Yes It's Sad, But It's Not Tony Stewart's Fault

I don't write much about NASCAR. I mean I'm not a big fan of the sport and I don't follow it so usually I have no opinion on anything going on in the sport. However, this past weekend an incident occurred that goes beyond sports. On Saturday night on a dirt track in upstate New York, a driver by the name of Kevin Ward Jr. lost his life after he was struck by Tony Stewart's car. It's extremely sad because a 20-year old guy lost his life. But ever since this happened, people have been speculating that because of his past with anger issues that Stewart hit the guy on purpose.

If you think that Tony Stewart hit Kevin Ward Jr. on purpose during that race, then 1) you haven't seen the video and 2) you are an idiot. I've seen the video. If anyone is at fault here, it's Ward Jr. I'm sorry he passed away, but he put himself in grave danger by leaving his car and looking to confront Stewart while a race was still going on. You don't leave your car and try to chase down a guy who is still driving in the race. That's just stupid. Also, if you watch the video then you'll see Ward was not where anyone could see him before he was hit. He was behind another car and then emerged a split second before Stewart hit him. I don't see when watching the video any time that Stewart had any time to try to miss hitting him. It was an accident that was caused by the stupidity of a 20-year old kid.


It's very similar to the Josh Brent and Jerry Brown Jr. case. Former Dallas Cowboy Jerry Brown was sober at the time of the crash that he died in. Josh Brent was plastered drunk, yet Jerry Brown still got into the car and allowed his friend to drive. It's sad that Brown died, but it was his own fault for getting into a car where the driver was as drunk as Brent was. It's very similar here. It's sad that Ward lost his life, but if he stays in his car and waits until after the race to confront Stewart then he'd still be alive.

I know many of you will think I'm not being sensitive over this, but it's hard to have sympathy when someone's death is caused by their own stupidity. With that said, my thoughts and prayers do go out to his family as well as Tony Stewart.

Who Actually Won The MLB Trade Deadline?

The Major League Baseball trade deadline came and went last week and whew!!! it was definitely a trade deadline to remember. So many big name guys were traded to different teams and for each other instead of trading a big name for prospects. Here's a rundown of some of the big trades before the trade deadline.

*The Boston Red Sox send ace left handed pitcher Jon Lester and outfielder Johnny Gomes to the Oakland A's in exchange for outfielder Yoenas Cespedes.

*The Boston Red Sox send pitcher John Lackey to the St. Louis Cardinals for outfielder Allen Craig and pitcher Joe Kelly.

*The Boston Red Sox send left handed reliever Andrew Miller to the Baltimore Orioles for pitching prospect Eduardo Rodriguez.

*The Boston Red Sox send shortstop Stephen Drew to the New York Yankees for infielder Kelly Johnson

*The Seattle Mariners, Detroit Tigers, and Tampa Bay Rays made a three way trade. Ace left handed pitcher David Price went from Tampa Bay to Detroit, outfielder Austin Jackson went to the Seattle Mariners, and pitcher Drew Smyly and infielder Nick Franklin went to Tampa Bay.

*The Arizona Diamondbacks send utility man Martin Prado to the New York Yankees in exchange for minor league player Peter O'Brien.

Now there were several other trades made last week, but these were the biggest named trades of the trading deadline. So you might be thinking "What team won the trading deadline?" I am here to argue with you that I believe the team that won the trading deadline is a team that did NOT make one...single...move and that'd be the Texas Rangers. How can the Rangers win at the trading deadline when they didn't make a single trade? Yes I understand they traded Joakim Soria to the Detroit Tigers, but the two guys they got back in return have major star potential. So how can the Rangers be the winners of the trade deadline? Well that's because they kept the main guys who were in trade rumors. The biggest names on this year's Rangers' squad mentioned in trade discussions were Alex Rios and Neal Cotts. Both guys have a team option for 2015 and both will be very important to next year's team. When guys like Derek Holland, Prince Fielder, and Mitch Moreland are 100% healthy the Rangers will compete again. They have some holes to fill in the off-season, but they will content next year. Roughned Odor has proven he is the second baseman of the future for this team. But he's only 20 years old. The Rangers need to go get a decent second baseman on a 2-year deal so Odor can properly develop at Triple A Round Rock. They also need to look at picking up another bat (Jon Daniels please swallow your pride and sign Nelson Cruz. Just sayin...), but they really need to make a HUGE investment in one of the big named pitching free agents. Jon Lester is a free agent after this year and I can't imagine he'll want to play at O.Co Coliseum for the next several years. Also Max Scherzer of the Detroit Tigers will also be a free agent. Ownership and Jon Daniels need to seriously go after one of those two major free agent pitchers. You add one of those two guys to our pitching rotation, sign Nelson Cruz, and get a decent second baseman, then this team will be a World Series contender. So for now, good job Jon Daniels on staying pat and not making a trade that didn't need to happen.