Tough weekend for both myself and the NFL.

This blog is dedicated to my uncle, Antonio Brancatisano.  You see my uncle was one of the staples that kept my close family together.

I spent the weekend in Chicago covering the New York Knicks-Chicago Bulls game.  I get a call from a family member who informed me that my uncle Tony passed away.  I was heart broken thinking that I saw him that previous Monday afternoon.  He was a strong man who lived and worked for his family.  Always telling me stories about his family in Italy and how proud he was of me and the rest of his nephews and nieces (he never had children).  So as I am back in New Jersey with my family remembering my uncle, I turn to my blog for comfort. 

As the title reads, the NFL had another bad week.  Two weeks in a row that an NFL player has died. 

 

Taken from NFL.com

Dallas Cowboys linebacker, Jerry Brown, Jr was killed in a motor-vehicle accident on Saturday, he was 25.  He was a passenger in a car driven by teammate Josh Brent.  Brent was allegedly driving intoxicated when his car crashed and flipped over and caught on fire.  Brent survived the crash and was booked in an Irving, Texas jail.  His charges were driving under the influence and intoxication manslaughter.  According to police records, Brent was previously charged with drunk driving in 2009.

Before he was killed, Brown was living his dream: playing football.  He was signed onto the practice squad for the Cowboys on Oct. 24.  He played college ball at the University of Illinois and was not drafted.  Because he was not drafted, Brown played in the Canadian Football League for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the San Antonio Talons of the Arena Football League.

According to a Facebook post, Brown was set to be a father in the coming months. 

The NFL needs to have strict rules for players in terms of drinking.  If they want to drink, they should know better to not drive and call for a taxi, after all, they can afford to have a taxi pick them up.  That's the problem with people, they like to drink, but think its okay to drive afterwards.  Now a bright young player is now dead and another one is living the rest of his life with the thought of killing his friend.

Brent was released on $500,000 bond on Sunday.  He is to be arraigned Sunday and faces up to 20 years in prison.  It is unfortunate that because of one decision, a life is gone and another one might be over.

My condolences go out to the family of Jerry Brown Jr. and the Dallas Cowboys.  Even as a New York Giants fan, I have enough respect to give wishes to a rival teams family.  A team is only a name, a player is only a person, but a fan is part of a family.  We all love football and no matter what team you root for you are a part of a football family.  Teams will unite as one and show respect for a fallen player. 

Hello Hall of Fame!

This past weekend I had an adventure that I will never forget, I went to my dreamland.

It was a frigid cold day in Cooperstown, New York.  The wind was blowing like crazy, making you feel as if you were in Chicago.  It was a Sunday afternoon and because of the snow, I was scared that the museum would be closed.  After all, all the other stores were closed due to the storm.

When I parked the car a few feet away from the museum, I wasn't prepared for the snow.  It was snowing on the way up from New Jersey, but I did not think that the weather was going to be as bad as it was.

Walking into the museum I could feel the history raging on me.  Just the knowing that legends walked through the very same hallways that I was walking.  The original plan was to go there and take pictures for a project, I ended up doing more than I thought I would.

First place I headed to was the room with all the plaques of all the Hall of Famers.  There were so many plaques in there from every year since the first inductions.  From greats like Babe Ruth to Lou Gehrig to Honus Wagner to the newest ones like Barry Larkin and Ron Santo.

Walking through the hall I found myself at the Negro League section.  Seeing the displays of Jackie Robinson and Satchel Paige.

The picture above is one of my favorite pictures.  It illustrates players from the Negro League in front of a team bus.  Back then, teams in both leagues would take buses to different ball parks instead of flying.  Baseball teams still do this today when they play in Spring Training.



Bad weekend in the NFL.

This was a sad horrible weekend in the National Football League.  Two young people are now dead and an infant baby girl is left without any parents.

 

Saturday morning, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher shot the mother of his three month old baby girl killing her, before taking his own life.  Belcher went through the 2009 NFL draft undrafted, was signed by the Kansas Chiefs in March of 2009.  Belcher was born and raised on Long Island and went to college at the University of Maine.   Teachers and coaches from West Babylon High School said that Belcher was an outstanding student and always talked about reaching the NFL.

During the news conference that was held at Arrowhead Stadium, police spokesman Darrin Snapp said that Belcher's mother witnessed the killing of Kasandra Perkins and called the police right away. As the older Belcher called the police, Jovan fled the scene of the crime.  He then went to the Chiefs' practice facility five miles away, parked his Bentley and talked to three team officials: head coach Romeo Crennel, a coach on defense and general manager Scott Pioli.  Here, Belcher thanked both Crennel and Pioli for giving him a chance to play and then shot himself in the head killing him.

It is not clear what the motive was to killing the mother of his daughter and himself.  All anyone knows is that a baby girl is now an orphan with an uncertain future.  Reports say that the little baby named Zoey will be living with Belcher's mother in Long Island in the home where Belcher grew up as a child.

There was controversy whether or not the Chiefs would play their game the next day against the Carolina Panthers.  The game did go on as planned and there was a moment of silence before the start of the game.  The talk before the game was that the announcers would not mention Belcher or Perkins, and that the moment of silence was to recognize domestic violence.  The Chiefs won the emotion filled game, 27-21.

It is sad to think that players are killing both themselves and other people who are innocent.  One theory of why Belcher killed his girlfriend was that he was upset that she came home late from a concert.  It is reported that the couple had been fighting since as early as one a.m., when Perkins arrived at the couple's residence.  There must have been something that was more major for someone to kill a person they supposedly loved and had a baby with.  Now a little baby girl is left with no parents and time will only tell, how she will deal with such a tragedy as it happened when she was an infant.