Tim Tebow Officially Becomes Friar Tuck

As a kid I loved Robin Hood. I used to watch the animated movie "Robin Hood" all the time. If you remember any of the "Robin Hood" movies or folklore you will remember Friar Tuck. Friar Tuck is a man of the cloth who is one of Robin Hood's Merry Men. If you remember all of this, then you certainly will remember Friar Tuck's haircut. The good friar was bald on top with a rim of hair going around his head.

I bring this up because of what happened to Tim Tebow over the weekend. Tebow, who is wildly known as a religious man, was given a Friar Tuck haircut as a part of rookie hazing.

Tebow claims his teammates gave him a "Statue of Liberty" haircut. Whatever he wants to call it, I like it. I like it because it wasn't above him to be ridiculed with a haircut. His teammates wanted to haze him and he let them. Dez Bryant could take a lesson from Tebow.

(I'm Keith from Keith's Sports Journal. You can also follow me at KSJ49 on Twitter.)

Death At A Sporting Event

Tragedies are not uncommon in Sports. Athletes have died on the field of play more often than you would think, and their deaths become markers of remembrance for fans. Famous examples include Ray Chapman, Chuck Hughes, Hank Gathers, and Bill Masterton. Their deaths helped to remind us that it really is just a game that they play, and to take maximum joy in watching these athletes perform.

There was another death in sports over the weekend.

And now you must be wondering, why haven't I heard of this? Well that's because it took place in the sports mecca of Heinola, Finland, a town located 86 miles north of Helsinki. And its claim to fame, (besides a closed down plywood mill) is the World Sauna Championship.

Well, it was its claim to fame. The 2010 edition will be the last Sauna Championship ever held, due to the death of semifinalist Vladimir Ladyzhensky.(warning: very graphic photos at the link) Also, here's a video of the competition(may need to translate if you don't understand Norwegian)

According to Finn Timo Kaukonen (who I guess is the winner):

"I was in two rounds in the semi-finals, and I already have red eyelids and blisters on your fingers. It does not feel good to go in there, but I'll bite your teeth together, and then we'll see what happens."

Incidentally, this event is described in Rick Reilly’s recent book about participating in weird sports. And it’s an event only a resident of Scandinavia could love: for a person to sit in a room, as water gets splashed onto hot rocks ratcheting up the humidity, trying to smoke you out. I don’t know why anyone would want to do that, to endure the pain of blasted skin and eye blisters.

But I guess people will always want to push themselves to extreme levels, so one must salute these competitors for going all out to win.

As for Mr. Ladyzhensky, at least he went out doing something he liked to do. RIP Vladimir.

But I’ll never look at a sauna the same way again.

Follow me at kt1000 on Twitter

Jibber Your Jabber- Sunday Night Style!

Who's up for some exhibition preseason NFL action tonight? Or maybe it's ESPN's 100th broadcast this season of Yanks/Sawx. Who does Al Michaels have tonight? Will Joe Morgan take credit for the building of New Yankee Stadium? Is Don Draper going to regret banging the new secretary? Leave comments and enjoy the mayhem!

Dallas Cowboys vs Cincinnati Bengals 8:00 (NBC- Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth SR: Andrea Kremer)

Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees 8:00 (ESPN- Jon Miller, Joe Morgan, Orel Hershiser)

Philadelphia Sports Quiz Time!

It's a lazy summer Saturday. What better time than to challenge ones mind with some sports quizzes! Those posted will be directed towards Philly fans, but you can probably find one involving the teams from your area on Sporcle!

1989-2010 Phillies Opening Day Lineups

Eagles starters 2001-2009

All-Time Flyers All-Stars

2001 76ers NBA Finals Roster

Good Luck and happy Saturday!

Bill Leavy returns to Seattle, no one slashes his tires

With all of the controversy swirling the last few months in pro sports because of poor officiating (NBA referees, Jim Joyce, Bob Davidson), controversies of the past tend to get swept under the rug, except, of course, in the cities that feel they were victimized by the stripes(Richie Garcia I’m looking at you). One of those controversies was revived Friday in Seattle, 1,644 days after Super Bowl 40, because NFL referee Bill Leavy made a (not so) triumphant return to Seahawks training camp!

And what did Leavy say about the game that night in Detroit?

