Weekend Roundup

Courtesy of Reuters.

This weekend was busy on the NFL and NBA fronts. Here were the major headlines:

The Los Angeles Lakers went 0-3 on their recent road trip to Miami, Charlotte, and Orlando. All three teams are playoff contenders in the Eastern Conference and the worry in LA has intensified, especially after the 96-94 loss to Orlando. To make matters worse, they seemed more concerned about opposing players' style of play than their own, according to the LA Times. Also, Laker forward Ron Artest debuted a ridiculous hairstyle that has Dennis Rodman laughing somewhere. Think bleach blonde hair with purple letters spelling defense in multiple languages carved into the hair and you get the general idea. Needless to say, the Lakers haven't playing to their level, leaving fans wondering when they'll flick the switch and dominate like last year.


In the NFL, free agency began on Friday. Here were some of the marquee moves:

Courtesy of SportsIllustrated.

The Chicago Bears went on a shopping spree. They signed defensive end Julius Peppers, shown above right, (formerly of the Carolina Panthers), to a 6-year, $91.5 million deal and added running back Chester Taylor (previously of the rival Minnesota Vikings), and tight end Brandon Manumaleuna, who was with the San Diego Chargers last year. Unfortunately for Bears fans, these signings do not help with one of Chicago's glaring weaknesses: wide receiver.

In an attempt to not be outdone by their division rival, the Detroit Lions also went on a spending spree. The Lions put their checkbook to work, signing defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch, Nate Burleson, and trading for defensive tackle Corey Williams. Despite these moves, Detroit will likely be in the NFC North cellar again, given their division rivals (Minnesota, Chicago, and Green Bay).

Courtesy of the Daily Mail.

Karlos Dansby, pictured above right, signed a 5-year, $43 million deal with the Miami Dolphins. Dansby was previously with the Arizona Cardinals. Speaking of the Cardinals, they traded Anquan Boldin to the Baltimore Ravens for a 3rd and 4th round draft pick. The Cards also released safety Antrel Rolle (who signed with the NY Giants) and traded for NY Jets safety Kerry Rhodes. Coupled with the retirement of Kurt Warner, the Arizona Cardinals' recent run of success may very well have ended this weekend.

The New England Patriots resigned defensive tackle Vince Wilfork to a 5-year, $40 million deal, after a tumultuous couple of seasons between Wilfork and the Patriots over his contract. Wilfork had had the franchise label, effectively banning him from free agency, the past two years, which Wilfork publicly made known his displeasure about. Apparently, it's all water under the bridge now though, as Wilfork will continue to suit up for New England.

Courtesy of Vikings fan blog VikingsGab.com

And finally, longtime Green Bay Packer defensive end Aaron Kampman, shown above left, moved from Green Bay to Jacksonville. Terms of the deal were undisclosed, but many sources say Kampman left Green Bay because he was a poor fit in the new defensive coordinator's schemes. Personally, I think playing in the warm Florida sun in January sounds better than being on the frozen Wisconsin tundra, but that's just me.

For an extended look at the NFL Free Agency, go here. For the complete Free Agent Tracker, monitoring all player movement, go here.

Ungrateful Fans...Is it a Northeast Thing?

Photo courtesy of Bleacher Report.

On Sunday, the fans of the New England Patriots turned on their own team during a playoff game against the Baltimore Ravens. They booed the home team, with many saying it was due to the team's performance. Patriots nose tackle Vince Wilfork was quoted in the Boston Globe saying, "It felt like we were playing an away game, that's what it felt like." While Boston has shown this trend most recently, due to the city's impressive championship runs in multiple sports and higher expectations thereafter, other East Coast cities have had fans boo the home team, namely, Philadelphia, New York, and Washington DC. The act of booing the home team is a foreign concept to those here on the West Coast, with the exception of the Oakland Raiders.

There is a certain amount of gratitude to athletes that must be acknowledged, especially football players. These athletes are real people who bang, smash, flatten, and run into each other with high injury risk (concussions, torn ACLs and MCLs, etc.) Teams want to play at home because they'll have the crowd support. Seattle and New Orleans are great examples of a home-field advantage. Teams feed off the crowd energy, hard to do when said crowd is booing you.

Booing the home-team should be strongly discouraged by the fans. Stay classy and respect the fact that its real people playing the game. After all, rooting for a team means rooting for them through all the ups as well as the downs.