Arkansas Athletes in the News

He Got Pulled over for What?

Tyrell Johnson (Rison, Arkansas State) was arrested for suspicion of driving while intoxicated Tuesday morning in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Vikings safety was stopped around 2:00 a.m. for failing to signal merging onto an interstate ramp.

Minnesota State Patrol conducted a breathalyzer test on Johnson which registered 0.12. The legal limit in Minnesota is 0.08.

No comments have been made by the Minnesota Vikings regarding Johnson’s arrest.

Just to Clarify

He was pulled over for not signaling on an on ramp? Is there any other direction to go on an on ramp? Far be it to start a controversy but it seems like the police officers were looking to make an example out of a high profile person in town.

Word to the wise, at two o’clock in the morning and a couple of drinks in, use your turn signals.

Making Room

Minnesota Vikings defensive tackle Kevin Williams (Fordyce) has finished his two-game suspension for testing positive for a banned weight-loss drug. The Vikings waived defensive end Adrian Awasom so Williams would have a spot on the roster.

One and Done in Kentucky

Guard Archie Goodwin (6’4” 181 lbs) of Sylvan Hills High School in Arkansas committed to the Kentucky Wildcats this week. Goodwin let the world know via Twitter. Goodwin, a five-star recruit according to rivals.com, is rated the 12th best high school player in the nation.

Just to Clarify

One should always follow their heart as long as it makes sense. Goodwin said he would always represent Arkansas because of his love for the state. Not sure why he can’t do that in a Razorback uniform if he only plans to play on the college level for one year?

Kentucky’s men’s head basketball coach John Calipari has proven he can get to the Final Four but has not proven he can win “the big game”. Calipari’s players will have to take the memories with them because all of his March Madness success has been wiped off the books due to his teams NCAA violations at the University of Massachusetts and University of Memphis. 

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Sports Quick Hits -- Thoughts on Ron Artest's Name Change

The Minnesota Timberwolves front office is just horrible. No other way to put it. They’ve kept head coach Kurt Rambis around for the 2011 NBA draft but reports are he is a “dead man walking”. Why keep a coach you’re about to can around to help draft players for a coach that could have… who knows what type of offensive or defensive scheme?!?!

The T-Wolves drafted tweener forward Derrick Williams out of University of Arizona. Williams is widely considered the best NBA ready player in the draft; one of only a handful NBA ready players in the 2011 draft. The problem is Minnesota already has Kevin Love, Michael Beasley, and now Williams. As if they were not overloaded at the forward position, in the second round the T-Wolves drafted 6’6” forward Tanguy Ngombo from the Qatar League. The T-Wolves thought Tanguy was 21 years old but it turns out he is 26 years old. Not the player they thought they were getting.

Good job scouting department. You have all year to scout teams and players, find out ages, size, and every other thing you may need to know about a prospect. But somehow what you couldn’t find out in 12 months, the rest of the world could find out in a matter of minutes. This easily avoidable mistake is just another black eye for a team and city that doesn’t seemingly deserve the bad press.

Ron Artest… need I say more?

Ron Artest has gone Chad Johnson on us. You do remember who Chad Johnson is? He was a second round pick in the NFL draft out of Oregon State. He’s the wide receiver that wore a yellow Hall of Fame jacket on the sidelines during a game. Maybe the name change thing works? Chad Ochocinco did it now Ron Artest wants to do it.

Ron-Ron wants to change his name to Metta World Peace. The thought is nice. Change your name to something that could inspire others. BUT in typical Ron Artest fashion he’s managed to mess up a good thing. Metta is Buddhist for friendliness. So the name change reads, “Friendliness World Peace”… as opposed to violent world peace???

Quick thoughts on the name change and things you will hear in the upcoming years if Ron-Ron’s pending name change status is approved.

During a game: “Peace out, Fish in”.

Metta gave him a piece of his mind.

World Peace saves LA.

World Peace or World B. Free?

World Peace steps it up on defense.

U.S Reed or World Peace?

World Peace runs over the 7’ German.

France’s favorite son and World Peace are having it out tonight.

World Peace has not been Metta tonight.

Metta is the manna???

The charity stripe has not been Metta to World Peace tonight.

LA has traded World Peace for a player to be named later.

No more World Peace for LA.

World Peace wins humanitarian of the year award and then clothes lines a player during a playoff game… wait that did happen. 

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Quick Hits

What does a Duke education get you these days? It gets you a job as a video coordinator for Ohio State’s men’s basketball team. Head basketball coach, Thad Matta, announced yesterday that Greg Paulus will be joining their staff. Paulus played basketball at Duke from ’06-’09 and then transferred to Syracuse for a one year stint as their starting quarterback. You may remember that Paulus was stuffed down our throats by ESPN during his stint at Duke; just like all other Duke players are.  

Tim Teabow should sue Charlie Sheen for his “winning” slogan because no one continues to win more than Teabow. The Denver Broncos have made it clear they are going to proceed forward with Teabow as their starting quarterback. I have to remind you that this is the same franchise that traded away this year’s Madden cover boy, Peyton Hillis. Not all of their decisions have been great. John Fox is their new head coach so maybe he knows what he’s doing at the QB position and evaluating talent? Wait, didn’t he waste a second round pick on Jimmy Clausen last year? Good luck Bronco fans, you really are rebuilding now.

The Broncos will shop Kyle Orton when the lockout is over. They are asking for a 1^st or 2^nd round pick(s) for Orton. Poor Brady Quinn… that draft night slide goes into year 5.

When I heard Anna Kournikova was going to be on the “Biggest Loser” I thought that was a bit harsh. Granted she never won a Grand Slam singles title but come on, she’s no Jo-Jo Reyes!

AP going Hollywood?

How good would Adrian Peterson look rolling down the Sunset Strip? His million dollar smile would be worth billions in Los Angeles. The possibility of Los Angeles finally getting a pro football team again took a small step forward this week when Minnesota Vikings officials met with members of AEG in Los Angeles. AEG is the group that has proposed a stadium plan for LA. Vikings officials claim they were meeting with AEG officials not because AEG needs a team to agree to move to LA before they build their stadium, but because they were interested in the sports training complex AEG recently completed. Right! I’m sure the Vikings are not trying to use this possible move as leverage against the state of Minnesota to get a new stadium built.

More Vikings news

Reports earlier this week came out that Rush Limbaugh is still delusional enough to believe he could possibly be a NFL owner one day. Limbaugh let it be known that he is interested in purchasing the Minnesota Vikings... and the world groans with you. Limbaugh came under major scrutiny in 2009 when he was part of an owners group wanting to buy the St. Louis Rams. Limbaugh’s presence as one of the owners became a major distraction due to Limbaugh’s on-air comments about Donovan McNabb. That ownership group quickly removed Limbaugh as one of their members. In 2003 Limbaugh had an ill-advised stint on ESPN as a pro football commentator. He only lasted a couple of weeks after he said the media and the NFL are giving Donovan McNabb the benefit of the doubt as a quarterback because he is black and they want a black quarterback to succeed in the NFL. Luckily ESPN fired Limbaugh immediately.

Just to clarify, politics and sports should never mix. Any form of sports for fans should be an escape from the daily grind, not a reminder of all that is going on in the world… good or bad. Limbaugh is fooling himself if he thinks NFL owners and players will ever agree to let him be an owner. NFL owners, even if they like Limbaugh personally, will never back him because they would lose the support of their players. ESPN was wrong to put him on-air and luckily he shot himself in his big mouth in 2003. 

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