December 12th update

RG3 strikes the pose

• Saturday night the Downtown Athletic Club awarded the 77th Annual Heisman Trophy award, for the best player in college football. Robert Griffin III, the quarterback from Baylor University, received the award, being the first player from his school to win the award.
• Griffin III is an athletic freak who, in addition to being one of the best college football players around, is an All-American and NCAA Track and Field champion. Griffin III, who is a Junior, has already graduated with a 3.67 GPA in Political Science. Griffin III is the picture of what a student-athlete should be.
• Stanford QB and preseason Heisman favorite Andrew Luck finished second in the voting. Luck will have the last laugh however, as he will be drafted #1 in next year's NFL Draft (OK, that's not official but it's a near certainty). Alabama running back Trent Richardson finished third, Wisconsin RB Monte Ball finished fourth and LSU cornerback/return specialist Tyrann "Honey Badger" Mathieu finished fifth.


Braun tests positive

• Just when you thought the steroid issue in MLB was beginning to die down, one of the game's best young players failed a drug test when it was determined that his body had well above the normal levels of testosterone and that it was not produced naturally.
• It's a huge blow not only for the Brewers, who rode the 1-2 punch off Braun and Prince Fielder to the NLCS last year and now face losing Fielder to free agency and Braun to a 50 game suspension, it's also a blow to the MLB in general who sees one of it's best young marketable stars take a permanent hit to his reputation. Braun who was the NL MVP this season hit .332 with 33 HRs and 111 RBIs and already has 161 HR's for his career despite playing for less than 5 full seasons, but now the question is how many of those statistics were obtained with help?
• He is the first legitimate star who came into baseball after drug testing was implemented to test positive (which makes this even worse, as unlike some older players, he wasn't around for the days when steroids were basically as easy to find as vitamins in a MLB clubhouse). Braun will appeal but these tests are rarely incorrect and it looks like one of Milwaukee and baseball's best players over the past 5 seasons and and one of its potential cornerstones for the next decade will be forever playing beneath the shadow of the steroid asterisk.


College Basketball Brawl Mars Rivalry Game

• The inter-Cincinnati rivalry of University of Cincinnati and Xavier University is always heated but on Saturday it boiled over in an ugly melee. At the end of the first half of the game, a Cincinnati player started jawing with a player on Xavier’s bench. The players got in each others faces but were separated by coaches and other players. This would set the tone for most of the second half.
• With 10 seconds left in the game and the outcome long decided, the smack talking hit a pinnacle. Exactly what was said is unclear but the benches for both team cleared and fists began to fly.
• The Cincinnati coach gave a very impassioned speech about the lack of maturity on both sides of the situation. On Sunday, each school suspended 4 players in reaction to the incident. Further penalties may come down the line if the NCAA determines that the school's penalties aren't harsh enough.