Sports Agenda for Thursday (5/3/12)
Big Story:
Chris Bosh shows where his priorities should be; the Heat can expect small ball tonight; Heath Bell is pitching like Heathcliff Huxtable; a quick kudos to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; and a final note on the passing of Junior Seau.
Thought of the Day:
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." – fmr. President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Miami Heat/Chris Bosh: (@ New York, 7:00 p.m., TNT/Sun Sports)
First off, here's hoping for good health for Adrienne Bosh and their new child.
I'm so glad to see Bosh come home, and if any fan has a problem with it, well, they can go cheer for another team.
Who wouldn't want to miss work for the birth of their child.
I was there and missed two weeks, thankfully my company has a good policy about that….even though I wanted to stay longer!
But seriously, in an age when most athletes are selfish and, well, let's face it, many of them are morons….especially in the NBA, it's nice to see a player like Bosh who has his head on straight. Same for the rest of the Heat roster as well.
Now, as for the game tonight, Bosh hasn't been ruled out yet, but my guess is it will depend on when the child is born.
If I were him, I'd just skip the game tonight and be there for the first diaper change and so forth cause his wife needs him right now.
Back to the game, the Knicks will be without Amar'e Stoudemire tonight and I think that means Tyson Chandler may not spend a lot of time on the floor.
The Knicks have run out of quality big bodies to run out there, so there best bet may be to play small ball, i.e. with a shorter lineup.
There's only one problem with that….NO ONE plays small ball better than the Heat.
Send LeBron to the post with either Haslem or Joel Anthony, put Battier at the 3, Wade/Miller at the 2 and Chalmers at the 1.
Please, like the Knicks can stop that.
Rotate Battier and LeBron on Carmelo and the Knicks will be TOAST.
Heat should win tonight easily, if Bosh is there, it will be even easier.
Marlins: (@ San Francisco Giants, 3:45 p.m., Fox Sports Florida)
While Jose Reyes will come around, I'm having serious doubts about Heath Bell.
The highly paid closer looks like his career should be closed after blowing another save opportunity last night in San Francisco.
He was bailed out by Giancarlo Stanton's home run, but it shouldn't have been that close.
But alas, Bell bombed again.
I've lost track, but I think that's either his third or fourth blown save on the season, which is more than the saves he has this season.
He can still get on track, but he may have to move to a middle reliever and get his pitches moving again before returning to the closer's job.
Just a thought.
I'm leaning towards putting Steve Cishek in the closers role myself, he's pitched extremely well from the bullpen this season.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers:
I just wanted to mention this, but kudos to the Buccaneers and head coach Greg Schiano for signing Rutgers defensive tackle Eric LeGrand.
He'll never play a down, but his recovery after being left paralyzed on the field after a hit in a game has been nothing short of a miracle.
He was paralyzed from the neck down and doctors initially weren't sure he'd even survive.
But survive he did.
He continues to go through vigorous physical therapy and was able to stand with some assistance and even occasionally does play-by-play for Rutgers games.
It was a class move by the Bucs and just is a feel good move by the team on a day the NFL sorely needed some good news.
Junior Seau:
The sad and tragic death of Junior Seau resonated very close to home for this writer.
I have suffered multiple concussions myself, and can tell you for a fact that each concussion has made my depression worse.
It's tough to explain to people what it feels like when you have depression, but I can tell you that I've been in the exact same place Seau was in the days leading up to his death.
Imagine, never seeing the good in things and never being able to feel good about what you've accomplished.
Think about just seeing the negative in life constantly and never being able to really process things correctly.
That's a taste of what Seau and I have gone through.
The sad thing is, people will often say, 'Hey, you're better off than many others."
That's very true, but for some reason, our minds have a tough time processing things like that in the proper way.
It's just tragic what happened to Seau and Dave Duerson last year.
I just hope and pray that if other players or anyone else is going through a similar situation that they PLEASE get the help they need.
It is possible to beat back depression, you will never completely overcome it, but therapy and medication will go a long way to help you get through it.
Please, I can't implore people enough, if you are going through a similar situation, please get help.
If not for yourself, just picture your family having to stand over your casket….get started for them, but remember, in the end you have to want it to really conquer it.
All that and more on cbsmiami.com/sports
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