Sports discussion thread

[Dis]

The last one has fallen very far down and has many posts. It's time for a new one.

Lots of NFL news. I like keeping up with it.

will Robbins play for the Raiders in the future? I do think he will. But he could have a rough road ahead of him. Why would he not take his bipolar medication? And if he was married, what was he doing down in Tijuana?

And what about Mike Vanderjadt? This guy is a moron. Why would a kicker say those things about a team he is on? He has a huge long contract with the Colts. He could find himself duct taped to a bench with some balls hung in his face. His team will not be happy with him. In any case he may be right about Dungy, but I think he's wrong about Manning. I guess he said this stuff in Canada. He should have known these stories do get accross the border. Foot in mouth disease.

I've heard talk of Troy Aikman coming back. Is that hilarious or what? I never even thought he was all that in his hey day. Emitt Smith and good recieving core and a humongous offensive line is what made him look good. When that o-line went way so did he.

And finally the SF 49'rs. Another team I like somewhat. These guys are looking worse than the Bucs last year. And I don't think it's going to work out for them like what happened to the Bucs with Jon Gruden. They shouldn't have fired a winning coach without having another coach ready to come in. At best they will get a defensive coordinator who may or may not make it as a head coach. But who knows, maybe it will work out.

[Dis]

Oh I forgot another big sports story in the NFL.

Emitt Smith. Will he stay with the cowboys? I have heard Parcells is fine with him there. And I do think Jerry Jones does have some loyalty to him. I do think he will stay for one year.

And will Oakland make the playoffs next year? They could be pretty chopped up with the salary cap. I do think they will make the playoffs, but not another superbowl. Their opportunity is lost. Perhaps they could have done it last year if it weren't for that "tuck" rule. Sucks to be them.

[Dis]

bump

and who keeps rating all the threads?

Just for that I'm rating my thread 5 stars.

[Zopperoni]

HAHA, Manning commented on Vdj yesterday:

--"The sad thing is, he's a good kicker. He's a good kicker. But he's an idiot."

[reismark]

I'm loving every minute of the 49ers coaching search right now. Poor Terry Donahue is getting trashed in the media just as badly as the Glazers and McKay were this time last year, and this time there isn't even someone they can pay a king's ransom to in order to get a coaching genius.

Why doesn't Mr. Walsh come out of retirement? He seems chipper enough. And what's wrong with Denny Green not interviewing there?

Dissident: I've heard exactly the opposite on Emmitt - that Parcells wants him gone yesterday. And I can't exactly blame him - the whole chase for the record *was* a distraction for the Cowboys last year.

[SlowwHand]

Did the Cowboy player running down 2 Good Samaritans make national news?
He went between the wrecked car and the median.
Nice driving.



Wednesday, January 15, 2003

Cowboy in custody after vehicle was involved in fatal hit-and-run
By Jean-Jacques Taylor and Jennifer Emily
The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS - A speeding hit-and-run driver in a car belonging to a Dallas Cowboys player killed two men who stopped to rescue a man from a burning car along Interstate 35E.

The gray BMW that killed childhood friends Joseph Wood and Demont Matthews of Plano is registered to Cowboys backup cornerback Dwayne Goodrich, according to Stephen W. Zucker, Goodrich's Chicago-based agent.

Zucker said Goodrich surrendered to police Tuesday because he knew they would be looking for him.

"He's just devastated by all of this, absolutely devastated," Zucker said Tuesday night.

Goodrich, the Cowboys' second-round draft pick in 2000 from the University of Tennessee, could not be reached for comment. People inside his Coppell home would not answer the door or telephone.

Goodrich had not been booked into jail late Tuesday. Zucker said he expects charges to be filed Wednesday and bail set. He declined to comment on any other details.

Dallas police did not return calls seeking comment about the driver's identity. However, an officer at the city auto pound confirmed that a gray-silver BMW had been impounded late Tuesday.

Wood and Matthews had pulled off the freeway about 2:15 a.m. to assist a car that caught fire after it rear-ended a disabled 18-wheeler in the northbound lanes.

