Thursday, September 18, 2008
Oklahoma's Granger Could Miss Season
Oklahoma defensive tackle Demarcus Granger will undergo surgery to repair torn ligaments in his right foot suffered in OU's 55-14 victory over Washington on Saturday.
That is a much different prognosis than the one Bob Stoops gave on Tuesday.
"I don't know what to tell you there, hopefully he'll be back for TCU but we'll have to see how it goes," said Stoops.
A return for Oklahoma's game against TCU on Sept. 27th will not happen. Sources have indicated Granger will miss significant time and could be out for the rest of the 2008 season.
Granger, a former Rivals.com No. 1 defensive tackle prospect, came up lame after being triple-teamed by members of the Washington offensive line. Replays appeared to show a UW offensive lineman punching Granger after he was knocked to the ground.
On the previous play, a Washington lineman was penalized for a false start. However, Granger was flagged for a personal foul for shoving a Huskies lineman to the ground after the whistle.
Controversy has surrounded the Granger injury in Norman, but Stoops didn't throw any blame toward the Huskies or their players on Tuesday.
"Three guys didn't go and say, 'Hey we're going to twist his ankle,'" said Stoops. "He got caught in the turf and you get double-teamed in there and that happens sometimes. There isn't anyone here whining or complaining about anything."
Granger later returned to the sideline on crutches, wearing a protective boot over his right leg.
The junior tackle from Dallas Kimball High School was a part of the regular rotation at defensive tackle, but had been replaced in the starting rotation by sophomore Adrian Taylor. Through three games Granger accumulated six tackles, one-and-half tackles for loss and one fumble recovery.
Granger was slowed during the preseason by back problems and conditioning issues, but was expected to become a bigger factor on the defensive line as the season progressed.
The Sooners will now turn to unproven and inexperienced players to replace Granger in the rotation. Gerald McCoy, Adrian Taylor and senior Cory Bennett provide a solid nucleus, and junior Cordero Moore replaced Granger in the four-man rotation on Saturday. The Sooners could ask freshmen Stacey McGee or Casey Walker to give up their redshirt season to provide depth throughout the remainder of the 2008 campaign.
Source: http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=1144&CID=851790
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Former UFC champ Tanner dead at 37
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champion Evan Tanner was found dead near Palo Verde, Calif. on Monday. He was 37.
Tanner had trekked into the desert on a journey to “cleanse” himself, according to Douglas Vincitorio of Tanner’s management team. “He went out to the desert to do a ‘cleansing’ as he called it. Kind of like ‘Survivorman.’” These short trips were not new to Tanner, said Vincitorio. It is something that he has done numerous times over the years.
“What we were told is that (Sheriff’s officials who found Tanner) believe his motorcycle had run out of gas, so he went to walk out in like 115- to 118-degree heat,” Vincitorio said. “He was miles away from his camp. That’s where the helicopter found him. Right now, they just think that he succumbed to the heat.”
Tanner had apparently told friends before he left that if they hadn’t heard from him in a couple of days, they should contact officials, which is what happened. When he stopped responding to text messages, friends waited a couple of days and then notified officials at the Imperial County Sherrif’s Department on Friday.
A search ensued and Tanner’s body was found Monday.
On Aug. 10, Tanner wrote a blog on Spike TV’s website, proclaiming his desire to start an adventure in the desert east of his new home in Oceanside, Calif. An avid outdoorsman and wandering spirit, he wanted to escape civilization for a while.
“I’m not just going out into the desert, I’m going out into the desert to hunt for lost treasure,” he wrote. “I’m going on a pilgrimage of sorts, a journey to solitude, to do some thinking, and to pay my respects to the great mysteries.”
On Aug. 16, Tanner wrote about collecting supplies for his journey, and wrote about the dangers he might face.
“I plan on going so deep into the desert, that any failure of my equipment, could cost me my life,” he said. “I’ve been doing a great deal of research and study. I want to know all I can about where I’m going, and I want to make sure I have the best equipment.”
Of course, this led followers of his blog to fear for his safety, as they often did when Tanner reported his frequent by-the-seat-of-his-pants adventures. In a blog dated Aug. 27, Tanner tried to calm his audience.
“This isn’t a version of ‘Into the Wild,’” he wrote. “I’m not going out into the desert with a pair of shorts and a bowie knife, to try to live off the land. I’m going fully geared up, and I’m planning on having some fun.”
