Nuggets Trade Iverson; Billups, McDyess Return to Colorado

The Denver Nuggets organization announced today they’d had reached a trade agreement with the Detriot Pistons organization that sends Allen Iverson to Detroit for Chauncey Billups, Antonio McDyess and Cheikh Samb.

Chauncey Billups played at George Washington High School and the University of Colorado before entering the NBA draft. (Photo from the Detriot Free Press/Julian H. Gonzalez)

The Official Website of the Denver Nuggets announced the trade early this afternoon.

Detroit began the 2008-2009 season 2-0, with Billups averaging 12.5 points per game and 7.5 assists per game.  McDyess averaged 7.0 points per game and 4.0 rebounds per game, according to the Official Website of the Denver Nuggets’ article “Nuggets acquire Billups, McDyess and Samb.”  In the past, McDyess has expressed that he has no desire to play anywhere but Detroit, so his career back in Denver may be short lived.

World Series Winding Down for the Rays?

Phillies pitcher, Cole Hamels, who will take the mound tonight in game five (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, Pool)

With a 3-1 lead in the World Series, the Philidelphia Phillies enter tonight’s game with the momentum and the chance to bring home the title for the first time in 28 years.

While all sports fans know that it’s not over until it’s over, ESPN columnist Gene Wojciechowski believes that Tampa Bay might as well call it over.

Wojciechowski’s article, “Hamels, Howard and home field…yeah, the Rays are done,” lists three reasons to why the Rays won’t be able to do what only four teams in history have done in the World Series; come back from a 3-1 deficit.

The Rays have been in a similar predicament already this postseason…only on the opposite side.  During the American League Championship Series, Tampa Bay had a 3-1 lead in the series that they let slip away as Boston won two straight games to even the series.  The Rays held on, however, to win game seven 3-1.

Chargers, Saints Give UK Fans a Show

According to Alex Marvez, sportswriter for FOXSports.com, this year’s NFL game played at Wembley Stadium was a hit.

His article, “Saints, Bolts entertain London fans with finish,” compares the game with 2007′s game between the Miami Dolphins and the New York Giants which resulted in a 13-10 victory for the Giants.  Luckily, this year’s game was an offensive clinic, with quarterbacks Drew Brees and Philip Rivers combining for 680 total yards and six touchdowns (click here for more stats from the game).

Mesa State Guard Sacrifices Limb for his Teammates

In a way of literally ‘taking [or losing] one for the team,’ Mesa State’s Trevor Wikre opted not to go through with potential season-ending reconstructive surgery after breaking his pinkie at practice.  Instead, he had it cut off completely.

In Rick Reilly’s column, “How much do you love football?  So much you’d cut off a pinkie to play it?  That’s what Trevor Wikre did,” Reilly tells the story of a player’s rationale behind sacrificing a body part for a sport.

The Economy’s Impact on Sports

As the economic crisis worsens each day, every American and American business is beginning to feel its impact in one way or another. Sports are not exempt from it.

Mark Knudson, sports columnist for the Fort Collins, Colo. Coloradoan, addresses some of the ways the struggling economy may affect sports in the near future in his column “Give Me My Sports Pages Back, Please.”

Breaking down the ’08 Post-Season

At a reader’s request, today’s post is about the MLB postseason which takes place in October every year.

As this year’s postseason moves into the championship series’, it’s easy to reminisce about previous seasons, especially if you’re a Colorado fan. A breakdown of an epic battle that occurred on Oct. 1, 2007, highlights some statistics and plays that may go unnoticed by viewers, but are analyzed closely by coaches and players, particularly when the postseason arrives.

Update: ‘…A Little Rebellion, now and then, is a Good Thing’

Virginia students protest the sign ban at the UVA v. Richmond football game on Sept. 6. (Photo from ESPN.com/Jon Campbell)

Just over a month after the University of Virginia decided to ban signs from sporting events in an effort to create a ‘positive game-day experience’ (see the Sept. 8, 2008 post, “A ‘Sign’ of the Times?”), UVA’s athletic department announced it was repealing the ban.

Update: Collier Paralyzed

Richard Collier. Photo from the NFL internet network

In a follow-up to the September 11 post, “The Violent Nature of Sports,” the Jacksonville Jaguar’s offensive tackle Richard Collier is paralyzed from the waist down and has had his left leg amputated following the multiple gunshot wounds he sustained on September 2.

Collier has been hospitalized since the incident, undergoing surgery and recovery.  To read more, check out Ron Ward’s article “Jaguar Survives 14 Bullet Wounds.”

Interview with the Author

To hear a little more about the Sportswriting Today author, Kendall Storaci, click the link below.

warren_interviews_storaci.mp3

Compulsive Coaches

In Rick Reilly’s latest column, he calls out all of those college football coaches who are notorious for their lies.  It’s written for all of the times coaches have “enforced” team rules, or denied looking past a team.  Maybe top-ranked USC’s head coach, Pete Carroll, should have tried out Reilly’s TruthClamps before playing (and losing to) unranked Oregon State.  (If you missed the upset, click here for the highlights).