Penny Hardaway - How Quickly They Forget

By P. Albert

For many fans, the player known as Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway is nothing more than an afterthought, a memory of some player that most of today's fans probably don't even remember. Boy, how quickly they forget. Before injuries ruined his career and made him fade away into relative obscurity, Penny Hardaway was once one of the most talented players in the league. He was a 6'7" point guard who could do almost everything on the court. His style of play reminded people of Magic Johnson who ironically happens to be his favorite player.

His popularity back the day was pretty similar to the levels that guys like Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, and Chris Paul are enjoying. In short, he was simply that good of a player. He was selected with the number three overall pick by the Orlando Magic back in the 1993 NBA Draft. The Magic already had a young and promising center in Shaquille O'Neal and together with Hardaway, they would go on to form one of the most dynamic duos in the league.

Hardaway made an immediate impact during his rookie season helping transform the Magic from bottom dwellers into a perennial playoff team. His style of play and his consistency made him adored by fans, especially kids who all looked up to him. As a matter of fact, several NBA players have cited Penny as someone they looked up to growing up. Guys like Tracy McGrady, Shaun Livingston, Lebron James, and Gilbert Arenas have all mentioned how much they admired Penny's game growing up.

In addition to being an elite talent in the NBA, Hardaway was also one of the league's most marketable players. His "Lil Penny" commercials would give way to the popular Lebron and Kobe puppet commercials that Nike would use several years later and his sneakers sold like hot cakes. He was also selected as a member of the 1996 US Men's Basketball team aka Dream Team II. He won a gold medal with the team, an accomplishment that he considers to be one of the greatest of his career.

He was on top of the world or so it would seem until a series of injuries would rob him of his explosiveness and ultimately, his career. After all the injuries had set in, Hardaway would never be able to regain the form that once made him an NBA superstar. It is a shame that most people will never remember just how good of a player Penny was, but for those of us who do remember, we will always look back at the awesome memories he provided us with back in the day.

If you are a fan of basketball or any other sport, head on over to AllSportsPeople to get an entire listing of all of your favorite athletes.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=P._Albert
http://EzineArticles.com/?Penny-Hardaway---How-Quickly-They-Forget&id=7516192

Football Doesn't Have To Be So Brutal

By G Frank Miller

Brutal and vicious are two words I'd use to describe football during the 2012 season. I've been a player and fan of football all my life. The game has changed, and not in a good way. Let me take you back to 1957 to illustrate my point.

The defensive tackle hit me in the nose on my first play as an offensive tackle in college. He did the same on the next play. Wiping the blood on my jersey, I thought, "This is going to be a long afternoon unless I do something about this guy hitting my nose." On the next play I dropped back to pass block. Dropping my right shoulder as an invitation for my opponent to rush past me, I unloaded my elbow into his face. He collapsed to his knees. Looking me in the eye we both nodded, and from then on, we played a clean game.

I mention this because at that time we didn't have the protection of full face masks on our helmets. We learned to block and tackle with our shoulders; keeping our faces out of the way.

Playing in high school in the early 50s, we didn't have any face masks at all. My senior year our coach bought one face mask for our star back, Roger Mahnke. He used it for one game. At the end of that game, Roger's face was scratched up by the defensive players reaching in to pull him down with the mask. It had proven to be a convenient handle for them in trying to tackle this big, fast running back.

The next year, my first season in college, the no grasping the face mask rule was instituted, and we all had a single bar on our helmets. Later a second bar was added.

Early in the 1960s, Life Magazine published a photo of the Norte Dame football line showing every player with front teeth missing. This was followed by a public outcry that football players needed better protection for their faces. The reaction was the advent of the full face mask.

In the mid-1960s, I was an assistant football coach at Wheeling High School in Illinois. One winter, our entire coaching staff went to a coaching clinic in Michigan where the Michigan State University coaches were the instructors. Usually at these clinics the coaches would teach us about their offense and defense. At this particular clinic, the stress was on the new techniques they were using for blocking and tackling. With all the players now having their faces protected, instead of blocking and tackling with their shoulder as I had been taught, the University coaches now wanted them to block and tackle by putting their faces in the chest of their opponent.

This change of blocking and tackling technique has evolved into the mayhem we now see on the football field. The helmet, and the head inside the helmet, have become weapons; particularly for the defensive players. We had no need for rules penalizing players for hitting with the helmet in the 1950s, and we had many fewer concussions and neck injuries.

This past football season I have been appalled by the poor tackling techniques of both college and pro players. Many of the defensive backs seem to try to hit the ball carriers so hard they knock them down instead of tackling them. It seems that instead of using good tackling techniques, the players rely on brute force. They use their bodies as battering rams. No wonder there are so many neck and head injuries.

Doing away with the full face masks would return football to the beautiful game it was in the past. Without the face protection, the players would be forced to return to the days when we learned techniques that kept the face and head out of danger.

This suggestion might seem like a step into the dark ages to some, but I am sure that after practicing without the face mask or even the helmet, the players would make the transition from playing like a thug to being real football players.

Broken teeth are easier to replace than a scrambled brain.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=G_Frank_Miller
http://EzineArticles.com/?Football-Doesnt-Have-To-Be-So-Brutal&id=7487211