On this edition of The Sunday, we look at the week that was. From ball dudes to a large town showing up to a glorified practice in Columbus, OH.
Balldudes Big Night
Major League Baseball teams use various people in foul territory to grab foul balls during a game. Some teams use young women and others young men. The World Champion San Francisco Giants use senior citizens (although that has been expanded to include anyone over the age of 21) called “balldudes” and “balldudettes”.
Last week one balldude, Mark Madden of Sonoma, CA, made a nice catch and later in the night even helped out a lucky fan. Not a bad night for this balldude.
…although sometimes it doesn’t always go this well.
The Darkside
Former NFL Tight End Aaron Hernandez was convicted of first degree murder this past week. He has also been indicted for a double homicide in 2012. Hernandez will more than likely spend the rest of his natural life in a cell.
Former first round draft pick Lawrence Phillips is being investigate for the death of his cellmate in Kern Valley State Prison in California. He is currently serving a sentence of 31 plus years for multiple offenses.
Where did it all go wrong? That’s a separate and much deeper conversation. The point is that even with all of the money, fame, and celebrity, we really don’t know who people are or what they are capable of. You can be sure that NFL teams will be taking an even deeper look into a players background before the upcoming NFL Draft. What we can be sure of is that no one is above the law no matter how many touchdown’s they score.
99,000 Fans and 3 QB’s
The Ohio State University broke their own record as they attracted 99,000 plus people to their spring game on Saturday. For those that don’t know, the spring game is the final scrimmage/practice college football teams can have before fall camp opens in August.
To add to their good news, Ohio State has three quarterbacks vying for the starting role. All have played extremely well when they have had opportunities. It’s a good problem to have if you’re head coach Urban Meyer although a stressful one.
While the game of football has taken some hits over the last few years (and the a Hernandez and Phillips stories don’t help) people still love the game. It’s still top of mind whether it’s college of professional. Granted only a few major college football programs like Ohio State have the fan base to bring in 99,000 people to a glorified scrimmage while others will be lucky to get 10,000. Either way the game of football isn’t going anywhere with this kind of support.
Sideline Signals 