In the waning minutes of the Seahawks victory over the Colts on Christmas Eve, Seahawks radio announcer Warren Moon was discussing the unfortunate situation of a former athlete and Seahawks fan who had been undergoing extensive therapy resulting from an accident that resulted in his full paralysis.  Moon gave credit to the courage of both the man and his family under such incredibly tragic and trying circumstances, and speculated that the man might be watching the game from his bed.

With the Seahawks leading 28-6 and clearly heading for victory, the co-broadcaster in the booth, Steve Raible, stated:

“He’s got to be a happy camper right now!”

Truthteller, a contestant in the Foxsport Next Great Sportswriter contest, is hoping that this will be the last Christmas he spends at home with his family.

 “I love my wife and kids, but I’m really hoping to become a sportswriter and be on the road for the holidays, covering things like the Motor City Bowl and top-flight high-school basketball tournaments”, said Truthteller.

 If he wins the contest, Truthteller expects that a good portion of his life will be spent drinking too much in seedy watering holes with other flabby, pasty-faced journalists and a smattering of expat Brits, his sad vulnerability occasionally attracting the attention of world-weary women with husky voices from smoking too much.

 Truthteller claims that the competition is extremely tough but still holds out some chance of winning.  “As long as merit doesn’t play too heavily in the judges’ decisions, it’s possible that I could sneak into the top 16”, stated Truthteller, “especially if there is a really good blogger out there with a name confusingly similar to mine”.  

 Truthteller is married with two young children. 

Utah Jazz rookies Deron Williams and Robert Whaley were involved in a brawl that erupted in a Park City, Utah bar recently.  An employee of the establishment suffered a broken arm and Whaley received a nasty gash on his hand from a piece of broken glass.

 Williams and Whaley gave fake names to the police on the scene, Williams choosing “Torry Ellis” and Whaley opting for “Bobby Williams”.  The two men later got into a heated locker-room exchange when Williams questioned Whaley’s choice of “Williams” as his fake name.

 Police were immediately su####ious of the two men.  “None of the other eight black people in Utah have names like ‘Ellis’ or ‘Williams’ as far as any of us could recall”, stated an officer close to the investigation.

 Tipped off by Whaley’s 6’10”, 260 pound frame, police took their investigation to the NBA website, where no photo of Whaley was posted but the silhouette there as a placeholder clearly resembled Whaley’s coloring.

 Later, Whaley explained away his damaged hand to Jazz management and the press by stating he had cut it while taking a sharp kitchen knife away from his two-year old.  As the story escalated in the press, police questioned the two-year old about the incident. 

 “He wasn’t talking”, reported a spokesperson.

 Despite a career game on November 15^th when Whaley attempted nine field goals in a 36-point loss to Sacramento, the press in Salt Lake City is clamoring for the Jazz to release the team’s no. 51 draft choice.  (With respect to the possible release of Williams, the no. 3 pick in the 2005 draft, a member of the front office asked rhetorically “Aren’t second chances what America is all about?”)

Perhaps laying the groundwork for Whaley’s eventual release, a Jazz spokesman stated that Whaley’s average of 0.9 points per game had not been the decisive spread in any contest so far this season.

Whaley does carry some baggage with him, including a 2003 arrest for assault and a 2000 charge of statutory rape that ended in a mistrial.  “Who’s going to believe a 15-year old girl anyway?”, Whaley is credited with saying, “especially since it was so dark out”.  

 Both men have been cited for providing false information to a peace officer. 

Barry Halper, famed collector of sports memorabilia, is dead at 66.

During his lifetime, Mr. Halper amassed over 80,000 pieces of sports memorabilia, religiously inspecting at least ten different items from his collection each day in order to be assured of seeing everything at least once every 22 years.

The biggest disappointment in his life was having acquired only 80,000 items instead of the 90,000 he had hoped to amass.

Although Mr. Halper had known for many years that he couldn’t take it all with him, he never lost hope until the last moment that he might be able to just take the jersey Lou Gehrig wore at his farewell speech and the Honus Wagner card.