Life can change in the blink of an eye. One minute you’re shooting hoops with your buddies, the next you’re wearing the rim like a championship net and laying on the ground with blood leaking from your head. Yeah that’s life… If your 13-year-old Adam Duff of the UK.

Duff’s mom explained her son’s BS story injury to the Gazette Live:

“He was there playing basketball with his nephews and a couple of mates, like they do most days after school.

“One of them shot the ball up and as it’s come down through the hoop, Adam’s gone to catch it. As he’s jumped up, the ball has hit the hoop and it’s all come down on him.

“It fell on his head, he fell to the ground and his nephews ran to get me.

“It split the back of his head open – the blood was unreal.”

Was Dwight Howard working on his free throws with some kids in England? If one shot was able to knock down the rim then the kids knew the rim was in bad shape and shouldn’t have been messing with it. What really happened is they were swinging on the rim, it broke, and Duff busted his head. The mom is considering legal action but this weak story’s not gonna hold up in court.

Redcar pupil injured after basketball hoop falls on his head [Gazette Live]

Quarterback Tony Romo of the Dallas Cowboys has a broken pinky on his right hand and is expected to miss four weeks with the injury but that’s the least of his concerns right now. The team is on the verge of imploding, but it’s something that Romo’s girlfriend Jessica Simpson said that should have him scared.

Jess has decided to apply some Arizona Cardinals like pressure to her man by telling Australia’s Daily Telegraph she’s ready for children. And a bunch at that.

Via MSNBC.com

“I’d love six kids running around, but I guess I’ll have to start pretty soon.”

Jessica is pretty much yelling “Hurry up and marry me Tony” since we know that daddy Joe Simpson isn’t letting his prize daughter get knocked up without being hitched. And six kids? Why not kick the extra point and have seven? I guess six makes sense though. Jessica Simpson’s career has turned out at least three times better than Britney Spears’ has. So if Brit can handle two kids with K-Fed as the daddy, Tony and Jessica ought to be able to take care of six.

Linebacker Shawne Merriman of the San Diego Chargers is joining Tom Brady on the sidelines after telling the team he’s going to undergo season ending knee surgery. Merriman played with two torn ligaments in his left knee in the season opener, but said he didn’t feel right and now he’s shutting it down. I wonder if he still had his party?

Damn… I feel bad for Lights Out, but what about all of the party goers? When Merriman throws a party it’s the shit.

Gotta love Hollywood.. If you watched until the end you got to see some chick from Wildin’ Out season four claiming to be a star. Somebody needs to pull ‘er to the side, sit her down, and let her know that playing charades on MTV does not a star one make.

If there’s a bright spot in the middle of the Merriman injury storm it’s that he gets to work on his Madden game now.

Vince Young of the Tennessee Titans reportedly has a torn medial collateral ligament (MCL) in his left knee and is expected to miss two to four weeks. Veteran qb Kerry Collins will take over the Titans for now.

Vince Young’s injury is big news, but just as interesting is the scene on the Tennessee sideline four plays before VY was hurt. The Titans’ offense was on the field, but Vince was on the bench talking with head coach Jeff Fisher.

From The Tennessean:

“I came on the field and 10 wasn’t in the huddle,” said center Kevin Mawae. “I didn’t know what the situation was.”

Fisher then made a beeline to Young, standing several yards away.

After the game, Fisher recalled that his conversation with Young centered solely on the quarterback’s hamstring.

“He said, ‘It’s tight,’ and I said, ‘If it’s tight, we’ll go with Kerry,’ and try to talk him back into it and he felt good,” Fisher said.

But considering how animated Fisher appeared as he talked with Young, it’s hard to believe some other matters weren’t discussed. From the outside looking in, Fisher seemed to all but throw Young back onto the field.

Vince Young’s hamstring might have really been tight, but the way it looks is that Vince couldn’t move the offense, and his feelings got hurt when the crowd booed. I hope I’m wrong but if I’m right Vince can go ahead and start concentrating full-time on his sausage business.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban will have to throw more money at the problem next year because the team’s fading 2008 championship hopes went down with Dirk Nowitzki on Sunday. Dirk is expected to miss two weeks with what is being called a lower left leg injury.. In layman’s terms that means season killing injury.

Don’t get it twisted. The Mavs weren’t gonna sniff the title this year but they were gonna make the playoffs. They’re currently in the seventh spot in the Western Conference with Golden St. a game back and the Nuggets trailing by two. If the Denver Nuggets have any balls, two weeks without Dirk Nowitzki is the final nail in the Maverick’s playoff coffin. Knowing the Nuggs like we do, they’ll make it interesting.

It could be for any number of reasons, but it seems the basketball gods aren’t happy with Mark Cuban. They waited until Steve Nash left Dallas to let him turn into the player he is today. They took a 2-0 finals lead from Cuban and the Mavs two years ago. Last year the gods let his 67 win, number one seed team lose to the eight seed in the first round of the playoffs, and this year they take Dirk Nowitzki from him during the stretch run of the season. If Cuban knows what’s good for him he’ll get John Henry, Tom Werner, and Larry Lucchino on the phone immediately and ask them how they reversed their fortunes.

There is one positive to take from Dirk’s injury… Now he has more time to check out the cheerleaders.

Tags: Dallas Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki, Mark Cuban, injury

“I hate to quit. I’m not a quitter, I don’t like people to think, ‘She gave up.’ Maybe I worry too much about what other people say.”

I keep up with all things Serena Williams because 1) I’m secretly dating her (shhh.. Don’t tell her.), 2) Google and yahoo seem to like her, and 3) She works her way onto my radar.. Somehow some way, Serena ends up in ESPY bits and at soccer parties, or she talks.

This time Serena did her talking after retiring from her opening match in the Zurich Open. A match that she was losing 6-0, 3-0, when a sore right thigh prevented her from continuing. Serena’s my girl, and she was playing in her 3rd tournament in 3 weeks, so I’ll walk with her on this one. A lot of people probably won’t be able to do it. They’ll think she quit because she was losing, and they’ll say playing it out is better than quitting.. And with the way she was getting womanhandled, it was only gonna be another 20 minutes before Serena could have “retired”… But those people are haters, and Serena already knows she doesn’t need to worry about what they say.

Serena retires in Zurich opener. Courtesy of The Miami Herald

Tags: Serena Williams, Retire, Sports, Tennis

The Minnesota Timberwolves’ lovable mascot Mark Madsen had successful shoulder surgery on Friday. The surgery was to repair the pectoral muscle in the right shoulder which Madsen injured during a personal watercraft accident. Madsen called the incident “an unfortunate accident” and GM Kevin McHale says it’s “an unfortunate situation”.  I say it’s Madsen being Madsen. After the problems we’ve seen athletes have with motorcycles, snowboards, and video games, it can’t be long until teams start caging the athletes on the premises after practice, after games, and during the offseason. Mark is expected to return to the lineup some time in November.

If you go to You Tube you can find a gang of jet ski accident videos but I had to roll with this one. The crash, the music cutting off, and the cussing had me on the floor.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkdkDadr1_c[/youtube]

Madsen injured; out three months after surgery. Courtesy of The Star Tribune