But do people, or would you say that people, hate Tim Tebow?  Hate a pretty strong word for a guy who is just really good at doing what he does for the NFL.  If it’s about his Christian religion and the whole “tebowing” thing, people need to get a life and get over themselves.  Tim Tebow also doesn’t believe in promiscuity, so he catches a lot of flak for not partying it up with wild women.  Basically if anyone hates Tim Tebow, it’s for being himself, and he’s one of the most sincere professional athletes we’ve seen in many years.  MTV has published an infographic explaining why Tim Tebow is so hated (according to them.  I don’t happen to think anyone hates the guy.)  So here it is:

Just remember, hardcore skiing is not for everyone.  There’s a reason most people think these athletes are a bit crazy:  it’s because they attempt some of the most treacherous skiing adventures on the planet, and often their very lives are on the line.  Click the image to learn more:

There’s just one problem- Vlasic has reported a partial muscle tear in her left leg during practice last week, and will have to compete hindered by this injury. With that much talent and ability, she still may be able to go home to Croatia with gold, but that means that her competition is going to have to be much more about being smart rather than about being tough. Of course, any international athletics competition is going to be more than tough, but technique, technical skill, and listening to the body’s cues are absolutely essential to getting through competitions with injury. This will make the World Championships high jump competition much more competitive for first place- rather than granting Vlasic the win and everyone else trying to get as close as possible and compete for the last two remaining medaling positions. Her main concern, however, is most likely that she doesn’t want to worsen the muscle tear any further as to inhibit her training for the 2012 London Games, where she’ll seek redemption for her silver from Beijing and go all out for Gold. The 2011 World Track & Field Championships women’s high jump qualifying rounds are on Wednesday, while the final will take place Saturday.

“We should be doing everything that they did, follow it to a T, to the letter,” one agent told Sporting News of DIRECTV sport package. “They got a good deal out of it, and they won’t miss games. We want the same thing. We should be hiring the same lawyers the NFL had, we should be doing the same things they did.”

In order to follow this model of negotiations, NBA players union decertification is the first step in order to star. Many NBA players had already anticipated this move, looking into signing on with European basketball teams, since their NBA league contracts are suspended, they can legally do that.

When you compare the NBA and NFL lockouts, however, it seems that the same model can’t be followed for a couple of reasons. First, the NBA Lockout has occurred because the league is losing money, and despite this lasts season having the highest ratings in over a decade (partly because of the huge LeBron hype spell-binding the nation coming into the summer and fall), still more than half of the league’s teams are in the red. One of the major problems that led to the NFL lockout was that there was too much money to go around, and the players and owners couldn’t figure out how to fairly divide it. Another major factor the NBA has to take into consideration that the NFL didn’t deal with was the issue of Olympic qualifying and how a lack of insurance could block some national teams from qualifying for the Olympics because of the lack of insurance coming from some of their major star players. Spain, for example, has to find a way to insure the Gasol brothers, not only medically, but their insurance has to cover salary losses due to injury, and that can obviously get quite expensive for national players coming from the NBA, whom are usually the best and have some of the highest salaries. (Team USA has already pre-qualified for the 2012 London Olympic games).

When considering Olympic qualifying and staying in shape, its no surprise that many NBA players are looking into playing overseas (Deron Williams has already made an agreement to play in Turkey, and Carmelo Anthony and Kobe Bryant are in the negotiating process with European teams). Skipping out to Europe while the bickering over the NBA’s contract is happening in the US may be a good way to stay in shape and play better. But will this be good for the long run in the league? It’s pretty clear that the NBA can’t follow the NFL lockout negotiations to a “T”, but how much can they and do they need to follow it in order to get to play in America this season?

So a rough end to an otherwise promising season and the consequent NBA Lockout may have been enough to push Beasley back into his old ways, despite not having the alluring Miami scene to distract him. The one good thing about the lockout, in Beasley’s case, however, is that it is certainly unclear as to whether there will be any league or team penalties he will have to endure, since he is no longer under contract, or even a free agent, and doesn’t technically have to abide by all of the NBA’s rules. It certainly won’t help his situation at his new team, however, especially considering his inconsistencies on the court due to injury, and even if he doesn’t suffer any official punishment, he will at least have to endure unofficial repercussion from team management for his most recent marijuana charge. Normally, if the NBA didn’t lockout its players on July 1st, Beasley’s June 26th marijuana ticket would have been his third drug-related charge and earned him a five game suspension. NBA spokesman Tim Frank said the league’s anti-drug agreement, including testing and penalties, is not in effect during the lockout so it’s unclear what will happen if and when owners and players reach agreement on a new labor deal. As for now though, the all-star Timberwolves power forward will just have to pay a $128 fine and and face a petty misdemeanor charge if found guilty. However, if the prosecutor finds that this is a violation of his earlier probation. Best of luck to the 6’10″ talent, we hope to see him on the court healthy and strong soon.

The latest infractions include several in a long line of UNC football infractions since 2009 and have resulted in serious punishment for several of the players, coaches and tutor Jennifer Wiley. Wiley provided over $3,500 in services and other expenses, in addition to free tutoring, to Tar Heel football players. In addition to paying for travel (airline tickets and parking) for several of the players, she also refused to cooperate with the investigation, in which the NCAA Notice deemed as unethical behavior. UNC football players also accumulated over $13,000 in unpaid parking fees, including 93 of the 395 tickets attributed to former wide receiver Greg Little. Little had accumulated 93 tickets with five different vehicles, which makes one question, why a college student able to drive that many cars? And why isn’t that mentioned in the NCAA Notice?

Other allegations include academic fraud, including help writing papers and unethical exam help. And Wiley isn’t the only one not cooperating with NCAA, as another “unnamed former athlete” provided the Committee on Infractions with “false and misleading information”. And, in addition to the $13,000 in unpaid parking fines, seven UNC football players received over $27,000 in impermissible benefits. Three of the seven players were deemed permanently ineligible, Little, Marvin Austin, and Robert Quinn, with Austin being kicked out of school altogether. Now the question is, who were the other four players and how were they disciplined?

Ex-assistant coach John Blake was cited as facilitating improper communication and payments between players and agents, as well as former UNC football player Chris Hawkins, who payed for trips for current UNC players to visit agents and teams during the off season. While Blake may have been fired, fourteen players suspended for a game last season, seven players suspended for a the entire season, three deemed permanently ineligible, and one kicked out of school, it seems that even more sanctions and disciplinary action is on the way for the Tar Heels, especially since it seems that the investigators still have more digging to do when it comes to the extra benefits received by team members. Bur for now, we’ll have to wait and see what UNC’s response to these allegations will be, and then sit tight until October 28th.