Fan Forum - Sports News Thread #5 ~ You Miss 100% of the Shots You Don't Take

Fan Forum (https://www.fanforum.com/)

- News & Politics (https://www.fanforum.com/f117/)

- - Sports News Thread #5 ~ You Miss 100% of the Shots You Don't Take (https://www.fanforum.com/f117/sports-news-thread-5-%7E-you-miss-100%25-shots-you-dont-take-63116153/)

They really were, huh?

As if Sochi didn't have enough things gone wrong in the infrastructure, now there was a stray wolf.

No. It was a prank. The timber wolf is in California. These Olympics are almost over though anyway.

I read the article you posted, so I was aware it was a prank. :)

It kinda seemed like it should be, to be honest.

On the other hand, when you see all the pictures of athletes using garbage containers as baths and having to bust through walls because they got stuck in bath-less bathrooms...

I suppose I can understand why roaming wolves wouldn't have been above anyone's ability to believe.

So happy Canada won gold for hockey!

I am, too.

But then I think I would have been proud enough with the women's victory.

Quote:

Jason Collins becomes the first openly gay NBA player

Veteran basketball player Jason Collins has become the first openly gay athlete to play in a competitive game for a major US professional sports league.

Earlier on Sunday, he signed a 10-day contract with the Brooklyn Nets.

Collins entered the court at the start of the second quarter in a game against the Los Angeles Lakers.

The 35-year-old centre, who has played for five other NBA teams, was given a warm reception by the crowd.

He only revealed he was gay in a Sports Illustrated magazine interview last April.

At the time he was not signed to a team.

Needing another big man, the Nets turned to the seven-foot Collins, who helped them reach two NBA Finals in the early 2000s.

"The decision to sign Jason was a basketball decision,'' general manager Billy King said in a statement.

"We needed to increase our depth inside, and with his experience and size, we felt he was the right choice for a 10-day contract.''

The news comes as Michael Sam, another US sportsman who recently revealed he is gay, prepares to take part in American Football's NFL Scouting Combine - a showcase of college players looking to be signed by NFL teams.

Last May, Los Angeles Galaxy footballer Robbie Rogers became the first openly gay male athlete to play in a US professional league.

However Major League Soccer is not regarded as one of the four main sports competitions in the US.

Honestly, I know of no professional sports team that make decision on a 10-day by 10-day basis.

To me, this is transparently not a basketball decision.

Having said that, I don't mind a team choosing to make a point and it's not like he doesn't have the skills for job.

So I'm inclined to just file this one as a victory. :)

Well the 10 day contract is like a tryout to see if a person fits on said NBA team. Part of the NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement allows teams each year beginning January 5th or the first business day after to sign players for 10 days or 3 games, whichever 1 is longer. At the end of the 10 days the team can either sign him to another 10-day contract or let him be a Free Agent. If they sign him to another 10 day contract they'll have to sign him for the remaining scheduled games that season to have him remain on their roster after those final 10 games are finished.

Oh, thanks for explaining that basketball practice.

Let's hope he'll get his contract renewed after those ten days then :)

Thank you indeed. :)

What I know about basketball couldn't fill a thimble, so I had no clue.

Personally, I'm hoping that whatever happens is what both sides want to have happen.

Ideally, I suppose that means a contract for Collins.

At the same time, no point in keeping him there if he doesn't like it.

Quote:

Oscar Pistorius trial: Neighbour 'heard screams'

A neighbour of South African athlete Oscar Pistorius has told a court in Pretoria that she was awoken by a woman's "terrible screams" in the early hours of 14 February 2013.

Mr Pistorius has pleaded not guilty at the start of his trial for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

He shot dead the 29-year-old model and reality TV star at his home, saying he mistook her for an intruder.

The neighbour, Michelle Burger, said cries for help were followed by shots.

"She screamed terribly and she yelled for help. Then I also heard a man screaming for help. Three times he yelled for help," Ms Burger told the high court in the capital.

