behind the wheel knowing you are drunk? Why not call someone to pick you up? Why do you need to drink that much in the first place?You would think after last week’s wake up call in which former Kansas City Chief Jovan Belcher killed his girlfriend before committing suicide, players, would be placing more value on their lives as well as those around them. Instead, another mother has to bury her son because a man chose to make a bad decision that ultimately affects the lives of many. Sad. Just sad. To make matters worse, Saturday was not the first time Brent had driven under the influence. In 2009, Brent was charged with driving under the influence(DUI). He was given 60 days in jail. It is obvious that there is a disconnect somewhere when it comes to Brent, alcohol and driving.

Over the past few days, I have heard a lot of talk about NFL players and drinking. A lot of journalists seems to be suggesting that this is a league problem. This year alone, 18 NFL players have been arrested for suspicion of DUI, up from seven in the previous year. That breaks down to a percentage of .7%. However, drunk driving is not just an NFL problem, it is a nationwide problem and I fail to understand why. I do not understand getting behind a wheel drunk and risking the lives of others and well as your own. Most of us have access to family, friends and complete strangers who are willing to help us get to our desired destination if we are too drunk to drive. Well, I should not say us and we because I do not drink. Anymore. I made the decision to stop consuming alcohol nine years ago and it is one of the best decisions I have ever made. I now have the chance to be one of those people I just talked about. If a friend were to call and say, “Hey, I am too drunk to drive. Can you come pick me up?”, I would be there before they have a chance to find their keys and change their minds.

The NFL does believe that the issue of drunk driving is a very serious one.  However, I think it is time for the NFL to step up to the field and adopt a stricter policy when players are arrested for DUIs, especially multiple times. According to USA Today, 18 players have been arrested for suspicion of DUI, up from seven last year. Since 2000,177 players have been arrested for DUIs, most notably Donte Stallworth who struck and killed Mario Reyes as he was crossing the street one morning in March 2009. Stallworth admitted he had been drinking. Ultimately, Stallworth was given a 30 day jail sentence and settled out of court. Stallworth was suspended one year from the NFL but for me that does not seem to be enough. I know the league is made up of hundreds of players who do not drink and drive but one driving under the influence is too many.

While it is easy to make this out to be an NFL problem, like I said earlier, this is a nationwide problem.  Drunk driving is one of the leading causes of death. Men are more likely to drink excessively than women are, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Men average 12.5 binge drinking episodes a year compared to 2.7 for women. Oddly enough, I suspect that the reason men tend to binge drink and then “assume” they are ok to drive, has a lot to do with what I talked about in my blog last week. Men are prideful. They do not like to ask for help. They do not like to show weakness. Telling another man that you are not capable of driving home implies that you are not capable of “handling your liquor.” All of this challenges your “manhood.”

The NFL is a major player, not only in our country but in this world. I hope the 2009 death of Reyes and the 2012 death of Brown serve as a catalyst to fight the “war” against drunk driving . The NFL has the opportunity to use these instances to educate their players as well as people around the globe that driving under the influence is dangerous, risky and stupid. One wake up call should be enough.

The Kansas City Wake-Up Call…

On By kassienetteIn Football, NFL, Panthers2 Comments

The news that came out of Kansas City Saturday morning shook me to my core.

At first the news was very vague. Kansas City player commits suicide. My stomach churned when I read it. As the hours passed, the news got worse. The player shot and killed his girlfriend that morning. Stomach churned. The player committed suicide at the team facility. Stomach churned. The player committed suicide in front of his head coach and the general manager. Stomach churned hard. The player thanked his coach and general manager for all they had done for him before he committed suicide. Stomach churned hard, again. As a result of the player’s actions, a three month old girl is now an orphan. Tears fell.

The story read like something out of Hollywood. Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love with girl. Boy and girl have baby. Boy and girl lives end tragically. Only this was happening in real life and real lives have been impacted forever, including mine. Sounds kind of crazy, right? It was hard to escape the news of the story on Saturday. It was all over the internet and tv. Family and friends were talking about it. Strangers were talking about it. While no one could seem to grasp what happened, everyone seemed to be asking the same question: why?

Why would a 25 year old NFL player commit such a heinous act? Why would he leave his child in this world with no parent to raise her? Why would he commit suicide in front of his coach? Why? Why? Why? Unfortunately, the why’s will probably never get answered. We will probably never know why the player decided on Saturday morning that life was no longer worth living. As I have skimmed the internet over the past 48 hours, I have seen plenty of comments calling the player a punk, a coward and a murderer, the latter which is true. While the situation is beyond my understanding, I have been compelled to experience sympathy for the player who had a lot of life to live. From what has been reported by the people who knew him, he was confident, happy, quiet and a true gentleman. Many have expressed that they saw no signs that the player was troubled or suicidal. The irony lies in the fact that before the player went into that place that those who knew him had not seen, he was true to his known character, thanking his coach and GM for what they had done.

If you really sit and think about it, you may be compelled to sympathize the way I have. The player had to truly be in a deep, dark hole to not even see a glimmer of hope. A hole so deep that at that point in time, his daughter, whom by all accounts was the love of his life, was not even worth living for anymore. The thought of a hole that deep leaves a lump in my throat. Can you imagine being in a hole like that? It makes my heart ache. I have wondered if this was a result of something in his past that has scarred him. I have wondered if he felt he could not talk to anyone about what he was experiencing. I have wondered if he felt that as a man he could not express how he was feeling. Often I hear men say that they are taught that they have to be strong and not show a lot of emotion. Well, I think that is silly. Showing emotion does not make you any less of a man. In my opinion, NOT being able to show emotion makes you a weaker man. There is nothing wrong with a man crying., There is nothing wrong with a man admitting he is struggling with a particular situation. There is nothing wrong with a man asking for help. NOTHING. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

We live in a world where everyone is suppose to be strong. No one is suppose to hurt. We live in a world where we are so caught up in ourselves that we do not make time for the people who are important to us. We think they will always be here. We live in a world where we are too busy to pick up the phone and have a conversation. We have time for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram though. We live in a world where if we do not understand a situation, we like to make assumptions and jump to conclusions. We rarely take the time to truly assess the situation. This is the kind of world that squeezes people and leaves them feeling like there is no hope. This is the kind of world that leaves people feeling helpless. This is the kind of world that leaves people feeling like the only way it will get better is if they are not here. That is the kind of world that we live in but there is another side of the world that shows its face. This world is a good place with good people with good intentions.

Remember when I said earlier that this situation impacted my life? I am a very strong, independent woman. Just ask my mama. Or my aunt. Or my cousins. Or my best friends. I do not like to ask for help. I do not like to talk a lot about issues or situations that are bothering me. I do not like for people to see me cry. I know there is nothing wrong with being vulnerable but I do not like it. It is human nature to be that way but that does not mean it is right. We all play a role in this world and a couple of years ago I learned my role. Upon the revelation, I vowed to become more open about things that are going on and to not be ashamed of trials I have had to endure on the way to my destiny. However, this situation made me realize that I have a lot more growing to do. I will never be an open book to the public. Wait, let me refrain from saying never. I do not know if I will ever be an open book to the public but I have renewed that vow I made to myself years ago. I owe it to myself and those who love me. So do you.

The deaths of Kasandra Perkins and Jovan Belcher should be a wake up call for us all. A call to talk. A call to reach out. A call to love. A call to share. A call to care. A call to love. A call to action. Lets all do our part to answer the ringing that we hear. Someone’s life could be on the line.