Wasted Talent

I had to digest this entire story before I could write anything. Yesterday, some friends of mine sent me the story about Travis Henry. As we all know, Henry was arrested yesterday by the DEA, along with a friend, James Mack, for allegedly being the money man behind a cocaine ring. This had been an ongoing investigation since September 16th. A man driving a black Impala on Highway 90 in Montana was pulled over and after a search of the car, a duffel bag with 3 pounds of weed and 6+ pounds of cocaine were found. The guy pulled a Nick Kaczur on Mack and Henry and turned informant.

Supposedly, the DEA has Henry and Mack on tape discussing the deal with the informant. They also have someone who is saying that Henry made death threats against one of his accomplices over $40K, 'they all would be dead' if he didn't get that money back.

None of this looks good for Henry. He has had a troubled past due to drugs and suspensions from the league (presently serving a year long suspension), and was cut last year from the Broncos, one year into his 5 year, $22.5M deal. Add on to all of this the fact that he has 9 kids by 9 different women, and it's just sad. I wanted to add this to Stupid Athlete Tricks, but there's got to be a part of you that feels sorry for this guy. Not a big part, because he chose to get involved with drugs (using), he chose to not protect himself with his women, and he chose to make some quick money by being a financier off drug deals.

Henry looks to spend the rest of his adult life in the pen if he's convicted of all the counts that they are going to throw at him. The guy had the talent to succeed but couldn't keep his head straight. He was drafted in 2001 by the Bills and quickly (in 4 years) became the fourth leading rusher in Bills history with 3,849 yards and 27 TDs. He still holds records at Tennessee (yards rushing, rushing attempts, and 100 yard games). It looks like Henry has taken all of this talent and wasted it.

Snatching Victory From the Jaws of Defeat

pic from Gary A. Vasquez/US Presswire and ESPN.com

You won't see me post much about college football, because there are like 50 games a weekend and I don't have that many TVs or enough Tivo or that many digital recorders. Last night after I got little Inquisitive Mind and the Mrs. down for sleep, I watched the second half of the Tennessee/UCLA game. To say that it was exciting would be like saying philly cheese steaks are bad for you. Kevin Craft had to be the worst QB in both Division 1 and 2 last night in the first half with 66 passing yards and 4 picks, I would have thought that the kicker would have started at QB in the 2nd half (both the starter and the original backup were hurt, thus Craft getting the start). Rick Neuheisel stuck with the warm body and allowed this kid to play, and that he did. He looked like a veteran QB in the 2nd half, especially leading his team down the field for the go ahead TD. I thought Tennessee was going to get the award for 'what not to do when you're up late in a game', but even they came back and tied the game with no time on the clock to send it into overtime. At this point, I'm just grabbing the pillow because I wanted to see Sportscenter before going to bed but UCLA let them just march down the field for the tying field goal. In OT, both offenses got very conservative and both settled for field goals with Tennessee missing theirs and thus losing the game. I'm sure UCLA wanted to win this game instead of Tennessee losing it, but hey, a W is a W. Welcome home Neuheisel.