As the two friends joined a third man trying to rescue the driver of the burning car, a gray BMW attempted to pass the disabled vehicle in the median and struck the three men, said Lt. John Branton, a supervisor in the police traffic division.

Wood and Matthews died from their injuries; the third man suffered a broken leg. The man driving the burning car was injured, but police said he was expected to survive.

Branton said there were no skid marks to indicate the BMW's speed or that it tried to stop. Witnesses told police the BMW was traveling more than 100 mph.

"The suspect never slowed down and did not stop to provide aid," according to the police report.

The driver faces two counts of manslaughter, one count of aggravated assault with a motor vehicle and three counts of failing to render aid, police said.

Mark Reiland, 44, of The Colony, was among the witnesses to the crash.

"The driver door was open, and three or four people were trying to get the guy out of the burning car," he said. "The hit-and-run driver literally fit through there like an hourglass or something and pushed the car out of the way as it went.

"When the car came through, all I saw was a streak and the collision."

Reiland said the people trying to help risked their lives.

"You were taking a huge risk just being out there," he said. "Yet people were still out there doing that."

Danny Matthews, Demont Matthews' father, said the BMW driver needs to admit what he did.

"Sometimes, we all do things that are wrong. But we pay for our mistakes," he said. "He hit a nice guy. If Demont wasn't such a good person and he hadn't stopped, he'd still be here today."

The younger Matthews, 23, and Wood, 21, knew each other for more than 10 years, and their families have been close even longer.

Wood's family could not be reached for comment. Police did not release identities of the other two people injured.

A police report said Matthews was in the car that struck the 18-wheeler, but his father said he was riding with Wood. They did not know the two people in the burning car, the victim's father said.

Dallas police could not clear up the discrepancy late Tuesday.

Matthews was a 1998 graduate of a Plano high school. He was searching for a job after being laid off in December from Target, his father said.

Helping others was not unusual for Matthews, who often played ball with neighborhood children, his family said.

"He goes out of his way to help anyone he can," his father said. "I'll tell you what, you would like him. He would always have a smile on his face."

The last person to speak with the younger Matthews was his mother.

"I don't know what he was out doing," his father said. "He told his mother, `Mama, I'll see you tomorrow.' But he didn't make it."

The speeding BMW dragged Matthews 155 feet, according to the police report. He died at the scene. Wood died later in the morning in an ambulance on the way to Parkland Memorial Hospital.

The men are the seventh and eighth traffic fatalities in Dallas in 2003, according to a police report.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Terrible just terrible. I won't even register a jest about cowboys. What a shame.

[Dis]

Mr. Walsh said he doesn't want to come out of retirement. Too much pressure to win he says. And too much work.

I think he's scared of all the bad press if he comes out of retirement and doesn't do well.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Probably, but the Niners are going to come up with a decent coach. The media these days is insatiable!! It hasn't even been a month yet!

[reismark]

And that Duke/Florida State game has been bugging my mind since last night... honestly, it's getting to the point where Duke beating Florida State is the upset, not the other way around

[Master Zen]

Niners need a good coach and a nother super bowl ring!! Marucci did a good job getting the team out of the hole it was in, they did get their butts kicked by Tampa but hopefully next season they'll aspire to somthing bigger!

49ERS FAN

[Dis]

well Tampa had a mission. So I can't blame them for losing that game.

I never really thought the Niners slipped. What hole? They had a salary cap hole, but they have't slipped that far from their deep playoff teams.

So I actually don't think Mariuchi did all that. He had a good team to work with.

[Dis]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/news/2003/02/04/lions_mariucci_ap/

looks like it's final. We all knew this would happen.

[Flubber]

The NHL has 8 games tonight as teams ramp up for the playoffs. My favourite team. the Canadiens, are playing Atlanta and have been playing well for the new coach Claude Julien.

Neanwhile Darryl Sutter is proclaiming that his Calgary flames will make the playoffs despite the fact that they are currently dead last in the West. Its believed the Flames would have to win 20 games to make the playoffs and since they only have 30 left . . . Winning 2/3 of their games may be a tall order for a team that has won far less than half their games thus far

[Imran Siddiqui]

Iginla has to get on the ball.... he wasted this season after the big deal.