Some Monday Morning Randomness

Sports weekends like the last one don't come along very often. You had the NBA Playoffs, the Stanley Cup Playoffs, NASCAR, a championship boxing match, Tiger staging a Sunday come back, baseball season, and of course, the Kentucky Derby.

It's weekends like this where I long for fall more than ever before. The sort of Saturday ritual of College Gameday, some barbecuing, and watching football until my eyes bleed through the wee hours of the morning. It's routine. It's tradition. It's my autumn weekends, without fail. So as Sunday drew to a close and Monday morning dawned, there were quite a few nuggets to marinate on.

• In perhaps the most tragic news of the weekend, the practice facility of the Dallas Cowboys collapsed amidst high winds and weather disturbances in the Dallas area. Important to readers of this blog, simply because it's a major sports happening, but former Ball Stater Robert Brewster was attending a minicamp for rookies when the accident happened. Doug Zaleski of the Star Press chatted with Brewster after the incident, and all is fine with Robert. The same cannot be said for Rich Behm, a scout, who ESPN has confirmed is paralyzed permanently from the waist down. Tragedy all around, though no one lost a life, and you can bet that the legal battle about who or what was responsible is nowhere close to ending.
• In Nate Davis news, the young QB went through some work this weekend with the 49ers, and while he had some cramping issues on Friday, the weekend from all accounts went well for Davis. Matt Maiocco of the San Francisco Press Democrat had this recap from the minicamp action:
  

  Rookie Nate Davis, recovered from his hamstring cramps of Friday, showed some nice zip on his passes. Niners outside linebacker Jay Moore made an incredible play when coming off the left side he jumped in the air to intercept Davis' pass at point-blank range. Davis hit a wide-open Spurlock in the middle of the field. He rifled a pass to Dobson Collins that Reggie Smith broke up nicely. He threw slightly behind Zeigler, who reached back to make the catch across the middle.

• 49ers head coach Mike Singletary had this to say in an interview with the 49ers website regarding the potential QB play of the 2009 season...
  

  “It matters every day. Absolutely. And, no, I’m not leaving it to Jimmy and Mike [Johnson]. We’re on the same page. Every day we talk about, ‘What do you see? What’s happening? What were the conversations?’ Because for me, it’s that quarterback that when he steps in that huddle, magic happens. There’s something that wakes up everybody. Even the young kid who’s coming in: this is what the quarterback has to do. This is what the quarterback has to be. And Nate [Davis] understands that. It’s going to be very interesting, very exciting. I’m excited for Alex [Smith]. I’m excited for Shaun [Hill]. And that competition will continue to go forward but we’re on it everyday. Because as soon as we can, we do want to announce the starter so we can move forward.”

• Darius Hill has finally landed somewhere, signing a contract with the Cincinnati Bengals. Hill's agent alluded to the possibility of this happening, given that Darius was impressive in his minicamp tryout for the Bengals.
  
• The Daily News profiled former Ball Stater BJ Hill before the draft. As it stands now, Hill has not signed any sort of free agent deal or attended minicamp for any team. His best shot appears to be the CFL, and there have been stranger trips to the league than going the CFL route. Trey Lewis also appears headed to the CFL, as he's been working out all over the place, with mutual reported interest from the Hamilton TigerCats.

Around the Blogosphere...

• For the Derby buffs, or for people who I've incessantly bothered with the "You have to go to the Derby at least once" spiel, Spencer has a great piece on Sporting News that sort of captures the feelings of the day.
• Rich Brooks has a Twitter now. Fabulous.
• Herr Swindle at EDSBS covers the ridiculous congressional circle jerk hearing about the BCS.
• The good Doctor shows us how Jimmy Buffett and the Miami Hurricanes may be heading for a marriage of sheer convenience.
• Most Kentucky fans will tell you that the QB position this fall at Kentucky will dictate the amount of success on the field the Wildcats have. Good thing Ken at A Sea of Blue gives us this preview, then!
• A long, but good read on the state of sports "media" mainstream and otherwise from the Joe Cribbs Car Wash... incidentally one of the best blogs around.

And a little music to sate your Monday thirst for all things awesome...