More Problems in the Winter Olympics.

More problems are currently happening with the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Things went from bad to even worse in just a couple of days. If you guys are familiar with the death of Nodar Kumaritashvili, the Georgian luger, they are having problems with the same track in which he was killed. They felt that they had everything in check until that day Nodar did the unthinkable and went up and over the track and hit the steel pole and was killed instantly. The Luge track is used and just extended for the bobsled races. Many people are having a serious problem with this track, because of all of the crashes going on. Just on the first day of training, seven bobsled teams crashed while doing testing runs. In the first week, they had 14 crashes. Since that week, more crashes have happened. The safety and the speed concerns are constantly brought up. They have reported that the runs have been reported as over 90 miles per hour. Some of the participants have even been taken out of the races, because they received injuries like concussions, bruises, broken bones, etc. Crashes are very common especially in training runs, because the teams are trying to find the right tracks. By doing so, they will be able to have their best runs once the competition officially starts. Officials say that they have no intention on changing the course. They state that they have done everything so that the course is safe. The participants are the ones that are hurting themselves. Also, the psychological effects on the participants are the worst effect on them. Many coaches were constantly after the officals to make changes, but nothing got changed. This was very dissapointing to hear, because of hearing all of the injuries that were happening. After seeing and hearing about Nodar's death and maybe even crashing, they are holding back and causing their own injuries. Are officials taking this event way to serious, so they aren't putting the participants health into effect? I feel that they are not putting much thought into this. The speed is one of the biggest things that needs to be changed I feel. Going over 90 miles per hour down a track with only a helmet on is nuts. Although the adrenaline probably has a lot to do with it, throwing your body down that track is crazy!

Recruiting. Something getting out of control?

Every year around early February, there is always a big deal going on with College Football Recruiting. Whenever you turn on your television to a sports channel during this time, you always hear about the big time recruits and what offers they have been given to play football. Although you can give your commitment early to the college, February 3rd is national signing day for football. After all this hype got over on this day, a new recruit came onto the scene. David Sills, a 13-year-old quarterback from Delaware, already committed to the University of Southern California to play college football. Is this not crazy or is it just me? Offering a scholarship to a 13-year-old kid is outrageous. Many people are wondering what is this going to do to recruiting at the college level. Is it going to change it some, a lot, or definitely? The verdict is still out there, but many people don't understand this and why you would invest in someone so young. You hear about players getting offers maybe their junior year, but not when they're only a seventh grader. Recruits say that David has the potential to become another one of the great quarterbacks at USC. Although he goes down to California once a year and works out with the quarterback trainer, Steve Clarkson, that has worked with Matt Leinart and Matt Barkley. Does that make him that great of a player at the age of thirteen? He states that David is the most impressive thing he has seen from a kid that is that young. Players say that sometimes making a commitment early is better, because it takes the recruiting process off of their backs and they can just fully commit to the game of football. But how does a 13-year-old quarterback do that? That is over 5 years of playing football still. I think the pressure would be greater on him, because everyone knows where he is going and if he doesn't do well then it is a down effect on the program of USC. Although he does all of the football things well now, the real question is he going to develop fully into a college football player and make it at a HUGE Division 1 college like USC? In 5 years, many things can go wrong like severe injuries, grades, not developing fully, etc. I feel that colleges should focus on just a few years of their programs in developing or continuing their success, rather than worrying about someone that wont make an impact on your program for over 6 years.