She said she called security and then heard four gunshots.

The arrest of the national sporting hero astounded South Africa.

The 27-year-old double amputee won gold at the London 2012 Paralympic Games and also competed at the Olympics.

'Traumatic'

For the first time in South Africa, parts of the trial are being televised live, although Ms Burger's testimony, in Afrikaans, was only relayed in audio.

The start to proceedings at the court in the capital on Monday was delayed by 90 minutes as a Afrikaans translator was absent. It has now adjourned for the day.

The BBC's Andrew Harding in the courtroom said Mr Pistorius looked calm, or at least neutral as he arrived in court - a far cry from the emotional wreck he seemed at the bail hearing last year.

Mr Pistorius's uncle, brother and sister were also in court; next to them on the relatives' bench sat the family of Ms Steenkamp, including her mother June, our correspondent said.

Mr Pistorius pleaded not guilty to all charges, including the "wilful and intentional murder of Reeva Steenkamp" as the trial began.

His lawyer read out a statement from the athlete, giving his version of events of how Ms Steenkamp died, saying he believed his girlfriend was in bed when he shot at the toilet door in the early hours of Valentine's Day last year.

Ms Burger told the court she lived nearby on a neighbouring gated estate to Mr Pistorius in Pretoria - and she and her husband were sleeping with the windows open.

"It was very traumatic for me. You could hear blood curdling screams," she said.

Following a lunch break, the defence lawyer Barry Roux began questioning Ms Burger over differences between her sworn statement and her testimony.

State prosecutors say Mr Pistorius planned the killing and shot Ms Steenkamp after a row.

If found guilty of premeditated murder, he could face life imprisonment.

He has also been charged with illegally possessing ammunition.

There are no juries at trials in South Africa, and his fate will ultimately be decided by Judge Thokozile Masipa.

Much of the case will depend on ballistic evidence from the scene of the shooting, correspondents say.

On the anniversary of the shooting, Mr Pistorius released a rare statement in which he said: "The loss of Reeva and the complete trauma of that day, I will carry with me for the rest of my life."

Well, that's new information, isn't it?

If she had time to scream for her life, that kinda tells you there must have been something else going on.

Because he shot her through the bathroom door, right?

So did she run in there to try and protect herself or something?

It's all very strange tbh. I mean, would you really shoot someone that many times through a door without knowing who it was? And if that was indeed the case, why not shoot lower down the door, so to shoot to wound and not kill, if he really did fear it was an intruder... very very odd...

The really unfair thing that I bring to this whole story is that, knowing that Pistorius comes from a family of "gun enthusiasts," I have a rather immediate bias in terms of what I perceive to be his ability to shoot several times without hesitation.

It is completely unfair of me to draw conclusions in that regard, so I prefer laying that fact right out so that we may set it aside.

All that to say that, in the end, whether this was murder or a tragic case of mistaken identity (of a kind), he still shot, as you say, as such a height and angle that he was clearly shooting to kill.

I certainly hope forensics and such evidence is what determines the case.

Before the law, celebrity status should never be a factor in assessing guilt or innocence.

That's true, but neither should how much someone is ''attractive'' either, but it does.

Of course, it does.

But with news coming out that Pistorius accidentally discharged a weapon in a restaurant last year and then asked someone else to take the blame for it...

:shrug: That could both speak to a real stupidity about the way firearms work or to, you know, criminal tendencies.

I think a lot of it lies in the difference in culture- the fact that gun crime is generally high in South Africa and that the rate of armed burglaries is high- so in the US or UK (though less so gun crime as its virtually non-existent), if you heard someone who might be an intruder, and you felt the need to fire a shot, it wouldnt be a kill shot. Whereas in South Africa, there have been many cases of armed burglaries ending in a fatality of either the intruder or the homeowner, so its more common over there, which might just get Pistorius off, because his story (whether it be true or not) is more likely to be accepted than in the US or UK...