But he also affirmed that things could go wrong if his equipment wasn’t up to snuff.
“I do plan on going back pretty far, so I did mention in one of my posts that I wanted to make sure to have good quality gear,” he said. “Any failure of gear out in the desert could cause a problem.”
On Sept. 2, Tanner wrote his final blog entry, documenting a training session at a facility in Oceanside.
The Amarillo, Texas native was a high school wrestling stand out who won the state championships his junior and senior years despite only getting into the sport as a sophomore. He entered mixed martial arts in 1997 encouraged by friends.
Tanner rose to the top of the mixed martial arts world by winning the UFC middleweight title over David Terrell at UFC 51: “Super Saturday” Feb. 5, 2005. He lost the title later in the year to Rich Franklin. Tanner, who had a career MMA record of 32-8 last competed in the UFC on June 21 losing to Kendall Grove by split decision.
“He will obviously be sorely missed,” said Vincitorio. Adding, “I think that Evan would want to be remembered as a very complex man with many layers, not just a fighter.”
Tanner was surely a unique personality. He’s eclectic spirit and competitive nature will be sorely missed in the MMA community.
Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news?slug=ys-mmaweektanner090808&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
Tanner had trekked into the desert on a journey to “cleanse” himself, according to Douglas Vincitorio of Tanner’s management team. “He went out to the desert to do a ‘cleansing’ as he called it. Kind of like ‘Survivorman.’” These short trips were not new to Tanner, said Vincitorio. It is something that he has done numerous times over the years.
“What we were told is that (Sheriff’s officials who found Tanner) believe his motorcycle had run out of gas, so he went to walk out in like 115- to 118-degree heat,” Vincitorio said. “He was miles away from his camp. That’s where the helicopter found him. Right now, they just think that he succumbed to the heat.”
Tanner had apparently told friends before he left that if they hadn’t heard from him in a couple of days, they should contact officials, which is what happened. When he stopped responding to text messages, friends waited a couple of days and then notified officials at the Imperial County Sherrif’s Department on Friday.
A search ensued and Tanner’s body was found Monday.
On Aug. 10, Tanner wrote a blog on Spike TV’s website, proclaiming his desire to start an adventure in the desert east of his new home in Oceanside, Calif. An avid outdoorsman and wandering spirit, he wanted to escape civilization for a while.
“I’m not just going out into the desert, I’m going out into the desert to hunt for lost treasure,” he wrote. “I’m going on a pilgrimage of sorts, a journey to solitude, to do some thinking, and to pay my respects to the great mysteries.”
On Aug. 16, Tanner wrote about collecting supplies for his journey, and wrote about the dangers he might face.
“I plan on going so deep into the desert, that any failure of my equipment, could cost me my life,” he said. “I’ve been doing a great deal of research and study. I want to know all I can about where I’m going, and I want to make sure I have the best equipment.”
Of course, this led followers of his blog to fear for his safety, as they often did when Tanner reported his frequent by-the-seat-of-his-pants adventures. In a blog dated Aug. 27, Tanner tried to calm his audience.
“This isn’t a version of ‘Into the Wild,’” he wrote. “I’m not going out into the desert with a pair of shorts and a bowie knife, to try to live off the land. I’m going fully geared up, and I’m planning on having some fun.”
But he also affirmed that things could go wrong if his equipment wasn’t up to snuff.
“I do plan on going back pretty far, so I did mention in one of my posts that I wanted to make sure to have good quality gear,” he said. “Any failure of gear out in the desert could cause a problem.”
On Sept. 2, Tanner wrote his final blog entry, documenting a training session at a facility in Oceanside.
The Amarillo, Texas native was a high school wrestling stand out who won the state championships his junior and senior years despite only getting into the sport as a sophomore. He entered mixed martial arts in 1997 encouraged by friends.
Tanner rose to the top of the mixed martial arts world by winning the UFC middleweight title over David Terrell at UFC 51: “Super Saturday” Feb. 5, 2005. He lost the title later in the year to Rich Franklin. Tanner, who had a career MMA record of 32-8 last competed in the UFC on June 21 losing to Kendall Grove by split decision.
“He will obviously be sorely missed,” said Vincitorio. Adding, “I think that Evan would want to be remembered as a very complex man with many layers, not just a fighter.”
Tanner was surely a unique personality. He’s eclectic spirit and competitive nature will be sorely missed in the MMA community.
Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news?slug=ys-mmaweektanner090808&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
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