R.I.P. Orlando Brown

One of the better offensive linemen this past decade has passed away at the young age of 40 - ex-Raven and Cleveland Brown, Orlando "Zeus" Brown - according to NFL Network's Jason LaCanfora:

If the name sounds familiar to you, then you must remember the Ravens in their glory years. Once he left the Ravens for their not-so-great division rivals the Cleveland Browns, he had an incident with referee Jeff Triplett.

Triplett threw a flag that "accidentally" hit Brown in his right eye.

In frustration, he pushed the ref, and was automatically ejected.

In a 2003 article by Sports Illustrated, it was written that Brown nearly lost vision in that eye.






It's sad that such a player had to die at such a young age. Current Ravens running back Ray Rice said tweeted it best:

The 2011 Ultimate NFL Player Bracket

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL? I sure am. With the start of the NFL season just hours upon us, I thought it would be a good time to unveil the 2011 Ultimate NFL Player Bracket. If you remember during this past summer, NFL Network aired its 100 Top NFL Players in chunks of 10. In addition, various other networks/blogs/websites made their "own" Top-100: CBS Sports, Bleacher Report, Sports Illustrated's Peter King and Scouts Inc. I, too, made my own top-100 with no biases (*Note: NO rookies were used in any of the rankings, and non take in part the offseason changes over the past month*). I then compiled the rankings and sorted based on an average ranking.

Since you guys LOVE brackets, I took the top 64 of those NFL players to make a 2011 Ultimate NFL Player Bracket. Below, you will see a downloadable Excel bracket:

Once completed, please send me your Final Four AND Top NFL Player to: sameermalla@gmail.com (email); @skinsballr (Twitter) or post your comment below this post.

Play of the Day - Preseason Edition

During yesterday's high-scoring preseason game between the high-powered Saints and the lowly Raiders, former Redskin quarterback Jason Campbell passed the ball to former Redskin and Maryland Terrapin lineman Stephon Heyer. Take a look:

Now, They are Blaming it on the Medicine!

If you remember, after USA's victory in group play over North Korea in the 2011 Women's World Cup, the North Korean head coach blamed the loss to the fact that his players got hit by lightning - now, there's MORE to that story:

After a test found two of their players caught using steroids, the FIFA governing body tested all of the North Korean women on the team and found three more instances of using 'roids. The reason? Because they were "hit by lightning", these players needed medicinal treatment that had 'roids to help them recover.

Taj Gibson's Dunks

The top two dunks of this year's playoffs goes to Chicago Bulls' backup power forward Taj Gibson, who had two monstrous slams in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Heat today.

Gary Williams Retires

After 21 years of coaching the University of Maryland basketball team, legendary head coach Gary Williams has retired - first reported by Fox Sports.

We, Maryland students, alumni and former players and fans alike are: "stunned", "surprised" and "shocked" by this sudden departure. One ESPN user, 1951 USF Dons, said it best:

"Nobody EVER did more with less. He is the only coach to win a National Championship without an [McDonald's] All-American on his roster. All the best, Coach. Fear the Turtle!!!"

We'll Miss You, Gary!