"It was a tough thing for me. I kicked two calls in the fourth quarter and I impacted the game, and as an official you never want to do that," said the veteran of 15 NFL seasons and two Super Bowls.

"It left me with a lot of sleepless nights, and I think about it constantly," Leavy said of the game in February 2006. "I'll go to my grave wishing that I'd been better."

Look, if you’ve followed my comments on this blog, you know that I’m no fan of the Steelers. But even John Madden had to concede that the holding call on Sean Locklear was terrible. "I didn't see holding," Madden said after seeing the replay. "There may have been holding, but it wasn't in that picture." And I’m still trying to figure out how a chop block can be called on a QB after he throws an interception. Just 2 of several mystery calls that helped the Steelers win their 5^th Super Bowl.

Still, this is a good reminder the officials are human, and that Leavy acutely felt the pain of having made bad calls for months after that night. I’m just not expecting diehard Seahawks fans to be sending him cookies and holiday cards anytime soon.

Love Me When I'm Gone

I have already told some of you about this and if you have been reading my tweets either through following me on Twitter or glancing at my Twitter widget on the sidebar, then you know what this announcement is about.

I am leaving for London tomorrow night.

Now I know I just floored some of you with that shocking announcement. Take a moment, pick your jaws off the floor. Okay. Can I continue? Good.

This is not a permanent thing or something that will last a while. I am merely taking a 10 day vacation to the British Isles that will see me visiting London and Dartmouth in England, Waterford and Dublin in Ireland, and Edinburgh in Scotland. I am leaving tomorrow: Friday, August 6, 2010 and will return sometime in the afternoon on Monday, August 16, 2010. During that time period, I will not have access to a computer, though the cruise ship that I am on should have some sort of daily news reader so I won't be totally out of the loop on the big things, but regardless, I won't have any means of writing this blog or communicating through Twitter.

Fear not, though, my friends. 49er16 and kt1000 will be taking over in my absence and will be writing about anything they see fit. If they want to write about how they go to parties wearing nothing but a G-string, I am powerless to stop them. If they want to write some football previews or write stories on Brett Favre's next 3 retirements, I am powerless to stop them plus they won't lose all of the blog's readership like they would if they tried the first option listed.

Best of luck to them in their 10-day long endeavor. While it is highly unlikely I will put up a blog post tomorrow morning/afternoon (unless something major happens), you will still likely find me on Twitter until I leave in the evening (it is a very late flight). So peace be to you all and unless I encounter you through Twitter, I will talk to you after I stuffed myself with Fish and Chips, Bangers and Mashed, and more alcohol than I've drank in my entire life.

Keith Olbermann Dropped From Football Night In America

I guess we should be renaming today the day of sports media demotions? First, the announcement came that Pam Ward will be relegated to working with Danny Kanell on the afternoon ESPNU game. And now the announcement that Football Night In America kitchen has lost one of its way too many cooks. Per this report from Sports by Brooks, you can say goodbye to Keith Olbermann on FNIA!

Multiple media and network television sources confirmed to me Thursday that Keith Olbermann will not appear on NBC’s Football Night In America Sunday evening NFL broadcasts this season.

Some members of the FNIA cast and crew were made aware of the news Tuesday at a preseason production meeting in New York City. Afterwards, the cast and crew adjourned to Yankee Stadium to watch the Yankees-Blue Jays game.

I’m told that NBC News officials requested the move, citing Olbermann’s weekday commitment to MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann. During the 2009 NFL season, Olbermann periodically did not appear on Friday editions of Countdown.

Network television sources confirmed to me that Olbermann’s departure from FNIA was not due to any conflict with cast or production crew members. I was also given no indication that Olbermann’s politics had anything to do with the move.

All in all, this is a good move for NBC. There is no doubt that Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick were wildly popular and successful hosting SportsCenter together, and to an extent, NBC tried to re-create that past magic. There was just one problem with that line of thinking: Today's not the past, and we don't need to relive it. Repeating the same jokes over and over they coined a decade ago does not make for good television. Olbermann drew nothing but criticism, and when NBC brought in Dan Patrick to complement Olbermann on highlights only to tone down the highlights like they did last year, Olbermann became expendable for FNIA. It looks like NBC is finally taking steps to getting the too many cooks out of the kitchen. And that, my friends, is a good thing.