Top 4 NFL Players from Alabama

Top Four NFL Players from the University of Alabama

The University of Alabama’s football program (more commonly known as the Alabama Crimson Tide) has been in existence since 1892, and since that time has remained one of the most popular college football teams in the nation.  The Crimson Tide have an all-time record of 814-320-43, making them one of the most successful teams as well, with a total of 14 national titles and 26 conference titles in their history. 

In 2011 the Alabama Crimson tide capped off a fantastic season by winning the national championship over Louisiana State University convincingly by the score of 21-0, making Nick Saban the only active coach in college football with three national titles under his belt (2 with Alabama and 1 with LSU).  With that said, there have certainly been many great football players who have translated their games to the NFL level since the program’s existence.  What follows are the top four NFL players in the league today who are from the University of Alabama

Julio Jones

The Atlanta Falcons made a bold move in the 2011 NFL Draft to jump up and get wide receiver Julio Jones, and so far it has paid off for both him and the Falcons tremendously.  In his first season with the Falcons last year, Julio Jones played in 13 games and head nearly 1,000 receiving yards to go with eight touchdowns on the year.  Jones played an integral role in helping the Falcons reach a 10-6 record and make it into the playoffs once again in 2011, and will look to further improve next year with the team.

Roman Harper

Unlike Julio Jones, Roman Harper has been in the league for a while longer, being drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the second round of the 2006 NFL Draft as a strong safety.  After missing much of his first season with the team due to a knee injury, Harper came back with a vengeance in 2007, with 75 tackles and three interceptions on the year.  He has continually improved year after year with the Saints, making it to the Pro Bowl in both the 2009 and 2010 seasons. 

DeMeco Ryans

DeMeco Ryans was also drafted in 2006 in the second round, going to the Houston Texans as a linebacker.  He made a name for himself right at the get go for the Texans, winning the defensive rookie of the year award in 2006 after getting an amazing 125 tackles on the year to go along with 3.5 sacks.  Ryans played with the Texans until 2011, when he was traded in the offseason to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Mark Ingram

Last but not least there is Mark Ingram, who won the Heisman Trophy as a running back during his days with the Crimson Tide.  He was selected by the New Orleans Saints in the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft, and had a very good year as a backup runner to Darren Sproles, rushing for 474 yards in 10 total games to go along with five touchdowns as well.  Ingram will look to continue being a rushing threat for the Saints moving forward.

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Top 3 Spurs Players of All Time

Top 3 Spurs Players of All Time

The San Antonio Spurs have been one of the more successful franchises in NBA since it first joined the league in 1976, with 18 division titles and four championships under the Gregg Popovich era.  Many great players have come and gone in the franchise’s history, but who will forever remain as the greatest to have played on the team?  What follows are the top five Spurs players of all time.

Tim Duncan

Any discussion of the greatest Spurs players of all time has to start with Tim Duncan, or as Shaquille O’Neal famously referred to as “Mr. Fundamental.”  With 15 years in the NBA under his belt, Duncan has continued to play with the Spurs throughout his entire career to this point, and what a career it has been for him.  Tim will go down as one of the greatest power forwards in NBA history when all is said and done, with his list of accomplishments being tremendous to say the least.  Not only did he win three Finals MVP awards in his four championships with the Spurs, but is also a 13 time NBA All Star along with making the NBA First Team 9 times and the Second Team 3 times.  He is known not only for his great scoring but also for his defense, being selected to the NBA Defensive First Team 8 times and the Second Team another 5 times.  Duncan has one of the best-rounded games as a forward in the NBA today, and will easily be a first ballot Hall of Famer when his career is over with.

George Gervin

George Gervin wasn’t able to win an NBA title in his time with the San Antonio Spurs, but that should take away from the stellar career that he had with the team.  Gervin spent much of his career with the Spurs as they transitioned from the ABA to the NBA, and had some of his best seasons with the team throughout the 1970s and 1980s.  George was one of the purest shooting guards for his time, averaging over 25 points per game over the course of his career with a field goal percentage over 50%, and was the NBA scoring champion on four separate occasions.  He was selected to a total of 12 All-Star games with the ABA and NBA combined, along with making the NBA First Team 5 times.  He was inducted into the Hall of Fame and currently has his #44 retired by the Spurs.

David Robinson

Throughout the late 1980s and into the early 2000s, both Tim Duncan and David Robinson were together on the Spurs and were known as the “Twin Towers.”  While much has been said about Duncan, Robinson was a great player in his own right in his 14 years spent with the team.  He averaged over 20 points and 10 rebounds for his career, with his best season coming in 1993-94 when he averaged 30 points and 11 rebounds on the year.  David made the All Star team 10 times, and was a great defensive player as well, racking up four NBA Defensive First Teams and 4 Second Teams as well.  He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2009 and his #50 has been retired by the Spurs.

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2012 Masters Tournament Recap

Every year the best golfers in the world come to Augusta, Georgia to compete at the Masters, one of golf’s four major tournaments.  The Masters has a tradition unlike any other, with a course designed by the legendary Bobby Jones and a list of champions that mark the who’s who of golf over the past few decades.  With that said, though, the Masters of 2012 was certainly one of the better events in the event’s history, with a finish that would leave everyone on edge.

After the third round was completed Peter Hanson found himself in the lead by one stroke over Phil Mickelson and two over Louis Oosthuizen.  Mickelson had stormed back after shooting a first round score of 74 with two straight rounds in the 60s to give himself a chance for his fourth career Masters victory.  Back in fourth place after round three was Bubba Watson, one of the longer hitters on the PGA Tour who almost never hits the golf ball straight during a round. 

When it came to Sunday Peter Hanson got off to a slow start with a bogey on the first hole, and never really seemed comfortable out on the golf course all day, ending with a round of 73 to finish in a tie for third place overall.  Phil Mickelson looked to be in the driver’s seat heading into Sunday as he had the experience of having won the tournament multiple times before and was coming off of two great rounds earlier in the week.  However, things took a turn for the worse for Mickelson when he came up on the par 3 fourth hole.  Mickelson hit his tee shot far left of the green, hitting the grandstands and bouncing even further left into the woods.  He was able to find the ball, but when all was said and done with the hole Phil ended up with a triple bogey and was never able to recover, shooting a round of 72 to also finish in a tie for third place.

The man who came out on fire early was Louis Oosthuizen, who hit one of the greatest shots in Masters Tournament history on the par 5 second hole.  Oosthuizen hit a good tee shot into the fairway and was about 260 yards away from the green.  Louis decided to hit a high iron and hoped the ball would run up somewhere on the green, but it did much more than that.  As the ball rolled up to the green it kept rolling right towards the hole, and after about 20 seconds later the ball ended up dropping into the hole for an amazing double eagle.  After that he was able to maintain the lead for most of the round until Watson decided to join the party.

Bubba Watson was four shots out of the lead after bogeying the 12^th hole, and it looked as though Oosthuizen would run away with the tournament.  However, Watson went on an incredible streak of four consecutive birdies to end up in a tie with Louis after his round was completed.  Both of the players made par on the first playoff hole, with Bubba being able to prevail after a great iron shot on the second playoff hole to capture his first career major victory.  It was an event that masters ticket holders will not soon forget, and should go down as one of the best finishes in the event’s history.

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Atlanta Braves look for success in 2012

The Atlanta Braves had one of the biggest collapses in Major League Baseball history in 2011, finishing the year with a record of 9-18 to miss the playoff by one game to the St. Louis Cardinals.  Going into the month of September the Atlanta Braves had one of the best records in all of baseball at 80-55, and had a nearly 10 game lead over the Cardinals for the final playoff spot.  The Braves actually had a chance to get into the playoffs if they had won the final game of the regular season against the Philadelphia Phillies, but lost the game in 13 innings as Craig Kimbrel blew the save in the ninth inning.

After such a terrible end to the season, one would have thought the Braves would have made a lot of changes to reinforce the lineup or pitching rotation, but General Manager Frank Wren decided against that, keeping most of the team in-tact while making some minor moves such as trading Derek Lowe to the Cleveland Indians and signing Livan Hernandez and Juan Francisco as role players for the ball club.  With Tim Hudson coming off of back surgery in the offseason along with the trade of Derek Lowe, the starting rotation was wide open for some of Atlanta’s talented starting pitchers in the farm system such as Julio Teheran, Randall Delgado, and Mike Minor, along with other players such as Brandon Beachy and Kris Medlen.  At the start of the season the Braves made the decision to go with Tommy Hanson, Jair Jurrjens, Brandon Beachy, Mike Minor, and Randall Delgado, with Hudson coming back before the All-Star break. 

For some reason or another the Braves got off to a horrible start to the 2012 season, getting swept by the New York Mets and losing the first game of their series against the Houston Astros to start the year at 0-4.  However, after that the Atlanta Braves caught fire with their offense, winning 10 of their next 11 games to bring their record to 10-5 on the year.  Since that time Atlanta has had spurts of success mixed in with poor performances, with a record of 18-12 heading into a series against the Chicago Cubs.

Two players that have stood out for the team to this point are Brandon Beachy and Freddie Freeman.  Beachy has been the anchor for the starting rotation to this point in the year, going 3-1 in six games started with an ERA of 1.62.  Freddie Freeman has been the catalyst for the team’s offense, making Atlanta Braves tickets a hot commodity over recent weeks with a .291 average, six home runs, and 26 RBIs.

On the other hand, two players that have underperformed for the Atlanta Braves this season are Jair Jurrjens and Brian McCann.  Jurrjens has had a lack of command in every start he was in as far as 2012, not giving up less than three runs in any of his starts.  After giving up five earned runs in three innings against the Dodgers on April 23 he was demoted to AAA.  After a great year in 2011, Brian McCann has had a sluggish start to 2012, only batting .237 with five home runs and 17 RBIs.  

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